David A. Smith, a Jacksonville, Illinois lawyer, was a long-time colleague of Abraham Lincoln, some 30 miles away in Springfield. Lincoln and Smith were associated on some 68 cases as either co-counselors or opposing attorneys. The present letter is in regard to the granting of the charter for the Illinois Central Railroad, a contentious process argued before the Eighth Judicial Circuit. It sheds light on Lincoln's involvement in the struggle for the charter, before his well-known service as counsel to the railroad from 1853 until his nomination for president in 1860. David Smith writes to Hon. John McLean in Washington: "A. Lincoln Esqr., solicitor for myself & others n the very important chancery case decided at the last term of the circuit of U.S. for this state, has just addressed a telegraphic dispatch to you inquiring when the supreme court will probably adjourn and you will leave Washington... The Central Rail Road charter has been jus passed confirming upon our value from Judge Lockwood the office of one of their trustees..."