i 44
LETTERS
by yourself and by Mr. Goodrich; and
in addi-
tion
all the points
I could think of and
all the
authorities
I
could
find
myself. ...
I do not
think
I could
ever have argued
the case
better
than
I
did.
I
did nothing
else, but prepare
to
argue and argue
this
case, from Friday morn-
ing
till Monday
evening.
Very
sorry
for
the
result;
but
I do
not
think
it
could have been
prevented.
Your friend as ever,
A.
Lincoln.
Clinton, De Witt Co., Nov.
10, 1854.
Mr. Charles Hoyt.
Dear Sir: You used to express a good deal of
partiality
for me, and
if you
are
still
so, now
is
the
time.
Some
friends
here
are
really
for
me,
for the U.
S.
Senate, and
I should be very
grateful if you could make a mark for me among
your members.
Please
write me
at
all
events
giving me the names,
post-offices, and
"political
position"
of members round about you.
Direct
to Springfield.
Let this be confidential.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Hubbard, G. S.
[See Dole, George W.]
Hunt, W.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August
16, 1864.
Hon. Ward Hunt.
My dear Sir: Yours of the ninth instant was
duly
received,
and
submitted
to
Secretary
HUNT, MRS.
145
Seward.
He makes a response which
I herewith
inclose to you.
I add
for myself that
I am for
the
regular nominee
in
all
cases,
and
that no
one could be more satisfactory to me as the nom-
inee in that district than Mr. [Roscoe] Conkling.
I do not mean to say there
[are]
not others as
good as he
in the
district; but
I
think
I know
him to be
at
least good enough.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Hunt,
Mrs.
[Memorandum.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April
11, 1864.
Whom
it may concern
:
I know nothing on the
subject
of the attached
letter except
as
therein
stated.
Neither do I personally know Mrs. Hunt.
She has, however, from the beginning of the war
been
constantly
represented
to me
as
an
open,
and somewhat
influential,
friend
of the Union.
Tt
has
been
said
to me
(I know
not whether
truly) that her husband is in the rebel army; that
she avows her purpose to not live with him again
;
and that she refused to see him when she had an
opportunity during one of John Morgan's raids
into Kentucky.
I would not
offer
her, nor any
wife, a temptation to a permanent separation from
her husband
; but
if she shall avow that her mind
is
already independently and
fully made up
to
such separation,
I shall be glad for the property
sought by her
letter to be delivered to her upon
her taking the oath of December
8,
1863.
A. Lincoln.
146
LETTERS
Hunter, David.
[Private and Confidential.]
Major David Hunter,
Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas.
Springfield, Illinois, October 26, i860.
Major David Hunter:
My
dear
Sir: Your
very
kind
letter
of
the
20th was duly
received,
for which pleace accept
my thanks.
I have another
letter, from a writer
unknown to me, saying the
officers
of' the army
at Fort Kearney have determined, in case of Re-
publican success
at the approaching presidential
election,
to
take
themselves,
and
the
arms
at
that
point,
South,
for the purpose of
resistance
to the government.
While I think there are many
chances
to one that
this
is a humbug,
it occurs
to me that any real movement of this sort in the
army would leak out and become known to you.
In such case,
if
it would not be unprofessional or
dishonorable
(of which you are to be judge),
I
shall
be much
obliged
if
you
will
apprise me
of
it.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Confidential]
Springfield, Illinois, December 22, i860.
Major David Hunter
:
My dear Sir
:
I am much obliged by the receipt
of yours of the
18th.
The most we can do now
is
to watch
events, and be
as
well prepared
as
possible
for any turn
things may
take.
If
the
forts
fall, my judgment
is
that they
are
to
be
HUNTER, DAVID
147
retaken.
When
I
shall determine
definitely my
time of starting to Washington,
I will notify you.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, September 9,
1861.
Major-General David Hunter.
My dear
Sir
:
General Fremont needs
assist-
ance which
it is difficult to give him.
He is losing
the confidence of men near him, whose support
any man
in
his
position must have
to be
suc-
cessful.
His cardinal mistake
is that he isolates
himself and
allows nobody
to
see
him, and by
which he does not know what
is going on in the
very matter he is dealing with.
He needs to have
by
his
side
a man
of
large
experience.
Will
you not,
for me, take that place?
Your rank
is
one grade too high to be ordered to
it, but will
you not serve the country and oblige me by tak-
ing
it voluntarily?
A. Lincoln.
[Oct.
14,
1861:
Fremont, John C.
Oct.
24,
1861: See
Curtis, S. R.J
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Dec.
31,
1861.
Major-General Hunter
:
Dear Sir
: Yours of the 23d
is received, and
I
am constrained to say
it
is
difficult to answer so
ugly
a
letter
in
good
temper.
I
am,
as
you
intimate,
losing much of the great confidence
I
placed
in you, not from any act or omission of
yours touching the public service, up to the time
you
were
sent
to
Leavenworth,
but
from
the
flood of grumbling despatches and letters
I have
i 48
LETTERS
seen from yon
since.
I knew you were being
ordered to Leavenworth at the time
it was done
;
and
I aver that with as tender a regard for your
honor and your sensibilities as
I had for my own,
it
never
occurred
to me
that you
were
being
"humiliated,
insulted and
disgraced"
;
nor
have
I, up to this day, heard an intimation that you
have been wronged, coming from any one but
yourself—No one has blamed you for the retro-
grade movement from
Springfield,
nor
for
the
information
you
gave
General
Cameron
;
and
this you could readily understand,
if
it were not
for your unwarranted
assumption
that
the
or-
dering
you
to
Leavenworth
must
necessarily
have been done as a punishment for some fault.
I thought
then, and think
yet,
the
position
as-
signed to you
is as responsible, and as honorable,
as that assigned
to Buell—I know that General
McClellan expected more important results from
it.
My impression
is that at the time you were
assigned to the new Western Department,
it had
not been determined to replace General Sherman
in Kentucky; but of
this
I am not
certain,
be-
cause the idea that a command in Kentucky was
very desirable, and one
in the farther West un-
desirable, had never occurred
to me—You con-
stantly
speak
of
being
placed
in command
of
only 3,000—Now
tell me,
is
this not mere im-
patience ?
Have you not known all the while that
you
are
to command
four
or
five
times
that
many?
I
have
been, and am
sincerely
your
friend
;
and
if, as such,
I dare to make a suggestion,
I
would
say
you
are
adopting
the
best
possible
way to ruin yourself.
"Act well your part, there
all the honor
lies."
He who does something at
\
HUNTER, DAVID
149
the head of one Regiment, will eclipse him who
does nothing at the head of a hundred.
Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
On
the
outside
of
the
envelope
in
which
this
letter
was
found,
General Hunter had
written:
"The
President's
reply
to my
'ugly
letter.'
This
lay
on
his
table
a month
after
it was
written, and when
finally sent was by a special conveyance, with the direc-
tion that
it was only to be given to me when I was in a
good
humor."
[Indorsement
on
General
Hunter s
Order
of
Military Emancipation.]
May
17,
1862.
No commanding general shall do such a thing
upon my responsibility without consulting me.
A. Lincoln.
[Nov.
5,
1862.
See McClellan, George
B.]
[Private.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, April
1, 1863.
Major-General Hunter.
My dear Sir
:
I am glad to see the accounts of
your
colored
force
at
Jacksonville,
Florida.
I
see the enemy are driving at them
fiercely, as
is
to
be
expected.
It
is
important
to
the enemy
that such a force shall not take shape and grow
and
thrive
in
the
South,
and
in
precisely
the
same proportion
it is important to us that
it shall.
Hence the utmost caution and vigilance
is neces-
sary on our
part.
The enemy
will make extra
efforts
to destroy them, and we should do
the
same
to preserve and increase them.
Yours
truly,
A. Lincoln.
150
LETTERS
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April
14, 1863.
General Hunter and Admiral Du Pont:
This is intended to clear up an apparent incon-
sistency
between
the
recent
order
to
continue
operations before Charleston and the former one
to
remove
to
another
point
in
a
certain
con-
tingency.
No
censure
upon
you,
or
either
of
you,
is intended.
We
still hope that by cordial
and judicious cooperation you can take the bat-
teries
on
Morris
Island
and
Sullivan's
Island
and Fort Sumter.
But whether you can or not,
we wish the demonstration kept up
for a time,
for a collateral and very important object.
We
wish the attempt to be a real one, though not a
desperate
one,
if
it
affords
any
considerable
chance
of
success.
But
if
prosecuted
as
a
demonstration only, this must not become public,
or
the
whole
effect
will
be
lost.
Once
again
before Charleston, do not
leave
till
further
or-
ders from here.
Of course
this
is not intended
to
force
you
to
leave
unduly
exposed
Hilton
Head or other near points in your charge.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
P.
S.
Whoever receives this first, please send
a copy to the other immediately.
A. L.
[Private.']
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 30,
1863.
Major-General Hunter:
My dear
Sir
: This morning
I was presented
an order of yours, dismissing from the
service,
subject
to my
approval,
a Captain
Schaadt,
of
HUNTER, DAVID
[
one of the Pennsylvania
regiments.
Disloyalty,
without any statement of the evidence supposed
to have proved
it,
is assigned as the cause of the
dismissal; and he represents
at home—as
I am
told—that the
sole evidence was
his
refusal
to
sanction
a
resolution
(indorsing the Emancipa-
tion
Proclamation,
I
helieve)
; and
our
friends
assure me that this statement
is doing the Union
cause
great
harm
in
his
neighborhood
and
county,
especially
as he
is a man
of
character,
did good service in raising troops for us last fall,
and
still declares for the Union and his wish to
fight for
it.
On this state of the case
I wrote a special in-
dorsement on the order, which
I suppose he will
present to you
; and
I write this merely to assure
you
that no censure
is intended upon you; but
that
it is hoped that you will inquire into the case
more minutely, and that
if there be no evidence
but
his
refusal
to
sanction
the
resolution, you
will restore him.
Yours as ever,
A.
Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June
30,
1863.
Major-General Hunter
:
My dear General:
I have
just
received your
letter of the 25th of June.
I assure you, and you may
feel authorized
in
stating, that the recent change of commanders in
the Department of
the South was made
for no
reasons which convey any imputation upon your
known energy, efficiency, and patriotism
; but for
causes which seemed
sufficient, while they were
in no degree incompatible with
the
respect and
152
LETTERS
esteem in which I have always held you as a man
and an officer.
I cannot, by giving my consent to a publica-
tion of whose details I know nothing, assume the
responsibility
of whatever you may
write.
In
this matter your own sense of military propriety
must be your guide, and the regulations of the
service your rule of conduct.
I am very truly your friend,
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
[Washington], July
17, 1864.
Major-General Hunter,
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia:
Yours
of
this
morning
received.
You
mis-
conceive.
The order you complain of was only
nominally mine, and was framed by those who
really made
it with no thought of making you a
scapegoat.
It
seemed
to
be
General
Grant's
wish that the forces under General Wright and
those under you
should
join and
drive
at
the
enemy under General Wright.
Wright had the
larger part of the
force, but you had the rank.
It was thought
that you would
prefer
Crook's
commanding your part to your serving in person
under Wright.
That
is
all of
it.
General Grant
wishes you to remain in command of the depart-
ment, and
I do not wish to order otherwise.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram in Cipher.']
War Department, July 23,
1864.
Major-General Hunter,
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
:
Are you able to take care of the enemy, when
HURLBUT, S. A.
153
he turns back upon you, as he probably
will on
finding that Wright has left?
A.
Lincoln.
Hurlbut,
S.
A.
On
July
10,
1848,
Lincoln
wrote
to
Hurlbut
from
Washington on
the
prospectus
of
a new Whig
paper,
the
Battery, published
at
the
capital,
advising Hurlbut
that
he was
sending him
a copy
of the paper by
the
same mail and that he had put down Hurlbut's name as
a
subscriber, adding, "I
will pay myself
if you are not
satisfied with
it."
Springfield, June
1,
1858.
My
dear
Sir: Yours
of
the
29th
of May
is
just
received.
I suppose
it
is hardly necessary
that
any
expression
of
preference
for
U.
S.
Senator, should be given at the county, or other
local conventions and meetings.
When the Re-
publicans of the whole State get together at the
State Convention, the thing will then be thought
of, and something will or
will not be done, ac-
cording as the united judgment may dictate.
I do not find Republicans from the old Demo-
cratic ranks more inclined to Douglas than those
from
the
old Whig
party—indeed
I
find
very
little
of such
inclination
in
either
class; but
of
that
little,
the
larger portion,
falling under my
observation, has been among old Whigs. The Re-
publicans from the
old Democratic
ranks,
con-
stantly say to me, "Take care of your old Whigs,
and have no fears for us."
I am much obliged
to you for your
letter
; and shall be glad to see
you at the convention.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
154
LETTERS
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 31, 1863.
My dear General Hurlbut
:
Your letter by Mr. Dana was duly received.
I
now learn that your resignation has reached the
War
Department.
I
also
learn
that
an
active
command
has
been
assigned
you
by
General
Grant. The Secretary of War and General Hal-
leck are very partial to you, as you know
I also
am.
We
all wish you to reconsider the question
of resigning; not that we would wish to
retain
you greatly against your wishes and interest, but
that your decision may be
at
least a very
well-
considered one.
I understand that Senator [William K.] Sebas-
tian, of Arkansas, thinks of offering
to resume
his place
in the Senate.
Of course the
Senate,
and
not
I, would
decide
whether
to
admit
or
reject him.
Still
I should
feel great
interest
in
the question.
It may be so presented as to be
one of the very greatest national importance
; and
it may be otherwise so presented as to be of no
more
than
temporary
personal
consequence
to
him.
The
emancipation
proclamation
applies
to
Arkansas.
I think
it
is valid in law, and will be
so held by the
courts.
I think
I
shall
not
re-
tract or repudiate it.
Those who shall have tasted
actual freedom
I believe can never be
slaves or
quasi-slaves again.
For the
rest,
I believe some
plan
substantially
being
gradual
emancipation
would be better for both white and black.
The
Missouri plan, recently adopted,
I do not object
to on account of the time for ending the institu-
tion; but
I am sorry the beginning should have
been postponed for seven years, leaving
all that
HURLBUT, S. A.
155
time to agitate for the repeal of the whole thing.
It
should
begin
at
once,
giving
at
least
the
new-born
a
vested
interest
in
freedom
which
could not be taken away.
If Senator Sebastian
could come
with
something
of
this
sort
from
Arkansas,
I,
at
least, should take great
interest
in his case
; and
I believe a single individual will
have scarcely done the world so great a service.
See him,
if you can, and read
this
to him
; but
charge him to not make
it public for the present.
Write me again.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram in Cipher.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December
17, 1863.
Major-General Hurlbut,
Memphis, Tenn.
:
I understand you have under sentence of death,
a tall old man, by the name of Henry F. Luckett.
I personally knew him, and did not think him a
bad man.
Please do not let him be executed un-
less
upon
further
order
from
me,
and
in
the
meantime send me a transcript of the record.
A.
Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 2, 1864.
Major-General Hurlbut.
My
dear
Sir:
General
Farnsworth
has
just
been reading to me from your
letter
to him
of
the 26th ultimo.
I snatch a moment to say that
my
friendship
and
confidence
for
you
remain
unabated, but
that Generals Grant and Thomas
cannot
be
held
to
their
just
responsibilities
if
156
LETTERS
they
are not allowed
to
control
in
the
class
of
cases to which yours belongs.
From one standpoint a court of inquiry
is most
just, but
if your case were my own
I would not
allow Generals Grant and Sherman
[to]
be
di-
verted by
it just now.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
[Private.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November
14,
1864.
Major-General Hurlbut.
Few things
since
I have been here have im-
pressed me more
painfully than what,
for
four
or five months past, has appeared a bitter military
opposition to the new State government of .Lou-
isiana.
I
still
indulged some hope
that
I was
mistaken in the fact
; but copies of a correspond-
ence on the subject between General Canby and
yourself, and shown me to-day, dispel that hope.
A very fair proportion of the people of Louisiana
have inaugurated a new State government, mak-
ing
an
excellent
new
constitution—better
for
the
poor
black man
than we
have
in
Illinois.
This was done under military protection, directed
by me,
in
the
belief,
still
sincerely
entertained,
that with such a nucleus around which to build
we could get the State into position again sooner
than otherwise.
In this belief a general promise
of
protection
and
support,
applicable
alike
to
Louisiana and other States, was given in the last
annual
message.
During
the
formation
of
the
new government and constitution they were sup-
ported by nearly every loyal person, and opposed
by every secessionist.
And this support and this
HURLBUT,
S. A.
157
opposition, from the respective standpoints of the
parties,
was
perfectly
consistent
and
logical.
Every Unionist ought
to wish the new govern-
ment to succeed
; and every disunionist must de-
sire
it to fail.
Its failure would gladden the heart
of
Slidell in Europe, and of every enemy of the
old flag in the world.
Every advocate of slavery
naturally
desires
to
see blasted and crushed the
liberty promised the black man by the new Con-
stitution.
But why General Canby and General
Hurlbut should
join on the same
side
is
to me
incomprehensible.
Of course,
in the condition of things
at New
Orleans,
the
military must
not be thwarted by
the
civil
authority
; but when the
Constitutional
Convention, for what
it deems a breach of privi-
lege, arrests an editor in no way connected with
the
military, the military necessity
for
insulting
the
Convention
and
forcibly
discharging
the
editor,
is
difficult
to
perceive.
Neither
is
the
military
necessity
for
protecting
the
people
against paying large
salaries fixed by
a
legisla-
ture
of
their
own
choosing
very
apparent.
Equally difficult to perceive
is the military neces-
sity
for
forcibly
interposing to prevent
a bank
from loaning its own money to the State.
These
things,
if they have
occurred,
are,
at
the
best,
no better than gratuitous hostility.
I wish I could
hope
that they may be shown
to not have
oc-
curred.
To make
assurance
against misunder-
standing,
I repeat that
in the existing condition
of things
in Louisiana, the military must not be
thwarted by the
civil authority
; and
I add that
on points of difference the commanding general
must be judge and master.
But
I also add that
in the exercise
of
this judgment and
control, a
153
LETTERS
purpose,
obvious
and
scarcely
unavowed,
to
transcend all military necessity, "in order to crush
out the civil government,
will not be overlooked.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Hurlbut, Mrs.
S. A.
Springfield.
111., October 29, i860.
My dear Madam: Your good husband, who
is
making speeches
for us
in
this
county, has
de-
sired me
to write you
that he
is
well, which
I
take
great
pleasure
in
doing.
I
will
add,
too,
that he
is rendering us very efficient service.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Hughes, John.
Washington, D. C, October 21,
1861.
Archbishop Hughes.
Right reverend Sir
: I am sure you will pardon
me
if in my ignorance
I do not address you with
technical correctness.
I find no law authorizing
the appointment
of chaplains
for our
hospitals
;
and yet the services of chaplains are more needed,
perhaps, in the hospitals than with the healthy sol-
diers
in the
field.
With this view,
I have given
a sort of quasi appointment
(a copy of which
I
inclose)
to each
of
three
Protestant
ministers,
who have accepted and entered upcn the duties.
If you perceive no objection,
I will thank you
to give me the name
or names of one or more
suitable persons of the Catholic Church, to whom
I may with propriety tender the same service.
Many thanks for your kind and judicious
let-
HUIDEKOPER, h.
C.
159
ters to Governor Seward, and which he regularly
allows me
both
the
pleasure and
the
profit
of
perusing.
With
the
highest
respect,
Your obedient servant,
A.
Lincoln.
Huidekoper, H. C.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September
1, 1864.
Colonel H. C. Huidekoper,
Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Sir:
It
is represented to me that there are
at
Rock
Island,
Illinois, as
rebel prisoners of war,
many persons of Northern and foreign birth who
are unwilling
to be exchanged and
sent
South,
but who wish to take the oath of allegiance and
enter the military service of the Union.
Colonel
Huidekoper,
on
behalf
of
the
people
of some
parts of Pennsylvania, wishes to pay the bounties
the government would
have
to
pay
to
proper
persons of this class, have them enter the service
of the United States, and be credited to the locali-
ties furnishing the bounty money.
He will there-
fore proceed to Rock Island, ascertain the names
of such persons (not including any who have at-
tractions Southward), and telegraph them to the
Provost-Marshal-General here, whereupon direc-
tion will be given to discharge the persons named
upon
their
taking
the
oath
of
allegiance
;
and
then upon the
official
evidence being
furnished
that they shall have been duly received and mus-
tered into the service of the United
States, their
number
will be
credited
as may be
directed by
Colonel Huidekoper.
Abraham Lincoln.
160
LETTERS
Ide, Dr., and Others.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 30, 1864.
Rev. Dr. Ide, Hon.
J. R. Doolittle, and Hon. A.
Hubbell, Committee.
In response to the preamble and resolutions of
the
American
Baptist Home
Mission
Society,
which you did me the honor to present,
I can only
thank you
for thus adding
to
the
effective and
almost unanimous
support which
the
Christian
communities are so zealously giving to the coun-
try and to liberty.
Indeed,
it
is
difficult to con-
ceive how
it
could
be
otherwise
with any
one
professing Christianity, or even having ordinary
perceptions of right and wrong.
To read in the
Bible, as the word of God himself, that "In the
sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread," and
to
preach therefrom
that,
"In
the
sweat
of
other
mens
faces
shalt thou
eat bread,"
to my mind
can scarcely be reconciled with honest
sincerity.
When brought to my final reckoning, may
I have
to answer for robbing no man of his goods
; yet
more tolerable even this, than for robbing one of
himself and
all
that was
his.
When,
a year or
two ago, those professedly holy men of the South
met in the semblance of prayer and devotion, and,
in the name of him who said, "As ye would
all
men
should
do
unto
you,
do
ye
even
so
unto
them,"
appealed
to
the
Christian world
to
aid
them
in do'm^
to a whole
race
of men
as they
would have no man do unto themselves,
to my
thinking thev contemned and
insulted God and
his
church
far more
than
did
Satan when
he
tempted
the
Saviour
with
the kingdoms
of
the
earth.
The
devil's
attempt was no more
false,
IRWIN, JAMES S.
161
and far less hypocritical.
But let me forbear, re-
membering
it
is also written, "Judge not
lest ye
be judged."
A. Lincoln.
Illinois Central Railroad.
[See Brayman, M.
; and Dubois, Jesse
K.,
Dec.
21,
1857J
Ingalls, R.
Washington, D. C,
May 6, 1863.
1.45
p. m.
Colonel Ingalls
:
News has gone to General Hooker which may
change
his
plans.
Act
in
view
of
such
con-
tingency.
A. Lincoln.
Irwin, James S.
Springfield, November 2, 1842.
Jas.
S. Irwin, Esq.
:
Owing
to my
absence,
yours
of
the
22d,
ult.
was
not
received
till
this
moment.
Judge
Logan
and
myself
are
willing
to
attend
to
any
business
in
the
Supreme
Court
you may send us.
As to fees,
it
is impossible to
establish a rule that will apply in
all, or even, a
great many
cases.
We
believe we
are
never
accused of being unreasonable in this particular
;
and we would
always
be
easily
satisfied,
pro-
vided we
could
see
the money—but
whatever
fees we
earn
at
a
distance,
if not paid
before,
we have noticed, we never hear of after the work
is done.
We, therefore, are growing a little sensi-
tive on that point.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
162
LETTERS
Jacob, R. T.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January
18, 1865.
Hon. Richard T. Jacob.
