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Complete Works of
Abraham Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln
Engraved by William E. Marshall from the Cele
brated Portrait painted by Himself.

Complete Works of
Abraham Lincoln

Edited by
John G. Nicolay and John Hay

With a General Introduction by
Richard Watson Gilder, and Special Articles
by Other Eminent Persons

New and Enlarged Edition

VOLUME IX

New York
Francis D. Tandy Company

Copyright, 1894, by
JOHN G. NICOLAY and JOHN HAY
Copyright, igoj, by
FRANCIS D. TANDY

Abraham Lincoln
and the Promises of the
Declaration of Independence1
FOR the second time in our annals the
country has been summoned by the Presi
dent to unite, on an appointed day, in
commemorating the life and character of the
dead. The first was on the death of George
Washington, when, as now, a day was set apart
for simultaneous eulogy throughout the land
and cities, towns, and villages all vied in tribute.
More than half a century has passed since this
early observance in memory of the Father of his
country, and now it is repeated in memory of
Abraham Lincoln.
Thus are Washington and Lincoln associated
in the grandeur of their obsequies. But this as
sociation is not accidental. It is from the nature
of things, and because the part which Lincoln
was called to perform resembled in character
the part which was performed by Washington.
The work left undone by Washington was con
tinued by Lincoln. Kindred in service, kindred
in patriotism, each was naturally surrounded at
1 A Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln, delivered before the Mu
nicipal Authorities of the City of Boston, June I, 1865.
v

vi Abraham Lincoln
death by kindred homage. One sleeps in the
East, and the other sleeps in the West; and thus,
in death, as in life, one is the complement of the
other. The two might be compared after the manner
of Plutarch; but it will be enough for the pres
ent if we glance only at certain points of resem
blance and of contrast, so as to recall the part
which each performed.
Each was at the head of the Republic during
a period of surpassing trial ; and each thought
only of the public good, simply, purely, con
stantly, so that single-hearted devotion to coun
try will always find a synonyme in their names.
Each was the national chief during a time of
successful war. Each was the representative of
his country at a great epoch of history. But
here, perhaps, the resemblance ends and the con
trast begins. Unlike in origin, conversation, and
character, they were unlike also in the ideas
which they served, except as each was the servant
of his country. The war conducted by Wash
ington was unlike the war conducted by Lincoln
— as the peace which crowned the arms of the
one was unlike the peace which began to smile
upon the other. The two wars did not differ
in the scale of operations, and in the tramp of
mustered hosts, more than in the ideas involved.
The first was for National Independence; the

Charles Sumner

vu

second was to make the Republic one and indi
visible, in the indestructible foundations of Lib
erty and Equality. The first only cut the con
nection with the mother country, and opened the
way to the duties and advantages of Popular
Government. The second will have failed un
less it performs all the original promises of that
Declaration which our fathers took upon their
lips when they became a Nation. In the rela
tion of cause and effect the first was the natural
precursor and herald of the second. National
Independence was the first epoch in our history,
and such was its importance that Lafayette
boasted to the First Consul of France that,
though its battles were but skirmishes, they de
cided the fate of the world.
The Declaration of our fathers, which was en
titled simply "the unanimous Declaration of the
Thirteen United States of America," is known
familiarly as the Declaration of Independence,
because the remarkable words with which it
concludes made independence the absorbing
idea, to which all else was tributary. Thus did
the representatives of the United States of Amer
ica in General Congress assembled, solemnly
publish and declare " that these United Colonies
are, and of right ought to be, free and inde
pendent States; that they are absolved from all
allegiance to the British Crown, and that all

viii Abraham Lincoln
political connection between them and the State
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dis
solved . . . and for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance in the protec
tion of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our
sacred honor." To sustain this mutual pledge
Washington drew his sword and led the national
armies, until at last, by the Treaty of Peace in
1783, Independence was acknowledged.
Had the Declaration been confined to this
pledge, it would have been less important than
it was. Much as it might have been to us, it
would have been less of a warning and trumpet-
note to the world. There were two other pledges
which it made. One was proclaimed in the des
ignation " United States of America,"' which
it adopted as the national name, and the other
was proclaimed in those great words, fit for the
baptismal vows of a Republic: " We hold these
truths to be self-evident; that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
that to secure these rights governments are insti
tuted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed." By the
sword of Washington Independence was se
cured; but the Unity of the Republic and the

Charles Sumner ix
principles of the Declaration were left exposed
to question. From that day to this, through va
rious chances, they have been questioned and
openly dishonored, — until at last the Republic
was constrained to take up arms in their defence.
And yet, since enmity to the Union proceeded
entirely from enmity to the great ideas of the
Declaration, history must record that the ques
tion of the Union itself was absorbed in the
grander conflict to uphold those primal truths
which our fathers had solemnly proclaimed.
Such are these two great wars in which these
two chiefs bore each his part. Washington
fought for National Independence and tri
umphed, — making his country an example to
mankind. Lincoln drew his reluctant sword to
save those great ideas, essential to the life and
character of the Republic, which, unhappily,
the sword of Washington had failed to put be
yond the reach of assault.
It was by no accident that these two great men
became the representatives of their country at
these two different epochs, so alike in peril, and
yet so unlike in the principles involved. Wash
ington was the natural representative of Na
tional Independence. He might also have rep
resented National Unity had this principle been
challenged to bloody battle during his life; for
nothing was nearer his heart than the consolida-

x Abraham Lincoln
tion of our Union, which, in his letter to Con
gress transmitting the Constitution, he declared
to be "the greatest interest of every true Amer
ican." Then again, in a remarkable letter to
John Jay, he plainly said he did not conceive
"we can exist long as a nation without lodging
somewhere a power which will pervade the
Union in as energetic a manner as the authority
of the State governments extends over the several
States." But another person was needed of dif
ferent birth and simpler life to represent the
ideas which were now assailed.
Washington was of a family which may be
traced in English heraldry. Some of his ances
tors sleep in close companionship with the noble
name of Spencer. By inheritance and marriage
he was rich in lands, and, let it be said in re
spectful sorrow, rich also in slaves, so far as
slaves breed riches rather than curses. At the
age of fourteen he refused a commission as a
midshipman in the British Navy. At the age
of nineteen he was military inspector with the
rank of major. At the age of twenty-one he
was selected by the British Governor of Virginia
as Commissioner to the French posts. At the
age of twenty-two he was colonel of a regiment,
and was thanked by the House of Burgesses in
Virginia. Early in life he became an observer
of form and ceremony. Always strictly just,

Charles Sumner xi
according to prevailing principles, and ordering
at his death the emancipation of his slaves, he
was a general and a statesman rather than a
philanthropist; nor did he seem to be inspired,
beyond the duties of patriotism, to any active
sympathy with Human Rights. In the ample
record of what he wrote or said there is no word
of adhesion to the great ideas of the Declaration.
Such an origin — such an early life — such oppor
tunities — such a condition — such a character,
were all in contrast with the origin, the early
life, the opportunities, the condition, and the
character of him whom we commemorate to-day.
Abraham Lincoln was born, and until he be
came President always lived in a part of the
country which at the period of the Declaration
of Independence was a savage wilderness.
Strange but happy Providence, that a voice from
that savage wilderness, now fertile in men, was
inspired to uphold the pledges and promises of
the Declaration! The Unity of the Republic
on the indestructible foundation of Liberty and
Equality was vindicated by the citizen of a com
munity which had no existence when the Re
public was formed.
At a later day, he became a representative in
Congress for a single term, beginning in Decem
ber 1847, being the only Whig representative

xii Abraham Lincoln
from Illinois. His speeches during this brief
period have many of the characteristics of his
later productions. They are argumentative,
logical, and spirited, with that quaint humor
and sinewy sententiousness which belonged to
his nature. His votes were constant against
Slavery For the Wilmot Proviso, he had
voted, according to his own statement, "in one
way and another about forty times." His vote
is recorded against the pretence that slaves were
property under the constitution. From Con
gress he again passed to his profession. The
day was at hand when all his powers, enlarged
by experience and quickened to their highest
activity, would be needed to repel that haughty
domination which was already undermining the
Republic. The first field of conflict was in his own State,
with no less an antagonist than Stephen A.
Douglas, unhappily at that time in alliance with
the Slave Power. The too famous Kansas and
Nebraska bill, introduced by him into the Sen
ate, assumed to set aside the venerable safe
guard of freedom in the territory west of the
Missouri, under the pretence of allowing the in
habitants "to vote Slavery up or to vote it down"
according to their pleasure, and this barbarous
privilege was called by the fancy name of Pop
ular Sovereignty. The future President did

Charles Sumner xiii
not hesitate to denounce this most baleful meas
ure in a series of popular addresses, where truth,
sentiment, humor, and argument all were
blended. As the conflict continued, he was
brought forward as a candidate for the Senate
against its able author. The debate that ensued
is one of the most memorable in our political
history, whether we consider the principles in
volved, or the way in which it was conducted.
It commenced with a close, well-woven speech
from the Republican champion, in which he
used words which showed his insight into the
actual condition of things, as follows: "A
house divided against itself cannot stand. I be
lieve this Government cannot endure perma
nently half slave and half free. I do not expect
the Union to be dissolved, — I do not expect the
house to fall, — but I do expect it will cease to
be divided. It will become all one thing, or
all the other." Only a few days before his
death, when I asked him if at the time he had
any doubt about this remark, he replied, "Not
in the least. It was clearly true, and time has
justified me." With like plainness he exposed
the Douglas pretence of Popular Sovereignty
as meaning simply "that if any one man shall
choose to enslave another, no third man shall be
allowed to object," and he announced his belief
in "the existence of a conspiracy to perpetuate

xiv Abraham Lincoln
and nationalize Slavery," of which the Kansas
and Nebraska Bill and the Dred Scott decision
were essential parts. Such was the character of
this debate at the beginning, and so it continued
on the lips of our champion to the end.
But the inevitable topic to which he returned
with the most frequency, and to which he clung
with all the grasp of his soul, was the practical
character of the Declaration of Independence
in announcing the Liberty and Equality of all
men. These were no idle words, but substantial
truth, binding on the conscience of mankind.
I know not if this grand pertinacity has been
noticed before; but I deem it my duty to say,
that to my mind it is by far the most important
incident of that controversy, and perhaps the
most interesting in the biography of the speaker.
Nothing previous to his nomination for the
Presidency is comparable to it. Plainly his
whole subsequent career took its impulse and
character from that championship. And here
too is our first debt of gratitude. The words
which he then uttered live after him, and no
body can hear how he then battled without feel
ing a new motive to fidelity in the cause of Hu
man Rights.
In the winter of the next year the Western
champion appeared at New York; and, in a re-

Charles Sumner xv
markable address at the Cooper Institute, Feb
ruary 27, i860, vindicated the policy of the
Fathers of the Republic and the principles of
the Republican party. After showing with curi
ous skill and minuteness the original under
standing on the power of Congress over Slavery
in the territories, he demonstrated that the Re
publican party was not in any just sense sec
tional; and he proceeded to expose the perils
from the pretensions of slave-masters, who, not
content with requiring that "we must arrest and
return their slaves with greedy pleasure," in
sisted that the Constitution must be so interpre
ted as to uphold the idea of property in man.
The whole address was in a subdued and argu
mentative style, while each sentence was like a
driven nail, with a concluding rally that was a
bugle-call to the lovers of right. "Let us have
faith," said he, "that right makes might, and in
that faith, let us to the end dare to do our duty
as we understand it."
A few months later this champion of the
right, who would not see the colored man shut
out from the promises of the Declaration of In
dependence, and who insisted upon the exclu
sion of Slavery from the territories, after sum
moning his countrymen to dare to do their duty,
was nominated by a great political party as their
candidate for President of the United States.

xvi Abraham Lincoln
Local considerations, securing to him the sup
port of certain States beyond any other candi
date, exercised a final influence in determining
his election ; but it is easy to see how, from posi
tion, character, and origin, he was at that mo
ment especially the representative of his country.
The Unity of the Republic was menaced. He
was from that vast controlling Northwest,
which would never renounce its communications
with the sea, whether by the Mississippi or by
eastern avenues. The birthday Declaration of
the Republic was dishonored, in the denial of
its primal truths. He had already become
known as a volunteer in its defence. Republi
can Institutions were in jeopardy. He was the
child of humble life, through whom Republi
can Institutions would stand confest. These
things which are so obvious now, in the light of
history, were less apparent then in the turmoil
of party. But that Providence, in whose hands
are the destinies of nations, which had found
out Washington to conduct his country through
the war of Independence, now found out Lin
coln to wage the new battle for the Unity of
the Republic on the foundations of Human
Rights. The election took place. Of the popular
vote, Abraham Lincoln received 1,857,610, rep
resented by 180 electoral ballots; Stephen A.

