LINCOLN AS A DEBTOR/CREDITOR LAWYER, CIVIL WAR REGIMENTAL SOURCE MATERIALS ARE FEATURED IN LATEST JOURNAL OF ILLINOIS HISTORY

SPRINGFIELD, IL - Abraham Lincoln's bread-and-butter debt cases as a lawyer, and a detailed listing of Civil War regimental sources in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library are featured in the latest issue of the Journal of Illinois History, a scholarly publication about the state's history.

 

            Historians of Abraham Lincoln's legal career tend to focus on his most famous cases involving large corporations, or murder or fugitive slave cases.  In an article written by Roger D. Billings, professor of law at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University, Lincoln's routine debtor-creditor cases are examined.  Drawing upon the extensive resource material of The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln, which examines every known document relating to Lincoln's legal career, Billings brings to light the importance of debtor-creditor cases in Lincoln's law practice, cases he needed to make a living, but which were often routine and boring.  Debtor-creditor work required a minimum of the trial work Lincoln loved and a maximum of document drafting, and the chances of a debtor showing up in court were slim, often resulting in a default judgment.  Putting a spotlight on Lincoln's debtor-creditor cases leads to a more balanced portrait of his legal career, while revealing the everyday problems caused by the shortage of money on the frontier. 

 

            The first of a two-part bibliography of Illinois Civil War Regimental sources in the collections of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is featured in the latest edition of the Journal.  With a resurgence of interest in the Civil War, a list of sources pertaining to individual regiments from Illinois has been compiled.  These may be accessed by visiting the Presidential Library at 112 N. Sixth Street in Springfield.  The Illinois regiments listed along with the available source materials include:

·                    Infantry:  7^th through 28^th, 30^th through 34^th, 36^th through 42^nd, 45^th through 47^th, 49^th through 61^st, 63^rd through 66^th, 72^nd through 97^th, 99^th through 106^th, 108^th, 109^th, 111^th through 120^th, 122^nd through 127^th, 129^th, 130^th, 134^th, 137^th, 139^th, 146^th, and 151^st.

·                     Cavalry:  First through 17^th.

·                    Light Artillery:  First, Second, Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Chicago Mercantile Battery, Renwick's Elgin Independent Battery.

 

The Journal of Illinois History is the foremost publication for readers who value documented research on the state's history, and features articles, book reviews, essays and bibliographies that have been reviewed by some of the country's leading historians.  The Journal is published by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov).  Subscriptions are $18 per year for four issues.  To obtain a sample copy, contact:  Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Publications Section, 1 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL  62701, or call (217) 524-6045.