Sir: You
are
at
liberty
to
proceed
to
Ken-
tucky, and
to remain
at large
so
far
as
relates
to any cause now
past.
In what
I now
do,
I
decide nothing as to the right or wrong of your
arrest, but act
in the hope that there
is
less
lia-
bility
to
misunderstanding among
Union men
now than there was at the time of the arrest.
Respectfully,
A.
Lincoln.
James,
B.
F.
Springfield, November
17,
1845.
Friend James
: The paper at Pekin has nom-
inated Hardin
for
governor;
and, commenting
on
this,
the
Alton
paper
indirectly
nominated
him for Congress.
It would give Hardin a great
start, and perhaps use me up,
if the Whig papers
of the district should nominate him for Congress.
If your feelings toward me are the same as when
I saw you
(which
I have no reason to doubt),
I
wish you would
let
nothing
appear
in
your
paper which may operate against me.
You un-
derstand.
Matters stand just as they did when
I saw you.
Baker
is certainly off the track,
for
I fear Hardin intends to be on
it.
In
relation
to
the
business you
wrote me
of
some
time
since,
I
suppose
the
marshal
called
on you; and we think
it can be adjusted at court
to the satisfaction of you and friend Thompson.
A.
Lincoln.
JAMES, B. F.
163
Springfield, November 24,
1845.
Friend James
: Yours of the
19th was not
re-
ceived
till
this morning.
The
error
I
fell
into
in relation to the Pekin paper I discovered myself
the day after
I wrote you.
The way
I
fell into
it was that Stuart (John T.) met me in the court,
and
told me
about
a
nomination
having
been
made in the Pekin paper, and about the comments
upon
it
in the Alton paper; and without seeing
either paper myself,
I wrote you.
In writing to
you,
I
only meant to
call your attention
to
the
matter
; and that done,
I knew all would be right
with you.
Of course
I should not have thought
this necessary
if
at the time
I had known that
the
nomination had
been made
in your
paper.
And
let me assure you that
if there
is anything
in my letter indicating an opinion that the nom-
ination
for governor, which
I supposed to have
been made in the Pekin paper, was operating or
could operate against me, such was not my mean-
ing. Now that I know that nomination was made
by you, I say that
it may do me good, while
I do
not see that
it can do me harm.
But, while the
subject
is
in agitation, should any of the papers
in the
district nominate the same man for Con-
gress, that would do me harm
; and
it was that
which
I wished to guard against.
Let me assure
you
that
I do
not
for
a moment
suppose
that
what you have done
is
ill-judged,
or
that any-
thing that you
shall do
will
be.
It was not
to
object
to
the
course
of
the
Pekin paper
(as
I
thought it), but to guard against any falling into
the wake of the Alton paper, that
I wrote.
You perhaps have noticed the Journal's article
of
last week upon
the same
subject.
It
was
written without any consultation with me, but
I
1 64
LETTERS
was told by Francis of
its purport before
it was
published.
I chose to
let
it go as
it was,
lest
it
should
be
suspected
that
I
was
attempting
to
juggle Hardin out of a nomination for Congress
by juggling him into one for governor.
If you,
and the other papers a
little more
distant from
me, choose to take the same course you have, of
course I have no objection.
After you shall have
received
this,
I think we
shall
fully understand
each
other, and
that our views
as
to the
effect
of these things are not dissimilar.
Confidential,
of course.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, January 14, 1846.
Friend James
: Yours of the
10th was not re-
ceived
until
this
morning.
I
cannot
but
be
pleased with
its
contents.
I saw Henry's com-
munication
in your paper, as also your
editorial
remarks, neither of which, in my opinion, was in
any way
misjudged,—both
quite
the
thing.
I
think just as you do concerning the dictation of
the
course
of
the
Alton
paper,
and
also
con-
cerning
its utter harmlessness.
As to the propo-
sition to hold the convention at Petersburg, I will
at once tell you all I know and all I feel. A good
friend
of ours
there—John
Bennett—wrote me
that he thought
it would do good with the Whigs
of Menard
to
see a respectable convention con-
ducted
in good
style.
They
are
a
little
disin-
clined to adopt the convention system; and Ben-
nett
thinks some
of
their
prejudices would
be
done
away
by
their
having
the
convention
amongst them.
At
his request, therefore,
I had
the little paragraph put in the "Journal-"
This is
JAMES, B. F.
165
all
I know.
Now
as
to what
I
feel.
I
feel
a
desire that they
of Petersburg should be
grati-
fied,
if
it can be done without a
sacrifice of the
wishes
of
others, and without
detriment
to
the
cause—nothing more.
I can gain nothing in the
contest by having
it there.
I showed your letter
to
Stuart, and he thinks
there
is something
in
your suggestion
of holding
it
at your town.
I
should be pleased
if
I could concur with you
in
the hope
that my name would be the only one
presented to the convention
; but
I cannot.
Har-
din
is a man of desperate energy and persever-
ance, and one that never backs out; and,
I
fear,
to think otherwise
is to be deceived in the char-
acter
of our
adversary.
I would
rejoice
to be
spared
the
labor
of
a
contest;
but "being
in,"
I
shall go
it thoroughly, and to the bottom.
As
to my being able to make a break
in the lower
counties,
I
tell you that
I can possibly get Cass,
but
I do not
think
I
will.
Morgan and
Scott
are beyond my
reach
; Menard
is
safe
to me
;
Mason, neck and neck
; Logan
is mine.
To make
the
matter
sure,
your
entire
senatorial
district
must
be
secured.
Of
this
I
suppose Tazewell
is safe
; and
I have much done in both the other
counties.
In
Woodford
I
have
Davenport,
Simons,
Willard,
Bracken,
Perry,
Travis,
Dr.
Hazzard,
and
the
Clarks and some
others,
all
specially committed.
At Lacon, in Marshall, the
very most active friend
I have in the district
(if
I
except
yourself)
is
at
work.
Through him
I have procured their names, and written to three
or four of the most active Whigs in each precinct
of the county.
Still
I wish you
all
in Tazewell
to keep your eyes continually on Woodford and
Marshall.
Let no opportunity of making a mark
166
LETTERS
escape.
When they shall be safe, all will be safe,
I
think.
The Beardstown paper
is entirely in the hands
of my
friends.
The editor
is a Whig, and per-
sonally
dislikes
Hardin.
When
the
Supreme
Court shall adjourn (which
it
is thought will be
about the
15th of February),
it
is my intention
to take a quiet trip through the towns and neigh-
borhoods
of Logan
County,
Delevan, Tremont,
and on toand through the upper counties.
Don't
speak of
this,
or
let
it
relax any
of your
vigi-
lance.
When I shall reach Tremont, we will talk
over
everything
at
large.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Springfield, January 16, 1846.
Dear James: A plan
is on foot to change the
mode of selecting the candidate for this
district.
The movement
is intended to injure me, and,
if
effected,
most
likely would
injure me
to some
extent.
I have not time to give particulars now
;
but
I want you to
let nothing prevent your get-
ting an
article
in your paper of
this week, tak-
ing strong ground for the old system under which
Hardin and Baker were nominated, without seem-
ing to know
or suspect that any one
desires
to
change
it.
I have
written Dr. Henry more
at
length, and he will probably call and consult with
you on
getting up the
article
;
but whether
he
does or
not,
don't
fail, on any
account,
to
get
it in this week.
A.
Lincoln.
Springfield, January 27,
1846.
Dear James
: Yours, inclosing the article from
JAMES, B. F.
167
the "Whig"
is
received.
In my judgment, you
have
hit
the
matter
exactly
right.
I
believe
it
is too
late
to get the
article
in the "Journal" of
this week; but Dickinson will understand
it just
as
well
from your
paper, knowing
as
he
does
your position toward me.
More than all,
I wrote
him at the same time
I did you.
As to sugges-
tions for the committee,
I would say appoint the
convention for the
first Monday of May.
As to
the
place,
I
can
hardly make
a
suggestion,
so
many
points
desiring
it.
I was
at
Petersburg
Saturday and Sunday, and they are very anxious
for
it there.
A friend has also written me desir-
ing
it at Beardstown.
I would have the committees leave the mode of
choosing delegates to the Whigs of the different
counties,
as may best
suit them respectively.
I
would have them propose,
for the
sake
of
uni-
formity, that the delegates should all be instructed
as
to
their
man,
and
the
delegation
of
each
county
should go
as
a
unit.
If,
without
this,
some counties should send united delegations and
others
divided
ones,
it might make bad
work.
Also have
it proposed that when the convention
shall meet,
if there shall be any absent delegates,
the members present may
fill the vacancies with
persons to act under the same instructions which
may^ be known
to have been given to such ab-
sentees.
You
understand.
Other
particulars
I
leave to you.
I am sorry
to say
I am afraid
I
cannot go to Mason, so as to attend to your busi-
ness; but
if I shall determine to go there,
I will
write you.
Do you
hear
anything
from Woodford
and
Marshall?
Davenport,
ten
days
ago,
passed
through
here, and
told me Woodford
is
safe;
i68
LETTERS
but, though in hope,
I am not entirely easy about
Marshall.
I have so few personal acquaintances
in
that county
that
I
cannot
get
at
[it]
right.
Dickinson
is doing
all that any one man can do
;
but
it seems like
it is an overtask for one.
I sup-
pose Dr. Henry will be with you on Saturday.
I
got a letter from him to-day on the same subject
as yours, and shall write him before Saturday.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Jameson, E. H. and E.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 13, 1863.
E. H. & E. Jameson, Jefferson City, Mo.
:
Yours
saying
Brown
and
Henderson
are
elected senators
is received.
I understand this is
one and one.
If so
it
is knocking heads together
to some purpose.
A.
Lincoln.
Jayne, William.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 26, 1864.
Hon. W. Jayne.
Dear
Sir:
I
dislike
to make changes
in
office
so long as they can be avoided.
It multiplies my
embarrassments
immensely.
I
dislike two
ap-
pointments when one will do.
Send me the name
of some man not the present marshal, and
I will
nominate him to be Provost Marshal for Dakota.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
JOHNSON, ANDREW
169
Johnson, Andrew.
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, April 27, 1862.
Governor Andrew Johnson,
Nashville, Tennessee
:
Your despatch
of yesterday
just
received,
as
also,
in due course, was your former one.
The
former one was sent to General Halleck, and we
have
his answer, by which
I have no doubt he
(General
Halleck)
is
in
communication
with
you
before
this.
General
Halleck
understands
better than we can here, and he must be allowed
to
control
in
that
quarter.
If you
are
not
in
communication
with
Halleck,
telegraph him
at
once,
freely and frankly.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram
in
Cipher.]
Washington, June 4, 1862.
Hon. Andrew Johnson,
Nashville, Tennessee:
Do you really wish to have control of the ques-
tion
of
releasing
rebel prisoners
so
far
as they
may be Tennesseeans ?
If you do, please
tell us
so.
Your answer not to be made public.
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, June
7,
1862.
Governor Johnson,
Nashville, Tennessee:
The President has received your two despatches
of the 5th instant.
He approves your proceedings
of reprisal against the secessionists.
170
LETTERS
In regard to the release of the rebel prisoners,
he holds the question as to the time when execu-
tive clemency shall be exercised under considera-
tion.
It has always been the design of the gov-
ernment
to
leave the
exercise
of
that clemency
to your judgment and
discretion whenever
the
period arrives that
it can properly be exercised.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
[Telegram
in Cipher.]
Washington, June 9,
1862.
Hon. Andrew Johnson,
Nashville, Tennessee
:
Your despatch about seizing seventy rebels to
exchange
for a
like number of Union men was
duly received.
I certainly do not disapprove the
proposition.
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, July
11,
1862.
Hon. Andrew Johnson.
My dear
Sir
: Yours
of yesterday
is received.
Do you not, my good
friend, perceive that what
you
ask
is
simply
to
put you
in command
in
the West?
I
do
not
suppose you
desire
this.
You only wish to control in your own localities
;
but
this you must know may derange
all other
posts.
Can you
not, and
will you
not, have a
full
conference
with
General
Halleck?
Tele-
graph
him, and meet him
at
such
place
as he
and you
can
agree
upon.
I
telegraph him
to
meet you and confer
fully with you.
A.
Lincoln.
[See also Halleck, Henry W., July
11,
1862.]
JOHNSON, ANDREW
1 7
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, October 31, 1862.
Gov.
Andrew
Johnson,
Nashville,
Tenn.,
via
Louisville, Ky.
:
Yours
of the 29th
received.
I
shall
take
it
to General Halleck, but
I already know
it
will
be very inconvenient
to take General Morgan's
command from where
it now
is.
I am glad to
hear you speak hopefully for Tennessee.
I
sin-
cerly hope Rosecrans may
find
it possible to do
something
for
her.
David
Nelson,
son of
the
M. C. of your State, regrets his father's final de-
fection, and
asks me
for
a
situation.
Do you
know him?
Could he be of
service
to you or
to Tennessee
in any capacity
in which
I could
send him?
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, November 14, 1862.
Gov. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee
:
Your
despatch
of
the
4th,
about
returning
troops
from western
Virginia
to
Tennessee,
is
just received, and
I have been to General Hal-
leck with
it.
He says an order has already been
made by which those troops have already moved,
or soon
will move,
to Tennessee.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.']
Executive
Mansion.
Washington, December 8, 1862.
Governor Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.
:
Jesse H.
Strickland
is
here
asking
authority
to raise a regiment of Tennesseeans.
Would you
advise that the authority be given him?
A. Lincoln.
172
LETTERS
[Telegram.]
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, January 8, 1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee
:
A despatch of yesterday from Nashville says
the body
of Captain Todd,
of
the
Sixth Ken-
tucky, was brought in to-day.
Please
tell me what was
his
Christian name,
and whether he was
in our
service
or
that
of
the enemy.
I
shall
also be glad
to have your
impressions
as
to the
effect the
late operations
about Murfreesborough
will have on
the
pros-
pects of Tennessee.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, January
10.
1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee:
Yours
received.
I
presume
the
remains
of
Captain Todd are in the hands of his family and
friends, and
I wish to give no order on the sub-
ject; but
I do wish your opinion of the
effects
of the late battles about Murfreesborough upon
the prospects of Tennessee.
A. Lincoln.
[Private.]
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, March
26,
1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson.
My
dear
Sir:
I am
told you
have
at
least
thought
of
raising a
negro
military
force.
In
my
opinion
the country now
needs
no
specific
thing so much as some man of your ability and
position
to
go
to
this
work.
When
I
speak
of your position,
I mean that of an eminent citi-
JOHNSON, ANDREW
173
zen
of
a
slave
State and himself a
slaveholder.
The colored population
is the great available and
yet unavailed of
force
for restoring the Union.
The bare sight of fifty thousand armed and drilled
black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi
would end the rebellion at once
; and who doubts
that we can
present
that
sight
if we
but
take
hold
in earnest?
If you have been thinking of
it, please do not dismiss the thought.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 29,
1863.
Governor Andrew Johnson, Louisville, Kentucky
:
General Burnside has been frequently informed
lately that the division under General Getty can-
not be
spared.
I am sorry to have to
tell you
this, but
it
is true, and cannot be helped.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, September 8, 1863.
9.30 a. m.
Hon. Andrew Johnson,
Nashville, Tennessee:
Despatch of yesterday
just
received.
I
shall
try to
find the paper you mention and carefully
consider
it.
In the meantime
let me urge that
you do your utmost to get every man you can,
black and white, under arms at the very earliest
moment, to guard roads, bridges and trains,
al-
lowing
all the better trained
soldiers to go
for-
ward to Rosecrans.
Of course
I mean for you
to
act
in
co-operation
with, and
not independ-
ently of, the military authorities.
A. Lincoln.
i 7 4
LETTERS
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, September n, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson.
My dear
Sir:
All Tennessee
is now
clear
of
armed insurrectionists.
You need not to be re-
minded that
it
is the nick of time for reinaugu-
rating a loyal State government.
Not a moment
should be lost.
You and the co-operating friends
there can
better judge of
the ways and means
than can be judged by any
here.
I only
offer
a few suggestions.
The reinauguration must not
be such
as
to give control of the
State and
its
representation in Congress to the enemies of the
Union, driving
its friends there into political ex-
ile.
The whole struggle for Tennessee will have
been
profitless to both State and nation
if
it
so
enjis
that
Governor
Johnson
is
put down
and
Governor Harris
is put up.
It must not be
so.
You
must
have
it
otherwise.
Let
the
recon-
struction be the work of such men only as can
be
trusted
for the Union.
Exclude
all
others,
and trust that your government so organized will
be recognized here as being the one of republican
form
to be guaranteed
to the
State, and
to be
protected against invasion and domestic violence.
It
is something on
the question of time
to
re-
member
that
it
cannot
be known who
is
next
to occupy the position
I now hold, nor what he
will
do.
I
see that you have declared
in favor
of
emancipation
in
Tennessee,
for
which may
God bless you.
Get emancipation into your new
State government—constitution—and
there
will
be no
such word
as
fail
for
your
case.
The
raising
of
colored
troops,
I
think,
will
greatly
help every way.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
JOHNSON, ANDREW
1 7
[Cipher.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September
18,
1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.
:
Despatch
of yesterday
just
received.
I
shall
try to find the paper you mention and carefully
consider
it.
In the meantime
let me urge
that
you do your utmost to get every man you
can,
black and white, under arms at the very earliest
moment,
to guard
roads, bridges and
trains,
al-
lowing
all the better trained
soldiers to go
for-
ward to Rosecrans.
Of course
I mean for you
to act in co-operation with, and not independently
of the military authorities.
A. Lincoln.
[Private.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 19, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson
.
My
dear
Sir: Herewith
I
send you
a paper,
substantially the same
as the one drawn up by
yourself and
mentioned
in
your
despatch,
but
slightly changed in two particulars
:
First, yours
was so drawn as that
I authorized you to carry
into effect the fourth
section,
etc., whereas
I so
modify
it
as
to
authorize you
to
so
act
as
to
require the United States to carry into effect that
section.
Secondly, you had a clause committing me in
some sort to the State constitution of Tennessee,
which
I
feared might embarrass you
in making
a new
constitution,
if you
desire; so
I dropped
that clause.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
176
LETTERS
[Inclosure.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September
19, 1863.
Hon.
Andrew
Johnson,
Military
Governor
of
Tennessee.
In
addition
to
the
matters
contained
in
the
orders and
instructions given you by the Secre-
tary of War, you are hereby authorized to ex-
ercise
such
powers
as may
be
necessary
and
proper to enable the
loyal people of Tennessee
to present such a republican form of State gov-
ernment as will entitle the State to the guaranty
of
the United
States
therefor, and
to
be
pro-
tected under such State government by the United
States against invasion and domestic violence, all
according to the fourth section of the fourth arti-
cle of the Constitution of the United
States.
Abraham Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 29,
1864.
Governor Johnson,
Nashville, Tenn.
Judge Catron
is
asking
for the
discharge of
W. M.
Bell, now
at Rock Island, and whom he
thinks was arrested
as
a hostage by you or by
your authority.
What say you ?
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, July 27,
1864.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee
:
Yours in relation to General A. C. Gillam just
received.
Will look after the matter to-day.
I
also
received
yours
about
General
Carl
JOHNSON, ANDREW
177
Schurz.
I appreciate him certainly, as highly as
you do; but you can never know until you have
the
trial, how
difficult
it
is
to
find
a
place
for
an officer of so high rank when there
is no place
seeking him.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 25, 1864.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee
:
Thanks to General Gillam for making the news,
and also to you for sending
it.
Does Joe Heis-
kell's "walking to meet us" mean any more than
that
"Joe" was
scared and wanted
to save
his
skin?
A. Lincoln.
[Oct.
22,
1864.
See Campbell, William
B.]
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, D. C, January
14, 1865.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee
:
Yours announcing ordinance of emancipation
received.
Thanks to the convention and to you.
When do you expect to be here ?
Would be glad
to have your
suggestions
as
to
supplying your
place of military governor.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 24,
1865.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee.
Several members of the Cabinet, with myself,
considered the question to-day as to the time of
your coming on
here.
While we
fully
appre-
ciate your wish to remain in Tennessee until her
178
LETTERS
State government
shall be completely reinaugu-
rated,
it
is our unanimous
conclusion that
it
is
unsafe
for you
to
not
be
here on
the
4th
of
March.
Be sure to reach here by that time.
A.
Lincoln.
Johnson, Reverdy.
[Confidential.]
Executive Mansion, April 24, 1861.
Hon. Reverdy Johnson.
My
dear
Sir: Your
note
of
this morning
is
just received.
I forbore to answer yours of the
226. because
of my
aversion
(which
I thought
you
understood)
to
getting on paper and
fur-
nishing new grounds for misunderstanding.
I do
say the
sole purpose of bringing troops here
is
to defend this
capital.
I do say
I have no pur-
pose to invade Virginia with them or any other
troops, as
I understand the word invasion.
But,
suppose
Virginia
sends
her
troops,
or
admits
others through her borders, to assail this capital,
am
I not to repel them even to the crossing of
the Potomac,
if I can?
Suppose Virginia erects,
or permits
to be erected,
batteries on the oppo-
site shore to bombard the
city, are we to stand
still and
see
it done?
In
a
word,
if
Virginia
strikes
us,
are we
not
to
strike
back,
and
as
effectively as we can ?
Again, are we not to hold
Fort Monroe
(for instance)
if we can?
I have
no objection to declare a thousand times that
I
have no purpose to invade Virginia or any other
State, but
I do not mean to
let them invade us
without striking back.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
JOHNSON, REVERDY
i 79
[Private.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 26, 1862.
Hon. Reverdy Johnson.
My Dear Sir
:
Yours of the 16th, by the hand
of Governor Shepley,
is received.
It seems the
Union
feeling in Louisiana
is being crushed out
by the course of General Phelps.
Please pardon
me
for believing that
is
a
false
pretense.
The
people of Louisiana—all intelligent people every-
where—know
full well that
I never had a wish
to touch the foundations of their society, or any
right of theirs.
With perfect knowledge of this
they forced a necessity upon me to send armies
among them, and
it
is their own
fault, not mine,
that they are annoyed by the presence of Gen-
eral Phelps.
They also know the remedy—know
how
to
be
cured
of
General
Phelps.
Remove
the necessity of his presence.
And might
it not
be well
for them to consider whether they have
not already had time enough to do this?
If they
can
conceive
of
anything
worse
than
General
Phelps within my power, would they not better
be looking out for it?
They very well know the
way to avert
all this
is simply to take their place
in the Union upon the old terms.
If they will
not do this, should they not receive harder blows
rather than lighter ones ?
You are ready to say
I apply to friends what
is due only to enemies.
I
distrust
the wisdom
if
not
the
sincerity
of
friends who would hold my hands while my ene-
mies stab me.
This appeal of professed friends
has paralyzed me more in this struggle than any
other one thing.
You remember telling me, the
day after the Baltimore mob in April, 1861, that
I So
LETTERS
it would
crush
all Union
feeling
in Maryland
for me to attempt bringing troops over Maryland
soil
to Washington.
I brought the troops
not-
withstanding, and
yet
there was Union
feeling
enough
left
to
elect
a
legislature
the next
au-
tumn,
which
in
turn
elected
a
very
excellent
Union United
States
senator
!
I am a
patient
man—always willing to forgive on the Christian
terms of repentance, and also to give ample time
for repentance.
Still
I must save
this govern-
ment,
if possible.
What
I cannot do, of course
I will not do; but
it may as well be understood,
once for all, that
I shall not surrender this game
leaving any
available card unplayed.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Johnston, John D.