Charles Sumner xvii
Douglas received 1,365,976, represented by 12
electoral ballots; John C. Breckenridge re
ceived 847,953, represented by 72 electoral bal
lots; and John Bell received 590,631, repre
sented by 39 electoral ballots. By this vote
Abraham Lincoln became President. The tri
umph at the ballot-box was flashed by the tele
graph over the whole country, from north to
south, from east to west; but it was answered
by defiance from the slavemasters, speaking in
the name of State Rights and for the sake of
Slavery. The declared will of the American
people, registered at the ballot-box, was set at
naught. The conspiracy of years blazed into
day. The National Government, which Alex
ander H. Stephens characterized as "the best
and freest government, the most equal in its
rights, the most just in its decisions, the most
lenient in its measures, the most aspiring in its
principles to elevate the race of man that the
sun of heaven ever shone on ;" and which Jeffer
son Davis himself pronounced "the best govern
ment that has ever been instituted by man," — ¦
that National Government, whose portrait is
thus drawn by its enemies, was defied. South
Carolina was the first in crime, and before the
elected champion had turned his face from the
beautiful prairies of the West to enter upon his
dangerous duties, State after State had under-

xviii Abraham Lincoln
taken to abandon its place in the Union, — sena
tor after senator had dropped from his seat, —
fort after fort had been lost, — and the mutter-
ings of war had begun to fill the air, while the
actual President, besotted by Slavery, tran
quilly witnessed the gigantic treason, as he sat
at ease in the Executive Mansion — and did
nothing. It was time for another to come upon the
scene. You do not forget how the new Presi
dent left his village home, never to return except
under the escort of death. In words of fare
well to the friendly multitude who surrounded
him, he dedicated himself to his country and
solemnly invoked the aid of Divine Providence.
"I know not," he said, "how soon I shall see
you again;" and then, with a prophetic voice
he announced that a duty devolved upon him
"greater than that which has devolved upon any
other man since the days of Washington," and
he asked his friends to pray that he might re
ceive that Divine assistance, without which he
could not succeed, but with which success was
certain. Others have gone forth to power and
fame with gladness and with song. He went
forth prayerfully as to a sacrifice.
You do not forget how at each resting-place
on the road he renewed his vows, and when at
Philadelphia, visiting Independence Hall, his

Charles Sumner xix
soul broke forth in homage to the vital truths
which were there declared. Of all his utter
ances on the way to the national capital, after
his farewell to his neighbors, there is nothing
so prophetic as these unpremeditated words : —
All the political sentiments I entertain have been
drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them,
from the sentiments which originated, and were
given to the world from this hall. I have never had
a feeling politically that did not spring from the
sentiments embodied in thle Declaration of Inde
pendence. . . . Now, my friends, can this
country be saved on this basis? If it can, I shall
consider myself one of the happiest men in the
world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved
upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if
this country cannot be saved without giving up that
principle, I was about to say I would rather be
assassinated on the spot.
And then, after adding that he had not ex
pected to say a word, he repeated again the con
secration of his life, exclaiming,
I have said nothing but what I am willing to live
by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to
die by.
He was about to raise the national banner over
the old hall. But before this service he took
up the strain which he loved so well, saying: —
It is on such an occasion as this that we can reason

xx Abraham Lincoln
together, reaffirm our devotion to the country and
the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
Thus constantly did he bear his testimony.
Surely this fidelity will be counted ever after
among his chief glories. I know no instance in
history more touching, especially when we con
sider that his support of those principles caused
his sacrifice. "Though every tile were a devil,
yet will I enter Worms," said Luther. Our re
former was less defiant, but hardly less deter
mined. Three times he had already announced,
that, for the great truths of the Declaration, he
was willing to die; three times he had offered
himself on that alter; three times he had vowed
himself to this martyrdom.
Slavery was already pursuing his life. An
attempt was made to throw from the track a
train in which he was journeying, and a hand
grenade was found secreted in another. Bal
timore, which lay directly on his way, was the
seat of a murderous plot against him. Avoid
ing the conspirators of Slavery, he came from
Philadelphia to Washington unexpectedly in
the night; and thus, for the moment cheating
assassination of its victim, he entered the Na
tional capital.
From this time forward his career broadens
into the history of his country and of the age.
You all know it by heart. Therefore a few

Charles Sumner xxi
glimpses will be enough, that I may exhibit its
moral rather than its story.
The Inaugural Address — the formation of his
cabinet — his earliest acts — his daily conversa
tion — all attested the spirit of moderation with
which he approached his perilous position. At
the same time he declared openly, that in the
contemplation of universal law and of the Con
stitution, the Union of these States is perpetual ;
that no State, upon its own mere motion, can
lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and
ordinances to that effect are legally void; that
acts of violence within any State are insurrec
tionary or revolutionary; and that, to the extent
of his ability, he should take care, according to
the express injunction of the Constitution, that
the laws of the Union should be faithfully ex
ecuted in all the States. But, while thus posi
tive in upholding the Unity of the Republic, he
was determined that on his part there should
be no act of offence; that there should be no
bloodshed or violence unless forced upon the
country; that it was his duty to hold, occupy,
and possess the property and places belonging to
the Government, but beyond what was necessary
for this object, there should be no exercise of
force, and the people everywhere would be left
in that perfect security which is most favorable
to calm thought and reflection.

xxii Abraham Lincoln
But the madness of Slavery knew no bounds.
It had been determined from the beginning that
the Union should be broken, and no modera
tion could change this wicked purpose. A pre
tended power was organized, in the form of a
Confederacy, with Slavery as the declared cor
ner-stone. You know what ensued. Fort
Sumter was attacked, and, after a fiery storm of
shot and shell for thirty-three hours, the na
tional flag fell. This was 14th April, 1861.
War had begun.
War is always a scourge, and it never can be
regarded without sadness. It is one of the mys
teries of Providence that it is still allowed to
vex mankind. There were few who deprec
ated it more than the President. From his
Quaker blood and from reflection, he was es
sentially a man of peace. In one of his speeches
during his short service in Congress, he ar
raigned military glory as "that rainbow that
rises in showers of blood — that serpent eye that
charms but to destroy;" and now that he was
charged with the terrible responsibility of gov
ernment, he was none the less earnest for peace.
He was not willing to see his beloved country
torn by bloody battle, and fellow-citizens strik
ing at each other. But after the criminal as
sault on Fort Sumter there was no alternative.
The Republic was in danger, and every man

Charles Sumner xxiii
from President to citizen was summoned to the
defence. Nor was this all. An attempt was
made to invest Slavery with national Independ
ence, and the President, who disliked both slav
ery and war, described, perhaps, his own condi
tion, when, in a letter to one of the Society of
Friends, he said, "Your people have had and are
having very great trials on principles and faith.
Opposed to both war and oppression, they can
only practically oppose oppression by war."
In these few words the whole case is stated;
inasmuch as, whatever might be the pretension
of State Rights, the war was made necessary to
put down the hideous ambition of Slavery.
The slave-masters simply put in execution a
conspiracy long contrived, for which they had
already prepared the way: first, by teaching that
any State might, at its own will, break from the
Union, and, secondly, by teaching that colored
persons were so far inferior as not to be em
braced in the promises of the Declaration of
Independence, but were justly held as slaves.
The Mephistopheles of Slavery, Mr. Calhoun,
had, for years, inculcated both these pretensions.
But the pretension of State Rights was merely
a cover for Slavery.
Therefore, when it was determined that the
slave-masters should be encountered, two things
were resolved : first, that this Republic was one

xxiv Abraham Lincoln
and indivisible; and, secondly, that no hideous
Power, with Slavery blazoned on its front,
should be created on our soil. Here was an
affirmation and a denial; first, an affirmation of
the Unity of the Republic ; and, secondly, a de
nial of any independent foothold to rebel Slav
ery. In accepting the challenge at Fort Sum
ter, the President became the voice of the
country, which, with a stern determination, in
sisted that the Rebellion should be put down by
war. The people were in earnest, and would
not brook hesitation; and they were right. If
ever in the history war was necessary, — if ever
in history war was holy, — it was the war then
and there begun for the overthrow of rebel
Slavery. From the first cannon shot, it was plain that
the Rebellion was nothing but Slavery in arms ;
but such was the power of Slavery, even in the
Free States, that months elapsed before this
giant criminal was directly attacked. Generals
in the field were tender with regard to it, as
if it were a church, or a work of the fine arts.
It was only under the teaching of disaster that
the country was aroused. The first step was
taken in Congress after the defeat at Bull Run.
But still the President hesitated. Disaster
thickened and graves opened, until at last the
country saw that only by justice could we hope

Charles Sumner xxv
for Divine favor, and the President, who leaned
so closely upon the popular heart, pronounced
that great word, by which all slaves in the Rebel
States were set free. Let it be named forever
to his glory, that he grasped the thunderbolt,
even though tardily, under which the Rebellion
staggered to its fall ; that, following up the blow,
he enlisted colored citizens as soldiers in the na
tional army; and, that he declared his final pur
pose never to retract or modify the Emancipa
tion Proclamation, nor to return into Slavery
any person free by the terms of that instrument,
or by any of the acts of Congress, saying loftily,
"If the people should, by whatever mode or
means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave
such persons, another and not I must be the in
strument to perform it."
It was sometimes said that the Proclamation
was of doubtful constitutionality. If this criti
cism did not proceed from sympathy with Slav
ery, it evidently proceeded from the prevailing
superstition with regard to this idol. Future
jurists will read with astonishment that such a
flagrant wrong could be considered at any time
as having any rights which a court was bound
to respect, and especially that rebels in arms
could be considered as having any title to the
services of people whose allegiance was prima
rily due to the United States. But, turning

xxvi Abraham Lincoln
from these conclusions, it seems to be obvious
that Slavery, which stood exclusively on local
law without any support in natural law, must
have fallen with the local government, both
legally and constitutionally; legally, inasmuch
as it ceased to have any valid legal support; and
constitutionally, inasmuch as it came at once
within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Consti
tution, where Liberty is the prevailing law.
The President did not act upon these principles,
but, speaking with the voice of authority, he said
"Let the slaves be free." What Court and Con
gress hesitated to declare, he proclaimed, and
thus enrolled himself among the world's Eman
cipators. Passing from the Proclamation of Emancipa
tion, which places its author so far above human
reproach that human envy cannot reach him, I
carry you for one moment to our Foreign Rela
tions. The convulsion here was felt in the most
distant places — as at the great Earthquake of
Lisbon, when that capital seemed about to be
submerged, there was a commotion of the waters
in our Northern Lakes. All Europe was
stirred. There, too, was the Slavery Question
in another form. England, in an unhappy mo
ment, under an ill-considered plea of "necessity"
— which Milton tells us was the plea by which
the fiend "executed a devilish deed" — accorded

Charles Sumner xxvii
to rebel Slavery the rights of belligerency on
the ocean, and then proceeded to open her ports,
to surrender her workshops, and to let loose her
merchant ships in aid of this wickedness ; — for
getting all the relations of alliance and amity
with the United States — forgetting all the logic
of English history — forgetting all the distinc
tions of right and wrong — and forgetting also
that a new Power founded on Slavery was a
moral monster with which a just nation could
have nothing to do. To appreciate the charac
ter of this concession we must appreciate clearly
the whole vast unprecedented crime of the Re
bellion, taking its complexion from Slavery.
Undoubtedly it was criminal to assail the Unity
of this Republic, and thus destroy its peace and
impair its example in the world ; but the attempt
to build a new power on Slavery as a corner
stone, and with no other declared object of sep
arate existence, was more than criminal, or
rather it was a crime of that untold, unspeak
able guilt, which no language can depict and
which no judgment can be too swift to condemn.
The associates in this terrible apostasy might re
buke each other in the words of an old drama
tist:— Thou must do, then
What no malevolent star will dare to look on,
It is so wicked ; for which men will curse thee

xxviii Abraham Lincoln
For being the instrument, and the blest angels
Forsake me at my need, for being the author;
For 't is a deed of night, of night, Francisco 1
In which the memory of all good actions
We can pretend to, shall be buried quick;
Or, if we be remembered, it shall be
To fright posterity by an example
That have outgone all precedents of villains
That were before us.
To recognize such a power; — to enter into
semi-alliance with it;— to invest it with rights;
— to open ports to it; — to surrender workshops
to it; — to build ships for it; — to drive a busy
commerce with it; — all this, or any part of this,
is positive and plain complicity with the orig
inal guilt, and must be judged as we judge any
other complicity with Slavery. To say that it
was a necessity is only to repeat the plea which
has been made by slave-masters and slave-trad
ers from the earliest moment, when driven to
vindicate their crime. But a generous English
man, who was an ornament of letters, and who
has told us in memorable lines "what constitutes
a State," has denounced all complicity with
Slavery in words which strike directly at this
plea of necessity.
Let sugar be as dear as it may, said Sir William
Jones to the freeholders of Middlesex, it is better to
eat honey, if sweetness be palatable; better to eat

Charles Sumner xxix
aloes, or coloquintida, than violate a primary law of
nature impressed on every heart not imbruted by
avarice, or rob one honest creature of these eternal
rights of which no law upon earth can justly deprive
him. England led in the concession of belligerent
rights to rebel Slavery. No event of the war
has been comparable to this concession in en
couragement to this transcendant crime or in
prejudice to the United States. It was out of
English ports and English workshops that rebel
Slavery drew its supplies: It was in English
ship-yards that the cruisers of rebel Slavery
were built and equipped. It was from English
foundries and arsenals that rebel Slavery was
armed. And all this was made easy, when her
Majesty's government, under the pretence of an
impossible neutrality, lifted rebel Slavery to an
equality with the United States. This was the
fatal concession which gave to rebel Slavery bel
ligerent power on the ocean. The early legend
was here verified. King Arthur was without a
sword, when suddenly one appeared, thrust out
from a lake. "Lol" said Merlin, the enchanter.
"yonder is a sword ; it belongeth to the Lady of
the Lake; if she will, thou mayest take it; but
if she will not, it will not be in thy power to
take it." And the Lady of the Lake yielded
the sword, so says the legend — even as England

XXX

Abraham Lincoln

has since yielded the sword to rebel Slavery.
The President saw the painful consequences
of this concession, and especially that it was a
first step towards the acknowledgment of rebel
Slavery as an Independent Power. Clearly, if
it were proper for a Foreign Power to acknowl
edge Belligerency, it might, at a later stage, be
proper to acknowledge Independence; and any
objection vital to Independence, would, if appli
cable, be equally vital to Belligerency. Solemn
resolutions, by Congress, on this subject were
communicated to Foreign Powers; but the un
answerable argument against any possible recog
nition of a new Power founded on Slavery —
whether as Independent or as Belligerent — was
stated by the President, in a paper which I now
hold in my hand, and which has never before
seen the light. It is a copy of a resolution
drawn by himself, which he gave to me, in his
own autograph, for transmission to one of our
valued friends abroad, as an expression of his
opinion on the great question involved, and a
guide to public duty. It is in these words: —
Whereas, while heretofore States and Nations
have tolerated Slavery, recently, for the first time in
the world, an attempt has been made to construct a
new nation upon the basis of Human Slavery, and
with the primary and fundamental object to main
tain, enlarge, and perpetuate the same, therefore

Charles Sumner xxxi
Resolved, that no such embryo State should ever
be recognized by, or admitted into, the family of
Christian and civilized nations; and that all Chris
tian and civilized men everywhere should, by all law
ful means, resist to the utmost such recognition or
admission.

