The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-08-18
SOLDIERS BUDGET,
LincOln's Gentle Gliding.

Another remarkable evidence of the
great kindness OF heart # Abraham
Lincoln has just been brought to light
in the form of long-lost letter which
the marlyred President wrote to Gen
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 dishon-
ored by an appointment to the rather
obscure military post, and wrote to the
President protesting against it. Lin
coins characteristic reply was as fol-
lows:
Major General Hunter: Dear Sir
Yours of the 23d is received, and l am
constrained to say it is difficult to
answer 80 ugly letter in good temper.
l am, as you il innate, losing much con-
idence placed in you, not from any
act of commission of yours touching the
pu bic service TO the time you were sent
to Leavenworth, but from the flood of
grumbling dispatches and letters l
have seen from you since. | knew you
were being ordered to Leavenworth at
the time it was done, and aver that
with as tender regard for your honor
and your sensibilites as | had for my
own, it never occurred to me that you
were being Inundated, insulted and
disgraced,' nor have | 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 readily under
stand if it were net for your unwar-
rantod assumption that the ordering to
Leavenworth must necessarially have
been done as a punishment for some
fault. thought then, as / think yet,
the position assigned TO you is as re-
sponsible aud as honorable as that as
signed TO Buell. know that General
Mcclellan expected more important re-
suits 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 Sher-
man in Kentucky, but of this am not
certain, because the idea that a CON-
mand in Kentucky was very desirable
and one in the further West undesil-
able had never occurred to me. You
constantly speak of being placed in
command of only three thousand. Now,
tell me, is not this mere Impotence?
Have you not known all the while that
you are to command four or five times
that many?
81 have been and am sincerely your
friend; ard if as such l dare to make
suggestion, would say you are
adopting the best possible way to ruin
yourself Act we'll your pait, 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 per-
sonal wrong which must have possess
ed Hunter at the time. That he
thought so himself is shown by the fol-
lowing words, written by the dissatis-
fed general on the big yellow envelope
in which the letter had been sent:
"The Presidents reply to my ugly
letter. This lay on his table month
after it was written, and when finally
sent was by special conveyance, with
the direction that it was only to be
given to me when l was in good hui
NOR"