Springfield, February 23,
1850.
Dear Brother:
Your
letter about a mail con-
tract was received yesterday.
I have made out
a bid for you at $120, guaranteed
it myself, got
our P. M. here to certify
it, and send it on.
Your
former letter, concerning some man's claim for a
pension, was also received.
I had the claim ex-
amined by those who are practised in such mat-
ters, and they decide he cannot get a pension.
As you make no mention of
it,
I suppose you
had not learned that we
lost our
little boy.
He
was
sick
fifteen
days, and died
in the morning
of the
first day of
this month.
It was not our
first, but our second
child.
We miss him very
much.
Your brother,
in
haste,
A.
Lincoln.
JOHNSTON, JOHN D.
181
January 2, 1851.
Dear Johnston:
Your request for eighty dol-
lars
I do not think
it best to comply with now.
At the various times when
I have helped you a
little you have
said
to me, "We can
get along
very well now"
; but
in a very short time
I find
you in the same
difficulty again.
Now, this can
only
happen by some
defect
in
your
conduct.
What that defect
is,
I think
I know.
You are
not
lazy, and
still you
are
an
idler.
I
doubt
whether, since
I saw you, you have done a good
whole day's work in any one day.
You do not
very much
dislike to work, and
still you do not
work much, merely because
it does not seem to
you that you could get much for
it.
This habit
of uselessly wasting time
is the whole difficulty;
it
is
vastly important
to you, and
still more
so
to your children, that you should break the habit.
It
is more important to them, because they have
longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit
before they are in
it, easier than they can get out
after they are
in.
You
are now
in need
of some money; and
what
I
propose
is,
that you
shall go
to work,
"tooth and
nail,"
for somebody who
will
give
you money
for
it.
Let
father and your boys
take charge of your things at home, prepare for
a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work
for
the
best money wages,
or
in
discharge
of
any debt you owe, that you can get
; and to
se-
cure you
a
fair reward
for your
labor,
I now
promise you, that for every dollar you
will, be-
tween
this and
the
first
of May,
get
for your
own labor,
either
in money or as your own
in-
debtedness, I will then give you one other dollar.
By
this,
if you
hire
yourself
at
ten
dollars
a
182
LETTERS
month, from me you
will get ten more, making
twenty dollars a month
for your work.
In this
I do not mean you
shall go off to
St. Louis, or
the lead mines, or the gold mines
in California,
but I mean for you to go at
it for the best wages
you can get close to home in Coles County.
Now,
if you will do this, you will be soon out of debt,
and, what
is
better, you
will have
a
habit that
will keep you from getting
in debt again.
But
if
I should now clear you out
1 of debt, next year
you would be just as deep
in as ever.
You say
you would almost give your place in heaven
for
seventy or eighty dollars.
Then you value your
place
in heaven very cheap,
for
I am sure you
can, with
the
offer
I make, get the seventy or
eighty
dollars
for
four
or
five
months'
work.
You
say
if
I
will
furnish
y.ou
the money you
will deed me the land, and,
if you don't pay the
money
back, you
will
deliver
possession.
Non-
sense
!
If you can't now live with the land, how
will you then live without it?
You have always
been kind to me, and
I do not mean to be un-
kind to you.
On the
contrary,
if you
will but
follow my
advice, you
will
find
it worth more
than eighty times eighty
dollars
to you.
Affectionately your brother,
A.
Lincoln.
Springfield, January 12, 1851.
Dear Brother
:
On the day before yesterday
I received a letter from Harriet, written at Green-
up.
She
says she has
just returned from your
house, and that father
is very low and will hardly
recover.
She also says you have written me two
letters, and that although you do not expect me
to come now, you wonder that I do not write.
JOHNSTON, JOHN D.
183
I
received both your
letters, and although
I
have not answered them,
it
is not because
I have
forgotten them, or been uninterested about them,
but because
it appeared to me that I could write
nothing which would do any good.
You already
know
I
desire
that
neither
father nor
mother
shall be in want of any comfort, either in health
or sickness, while they live
; and
I
feel sure you
have
not
failed
to use my name,
if
necessary,
to procure a doctor, or anything else for father
in his present sickness.
My business
is such that
I could hardly leave home now,
if
it was not as
it
is, that my own wife
is sick-a-bed.
(It
is a
case of baby-sickness, and
I suppose
is not dan-
gerous.)
I
sincerely hope
father may recover
his health, but at all events, tell him to remember
to
call upon and confide
in our great and good
and
merciful
Maker, who
will
not
turn away
from him in any extremity.
He notes the fall of
a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads,
and He will not forget the dying man who puts
his trust
in Him.
Say to him that
if we could
meet now
it
is doubtful whether
it would not be
more painful than pleasant, but that
if
it be his
lot to go now, he will soon have a joyous meet-
ing with many loved ones gone before, and where
the rest of us, through the help of God, hope ere
long to join them.
Write to me again when you receive this.
Affectionately,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, August 31, 1851.
Dear
Brother
:
Inclosed
is
the deed
for the
land.
We are
all well, and have nothing
in the
way
of
news.
We have had no
cholera
here
1 84
LETTERS
for about two weeks.
Give my love to
all, and
especially
to mother.
Yours, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Shelbyville, November
4, 1851.
Dear Brother:
When
I came into Charleston
day before yesterday,
I learned that you are anx-
ious
to
sell
the land where you
live and move
to Missouri.
I have been thinking of
this ever
since, and cannot but think such a notion
is ut-
terly foolish.
What can you do in Missouri bet-
ter than here ?
Is the land any richer ?
Can you
there, any more than here, raise corn and wheat
and oats without work ?
Will anybody there, any
more than here, do your work for you?
If you
intend to go to work, there is no better place than
right where you are
;
if you do not intend to go
to work, you cannot get along anywhere. Squirm-
ing and crawling about from place to place can
do no good.
You have raised no crop this year
;
and what you really want
is to sell the land, get
the money, and
spend
it.
Part with
the
land
you have, and, my
life upon
it, you
will never
after own a spot big enough to bury you in.
Half
you will get for the land you will spend in mov-
ing to Missouri, and the other half you will
eat,
drink, and wear out, and no foot of land will be
bought.
Now,
I
feel
it my duty to have no hand
in such a piece of
foolery.
I
feel that
it
is
so
even on your own account, and
particularly on
mother's account.
The eastern forty acres
I in-
tend to keep for mother while she
lives;
if you
will
not
cultivate
it,
it
will
rent
for enough
to
support her—at least,
it will rent for something.
Her dower
in the other two
forties she can
let
JOHNSTON, JOHN D.
185
you have, and no thanks
to me.
Now, do not
misunderstand
this
letter;
I do
not
write
it
in
any unkindness.
I write
it in order,
if possible,
to get you to face the truth, which truth
is, you
are destitute because you have idled away all your
time.
Your thousand pretenses
for not getting
along better are
all nonsense; they deceive no-
body but yourself.
Go to work
is the only cure
for your case.
A
word
to
mother.
Chapman
tells
me
he
wants you
to go and
live with him.
If
I were
you
I would try
it awhile.
If you get tired of
it
(as
I think you
will not), you can return to
your own home.
Chapman
feels very kindly to
you, and
I have no doubt he will make your
sit-
uation very
pleasant.
Sincerely your son,
A. Lincoln.
Shelbyville, November
9,
1851,
Dear Brother
:
When
I wrote you before,
I
had not received your
letter.
I
still think as
I
did, but
if
the land can be
sold
so
that
I
get
three hundred dollars to put to interest for moth-
er,
I will not object,
if she does not.
But before
I
will make a deed, the money must be had, or
secured beyond all doubt, at ten per cent.
As to Abram,
I do not want him, on my own
account; but
I understand he wants to live with
me,
so that he can go to school and get a
fair
start in the world, which
I very much wish him
to have.
When
I reach home,
if
I can make
it
convenient to take, I will take him, provided there
is no mistake between us
as
to the
object and
terms of my taking him.
In haste, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
186
LETTERS
Springfield, November 25,
1851.
John D. Johnston.
Dear Brother:
Your letter of the 226.
is just
received.
Your proposal about
selling the
east
forty acres of land
is
all
that
I want or could
claim for myself; but
I am not
satisfied with
it
on Mother's
account—I want
her
to
have
her
living, and
I
feel that
it
is my duty, to some ex-
tent, to see that she
is not wronged—She had a
right of Dower
(that
is, the use of one-third for
life)
in the other two forties; but,
it seems, she
has already let you take that, hook and line—She
now has the use of the whole of the east
forty,
as long as she lives; and
if
it be sold, of course,
she
is
entitled
to the
interest on
all
the money
it brings, as long as she
lives; but you propose
to sell
it for three hundred dollars, take one hun-
dred away with you, and leave her two hundred
at 8 per cent., making her the enormous sum of
16 dollars a year—Now,
if you are satisfied with
treating her
in
that way,
I am not—It
is
true,
that you are to have that forty for two hundred
dollars,
at
mother's
death
;
but you
are
not
to
have
it before.
I am confident that land can be
made to produce for mother at least $30 a year,
and
I cannot, to oblige any living person, consent
that she shall be put on an allowance of sixteen
dollars a year.
Yours, etc.,
A. Lincoln.
Johnston, William.
Tremont, April 18, 1846.
Friend Johnston
:
Your
letter,
written some
six weeks since, was received in due course, and
JOHNSTON, WILLIAM
187
also
the paper with the parody.
It
is
true,
as
suggested
it might
be,
that
I
have
never
seen
Poe's
' 'Raven"
; and
I
very
well know
that
a
parody
is almost entirely dependent for its inter-
est upon the reader's acquaintance with the orig-
inal.
Still there
is enough
in the
polecat,
self-
considered,
to afford one
several hearty laughs.
I think four or
five of the
last stanzas are de-
cidedly
funny,
particularly
where
Jeremiah
"scrubbed and washed, and prayed and fasted."
I have
not your
letter now
before me
;
but,
from memory,
I
think you ask me who
is the
author of the piece
I sent you, and that you do
so ask as to indicate a slight suspicion that I my-
self am the author.
Beyond
all question,
I am
not the
author.
I would give
all
I am worth,
and go in debt, to be able to write so fine a piece
as
I think
that
is.
Neither do
I know who
is
the author.
I met
it
in a straggling form
in a
newspaper last summer, and
I remember to have
seen
it once before, about fifteen years ago, and
this
is
all
I know about
it.
The piece of poetry
of my own which I alluded to, I was led to write
under the
following circumstances
:
In the
fall
of 1844, thinking
I might aid some to carry the
State of Indiana
for Mr.
Clay,
I went into the
neighborhood in that State in which I was raised,
where my mother and only
sister were buried,
and
from which
I had been
absent
about
fif-
teen years.
That part of the country
is, within
itself,
as
unpoetical
as any
spot
of
the
earth;
but
still,
seeing
it and
its
objects and
inhabi-
tants
aroused
feelings
in me which were
cer-
tainly poetry; though whether my expression of
those
feelings
is
poetry
is
quite
another
ques-
tion.
When
I got to writing, the change of sub-
1 88
LETTERS
ject
divided
the
thing
into
four
little
divisions
or cantos, the first only of which I send you now,
and may send the others hereafter.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
My childhood's home I see again,
And sadden with the view
;
And
still, as memory crowds my brain,
There's pleasure in
it too.
O Memory
! thou midway world
'Twixt earth and paradise,
Where
things
decayed
and
loved
ones
lost
In dreamy shadows
rise,
And,
freed from
all
that's
earthly
vile,
Seem hallowed,
pure, and
bright,
Like
scenes
in some enchanted
isle
All bathed
in
liquid
light.
As dusky mountains
please
the eye
When twilight chases day
;
As bugle-notes
that, passing by,
In
distance die away;
As leaving some grand
waterfall,
We,
lingering,
list
its
roar
So memory
will hallow
all
We've known,
but know no more.
Near twenty years have passed away
Since here I bid farewell
To woods and
fields, and scenes of play,
And playmates loved so well.
Where many were, but few remain
Of old
familiar things;
But seeing them,
to mind again
The
lost and absent brings.
JOHNSTON, WILLIAM
189
The
friends
I
left
that parting day,
How changed,
as time has sped
!
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of
all are dead.
I hear the loved survivors
tell
How nought from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.
I range the
fields with pensive tread,
And pace the hollow rooms,
And
feel (companion of the dead)
I'm living in the tombs.
Springfield,
September
6,
1846.
Friend
Johnston:
You
remember
when
I
wrote you from Tremont last spring, sending you
a
little canto of what I called poetry,
I promised
to bore you with another some time.
I now
ful-
fill the promise.
The subject of the present one
is an insane man; his name
is Matthew Gentry.
He
is
three
years
older than
I, and when we
were boys we went to school together.
He was
rather a bright lad, and the son of the rich man
of
a
very
poor
neighborhood.
At
the
age
of
nineteen he unaccountably became furiously mad,
from which condition he gradually settled down
into harmless
insanity.
When, as
I told you in
my other letter,
I visited my old home in the
fall
of
1844,
I
found
him
still
lingering
in
this
wretched
condition.
In my
poetizing mood,
I
could
not
forget
the
impression
his
case made
upon me.
Here
is the result
:
But
here's an object more of dread
Than aught the grave contains
A human form with reason
fled,
While wretched life remains.
190
LETTERS
When
terror
spread, and
neighbors
ran
Your dangerous strength
to bind,
And soon, a how-ling, crazy man,
Your limbs were
fast confined
:
How then you
strove and
shrieked
aloud,
Your bones and sinews bared
;
And fiendish on the gazing crowd
With burning eyeballs glared
;
And begged and
swore, and wept and
prayed,
With maniac laughter joined;
How fearful were these signs displayed
By pangs that killed the mind
!
And when at length the drear and long
Time soothed thy fiercer woes,
How plaintively thy mournful song
Upon
the
still
night
rose
!
I've heard
it
oft as
if
I dreamed,
Far
distant,
sweet and
lone,
The funeral
dirge
it ever seemed
Of reason dead and gone.
To drink
its
strains
I've
stole away,
All
stealthily and
still,
Ere yet the
rising god of day
Had streaked
the
eastern
hill.
Air held her breath
;
trees with the
spell
Seemed sorrowing angels round,
Whose
swelling
tears
in dewdrops
fell
Upon
the
listening ground.
But
this
is
past, and naught remains
That raised thee o'er the brute
;
Thy piercing shrieks and soothing strain
Are
like,
forever mute.
Now
fare
thee
well
!
More
thou
the
cause
Than subject now of woe.
All mental pangs by time's kind laws
Hast
lost the power
to know.
JOHNSTON, WILLIAM
I9 r
O
death
! thou awe-inspiring prince
That keepst the world in fear,
Why
dost
thou
tear
more
blest
ones
hence,
And
leave him lingering here?
If
I should ever send another, the subject will
be
a "Bear-Hunt."
Yours
as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, February 25, 1847.
Dear
Johnston
: Yours
of
the 2d
of Decem-
ber was duly delivered to me by Mr. Williams.
To say the least,
I am not at
all displeased with
your
proposal
to
publish
the
poetry,
or
dog-
gerel, or whatever
else
it may be
called, which
I
sent you.
I consent that
it may be done, to-
gether with the third canto, which
I now send
you.
Whether
the
prefatory
remarks
in my
letter
shall be published with the verses,
I leave
entirely to your discretion
; but let names be sup-
pressed by
all means.
I have not sufficient hope
of the verses
attracting any
favorable notice to
tempt me to risk being ridiculed for having writ-
ten them.
Why
not
drop
into
the
paper,
at
the
same
time, the "half dozen stanzas of your own"?
Or
if,
for any reason,
it
suits your
feelings
better,
send them
to me, and
I
will
take
pleasure
in
putting them
in «the paper
here.
Family
well,
and nothing new.
Yours
sincerely,
A. Lincoln.
192
LETTERS
Jonas, A.
[Confidential]
Springfield, Illinois, July 21, i860.
Hon. A. Jonas.
My dear
.Sir
: Yours of the 20th
is received.
I
suppose as good or even better men than
I may
have been in American or Know-nothing lodges
;
but, in point of fact, I never was in one at Quincy
or elsewhere.
I was never in Quincy but one day
and two nights while Know-nothing lodges were
in existence, and you were with me that day and
both those
nights.
I had never been
there be-
fore in my life, and never afterward,
till the joint
debate with Douglas
in
1858.
It was
in
1854
when
I spoke
in some
hall
there, and after the
speaking, you, with others, took me to an oyster-
saloon,
passed an hour
there, and you walked
with me
to, and parted with me
at, the Quincy
House,
quite
late
at night.
I
left by
stage
for
Naples
before
daylight
in the morning, having
come in by the same route after dark the evening
previous to the speaking, when
I found you wait-
ing
at
the Quincy House
to meet me.
A few
days after
I was there, Richardson, as
I under-
stood,
started
this same
story about my having
been in a Know-nothing lodge.
When
I heard
of the charge, as I did soon after, I taxed my rec-
ollection for some incident which could have sug-
gested
it
; and I remembered that on parting with
you
the
last
night,
I went
to
the
office
of
the
hotel to take my stage-passage for the morning,
was
told
that no
stage-office
for
that
line was
kept there, and that
I must see the driver before
retiring, to insure his calling for me in the morn-
ing; and a servant was sent with me to find the
JORDAN, WARREN
193
driver, who,
after taking me
a
square
or two,
stopped me, and stepped perhaps a dozen
steps
farther, and
in my hearing called
to some
one,
who answered
him,
apparently from
the upper
part
of
a
building,
and
promised
to
call
with
the
stage
for me
at the Quincy House.
I
re-
turned,
and
went
to
bed,
and
before
day
the
stage
called and took me.
This
is
all.
That
I never was in a Know-nothing lodge in
Quincy,
I should expect could be
easily proved
by respectable men who were always in the lodges
and never saw me there.
An affidavit of one or
two such would put the matter at
rest.
And now a word of caution.
Our adversaries
think they can gain a point if they could force me
to openly deny the charge, by which some
de-
gree of offense would be given to the Americans.
For this reason
it must not publicly appear that
I am paying any attention to the charge.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
"Journal of Commerce," New York.
[See Dix, John A., May
18,
1864.]
Jordan, Warren.
[ Telegram. ]
Nashville, February
20,
1864.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State,
Washington, D.
C.
:
In county and
State
elections, must
citizens
of Ten-
nessee take
the
oath
prescribed by Governor Johnson,
or
will
the President's oath of amnesty entitle them to
vote?
I have been appointed
to hold the March
elec-
tion
in Cheatham County, and wish
to
act understand-
ing!^
Warren Jordan.
194
LETTERS
Washington, February 20, 1864.
Warren Jordan, Nashville:
In county
elections you had
better
stand by
Governor Johnson's plan
; otherwise you will have
conflict and confusion.
I have seen his plan.
A. Lincoln.
Judd, Frank R.
[See Butler, Benjamin
F., Dec.
29,
1864.]
Judd, N. B.
Springfield, November
15, 1858.
Hon. N.
B. Judd.
My dear Sir
: I have the pleasure to inform you
that
I am
convalescent, and hoping
these
lines
may
find you
in
the same improving
state
of
health.
Doubtless you have suspected
for some
time that
I entertain a personal wish for a term
in
the United
States
Senate
; and had
the
sus-
picion taken the shape of a direct charge,
I think
I
could not have
truthfully denied
it.
But
let
the past as nothing be.
For the future, my view
is that the fight must go on.
The returns here
are
not
yet
completed;
but
it
is
believed
that
Dougherty's
vote
will
be
slightly
greater
than
Miller's
majority
over
Tracy.
We
have some
hundred and twenty thousand
clear Republican
votes.
That
pile
is worth keeping together.
It
will elect a State treasurer two years hence.
In that day I shall fight in the ranks, but I shall
be
in no one's way for any of the places.
I am
especially for Trumbull's reelection
; and, by the
way,
this
brings me
to
the
principal
object
of
this
letter.
Can you not take your draft of an
apportionment
law,
and
carefully
revise
it
till
JUDD, N. B.
i 95
it shall be
strictly and obviously just in
all par-
ticulars, and then by an early and persistent effort
get enough of the enemy's men to enable you to
pass
it?
I believe
if you and Peck make a job
of
it, begin early, and work earnestly and quietly,
you
can
succeed
in
it.
Unless
something
be
done, Trumbull
is
eventually
beaten two
years
hence.
Take this
into
serious
consideration.
Yours as
ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, November 16, 1858.
Hon. N. B. Judd.
Dear
Sir: Yours of the
15th
is just received.
I wrote you the same day.
As to the pecuniary
matter,
I am willing to pay according to my abil-
ity
;
but
I am
the
poorest hand
living
to
get
others to pay.
I have been on expenses so long
without
earning anything
that
I am
absolutely
without
money now
for
even
household
pur-
poses.
Still,
if you can put in two hundred and
fifty dollars for me toward discharging the debt
of the committee,
I will allow
it when you and
I
settle the private matter between us.
This, with
what
I have already paid, and with an outstand-
ing note of mine, will exceed my subscription of
five hundred
dollars.
This,
too,
is exclusive of
my ordinary expenses during the campaign,
all
of which being added to my loss of time and busi-
ness,
bears
pretty
heavily upon
one
no
better
off in
[this]
world's goods than
I; but as
I had
the post
of honor,
it
is
not
for me
to be over
nice.
You
are
feeling
badly,—"And
this
too
shall pass away," never
fear.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
196
LETTERS
Springfield, December
9,
1859.
Hon. N. B. Judd.
My dear
Sir
:
I have just reached home from
Kansas
and
found your
long
letter
of
the
1st
inst.
It
has
a
tone
of blame toward
myself
which
I
think
is not quite
just; but
I
will not
stand upon that, but will consider a day or two,
and put something in the best shape
I
can, and
send
it
to
you.
A
great
difficulty
is
that
they
make no distinct charge against you which
I can
contradict.
You did vote
for Trumbull against
me
; and, although I think, and have said a thou-
sand times, that was no injustice to me,
I cannot
change
the
fact,
nor
compel
people
to
cease
speaking of
it.
Ever since that matter occurred,
I have constantly labored, as I believe you know,
to have
all
recollection of
it dropped.
The vague
charge
that you
played me
false
last year
I
believe
to be
false and outrageous;
but
it seems
I can make no impression by
ex-
pressing that belief.
I made a special job of try-
ing
to impress
that upon
Baker,
Bridges,
and
Wilson
here
last
winter.
They
all
well know
that
I believe no such charge against you.
But
they chose to
insist that they know better about
it than
I
do.
As to the charge of your intriguing for Trum-
bull against me,
I believe as
little of that as anv
other charge.
If Trumbull and I were candidates
for the same
office, you would have
a
right
to
prefer him, and
I should not blame you
for
it
;
out
all my acquaintance with you induces me to
believe you would not pretend to be for me while
really for him.
But
I do not understand Trum-
bull and myself
to be
rivals.
You know
I am
pledged
to
not
enter
a
struggle
with him
for
JUDD, N. B.
197
the seat in the Senate now occupied by him
; and
yet
I would rather have a full term in the Senate
than in the presidency.
Your friend as ever,
A. Lincoln.
P. S.—I omitted to say that I have, in no single
instance, permitted a charge such
as alluded to
above
to go
uncontradicted when made
in my
presence.
A. L.
Springfield, December 14, 1859.
Dear Judd: Herewith
is the
letter of our old
Whig
friends, and my answer,
sent
as you
re-
quested.
I
showed
both
to
Dubois,
and
he
feared
the clause about leave
to publish,
in the
answer, would not be
quite
satisfactory to you.
