The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-08-26
LincoIn,. GentIe ending.

/
great kindliness Of heart of Abraham
Lincoln has just been brought to Hight
in the form Of long-lOst letter which
the martyred President wrote to Gen
| eral David Hunter in 1861
General Hunter was in command of
the department Of Kansas at the time
this particular letter was written, says
the New York Sun. 1t seems he consid-
cred himself dishonored by an appoint
ment to the rather obscure military
post. and wrote to the President pro-
testing against it. Lincoln's charac-
teristic reply was as follows:
Executive Mansion.
washington, December 81, 1861.
'Ma jor General Hunter:
Dear Sir-Yours of the 23d is received,
and am constrained to say it is difficult
to answer so ugly letter in good temper
| am. as you intimate. losing much of the
great confidence placed in you, not from
any act or commission of yours touching
the public service up to the time you were
sent to Lenvenworth, but from the food
of grumhling dispatches and letters have
seen from you since. knew you were be-
ing ordered to Leavenworth at the time it
was done, and l aver that with as tender
a regard for your honor and your sensi-
bilities as had for my own, it never Oc
Cured to me that you were being 'humil-
il: ed. insulted and disgraced,' nor have l
up to this day heard any intimation that
you have been wrOnged coming from any
one but yourself. No one has blamed you
for the retrogIade movement from Spring
field. nor for the information you gave
Gen. Cameron; and this you could readily
understand if it were not for your unwar-
ranted assumption that the ordering to
Leavenworth must necessarily have been
done as q punishment for some fault. l
thought then. and think yet, the position
assigned to you is rs responsible and as
honorable as that assigned to Buell.
know that Gen. Mcclellan expected more
important results from it. My impression
is that at the time you were assigned to
the new Western department it mad not
been determined to replace Gen. Sherman
in Kentucky, but of this l am not certain,
because the idea that command in Ken
tucky WAS very desirable, and one in the
further West undesirable. had never oc-
Cured to me. You constantly speak of
being placed in command Of only 1000.
Now. tell me, is not this mere impa tience?
Have you not known all the while that
you are to command four or FIVE times
that many?
Il have been and am sincerely your
friend; and if as such dare to make a
suggestion, would say you are adopting
the best possible way to ruin yourself |
Act we'll your part, there all the honor |
lies He who does something at the head
of one regiment will eclipse him who does |
nothing at the head of hundred. Your |
friend, as ever. A. LINCOLN"
Nothing could have been better cal.
culated to allay the feelings of person.
al wrong which must have possessed
Hunter at the time. That he thought
SO himself is shown by the following
words. written by the dissatisfied gen.
eral on the big yellow envelope in
which the letter had been sent:
"The Presidents reply to my ugly
letter This lay on his table a month
after it was written, and when finally
sent. was by special conveyance.
with the direction that 1t was only te
be given to me when l was in good