Lincoln Beats McClellan 92-77! Rare Poll Book and Tally of the 1864 Pres. Vote

Comprised of:

(1) Partly printed Poll Book, 12 lined and columned pages, 8.5” x 14”. Completed in manuscript. First page and three inside pages are filled out; the rest are blank. First (cover) page is headed: “State of Indiana, Harrison County, S.S. We the undersigned Board of Judges of an Election held at the town of Buena Vista in Taylor Township, Harrison County, and State of Indiana, on the 8th of November, 1864, for the Election of thirteen Electors for President and Vice President, Certify that the following number of Votes were cast for each Candidate:” Signed by one Inspector, two Clerks, and two Judges. Printed at the left, in a column: “George B. McClellan / and / George H. Pendleton, / For Electors.” followed by 13 names, and “Abraham Lincoln / and / Andrew Johnson, / For Electors.” followed by 13 names. To the right of the name of the first McClellan / Pendleton elector is penned “Received Seventyseven Votes 77” followed by 12 sets of three ditto marks. To the right of the name of the first Lincoln / Johnson elector is penned “Received Ninetytwo Votes 92” followed by 12 sets of three ditto marks. At the bottom is the following statement: “Three double tickets were voted and not counted.” On three inside pages is a list of the names of the 172 voters. Lincoln’s votes (92) + McClellan’s votes (77) + voters who cast tickets for both (3) = 172. Folds. On good quality laid paper. Docketed: “Poll Book / of / Taylor Township / Filed in the clerk office / Nov 10th 1864,” signed by the county clerk. Fine condition.

(2) Partly printed Tally Paper, one page, 17.25” x 22.5”. Completed in manuscript. Headed: “A Tally Paper of an Annual Election, held at the town of Buena Vista in Taylor Township, Harrison County, and State of Indiana, on the 8th of November, 1864, for the Election of thirteen Electors for President of the United States.” Bears the signatures of the Inspector, two Judges, and two Clerks. Printed at the left, in the “Names of Candidates” column: “George B. McClellan / and / George H. Pendleton, / For Electors.” followed by 13 names, and “Abraham Lincoln / and / Andrew Johnson, / For Electors.” followed by 13 names. To the right of each of the McClellan / Pendleton electors are 72 slash marks and the words “Seventy seven” on one line followed by 12 ditto marks. To the right of each of the Lincoln / Johnson electors are 92 slash marks and the words “Ninety two” on one line followed by 12 ditto marks. A few ink smudges. Folded. On good quality laid paper. Docketed: “Tally papers / of / Taylor Township / filed in the clerks / office Nov 10th / 1864” signed by the county clerk. Fine condition.

The fifth-largest state, Indiana’s 13 electoral votes went to President Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 election. He won 53% of the state’s popular vote, 149,887 to 130,230, and the national election defeating Gen. George B. McClellan, winning 55.1% of the popular vote (2.2 million) to 44.9% (1.8 million) and 212 electoral votes to 21.

The town of Buena Vista was in Taylor Township in Harrison County, Indiana. Formed in 1808, Harrison County was named for William Henry Harrison, the first Governor of the Territory of Indiana.

On July 9, 1863, Harrison County was the scene of the Battle of Corydon, the only Civil War battle fought on Indiana soil. 450 members of the Harrison County Home Guard attempted to delay General John Hunt Morgan’s 2,400 Confederate soldiers that day in hopes that Union reinforcements would arrive and stop Morgan’s march through southern Indiana. Gen. Morgan captured the town of Corydon, Indiana’s first state capital. On July 10th, the headline of the “Indianapolis Gazetteer” read “Former Capitol Corydon Ravaged By Morgan’s Raiders; Two Hoosiers Dead.” Morgan and his soldiers had plundered the town, robbing its citizens and taking ransom from store owners threatened with destruction of their buildings. Before leaving the town, while having lunch at the Kintner House Inn, Morgan read the day’s edition of the “Corydon Democrat” which headined: “Glorious News! / Vicksburg Surrendered with Over / 20,000 Prisoners! / The Great Battle at Gettysburg / Penn. Between Gens. Meade and / Lee – Lee Badly whipped.” His hosts later said that upon his reading the paper, he was “noticeably crestfallen.”

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.