I hope
it will be satisfactory, as
I would rather
not seem to come before the public as a volun-
teer
;
still
if, after considering this, you
still deem
it
important,
you may
substitute
the
inclosed
slip by pasting
it down over the original clause.
I
find some
of our
friends
here
attach more
consequence
to
getting
the
national
convention
into our State than I did, or do.
Some of them
made me promise to say so
to you.
As
to the
time,
it must
certainly
be
after
the
Charleston
fandango
; and
I think, within bounds of reason,
the later the better.
As to that matter about the committee,
in
re-
lation
to
appointing
delegates by
general
con-
vention,
or by
districts,
I
shall
attend
to
it
as
well as
I know how, which, God knows, will not
be
very
well.
Write me
if you
can
find any-
thing to write.
Yours
as
ever,
A. Lincoln.
198
LETTERS
Springfield, February
5,
i860.
Hon. N. B. Judd.
My dear
Sir: Your two
letters were duly
re-
ceived.
Whether
Mr.
Storrs
shall
come
to
Illinois and
assist
in our approaching campaign,
is a question of dollars and cents.
Can we pay
him?
If we
can,
that
is
the
sole
question.
I
consider his services very valuable.
A day or so before you wrote about Mr. Hern-
don, Dubois told me that he (Herndon) had been
talking to William Jayne
in
the way you
indi-
cate.
At
first
sight
afterward.
I
mentioned
it
to him
; he
rather denied the charge, and
I
did
not press him about the past, but got his solemn
pledge to say nothing of the sort
in the
future.
I had done this before
I received your
letter.
I
impressed upon him as well as
I could,
first, that
such
[sic] was untrue and unjust
to you;" and,
second,
that
I
would
be
held
responsible
for
what he said.
Let this be private.
Some folks are pretty bitter toward me about
the Dole, Hubbard, and Brown letter.*
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, February
9,
i860.
Hon. N. B. Judd.
Dear Sir
: I am not in a position w
7here
it would
hurt much
for me
to not be nominated on
the
national
ticket;
but
I am where
it would
hurt
some
for me
to
not
get
the
Illinois
delegates.
What
I
expected when
I
wrote
the
letter
to
Messrs. Dole and others is now happening.
Your
discomfited
assailants
are
most
bitter
against
me; and they
will,
for revenge upon me,
lay to
* See letter to Dole, George W.
KELLEY, WILLIAM D.
199
the Bates egg
in the South, and
to the Seward
egg in the North, and go
far toward squeezing
me out
in the middle with
nothing.
Can you
not help me
a
little
in
this matter
in your end
of the vineyard?
I mean this to be private.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Kapp, Frederick, and Others.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June
16, 1863.
Frederick Kapp and Others, New York
:
The Governor .of New York promises to send
us troops and
if he wishes the assistance of Gen-
eral Fremont and
General
Sigel,
one
or
both,
he
can
have
it.
If
he
does
not
wish them
it
would
but
breed
confusion
for
us
to
set them
to work independently of him.
A. Lincoln.
Kelley, William D.
[Memorandum
of an Interview with
the Post-
master
of
Philadelphia,]
What
I said to Postmaster of Philadelphia on
this clay—June 20, 1864:
Complaint
is made to me
that you
are using
your
official power to defeat Judge Kelley's
re-
nomination to Congress.
I am well satisfied with Judge Kelley as a mem-
ber
of
Congress, and
I
do
not know
that
the
man who might supplant him would be as
satis-
factory
; but the correct principle, I think,
is that
all our friends should have absolute freedom of
choice among our friends. My wish, therefore, is
200
LETTERS
that you will do just as you think
fit with your
own suffrage in the case, and not constrain any
of
your
subordinates
to
do
other
than
as
he
thinks
fit with
his.
This
is precisely the rule
I inculcated and ad-
hered to on my part when a certain other nom-
ination now recently made was being canvassed
for.
Kellogg, William.
[Reply
to
a
Letter from Congressman Asking
Advice.]
Entertain no proposition for a compromise
in
regard to the extension of slavery.
The instant
you do they have us under again
:
all our labor
is
lost, and sooner or
later must be done over.
Douglas
is sure to be again trying to bring in his
"popular sovereignty."
Have none
of
it.
The
tug has to come, and better now than later.
You
know
I
think
the
fugitive-slave
clause
of
the
Constitution ought to be enforced—to put
it
in
its mildest form, ought not to be resisted.
Dec. ii, i860.
[June 25,
1863.
See Chase, Salmon
P.]
[Aug.
5,
1864.
See
McMichael,
Morton.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 29, 1863.
Hon. William Kellogg.
My dear
Sir:
I have received and read your
pencil note.
I think you do not know how em-
barrassing your request
is.
Few things
are
so
troublesome to the government as the fierceness
with which the profits in trading are sought.
The
temptation
is
so
great
that
nearly
everybody
wishes to be in
it; and, when
in, the question of
KEY, JOHN
/.
201
profit
controls
all,
regardless
of
whether
the
cotton-seller
is
loyal or
rebel, or whether he
is
paid in corn-meal or gunpowder.
The officers of
the
army,
in numerous
instances,
are
believed
to
connive and
share
the
profits, and
thus
the
army
itself
is
diverted from fighting the
rebels
to
speculating
in
cotton,
and
steamboats
and
wagons in the pay of the government are
set to
gathering and carrying cotton, and the
soldiers
to loading cotton-trains and guarding them.
The
matter
deeply
affects
the
Treasury and
War Departments, and has been discussed again
and again
in the
cabinet.
What can and what
cannot
be
done
has
for
the
time
been
settled,
and
it seems to me
I cannot safely break over
it.
I know
it
is thought that one case
is not much,
but how can I favor one and deny another ?
One
case
cannot
be
kept
a
secret.
The
authority
given
would
be
utterly
ineffectual
until
it
is
shown, and when shown, everybody knows of
it.
The administration would do for you as much
as for any other man
; and
I personally would do
some more than for most others
; but really I can-
not
involve myself and the government
as
this
would do.
Yours as ever,
A.
Lincoln.
Kentucky Delegation.
[See Bayles, Jesse.]
Key, John
J.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 26, 1862.
Major John
J. Key.
Sir
:
I am informed that in answer to the ques-
202
LETTERS
tion, "Why was not the rebel army bagged imme-
diately
after the
battle near Sharpsburg?"
pro-
pounded to you by Major Levi C. Turner, judge-
advocate,
etc., you answered, "That
is
not
the
game.
The object
is that neither army shall get
much advantage of the other, that both
shall be
kept in the field
till they are exhausted, when we
will make a compromise and save slavery."
I shall
be
very happy
if you
will,
within
twenty-four
hours from the
receipt of
this, prove
to me by
Major Turner that you did not, either literally or
in substance, make the answer stated.
Yours,
A. Lincoln.
[Indorsement.']
Copy delivered
to Major Key
at
10.25
a.
m.,
September 27, 1862.
John Hay.
At about eleven
o'clock
a.
m., September
27,
1862, Major Key and Major Turner appear be-
fore me.
Major Turner says
: "As
I remember
it,
the
conversation was
:
I
asked
the
question
why we
did
not bag them
after
the
battle
of
Sharpsburg.
Major Key's reply was, 'That was
not the game; that we should tire the rebels out
and ourselves.
That that was the only way the
Union could be
preserved.
We must come
to-
gether
fraternally, and slavery be
saved.'
:
On
cross-examination Major Turner says he has fre-
quently
heard
Major Key
converse
in
regard
to the present troubles, and never heard him utter
a
sentiment unfavorable
to the maintenance
of
the
Union.
He
has
never
uttered
anything
which he (Major T.) would call disloyalty.
The
KEY, JOHN
J.
203
particular
conversation
detailed
was
a
private
one.
A.
Lincoln.
[Indorsement.]
In my view
it
is wholly inadmissible
for any
gentleman
holding
a
military commission from
the United
States
to
utter
such
sentiments
as
Major Key is within proved to have done. There-
fore
let Major John
J. Key
be
forthwith
dis-
missed from the
military
service of the United
States.
A.
Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 24, 1862.
Major John
J. Key.
Dear
Sir: A bundle of
letters,
including one
from yourself, was early last week handed me by
General
Halleck,
as
I
understood
at
your
re-
quest.
I
sincerely sympathize with you
in the death
of your brave and noble son.
In regard to my dismissal of yourself from the
military
service,
it seems
to me you misunder-
stand me.
I did not charge, or intend to charge,
you with disloyalty.
I had been brought
to
fear
that there was a
class
of
officers
in
the
army,
not
very
incon-
siderable
in numbers, who were playing a game
to not beat the enemy when they could, on some
peculiar notion
as
to the proper way
of saving
the Union; and when you were proved
to me,
in your own presence, to have avowed yourself
in favor of that "game," and did not attempt to
controvert
the
proof,
I
dismissed
you
as
an
example and a warning to that supposed
class.
204
LETTERS
I bear you no
ill will, and I regret that I could
not have the example without wounding you per-
sonally.
But can
I now,
in view of the public
interest,
restore
you
to
the
service,
by
which
the army would understand
that
I
indorse and
approve
that game myself?
If
there was
any
doubt of your having made the avowal, the case
would be
different.
But when
it was proved to
me,
in your
presence, you
did not deny
or
at-
tempt to deny
it, but confirmed
it,
in my mind,
fay
attempting
to
sustain
the
position by
argu-
ment.
I am
really sorry for the pain the case gives
you
; but I do not see how, consistently with duty,
I can change
it.
Yours,
etc.,
A.
Lincoln.
[Indorsement.]
The within, as appears, was written some time
ago.
On
full reconsideration,
I cannot find suffi-
cient ground
to
change
the
conclusion
therein
arrived
at.
A. Lincoln.
December
27,
1862.
KlRKLAND, C. P.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1863.
Charles P. Kirkland, Esq., New York
:
I have just received and hastily read your pub-
lished
letter
to
the
Hon.
Benjamin
R.
Curtis.
Under the circumstances
I may not be the most
competent judge, but it appear to me to be a paper
of great ability, and for the country's sake, more
than my own,
I thank you for
it.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
KOPPEL, HERMAN
205
Knox, Thomas W.
[Revocation of Sentence.']
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 20, 1863.
Whom
it May Concern
: Whereas,
it appears to
my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a corre-
spondent of the New York "Herald," has been by
the
sentence
of
a
court-martial
excluded from
the
military
department
under
command
of
Major-General
Grant,
and
also
that
General
Thayer,
president
of
the
court-martial
which
rendered
the
sentence, and Major-General Mc-
Clernand,
in command
of
a
corps
of
that
de-
partment,
and many
other
respectable
persons,
are of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was tech-
nical
rather
than
wilfully wrong, and
that
the
sentence should be revoked
: now, therefore, said
sentence is hereby so far revoked as to allow Mr.
Knox to return to General Grant's headquarters,
and to remain
if General Grant shall give his ex-
press assent, and to again leave the department
if General Grant shall refuse such assent.
A.
Lincoln.
Koerner, G.
[See Halleck, Henry W., Jan.
15, 1862.]
Koppel, Herman.
[Memorandum.']
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 22,
1863.
To-day Mr. Prentiss calls as attorney of Her-
man Koppel, saying the
latter
is a loyal citizen;
206
LETTERS
that he
resided
at Charleston,
S. C,
at
the be-
ginning of the rebellion; that he converted what
he
had
into
a
few
bales
of
cotton
and
other
articles
apparently
to break
the
blockade
as
a
mode of getting out, but really intending to sur-
render to the blockade, which he did of purpose
and with no effort to avoid
it; that his property
has been condemned by
a
prize
court, and
he
appeals
to me
to remit
to him the proceeds
of
the property, or at least the government's moiety
of
it.
Admitting this
all to be true,
is
it both lawful
and proper for me to do this ?
Lamon, Ward H.
Springfield, June n, 1858.
My
dear
Sir:
Yours
of
the
9th
written
at
Joliet
is
just
received.
Two or three days ago
I learned
that McLean had appointed delegates
in favor of Lovejoy, and thenceforward
I have
considered
his
renomination
a
fixed
fact.
My
opinion—if my opinion
is of any consequence in
this
case,
in which
it
is no business of mine
to
interfere—remains
unchanged,
that
running an
independent candidate
against Lovejoy
will not
do; that
it will result
in nothing but disaster
all
around.
In the
first place, whoever so runs will
be
beaten and
will
be
spotted
for
life;
in
the
second
place,
while
the
race
is
in
progress,
he
will be under the strongest temptation
to trade
with
the
Democrats,
and
to
favor
the
election
of
certain
of
their
friends
to
the
Legislature
;
thirdly,
I
shall
be
held
responsible
for
it,
and
Republican
members
of
the
Legislature,
who
are
partial
to
Lovejoy,
will
for
that
purpose
LANE,
J. H.
207
oppose
us
;
and,
lastly,
it
will
in
the
end
lose
us the District altogether.
There
is no safe way
but a convention
; and
if in that convention, upon
a common platform which all are willing to stand
upon,
one
has
been known
as
an
Abolitionist,
but who
is now
occupying
none
but common
ground,
can
get
the
majority
of
the
votes
to
which
all look
for an
election,
there
is no
safe
way but to submit.
As
to
the
inclination of some Republicans to
favor Douglas, that
is one of the chances
I have
to run, and which
I intend to run with patience.
I write in the court room.
Court has opened,
and
I must close.
Yours as ever,
A.
Lincoln.
Lane,
J. H.
[June
20, and
Aug.
1,
1861
: See Cameron,
Simon".
May
13, 1864:
See Carney, Thomas.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 17, 1863.
Hon.
J. H. Lane.
My dear Sir: Governor Carney has not asked
to
[have]
General Blunt removed, or interfered
with,
in
his
military
operations.
He has asked
that he, the governor, be allowed to commission
officers for troops raised in Kansas, as other gov-
ernors of loyal States do
; and
I think he
is right
in
this.
He has asked that General Blunt shall not take
persons
charged
with
civil
crimes
out
of
the
hands of the courts and turn them over to mobs
to be hung; and
I think he
is right
in
this
also.
He has asked that General Ewing's department
2o8
LETTERS
be extended
to
include
all Kansas; and
I have
not determined whether this
is right or not.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Lardner, John L., and Others.
[Message
to Congress.]
To the Senate and House of Representatives
:
I
recommend
that
the
thanks
of
Congress
be
given
to
the
following
officers
of
the
United
States Navy:
Captain John L. Lardner, for meritorious con-
duct
at
the
battle
of
Port
Royal,
and
distin-
guished services on the coast of the United States
against the enemy.
Captain
Charles
Henry
Davis,
for
distin-
guished
services
in
conflict with
the enemy
at
Fort
Pillow,
at
Memphis,
and
for
successful
operations
at other points
in
the
waters
of
the
Mississippi
River.
Commander
John
A.
Dahlgren,
for
distin-
guished services in the line of his profession, im-
provements in ordnance, and zealous and efficient
labors in the ornance branch of the service.
Commander
Stephen
C.
Rowan,
for
distin-
guished services in the waters of North Carolina,
and particularly in the capture of Newbern, be-
ing in chief command of the naval
forces.
Commander David D. Porter, for distinguished
services in the conception and preparation of the
means used
for
the
capture of
the
forts below
New Orleans, and for highly meritorious conduct
in the management of the mortar
flotilla during
the
bombardment
of
Forts
Jackson
and
St.
Philip.
LEE, S. P.
209
Captain
Silas H.
Stringham, now on
the
re-
tired
list,
for distinguished
services
in
the
cap-*
ture of Forts Hatteras and
Clark.
Abraham Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, July
11,
1862.
Lee,
J. C.
[Confidential]
Springfield, Illinois, October 24, i860.
Dear Sir
: Yours of the 14th was received some
days ago, and should have been answered sooner.
I never gave
fifty dollars, nor one dollar, nor
one cent, for the object you mention, or any such
object.
I once subscribed twenty-five dollars, to be paid
whenever
Judge
Logan
would
decide
it
was
necessary to enable the people of Kansas to de-
fend themselves against any force coming against
them from without the Territory, and not by au-
thority of the United States.
Logan never made
the decision, and I never paid a dollar on the sub-
scription.
The whole of this can be seen
in the
files
of the
"Illinois Journal,"
since the
first of
June
last.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Lee,
S.
P.
[ Telegram. ]
Navy Department,
Washington, D. C, July 4, 1863.
Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee
:
The request of A. H. Stephens
is inadmissible.
The customary agents and channels are adequate
for
all
needful
communication
and
conference
210
LETTERS
between the United States forces and the insur-
gents.
A.
Lincoln.
Lewis, Alpheus.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 2$,
1864.
Alpheus Lewis, Esq.
My dear Sir
: You have inquired how the gov-
ernment would
regard and
treat
cases wherein
the owners
of plantations,
in Arkansas,
for
in-
stance,
might
fully
recognize
the
freedom
of
those
formerly
slaves, and by
fair
contracts
of
hire
with
them, recommence
the
cultivation
of
their plantations.
I answer,
I should regard such
cases with great
favor, and should
as a
princi-
ple
treat them
precisely
as
I
would
treat
the
same number of
free white people
in
the same
relation and condition.
Whether white or black,
reasonable
effort
should
be made
to
give
gov-
ernment
protection.
In
neither case should
the
giving
of
aid and comfort
to
the
rebellion,
or
other practices
injurious
to
the government,
be
allowed on
such
plantations
; and
in
either,
the
government would
claim
the
right
to
take,
if
necessary,
those
of
proper
ages and
conditions
into
the
military
service.
Such
plan must
not
be used
to break up existing leases or arrange-
ments of abandoned
plantations which
the gov-
ernment may have made to give employment and
sustenance to the idle and destitute people.
With
the
foregoing
qualifications,
and
explanations,
and in view of
its tendency to advance freedom,
and
restore
peace
and
prosperity,
such
hiring
and employment
of
the
freed
people, would be
regarded by me with
rather especial
favor.
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
2 1
To be more specific,
I add that all the military,
and
others
acting by
authority
of
the
United
States,
are
to favor and
facilitate the introduc-
tion and
carrying
forward,
in good
faith,
the
free-labor system
as above
indicated, by
allow-
ing
the
necessary
supplies
therefor
to
be
pro-
cured and
taken
to
the
proper
points,
and by
doing and forbearing whatever
will advance
it,
providing that existing military and trade regula-
tions be not transcended thereby.
I shall be glad
to learn that planters adopting this system
shall
have, employed one so zealous and active as your-
self to act as an agent
in
relation thereto.
Yours
truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Lincoln, Abraham
Autobiographical Data
in
"Dictionary of
Congress."
The compiler of the "Dictionary
of Congress"
states
that while preparing that work
for publication
in
1858,
he
sent
to Mr. Lincoln the
usual
request
for
a
sketch
of his
life, and received in June of that year the follow-
ing reply:
Born, February
12,
1809,
in Hardin County,
Kentucky.
Education
defective.
Profession, a lawyer.
Have
been
a
captain
of
volunteers
in Black
Hawk war.
Postmaster at a very small office.
Four times a member of the Illinois legislature,
and was a member of the lower house of Con-
gress.
Yours,
etc.,
A.
Lincoln.
2 12
LETTERS
Short Autobiography
Written
in June,
i860,
at
the Request of a Friend to Use in Preparing a
Popular Campaign Biography,
Abraham Lincoln was born February
[2,
[809,
then
in Hardin, now
in the more recently formed
county
of
La
Rue,
Kentucky.
His
father,
Thomas, and
grandfather, Abraham, were born
in
Rockingham
County,
Virginia,
whither their
ancestors had come
from
Berks County,
Penn-
sylvania.
His lineage has been traced no farther
back
than
this.
The
family
were
originally
Quakers, though
in
later times they have
fallen
away
from
the
peculiar
habits
of
that
people.
The grandfather, Abraham, had
four brothers
Isaac,
Jacob,
John,
and
Thomas.
So
far
as
known,
the
descendants
of Jacob and John
are
still
in
Virginia.
Isaac
went
to
a
place
near
where Virginia,
North Carolina, and Tennessee
join;
and
his
descendants
are
in
that
region.
Thomas came to Kentucky, and after many years
died there, whence his descendants went to Mis-
souri.
Abraham, grandfather
of
the
subject of
this sketch, came to Kentucky, and was killed by
Indians about
the year
1784.
He
left
a widow,
three sons, and two daughters.
The
eldest
son,
Mordecai, remained
in
Kentucky
till
late
in
life,
when
he
removed
to
Hancock
County,
Illinois,
where soon
after
he
died, and where
several
of
his
descendants
still
remain.
The
second
son,
Josiah,
removed
at
an
early day
to
a
place on
Blue
River, now
within
Hancock
County,
In-
diana,
hut no
recent
information
of him
or
his
family
has
heen
obtained.
The
eldest
sister,
Mary,
married
Ralph Crume, and some
of her
descendants
are now known
to
be
in
Brecken-
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
213
ridge
County,
Kentucky.
The
second
sister,
Nancy, married William Brumfield, and her fam-
ily
are
not known
to have
left Kentucky,
but
there
is
no
recent
information
from
them.
Thomas,
the
youngest
son,
and
father
of
the
present subject, by the early death of his father,
and
very narrow
circumstances
of
his
mother,
even in childhood was a wandering laboring-boy,
and
grew
up
literally
without
education.
He
never
did more
in the way
of
writing than
to
bunglingly write his own name.
Before he was
grown he passed one year as a hired hand with
his
uncle
Isaac
on Watauga,
a branch
of
the
Holston River.
Getting back into Kentucky, and
having reached his twenty-eighth year, he mar-
ried Nancy Hanks—mother of the present sub-
ject—in
the year
1806.
She
also was born
in
Virginia
; and
relatives
of hers
of the name of
Hanks, and of other names, now reside in Coles,
in Macon, and
in Adams counties,
Illinois, and
also in Iowa.
The present subject has no brother
or sister of the whole or half blood.
He had a
sister, older than
himself, who was grown and
married,
but
died many
years
ago,
leaving no
child
; also a brother, younger than himself, who
died
in
infancy.
Before
leaving Kentucky,
he
and
his
sister
were, sent,
for
short
periods,
to
ABC schools, the first kept by Zachariah Riney,
and the second by Caleb Hazel.
At
this
time
his
father
resided on
Knob
Creek, on the road from Bardstown, Kentucky,
to Nashville, Tennessee, at a point three or three
and
a half
miles
south or southwest
of Ather-
ton's
Ferry,
on
the
Rolling
Fork.
From
this
place he removed to what
is now Spencer Coun-
ty,
Indiana,
in
the autumn
of
1816, Abraham
214
LETTERS
then
being
in
his
eighth
year.
This
removal
was partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on
account
of
the
difficulty
in
land
titles
in Ken-
tucky.
He
settled
in an unbroken
forest, and
the clearing away of surplus wood was the great
task ahead.
Abraham, though very young, was
large
of
his
age,
and had
an ax
put
into
his
hands
at
once;
and
from
that
till
within
his
twenty-third year he was almost constantly han-
dling
that
most
useful
instrument—less,
of
course, in plowing and harvesting seasons. At this
place Abraham took an early
start
as a hunter,
which
was
never
much
improved
afterward.
A few days before the completion of his eighth
year, in the absence of his father, a flock of wild
turkeys approached the new log cabin, and Abra-
ham
with
a
rifle-gun,
standing
inside,
shot
through a crack and killed one of them.
He has
never since pulled a trigger on any larger game.
In the autumn of 1818
his mother died; and a
year
afterward
his
father
married
Mrs.
Sally
Johnston, at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a widow
with
three
children
of her
first marriage.
