WILLIAM L. DAYTON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/26/1861 - HFSID 315358

WILLIAM L. DAYTON
As US Minister to France in the first year of the American Civil War, he writes to the US on personal financial matters.
Autograph Letter signed: "Wm. L. Dayton", 1 page, 5¼x8. Legation of the United States, Paris, 1861 September 26. On official letterhead to Mr. T. Stryker, in full: "A letter was directed to the 'Agent of Hon. Wm. L. Dayton, Trenton, N. J. from St Louis and enclosing a sight check endorsed to me for $50. Please take the letter from the Post Office under my name (though in your authority for doing so) and carry the money to my credit in Bank. Tell Mr. Sherman he need not trouble himself about the land in that mortgage. I have written to Wilson, Cutting & Down on the subject. We are all well. Regards to your family. Yours very truly". William L. Dayton (1807-1864), a New Jersey legislator and State Supreme Court Justice, served in the US Senate as a Whig (1842-1851). He was the first Vice Presidential candidate of the Republican Party in 1856, running with John C. Fremont on a ticket which lost to Democrats Buchanan and Breckinridge 174-114 electoral votes. He was serving as New Jersey's Attorney General when President Lincoln appointed him US Minister to France in 1861. He died in that post, having played a valuable role in dissuading France from recognizing the Confederacy. Dayton, New Jersey is named for him, but not Dayton, Ohio, which honors Constitution signer Jonathan Dayton, a distant relative. Normal mailing folds. Toned and creased. Edges and corners worn, heavily at top right edge. Adhesive residue on verso. Pencil note (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.