The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-17
LINCOLN'S GENTLE GLIDING.
His ReprOof to Gen. Hunter Now Pub
nshed for the First Time.

new YORK MAIL and Express.
Another remarkable evidence of the great
kindness of heart of Abraham Lincoln has
just been brought to light in the form of
long-lost letter which the martyred Presi-
dent wrote to Gen. Daniel Hunter in 1861.
General Hunter was in command of the
Department Of Kansas at the time this par
ticular letter was written. 1t seems he
considered himself dishonored by an ap-
post, and wrote to the President protesting
against 1t. Lincoln's characteristic reply
was as follows:
Executive Mansion
Washington, Dec. 81, 1851
Major General Hunter:
Dear Slr-Yours OF the 23d Is received,
and l am constrained to say it is difficult
to answer so ugly letter in good temper.
L am, as you intimate. losing much of the
great confidence placed in YOU not from
any act Of commission of yours touching
the public service up to the time you We're
sent to Leayenworth, but from the flood of
grumbling dispatches and letters l have
seen from YOU since. l knew you were be-
ing order to Leavenworth at the time it
was don and / aver that with as tender
regard for your honor and your sensibilities
as had for my own, it never occurred to
me that you were being Inundated insult
ed and diSgraced, nor | have l up to this
day heard any intimation that you have
been wronged coming from any one point
but yourself
mo 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 1t
NOAS llO| AO4 yOul OllN cll(SO elSouAllPtAOil
that the ordering to LeaVenworth must
necessarily have been done as punishment
for some fault, l thought then, as l think
yet, the position assigned to you is as re-
SponSible and as honorable as that assigned
to Buell. 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 1t
had not been determined to replace General
Sherman in Kentucky, but OF this am not
certain, because the idea that a command
in Kentucky was very desirable, and one in
the farther West undesirable, had never oc-
ing placed in command of only three thou
sand. 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 l dare to make a
suggestion 1 would say you adopting
the best possible way to ruin yourself. Act
well your part, there all honor lies He
who does something at the head of one
regiment will eclipse him who does nothing
at the head of a hundred. Your friend, as
ever, A LINCOLN.
Nothing could have been better calculated
to alay the feelings of personal wrong
time. That he thought himself is shown
by the following words, written by the dis
satisfied general on the big yellow envelope
in which the letter had been sent:
1.-THE Presidents reply to my ugly letter
This lay on his table a month after 1t was
written, and when finally sent, was by a
special conveyance, with the direction that
it was only to be given me when l was in
good humor."