Burlington Sept 15, 48

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[Dear S]ir

I received yours of Aug [in] the midst of our election & have but just had leisure to attend to your request. I have now written to the Secretary of the Governor and presume the commission will be sent.

My constituents have found the nomination of Gen Taylor too hard a pill to swallow, and though in 1844 I had a clear majority of 1500, which certainly had not diminished six months since, I am now defeated

by probably not less than five hundred.

Still, as my plurality is large, I think it rather probable, that I shall be elected at a future trial, and I have little doubt that Taylor will receive the electoral vote of the state, unless some new 'letter' shall put him in a yet worse position, then he now occupies.

I am, sin[cerely yours]Chas D. Drake EsqCincinnati

References in this letter:

Charles D. Drake, (1811-1892), was elected as a State Senator for Missouri in 1866. He resigned his position in 1871 to become a judge for the United States Court of Claims in Washington, D.C.