She
proved
a good and
kind mother
to Abraham,
and
is
still living in Coles County, Illinois. There
were no children of this second marriage.
His
father's
residence
continued
at
the same
place
in Indiana
till 1830.
While here Abraham went
to A B C schools by
littles, kept successively by
Andrew Crawford,
Sweeney, and Azel W.
Dorsey.
He does not remember any other.
The
family of Mr. Dorsey now
resides
in
Schuyler
County,
Illinois.
Abraham now thinks that the
aggregate of
all his schooling did not amount to
one
year.
He was never
in a college or acad-
emy as a student, and never inside of a college
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
215
or academy building
till
since he had a law
li-
cense.
What
he
has
in
the way
of
education
he
has
picked
up.
After he was
twenty-three
and had
separated from
his
father,
he
studied
English grammar—imperfectly,
of
course,
but
so as to speak and write as well as he now does.
He
studied and
nearly mastered
the
six books
of Euclid
since he was
a member of Congress.
He regrets his want of education, and does what
he can
to supply the want.
In
his
tenth year
he was kicked by a horse, and apparently killed
for a
time.
When he was nineteen,
still
resid-
ing
in
Indiana,
he made
his
first
trip upon
a
flatboat to New Orleans.
He was a hired hand
merely, and he and
a son
of the owner,
with-
out other assistance, made the
trip.
The nature
of part of the "cargo-load," as it was called, made
it necessary for them to linger and trade along
the
sugar-coast;
and
one
night
they were
at-
tacked by seven negroes with
intent to
kill and
rob them.
They were hurt some
in the melee,
but succeeded
in
driving the negroes from
the
boat, and
then
"cut
cable,"
"weighed
anchor,"
and
left.
March
1,
1830, Abraham
having
just com-
pleted his twenty-first year, his father and family,
with the families of the two daughters and sons-
in-law of his stepmother,
left the old homestead
in Indiana and came to
Illinois.
Their mode of
conveyance was wagons drawn by ox-teams, and
Abraham drove one of the teams.
They reached
the county
of Macon, and stopped
there some
time
within
the
same month
of
March.
His
father and
family
settled
a new
place
on
the
north
side of the Sangamon River,
at the junc-
tion
of
the
timberland
and
prairie,
about
ten
216
LETTERS
miles westerly from Decatur.
Here they built a
log
cabin,
into which they removed, and made
sufficient
of
rails
to
fence ten
acres
of ground,
fenced and broke the ground, and raised a crop
of sown corn upon
it the same year.
These are,
or are supposed to be, the
rails about which so
much
is being said
just now, though these are
far from being the
first or only
rails ever made
by Abraham.
The
sons-in-law
were
temporarily
settled
in
other
places
in
the
county.
In the autumn
all
hands were greatly afflicted with ague and fever,
to which they had not been used, and by which
they were greatly discouraged, so much so that
they determined
on
leaving
the
county.
They
remained, however, through the succeeding win-
ter, which was the winter of the very celebrated
"deep
snow"
of
Illinois.
During
that
winter
Abraham,
together
with
his
stepmother's
son,
John D. Johnston, and John Hanks, yet residing
in Macon
County,
hired
themselves
to Denton
Offutt to take a
flatboat from Beardstown,
Illi-
nois, to New Orleans
; and for that purpose were
to
join him—Offutt—at
Springfield,
Illinois,
so
soon
as
the snow should go
off.
When
it did
go off, which was about the first of March, 183 1,
the county was so flooded as to make traveling
by land impracticable
; to obviate which difficulty
they purchased a large canoe, and came down the
Sangamon
River
in
it.
This
is
the
time and
the
manner
of
Abraham's
first
entrance
into
Sangamon County. They found Offutt at Spring-
field,
but
learned from him
that
he had
failed
in
getting
a
boat
at
Beardstown.
This
led
to
their hiring themselves to him for twelve dollars
per month
each, and
getting the timber out of
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
217
the trees and building a boat at Old Sangamon
town on the Sangamon River, seven miles north-
west
of
Springfield,
which
boat
they
took
to
New
Orleans,
substantially
upon
the
old
con-
tract.
During this boat-enterprise acquaintance with
OfTutt, who was
previously an
entire
stranger,
he conceived a liking
for Abraham, and believ-
ing he could turn him to account, he contracted
with him to
act as clerk for him, on
his return
from New
Orleans,
in
charge
of
a
store and
mill
at New Salem, then
in Sangamon, now
in
Menard County.
Hanks had not gone to New
Orleans, but having
a
family, and being
likely
to be
detained from home
longer than
at
first
expected, had turned back from
St. Louis.
He
is
the
same
John Hanks who now
engineers
the
"rail
enterprise"
at Decatur, and
is a
first
cousin to Abraham's mother.
Abraham's father,
with his own family and others mentioned, had,
in pursuance
of
their
intention, removed from
Macon to Coles County.
John D. Johnston, the
stepmother's
son, went
to them, and Abraham
stopped
indefinitely
and
for
the
first
time,
as
it were, by himself
at New Salem, before men-
tioned.
This was in July, 1831.
Here he rapidly
made
acquaintances and
friends.
In
less
than
a year OrTutt's business was failing—had almost
failed—when the Black Hawk war of 1832 broke
out.
Abraham joined a volunteer company, and,
to
his own
surprise, was
elected
captain
of
it.
He says he has not since had any success in
life
which gave him so much satisfaction.
He went
to the campaign, served near three months, met
the
ordinary
hardships
of
such
an
expedition,
but was
in no
battle.
He now owns,
in Iowa,
218
LETTERS
the land upon which
his own warrants
for the
service were
located.
Returning from the cam-
paign, and encouraged by
his
great
popularity
among his immediate neighbors, he the same year
ran for the legislature, and was beaten,—his own
precinct, however, casting
its votes 277 for and
7 against him—and
that,
too, while he was an
avowed Clay man, and the precinct the autumn
afterward giving a majority
of
115
to General
Jackson over Mr. Clay.
This was the only time
Abraham was
ever beaten on
a
direct
vote
of
the
people.
He was now
without means
and
out of business, but was anxious to remain with
his
friends who had treated him with
so much
generosity, especially as he had nothing elsewhere
to go to.
He studied what he should do—thought
of learning the blacksmith trade—thought of try-
ing to study law—rather thought he could not
succeed at that without a better education.
Be-
fore
long,
strangely
enough,
a man
offered
to
sell, and
did
sell,
to Abraham and
another
as
poor
as
himself,
an
old
stock
of
goods, upon
credit.
They opened as merchants
; and he says
that was the store.
Of course they did nothing
but get deeper and deeper in debt.
He was ap-
pointed postmaster at New Salem—the office be-
ing too insignificant to make his
politics an ob-
jection.
The
store winked
out.
The
surveyor
of Sangamon offered to depute to Abraham that
portion
of
his work which was
within
his part
of
the
county.
He
accepted, procured
a com-
pass and chain, studied Flint and Gibson a
little,
and went
at
it.
This procured bread, and kept
soul and body
together.
The
election
of
1834
came, and he was then elected to the legislature
by the highest vote cast for any candidate. Major
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
219
John T. Stuart, then
in
full practice of the law,
was also
elected.
During the canvass,
in a pri-
vate conversation he encouraged Abraham
[to]
study law.
After the election he borrowed books
of Stuart, took them home with him, and went
at
it in good earnest.
He studied with nobody.
He
still mixed
in
the
surveying
to pay board
and
clothing
bills.
When
the
legislature
met,
the law-books were dropped, but were taken up
again at the end of the session.
He was reelected
in 1836, 1838, and 1840.
In the autumn of 1836,
he obtained a law license, and on April
15, 1837,
removed to Springfield, and commenced the prac-
tice—his old friend Stuart taking him into part-
nership.
March
3,
1837, by
a
protest
entered
upon the
"Illinois House Journal" of that date,
at pages 817 and 818, Abraham, with Dan Stone,
another representative of Sangamon,
briefly de-
fined
his
position on
the
slavery question; and
so far as
it goes,
it was then the same that
it
is
now.
The protest
is
as
follows
:
Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery hav-
ing passed both branches
of
the
General Assembly
at
its
present
session,
the
undersigned
hereby
protest
against the passage of the same.
They believe that the institution of slavery
is founded
on both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulga-
tion of Abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than
abate
its
evils.
They believe
that
the Congress
of the United
States
has no power under the
Constitution
to
interfere with
the
institution of slavery
in the different
States.
They
believe
that the Congress
of the United
States
has the power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery
in the
District
of Columbia, but
that
the power ought
not
to be exercised unless
at the request of the people
of the
District.
The difference between these opinions and those con-
220
LETTERS
tained in the above resolutions
is their reason for enter-
ing this
protest.
Dan
Stone,
A.
Lincoln,
Representatives from the County of Sangamon.
In 1838 and
1840, Mr. Lincoln's party voted
for him
as
Speaker, but being
in
the minority
he was
not
elected.
After
1840 he
declined a
reelection
to
the
legislature.
He
was
on
the
Harrison electoral ticket in 1840, and on that of
Clay
in 1844, and spent much time and labor in
both
those
canvasses.
In
November,
1842,
he
was
married
to
Mary,
daughter
of
Robert
S.
Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky.
They have three
living children,
all
sons, one born
in
1843, one
in
1850, and one
in
1853.
They
lost one, who
was born
in
1846.
In
1846 he was
elected
to
the
lower House
of
Congress,
and
served
one
term
only,
com-
mencing in December, 1847, and ending with the
inauguration of General Taylor, in March,
1849.
All
the
battles
of
the
Mexican war
had
been
fought before Mr. Lincoln took his seat in Con-
gress, but the American army was
still
in Mex-
ico, and
the
treaty of peace was not
fully and
formally
ratified
till the June afterward.
Much
has been said of his course in Congress in regard
to this war. A careful examination of the "Jour-
nal" and "Congressional Globe" shows
that he
voted for
all the supply measures that came up,
and
for
all
the measures
in any way
favorable
to the
officers,
soldiers, and
their
families, who
conducted the war through
: with the exception
that some of these measures passed without yeas
and nays, leaving no record as to how particular
men
voted.
The
"Journal"
and
"Globe"
also
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
221
show him voting that the war was unnecessarily
and unconstitutionally begun by the President of
the United States.
This
is the language of Mr.
Ashmun's
amendment,
for
which
Mr.
Lincoln
and nearly or quite all other Whigs of the House
of
Representatives
voted.
Mr. Lincoln's reasons for the opinion expressed
by
this vote were briefly that the President had.
sent
General
Taylor
into
an
inhabited
part
of
the country belonging to Mexico, and not to the
United
States,
and
thereby
had
provoked
the
first act of hostility, in fact the commencement of
the war
; that the place being the country border-
ing on
the
east bank
of
the Rio
Grande, was
inhabited by native Mexicans, born there under
the Mexican government,
and
had
never
sub-
mitted
to, nor been conquered by, Texas or the
United States, nor transferred to either by treaty
;
that although Texas claimed the Rio Grande as
her boundary, Mexico had never recognized
it,
and
neither Texas
nor
the
United
States
had
ever enforced
it; that there was a broad desert
between that and the country over which Texas
had actual control; that the country where hos-
tilities commenced, having once belonged to Mex-
ico, must remain so until
it was somehow legally
transferred, which had never been done.
Mr.
Lincoln
thought
the
act
of
sending
an
armed force among the Mexicans was unneces-
sary, inasmuch
as Mexico was
in no way mo-
lesting
or
menacing
the
United
States
or
the
people thereof; and that
it was unconstitutional,
because the power
of levying war
is vested
in
Congress, and not in the President.
He thought
the
principal motive
for
the
act was
to
divert
public
attention from
the
surrender
of
"Fifty-
2 22
LETTERS
four,
forty,
or
fight"
to
Great
Britain, on
the
Oregon boundary question.
Mr. Lincoln was not a candidate for reelection.
This was determined upon and declared before
he went
to Washington,
in accordance with an
understanding among Whig
friends,
by
which
Colonel Hardin and Colonel Baker had each pre-
viously served a single term in this same district.
In
1848, during his term
in Congress, he ad-
vocated
General
Taylor's
nomination
for
the
presidency,
in opposition to
all others, and
also
took an active part for his election after his nom-
ination, speaking a few times in Maryland, near
Washington, several times in Massachusetts, and
canvassing quite fully his own district in Illinois,
which was followed by a majority in the district
of over 1500 for General Taylor.
Upon his return from Congress he went to the
practice of the law with greater earnestness than
ever
before.
In
1852
he was upon
the
Scott
electoral
ticket, and
did something
in
the way
of canvassing, but owing to the hopelessness of
the cause in Illinois he did
less than in previous
presidential canvasses.
In 1854 his profession had almost superseded
the thought
of
politics
in
his
mind, when
the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused him
as he had never been before.
In the autumn of that year he took the stump
with no broader practical aim or object than to
secure, if possible, the reelection of Hon. Richard
Yates
to
Congress.
His
speeches
at
once
at-
tracted a more marked
attention than they had
ever before done.
As the canvass proceeded he
was drawn
to
different
parts
of the
State out-
side of Mr. Yates's district.
He did not abandon
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
223,
the law, but gave
his attention by turns to that
and
politics.
The State agricultural
fair was at
Springfield
that
year,
and
Douglas
was
an-
nounced to speak there.
In the canvass of 1856 Mr. Lincoln made over
fifty
speeches, no one
of
which,
so
far
as
he
remembers, was put in print.
One of them was
made
at Galena, but Mr.
Lincoln has no
recol-
lection of any part of
it being printed; nor does
he remember whether in that speech he said any-
thing about a Supreme Court decision.
He may
have spoken upon that subject, and some of the
newspapers may have
reported him
as
saying
what
is now
ascribed
to him; but he thinks he
could not have expressed himself as represented.
[For other autobiographies, see Lincoln, David; Lin-
coln, Jesse; Chrisman, John;
Fell, Jesse
W.,
Dec.
20,
1859;
Haycraft,
Samuel, May
and
June
4,
i860; and Hicks, Thomas, June
14,
i860.]
[Poems by Abraham
Lincoln.
See Johnston, Wil-
liam.]
[Memorandum.']
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 23,
1864.
This morning, as for some days past,
it seems
exceedingly probable that this administration will
not
be
reelected.
Then
it
will
be my duty
to
so cooperate with the
President-elect as to save
the Union between the
election and the inaugu-
ration
;
as he
will have
secured
his
election on
such ground that he cannot possibly save
it after-
ward.
A.
Lincoln.
224
LETTERS
Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham (Mary Todd).
Washington, December 21,
1862.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Continental Hotel:
Do not come on the night train.
It
is too cold.
Come in the morning.
A.
Lincoln.
Washington, June 9,
1863.
Mrs.
Lincoln,
Philadelphia
:
Think you had better put "Tad's" pistol away.
I had an ugly dream about him.
A.
Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, June 16, 1863.
Mrs.
Lincoln,
Philadelphia,
Pa.
:
It
is a matter of choice with yourself whether
you come home.
There
is no reason why you
should
not,
that
did
not
exist when you went
away.
As bearing on the question of your com-
ing home,
I do not think the raid into Pennsyl-
vania amounts
to anything at
all.
A.
Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August
8,
1863.
My dear Wife: All
as well
as
usual, and no
particular
trouble
anyway.
I
put
the money
into a Treasury at five per cent., with the privi-
lege
of
withdrawing
it
any
time
upon
thirty
days'
notice.
I suppose you are glad
to learn
this.
Tell dear Tad poor "Nanny Goat"
is
lost,
and Mrs. Cuthbert and
I are in distress about
it.
The day you
left, Nanny was found resting her-
self and chewing
her
little
cud on
the
middle
LINCOLN, MRS. ABRAHAM
225
of Tad's bed
; but now she's gone
!
The gardener
kept complaining that she destroyed the flowers,
till
it was concluded
to bring her down
to the
White House.
This was
done, and
the second
day she had disappeared and has not been heard
of
since.
This
is
the
last we know
of
poor
"Nanny."
The
weather
continues
dry
and
excessively
warm here.
Nothing very important occurring.
The election in Kentucky has gone very strongly
right.
Old Mr. WicklifYe got ugly, as you know
:
ran
for governor, and
is terribly beaten.
Upon
Mr.
Crittenden's
death,
Brutus
Clay,
Cassius's
brother, was put on the track for Congress, and
is
largely
elected.
Mr.
Menzies,
who,
as we
thought, behaved very badly last session of Con-
gress,
is
largely beaten
in
the
district
opposite
Cincinnati, by Green Clay Smith, Cassius Clay's
nephew.
But enough.
Affectionately,
A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, September 21, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln,
Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York
:
The
air
is
so
clear and
cool and
apparently
healthy
that
I would be glad
for you
to come.
Nothing very particular but
I would be glad to
see you and Tad.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion, September 22, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York
:
Did
you
receive my
despatch
of
yesterday?
Mrs. Cuthbert did not correctly understand me.
226
LETTERS
I directed her to tell you to use your own pleasure
whether to stay or come, and
I did not say
it
is
sickly and that you should on no account come.
So far as
I see or know,
it was never healthier,
and I really wish to see you.
Answer this on re-
ceipt.
A.
Lincoln.
On September
24,
1863,
the
President communicated
to his wife, with other war news, the information
that
her
brother-in-law
Helm,
a
brigadier-general
in
the
Confederate
army,
had
been
killed
in
the
battle
of
Chickamauga.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 28,
1864.
Mrs. A.
Lincoln,
Metropolitan
Hotel, New
York:
The draft will go to you.
Tell Tad the goats
and father are very well, especially the goats.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 24, 1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Boston, Massachusetts
:
All
well
and
very warm.
Tad
and
I
have
been
to
General
Grant's army.
Returned
yes-
terday safe and sound.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, D.
C., June 29, 1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York
:
All
well.
Tom
is moving things
out.
A. Lincoln.
LINCOLN, DAVID
227
[Telegram.]
Washington, D. C, August
31,
1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, Vermont
:
All reasonably well.
Bob not here yet.
How
is dear Tad ?
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 8, 1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, Vermont
:
All well, including Tad's pony and the goats.
Mrs.
Colonel Dimmick
died
night
before
last.
Bob
left
Sunday
afternoon.
Said
he
did
not
know whether he should
see you.
A. Lincoln.
City Point, Va., April 2, 1865.
Mrs. Lincoln:
At 4.30
p. m. to-day General Grant telegraphs
that he has Petersburg completely enveloped from
river
below
to
river
above,
and
has
captured
since
he
started
last Wednesday,
about
12,000
prisoners and 50 guns.
He suggests that
I shall
go out and see him in the morning, which I think
I
will
do.
Tad and
I
are both
well, and
will
be glad to
see you and your party here
at the
time you name.
A. Lincoln.
Lincoln, David.
Washington, March 24,
1848.
Mr. David Lincoln.
Dear
Sir: Your
very
worthy
representative,
Gov. McDowell,
has
given me your name and
address, and
as my
father was born
in Rock-
228
LETTERS
ingham, from whence his
father, Abraham Lin-
coln, emigrated to Kentucky about the year 1782,
I
have
concluded
to
address you
to
ascertain
whether we are not of the same family.
I shall
be much
obliged
if you
will
write
me,
telling
me whether you
in any way know anything of
my grandfather, what
relation you
are
to
him,
and so on.
Also,
if you know where your family
came from when they
settled
in Virginia,
trac-
ing them back as far as your knowledge extends.
Very respectfully,
A. Lincoln.
Washington, April 2, 1848.
Dear Sir
: Last evening I was much gratified by
receiving
and
reading
your
letter
of
the
30th
of March.
There
is no longer any doubt
that
your uncle Abraham and my grandfather was the
same man.
His family did reside in Washington
County,
Kentucky,
just
as you
say you
found
them
in
1801
or
1802.
The
oldest
son, Uncle
Mordecai, near twenty years ago removed from
Kentucky
to
Hancock
County,
Illinois,
where
within a year or two afterward he died, and where
his surviving children now
live.
His two
sons
there now are Abraham and Mordecai
; and their
post-office
is "La Harpe."
Uncle Josiah, farther
back than my recollection, went from Kentucky
to Blue River in Indiana.
I have not heard from
him
in
a great many
years, and whether he
is
still living I cannot say.
My recollection of what
I
have heard
is
that
he
has
several
daughters
and
only one
son, Thomas—their
post-office
is
"Coryden, Harrison County, Indiana." My father,
Thomas,
is
still living,
in Coles County,
Illinois,
being
in
the
seventy-first
year
of
his
age—his
LINCOLN, JESSE
229
post-office
is "Charleston, Coles County,
Illinois"
—I am his only child.
I am now
in my fortieth
year
; and I live in Springfield, Sangamon County,
Illinois.
This
is the outline of my grandfather's
family in the West.
I
think my
father
has
told me
that
grand-
father had four brothers—Isaac, Jacob, John, and
Thomas.
Is that correct?
And which of them
was your father?
Are any of them alive?
I am
quite sure that Isaac
resided on Watauga, near
a point where Virginia and Tennessee join; and
that he
has
been dead more than
twenty,
per-
haps thirty, years
; also that Thomas removed to
Kentucky, near Lexington, where he died a good
while ago.
What was your grandfather's Christian name?
Was he not a Quaker?
About what time did he
emigrate from
Berks
County,
Pennsylvania,
to
Virginia?
Do you know anything of your fam-
ily
(or
rather
I
may now
say
our
family),
farther back than your grandfather?
If
it be not too much trouble to you,
I shall be
much pleased
to hear from you
again.
Be
as-
sured
I
will
call on
you,
should anything ever
bring me near you.
I shall give your respects to
Governor McDowell as you desire.
Very truly yours,
A. Lincoln.
Lincoln, Jesse.
Springfield,
Illinois, April
1,
1854.
My dear Sir
: On yesterday I had the pleasure
of
receiving your
letter
of
the
16th
of March.
From what you say there can be no doubt that
you and
I are of the same family.
The history
of your family, as you give
it,
is precisely what I
230
LETTERS
have always heard, and partly know, of my own.
As you have supposed, I am the grandson of your
uncle Abraham
; and the story of his death by the
Indians, and
of Uncle Mordecai, then
fourteen
years old, killing one of the Indians,
is the fegend
more strongly than all others imprinted upon my
mind and memory.
I am the son of grandfather's
youngest son, Thomas.
I have often heard my
father
speak
of
his
uncle
Isaac
residing
at
Watauga
(I think), near where the then
States
of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee join,
—you seem now to be some hundred miles or so
west of that.
I often saw Uncle Mordecai, and
Uncle
Josiah but once
in my
life; but
I
never
resided
near
either
of
them.
Uncle
Mordecai
died
in
1831
or
2,
in Hancock County,
Illinois,
where he had then recently removed from Ken-
tucky, and where his children had also removed,
and
still reside, as
I understand.
Whether Uncle
Josiah
is dead or
living,
I cannot
tell, not hav-
ing heard from him for more than twenty years.
When
I
last heard of him he was living on Big
Blue River, in Indiana (Harrison Co.,
I think),
and
where
he
had
resided
ever
since
before
the
beginning
of my
recollection. My
father
(Thomas)
died
the
17th
of
January,
1851,
in
Coles
County,
Illinois,
where
he
had
resided
twenty years.
I am his only
child.
I have
re-
sided
here, and
hereabouts,
twenty-three
years.
I am forty-five years of age, and have a wife and
three children, the oldest eleven years.
My wife
was
born
and
raised
at
Lexington,
Kentucky
;
and my connection with her has sometimes taken
me there, where I have heard the older people of
her
relations
speak
of your
uncle Thomas and
his
family.
