If ever you should come to Springfield again, do not fail to call. The memory of our many "evening sittings" here and elsewhere, as we called them, suggests many a pleasant hour, both pleasant and helpful. Truly yours, A. LINCOLN. XIV. THE LEMEN MONUMENT AND REV. LEMEN'S PART IN EARLY ILLINOIS HISTORY (From _Belleville Advocate_, Tuesday, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,--K11) The monument to be erected by the Baptist people of Illinois and others at the grave of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., near Waterloo in Monroe county, is not only to honor his memory {p.52} as a revolutionary soldier, territorial leader, Indian fighter, and founder of the Baptist cause in Illinois, but it is also in remembrance of the fact that he was the companion and co-worker with Thomas Jefferson in setting in motion the forces which finally recorded the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787, which dedicated the great Northwest territory to freedom and later gave Illinois a free state constitution. Only recently the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Chicago, after a critical examination of James Lemen's military and civil record, by unanimous vote, appropriated twenty-five dollars for his monument fund; and we give below a copy of the papers which they used and which will interest our readers, the first being Gen. Ainsworth's letter: WAR DEPARTMENT Adjutant General's Office Washington, Feb. 13, 1908. The records show that James Lemen served as private in Captain George Wall's Company of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, commanded at various times by Major Isaac Beall and Colonels James Wood and John Neville in the Revolutionary war. Term of enlistment, one year from March 3, 1778. F. C. AINSWORTH, Adjt. Gen. ("In January 1779, James Lemen had his term of enlistment extended for two years and was transferred to another regiment. After his term expired he rejoined his old regiment and served through the siege at Yorktown. He was in several engagements.") [J. B. L.] XV. REV. JAMES LEMEN, SR. (Written by Rev. John M. Peck, in 1857. Published in _Belleville Advocate_, April 6, 1909. Clipping in I.B.H.C.,--K11) Rev. James Lemen, Sr., a son of Nicholas Lemen and Christian Lemen, his wife, was born at the family home near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on November 20, 1760. He acquired a practical education and in early manhood married Miss Katherine Ogle, of Virginia, and they reared a family. He enlisted for a year as a soldier of the Revolutionary War, on March 3, 1778, but had his term extended to two years, and {p.53} was in several engagements. Sometime after his enlistment expired he rejoined his old comrades and served through the siege at Yorktown.