Lincoln travels by train to Lincoln, Illinois. A newspaper reports that the train's cars "were completely filled inside, and covered with passengers on top, before reaching Lincoln." Lincoln arrives at about noon and "partak[es] of some refreshments." At approximately two o'clock, after local attorney Samuel C. Parks introduces him, Lincoln begins a two-hour speech. He delivers the remarks from "the stand, erected near the west front of the Court House" before approximately 5,000 people. A newspaper reports, "Mr. Lincoln made an eloquent speech, and showed up [Stephen A.] Douglas' inconsistencies in fine style." Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 18 October 1858, 2:2; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 18 October 1858, 2:3; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 21 October 1858, 2:3.

Someone, perhaps Lincoln, purchases nine pounds of sugar and five pounds of "Java" coffee from the John Williams & Co. store and charges the total cost of two dollars to Lincoln's account. Harry E. Pratt, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1943), 145-49.