LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865). Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln") as President, n.p., 3 March 1862, comprising seven lines total, plus signature and dateline, excised from the original letter.

One page, 83 x 150mm. (lightly discolored at lower left, inscription "to the President" cross-written at center, just touching a few characters).

Lincoln recommends the appointment of General Henry Halleck's aide-de-camp, Lewis B. Parsons Jr: "I personally know Mr. Parsons to be a good man, and if it be known that Gen. Halleck wishes his appointment, let it be made". Before the Civil War, Lewis B. Parsons Jr. (1818-1907) served as the president and director for the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad from 1857 to 1860, where he likely became acquainted personally with Lincoln and began a close friendship with George McClellan - the railroad's then-Vice-President. Throughout the war years, Parsons would direct river and rail transport of troops in Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Ohio at differing points of the war, and served as aide-de-camp under at least four different generals. Due to his record and relationship with Lincoln, the President wrote to the Secretary of War on March 9, 1865: "I have long thought that Col. Lewis B. Parsons ought to be promoted; and this impression has been deepened by his great success in the recent matter of transporting troops from the West to the East. Is there any legal obstacle in the way? If not, let the promotion be made at once." After Lincoln's assassination the following month, President Johnson would appoint Parsons Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers in May 11, 1865. (See Pratt, Harry E. “Lewis B. Parsons: Mover of Armies and Railroad Builder.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) 44, no. 4 (1951): 349–54.)