Wilson, Douglas L., ed; Davis, Rodney O., ed. 'Register of Informants' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon737.html

A Massachusetts politician who nourished a hatred of slavery, Wilson left the Whigs to help found the Free-Soil party in 1848. As a member of the American (Know-Nothing) party in 1854, he again led a revolt over an evasive stand on slavery. Wilson was elected in 1855 to the U.S. Senate, where he chaired its Committee on Military Affairs during the Civil War and constantly urged AL to proclaim emancipation. He was vice president of the United States under Ulysses S. Grant from 1873 to 1875, when he died in office. (DAB)