Gustav Philipp Koerner , also spelled Gustave or Gustavus Koerner ( 20 November 1809 – 9 April 1896 ) was a revolutionary , journalist , lawyer , politician , judge , and statesman in Illinois and Germany and a Colonel of the U.S. Army who was a confessed enemy of slavery . He married on 17 June 1836 in Belleville Sophia Dorothea Engelmann ( 16 November 1815 – 1 March 1888 ) , they had 9 children . He belonged to the co-founders and was one of the first members of the Grand Old Party ; and he was a close confidant of Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd and had an essential role in his nomination and election for president in 1860
nomination
1860 Republican National Convention
Gustav Koerner