Your Friend, As Ever, A. Lincoln : How the Unlikely Friendship of Gustav Koerner and Abraham Lincoln Changed America

If not for the unlikely friendship of wealthy German immigrant Gustav Koerner, Abraham Lincoln may never have been nominated for-much less voted into-the presidency of the United States. Yet, historians often disregard the significance of Koerner, a political activist exiled from Germany in 1833 for his radical beliefs on human rights. While remarkably different in their familial upbringing and social class, Koerner and Lincoln crossed paths as young lawyers in frontier Illinois. The two forged a friendship based on a firm mutual belief in fundamental human rights.

In this comprehensive work, author Donald Allendorf draws upon the extensive memoirs and letters of Gustav Koerner in order to tell the tale of this remarkable friendship. More than simply a confidant, Koerner would be the one to persuade the Indiana caucus's delegates to unanimously support Lincoln. Years later, Koerner was selected as the lone pallbearer of Lincoln's casket not from Springfield.

Donald Allendorf is a graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. His early years were spent in St. Louis, Missouri, framed against the onset of the Great Depression and World War II. After serving as a commissioned officer in the US Navy during the post-Korean War era, Allendorf went on to spend a fruitful thirty-six years in corporate communications, working in senior management of the Gates Corporation in Denver for the final fifteen years of his career. Now retired, he lives with his wife, June, in Columbia, Missouri.