On October 11, 1858, Abraham Lincoln sat for a head-and-shoulders ambrotype portrait by photographer William Judkins Thomson in Monmouth, Illinois. Taken during his campaign for the United States Senate against Stephen A. Douglas, the photograph was made just two days before the sixth Lincoln–Douglas debate in Quincy. Lincoln had spent the day campaigning in Monmouth, where he delivered a lengthy outdoor address before visiting Thomson’s gallery.
Lincoln appears to have sought out the portrait as a personal gift for Mrs. Harriet Chapman, the granddaughter of his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln. He had recently stayed with Chapman’s family during the Charleston stage of the campaign, and the photograph served as a token of gratitude for their hospitality. The image records a lean, solemn likeness of the 49-year-old candidate at a pivotal point in his political rise.
The original glass-plate ambrotype is now part of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s collection, while the Library of Congress preserves a historic photographic print. It endures as a striking visual record of the 1858 campaign trail—and of the future president at the moment when the debates against Douglas were bringing him national attention.