He
is dead long
ago, and
his
de-
LINCOLN, ROBERT
T.
231
scendants have gone
to some
part
of Missouri,
as
I
recollect what
I was told.
When
I was
at
Washington
in
1848,
I got
tip a correspondence
with David
Lincoln,
residing
at
Sparta, Rock-
ingham County, Virginia, who, like yourself, was
a
first cousin of my
father
; but
I
forget,
if he
informed me, which of my grandfather's brothers
was his father.
With Col. Crozier, of whom you
speak,
I formed quite an intimate acquaintance,
for a short one, while at Washington
; and when
you meet him again
I will thank you to present
him
my
respects.
Your
present
governor,
Andrew Johnson, was also at Washington while
I was
; and he told me of there being people of
the name of Lincoln
in Carter County,
I
think.
I can no longer claim to be a young man myself
;
but I infer that, as you are of the same genera-
tion as my
father, you are some
older.
I
shall
be very glad to hear from you again.
Very truly your
relative,
A. Lincoln.
Lincoln, Robert T.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 3, 1863.
Robert T. Lincoln, Esq.,
Cambridge, Mass.
:
Don't be uneasy.
Your Mother very
slightly
hurt by
her
fall.
A. L.
Please send at once.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, D. C, October
11, 1864.
Robert T. Lincoln,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
:
Your letter makes us a little uneasy about your
232
LETTERS
health.
Telegraph us how you are.
If you think
it would help you, make us a
visit.
A. Lincoln.
[Jan.
19,
1865.
See Grant, Ulysses
S.]
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, D. C, March 21, 1865.
Captain R. T. Lincoln,
City Point, Virginia
:
We now think of starting to you about
1 p. m.
Thursday.
Don't make
public.
A. Lincoln.
Lincoln, Thomas.
Washington, December 24, 1848.
My dear Father: Your
letter of the 7th was
received
night
before
last.
I
very
cheerfully
send you the twenty dollars, which sum you say
is necessary to save your land from
sale.
It
is
singular that you should have forgotten a judg-
ment against you
; and
it
is more
singular that
the plaintiff should have let you forget
it so long,
particularly as
I suppose you always had prop-
erty enough to satisfy a judgment of that amount.
Before you pay
it,
it would be well
to be sure
you have not
paid,
or
at
least that you cannot
prove that you have paid
it.
Give my love to mother and all the connections.
Affectionately your son,
A. Lincoln.
[Jan.
12,
1851.
See Johnston, John D.]
Lincoln, Mrs. Thomas (Sarah Bush).
Nov. 4,
1 85 1.
Dear Mother:
Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live
UNDER,
U. F.
233
with him.
If
I were you
I would try
it awhile.
If you get tired of
it
(as
I think you will not)
you can
return
to your own home.
Chapman
feels very kindly to you
; and
I have no doubt he
will make your situation very
pleasant.
Sincerely your son,
A. Lincoln.
[See
also
close of
letter to John D.
Johnston, Nov.
4,
185 1.]
Linder, Daniel.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 22, 1863.
Military Commander, Point Lookout, Md.
:
If you have a prisoner by the name Linder
Daniel Linder,
I
think, and certainly the son of
U.
F.
Linder,
of
Illinois,—please
send him
to
me by an officer.
A. Lincoln.
Linder, U.
F.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 26, 1863.
Hon. U. F. Linder, Chicago,
111.
:
Your son Dan has just
left me with my order
to the Secretary of War, to administer to him the
oath of allegiance, discharge him and send him
to
you.
A. Lincoln.
Washington, February 20, 1848.
U.
F. Linder: ...
In law,
it
is good policy
to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige
yourself
to prove what you cannot.
Reflect on
this
well
before you
proceed.
The
application
I mean to make of this
rule
is that you should
234
LETTERS
simply go
for General Taylor, because you can
take some Democrats and
lose no Whigs;
but
if you go
also
for Mr.
Polk, on the origin and
mode of prosecuting the war, you will
still take
some Democrats, but you will lose more Whigs
;
so
that
in
the sum
of
the
operation, you
will
be the loser.
This
is at least my opinion
; and
if
you will look around,
I doubt
if you do not dis-
cover such to be the fact among your own neigh-
bors.
Further than this
: by justifying Mr. Polk's
mode of prosecuting the war, you put yourself in
opposition to General Taylor himself, for we
all
know he has declared for, and in fact originated.,
the defensive
line of policy.
[See also Chicago "Journal."]
(No signature.)
Logan, John A.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November
12, 1864.
Major-General John A. Logan,
Carbondale, Illinois:
Yours of to-day just received.
Some days ago
I forwarded,
to
the
care
of Mr. Washburne, a
leave
for you to
visit Washington,
subject only
to be countermanded by General Sherman.
This
qualification
I thought was a necessary prudence
for
all
concerned.
Subject
to
it, you may
re-
main at home thirty days, or come here
at your
own
option.
If,
in
view
of
maintaining your
good
relations
with
General
Sherman,
and
of
probable movements of his army, you can safely
come here,
I shall be very glad to see you.
A. Lincoln.
'LOWE, F. F.
235
Loomis,
F.
B.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May
12,
1864.
F. B. Loomis, Esq.
My dear Sir
:
I have the honor to acknowledge
the
receipt
of your communication
of the 28th
April,
in which you offer to replace the present
garrison at Fort Trumbull with volunteers, which
you propose to raise at your own expense.
While
it seems
inexpedient
at
this time
to accept
this
proposition on account of the special duties now
devolving upon
the
garrison
mentioned,
I
can-
not pass unnoticed
such
a
meritorious
instance
of
individual
patriotism.
Permit
me,
for
the
government, to express my cordial thanks to you
for this generous and public-spirited offer, which
is worthy of note among the many called
forth
in these times of national
trial.
I am very truly, your obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.
Lovejoy, Owen.
[See Bryant,
J. H.]
Lowe, F. F.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 8, 1863.
Hon. F.
F. Lowe,
San Francisco, Cal.
:
There
is no doubt
that General Meade, now
commanding
the Army
of
the
Potomac,
beat
Lee
at
Gettysburg,
Pa.,
at
the
end
of
a
three
days'
battle, and that the
latter
is now crossing
the Potomac
at
Williamsport
over
the
swollen
236
LETTERS
stream with poor means of crossing, and closely
pressed
by
Meade.
We
also
have
despatches
rendering
it entirely certain that Vicksburg sur-
rendered
to General Grant on
the
glorious
old
4th.
A. Lincoln.
[July
9,
1863.
See
Swett,
Leonard.]
Washington, D. C, August
17, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Lowe,
San Francisco, California
:
There seems to be considerable misunderstand-
ing about the recent movement to take possession
of the "New Almaden" mine.
It had no refer-
ence to any other mine or mines.
In regard to mines and miners
generally, no
change of policy by the government has been de-
cided on, or even thought
of, so far as
I know.
The "New Almaden" mine was peculiar in this,
that
its occupants claimed to be the legal owners
of
it, on a Mexican
grant, and went
into court
on that claim.
The case found
its way into the
Supreme
Court
of
the United
States, and
last
term, in and by that court, the claim of the occu-
pants
was
decided
to
be
utterly
fraudulent.
Thereupon
it was considered the duty of the gov-
ernment
by
the
Secretary
of
the
Interior,
the
Attorney-General, and myself, to take possession
of the premises; and the Attorney-General care-
fully made out the writ, and
I signed
it.
It was
not obtained
surreptitiously, although
I suppose
General Halleck thought
it had
been, when
he
telegraphed,
simply
because he thought
posses-
sion was about being taken by a military order,
while he knew no such order had passed through
his hands as
general-in-chief.
LUCAS,
J. M.
237
The writ was
suspended, upon urgent
repre-
sentations
from
California,
simply
to keep
the
peace.
It never had any direct or indirect refer-
ence
to any
mine,
place,
or person, except
the
"New Almaden" mine and the persons connected
with
it.
A. Lincoln.
[Cipher.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 30, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Lowe,
San Francisco,
Cal.
:
Below
is an
act of Congress, passed
last ses-
sion, intended
to exclude applicants not entitled
to
seats, but which there
is reason to
fear,
will
be used to exclude some who are entitled.
Please
get with the Governor and one or two other dis-
creet
friends, study the
act carefully, and make
certificates
in two or three forms, according to
your best judgment, and have them sent to me,
so
as
to multiply the chances
of the delegation
getting their seats.
Let
it be done without pub-
licity.
Below
is a form which may answer
for
one.
If you could procure the same to be done
for the Oregon member
it might be well.
A. Lincoln.
Lucas,
J. M.
Springfield,
Illinois, April 25, 1849.
J. M. Lucas, Esq.
Dear
Sir: Your
letter of the
15th
is
just
re-
ceived.
Like you,
I
fear the Land Office
is not
going as
it should
; but I know nothing I can do.
In my
letter written three days ago,
I told you
the Department understands my wishes.
As to
238
LETTERS
Butterfield, he
is my personal friend, and
is qual-
ified
to do
the
duties
of
the
office;
but
of
the
quite one hundred
Illinoisans equally well quali-
fied,
I do not know one with
less claims
to
it.
In the first place, what you say about Lisle Smith
is the first intimation
I have had of any one man
in
Illinois desiring
Butterfield
to have an
office.
Now,
I think
if anything be given the
State,
it
should be so given as to gratify our friends, and
to
stimulate them
to
future
exertions.
As
to
Mr. Clay having recommended him, that
is quid
pro quo.
He fought for Mr. Clay against Gen-
eral Taylor
to the
bitter
end,
as
I understand;
and
I
do
not
believe
I
misunderstand.
Lisle
Smith, too, was a Clay delegate
at Philadelphia,
and against my most earnest entreaties took the
lead
in
filling two vacancies from my own
dis-
trict with Clay men.
It
will now mortify me
deeply
if
General
Taylor's
administration
shall
trample
all my
wishes
in
the
dust
merely
to
gratify these men.
Yours, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, May
10,
1858.
J. M. Lucas, Esq.
My dear Sir
: Your long and kind letter was re-
ceived to-day.
It came upon me as an agreeable
old acquaintance.
Politically
speaking,
there
is
a curious
state of things here.
The impulse of
almost every Democrat
is
to
stick
to Douglas;
but
it horrifies them to have to follow him out of
the Democratic party. A good many are annoyed
that he did not go for the English contrivance,
and thus heal the breach.
They begin
to think
there
is a "negro
in
the
fence,"—that Douglas
LUSK, EDWARD
239
really wants to have a fuss with the President
;
that sticks in their throats.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, February 9, i860.
J. M. Lucas, Esq.
My
dear
Sir:
Your
late
letter,
suggesting,
among other things, that
I might aid your elec-
tion as postmaster, by writing to Mr. Burlingame,
was
duly
received
the
day
the
Speaker
was
elected
;
so that
I had no hope a
letter of mine
could
reach Mr.
B. before your
case would be
decided, as
it turned out in fact
it could not. We
are all much gratified here to see you are elected.
We consider you our peculiar friend at court.
I shall be glad to receive a letter from you at
any time you can find leisure to write one.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Luckett, Henry F.
[See Hurlbut,
S.
A., Dec,
17,
1863.]
Lusk, Edward.
Springfield, October 30, 1858.
Edward Lusk, Esq.
Dear Sir:
I understand the story
is
still being
told and insisted upon that
I have been a Know-
nothing.
I
repeat
what
I
stated
in
a
public
speech at Meredosia, that I am not, nor ever have
been, connected with the party called the Know-
nothing
party,
or
party
calling
themselves
the
American party.
Certainly no man of truth, and
240
LETTERS
I
believe no man
of good
character
for
truth,
can be found to say on his own knowledge that
I ever was connected with that party.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Mackay, Alfred.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 20, 1864.
Alfred Mackay,
Secretary of Fair,
St. Louis, Missouri:
Your
despatch
received.
Thanks
for
your
greeting, and congratulations
for the
successful
opening
of your
fair.
Our
soldiers
are
doing
well, and must and will be done well by.
A. Lincoln.
Maclean, John.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 2J, 1864.
Dr. John Maclean.
My dear Sir
: I have the honor to acknowledge
the reception of your note of the 20th of Decem-
ber, conveying the announcement that the trustees
of the College of New Jersey had conferred upon
me the degree of Doctor of Laws.
The assurance conveyed by
this high compli-
ment,
that the course of the government which
I represent has received the approval of a body
of gentlemen of such character and intelligence,
in this time of public trial
is most grateful to me.
i
MAGOFFIN, BERIAH
241
Thoughtful men
must
feel
that
the
fate
of
civilization upon this continent
is involved in the
issue of our
contest.
Among the most gratify-
ing proofs of this conviction
is the hearty devo-
tion
everywhere
exhibited
by
our
schools
and
colleges to the national cause.
I am most thankful
if my labors have seemed
to conduce to the preservation of those
institu-
tions under which alone we can expect good gov-
ernment—and
in
its
train,
sound
learning and
the progress of the
liberal
arts.
I am, sir, very truly, your obedient servant,
A.
Lincoln.
Magoffin, Beriah.
Washington, D. C, August 24, 1861.
To His Excellency B. Magoffin,
Governor of the State of Kentucky.
Sir: Your
letter of the
19th
instant,
in which
you "urge the removal from the
limits of Ken-
tucky
of
the
military
force now organized and
in camp within
said
State,"
is
received.
I may not possess
full and precisely accurate
knowledge upon
this
subject, but
I believe
it
is
true that there
is a military force in camp within
Kentucky
acting
by
authority
of
the
United
States, which force
is not very large, and
is not
now
being augmented.
I
also believe that some arms have been
fur-
nished to this force by the United States.
I
also
believe
that
this
force
consists
exclu-
sively of Kentuckians, having their camp in the
immediate
vicinity of their own homes, and not
assailing or menacing any of the good people of
Kentucky.
In all I have done in the premises, I have acted
242
LETTERS
upon the urgent solicitation of many Kentuckians,
and in accordance with what
I believed, and
still
believe,
to be the wish of a majority of
all the
Union-loving people of Kentucky.
While
I have conversed on
this
subject with
many
eminent men
of
Kentucky,
including
a
large majority of her members of Congress,
I do
not remember that any one of them, or any other
person, except your Excellency and the bearers
of your Excellency's
letter, has urged me to
re-
move the military force from Kentucky or to dis-
band
it.
One other very worthy citizen of Ken-
tucky did
solicit me to have the augmenting of
the
force suspended
for
a
time.
Taking all the means within my reach to form
a judgment,
I do not
believe
it
is
the popular
wish
of Kentucky
that
this
force
shall
be
re-
moved beyond her
limits, and, with this impres-
sion,
I must respectfully decline to so remove
it.
I most cordially sympathize with your Excel-
lency
in the wish
to
preserve
the peace
of my
own native State, Kentucky
; but
it
is with regret
I search
[for], and cannot find, in your not very
short letter any declaration or intimation that you
entertain any
desire
for the preservation of the
Federal Union.
Your obedient servant,
Abraham Lincoln.
[April
9,
1862.
See Halleck, Henry W.]
Malhiot, E. E., and Others.
On June
19,
1863. the President replied to a
letter of
E.
E. Malhiot, Bradish Johnson, and Thomas Cottman,
a committee appointed by
Louisiana
planters
to
secure
Federal
recognition
of
a
loyal
State
government,
as
follows
:
MALTBY, HARRISON
243
Since receiving the
letter,
reliable information
has reached me that a respectable portion of the
Louisiana people desire to amend their State con-
stitution, and contemplate holding a
State con-
vention
for
that
object.
This
fact
alone,
as
it
seems to me,
is a sufficient reason why the Gen-
eral Government should not give the committal
you
seek
to
the
existing
State
constitution.
I
may add that while
I do not perceive how such
committal could facilitate our military operations
in Louisiana,
I
really apprehend
it might be so
used as to embarrass them.
As
to an
election
to be held next November,
there
is abundant time without any order or proc-
lamation from me just now.
The people of Lou-
isiana
shall
not
lack an
opportunity
for
a
fair
election
for both
Federal and
State
officers by
want
of
anything
within my
power
to
give
them.
Your obedient servant,
A.
Lincoln.
Maltby, Harrison.
[Confidential]
Springfield, September 8,
1856.
Harrison Maltby, Esq.
Dear
Sir
:
I
understand
you
are
a
Fillmore
man.
Let me prove to you that every vote with-
held, from Fremont and given to Fillmore in this
State actually lessens Fillmore's chance of being
President.
Suppose Buchanan gets
all the slave
States and Pennsylvania, and any other one State
besides
; then he
is
elected, no matter who gets
all the
rest.
But suppose Fillmore gets the two
slave
States
of Maryland
and
Kentucky;
then
244
LETTERS
Buchanan
is not elected; Fillmore goes into the
House
of
Representatives,
and may
be
made
President by a compromise.
But suppose, again,
Fillmore's
friends throw away
a few thousand
votes on him in Indiana and
Illinois
;
it will
in-
evitably
give
these
States
to
Buchanan,
which
will more than compensate him
for the
loss
of
Maryland and Kentucky, will elect him, and leave
Fillmore no chance in the House of Representa-
tives
or- out of
it.
This
is
as
plain
as adding up the weight
of
three small hogs.
As Mr. Fillmore has no pos-
sible chance
to
carry
Illinois
for
himself,
it
is
plainly to his interest to let Fremont take
it, and
thus keep
it out of the hands of Buchanan.
Be
not
deceived.
Buchanan
is
the
hard
horse
to
beat
in
this
race.
Let him
have
Illinois, and
nothing can
beat him
; and he
will
get
Illinois
if men persist in throwing away votes upon Mr.
Fillmore.
Does some one persuade you that Mr.
Fillmore can carry
Illinois ?
Nonsense
!
There
are over seventy newspapers in
Illinois opposing
Buchanan, only three or four of which support
Mr.
Fillmore,
all
the
rest
going
for
Fremont.
Are
not
these newspapers
a
fair
index
of
the
proportion of the votes?
If not,
tell me why.
Again,
of these three or four Fillmore news-
papers, two,
at
least,
are
supported
in
part by
the Buchanan men, as I understand.
Do not they
know where the shoe pinches?
They know the
Fillmore movement
helps
them,
and
therefore
they help
it.
Do
think
these
things
over, and
then act according to your judgment.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
MARCY, R. B.
245
Mann, Mrs. Horace.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April
5, 1864.
Mrs. Horace Mann.
Madam
: The petition of persons under eight-
een, praying that
I would free all slave children,
and the heading of which petition
it appears you
wrote, was handed me a few days since by Sen-
ator Sumner.
Please tell these
little people
I am
very glad their young hearts are so
full of just
and generous sympathy, and
that, while
I have
not the power to grant
all they ask,
I trust they
will remember that God has, and that, as it seems,
he wills to do
it.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Mansfield,
J. K.
F.
Executive Mansion, June
19,
1861.
General
Mansfield.
My dear
Sir: The inclosed papers of Colonel
Joseph Hooker speak for themselves.
He desires
to have the command of a regiment.
Ought he
to have
it, and can
it be done, and how?
Please
consult
General
Scott, and
say
if
he
and you would
like
Colonel Hooker
to have a
command.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Marcy, R.
B.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 29, 1862.
10 a. m.
General R. B. Marcy,
McClellan's Headquarters
:
Yours just received.
I think
it cannot be cer-
246
LETTERS
tainly known
whether
the
force
which
fought
General Porter
is the same which
recently con-
fronted
McDowell.
Another
item
of
evidence
bearing on
it
is that General Branch commanded
against
Porter,
while
it was
General Anderson
who was
in
front
of McDowell.
He and Mc-
Dowell were
in correspondence about prisoners.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, May 29, 1862.
1.20 p. m.
General R. B. Marcy:
Your despatch as to the South Anna and Ash-
land being seized by our forces
this morning
is
received.
Understanding these
points
to be on
the Richmond and
Fredericksburg
Railroad,
I
heartily congratulate the country, and thank Gen-
eral McCleflan and his army for their seizure.
A.
Lincoln.
Mathers, John.
Springfield, July 20,
1858.
Jno. Mathers, Esq.,
Jacksonville,
111.
My dear Sir
: Your kind and interesting letter
of
the
19th was
duly
received.
Your
sugges-
tions
as
to
placing
one's
self on
the
offensive
rather than
the
defensive
are
certainly
correct.
That
is
a point which
I
shall not disregard.
I
spoke here on Saturday night.
The speech, not
very well reported, appears in the " State Journal"
of this morning.
You doubtless will see
it; and
I hope that you will perceive in
it, that
I am
al-
ready improving.
I would mail you a copy now,
MAYNARD, HORACE
247
but have not one on hand.
I thank you for you/
letter and shall be pleased to hear from you again.
Yours very truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Matteson, Joel A.
Springfield, November 25,
1858.
Hon. Joel A. Matteson.
Dear Sir
: Last summer, when a movement was
made in court against your road, you engaged us
to be on your
side.
It
has
so happened
that,
so far, we have performed no service in the case
;
but we lost a cash fee offered us on the other side.
Now, being hard
run, we propose
a
little com-
promise.
We will claim nothing for the matter
just
mentioned,
if you
will
relieve
us
at
once
from the old matter
at the Marine and Fire In-
surance Company, and be greatly obliged to boot.
Can you not do
it?
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Maynard, Horace.
[ Telegram. ]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February
13, 1864.
Hon. Horace Maynard,
Nashville, Tennessee
:
Your
letter
of
[the]
second
received.
Of
course Governor Johnson
will proceed with
re-
organization as the exigencies of the case appear
to him to
require.
I do not apprehend he
will
think
it necessary to deviate from my views to
any ruinous extent.
On one hasty reading
I see
no such deviation in his program, which you send.
A.
Lincoln.
248
LETTERS
McCall, G. A.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 31, 1862.
3.35.
Brigadier-General McCall,
Commanding, Fredericksburg
:
Are you about
to withdraw from Fredericks-
burg
; and
if so, why, and by whose orders ?
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 31,
1862.
General McCall
:
The
President
directs me
to say
to you
that
there can be nothing to justify a panic at Fred-
ericksburg.
He
expects you
to
maintain your
position
there
as becomes a
soldier and
a gen-
eral.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
McClellan, George B.
[Nov.
1,
1861.
See
Scott, Winfield.]
Executive Mansion, December 6, 1861.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear
Sir:
Captain
Francis
G. Young,
of
the California regiment (Colonel Baker's),
is
in
some
difficulty—I
do
not
precisely
understand
what.
I believe you know I was unfavorably im-
pressed toward him because
of apparently con-
tradictory accounts he gave me of some matters
at the
battle
of
Ball's
Bluff.
At length he has
brought me
the
paper which accompanies
this,
showing,
I think, that he
is entitled to respectful
consideration.
As you see,
it is signed by several
senators and representatives as well as other well-
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
249
known and respectable gentlemen.
I attach con-
siderable consequence to the name of Lieutenant-
Colonel
Shaler,
late Major
Shaler,
of the New
York Seventh.
These
things, and
his
late con-
nection with Colonel Baker, induce me to ask you
if, consistently with the public service, the
past,
whatever
it
is, cannot be waived, and he placed in
service and given another chance?
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
Washington, December
10, 1861.
Your Excellency
:
I inclose the paper you left with me,
filled as requested.*
In arriving
at the numbers
given,
I have left the minimum number in garrison and obser-
vation.
Information received recently leads me to believe that
the enemy could meet us in front with equal forces nearly,
and I have now my mind actively turned toward another
plan of campaign that
I do not think
at
all anticipated
by the enemy nor by many of our own people.