You will see how distinctly any recognition
of rebel Slavery as an Independent Power is
branded, and how "all Christian and civilized
men everywhere" are summoned "to resist to the
utmost such recognition;" and precisely for the
same reason "such Christian and civilized men
everywhere" should have resisted to the utmost
any recognition of rebel Slavery as a Belligerent
Power. Of course, had such a benign spirit en
tered into the counsels of England when Slavery
first took up arms against the Republic, this
great historic nation would have shrunk at every
hazard from that fatal concession, which was in
itself a plain contribution to Slavery, and opened
the way to infinite contributions, without which
the criminal pretender must have speedily suc
cumbed. There would have been no plea of
"necessity." But divine Providence willed it
otherwise. Perhaps it was essential to the full
revelation of its boundless capacities, that the
Republic should stand forth alone, in sublime
solitude, warring for Human Rights, and thus
become an example to mankind.

xxxii Abraham Lincoln
Meanwhile the war continued with the pro
verbial vicissitudes of this arbitrament. Bat
tles were fought and lost. Other battles were
fought and won. Rebel Slavery stood face to
face in deadly conflict with the Declaration of
Independence when the President, with uncon
scious power, dealt it another blow, second only
to the Proclamation of Emancipation. This
was at the blood-soaked field of Gettysburg,
where the armies of the Republic had encount
ered the armies of Slavery, and, after a conflict
of three days, had driven them back with de
structive slaughter — as at that decisive battle of
Tours, on which hung the destinies of Chris
tianity in Western Europe, the invading Ma
hometans, after a conflict of three days, were
driven back by Charles Martel. No battle of
the present war was more important. Few bat
tles in history can compare with it. A few
months later there was another meeting on that
same field. It was of grateful fellow-citizens.
gathered from all parts of the Union to dedicate
it to the memory of those who had fallen there.
Among these were eminent men from our own
country and from foreign lands. There too was
your classic orator, whose finished address was
a model of literary excellence. The President
spoke very briefly; but his few words will live
as long as time. Since Simonides wrote the

Charles Sumner xxxiii
epitaph for those who died at Thermopylae,
nothing equal to them has ever been breathed
over the fallen dead. Thus he began:
"Four-score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, con
ceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal."
The Equality of all men, which he had so
often vindicated and for which he was willing to
die, is thus heralded, and the country is again
called to carry it forward, that our duty may not
be left undone.
It is for us the living, rather to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining be
fore us, that from these honored dead we take in
creased devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last measure of devotion; that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;
that this nation under God shall have a new birth of
Freedom, and that government of the people, by the
people, and for the people, shall not perish from the
earth. That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg
and now sanctified by the martyrdom of its au
thor, is a monumental act. In the modesty of
his nature he said:
"The world will little note, nor long remember

xxxiv!

Abraham Lincoln

what we say here; but it can never forget what they
did here."
He was mistaken. The world noted at once
what he said, and will never cease to remember
it. The battle itself was less important than the
speech. Ideas are always more than battles.
Among the events which secured to him the
assured confidence of the country against all
party clamour and prejudice, you cannot place
this speech too high. To some who had doubted
his earnestness here was touching proof of their
error. Others who had followed him with in
difference, were warmed with grateful sympa
thy. There were none to criticize.
He was re-elected President; and here was not
only a personal triumph, but a triumph of the
Republic. For himself personally, it was much
to find his administration thus ratified; but for
republican ideas it was of incalculable value,
that, at such a time, the plume of the soldier had
not prevailed. In the midst of war, the people
at the ballot-box deliberately selected a civilian.
Ye, who doubt the destinies of the Republic —
who fear the ambition of a military chief — or
who suspect the popular will — do not forget,
that, at this moment, when the voice of battle
filled the whole land, the country quietly ap
pointed for its ruler this man of peace.
And now there was a surfeit of battle and of

Charles Sumner

XXXV

victory. Calmly he saw the land of Slavery en
veloped by the national forces ; saw the great coil
bent by his generals about it; saw the mighty
garrotte as it tightened against the neck of the
Rebellion. Good news came from all quarters.
Everywhere the army was doing its duty. One
was conquering in Tennessee; another was
marching in Georgia and Carolina; another was
watching at Richmond. The navy echoed back
the thunders of the army. Place after place was
falling — Savannah, Charleston, Fort Fisher,
Wilmington. The President left the National
Capital to be near the Lieutenant-General.
Then came the capture of Petersburg and Rich
mond, with the flight of Jefferson Davis and his
cabinet. Without pomp or military escort, the
President entered the capital of the Rebellion
and walked its streets, from which Slavery had
fled forever. Then came the surrender of Lee.
The surrender of Johnston was at hand. The
military power of rebel Slavery had been broken
like a Prince Rupert drop, and everywhere
within its confines the barbarous government it
had set up was tumbling in crash and ruin. The
country was in ecstasy. All this he watched
without elation, while his soul was brooding on
thoughts of peace and clemency. His youthful
son, who had been on the staff of the Lieutenant-
General, returned on the morning of Friday,

xxxvi Abraham Lincoln
14th April, to resume his interrupted studies.
The father was happy in the sound of his foot
steps, and felt the augury of peace. On the
same day the Lieutenant-General returned. In
the intimacy of his family the President said that
this day the war was over. In the evening he
sought relaxation, and you know the rest. Alas!
the war was not over. The minions of Slavery
were dogging him with unabated animosity, and
that night he became a martyr.
The country rose at once in an agony of grief,
and strong men everywhere wept. City, town,
and village were darkened by the obsequies, as
they swept by with more than "sceptred pall."
Every street was draped with the ensigns of woe.
He had become, as it were, the inmate of every
house, and the families of the land were in
mourning. Not only in the Executive man
sion, but in uncounted homes, was his vacant
chair. Never before was such universal sor
row; and already the voice of lamentation is
returning to us from Europe, where candor to
wards him had begun even before his tragic
death. Only a short time ago he was unknown,
except in his own State. Only a short time ago
he had visited New York as a stranger, and was
shown about its streets by youthful companions.
Five years later he was borne through these
streets with funeral pomp, such as the world

Charles Sumner xxxvii
never before witnessed. Space and speed were
forgotten in the offering of hearts. As the
surpassing pageant moved over counties and
States, from ocean-side to prairie, on iron high
ways, at thirty miles an hour, the whole afflicted
people bent their uncovered heads.
At the first moment it was hard to compre
hend this blow, and many cried in despair. But
the rule of God has been too visible of late to al
low any doubt of his constant presence. Did
not our martyr remind us in his last address,
that the judgments of the Lord are true, and
righteous altogether? And who will say that
his death was not a judgment of the Lord?
Perhaps it was needed to lift the country to a
more perfect justice and to inspire it with a sub-
limer faith. Perhaps it was sent in mercy to
set a sacred, irreversible seal upon the good he
had done and to put Emancipation beyond all
mortal question. Perhaps it was the sacrificial
consecration of those primal truths, embodied
in the birthday Declaration of the Republic,
which he had so often vindicated, and for which
he had announced his willingness to die. He is
gone, and he has been mourned sincerely. It is
only private sorrow that could wish to recall the
dead. He is now removed beyond earthly vicis
situdes. Life and death are both past. He had
been happy in life. He was not less happy in

xxxviii Abraham Lincoln
death. In death, as in life, he was still under
the guardianship of that Divine Providence,
which took him early by the hand and led him
from obscurity to power and fame. The blow
was sudden, but not unprepared for. Only on
the Sunday preceding, as he was coming from
the front on board the steamer — with a quarto
Shakespeare in his hands — he read aloud the
well-known words of his favorite Macbeth: —
Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well.
Treason has done his worst; nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further.
Impressed by their beauty or by some presenti
ment unuttered, he read them aloud a second
time. As the friends who then surrounded him
listened to his reading, they little thought how,
in a few days, what was said of the murdered
Duncan would be said of him. Nothing can
touch him further. He is saved from the trials
that were gathering about him. He had fought
the good fight of Emancipation. He had borne
the brunt of war with embattled hosts against
him, and had conquered. He had made the
name of Republic a triumph and a joy in foreign
lands. Now that the strife of blood was ended,
it remained to be seen how he could confront
those machinations, which are only a prolonga-

Charles Sumner xxxix
tion of the war, and more dangerous because
more subtle, where recent rebels, with profes
sions of Union on the lips, but still denying the
birthday Declaration of the Republic, vainly
seek to organize peace on another Oligarchy of
the skin. From all these trials he was saved.
But his testimony lives and will live forever,
quickened by the undying echoes of his tomb.
Invisible to mortal sight, and now above all hu
man weakness, he is still champion, as in his
early conflict, summoning his countrymen back
to the truths that are in the Declaration of In
dependence. Dead, he speaks with more thap
living voice. But the author of Emancipation
cannot die. His immortality on earth has be
gun. His country and his age are already en
shrined in his example, as if he were its great
poet gathered to his fathers : —
Back to the living hath he turned him,
And all of death has passed away;
The age that thought him dead and mourned him,
Itself now lives but in his lay.
If the President were alive he would protest
against any monotony of panegyric. He never
exaggerated. He was always cautious in praise,
as in censure. In endeavoring to estimate his
character, we shall be nearer to him in propor
tion as we cultivate the same spirit.
In person he was tall and bony, with little

xl Abraham Lincoln
resemblance to any historic portrait, unless he
might seem in one respect to justify the epithet
which was given to an early English monarch.
As he stood, his form was angular, with some
thing of that straightness in its lines which is so
peculiar in the figure of Dante by Flaxman.
His countenance had more of rugged strength
than his person, and while in repose sometimes
seemed sad; but it lighted up easily. Perhaps
the quality which struck most at first sight was
his simplicity of manners and conversation,
without form or ceremony of any kind, beyond
that among neighbors. His hand-writing had
the same simplicity. It was as clear as that
of Washington, but less florid. Each had been
a surveyor, and was perhaps, indebted to this ex
perience. But the son of the Western pioneer
was more simple in nature, and the man ap
peared in the autograph. That integrity which
has become a proverb, belonged to the same
quality. The most perfect honesty must be the
most perfect simplicity. The words by which
an ancient Roman was described belong to him:
"Vita innocentissimus, proposito sanctissimus."
He was naturally humane, inclined to pardon,
and never remembering the hard things said
against him. He was always good to the poor,
and in his dealings with them was full of those
"kind little words which are of the same blood

Charles Sumner xli
as great and holy deeds." Only on the Saturday
before his death I saw him shake hands with
more than five thousand soldier-patients in the
tent hospitals at City Point, and he said after
wards that his arm was not tired. Such a
character wakened instinctively the sympathy of
the people. They saw his fellow-feeling with
them and felt the kinship. With him as Presi
dent, the idea of Republican Institutions, where
no place is too high for the humblest, was per
petually manifest, so that his simple presence
was like a Proclamation of the Equality of all
Men. While social in nature and enjoying the flow
of conversation, he was often singularly reticent.
Modesty was natural to such a character. As
he was without affectation, so he was without
pretence or jealousy. No person civil or mili
tary can complain that he appropriated to him
self any honor that belonged to another. To
each and all he anxiously gave the credit that
was due. And this same spirit was apparent
in smaller things. On one occasion, in a sally
of Congressional debate, he said that a fiery
slave-master of Georgia, to whom he was re
plying, "was an eloquent man, and a man of
learning; — so far as he could judge of learning,
not being learned himself."
His humor has become a proverb. He in-

xlii Abraham Lincoln
sisted sometimes that he had no invention, but
only a memory. He did not forget the good
things that he heard, and was never without a
familiar story to illustrate his meaning. When
he spoke, the recent West seemed to vie with the
ancient East in apologue and fable. His ideas
moved, as the beasts entered Noah's ark, in pairs.
At times his illustrations had a homely felicity,
and with him they seemed to be not less im
portant than the argument, which he always en
forced with a certain intensity of manner and
voice. But this same humor was often dis
played where there was no story, and with a
point that might remind you of Franklin. I
know not how the indifference, which many per
sons showed with regard to Slavery, could be
exposed more effectively than when he said of
a political antagonist who was thus indifferent,
"I suppose the institution of Slavery really looks
small to him. He is so put up by nature that
a lash upon his back would hurt him, but a lash
upon anybody else's back does not hurt him."
And then, again, there is a bit of reply to Mr.
Douglas, which is characteristic not only for its
humor, but as showing how little at that time
he was looking to the great place which he
reached so soon afterwards. "Senator Doug
las," said he, "is of world-wide renown. All
the anxious politicians of his party, or who have

Charles Sumner xliii
been of his party for years past, have been look
ing upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to
be the President of the United States. They
have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, post
offices, land offices, marshalships, and cabinet
appointments, chargeships and foreign missions,
bursting and sprouting out in a wonderful ex
uberance, ready to be laid hold of by their
greedy hands. On the contrary, nobody has
ever expected me to be President. In my poor,
lean, lank face nobody has ever seen that any
cabbages were sprouting out. These are disad
vantages that the Republicans labor under.
We have to fight the battle upon principle, and
upon principle alone." Here is a glimpse with
regard to himself, which is as honorable as it
is curious. In a different vein he said, while
President, "The national government must not
undertake to run the churches." Here wisdom
and humor seem to vie with each other.
He was original in mind as in character.
His style was his own ; formed on no model, and
springing directly from himself. While fail
ing often in correctness, it is sometimes unique
in beauty and in sentiment. There are passages
which will live always. It is no exaggeration
to say, that, in weight and pith, suffused in a
certain poetical color, they call to mind Bacon's
Essays. Such passages make an epoch in State

xliv Abraham Lincoln
Papers. No Presidential message or speech
from a throne ever had any thing of such touch
ing reality. They are harbingers of the great
era of Humanity. While uttered from the
heights of power, they reveal a simple, un
affected trust in Almighty God, and speak to the
people as equal to equal.
He was placed by Providence at the head of
his country during an unprecedented crisis,
when the fountains of the great deep were
broken up, and men turned for protection to
military power. Multitudinous armies were
mustered. Great navies were created. Of all
these he was the constitutional Commander-in-
Chief. As the war proceeded, all his preroga
tives enlarged and others sprang into being, un
til the sway of a Republican President became
imperatorial and imperial. But not for one
moment did the modesty of his nature desert
him. His constant thought was his country, and
how to serve it. He saw the certain greatness
of the Republic, and was pleased in looking for
ward to that early day, when, according to as
sured calculation, its millions of people will
count by the hundred; but he saw in this prodi
gious sway nothing but the good of man. Per
sonal ambition at the expense of patriotism was
as far removed from the simple purity of his
nature as poison from a strawberry. And thus

