Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/85

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DOCUMENTS LETTERS. 77 done. Minnesota is as sure as such a thing can be, while the democ- racy are so divided between Douglas and Breckinridge in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that they are scarcely less sure. Our friends are also confident in Indiana and Illinois. I should expect the same division would give us a fair chance in Oregon. Write me what you think on that point. "We were very anxious here for David Logan's election. I think I will write him before long. If you see Col. Baker, give him my respects. I do hope he may not be tricked out of what he has fairly earned. "Make my kindest regards to Mrs. Francis; and tell her I both hope and believe she is not so unhappy as when I saw her last. "Your friend, as ever, "A. LINCOLN." The following is a copy of an autograph letter, now owned by the Society, from Gen. George E. Pickett who, in July, 1863, led the Confederate charge against the Federal forces at Gettysburg. The person to whom it is addressed was Major, afterwards Colonel, Reuben F. Maury, a veteran of the Mexi- can War, an Oregon pioneer of 1852, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Oregon Cavalry during the Civil War. General Pickett, a captain in charge of the United States troops on San Juan Island, Washington, at the time the letter was written, and Colonel Maury were classmates at West Point. This letter was given to the writer for the Society in 1903. Colon* ] Maury was a resident of Jackson County, Oregon, for many years, and died near Jacksonville on February 20, 1906, in his eighty-fifth year. George H. Himes, Assistant Secretary. GEO. E. PICKETT TO REUBEN F. MAURY. San Juan, W. T., February 13, 1861. My Dear Major: I should have answered your kind note long since, had I not seen in the Portland [Oregonian?] that you were on the eve of saying good- bye to us. It was only by the last steamer I learned much to my grati- fication that the report was untrue, knowing as I did too that you yourself preferred being let alone. However, my dear Major, I am afraid it is but a short respite for I think we [officers] of the Grande Armee shall be compelled t6 go. I much fear the Register of 1861