Very
respectfully, your obedient
servant,
George B. McClellan, Major-General.
[Inclosure.]
If
it were determined to make a forward movement of
the Army of the Potomac without awaiting further in-
crease of numbers or better drill and discipline, how long
would
it require to actually get in motion?
If bridge trains ready by December
15, probably 25th.
After leaving
all that would be necessary, how many
troops could join the movement from southwest of the
river?
Seventy-one
thousand.
How many from northeast of it?
Thirty-three thousand.
Suppose,
then,
that
of
those
southwest
of
the
river
fifty thousand move forward and menace the enemy at
Centreville
; the remainder of the movable force on that
* McClellan's notes are written in pencil.
They are here printed
in italics.
250
LETTERS
side move rapidly to the crossing of the Occoquan by the
road from Alexandria to Richmond, there
to be joined
by
the
whole
movable
force
from
northeast
of
the
river, having landed from the Potomac,
just below the
mouth of the Occoquan, moved by land up the south side
of
that
stream
to
the
crossing
point named,
then
the
whole move together by the road thence to
Brentsville
and beyond to the railroad just south of
its crossing of
Broad Run, a strong detachment of cavalry having gone
rapidly ahead
to destroy the railroad bridges south and
north of the point.
If the crossing of the Occoquan by those from above
be
resisted, those landing from
the Potomac below
to
take the resisting force of the enemy in rear
;
or,
if the
landing from the Potomac be resisted, those crossing the
Occoquan from above to take that resisting force in the
rear.
Both points
will probably not be successfully
re-
sisted at the same time.
The force in front of Centreville, if pressed too hardly,
should
fight back slowly
into the intrenchments behind
them.
Armed vessels and transportation should remain at the
Potomac landing to cover a possible retreat.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February
3, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear Sir
: You and
I have distinct and dif-
ferent plans for a movement of the Army of the
Potomac—yours to be down the Chesapeake, up
the Rappahannock
to Urbana, and
across
land
to the terminus of the railroad on the York River
;
mine to move directly to a point on the railroad
southwest of Manassas.
If you
will
give me
satisfactory
answers
to
the following questions,
I
shall gladly yield my
plan to yours.
First.
Does not your plan
involve
a
greatly
larger expenditure of time and money than mine ?
Second.
Wherein is a victory more certain by
your plan than mine?
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
251
Third.
Wherein
is a victory more valuable by
your plan than mine ?
Fourth.
In fact, would it not be less valuable in
this,
that
it would
break no
great
line
of
the
enemy's communications, while mine would?
Fifth.
In case of disaster, would not a retreat
be more
difficult by your plan than mine?
Yours truly,
Abraham
Lincoln.
[Memorandum.']
First. Suppose the enemy should attack us in
force before we reach the Occoquan, what?
Second. Suppose the enemy in force shall dis-
pute
the
crossing
of the Occoquan, what?
In
view of this, might
it not be safest for us to cross
the Occoquan
at
Colchester,
rather than
at the
village of Occoquan ?
This would cost the enemy
two miles more of travel to meet us, but would,
on the contrary, leave us two miles farther from
our
ultimate
destination.
Third. Suppose we reach Maple Valley with-
out an
attack,
will we not be attacked
there in
force by the enemy marching by the several roads
from Manassas; and
if
so, what?
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 31, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear Sir
: This morning
I
felt constrained
to
order
Blenker's
division
to
Fremont, and
I
write this to assure you
I did so with great pain,
understanding
that
you
would
wish
it
other-
wise.
If you
could know
the
full
pressure
of
the
case,
I am confident that you would
justify
25 2
LETTERS
it, even beyond a mere acknowledgment that the
commander-in-chief may order what he pleases.
Yours very truly,
Abraham Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, April 6, 1862.
8. p. m.
General G. B. McClellan
:
Yours of
a. m. to-day received.
Secretary
of War informs me that the forwarding of trans-
portation, ammunition, and Woodbury's brigade,
under your orders,
is not, and will not be, inter-
fered
with.
You now have
over one hundred
thousand troops with you, independent of Gen-
eral Wool's command.
I think you better break
the
enemy's
line
from Yorktown
to Warwick
River
at once.
This
will probably use time as
advantageously
as you
can.
A. Lincoln, President.
Washington, April 9, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear
Sir: Your
despatches,
complaining
that you are not properly
sustained, while they
do not offend me, do pain me very much.
Blenker's division was withdrawn from you be-
fore you
left
here, and you knew
the pressure
under
which
I
did
it,
and,
as
I
thought,
ac-
quiesced in
it—certainly not without reluctance.
After you left I ascertained that less than 20,-
©00
unorganized
men,
without
a
single
field-
battery, were
all you designed to be
left for the
defense of Washington and Manassas Junction,
and
part
of
this
even
was
to
go
to
General
Hooker's
old
position;
General
Banks's
corps,
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
253
once
designed
for Manassas
Junction, was
di-
vided and tied up on the line of Winchester and
Strasburg, and could not leave
it without again
exposing the upper Potomac and the Baltimore
and Ohio
Railroad.
This presented
(or would
present, when McDowell and Sumner should be
gone)
a great temptation
to the enemy
to turn
back from the Rappahannock and sack Washing-
ton.
My explicit order that Washington should,
by the judgment of all the commanders of corps,
be
left
entirely
secure, had been
neglected.
It
was
precisely
this that drove me
to detain Mc-
Dowell.
I do not forget that
I was
satisfied with your
arrangements to leave Banks at Manassas Junc-
tion
; but when that arrangement was broken up
and nothing was
substituted
for
it,
of course
I
was
not
satisfied.
I
was
constrained
to
sub-
stitute something for
it myself.
And now allow me to ask, do you really think
I
should
permit
the
line
from
Richmond
via
Manassas Junction to this city to be entirely open,
except what resistance could be presented by less
than 20,000 unorganized troops ?
This
is a ques-
tion
which
the
country
will
not
allow me
to
evade.
There is a curious mystery about the number of
the troops now with you.
When
I telegraphed
you on the 6th, saying you had over 100,000 with
you,
I had
just obtained from the Secretary of
War
a
statement,
taken
as he
said from your
own returns, making 108,000 then with you and
en
route
to
you.
You now
say you
will have
but 85,000 when
all en route to you
shall have
reached you. How can this discrepancy of 23,000
be accounted for?
254
LETTERS
As to General Wool's command,
I understand
it
is doing for you precisely what a like number
of your own would have to do
if that command
was
away.
I
suppose
the
whole
force
which
has gone
forward
to you
is
with you by
this
time; and
if so,
I think
it is the precise time for
you to strike a blow.
By delay the enemy
will
relatively
gain upon you—that
is,
he
will
gain
faster by
fortifications and
reinforcements than
you can by reinforcements alone.
And once more let me tell you
it is indispensa-
ble to you that you strike a blow.
I am power-
less
to
help
this.
You
will do me
the
justice
to remember
I always
insisted that going down
the bay
in search of a
field,
instead of fighting
at or near Manassas, was only
shifting and not
surmounting a difficulty; that we would find the
same enemy and the same or equal intrenchments
at
either
place.
The
country
will
not
fail
to
note—is noting now—that the present hesitation
to move upon an
intrenched enemy
is
but
the
story of Manassas repeated.
I beg to assure you that
I have never written
you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feel-
ing than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain
you,
so
far
as
in my most anxious judgment
I
consistently can
; but you must
act.
Yours very
truly,
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, April 21,
1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
Your despatch of the
19th was
received that
day.
Fredericksburg
is
evacuated
and
the
bridges destroyed by the enemy, and a small part
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
255
of McDowell's command
occupies
this
side
of
the Rappahannock, opposite the town.
He pur-
poses moving his whole force to that point.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Executive Mansion,
\
Washington, May
1, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
Your
call for Parrott guns from Washington
alarms
me,
chiefly
because
it
argues
indefinite
procrastination.
Is anything to be done?
A.
Lincoln.
Fort Monroe, Virginia, May 9, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
My dear Sir: I have just assisted the Secretary
of War in framing part of a despatch to you re-
lating
to army corps, which despatch of course
will have reached you long before this
will.
I wish to say a few words to you privately on
this subject.
I ordered the army corps organiza-
tion not only on the unanimous
opinion of the
twelve generals whom you had
selected and as-
signed
as
generals
of
division,
but
also on
the
unanimous opinion of every military man I could
get an opinion from (and every modern military
book), yourself only excepted.
Of course
I did
not on my own judgment pretend to understand
the
subject.
I now
think
it
indispensable
for
you to know how your struggle against
it
is re-
ceived in quarters which we cannot entirely dis-
regard.
It
is
looked upon
as merely an
effort
to pamper one or two pets and to persecute and
degrade
their
supposed
rivals.
I
have had no
word from Sumner, Heintzelman, or Keyes. The
256
LETTERS
commanders
of
these
corps
are
of
course
the
three
highest
officers with
you,
but
I am
con-
stantly told that you have no consultation or com-
munication with them
; that you consult and com-
municate
with
nobody
but
General
Fitz-John
Porter and perhaps General Franklin.
I do not
say these complaints are true or
just, but
at
all
events
it
is
proper you
should know
of
their
existence.
Do the commanders of corps disobey
your orders in anything?
When you
relieved General Hamilton
of
his
command the other day, you thereby lost the con-
fidence
of
at
least one
of your
best
friends
in
the Senate.
And here let me say, not as applica-
ble
to you
personally,
that
senators and
repre-
sentatives
speak
of me
in
their
places
as
they
please without question, and that
officers of the
army must cease addressing
insulting
letters
to
them for taking no greater liberty with them.
But
to
return.
Are you
strong enough—are
you strong enough, even with my
help—to
set
your
foot upon the necks of Sumner, Heintzel-
man, and Keyes
all at once?
This
is a practical
and very serious question for you.
The success of your army and the cause of the
country are the same, and of course I only desire
the good of the cause.
Yours truly,
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington
City, May
15,
1862.
Major-General McClellan,
Cumberland, Virginia
:
Your
long despatch
of yesterday
is
just
re-
ceived.
I
will answer more
fully
soon.
Will
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
257
say now
that
all your despatches
to
the Secre-
tary of War have been promptly shown
to me.
Have done and
shall do
all
I could and can to
sustain you.
Hoped that the opening of James
River and putting Wool and Burnside
in com-
munication, with an open road to Richmond, or
to you, had effected something in that direction,
I am
still unwilling to take
all our force off the
direct
line between Richmond and here.
A.
Lincoln.
Washington, May 18, 1862.
p. m.
General
: Your despatch to the President, ask-
ing reinforcements, has been received and care-
fully considered.
The
President
is
not
willing
to uncover the
capital
entirely; and
it
is
believed
that even
if
this were
prudent,
it would
require more time
to effect a junction between your army and that
of the Rappahannock by the way of the Potomac
and York Rivers than by a land march.
In order,
therefore,
to increase the strength of the attack
upon Richmond
at
the
earliest
moment,
Gen-
eral McDowell has been orderd
to march upon
that
city by the
shortest
route.
He
is ordered,
keeping
himself always
in
position
to save the
capital from
all possible attack, so to operate as
as
to put
his
left wing
in communication with
your
right wing, and you are
instructed to co-
operate so as to establish this communication as
soon as possible by extending your right wing to
the north
of Richmond.
It
is believed that
this communication can be
safely
established
either
north
or
south
of the
Pamunkey River.
In any event, you
will be able to prevent the
258
LETTERS
main body
of
the enemy's
forces from
leaving
Richmond
and
falling
in
overwhelming
force
upon
General
McDowell.
He
will move
with
between thirty-five and forty thousand men.
A
copy
of
the
instructions
to
General
Mc-
Dowell are with this.
The specific task assigned
to his command has been to provide against any
danger to the capital of the nation.
At your earnest
call
for reinforcements, he
is
sent
forward
to
cooperate
in
the
reduction
of
Richmond, but charged,
in attempting
this, not
to uncover the city of Washington
; and you will
give no order,
either before or after your junc-
tion, which can put him out of position to cover
this
city.
You and
he
will communicate
with
each
other
by
telegraph
or
otherwise
as
fre-
quently
as may be necessary
for
efficient coop-
eration.
When General McDowell
is
in position
on your
right, his supplies must be drawn from
West
Point,
and you
will
instruct
your
staff-
officers
to
be
prepared
to
supply him by
that
route.
The President desires that General McDowell
retain
the command
of
the Department
of
the
Rappahannock and of the
forces with which he
moves forward.
By order of the President
:
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
Major-General George B. McClellan,
Commanding Army of the Potomac, before
Richmond.
[Telegram.]
Washington, May 21,
1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
I have just been waited on by a large commit-
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
259
tee who present a petition signed by twenty-three
senators and
eighty-four
representatives asking
me to restore General Hamilton to his
division.
I wish to do
this, and yet
I do not wish
to be
understood
as rebuking you.
Please answer
at
once.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.']
Washington City, May 22, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
Your long despatch of yesterday just received.
You
will have just such control of General Mc-
Dowell
and
his
forces
as you
therein
indicate.
McDowell can reach you by land sooner than he
could
get
aboard
of
boats,
if
the
boats
were
ready
at Fredericksburg, unless
his march
shall
be resisted, in which case the force resisting him
will
certainly
not be
confronting you
at
Rich-
mond.
By land he can
reach you
in
five days
after
starting,
whereas by water
he would
not
reach you in two weeks, judging by past experi-
ence.
Franklin's
single
division
did
not
reach
you in ten days after
I ordered
it.
A. Lincoln, President United States.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 24,
1862.
Major-General George B. McClellan:
I
left General McDowell's camp
at dark
last
evening.
Shields's command
is
there, but
it
is
so worn
that
he
cannot move
before Monday
morning, the 26th. We have so thinned our line
to get troops for other places that
it was broken
yesterday
at Front Royal, with
a
probable
less
2 6o
LETTERS
to us
of one regiment
infantry, two
companies-
cavalry, putting General Banks
in some
peril.
The enemy's
forces under
General Anderson
now opposing General McDowell's advance have
as
their
line of supply and
retreat
the road
to
Richmond.
If,
in conjunction with McDowell's movement
against Anderson, you could send a force from
your right to cut off the enemy's supplies from
Richmond,
preserve
the
railroad
bridges
across
the two "forks of the Pamunkey, and intercept the
enemy's
retreat, you
will prevent the army now
opposed
to you from
receiving an
accession
of
numbers of nearly
15,000 men; and
if you suc-
ceed in saving the bridges you will secure a line
of
railroad
for
supplies
in
addition
to
the one
you now
have.
Can you not do
this almost as
well as not while you
are building the Chicka-
hominy
bridges?
McDowell
and
Shields
both
say they can, and positively
will, move Monday
morning.
I
wish you
to move
cautiously and
safely.
You will have command of McDowell, after he
joins you, precisely as you indicated in your long
despatch to us of the 21st.
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 24, 1862.
4 p. m.
Major-General George B. McClellan
:
In consequence of General Banks's critical po-
sition,
I have been compelled to suspend General
McDowell's movements to join you.
The enemy
are
making
a
desperate
push
upon
Harper's
Ferry, and we are trying to throw General Fre-
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
261
mont's force and part of General McDowell's in
their
rear.
A. Lincoln, President.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 25, 1862.
2 p. m.
Major-General
McClellan
:
The enemy
is moving north
in sufficient force
to drive General Banks before him—precisely
in
what force we cannot
tell.
He
is also threaten-
ing Leesburg and Geary, on the Manassas Gap
Railroad,
from
both
north
and
south—in
pre-
cisely what
force we
cannot
tell.
I
think
the
movement
is a general and concerted one, such
as would not be
if he was acting upon the pur-
pose of a very desperate defense of Richmond.
I
think
the
time
is
near when
you
must
either
attack Richmond
or give up the job and come
to the defense of Washington.
Let me hear from
you
instantly.
A. Lincoln, President.
[Telegram in Cipher.]
War Department, Washington City, D.
C.,
May 25, 1862.
8.30 p. m.
Major-General
McClellan
:
Your despatch
received.
General Banks was
at Strasburg, with about 6000 men, Shields hav-
ing been taken from him to swell a column for
McDowell to aid you at Richmond, and the rest
of his force scattered at various places.
On the
23d a rebel force of 7000 to 10,000
fell upon one
regiment and two companies guarding the bridge
at Front Royal, destroying it entirely
; crossed the
Shenandoah, and on the 24th (yesterday) pushed
to get north of Banks, on the road to Winchester.
262
LETTERS
Banks ran a race with them, beating them
into
Winchester yesterday evening.
This morning a
battle ensued between the two
forces,
in which
Banks was beaten back
into
full
retreat toward
Martinsburg, and probably
is broken up
into a
total
rout.
Geary, on the Manassas Gap
Rail-
road, just now reports that Jackson
is now near
Front Royal, with
10,000, following up and sup-
porting, as
I understand, the force now pursuing
Banks; also that another force of 10,000
is near
Orleans,
following
on
in
the
same
direction.
Stripped bare, as we are here,
it will be all we can
do to prevent them crossing the Potomac at Har-
per's Ferry or above.
We have about 20,000 of
McDowell's force moving back to the vicinity of
Front Royal, and General Fremont, who was at
Franklin,
is moving to Harrisonburg; both these
movements intended to get in the enemy's rear.
One more of McDowell's brigades
is ordered
through here to Harper's Ferry
; the
rest of his
force remains for the present at Fredericksburg.
We are sending such regiments and dribs from
here and Baltimore as we can spare to Harper's
Ferry,
supplying
their
places
in
some
sort
by
calling
in militia from the adjacent
States.
We
also have eighteen cannon on the road
to Har-
per's Ferry, of which arm there
is not a
single
one yet at that point.
This
is now our situation.
If
McDowell's
force
was now
beyond
our
reach, we
should
be
utterly
helpless.
Appre-
hension of something like this, and no unwilling-
ness to sustain you, has always been my reason
for
withholding
McDowell's
force
from
you.
Please understand
this, and do the best you can
with the force you have.
A.
Lincoln.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
263
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 26, 1862.
12.40 p. m.
Major-General McClellan:
We have General Banks's
official
report.
He
has saved his army and baggage, and has made a
safe
retreat
to
the
river, and
is
probably
safe
at Williamsport.
He reports the attacking force
at
15,000.
A. Lincoln, President.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 26, 1862.
Major-General George
B. McClellan:
Can you
not
cut
the Aquia Creek Railroad?
Also, what impression have you as to intrenched
works for you to contend with in front of Rich-
mond ?
Can you get near enough to throw shells
into the city?
A. Lincoln, President.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 28, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
What
of
F.
J.
Porter's
expedition?
Please
answer.
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, May 28, 1862.
840 p. m.
Major-General McClellan:
I am very glad of General F.
J. Porter's vic-
tory.
Still,
if
it was a
total rout of the enemy,
I am puzzled
to know why
the Richmond and
Fredericksburg
Railroad was
not
seized
again,
as you
say you have
all
the
railroads
but
the
264
LETTERS
Richmond and Fredericksburg.
I am puzzled to
see how, lacking that, you can have any, except
the scrap from Richmond to West
Point.
The
scrap of the Virginia Central from Richmond to
Hanover Junction, without more,
is simply noth-
ing.
That
the whole
of
the enemy
is
concen-
trating on Richmond,
I think cannot be certainly
known to you or me.
Saxton, at Harper's Ferry,
informs
us
that
large
forces,
supposed
to
be
Jackson's and
Ewell's,
forced
his advance from
Charlestown to-day.
General King telegraphs us
from Fredericksburg that contrabands give
cer-
tain information that 15,000
left Hanover Junc-
tion Monday morning to reinforce Jackson.
I am
painfully impressed with
the importance
of
the
struggle before you, and shall aid you
all
I can
consistently with my view
of due regard
to
all
points.
A.
Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
War Department, Washington City, D. C,
May 29,
1862.
10.30 a. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
I think we
shall be
able within three days
to
tell you certainly whether any considerable force
of the enemy—Jackson or any one else—is mov-
ing on to Harper's Ferry or vicinity.
Take this
expected development into your calculations.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, May 31, 1862.
10.20 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
A
circle
whose
circumference
shall
pass
through Harper's Ferry, Front Royal, and Stras-
burg, and whose
center
shall be
a
little
north-
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
265
east of Winchester,
almost
certainly has within
it this morning the forces of Jackson, Ewell, ajid
Edward
Johnson.
Quite
certainly
they
were
within it two days ago.
Some part of their forces
attacked
Harper's
Ferry
at
dark
last
evening,
and are
still in sight this morning.
Shields, with
McDowell's
advance,
retook Front Royal
at
a. m.
yesterday, with a dozen
of our own
pris-
oners taken there a week ago, 150 of the enemy,
two
locomotives,
and
eleven
cars,
some
other
property and stores, and saved the bridge.
General Fremont, from the direction of Moore-
field, promises
to be
at or near
Strasburg
at
p.
m.
to-day.
General Banks
at
Williamsport,
with his old force and his new force at Harper's
Ferry,
is directed to cooperate.
Shields at Front
Royal reports a rumor of
still an additional force
of the enemy, supposed
to be Anderson's, hav-
ing entered the valley of Virginia.
This last may
or may not be true.
Corinth
is certainly
in the
hands of General Halleck.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.']
Washington City, D. C,
June
1, 1862.
9.30.
Major-General McClellan
:
You are probably engaged with the enemy.
I
suppose he made the attack.
Stand well on your
guard, hold
all your ground,
or
yield any only
inch by inch and
in good order.
This morning
we merge General Wool's department into yours,
giving you command of the whole, and sending
General Dix to Fort Monroe and General Wool
to Fort McHenry.
We also send General Sigel
to report to you for duty.
A. Lincoln.
266
LETTERS
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, Washington City, D. C,
June
i, 1862.
5 p. m.
Major-General McClellan:
Thanks for what you could and did say in your
despatch of noon to-day to the Secretary of War.
If the enemy
shall not have renewed the attack
this afternoon,
I think the hardest of your work
is done.
Shields's advance came
in
collision with part
of the enemy yesterday evening,
six miles from
Front Royal,
in a direction between Winchester
and
Strasburg,
driving them
back,
capturing a
few prisoners and one
rifled cannon.
Firing in
that direction to-day, heard both from Harper's
Ferry and Front
Royal,
indicates
a
probability
that Fremont has met the enemy.
We have concluded
to send General
Sigel
to
Harper's Ferry, so that what
I telegraphed you
about him
this morning
is
revoked.
Dix goes
to Fort Monroe to-night.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington City, D. C,
June
1,
1862.
1. 15 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
You are already notified that General Sigel
is
to
report
to you
for
duty.
I
suggest
(do not
order)
that he
have command
of
such
of
the
forces
about
Fort
Monroe,
Norfolk,
Newport
News,
etc., as you may see
fit to put into active
service, or such other command as may be suita-
ble to
his
rank.
A. Lincoln.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
267
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, June
3,
1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
With these continuous rains I am very anxious
about the Chickahominy—so
close
in your
rear
and crossing your line of communication.
Please
look to
it.
A. Lincoln, President.
War Department, Washington City, D. C,
June
15,
1862.
Majpr-General
McClellan.
My dear Sir
: The night between your two late
battles of Saturday and Sunday
I went earnestly
to work to find a way of putting General Wool's
force under your control without wounding any
one's
feelings.
But,
after
all, General Dix was
a
little hurt at being taken from an independent
command and put
in a dependent one.
I could
not
help
this
without
giving
up
the
principal
object of the move.
