Wilson, Douglas L., ed.; Davis, Rodney O., ed.; Fisk, John Moore. 'John Moore Fisk (William H. Herndon Interview)' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: interview]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon715a.html

Feby 18th '87

On Saturday Evening I was called out to write the will of Benj Bancroft ^[1] and at the house of Bancroft I found an old friend of Lincoln, whose name is Fisk: he told me the following story which is correct. A man by the name of Pollard Simmons was a good friend of Lincoln in 1834-6. ^[2] Jno Calhoun was the surveyor of Sangamon County — was "The Candle box Calhoun" ^[3] — and a democrat in 1834-6. Simmons loved Lincoln, who was very poor at that time, and he tried to get Lincoln in some business: he applied to Calhoun as the friend of Lincoln to give him a deputyship in the Surveying business. Calhoun as Simmons remembers it gave Lincoln a deputyship. Simmons got on his horse and went on the hunt of Lincoln whom he found in the woods mauling rails. Simmons Said "Lincoln I've got you a job" and to which Lincoln replied — "Pollard, I thank you for your trouble, but now let me ask you a question — Do I have to give up any of my principles for this job. If I have to surrender any thought or principle to get it I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole?" "No, you do not Lincoln," said Pollard Simmons, and to which Lincoln replied — "Ill accept the office and now I thank you and my superior for it"

Library of Congress: Herndon-Weik Collection. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 3357

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