Like many state Republicans , Keyes supported Sen. William Seward for president at the 1860 convention in Chicago , but transferred support to Abraham Lincoln after his nomination became imminent . Upon his return to Madison , he and another Republican lifted a rail from an old fence to their shoulders and marched to the capitol to demonstrate support for Lincoln " the Rail Splitter . " At the Second Congressional District Republican Convention held that summer in La Crosse , Keyes led a group of young former Whigs of Dane County ( including '' Wisconsin State Journal '' publishers Horace Rublee and David Atwood ) to help secure the nomination of his friend Luther Hanchett for the U.S. Senate , despite Madison Republican Chauncey Abbott having been the presumed favorite
1860 convention
1860 Republican National Convention
Elisha W. Keyes