Charles Sumner xlv
with equal courage in the darkest hours he con
tinued on, heeding as little the warnings of dan
ger as the temptations of power. "It would
not do for a President," he said, "to have guards
with drawn sabres at his door, as if he fancied
he were, or were trying to be, or were assuming
to be, an emperor." And in the same homeli
ness he spoke of his return at morning to his
daily duties as "opening shop." Though com
missioning officers in multitudes beyond any
other person of authentic history, he never
learned the mystery of shoulder-straps and of
buttons in the military and naval uniforms, ex
cept that he had noticed three stars on the shoul
ders of the Lieutenant-General.
When he became President he was without
any considerable experience in public affairs;
nor was he much versed in history, whose les
sons would have been most valuable. As he be
came more familiar with the place his facility
evidently increased. He had "learned the
ropes" so he said. But his habits of business
were irregular, and they were never those of de
spatch. He did not see at once the just pro
portions of things, and allowed himself to be
too much occupied by details. Even in small
things, as well as in great, there was in him a
certain resistance to be overcome. There were
moments when this delay caused impatience,

xlvi Abraham Lincoln
and important questions seemed to suffer. But
when the blow was struck there was nothing but
gratitude, and all confessed the singleness with
which he had sought the public good. There
was also a conviction, that, though slow to reach
his conclusion, he was inflexible in maintaining
it. Pompey boasted that by the stamp of his
foot he might raise an army. The President
might have done the same ; but, according to his
own words, he "put his foot down," and saved a
•principle. In the statement of moral truth and the ex
posure of wrong, he was at times singularly co
gent. There was fire as well as light in his
words. Nobody exhibited Slavery in its enor
mity more clearly. On one occasion he blasted
it as "a monstrous injustice ;" on another he pic
tured the slave-master as "wringing his bread
from the sweat of other men's faces;" and then,
on still another he said, with exquisite simplicity
of diction, "If Slavery is not wrong, then noth
ing is wrong." Would you find any condemna
tion of Slavery more complete, you must go to
the sayings of John Brown or to those famous
words of John Wesley, when the great Metho
dist held it up as "the sum of all villanies."
Another mind, more submissive to the truth
which he recognized, and less disposed to take
counsel of to-morrow, would not have hesitated

Charles Sumner xlvii
in carrying forward this judgment to its natural
conclusion. Perhaps, his courage to apply
truth was not always equal to his clearness in
seeing it. Perhaps, the heights that he gained
in conscience were not always sustained in con
duct. And have we not been told that the soul
can gain heights which it cannot keep? Thus
while blasting Slavery, he still waited, till many
feared that his judgment would "lose the name
of action." And even while vindicating the
Equality of all Men, against the assaults of one
of the ablest debaters of the country, and insist
ing, with admirable constancy, that colored
persons were embraced within the birthday
promises of the Republic, he yet allowed him
self to be pressed by his adversary to an illogical
limitation of this self-evident truth, so that col
ored persons might be excluded from political
rights. But he was at all times willing to learn
and not ashamed to change. Before death he
had already expressed his desire that the suff
rage should be extended to colored persons in
certain cases; but here again he failed to apply
that very principle of Equality for which he so
often contended. If the suffrage be given to
colored persons only in certain cases, then, of
course, it can be given to whites only in the same
cases; or Equality ceases to exist.
It was his own frank confession that he had

xlviii Abraham Lincoln
not controlled events, but that they had con
trolled him. At all the great stages of the war
he followed rather than led. The people, un
der God, were masters. Let it not be forgotten
that the triumphs of this war, and even Emanci
pation itself, sprang from the great heart of the
American people. Individual services have
been important; but there is no man who has
been necessary.
There was one theme on which latterly he was
disposed to conduct the public mind. It was
the treatment of the rebel leaders. His policy
was never announced, and, of course, it would
always have been subject to modification, in the
light of experience. But it is well known that,
at the very moment of his assassination, he was
much occupied by thoughts of lenity and par
don. He was never harsh, even in speaking of
Jefferson Davis; and, only a few days before his
end, when one who was privileged to speak to
him in that way, said, "Do not allow him to es
cape the law, — he must be hanged," the Presi
dent replied calmly, in the words which he had
adopted in his last Inaugural Address, "Judge
not, that ye be not judged." And when pressed
again by the remark that the sight of Libby
Prison made it impossible to pardon him, the
President repeated twice over these same words,
revealing unmistakably the generous sentiments

Charles Sumner xlix
of his heart. The question of clemency here is
the very theme so ably debated between Caesar
and Cato, while the Roman Senate was consid
ering the punishment of the confederates of Cat
iline. Caesar consented to confiscation and im
prisonment, but pleaded for the lives, of the
criminals. Cato was sterner. It is probable
that the President, who was a Cato in patriotism,
would on this occasion have followed the coun
sels of Caesar.
Good will to all men was with him a science
as well as a sentiment. His nature was pacific,
and throughout the terrible conflict his thoughts
were always turned on peace. He wished peace
among ourselves, and he wished peace with for
eign powers. While abounding in gratitude to
the officers and men who had so grandly fought
the national battle, he longed to see their swords
concealed in their scabbards, never again to flash
against the sky. His prudence found expres
sion in the saying, "One war at a time;" but his
whole nature seemed to say, "Peace always."
And yet it was his fortune to conduct one of the
greatest wars of all time. "With malice to
wards none ; with charity for all ; with firmness
for the right, as God gives us to see the right;"
so he worked and lived, and these words of his
own might be his honest epitaph.
His place in history may be seen at once from

1 Abraham Lincoln
the transcendent events with which his name
must be forever associated. The pyramids of
our country are built by the people more than by
any ruler; but the ruler of the people at such a
moment cannot be forgotten.
It is impossible to exaggerate the Proclama
tion of Emancipation as an historic event. Its
influence cannot be limited to the present in
place or time. It will reach beyond the na
tional jurisdiction, and beyond the present age.
Besides its immediate efficacy in liberating
slaves at home, it will be one of the landmarks
of Human Progress. From the solidarity of
Slavery, the fall of this abomination among us
must cause its fall everywhere, — so that in Cuba,
Porto Rico, Brazil, or wherever else a slave may
wear a chain, that Proclamation will be felt.
It will also be proudly recognized in the desti
nies of the Republic which it advanced. Only
a short time before, the Czar of Russia, by Proc
lamation, raised twenty millions of serfs to the
dignity of freemen ; but even this great act was
less historic. Though of incalculable import
ance to the serfs, it was not the triumph of Pop
ular Government, and it came from the East in
stead of the West. , It is to the West that the
world now looks for sunrise. "Video solem
orientem in occidente." But the Emancipation
Proclamation itself was one of the agencies in

Charles Sumner li
the military overthrow of the Rebellion, which,
if regarded as an achievement of war, is one of
the greatest in the history of war, but, if re
garded in its political consequences, is one of
the grandest events in all history. Here again
the magnitude of the event can be fully appre
ciated only when it is considered that the tri
umph of the Republic is the triumph of Popu
lar Institutions everywhere. It is much that the
Republic has become impregnable, whether
against "malice domestic" or "foreign levy;"
but it is more that it has become an example to
the world. That all this should be done under
a President, who represented especially the peo
ple, who spoke always in sympathy with the peo
ple in words of power that cannot be forgotten,
and who sealed his devotion with his life, adds
to the grandeur of the example.
Here are great heralds of fame, such as few
have had as they entered the lofty portals. Our
martyred dead may be seen also in the company
to which he will be admitted, amongst the purest
spirits of all time,— martyrs, patriots, philanthro
pists, servants of truth and duty. Milton, Hamp-
tien, Sidney, Wilberforce— all will welcome the
new-comer. Washington will lead the hosts of
his own country to do him honor, from the Pil
grims of the Mayflower to the thronging crowds
who have laid down their lives for the Republic.

lii Abraham Lincoln
By the association of a common death he will
pass into the same historic galaxy with Caesar,
William of Orange, and Henry IV of France,
all of whom were assassinated, — and his star
will not pale by the side of theirs. Caesar was
a contrast to him in everything, unless it be in
clemency, and in the coincidence that each was
fifty-six years of age at the time of his death.
How unlike in all else. Caesar was of a bril
liant lineage, which he traced on one side to the
immortal gods, and on the other to one of the
recent chiefs of Rome ; of completest education ;
of amplest means; of rarest experience; of ac
knowledged genius as statesman, soldier, orator,
and writer; — being in himself the most finished
man of antiquity; but he was the enslaver of his
country, whose personal ambition took the
place of patriotism, and whose name has since
become the synonyme of imperial power. Wil
liam of Orange was of princely origin, and in
early life was a page in the palace of Charles V.
During the long contest of Holland with Spain,
he became the liberator of his country, which
he conducted wisely, surely, and greatly, — an
ticipating the example of Washington. The
name of "Silent," which he bore, may suggest
the reticence of his American parallel. Henry
IV, memorable for practical sense, anecdote,
and pregnant wit, represented the idea of NaT

Charles Sumner liii
tional Unity in France as the Supreme condition
of national safety. He died, leaving great
plans unfulfilled, and his career has been illus
trated by the popular epic of his country, La
Henriade, of Voltaire. These are illustrious
names ; but there is nothing in them which can
eclipse the simple life of our President, whose
example will be an epoch in the history of Hu
manity, and a rebuke to every usurper, — to be
commemorated forever by history and by song.
The cause which he served was more than em
pire. The motive of his conduct was higher
than success; as devotion to Human Rights is
higher than genius or power; as Man is higher
than aught else on earth.
There is another character, who, like him,
was taken away at the age of fifty-six, with
whom the President may be more properly
compared. It is St. Louis of France; and yet
here the resemblance is only in certain kindred
features, and the common consecration of their
lives. The French monarch, though at the
head of a military power, was a lover of peace,
and cultivated justice towards his neighbors.
Under his influence a barbarous institution was
overthrown, and France was lifted in the career
of civilization. Though in an age of privilege,
and wearing a crown, he was moved to the prac
tice of Equality. History recalls, with undis-

liv Abraham Lincoln
guised delight, the simple justice which he ad
ministered to his people, as he sat under an oak
in the park of Vincennes. Our President struck
too at a barbarism, and lifted his country. He
too practiced Equality. And he too had his
oak of Vincennes. It was that plain room,
where he was always so accessible, as to make
his example difficult for future Presidents. But
there were stated times when he was open to all
who came with their petitions, and they flocked
across the continent. The transactions of that
simple court of last resort would show how
much was done to temper the law, to assuage
sorrow, and to care for the widow and orphan ;
but its only record is in heaven.
Such, fellow-citizens, is the Life and Char
acter of Abraham Lincoln. You have dis
cerned his simple beginnings; — have watched
his early struggles ;— have gratefully followed
his consecration to those truths which our fathers
declared ; — have hailed him as the twice-elected
head of the Republic, through whom it was
known in foreign lands ; — have recognized him
at a period of national trial as the representative
of the unfulfilled promises of our Fathers, even
as Washington was the representative of Na
tional Independence ; and you have beheld him
struck down, at the moment of victory when
rebel Slavery was everywhere succumbing.

Charles Sumner lv
Reverently we acknowledge the finger of the Al
mighty, and pray that all our trials may not
fail; but that the promises of the Fathers may
be fulfilled, so that all men shall be equal be
fore the law, and government shall stand only
on the consent of the governed, — two self-evi
dent truths which the Republic at its birth an
nounced. Traitorous assassination struck him down.
But do not be too vindictive towards the poor
atom that held the weapon. Reserve your rage
for the responsible Power, which, not content
with assailing the life of the Republic by atro
cious Rebellion, has outraged all laws human
and divine ; has organized Barbarism as a prin
ciple of conduct; has taken the lives of faithful
Unionists at home; has prepared robbery and
murder on the northern borders; has fired hotels,
filled with women and children ; has plotted to
scatter pestilence and poison; has perpetrated
piracy and ship-burning at sea; has starved
American citizens, held as prisoners; has in
flicted the ' slow torture of Andersonville and
Libby; has menaced assassination always; and
now at last, true to itself, has assassinated our
President; and' this responsible Power is none
other than Slavery. It is Slavery that has taken
the life of our beloved Chief Magistrate, and
here is another triumph of its Barbarism. On

lvi Abraham Lincoln
Slavery let vengeance fall. Spare if you please
the worms it employs; but do not — I entreat
you — yield any amnesty to this murderous
wickedness. Ravaillac, who took the life of
Henry IV. of France, was torn to pieces on the
public square in front of the City Hall, by four
powerful horses, each of them attached to one of
his limbs, and tearing in opposite directions, un
til at last, after a fearful struggle, nothing of
the wretched assassin remained in the hands of
the executioner except his bloody shirt, — which
was at once handed over to be burned. Such
be our vengeance ; and let Slavery be the victim.
And not only Slavery, which is another name
for property in man, but so also that other pre
tension, which is not less irrational and hateful,
that Human Rights can depend on color. This
is the bloody shirt of the assassin; and it must
be handed over to be burned.
Such a vengeance will be like a kiss of recon
ciliation; for it will remove every obstacle to
peace and harmony. The people where Slavery
once ruled will bless the blow which destroyed
it. The people where the kindred tyranny of
Caste once ruled, will rejoice that this too fell
under the same blow. They will yet confess
that it was dealt in no harshness to them, in
no unkindness, in no desire to humiliate, but
simply and solemnly, in the name of the Re-

Charles Sumner lvii
public, and of Human Nature; for their good
as well as ours; ay, for their good more than
ours. It is by ideas that we have conquered, more
than by armies. The sword of the Archangel
was less mighty than the mission which he bore
from the Lord. But if the ideas which have
given us the victory are now neglected; if the
promises of the Declaration, which the Rebel
lion openly assailed, are still left unfulfilled,
then will our blood and treasure have been
lavished in vain. Alas! for the dead who have
given themselves so bravely to their country;
alas! for the living who have been left to mourn
the dead; — if any relic of Slavery is allowed to
continue; especially if this bloody imposter, de
feated in the pretension of property in man, is
allowed to perpetuate an Oligarchy of the skin!
And how shall these ideas be saved? In
other words, how shall the war waged by Abra
ham Lincoln be brought to an end, so as to se
cure peace, tranquillity and reconciliation? At
this moment all turns on the colored suffrage in
the rebel States. This is now the pivot of na
tional safety. A mistake on this point is worse
than the loss of a battle. And yet here again we
encounter the Rebellion in all its odious pre
tensions, hardly less audacious than when it took
up arms. As its camp-fires expire, the men

lyiii Abraham Lincoln
who have trimmed them — taking fresh oaths of
allegiance on their lips — renew their early ac
tivity in plotting how still to preserve an
oligarchial power. The demon of Caste takes
the place of the demon of Slavery. In setting
ourselves against this fearful demon, we only
follow the solemn behests of the great Declara
tion, of which our martyred President was the
champion. And now as I close this humble
tribute, let me ask you to adopt that champion
ship which was his first and most constant title
to the national gratitude. Let each be a stand
ard bearer of the Declaration. I cannot err, if
speaking at his funeral, I detain you to insist
upon this absorbing duty in which for the mo
ment all other duties are swallowed up.
The argument for the colored suffrage is over
whelming. It springs from the necessity of the
case, as well as from the rights of man. This
suffrage is needed for the security of the colored
people; for the stability of the local govern
ment; and for the strength of the Union. With
out it there is nothing but insecurity for the
colored people, instability for the local govern
ment, and weakness for the Union, involving, of
course, the national credit. Without it the Re
bellion will break forth under a new alias, un
armed it may be, but with white votes to take
possession of the local government and wield it

