The San Francisco call., 1899-02-12
BY Ida M. TdrbeIl.

sneciaI conveyance, with the direction
that 1t was only to be given to me When
/ was in a good humor.
There ia in existence a draft of q let
ter dated September 25, 1863, and ad-
dressed to General A. q. Burnside, In
which Lincoln reviews the daily prom
ises that the general had been making
to move to the aid of Rosecrans. then
shut up in Chattanooga, and his steady
move 'the contrary way" When the
President wrote the document he evil
IDENTIFY felt that Burnsides own reports
were the severest witnesses against
him, for in his opening sentence he de-
clared that Burnside's conduct made
him doubt whether he was awake or
dreaming" Yet justified as he un-
doubtedly felt he was when he wrote
the letter, he never sent 1t. He held 1t,
hoping as he always did that something
would happen to make 1t unnecessary.
The events Of the next few weeks out
lawed this particular document and 1t
exists to-day simply as proof of Lin
coins unwillingness to criticize and
advise unnecessarily.
Although so uniformly kind even in
his rebukes, there is more than one
case on record where President Lin
coins patience failed and he sent a
telegram Of bitter sarcasm to general.
Such was his message to Mcclellan on
October "a, 1862, when that general,
after five idle weeks, refused to pursue
the enemy because his cavalry horses
had sore tongues. 1t was q drop too
much for Lincoln.
ST have just read your dispatch about
s3TsdtongTsd and fatguSsd nor o asR
ing what the horses Of your army have
done since the battle Of Antietam that
fatigues anything?"
Yet even for this telegram he half
apologized two days later.
Most certainly intend no injustice
to any, and If have done any I deeply
regret it. To be told, after more than
five weeks total inaction Of the army,
and during which period we have sent
to the army every fresh horse we pos
sibly could, amounting In the whole to
1918, that the cavalry horses were too
much fatigued to move, presents very
cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for
the future, and it may have forced
something Of impatience in my dis
patch"
One pleasant feature Of Mr.. Lincoln's
relations to his generals was the heart
iness with which he acknowledged
every advance. God bless you and
your army was the gist Of many a
telegram, many q verbal message that
he sent Perhaps Of all these congrat-
ulatory messages mono is pleasanter
reading in the light Of later events
than the Presidents letter to General
Grant after Vicksburg. In way 1t
may be called Lincoln's first recognt-
ton Of Grant:
Major, General Grant-My Dear
General: do not remember that
you and have ever met personal
w. I write this now as grateful
acknowledgment for the almost
inestimable service you have done
the country 1ben wish 1e to asa say rea"6ed w0rd
the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought
you should do what you finally did
march the troops across the neck,
run the batteries with the trans
ports, and thus go below; and
never had any faith, except g gen
eral hope that you knew better
ton and the like could succeed.
When you got below and took Port
Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity.
thought you should go down the
river and Join General Banks, and
when you turned northward east
of the Big Black, I feared it was a
persohai rii acknowledgment that you
were right and was wrong, yours
very truly. A LlNCOLN.
Comparatively little of these close re-
lations of Lincoln with his generals
was known to the public during the
war. 1t was not until twenty years
after his death, when his secretaries,
Messrs. Nicolay and Hay, published
their great work, which must remain
through all time the most important
source for the history Of Abraham Lin
coin, that the greater number of these
wise, keen, kind letters were given to
the public.
n n AJoR CLEMENT B. WHITE OF
IN III Selma, the only surviving
N brother-in-law Of Abraham
VE Lincoln, is nearing three score
years and ten, and bears a
striking resemblance 10 John Sner1nan'