So soon as you can (which
I do not expect is yet), I wish you to give me the
benefit
of your suggestions
as
to how an
inde-
pendent command
can
be
given
him
without
detriment.
The Secretary of War has turned over to me
your despatch
about sending McDowell
to you
by water, instead of by land.
I now fear he can-
not get to you either way in time.
Shields's divi-
sion
has
got
so
terribly
out
of
shape,
out
at
elbows, and out at toes, that
it will require a long
time to get
it in again.
I expect to see McDowell
within a day or two, when
I will again talk with
him about the mode of moving.
McCall's
divi-
sion
has
nearly
or
quite
reached you by now.
268
LETTERS
This, with what you
get from General Wool's
old command, and the new regiments
sent you,
must give you an increase
since the
late
battles
of over twenty thousand.
Doubtless the
battles
and other causes have decreased you half as much
in the same time; but then the enemy have
lost
as many
in
the same way.
I
believe
I would
come and see you were
it not that I fear my pres-
ence might divert you and the army from more
important matters.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June
18, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Yours of to-day, making
it probable that Jack-
son has been
reinforced by
about
10,000 from
Richmond,
is
corroborated by
a
despatch from
General
King
at
Fredericksburg,
saying
a
Frenchman, just arrived from Richmond by way
of
Gordonsville, met
10,000
to
15,000
passing
through
the
latter
place
to
join Jackson.
If this
is true,
it
is as good as a reinforcement
to you of an equal force.
I could better dispose
of
things
if
I
could
know
about
what
day
you can attack Richmond, and would be glad to
be informed, if you think you can inform me with
safety.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, June
19,
1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Yours of last night just received, and for which
I thank vou.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
269
If large reinforcements are going from Rich-
mond
to Jackson,
it proves one of two things:
either that they are very strong at Richmond, or
do not mean to defend the place desperately.
On reflection,
I do not see how reinforcements
from Richmond to Jackson could be in Gordons-
ville,
as
reported by
the Frenchman and
your'
deserters.
Have not
all been sent to deceive?
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington City, June 20,
1862.
Major-General McClellan:
We have this morning sent you a despatch of
General
Sigel
corroborative
of
the
proposition
that Jackson is being reinforced from Richmond.
This may be reality, and yet may only be contri-
vance
for
deception, and
to determine which
is
perplexing.
If we knew it was not true, we could
send you some more force
; but as the case stands
we do not think we
safely
can.
Still, we
will
watch the signs and do so if possible.
In regard to a contemplated execution of Cap-
tains Spriggs and Triplett the government has no
information whatever, but
will
inquire and
ad-
vise you.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, June 21, 1862.
6 p. m.
Major-General George B. McClellan:
Your despatch of yesterday
(2 p. m.) was re-
ceived this morning.
If
it would not divert too
much of your time and attention from the army
under your immediate command, I would be glad
to have your
views
as
to
the
present
state
of
270
LETTERS
military
affairs
throughout
the
whole
country,
as you say you would be glad to give them.
I
would rather
it should be by letter than by tele-
graph, because of the
better chance of
secrecy.
As
to
the numbers and
positions
of the
troops
not under your command
in Virginia and
else-
where, even
if I could do
it with accuracy, which
I cannot,
I would rather not transmit either by
telegraph or
letter, because of the chances of
its
reaching the enemy.
I would be very
glad
to
talk with you, but you cannot leave your camp,
and
I cannot well
leave
here.
A. Lincoln, President.
Washington, June 26, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Your three despatches of yesterday in relation
to
the
affair,
ending
with
the
statement
that
you completely succeeded in making your point,
are very gratifying.
The
latter one
of
6.15
p.
m.,
suggesting the
probability of your being overwhelmed by 200,-
000, and talking of where the responsibility will
belong,
pains me very much.
I
give you
all
I
can, and
act on
the presumption
that you
will
do the best you can with what you have, while
)^ou
continue,
ungenerously
I
think,
to assume
that
I could give you more
if
I would.
I have
omitted and
shall
omit no
opportunity
to
send
you reinforcements whenever
I possibly can.
A. Lincoln.
P.
S.
General Pope thinks
if you
fall back
it
would be much
better toward York River than
toward the James.
As Pope now has charge of
the
capital,
please confer with him through the
telegraph.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
271
[
' Telegram.]
&'
War Department,
Washington City, June 28, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
Save your army,
at
all events.
Will send
re-
inforcements as fast as we can.
Of course they
cannot reach you to-day, to-morrow, or next day.
I have not said you were ungenerous for saying
you needed reinforcements.
I thought you were
ungenerous in assuming that I did not send them
as fast as
I could.
I
feel any misfortune to you
and your army
quite
as
keenly
as you
feel
it
yourself.
If you have had a drawn battle, or a
repulse,
it
is
the
price we pay
for
the enemy
not being in Washington.
We protected Wash-
ington, and the enemy concentrated on you.
Had
we
stripped
Washington,
he
would
have
been
upon us before the troops could have gotten
to
you.
Less
than
a
week
ago
you
notified
us
that
reinforcements were
leaving Richmond
to
N
come
in
front
of
us.
It
is
the
nature
of
the
case, and neither you nor the government
is to
blame.
Please
tell
at
once
the
present
condi-
tion and aspect of things.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, July
1, 1862.
3.30 p. m.
Major-General George
B.
McClellan:
It is impossible to reinforce you for your pres-
ent emergency.
If we had a million of men, we
could
not
get them
to you
in
time.
We have
not
the men
to
send.
If
you
are
not
strong
enough to face the enemy, you must find a place
of security, and wait,
rest, and repair.
Maintain
272
LETTERS
your ground
if you can, but save the army at
all
events,
even
if you
fall back
to
Fort Monroe.
We
still have
strength enough
in
the
country,
and will bring
it out.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 2, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Your despatch of Tuesday morning induces me
to hope your army
is having some
rest.
In this
hope
allow me
to
reason
with you
a moment.
When you
ask
for
50,000 men
to be promptly
sent
you,
you
surely
labor
under
some
gross
mistake of fact.
Recently you sent papers show-
ing your disposal of forces made last spring for
the defense of Washington, and advising a return
to
that
plan.
I
find
it
included
in and
about
Washington 75,000 men.
Now, please be assured
I have not men enough to
fill that very plan by
15,000.
All
of Fremont's
in
the
valley,
all
of
Banks's,
all
of McDowell's
not
with
you,
and
all in Washington, taken together, do not exceed,
if they reach, 60,000.
With Wool and Dix added
to those mentioned,
I have
not,
outside of your
army, 75,000 men east of the mountains.
Thus
the idea of sending you 50,000, or any other con-
siderable force, promptly, is simply absurd.
If, in
your frequent mention of responsibility, you have
the impression
that
I blame you
for not doing
more
than you
can,
please be
relieved
of such
impression.
I
only
beg
that
in
like
manner
you
will
not
ask
impossibilities
of
me.
If
you
think
you
are
not
strong
enough
to
take
Richmond
just
now,
I
do
not
ask
you
to
try
just
now.
Save
the
army,
material
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
273
and ^personal,
and
I
will
strengthen
it
for
the
offensive again as fast as
I can.
The governors
of eighteen States offer me a new levy of 300,-
000, which
I accept.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 3, 1862.
Major-General George B. McClellan:
Yours of 5.30 yesterday
is just received.
I am
satisfied that yourself, officers, and men have done
the
best
you
could.
All
accounts
say
better
fighting was never done.
Ten thousand thanks
for
it.
On
the
28th we
sent
General
Burnside
an
order to send all the force he could spare to you.
We then learned that you had requested him to
go to Goldsborough
; upon which we said to him
our
order was
intended
for
your
benefit,
and
we did not wish to be in conflict with your views.
We hope you
will have
help from him
soon.
To-day we have ordered General Hunter to send
you
all he can
spare.
At
last
advices
General
Halleck
thinks
he
cannot
send
reinforcements
without endangering all he has gained.
A. Lincoln, President.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, July 4, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
I understand your
position
as
stated
in your
letter and by General Marcy.
To reinforce you
so as to enable you to resume the offensive within
a month,
or even
six weeks,
is
impossible.
In
addition to that arrived and now arriving from
the Potomac
(about 10,000 men,
I suppose, and
274
LETTERS
about
10,000
I hope you
will have from Burn-
side very
soon, and about 5000 from Hunter a
little
later),
I do
not
see how
I
can send you
another man within a month.
Under these
cir-
cumstances
the
defensive
for
the
present must
be your only care.
Save the army— first, where
you are,
if you can
; secondly, by removal,
if you
must.
You, on the ground, must be the judge
as to which you will attempt, and of the means
for
effecting
it.
I
but
give
it
as my
opinion
that with the aid of the gunboats and the
rein-
forcements mentioned above, you can hold your
present position—provided, and so long
as, you
can keep the James River open below
you.
If
you are not tolerably confident you can keep the
James
River
open,
you
had
better
remove
as
soon
as
possible.
I do
not remember
that you
have expressed any apprehension as to the dan-
ger
of having your communication
cut on
the
river below you, yet I do not suppose
it can have
escaped your
attention.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
P.
S.
If at any time you feel able to take the
offensive, you are not restrained from doing so.
A. L.
Washington, July 5, 1862.
a. m.
Major-General George B. McClellan
:
A thousand thanks for the relief your two de-
spatches of 12 and
1 p. m. yesterday gave me.
Be
assured
the
heroism
and
skill
of
yourself and
officers and men
is, and forever
will
be, appre-
ciated.
If you can hold your present position, we shall
hive the enemy yet.
A. Lincoln.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
275
[Memorandum of Interviews Between the Presi-
dent and
General McClellan and Other
Offi-
cers at Harrisons Landing,
Virginia.]
General McClellan's Headquarters,
July 9, 1862.
General McClellan, July 8, 1862.
What amount of force have you now?
About 80,000.
Can't vary much
; certainly 75,000.
What
is likely to be your condition as to health in
this
camp?
Better than in any encampment since landing at Fort
Monroe.
Where
is the enemy now?
From four to five miles from
us, on
all the roads
I think nearly the whole army—both Hills, Long-
street, Jackson, Magruder, Huger.
If you
desired,
could you remove
the army
safely?
It would be
a
delicate and very
difficult
matter.
Cavalry
about
5000.
General Sumner, July
9,
1862.
What
is the whole amount of your corps with you now?
About
16,000.
What
is
the
aggregate
of
your
killed,
wounded,
and
missing, from the attack on the 26th ultimo
till now?
1 175.
In your
present encampment what
is
the
present and
prospective condition as to health?
As good as any part of eastern Virginia.
Where and in what condition do you believe the enemy
to
be now?
I
think
they have
retired from
our
front.
Were
much damaged,
especially
in their best troops,
in
the late action from the superiority of our arms.
If
it were
desired
to
get
the army away,
could
it
be
safely effected?
I think we could, but
I think we give up the cause
if we do
it.
Is the army secure
in
its present position?
Perfectly
so,
in my judgment.
276
LETTERS
General Heintzelman, July
9,
1862.
What
is the whole amount of your corps now with you?
15,000 for duty.
What
is
the
aggregate
of
your
killed,
wounded,
and
missing, from the attack on the 26th ultimo
till now?
Not
large.
745.
In your
present encampment what
is
the
present and
prospective
condition
as
to health?
Excellent for health, and present health improving.
Where and
in what condition do you believe the enemy
to now be?
Don't think they are in force in our vicinity.
If
it were desired to get the army away from here, could
it be safely effected?
Perhaps we could; but think
it would be ruinous to
the
country.
Is the army secure
in
its present position?
I think
it
is
safe.
General Keyes, July
9,
1862.
What
is the whole amount of your corps with yor now?
About
12,500.
What
is
the
aggregate
of
your
killed,
wounded,
and
missing, from the attack on the 26th
till now?
Less than 500.
In your
present encampment
what
is
the
present
and
prospective
condition
as
to
health?
A
little improved, but think camp
is getting worse.
Where, and in what condition, do you believe the enemy
to now be ?
Think he has withdrawn, and think preparing to go
to Washington.
If
it were
desired
to
get
the army
away,
could
it
be
safely effected?
I think
it could,
if done quickly.
Is the army
in
its present position secure?
With the help of gunboats can hold position.
General Porter.
What
is the amount of your corps now with you?
About
23,000.
Fully
20,000
fit
for
duty.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
277
What
is
the
aggregate
of your
killed,
wounded,
and
missing, from the attack on the 26th ultimo until now ?
Over
5000.
In your
present encampment what
is
the
present and
prospective
condition
as
to
health?
Very good.
Where, and in what condition, do you believe the enemy
now
to be?
Believe he
is mainly near Richmond.
He
feels he
dare not attack us here.
If
it were desired to get the army away from here, could
it be safely effected?
Impossible.
Move the army and ruin the
country.
Is
the army secure
in
its present
position?
Perfectly
so.
Not only, but we are ready
to begin
moving forward.
General Franklin.
What
is the whole amount of your corps now with you?
About
15,000.
What
is
the
aggregate
of
your
killed,
wounded,
and
missing, from the attack on the 26th ultimo
till now?
Don't think whole will exceed 3000 men.
In your
present encampment what
is
the
present and
prospective
condition
as
to
health?
Not good.
Where, and in what condition, do you believe the enemy
now to be?
I learn he has withdrawn from our front, and think
that
is probable.
If it were desired to get the army away from here, could
it be
safely effected?
I think we could, and think we
better—think Rap-
pahannock true
line.
Is the army secure
in
its present position?
Unless we can be closer,
it
is.
General Sumner
1,175
General Heintzelman
745
General
Keyes
500
Fitz-J. Porter
5,000
Franklin
3,000
10,420
278
LETTERS
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 13, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear Sir:
I am told that over 160,000 men
have
gone
into
your army
on
the
Peninsula.
When
I was with you
the other day we made
out 86,500
remaining,
leaving 73,500
to be
ac-
counted
for.
I believe 23,500 will cover
all the
killed, wounded, and missing
in
all your battles
and
skirmishes,
leaving
50,000 who
have
left
otherwise.
Not more than
5000 of
these have
died, leaving 45,000 of your army
still alive and
not with
it.
I believe half or two thirds of them
are
fit for duty to-day.
Have you any more per-
fect knowledge
of
this than
I have?
If
I am
right, and you had these men with you, you could
go into Richmond in the next three days.
How
can they be got to you, and how can they be pre-
vented from getting away
in such numbers
for
thefuture?
A.Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
War Department,
Washington City, July
14, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
General Burnside's force
is at Newport News,
ready to move, on short notice, one way or the
other, when ordered.
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, July 21, 1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
This
is Monday.
I hope to be able to tell you
on Thursday what is to be done with Burnside.
A. Lincoln.
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
279
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 12, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear Sir
: It seems that several young lieu-
tenants of whom Charles L. Noggle and George
A. Rowley are two, have been cashiered by court
martial for misconduct at the battle of June 27th.
The records
in the cases of the two named are
now before me.
I suppose that the law and the
nature of the service required
it
; but these cases
seem hard.
I inclose the copy of an informal let-
ter by the judge-advocate in regard to them gen-
erally.
I
shall be obliged
if you and the
regi-
mental officers can, consistently with your sense
of duty to the service, act upon the suggestions
of
the
judge-advocate's
letter.
I am
very
un-
willing for these young men to be ruined for so
slight
causes.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington City, August 27, 1862. 4 p. m.
Major-General McClellan,
Alexandria,
Virginia
:
What news from the front ?
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, August 29, 1862.
2.30 p. m.
Major-General McClellan:
What news from direction of Manassas Junc-
tion?
What generally?
A. Lincoln.
2 8o
LETTERS
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, August 29, 1862.
4.10 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
Yours
of to-day
just
received.
I think your
first alternative—to
wit,
"to concentrate
all our
available
forces
to
open
communication
with
Pope"—is the right one, but
I wish not to con-
trol.
That
I now leave to General Halleck, aided
by your counsels.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, D.
C.,
September 8, 1862.
5 p. m.
Major-General McClellan:
Rockville, Maryland
:
How does
it look now ?
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
War Department, Washington City,
September 10, 1862.
10.15 a. m.
Major-General
McClellan,
Rockville, Maryland
:
How does
it look now?
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Executive Mansion, Washington City,
September 11, 1862.
6 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
This
is explanatory.
If
Porter, Heintzelman,
and Sigel were sent you,
it would sweep every-
thing from the other
side
of the
river, because
the new troops have been distributed among them,
as
I understand.
Porter reports himself 21,000
strong, which can only be by the addition of new
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
281
troops.
He
is ordered
to-night
to
join you
as
quickly
as
possible.
I am
for sending you
all
that can be spared, and I hope others can follow
Porter very soon.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington City, D. C,
September 12, 1862.
4 a. m.
Major-General McClellan,
Clarksburg, Maryland
:
How does
it look now?
A.
Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington City, D. C,
September
12, 1862.
5.45 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
Governor Curtin telegraphs me
:
I have advices that Jackson
is crossing the Potomac
at Williamsport, and probably the whole rebel army will
be drawn from Maryland.
Receiving
nothing
from
Harper's
Ferry
or
Martinsburg
to-day,
and
positive
information
from Wheeling that the
line
is
cut, corroborates
the idea that the enemy is recrossing the Potomac.
Please do not let him get off without being hurt.
A. Lincoln.
[ Telegram. ]
War Department, Washington,
September
15, 1862.
2.45 p. m.
Major-General McClellan
:
Your despatch of to-day
received.
God bless
282
LETTERS
you, and
all with you.
Destroy the
rebel army,
if Possible.
A
Lincoln .
[Telegram.']
Washington, D. C, October
6,
1862.
Major-General McClellan
:
I am
instructed
to
telegraph
you
as
follows: The
President
directs
that you
cross the Potomac and give
battle
to
the enemy,
or
drive him
south.
Your army
must move now, while the roads are good.
If you cross
the river between the enemy and Washington, and cover
the latter by your operation, you can be reinforced with
30,000 men.
If you move up the valley of the Shenan-
doah, not more than 12,000 or 15,000 can be sent to you.
The
President advises the
interior
line between Wash-
ington
and
the enemy,
but
does
not
order
it.
He
is
very desirous that your army move as soon as possible.
You
will immediately
report what
line you
adopt, and
when you intend to cross the
river;
also to what point
the reinforcements are
to be
sent.
It
is necessary that
the plan of your operations be positively determined on
before orders are given for building bridges and repair-
ing railroads.
I am directed
to add that the Secretary
of War and the general-in-chief
fully concur with the
President in these instructions.
H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October
13, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
My dear Sir: You remember my speaking to
you of what I called your over-cautiousness.
Are
you not over-cautious when you assume that you
cannot do what the enemy
is constantly doing?
Should you not claim to be at least his equal in
prowess, and act upon the claim?
As
I under-
stand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you
cannot
subsist your army
at Winchester
unless
the railroad from Harper's Ferry to that point be
put in working order.
But the enemy does now
subsist
his army
at
Winchester,
at
a
distance
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
283
nearly twice as great from railroad transportation
as you would have to do without the railroad last
named.
He now wagons from Culpeper Court
House, which
is
just about twice as
far
as you
would have to do from Harper's Ferry.
He
is
certainly not more than half as well provided with
wagons as you are.
I certainly should be pleased
for you
to have
the advantage
of the
railroad
from Harper's Ferry to Winchester, but
it wastes
all the remainder
of autumn
to give
it to you,
and
in
fact ignores the question of time, which
cannot and must not be ignored.
Again, one of
the standard maxims of war, as you know,
is to
"operate
upon
the
enemy's
communications
as
much
as
possible without exposing your own."
You seem to act as if this applies against you, but
cannot
apply
in your
favor.
Change
positions
with the enemy, and think you not he would break
your communications with Richmond within the
next twenty-four hours?
You dread
his going
into Pennsylvania
; but if he does so in full force,
he gives up his communications to you absolutely,
and you have nothing to do but to follow and
ruin him.
If he does so with less than full force,
fall upon and
beat what
is
left behind
all
the
easier.
Exclusive of the water-line, you are now
nearer Richmond than the enemy
is by the route
that you can and he must take. Why can you not
reach
there
before
him,
unless you
admit
that
he
is more than your equal on a march?
His
route
is
the
arc
of
a
circle,
while yours
is the
chord.
The roads are
as good on yours
as on
his.
You know
I desired, but did not order, you
to
cross
the Potomac
below,
instead
of
above,
the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge.
My idea was
that this would at once menace the enemy's com-
284
LETTERS
munications,
which
I would
seize
if he
would
permit.
If he should move northward,
I would follow
him
closely, holding his communications.
If he
should
prevent our
seizing
his communications
and
move
toward
Richmond,
I
would
press
closely
to him,
fight him
if a
favorable oppor-
tunity should present, and at least try to beat him
to Richmond on the
inside
track.
I say "try"
;
if we never
try, we
shall never succeed.
If he
makes
a
stand
at
Winchester,
moving
neither
north
nor
south,
I
would
fight him
there,
on
the idea that if we cannot beat him when he bears
the wastage of coming to us, we never can when
we bear the wastage of going to him.
This prop-
osition
is a simple truth, and
is too important to
be lost sight of for a moment.
In coming to us
he tenders us an advantage which we should not
waive.
We should not so operate
as
to merely
drive him away.
As we must
beat him some-
where or fail finally, we can do
it,
if at
all, easier
near to us than far away.
If we cannot beat the
enemy where he now
is, we never can, he again
being within the intrenchments of Richmond.
Recurring to the idea of going
to Richmond
on the inside track, the facility of supplying from
the side away from the enemy is remarkable, as
it
were, by the different spokes of a wheel extend-
ing
from
the
hub
toward
the
rim,
and
this
whether you move
directly by the chord or on
the
inside
arc,
hugging
the
Blue
Ridge more
closely.
The chord-line, as you
see, carries you
by Aldie, Hay Market, and Fredericksburg; and
you see how turnpikes,
railroads, and finally the
Potomac, by Aquia Creek, meet you at
all points
from Washington
; the same, only the lines length-
McCLELLAN, GEORGE B.
285
ened a little,
if you press closer to the Blue Ridge
part of the way.
The
gaps
through
the
Blue Ridge
I
under-
stand
to be about the
following distances from
Harper's Ferry, to wit
: Vestal's,
5 miles
; Greg-
ory's,
13;
Snicker's,
18; Ashby's, 28; Manassas,
38;
Chester, 45; and Thornton's,
53.
I should
think
it preferable to take the route nearest the
enemy, disabling him to make an important move
without your knowledge, and compelling him to
keep his forces together for dread of you.
The
gaps would enable you
to
attack
if you should
wish.
For
a great part of the way you would
be practically between the enemy and both Wash-
ington and Richmond, enabling us to spare you
the greatest number of troops from here.
When
at
length running
for Richmond ahead
of him
enables him to move this way,
if he does so, turn
and attack him
in
rear.
But
I think he should
be engaged
long before
such
point
is
reached.
It
is
all easy
if our troops march as well as the
enemy, and
it
is unmanly to say they cannot do
it.
This
letter
is in no sense an order.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Telegram.]
Washington, October 21,
1862.
3 p. m.
Major-General George
B.
McClellan
:
Your telegram
of
m.
has
been
submitted
to
the
President.
He directs me to say that he has no change
to make
in
his
order
of
the
6th
instant.
If you have
*not been and
are not now
in condition
to obey
it, you
will be able
to show such want
of
ability.
The
Presi-
dent
does
not
expect
impossibilities,
but
he
is
very
anxious that
all this good weather should not be wasted
in
inactivity.
Telegraph when you
will move, and on
what lines you propose to march.
H. W.
Halleck,
General-in-Chief.