Charles Sumner lix
at will, whether at home or in the national coun
cils. If it be said that the colored people are
unfit, then do I say that they are more fit than
their recent masters, or even than many among
the "poor whites." They have been loyal al
ways, and wl o are you, that, under any pretence,
exalts the prejudices of the disloyal above the
rights of the loyal? Their suffrage is now
needed; more even than you ever needed their
muskets or sabres. An English statesman, after
the acknowledgment of the Spanish Colonies as
Independent States, boasted that he had called
a new world into existence to redress the bal
ance of the old. In similar spirit we too must
call a new ballot into existence to redress the
tyranny which will not learn the duty of justice
to the colored race.
The same National authority that struck
down Slavery must see that this other pretension
is not permitted to survive ; nor can there be any
doubt that the authority which struck down
Slavery is competent to this kindred duty.
Each is a part of that great policy of justice
through which alone can peace be made per
manent and immutable. Nor can the Republic
shirk this remaining duty, without leaving
Emancipation unfinished and the early promises
of the Republic unfulfilled. Vain is the gift of
Liberty, if you surrender the rights of the freed-

lx Abraham Lincoln
man to be judged by the recent assertors of prop
erty in man. Burke, in his day, saw the flagrant
inconsistency and denounced it, saying, that,
whatever such people did on this subject was
"arrant trifling," and, notwithstanding its plaus
ible form, always wanted what he aptly called
"the executive principle." These words of
warning have been adopted and repeated by two
later statesmen, George Canning and Henry
Brougham; but they are so plain as not to need
the support of names. The infant must not be
handed over to be suckled by the wolf, but care
fully nursed by its parent; and since the Repub
lic is the parent of Emancipation, the Republic
must nurse the immortal infant into maturity
and strength. It is the Republic which at the
beginning took up this great work. The Re
public must finish what it began; and it cannot
err on the occasion, if, in anxious care, it holds
nothing done so long as anything remains un
done. It is the Republic, which, with match
less energy, hurled forward its armies until it
conquered. The Republic must exact that "se
curity for the future," without which this un
paralleled war will have been waged in vain.
It is the Republic which to-day, with one con
senting voice, commemorates the murdered
dead. The same Republic, prompt to honor
him, must require that his promises to an op-

Charles Sumner lxi
pressed race be maintained in all their integrity
and completeness, in letter and in spirit, so that
the great cause for which he became a sacrifice
may not fail. His martyrdom was a new
pledge beyond any even in life.
There can be no question here, whether a
State is in the Union or out of it. This is but a
phrase on which discussion is useless. Look at
the actual fact. Here all will agree. The old
governments are vacated, and this is enough.
Until the whole body of loyal people have set
up a government, all is under the National
authority, acting by the Executive or by Con
gress ; and, since the Constitution, even without
the injunction of the Declaration of Independ
ence, knows nothing of color, it is the obvious
duty of the National authority to protect the
whole body of loyal people against any denial
of rights on this pretension. Already it has un
dertaken to say that certain persons shall not
vote. Surely the same authority which may
limit the electorial law of Slavery, may enlarge
it. If the National authority can do anything
about elections; if it can order an election; if it
can regulate an election; if it can exclude a
traitor who is still at large, it can admit a loyal
ist whose only incapacity is his skin.
The colored suffrage is now a necessity. But
beyond this, in making it an essential condition

lxii Abraham Lincoln
of the restoration of rebel States to the Union,
we follow, first, the law of reason and of nature,
and, secondly, the Constitution, not only in its
text, but as read in the light of the Declaration
of Independence. By reason and nature there
can be no denial of rights on account of color;
and we can do nothing which is thus irrational
and unnatural. By the Constitution it is stipu
lated that the "United States shall guarantee to
every State a republican form of government;"
but the meaning of this guaranty must be found
in the birthday Declaration of the Republic,
which is the controlling preamble of the Con
stitution. Beyond all question the United
States, when called to enforce this guaranty,
must insist on the Equality of all men before the
law, and the consent of the governed. Such is
the true idea of a Republic government accord
ing to American institutions.
The slave-masters, driven from their first en
trenchments, already occupy inner defences.
Property in man is abandoned ; but they now in
sist that colored persons shall not enjoy political
rights. Liberty has been won. The battle for
Equality is still pending. And now a new com
promise is proposed, by which colored persons
are to be sacrificed in the name of State rights.
It is said that it should be so. But I do not de
spair. The cause may be delayed; but it can-

Charles Sumner lxiii
not be lost; and all who set themselves against
it will be overborne; for it is the cause of Hu
manity. Not the rich and proud, but the poor
and lowly, will be the favorites of an enfran
chised Republic. The words of the prophet
will be fulfilled; "and I will punish the people
for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity,
and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to
cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible. I will make a man more precious than
fine gold, even a man, than the golden wedge
of Ophir." I catch these sublime promises, and
echo them back as the assurance of triumph.
Then will the Republic be all that heart can de
sire or imagination can paint — "Supremely
lovely and serenely great, Majestic mother" of
a free, happy, and united people, with Slavery,
and all its tyranny beaten down under foot, so
that no man shall call another master, and all
shall be equal before the law.
Fellow-citizens, your task is before you.
Mourn not the dead, but rejoice in his life and
example. Rejoice as you point to this child of
the people who was lifted so high, that Re
publican Institutions became manifest in him.
Rejoice that through him Emancipation was
proclaimed. Rejoice that under him "govern
ment of the people, by the people and for the
people," has obtained a final verdict which can

lxiv Abraham Lincoln
never be set aside or questioned. Above all, see
to it that his constant vows are performed, and
that the promises of the Fathers are maintained,
so that no person in the upright form of man
can be shut out from their protection. Do this,
and the Unity of the Republic will be fixed on
a foundation that cannot fail. The corner-stone
of National Independence is already in its place,
and on it is inscribed the name of George Wash
ington. There is another stone which must
have its place at the corner also. This is the
great Declaration itself, once a promise only, at
last a reality. On this adamantine stone we will
gratefully inscribe the name of Abraham
Lincoln.

CjX^V^_JU,

Phillips Brooks
Reproduced from Photograph.

O Captain! My Captain
By Walt Whitman
O Captain ! my Captain ! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought
is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and
daring ;
But O heart ! heart ! heart !
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain ! my Captain ! rise up and hear the bells ;
Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle
trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths — for you the
shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces
turning ;
Here Captain ! dear father !
This arm beneath your head !
It is some dream that on the deck.
You've fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor
will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed
and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object
won ; Exult O shores, and ring O bells !
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen, cold and dead.

Published by special permission
of Horace Traubel, literary
executor of Walt Whitman

Illustrations

Abraham Lincoln  Frontispiece
F.ngraving by Marshall from the portrait painted by him9elf. PAGE
Phillips Brooks  Ui
Reproduced from a photograph.
Major-General George G. Meade .... 28
From an engraving by Buttre after a photograph by Brady.
Battle of Gettysburg  50
Engraved by Perine after a drawing by Waud.
Major-General Winfield S. Hancock. ... 94
Wood-engraving after a photograph by Gurney & Son.
Lincoln, McClellan and Staff at Antietam. 128
From a rare photograph in the Oldroyd Collection.
Montgomery Blair  154
Wood-engraving after a photograph by Brady.
Letter to Postmaster-General Blair . . . 224
Facsimile letter, selected by John G. Nicolay as representing
Lincoln at his best.

Complete Works of
Abraham Lincoln
Volume IX
[1863 — 1864]

Complete Works of
Abraham Lincoln

Letter to M. Birchard and Others *
Executive Mansion, June 29, 1863.
GENTLEMEN: The resolutions of the
Ohio Democratic State Convention,
which you present me, together with
your introductory and closing remarks, being in
position and argument mainly the same as the
resolutions of the Democratic meeting at Al
bany, New York, I refer you to my response to
the latter as meeting most of the points in the
former. This response you evidently used in preparing
your remarks, and I desire no more than that it
be used with accuracy. In a single reading of
your remarks, I only discovered one inaccuracy
in matter which I suppose you took from that
1 Letter to David A. Honk, George Bliss, T. W. Bartlcy, W. J.
Gordon, John O'Neill, C. A. Wliitc, W. E. Finck, Alexander
Long, J. W. White, George H. Pendleton, George L. Converse,
Warren P. Noble, James R. Morris, W. A. Hutchins, Abner L.
Backus, J. F. McKinney, F. C. Le Blond, Louis Schaefer.
1

2 Abraham Lincoln [June 29
paper. It is where you say: "The under
signed are unable to agree with you in the opin
ion you have expressed that the Constitution is
different in time of insurrection or invasion from
what it is in time of peace and public security."
A recurrence to the paper will show you that
I have not expressed the opinion you suppose.
I expressed the opinion that the Constitution is
different in its application in cases of rebellion
or invasion, involving the public safety, from
what it is in times of profound peace and public
security; and this opinion I adhere to, simply
because, by the Constitution itself, things may
be done in the one case which may not be done
in the other.
I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal
point, but I must respectfully assure you that
you will find yourselves at fault should you ever
seek for evidence to prove your assumption that
I "opposed, in discussions before the people, the
policy of the Mexican war."
You say: "Expunge from the Constitution this
limitation upon the power of Congress to sus
pend the writ of habeas corpus, and yet the
other guarantees of personal liberty would re
main unchanged." Doubtless, if this clause of
the Constitution, improperly called, as I think,
a limitation upon the power of Congress were
expunged, the other guarantees would remain

1863] Letter to Birchard 3
the same ; but the question is not how those guar
antees would stand with that clause out of the
Constitution, but how they stand with that clause
remaining in it, in case of rebellion or invasion
involving the public safety. If the liberty
could be indulged of expunging that clause, let
ter and spirit, I really think the constitutional
argument would be with you.
My general view on this question was stated
in the Albany response, and hence I do not state
it now. I only add that, as seems to me, the
benefit of the writ of habeas corpus is the great
means through which the guarantees of personal
liberty are conserved and made available in the
last resort; and corroborative of this view is the
fact that Mr. Vallandigham in the very case in
question, under the advice of able lawyers, saw
not where else to go but to the habeas corpus.
But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of
habeas corpus itself may be suspended when, in
case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety
may require it.
You ask, in substance, whether I really claim
that I may override all the guaranteed rights of
individuals, on the plea of conserving the public
safety — when I may choose to say the public
safety requires it. This question, divested of the
phraseology calculated to represent me as strug
gling for an arbitrary personal prerogative, is

4 Abraham Lincoln [June 29
either simply a question who shall decide, or an
affirmation that nobody shall decide, what the
public safety does require in cases of rebellion
or invasion.
The Constitution contemplates the question
as likely to occur for decision, but it does not
expressly declare who is to decide it. By neces
sary implication, when rebellion or invasion
comes, the decision is to be made from time to
time; and I think the man whom, for the time,
the people have, under the Constitution, made
the commander-in-chief of their army and navy,
is the man who holds the power and bears the
responsibility of making it. If he uses the
power justly, the same people will probably
justify him ; if he abuses it, he is in their hands
to be dealt with by all the modes they have re
served to themselves in the Constitution.
The earnestness with which you insist that
persons can only, in times of rebellion, be law
fully dealt with in accordance with the rules for
criminal trials and punishments in times of
peace, induces me to add a word to what I said
on that point in the Albany response.
You claim that men may, if they choose, em
barrass those whose duty it is to combat a giant
rebellion, and then be dealt with in turn, only
as if there were no rebellion. The Constitution
itself rejects this view. The military arrests

1 863] Letter to Birchard 5
and detentions which have been made, including
those of Mr. Vallandigham, which are not dif
ferent in principle from the others, have been
for prevention, and not for punishment — as in
junctions to stay injury, as proceedings to keep
the peace; and hence, like proceedings in such
cases and for like reasons, they have not been
accompanied with indictments, or trials by ju
ries, nor in a single case by any punishment what
ever, beyond what is purely incidental to the
prevention. The original sentence of impris
onment in Mr. Vallandigham's case was to pre
vent injury to the military service only and the
modification of it was made as a less disagree
able mode to him of securing the same preven
tion. I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio
in the case of Mr. Vallandingham. Quite surely
nothing of the sort was or is intended. I was
wholly unaware that Mr. Vallandigham was, at
the time of his arrest, a candidate for the Demo
cratic nomination for governor until so informed
by your reading to me the resolutions of the
convention. I am grateful to the State of Ohio
for many things, especially for the brave soldiers
and officers she has given in the present national
trial to the armies of the Union.
You claim, as I understand, that according to
my own position in the Albany response, Mr.
Vallandigham should be released; and this be-

6 Abraham Lincoln [June 29
cause, as you claim, he has not damaged the mili
tary service by discouraging enlistments, encour
aging desertions or otherwise; and that if he
had, he should have been turned over to the
civil authorities under the recent acts of Con
gress. I certainly do not know that Mr. Val
landigham has specifically and by direct lan
guage advised against enlistments and in favor
of desertion and resistance to drafting.
We all know that combinations, armed in
some instances, to resist the arrest of deserters
began several months ago; that more recently
the like has appeared in resistance to the enrol
ment preparatory to a draft; and that quite a
number of assassinations have occurred from the
same animus. These had to be met by military
force, and this again has led to bloodshed and
death. And now, under a sense of responsibil
ity more weighty and enduring than any which
is merely official, I solemnly declare my belief
that this hindrance of the military, including
maiming and murder, is due to the course in
which Mr. Vallandigham has been engaged in
a greater degree than to any other cause ; and it
is due to him personally in a greater degree than
to any other one man.
These things have been notorious, known to
all, and of course known to Mr. Vallandigham.
Perhaps I would not be wrong to say they ori-

