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Monday, July 5, 1847.+-

Chicago, IL.

River and Harbor Convention meets. Lincoln, Dr. Merryman, and Fred Doyle represent Sangamon County. At 10 o'clock, preceded by bands, fire companies and militia, delegates march to pavilion. Addresses are delivered and temporary organization effected. Permanent organization and more speeches occupy afternoon. Robert Fergus, comp., Fergus' Historical Series, No. 18: Chicago River and Harbor Convention (Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1882).

Lincoln's new clothes do not produce intended effect. Elihu B. Washburne of Galena recalled: "One afternoon, several of us sat on the sidewalk under the balcony of the Sherman House, and among the number was the accomplished scholar and unrivaled orator, Lisle Smith. He suddenly interrupted the conversation by exclaiming, `There is Lincoln on the other side of the street. Just look at "Old Abe".' And from that time we all called him `Old Abe'. No one who saw him can forget his personal appearance at that time. Tall, angular and awkward, he had on a short-waisted, thin swallow-tail coat, a short vest of the same material, thin pantaloons, scarcely coming to his ankles, a straw hat and a pair of brogans with woolen socks." Allen Thorndike Rice, ed., Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, by Distinguished Men of his Time, 16.