(ABRAHAM LINCOLN.) Wide-Awake Head Quarters . . . General Order No. 4. 2 printed pages, 9¼ x 7¼ inches, plus printed map on integral leaf, signed in type by William Martin Gillespie as adjutant; horizontal fold, minor staining and wear. New York, 1 October 1860 This printed circular letter describes the plans for a 3 October full parade of the Wide-Awakes, the paramilitary Lincoln supporters, from New York City and beyond. Four parade marshals are named, and the home territories of each Wide-Awake group are described, including Hartford, New Haven, northern New England, Philadelphia, Jersey City, upstate New York, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Manhattan's various wards. A few Lincoln supporters from the southern border states even made the trip from Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. Among the rules for the march: "No derisive caricature, transparency or device calculated to give offence, will be permitted in the pageant, and no person not in uniform will be allowed in the ranks. Ribald expressions or demonstrations are unworthy the notice of the Wide-Awakes."
The map on the rear page shows the procession for the "Grand Wide-Awake Demonstration" originating at Manhattan's Madison Square Park, with the 16 subdivisions joining the march down 5th Avenue between 23rd and 15th Streets, and then proceeding downtown on Broadway. The present site of Swann Galleries is in the upper right corner of the map.
While one copy of the Wide-Awake Head Quarters General Order No. 3 has been traced at auction (Swann, 8 April 2014, lot 160), we have traced no other surviving copies of the present piece.