1863] Letter to Birchard 7
ginated with his special friends and adherents.
With perfect knowledge of them, he has fre
quently if not constantly made speeches in Con
gress and before popular assemblies; and if it
can be shown that, with these things staring him
in the face, he has ever uttered a word of rebuke
or counsel against them, it will be a fact greatly
in his favor with me and one of which as yet I
am totally ignorant. When it is known that the
whole burden of his speeches has been to stir
up men against the prosecution of the war, and
that in the midst of resistance to it he has not
been known in any instance to counsel against
such resistance, it is next to impossible to repel
the inference that he has counseled directly in
favor of it.
With all this before their eyes, the convention
you represent have nominated Mr. Vallandig
ham for governor of Ohio, and both they and
you have declared the purpose to sustain the Na
tional Union by all constitutional means. But
of course they and you in common reserve to
yourselves to decide what are constitutional
means; and, unlike the Albany meeting, you
omit to state or intimate that in your opinion
an army is a constitutional means of saving the
Union against a rebellion, or even to intimate
that you are conscious of an existing rebellion
being in progress with the avowed object of de-

8 Abraham Lincoln [June 29
stroying that very Union. At the same time
your nominee for governor, in whose behalf you
appeal, is known to you and to the world to
declare against the use of an army to suppress
the rebellion. Your own attitude therefore,
encourages desertion, resistance to the draft, and
the like because it teaches those who incline to
desert and to escape the draft to believe it is
your purpose to protect them, and to hope that
you will become strong enough to do so.
After a short personal intercourse with you,
gentlemen of the committee, I cannot say I
think you desire this effect to follow your atti
tude; but I assure you that both friends and ene
mies of the Union look upon it in this light. It
is a substantial hope, and by consequence a real
strength to the enemy. If it is a fase hope and
one which you would willingly dispel, I will
make the way exceedingly easy.
I send you duplicates of this letter in order
that you, or a majority of you, may, if you
choose, indorse your names upon one of them
and return it thus indorsed to me with the un
derstanding that those signing are thereby com
mitted to the following propositions and to
nothing else:
1. That there is now a rebellion in the United
States, the object and tendency of which is to
destroy the National Union; and that, in your

1863] Letter to Birchard 9
opinion, an army and navy are constitutional
means for suppressing that rebellion;
2. That no one of you will do anything which,
in his own judgment, will tend to hinder the in
crease, or favor the decrease, or lessen the effi
ciency of the army or navy while engaged in the
effort to suppress that rebellion; and
3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all
he can to have the officers, soldiers, and seamen
of the army and navy, while engaged in the ef
fort to suppress the rebellion, paid, fed, clad,
and otherwise well provided for and supported.
And with the further understanding that
upon receiving the letter and names thus in
dorsed, I will cause them to be published, which
publication shall be, within itself, a revocation
of the order in relation to Mr. Vallandigham.
It will not escape observation that I consent
to the release of Mr. Vallandigham upon terms
not embracing any pledge from him or from
others as to what he will or will not do. I do
this because he is not present to speak for him
self, or to authorize others to speak for him;
and because I should expect that on his return
ing he would not put himself practically in an
tagonism with the position of his friends. But
I do it chiefly because I thereby prevail on
other influential gentlemen of Ohio to so define
theii position as to be of immense value to the

10 Abraham Lincoln [June 29
army — thus more than compensating for the
consequences of any mistake in allowing Mr.
Vallandigham to return ; so that, on the whole,
the public safety will not have suffered by it.
Still, in regard to Mr. Vallandigham and all
others, I must hereafter, as heretofore, do so
much as the public safety may seem to require.
I have the honor to be respectfully yours, etc.,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to William Kellogg
Executive Mansion, June 29, 1863.
My dear Sir: I have received and read your
pencil note. I think you do not know how em
barrassing your request is. Few things are so
troublesome to the government as the fierceness
with which the profits in trading are sought.
The temptation is so great that nearly everybody
wishes to be in it; and, when in, the question of
profit controls all, regardless of whether the cot
ton-seller is loyal or rebel, or whether he is paid
in corn-meal or gunpowder. The officers of the
army, in numerous instances, are believed to
connive and share the profits, and thus the army
itself is diverted from fighting the rebels to
speculating in cotton, and steamboats and wag
ons in the pay of the government are set to gath
ering and carrying cotton, and the soldiers to
loading cotton-trains and guarding them.

1863] Letter to Milroy n
The matter deeply affects the Treasury and
War Departments, and has been discussed again
and again in the cabinet. What can and what
cannot be done has for the time been settled, and
it seems to me I cannot safely break over it. I
know it is thought that one case is not much, but
how can I favor one and deny another? One
case cannot be kept a secret. The authority
given would be utterly ineffectual until it is
shown, and when shown, everybody knows of it.
The administration would do for you as much
as for any other man ; and I personally would do
some more than for most others; but really I
cannot involve myself and the government as
this would do. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General R. H. Milroy
(Private.)
Washington, D. C, June 29, 1863.
My dear Sir: Your letters to Mr. Blair and
to myself are handed to me by him. I have
never doubted your courage and devotion to the
cause. But you have just lost a division, and,
prima facie, the fault is upon you; and while
that remains unchanged, for me to put you in
command again is to justly subject me to the
charge of having put you there on purpose to
have you lose another. If I knew facts suf-

12 Abraham Lincoln [June 30
ficient to satisfy me that you were not in fault
or error, the case would be different; but the
facts I do know, while they are not at all con
clusive (and I hope they may never prove so),
tend the other way.
First, I have scarcely seen anything from you
at any time that did not contain imputations
against your superiors, and a chafing against
acting the part they had assigned you. You
have constantly urged the idea that you were
persecuted because you did not come from West
Point, and you repeat it in these letters. This,
my dear general, is, I fear the rock on which
you have split.
In the Winchester case you were under Gen
eral Schenck and he under General Halleck. I
know by General Halleck's order-book that he,
on the nth of June, advised General Schenck to
call you in from Winchester to Harper's Ferry;
and I have been told, but do not know, that Gen
eral Schenck gave you the order accordingly on
the same day; and I have been told, but do not
know, that on receiving it, instead of obeying it,
you sent by mail a written protest against obey
ing it which did not reach him until you were
actually beleaguered at Winchester.
I say I do not know this. You hate West
Point generally and General Halleck particu
larly; but I do know that it is not his fault that

1863] Telegram to Parker 13
you were at Winchester on the 13th, 14th, and
morning of the 15th — the days of your disaster.
If General Schenck gave the order on the nth,
as General Halleck advised, it was an easy mat
ter for you to have been off at least on the 12th.
The case is inevitably between General Schenck
and you.
Neither General Halleck nor any one else, as
far as I know, required you to stay and fight
60,000 with 6,000, as you insinuate.
I know General Halleck, through General
Schenck, required you to get away, and that in
abundant time for you to have done it.
General Schenck is not a West-Pointer, and
has no prejudice against you on that score.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
?Telegram to Governor Joel Parker
Executive Mansion, June 30, 1863.
Governor Parker, Trenton, N. J.: Your des
patch of yesterday received. I really think the
attitude of the enemy's army in Pennsylvania
presents us the best opportunity we have had
since the war began. I think you will not see
the foe in New Jersey. I beg you to be assured
that no one out of my position can know so well
as if he were in it, the difficulties and involv-
ments of replacing General McClellan in com
mand, and this aside from any imputations upon

14 Abraham Lincoln [June 30
him. Please accept my sincere thanks for what
you have done and are doing to get troops for
ward. A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to Colonel A. K. McClure *
War Department, June 30, 1863.
A. K. McClure, Philadelphia: Do we gain
anything by opening one leak to stop another?
Do we gain anything by quieting one clamor
merely to open another, and probably a larger
one? A. Lincoln.
Letter to General D. Hunter
Executive Mansion, June 30, 1863.
My dear General: I have just received your
letter of the 25th of June.
I assure you, and you may feel authorized in
stating, that the recent change of commanders
in the Department of the South was made for
no reasons which convey any imputation upon
your known energy, efficiency, and patriotism;
but for causes which seemed sufficient, while they
were in no degree incompatible with the re
spect and esteem in which I have always held
you as a man and an officer.
I cannot, by giving my consent to a publica
tion of whose details I know nothing, assume the
1 Following the resignation of General Hooker came a strong
demand for the reinstatement of McClellan. This telegram was
sent in reply to a letter urging McClellan's appointment.

1863] Letter to Hunter 15
responsibility of whatever you may write. In
this matter your own sense of military propriety
must be your guide, and the regulations of the
service your rule of conduct.
I am very truly your friend, A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to General D. N. Couch
Washington City, June 30, 1863. — 3.25 a. m.
Major-General Couch, Harrisburg, Pa.: I
judge by absence of news that the enemy is not
crossing or pressing up to the Susquehanna.
Please tell me what you know of his movements.
A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to Robert T. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, July 3, 1863.
Robert T. Lincoln, Esq., Cambridge, Mass.:
Don't be uneasy. Your mother very slightly
hurt by her fall. A. L.
Please send at once.
Draft of Telegram to Rear-Admiral S. P.
Lee
(Not sent.)
Navy Department, July 4, 1863.
Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee: Your despatch
transmitting a note from Mr. Alexander H«
Stephens has been received.

1 6 Abraham Lincoln [July 4
You will not permit Mr. Stephens to proceed
to Washington or to pass the blockade. He does
not make known the subjects to which the com
munication in writing from Mr. Davis relates,
which he bears and seeks to deliver in person
to the President, and upon which he desires to
confer. Those subjects can only be military or
not military, or partly both. Whatever may be
military will be readily received if offered
through the well-understood military channel.
Of course nothing else will be received by the
President when offered, as in this case, in terms
assuming the independence of the so-called Con
federate States; and anything will be received,
and carefully considered by him, when offered
by any influential person or persons in terms not
assuming the independence of the so-called Con
federate States. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to Rear- Admiral S. P. Lee
War Department, Washington, D. C,
July 4, 1863.
Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee: The request of A.
H. Stephens is inadmissible. The customary
agents and channels are adequate for all needful
communication and conference between the
United States forces and the insurgents. A. Lincoln,

1863] Announcement 17
Announcement of News from Gettysburg
Washington, July 4. 10.30 a. m.
The President announces to the country that
news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10
P. M. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army
with the highest honor, to promise a great suc
cess to the cause of the Union, and to claim the
condolence of all for the many gallant fallen;
and that for this he especially desires that on this
day He whose will, not ours, should ever be done
be everywhere remembered and reverenced with
profoundest gratitude. A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to General R. C. Schenck
Washington, July 4, 1863. — 9.20 p. m.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Mary
land: Your despatches about negro regiments
are not uninteresting or unnoticed by us, but we
have not been quite ready to respond. You will
have an answer to-morrow. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to General W. H. French
(Cipher.)
War Department, July 5, 1863.
Major-General French", Frederick Town,
Md.: I see your dispatch about destruction of
pontoons. Cannot the enemy ford the river?
A. Lincoln.

1 8 Abraham Lincoln [July 6
Telegram to General H. W. Halleck
Soldiers' Home,
Washington, July 6, 1863. 7 p. m.
Major-General Halleck: I left the tele
graph office a good deal dissatisfied. You know
I did not like the phrase — in Orders, No. 68, I
believe — "Drive the invaders from our soil."
Since that, I see a despatch from General
French, saying the enemy is crossing his wound
ed over the river in flats, without saying why
he does not stop it, or even intimating a thought
that it ought to be stopped. Still later, another
despatch from General Pleasonton, by direction
of General Meade, to General French, stating
that the main army is halted because it is be
lieved the rebels are concentrating "on the road
toward Hagerstown, beyond Fairfield," and is
not to move until it is ascertained that the rebels
intend to evacuate Cumberland Valley.
These things all appear to me to be connected
with a purpose to cover Baltimore and Wash
ington, and to get the enemy across the river
again without a further collision, and they do
not appear connected with a purpose to prevent
his crossing and to destroy him. I do fear the
former purpose is acted upon and the latter is
rejected. If you are satisfied the latter purpose is en-

1863] Telegram to Halleck 19
tertained, and is judiciously pursued, I am con
tent. If you are not so satisfied, please look to
it. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to J. K. Dubois and Others
War Department, Washington, D. C,
July 7, 1863.
/. K. Dubois and Others, Springfield, III.: An
appointment of Chesley at Danville had already
been made and gone forward for enrollment
commissioner of Seventh District when your dis
patch arrived. A. Lincoln.

20 Abraham Lincoln [July 7

Response to a Serenade, July 7, 1863
FELLOW-CITIZENS: I am very glad
indeed to see you to-night, and yet I
will not say I thank you for this call ; but
I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the
occasion on which you have called. How long
ago is it? — eighty-odd years since, on the Fourth
of July, for the first time in the history of the
world, a nation, by its representatives, assembled
and declared, as a self-evident truth, "that all
men are created equal." That was the birth
day of the United States of America. Since
then the Fourth of July has had several very
peculiar recognitions. The two men most dis
tinguished in the framing and support of the
Declaration were Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams — the one having penned it, and the other
sustained it the most forcibly in debate — the only
two of the fifty-five who signed it that were
elected Presidents of the United States. Pre
cisely fifty years after they put their hands to
the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both
from this stage of action. This was indeed an
extraordinary and remarkable event in our his
tory. Another President, five years after, was

1 863] Response to Serenade 21
called from this stage of existence on the same
day and month of the year; and now on this last
Fourth of July just passed, when we have a
gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an
effort to overthrow the principle that all men
are created equal, we have the surrender of a
most powerful position and army on that very
day. And not only so, but in a succession of
battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through
three days, so rapidly fought that they might be
called one great battle, on the first, second, and
third of the month of July; and on the fourth
the cohorts of those who opposed the Declara
tion that all men are created equal "turned tail"
and run. Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme,
and the occasion for a speech, but I am not pre
pared to make one worthy of the occasion. I
would like to speak in terms of praise due to
the many brave officers and soldiers who have
fought in the cause of the Union and liberties
of their country from the beginning of the war.
These are trying occasions, not only in success,
but for the want of success. I dislike to men
tion the name of one single officer, lest I might
'do wrong to those I might forget. Recent
events bring up glorious names, and particularly
prominent ones; but these I will not mention.
Having said this much, I will now take the
music.

22 Abraham Lincoln [July 8
Telegrams from General Halleck to
General Meade
War Department, Washington, D. C,
July 7, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of the Poto
mac: I have received from the President the
following note, which I respectfully communi
cate:Major-General Halleck:
We have certain information that Vicksburg sur
rendered to General Grant on the Fourth of July.
Now, if General Meade can complete his work so
gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the literal or sub
stantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be
over. Yours truly, ,
A. Lincoln.
H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.
Washington, D. C, July 8, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Frederick, Md.:
There is reliable information that the enemy is
crossing at WiUiamsport. The opportunity to
attack his divided forces should not be lost.
The President is urgent and anxious that your
army should move against him by forced
marches. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.

