Dr. Restore C. Carter to Abraham Lincoln, November 12, 1860

To the
        Hon. A. Lincoln

Dear Sir,

Though personally a stranger to you, I wish to make one suggestion; that is, be careful that your enemies do not administer Poison to you, they feel desperate & I fear they will resort to desperate measures— What caused the Hon. J. Buchanan to forsake “The Cincinnati platform”? Was it not the poisoning case at Washington soon after his Inauguration, which caused him to face South? I hope my suspicions may be ill founded—

May God enable you to “be as wise as a serpent & as harmless as a dove”; & thus guide & sustain you in your ardious & responsible position; & may He bless this land & nation. 

Respectfully yours—

R. C. Carter—

Cin. Nov, 12th 1860.
    George Street, No. 112— O. 
        Private

SOURCES: Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: R. C. Carter to Abraham Lincoln, Monday,Be aware of poison. 1860. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal0444300/; Mack V. Williams, Williams' Cincinnati City Directory [1874], p. 203; 1860 Federal Census for the 14th Ward, Cincinnati City, Hamilton County, Ohio, taken June 15, 1860 by Bart Smith, Dwelling 689, Family722