The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1897-09-02
LlNCOLN'S CHlDlNG.
His Gentle Reproof In Reply to General
Hunters Ugly Letter.

His Gentle Reproof In Reply to General
Hunters Ugly Letter.
Another remarkable evidence of the
great kindliness of heart of Abraham
Lincoln has been brought to light in
the form Of a long lost letter which the
martyred president wroto IL Cl-eral
Daniel Hunter in 1861.
General Hunter was in command of
the department. Of Kansas at the time
this particular letter was written. 1t
seems he considered himself dishoncred
by al appointment to the rather OBJ
military post, and he wrote to the
president protesting against it. Lin
coins characteristic reply was as fol-
lows:
EXECUTIVE ''"s;"".
WASHINGTON, L~.. ii, lool.
Major General Hunter:
DEAR SIR-Yours of the 23d is received, and
I am constrained to say it ia difficult to answer
SO ugly q letter in good temper. I am, as you
intimate, losing much Of the great confidence
I placed in you, not from any act or commits
sion of yours touching the public service up to
the time you were sent to Leavenworth, but
from the flood of grumbling dispatches and let
tiers / have seen from you since. l knew you
were being ordered to Leavenworth at the
time it was done, and I aver that, with as ten
der a regard for your honor and your sensi-
bilities as l had for my own, it never occurred
to me that you were being Inundated, in
suited and disgraced," nor have I 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 retrograde
movement from Springfield, nor for the infor-
nation you gave General Cameron, and this
you could readily understand if it were not
for your unwarranted assumption that the Or
dering to L~eavenworth must necessarily have
been done as a punishment for some fault. !
thought then. and l think vet, the position as
signed to you is as responsible and as honor
able 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 it had not been determined to re-
place General Sherman in Kentucky, but Of
this l am not certain, because the idea that q
command in Kentucky was very desirable, and
one in the farther west undesirable, had never
occurred to me. You constantly speak of be-
ing placed in command Of only 5000. Now, tell
me, is not this mere impatience? Have you
not known all the while that you are to COM
mand four or five times that many?
have been and am sincerely your friend,
and if as such l 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 les He who does some
thing at the head Of one regiment will eclipse
him who does nothing at the head Of leo. Your
friend as ever, A. INCoLN.
Nothing could have been better cal
culated to allay the feelings Of personal
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:
1.-THE presidents reply to my ugly
letter. This lay or his table a month
after it was written, and when finally
sent was by a special conveyance, with
the direction that it was only to be
given to me when I was in a good hu-
MOI Nav York Sun.