1 863] Telegram to Thomas 23
Telegram to General Lorenzo Thomas
Washington, July 8, 1863. 12.30 p. m.
General Lorenzo Thomas, Harrisburg,
Penn.: Your despatch of this morning to the
Secretary of War is before me. The forces you
speak of will be of no imaginable service if they
cannot go forward with a little more expedition.
Lee is now passing the Potomac faster than the
forces you mention are passing Carlisle. Forces
now beyond Carlisle to be joined by regiments
still at Harrisburg, and the united force again
to join Pierce somewhere, and the whole to move
down the Cumberland Valley, will, in my un
professional opinion, be quite as likely to cap
ture the "man in the moon" as any part of Lee's
army. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to E. D. Smith
War Department, July 8, 1863.
E. Delafield Smith, New York: Your kind
despatch on behalf of self and friends is grate
fully received. Capture of Vicksburg con
firmed by despatch from General Grant him
self. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to F. F. Low
War Department, July 8, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Low, San Francisco, Gal. : There

24 Abraham Lincoln [Juiyn
is no doubt that General Meade, now command
ing the Army of the Potomac, beat Lee at Get
tysburg, Pa., at the end of a three days' battle,
and that the latter is now crossing the Potomac
at WiUiamsport over the swollen stream and
with poor means of crossing, and closely pressed
by Meade. We also have despatches rendering
it entirely certain that Vicksburg surrendered to
General Grant on the glorious old 4th.
A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to L. Swett and F. F. Low
(Cipher.)
War Department, July 9, 1863.
'Hon. L. Swett, Hon. F. F. Low, San Fran
cisco, Cal.: Consult together and do not have
a riot, or great difficulty about delivering pos
session. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to Robert T. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, July 11, 1863.
R. T. Lincoln, New York, Fifth Avenue Ho
tel: Come to Washington. A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to J. K. Dubois
Washington, D. C, July 11, 1863. 9 a. m.
Hon. 1. K. Dubois, Springfield, III.: It is
certain that after three days' fighting at Gettys-

1863] Telegram to Dubois 25
burg, Lee withdrew and made for the Potomac;
that he found the river so swollen as to prevent
his crossing; that he is still this side, near Ha-
gerstown and WiUiamsport, preparing to defend
himself; and that Meade is close upon him, and
preparing to attack him, heavy skirmishing hav
ing occurred nearly all day yesterday.
I am more than satisfied with what has hap
pened north of the Potomac so far, and am
anxious and hopeful for what is to come.
A. Lincoln.
?Telegrams to General R. C. Schenck
(Cipher.)
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July n, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
How many rebel prisoners captured within
Maryland and Pennsylvania have reached Bal
timore within this month of July? A. Lincoln.
War Department, July 12, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
You seem to misunderstand the nature of the
objection to General Tremble's going to Balti
more. His going there is opposed to prevent
his meeting his traitorous associates there.
A. Lincoln.

26 Abraham Lincoln [July 13
Letter to General Grant *
Executive Mansion, July 13, 1863.
My dear General: I do not remember that
you and I ever met personally. I write this now
as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost in
estimable service you have done the country. I
wish to say a word further. When you first
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you
should do what you finally did — march the
troops across the neck, run the batteries with the
transports, and thus go below; and I never had
any faith, except a general hope that you knew
better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition
and the like could succeed. When you got be
low and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and
vicinity, I 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 mistake. I now wish to make the personal
acknowledgment that you were right and I was
wrong. Yours very truly, A LINCOLN.
1 From the first days of the war Lincoln had been trying to
find among his generals a man who would accomplish some
thing. General Grant had from the first pursued an aggressive
policy and had won several important victories. Halleck, his
superior, disapproved of his actions on technical grounds and
urged Lincoln to remove him. The President, who had been
perpetually irritated by the indecision of his generals, replied :
" I can't spare this man. He fights," and raised Grant to the
rank of major-general.

i863] Letter to Grant 27
Telegram to H. T. Blow
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 13, 1863.
Hon. H. T. Blow, St. Louis, Mo.: I saw
your despatch to the Secretary of War. The
publication of a letter without the leave of the
writer or the receiver I think cannot be justified,
but in this case I do not think it of sufficient con
sequence to justify an arrest; and again, the ar
rest being, through a parole, merely nominal,
does not deserve the importance sought to be at
tached to it. Cannot this small matter be drop
ped on both sides without further difficulty?
A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 13, 1863.
General Schofield, St. Louis, Mo.: I regret
to learn of the arrest of the "Democrat" editor.
I fear this loses you the middle position I de
sired you to occupy. I have not learned which
of the two letters I wrote you it was that the
"Democrat" published, but I care very little for
the publication of any letter I have written.
Please spare me the trouble this is likely to
bring. A. Lincoln.

28 Abraham Lincoln [July 14

Draft of Letter to General G. G. Meade 1
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, July 14, 1863.
Major-General Meade: I have just seen
your despatch to General Halleck, asking to be
relieved of your command because of a sup
posed censure of mine. I am very, very grate
ful to you for the magnificent success you gave
the cause of the country at Gettysburg; and I am
sorry now to be the author of the slightest pain
to you. But I was in such deep distress myself
that I could not restrain some expression of it.
I have been oppressed nearly ever since the bat
tles of Gettysburg by what appeared to be evi
dences that yourself and General Couch and
General Smith were not seeking a collision with
the enemy, but were trying to get him across the
river without another battle. What these evi
dences were, if you please, I hope to tell you at
some time when we shall both feel better. The
case, summarily stated, is this : You fought and
beat the enemy at Gettysburg and, of course, to
*Lee had hoped to take Philadelphia, but the defeat he suf
fered from General Meade at Gettysburg, on the first three days
of July, 1863, made this impossible. The popular belief was that
this defeat was so severe that the war must soon end. Lincoln's
immediate cognizance of Meade's error and his apprehension of
its results again showed him indeed to be " his own best general."
He afterward regretted not having ordered Meade to attack Lee.

Major-General George G. Meade
From an Engraving by J. C. Entire after Photograph
by Brady.

&*'-•' :-'

!*?>.%

1 863] Draft of Letter to Meade 29
say the least, his loss was as great as yours. He
retreated, and you did not, as it seemed to me,
pressingly pursue him; but a flood in the river
detained him till, by slow degrees, you were
again upon him. You had at least twenty thou
sand veteran troops directly with you, and as
many more raw ones within supporting distance,
all in addition to those who fought with you at
Gettysburg, while it was not possible that he had
received a single recruit, and yet you stood and
let the flood run down, bridges be built, and the
enemy move away at his leisure without attack
ing him. And Couch and Smith I The latter
left Carlisle in time, upon all ordinary calcula
tion, to have aided you in the last battle at Get
tysburg, but he did not arrive. At the end of
more than ten days, I believe twelve, under con
stant urging, he reached Hagerstown from Car
lisle, which is not an inch over fifty-five miles,
if so much, and Couch's movement was very lit
tle different.
Again, my dear general, I do not believe you
appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune in
volved in Lee's escape. He was within your
easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would,
in connection with our other late successes, have
ended the war. As it is, the war will be pro
longed indefinitely. If you could not safely at
tack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do

30 Abraham Lincoln [July 15
so south of the river, when you can take with you
very few more than two thirds of the force you
then had in hand?
It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do
not expect [that], you can now effect much.
Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am dis
tressed immeasurably because of it.
I beg you will not consider this a prosecution
or persecution of yourself. As you had learned
that I was dissatisfied, I have thought it best to
kindly tell you why.
[Indorsement on the Envelope.]
To General Meade, never sent or signed.
Telegram to General R. C. Schenck
War Department, Washington, D. C,
July 14, 1863. 1.40 p. m.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Mary
land: Mr. Jaquess is a very worthy gentleman,
but I can have nothing to do, directly, or indi
rectly with the matter he has in view.
A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to Robert T. Lincoln
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 14, 1863.
Robert T. Lincoln, New York: Why do I
hear no more of you? A. Lincoln.

1863] Telegram to Cameron 31
?Telegram to L. Swett
(Cipher.)
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863.
Hon. L. Swett, San Francisco, Cal.: Many
persons are telegraphing me from California,
begging me for the peace of the State to suspend
the military enforcement of the writ of posses
sion in the Almedan case, while you are the sin
gle one who urges the contrary. You know I
would like to oblige you, but it seems to me my
duty in this case is the other way. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to Simon Cameron
(Cipher.)
War Department, July 15, 1863.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Your despatch of yesterday received. Lee was
already across the river when you sent it. I
would give much to be relieved of the impres
sion that Meade, Couch, Smith, and all since the
battle at Gettysburg, have striven only to get
Lee over the river without another fight. Please
tell me if you know, who was the one corps com
mander who was for fighting in the council of
war on Sunday night. A. Lincoln.

32 Abraham Lincoln [July is
Proclamation for Thanksgiving
July 15, 1863
By the President of the United States of
America:
A Proclamation.
It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the
supplications and prayers of an afflicted people,
and to vouchsafe to the army and navy of the
United States victories on land and on sea so sig
nal and so effective as to furnish reasonable
grounds for augmented confidence that the union
of these States will be maintained, their Consti
tution preserved, and their peace and prosperity
permanently restored. But these victories have
been accorded not without sacrifices of life, limb,
health, and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal and
patriotic citizens. Domestic affliction in every
part of the country follows in the train of these
fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to
recognize and confess the presence of the Al
mighty Father and the power of his hand
equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows.
Now, therefore, be it known that I do set
apart Thursday, the 6th day of August next, to
be observed as a day for national thanksgiving,
praise, and prayer, and I invite the people of the
United States to assemble on that occasion in
their customary places of worship, and, in the

1863] Proclamation 33
forms approved by their own consciences, ren
der the homage due to the Divine Majesty for
the wonderful things he has done in the nation's
behalf, and invoke the influence of his Holy
Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced
and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebel
lion, to change the hearts of the insurgents, to
guide the counsels of the government with wis
dom adequate to so great a national emergency,
and to visit with tender care and consolation
throughout the length and breadth of our land
all those who, through the vicissitudes of
marches, voyages, battles, and sieges have been
brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and
finally to lead the whole nation through the
paths of repentance and submission to the Divine
Will back to the perfect enjoyment of union and
fraternal peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this
fifteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and
[L. S.] sixty-three, and of the independence of
the United States of America the eigh
ty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.

34 Abraham Lincoln [July 17
Telegram to J. O. Broadhead
Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863. 8 a. m.
/. 0. Broadhead, St. Louis, Mo.: The effect
on political position of McKee's arrest will not
be relieved any by its not having been made with
that purpose. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, July 17, 1863.
My dear Sir: It is proper on principle that
the governor of Kansas should stand on the same
ground as other loyal governors, in giving
original commissions and in filling vacancies for
troops raised in his State ; and I wish him to be so
placed at once, unless you know some substantial
reason to the contrary. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General J. H. Lane
Executive Mansion, July 17, 1863.
My dear Sir: Governor Carney has not
asked to [have] General Blunt removed, or in
terfered with, in his military operations. He
has asked that he, the governor, be allowed to
commission officers for troops raised in Kansas,
as other governors of loyal States do; and I
think he is right in this.

1 863] Letter to Lane

35

He has asked that General Blunt shall not take
persons charged with civil crimes out of the
hands of the courts and turn them over to mobs
to be hung; and I think he is right in this also.
He has asked that General Ewing's department
be extended to include all Kansas; and I have
not determined whether this is right or not.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to Governor O. P. Morton
Washington, D. C, July 18, 1863.
Governor 0. P. Morton, Indianapolis: What
do you remember about the case of John O.
Brown, convicted of mutinous conduct and sen
tenced to death? What do you desire about it?
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Joel Parker
Executive Mansion, July 20, 1863.
Dear Sir: Yours of the fifteenth has been re
ceived, and considered by the Secretary of War
and myself. I was pained to be informed this
morning by the Provost-Marshal-General that
New Jersey is now behind twelve thousand, ir
respective of the draft. I did not have time to
ascertain by what rules this was made out; and
I shall be very glad if it shall, by any means,
prove to be incorrect. He also tells me that
eight thousand will be about the quota of New

36 Abraham Lincoln [July 21
Jersey on the first draft; and the Secretary of
War says the first draft in that State would not
be made for some time in any event. As every
man obtained otherwise lessens the draft so
much, and this may supersede it altogether, I
hope you will push forward your volunteer regi
ments as fast as possible.
It is a very delicate matter to postpone the
draft in one State, because of the argument it
furnishes others to have postponement also. If
we could have a reason in one case which would
be good if presented in all cases, we could act
upon it.
I will thank you, therefore, to inform me, if
you can, by what day, at the earliest you can
promise to have ready to be mustered into the
United States service the eight thousand men.
If you can make a reliable promise (I mean
one which you can rely on yourself) of this sort,
it will be of great value, if the day is not too re
mote. I beg you to be assured I wish to avoid the
difficulties you dread as much as yourself.
Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to General John M. Schofield
Executive Mansion, July 20, 1863.
My dear General: I have received and read
your letter of the 14th of July.

1863] Letter to Carney 37
I think the suggestion you make, of discon
tinuing proceedings against Mr. McKee, a very
proper one. While I admit that there is an ap
parent impropriety in the publication of the let
ter mentioned, without my consent or yours, it
is still a case where no evil could result, and
which I am entirely willing to overlook.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, July 21, 1863.
My dear Sir: I desire that a renewed and
vigorous effort be made to raise colored forces
along the shores of the Mississippi. Please
consult the general-in-chief, and if it is per
ceived that any acceleration of the matter can
be effected, let it be done. I think the evidence
is nearly conclusive that General Thomas is one
of the best (if not the very best) instrument for
this service. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Thomas Carney
Executive Mansion, July 21, 1863.
Gov. T. Carney, Topeka,Kans.: Yours dated
Pittsburg, the 19th instant, is received.
The day after you were with me, I wrote a

38 Abraham Lincoln [July 21
note to the Secretary of War, asking him to
place you on the same ground with all other
governors of loyal States, as to the appointment
of military officers. In reply to this, he verb
ally told me, when I next met him, that he had
never placed you on any other ground — that the
forces in regard to which you and General Blunt
have a controversy were raised on special author
ity from the War Department, given before you
were governor, and that the officers were com
missioned by him (the Secretary of War) ac
cording to the original authority; and that he
never had required you to commission officers
nominated by General Blunt.
The like of this has been done in some other
States, as I remember.
As to leaving no part of Kansas in Blunt's de
partment, the thing should not be hastily done.
He, with his command, is now in the field south
of Kansas ; and while I do not know how much
what you desire might interfere with his sup
plies, it is very certain that he cannot now be
interfering with you.
It is my purpose to take care that he shall not
any more take persons charged with civil crimes
out of the custody of the courts, and turn them
over to mobs to be hanged.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.

