LINCOLN (ABRAHAM)
Autograph note signed ('A. Lincoln') on a small card, giving permission for Mr Kilgore and friend to visit USS Monitor ('I think the Sec. of Navy might allow Hon. Mr Kilgore & his friend to visit the Monitor'), mounted in a card wallet bearing collection label '203', one page, mounted on card using photo corners, 12mo (48 x 80mm.), [n.p. but Washington], 4 November 1862
Footnotes:
'TO VISIT THE MONITOR': ABRAHAM LINCOLN GIVES PERMISSION TO VISIT HIS IRONCLAD WARSHIP DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.

The USS Monitor was built at the behest of Abraham Lincoln for the US Navy during the American Civil War in response to the Confederates' own ironclad Virginia. The Union had blockaded the port of Hampton Roads and it was feared the Virginia would be able to break through. Under commanding officer Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden, the Monitor famously encountered the Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862, the first battle fought between armoured warships. It was deemed to be a draw, but the encounter ensured that '...the worldwide strategies of naval warfare and shipbuilding were changed forever...' (Monitor National Marine Sanctuary website). The Virginia was to be destroyed by its own commander in May that year in order to prevent it falling into Union hands. Distinguished by its revolving 'Ericsson' turret (named after the designer John Ericsson), the Monitor was completed in early 1862 and the design established the blueprint for the Monitor class of warship built for the American Navy for decades to come.

At the time of our note, the Monitor was in dry dock at the Washington Navy Yard for repairs, where it had been greeted by thousands of cheering admirers. A welcome ceremony in October was attended by Lincoln and many distinguished guests and the ship became rather a tourist attraction, the victim of souvenir hunters who, it is reported, stripped it bare. By November, however, it was fully repaired and ready to return to service. Its triumphant return was to be short lived. On the last day of the year, the Monitor foundered while under tow during a storm off Cape Hatteras, its wreck lying undiscovered until 1973.

Provenance: Private European collection formed by the owner's father some 50 years ago; purchased from Studio Albertino Mussato (bookseller's catalogue description inside presentation folder).
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