Swett, Leonard
b. August 11, 1825, in Turner, Maine; d. June 8, 1889, in Chicago, Illinois. Swett was educated at Waterville University and
read law in Portland, Maine. He served in the Mexican War, and after the war ended,
he settled in Bloomington, Illinois. Swett was admitted to the bar in 1849 and practiced law and traveled on the Eighth Judicial
Circuit. Swett was active in Whig party politics, and when the Missouri Compromise was repealed, he joined the Republican
party.
He was elected to the state legislature in 1858 on the Republican ticket. Swett actively campaigned for Lincoln during his
1860
bid for the presidency. During the Civil War, Swett spent most of his time in Washington where Lincoln employed Swett in the
trial
of government cases. In 1865, Swett moved to Chicago and formed a law partnership with Judge Van H. Higgins and Colonel David
Quigg.
To the Biography of Illinois of the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1875), 481-82;
Chicago Times (Illinois), 9 June 1889, 11; John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer (New
York: Bramhall House, 1960); Mark E. Neely Jr., The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw Hill, 1982),
299-300; John Palmer, ed., Bench and Bar of The Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1899), 1:562; Benjamin P. Thomas, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952).
Illustration courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.