President Lincoln’s Farewell Address To his Old Neighbors Springfield, February 12, 1861.

Providence, Rhode Island: N. Bangs Williams, 113 & 115 Westminster Street, [ca. 1865]. Broadside, 422 x 275 mm, plus margins; text within mourning border.

A broadside printing of Lincoln’s parting words to the people of Springfield, Illinois, spoken as he was departing for Washington, D. C.

On February 11, 1861, as Lincoln was preparing to board a train at the Great Western Railroad depot in Springfield, a crowd gathered to see him off. He delivered this short, extemporaneous speech, then boarded the train, never to return alive. On the train, Lincoln recorded his speech, editing his language to make it more memorable and suitable for publication. The original manuscript, partly in the President’s hand and partly in that of his secretary, John Nicolay, is in the Library of Congress. Additional versions were published at the time, including one in Harper’s Weekly and another in the Illinois State Journal. The text printed here is the Harper’s Weekly version:

My Friends[,] No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell.

The speech has long been admired for its directness and humility, as well as its apparent sense of premonition. This broadside was likely published shortly after the assassination.

Scarce. OCLC records just one copy, at Brown University.

CONDITION: A few tiny 5 mm chips at the left margin and one 1” loss to text in the left corner, but otherwise very good.