Sent to Jefferson by John S. Cogdell on September 4, 1810: “Obtruding on you a letter, no matter what the subject, would seem to require an apology--I am unable to offer any other than the motive which actuates me to send you the enclosed oration.--if it finds you in a moment of leisure--it will I hope furnish for me an efficient Excuse.

"’Tis from the pen of a Gentleman not only very prominent in the Institution by which he was nominated, but at this moment very popular in our state; he fills the dignified station of Attorney General--he is a candidate for that place in the 12 ^th .Congress, which--Mr. Marion--holds in the Eleventh;--had his sphere been located to the narrow confines of Charleston, or even our state, I should not have presumed thus, but while the National Councils of our common Country seem to be his destined orbit, I would fain do my endeavours to make him known as far as I could to men who are capable of estimating his merits and his political sentiments at their real Value . . .”

Jefferson replied from Monticello on September 29: “ Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to m( ^~ r) Cogdell, and his thanks for the copy of m( ^~ r) Cheves’s oration which he was so kind as to send him, and which he has read with pleasure. it is a very satisfactory specimen of sentiments & of talents worthy of being employed on the national theatre, and promising there a more general usefulness. he prays m ( ^~ r) Cogdell’s acceptance of his acknolegements for the friendly expressions of his letter & the assurances of his great respect.”

Langdon Cheves, 1776-1857. In December 1810 Robert Marion resigned from the Eleventh Congress and Cheves was elected to fill the vacancy. He was reelected to the Twelfth Congress in 1811.

Sent to Jefferson by the Bunker Hill Association, with a letter dated from Boston July 12, 1810, and signed by three members of the Committee, Benjamin Homans, J. E. Smith and William Blagrove: “We have the honour to address you in conformity to a vote of the general committee of the “Bunker Hill Association,” and request you to accept a copy of the Oration delivered on the 4 ^th of July last.

"In commemorating the feelings and principles which led to the glorious event of our revolution, it is peculiarly congenial to our grateful sensibility on this occasion, to render homage to the virtues of those Patriots who contributed thereto, and to express individually our personal respect for your character and our thanks for your continued support of the republican institutions of our Country.

"May the evening of your valuable life be attended with that calm serenity and sublime enjoyment which the good man only knows, and which approximates this state of existence to immortal felicity.”

Jefferson replied from Monticello on August 4: “ I have safely recieved the eloquent oration of m( ^~ r) Lincoln delivered before the Bunker’s hill association, which you have been so kind as to forward me; and, if I mistake not the author, I may congratulate an excellent and much ”