Lincoln catches up on his correspondence. To Gillespie he writes encouragement: "I do hope you are worse scared than hurt, though you ought to know best. We must not lose that district." "I write this mostly because I learn we are in great danger in Madison," he writes Koerner. "It is said half the Americans are going for Douglas; and that slam will ruin us if not counteracted." He writes George W. Woods of Macoupin County that he cannot make appointment for speech until debates are scheduled. Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Gillespie, 25 July 1858, CW, 2:523-24; Abraham Lincoln to Gustave P. Koerner, 25 July 1858, CW, 2:524; Abraham Lincoln to George W. Woods, 25 July 1858, CW, 2:524.