Springfield, Illinois. March 2, 1857.
Rev. James Lemen,
[O'Fallon, Illinois,]

Friend Lemen: Thanking you for your warm appreciation of my views in a former letter as to the importance in many features of your collection of old family notes and papers, I will add a few words more as to Elijah P. Lovejoy's case. His letters among your old family notes were of more interest to me than even those of Thomas Jefferson, written to your father. Of course they [the latter] were exceedingly important as a part of the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact," under which your father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., as Jefferson's anti-slavery agent in Illinois, founded his anti-slavery churches, among which was the present Bethel church, which set in motion the forces which finally made Illinois a free state, all of which was splendid; but Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened in the new world.

Both your father and Lovejoy were pioneer leaders in the cause of freedom, and it has always been difficult for me to see why your father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and aggressive leader, who boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state free, never aroused nor encountered any of that mob violence which both in St. Louis and Alton confronted or pursued Lovejoy, and which finally doomed him to a felon's death and a martyr's crown. Perhaps the two cases are a little parallel with those of John and Peter. John was bold and fearless at the scene of the Crucifixion, standing near the cross receiving the Savior's request to care for his mother, but was not annoyed; while Peter, whose disposition to shrink from public view, seemed to catch the attention of members of the mob on every hand, until finally to throw public attention off, he denied his master with an oath; though later the grand old apostle redeemed himself grandly, and like Lovejoy, died a martyr to his faith. Of course, there was no similarity between Peter's treachery at the Temple and Lovejoy's splendid courage when the pitiless mob were closing around him. But in the cases of the two apostles at the scene mentioned, John was more prominent or loyal in his presence and attention to the Great Master than Peter was, but the latter seemed to catch the attention of the mob; and as Lovejoy, one of the most inoffensive of men, for merely printing a small paper, devoted to the freedom of the body and mind of man, was pursued to his death; while his older comrade in the cause of freedom, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who boldly and aggressively proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state free, was never molested a moment by the minions of violence. The madness and pitiless determination with which the mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom, marks it as one of the most unreasoning and unreasonable in all time, except that which doomed the Savior to the cross.

If ever you should come to Springfield again, do not fail to call. The memory of our many "evening sittings" here and elsewhere, as we called them, suggests many a pleasant hour, both pleasant and helpful.

Truly yours,
A. Lincoln.

XIV. THE LEMEN MONUMENT AND REV. LEMEN'S PART IN EARLY ILLINOIS HISTORY

(From Belleville Advocate, Tuesday, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,—K11)

The monument to be erected by the Baptist people of Illinois and others at the grave of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., near Waterloo in Monroe county, is not only to honor his memory as a revolutionary soldier, territorial leader, Indian fighter, and founder of the Baptist cause in Illinois, but it is also in remembrance of the fact that he was the companion and co-worker with Thomas Jefferson in setting in motion the forces which finally recorded the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, which dedicated the great Northwest territory to freedom and later gave Illinois a free state constitution.

Only recently the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Chicago, after a critical examination of James Lemen's military and civil record, by unanimous vote, appropriated twenty-five dollars for his monument fund; and we give below a copy of the papers which they used and which will interest our readers, the first being Gen. Ainsworth's letter:

WAR DEPARTMENT
Adjutant General's Office