1 863] Letter to Howard

39

Letter to General O. O. Howard *
Executive Mansion, July 21, 1863.
My dear General Howard: Your letter of
the 1 8th is received. I was deeply mortified by
the escape of Lee across the Potomac, because
the substantial destruction of his army would
have ended the war, and because I believed such
destruction was perfectly easy — believed that
General Meade and his noble army had ex
pended all the skill, and toil, and blood, up to
the ripe harvest, and then let the crop go to
waste. Perhaps my mortification was heightened be
cause I had always believed — making my belief
a hobby, possibly — that the main rebel army go
ing north of the Potomac could never return, if
well attended to; and because I was so greatly
flattered in this belief by the operations at Get
tysburg. A few days having passed, I am now
profoundly grateful for what was done, without
criticism for what was not done.
General Meade has my confidence as a brave
and skilful officer and a true man.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
!The preponderance of testimony given by the generals en
gaged in the Battle of Gettysburg indicates that General Meade
erred in not pushing his advantage with more energy.

40 Abraham Lincoln [July 23
Letter to General Charles E. Hovey
Executive Mansion, July 21, 1863.
Dear Sir: I distinctly say that I will nomi
nate you as a brigadier-general of volunteers, if
you will furnish me with Major-General Wil
liam T. Sherman's written request to do so.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
Washington, D. C, July 22, 1863. 10.45 a. m.
Major-General Schofield, St. Louis, Mo.:
The following despatch has been placed in my
hands. Please look to the subject of it.
Lexington, Mo., July 21, 1863.
Hon. S. C. Pomeroy: Under Orders No. 63, the
sheriff is arresting slaves of rebels inside our lines, and
returning them in great numbers. Can he do it?
Answer. Gould.
a. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor H. R. Gamble
Executive Mansion, July 23, 1863.
Sir: My private secretary has just brought
me a letter, saying it is a very "cross" one from
you, about mine to General Schofield, recently
published in the "Democrat." As I am trying
to preserve my own temper by avoiding irritants

1863] Letter to Schenck 41
so far as practicable, I decline to read the cross
letter. I think fit to say, however, that when I
wrote the letter to General Schofield, I was
totally unconscious of any malice or disrespect
toward you, or of using any expression which
should offend you if seen by you. I have not
seen the document in the "Democrat," and there
fore cannot say whether it is a correct copy.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General R. C. Schenck
(Private.)
Executive Mansion, July 23, 1863.
My dear Sir: Returning to the Executive
Room yesterday, I was mortified to find you
were gone, leaving no word of explanation. I
went down-stairs,, as I understood, on a perfect
understanding with you that you would remain
till my return. I got this impression distinctly
from "Edward," whom I believe you know.
Possibly I misunderstood him. I had been very
unwell in the morning, and had scarcely tasted
food during the day, till the time you saw me
go down.
I beg you will not believe I have treated you
with intentional discourtesy. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.

42 Abraham Lincoln [July 25
Letter to Postmaster-General Blair
Executive Mansion, July 24, 1863.
Sir: Yesterday little indorsements of mine
went to you in two cases of postmasterships
sought for widows whose husbands have fallen
in the battles of this war. These cases occur
ring on the same day brought me to reflect more
attentively than I had before done, as to what
is fairly due from us here in the dispensing of
patronage toward the men who, by fighting our
battles, bear the chief burden of saving our
country. My conclusion is that, other claims
and qualifications being equal, they have the
better right; and this is especially applicable to
the disabled soldier and the deceased soldier's
family. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General A. E. Burnside
Washington, D. C, July 24, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, O.:
What, if anything, further do you hear from
John [H.] Morgan? A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Governor Joel Parker
Executive Mansion, July 25, 1863.
Sir: Yours of the 21st is received, and I have
taken time and considered and discussed the sub-

1863] Letter to Parker 43
ject with the Secretary of War and the Provost-
Marshal-General, in order, if possible, to make
you a more favorable answer than I finally find
myself able to do.
It is a vital point with us to not have a special
stipulation with the governor of any one State,
because it would breed trouble in many, if not
all, other States ; and my idea was when I wrote
you, as it still is, to get a point of time to which
we could wait, on the reason that we were not
ready ourselves to proceed, and which might en
able you to raise the quota of your State, in
whole, or in large part, without the draft. The
points of time you fix are much farther off than
I had hoped. We might have got along in the
way I have indicated for twenty, or possibly
thirty, days. As it stands, the best I can say is
that every volunteer you will present us within
thirty days from this date, fit and ready to be
mustered into the United States service, on the
usual terms, shall be pro tanto an abatement of
your quota of the draft. That quota I can now
state at eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-
three (8783) . No draft from New Jersey, other
than for the above quota, will be made before an
additional draft, common to [all] the States,
shall be required; and I may add that if we get
well through with this draft, I entertain a strong
hope that any further one may never be needed.

44 Abraham Lincoln [July 27
This expression of hope, however, must not be
construed into a promise.
As to conducting the draft by townships, I
find it would require such a waste of labor al
ready done, and such an additional amount of it,
and such a loss of time, as to make it, I fear, in
admissible. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
P. S. Since writing the above, getting addi
tional information, I am enabled to say that the
draft may be made in subdistricts, as the enrol
ment has been made, or is in process of making.
This will amount practically to drafting by
townships, as the enrolment sub-districts are gen
erally about the extent of townships. A. L.
Note to Secretary Stanton, July 27, 1863
Will the Secretary of War please glance over
these papers and inform me on what ground Dr.
Phillips's nomination was withheld from the
Senate, and what objection there is, if any, to his
reappointment? A. LINCOLN.
Letter to General G. G. Meade
(Private.)
Executive Mansion, July 27, 1863.
Major-General Meade: I have not thrown
General Hooker away; and therefore I would

1863] Telegram to Burnside 45
like to know whether it would be agreeable to
you, all things considered, for him to take a corps
under you, if he himself is willing to do so.
Write me in perfect freedom, with the assurance
that I will not subject you to any embarrassment
by making your letter or its contents known to
any one. I wish to know your wishes before I
decide whether to break the subject to him. Do
not lean a hair's breadth against your own feel
ings, or your judgment of the public service, on
the idea of gratifying me.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General A. E. Burnside
War Department, July 27, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, O.:
Let me explain. In General Grant's first des
patch after the fall of Vicksburg, he said, among
other things, he would send the Ninth Corps to
you. Thinking it would be pleasant to you, I
asked the Secretary of War to telegraph you the
news. For some reasons never mentioned to us
by General Grant, they have not been sent,
though we have seen outside intimations that
they took part in the expedition against Jackson.
General Grant is a copious worker and fighter,
but a very meager writer or telegrapher. No
doubt he changed his purpose in regard to the

46 Abraham Lincoln [July 29
Ninth Corps for some sufficient reason, but has
forgotten to notify us of it. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, July 28, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: Bob went to
Fort Monroe and only got back to-day. Will
start to you atiiA. M. to-morrow. All well.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, July 28, 1863.
My dear Sir: A young son of Senator Brown
of Mississippi, not yet twenty, as I understand,
was wounded and made a prisoner at Gettysburg.
His mother is sister of Mrs. P. R. Fendall, of
this city. Mr. Fendall, on behalf of himself and
family, asks that he and they may have charge
of the boy to cure him up, being responsible for
his person and good behavior. Would it not be
rather a grateful and graceful thing to let them
have him? Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D.C., July 29, 1863.
Major-General Halleck: Seeing General
Meade's despatch of yesterday to yourself causes

1863] Telegram to Halleck 47
me to fear that he supposes the government here
is demanding of him to bring on a general en
gagement with Lee as soon as possible. I am
claiming no such thing of him. In fact, my
judgment is against it; which judgment, of
course, I will yield if yours and his are the con
trary. If he could not safely engage Lee at Wil-
liamsport, it seems absurd to suppose he can safe
ly engage him now when he has scarcely more
than two thirds of the force he had at Williams-
port, while it must be that Lee has been rein
forced. True, I desired General Meade to pur
sue Lee across the Potomac, hoping, as has
proved true, that he would thereby clear the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and get some ad
vantages by harassing him on his retreat. These
being past, I am unwilling he should now get
into a general engagement on the impression
that we here are pressing him, and I shall be
glad for you to so inform him, unless your own
judgment is against it.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, July 29, 1863.
Sir: Can we not renew the effort to organize
a force to go to Western Texas?
Please consult with the general-in-chief on
the subject.

48 Abraham Lincoln [July 30
If the governor of New Jersey shall furnish
any new regiments, might not they be put into
such an expedition? Please think of it.
I believe no local object is now more desirable.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Order of Retaliation
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, July 30, 1863.
It is the duty of every government to give pro
tection to its citizens of whatever class, color, or
condition, and especially to those who are duly
organized as soldiers in the public service. The
law of nations, and the usages and customs of
war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit
no distinction as to color in the treatment of pris
oners of war as public enemies. To sell or en
slave any captured person on account of his
color, and for no offense against the laws of war,
is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against
the civilization of the age.
The government of the United States will give
the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the
enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his
color, the offense shall be punished by retalia
tion upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession.
It is therefore ordered that for every soldier
of the United States killed in violation of the

1863] Order of Retaliation

49

laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed;
and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold
into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at
hard labor on the public works, and continued
at such labor until the other shall be released and
receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.
Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to F. P. Blair, Sr.
Executive Mansion,
Washington,D. C, July 30, 1863.
My dear Sir: Yours of to-day, with in-
closure, is received. Yesterday I commenced
trying to get up an expedition for Texas.
I shall do the best I can. Meantime I would
like to know who is the great man Alexander,
that talks so oracularly about "if the President
keeps his word" and Banks not having "capacity
to run an omnibus on Broadway"? How has
this Alexander's immense light been obscured
hitherto? Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to  Moulton
Executive Mansion, July 31, 1863.
My dear Sir: There has been a good deal of
complaint against you by your superior officers
of the Provost-Marshal-General's Department,
and your removal has been strongly urged on the

50 Abraham Lincoln L'Juiy3i
ground of "persistent disobedience of orders and
neglect of duty." Firmly convinced, as I am, of
the patriotism of your motives, 2 am unwilling
to do anything in your case which may seem un
necessarily harsh or at variance with the feelings
of personal respect and esteem with which I have
always regarded you. I consider your services
in your district valuable, and should be sorry
to lose them. It is unnecessary for me to state,
however, that when differences of opinion arise
between officers of the governmnt, the ranking
officer must be obeyed. You of course recog
nize as clearly as I do the importance of this rule.
I hope you will conclude to go on in your pres-
sent position under the regulations of the depart
ment. I wish you would write to me. I am
very truly your friend and obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.

Battle of Gettysburg
After a Drawing by A. R. Waud.

1863] Letter to Hurlbut 51

Letter to General S. A. Hurlbut
Washington, D. C, July 31, 1863.
MY dear General Hurlbut: Your letter
by Mr. Dana was duly received. I
now learn that your resignation has
reached the War Department. I also learn that
an active command has been assigned you by
General Grant. The Secretary of War and
General Halleck are very partial to you, as you
know I also am. We all wish you to reconsider
the question of resigning; not that we would
wish to retain you greatly against your wish and
interest, but that your decision may be at least
a very well-considered one.
I understand that Senator [William K.] Se
bastian, of Arkansas, thinks of offering to resume
his place in the Senate. Of course the Senate,
and not I, would decide whether to admit or re
ject him. Still I should feel great interest in
the question. It may be so presented as to be
one of the very greatest national importance;
and it may be otherwise so presented as to be of
no more than temporary personal consequence to
him. The emancipation proclamation applies to

52 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. i
Arkansas. I think it is valid in law, and will
be so held by the courts. I think I shall not re
tract or repudiate it. Those who shall have
tasted actual freedom I believe can never be
slaves or quasi-slaves again. For the rest, I be
lieve some plan substantially being gradual
emancipation would be better for both white and
black. The Missouri plan, recently adopted, I
do not object to on account of the time for end
ing the institution ; but I am sorry the beginning
should have been postponed for seven years,
leaving all that time to agitate for the repeal of
the whole thing. It should begin at once, giv
ing at least the new-born a vested interest in free
dom which could not be taken away. If Sena
tor Sebastian could come with something of this
sort from Arkansas, I, at least, should take great
interest in his case; and I believe a single indi
vidual will have scarcely done the world so great
a service. See him, if you can, and read this to
him ; but charge him to not make it public for
the present. Write me again.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to Governor Seymour
Albany, August i, 1863. Rec'd 2 p. M.
The President of the United States: I ask that the
draft be suspended in this State until I can send you a
communication I am preparing. Horatio Seymour.

1863] Letter to Hurlbut

53

Washington, D. G, August i, 1863. 4p.11.
Governor Seymour, Albany, N. Y. : By what
day may I expect your communication to reach
me? Are you anxious about any part except the
city and vicinity? A. LINCOLN.
?Telegram to General J. G. Foster
Executive Mansion, August 3, 1863.
Major-General Foster, (or whoever may be
in command of the military department with
headquarters at Fort Monroe, Va. :) If Dr.
Wright on trial at Norfolk, has been or shall be
convicted, send me a transcript of his trial and
conviction and do not let execution be done upon
him until my further order A. LINCOLN.
?Telegram to J. A. Bingham
Executive Mansion, August 4, 1863.
'Hon. John A. Bingham, Cadiz, O.: It is in
dispensable for us to have a judge at Key West
as soon as possible. Please inform me whether
you will go. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to The Cincinnati Gazette
(Cipher.)
War Department, August 5, 1863.
Cincinnati Gazette: Please send me your
present posting as to Kentucky election. A. Lincoln.

54 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 5
?Letter to Commissioner of Agriculture
Executive Mansion, August 5, 1863.
Dear Sir: . . . About a year ago Captain
Isaac R. Diller came to me with a proposition in
regard to a new compound of gunpowder, the
ingredients and mode of compounding being a
secret. It promised important advantages,
which would be very valuable, if the promise
was made good. But he did not wish to give
the government the secret; nor did the govern
ment wish to buy it without a test of its value.
For this object, the manufacture of a quantity of
it became indispensable; and this again required
the service of a good chemist. Dr. Charles M.
Wetherill, Chemist in your Department, was an
acquaintance of Captain Diller, and was sought
by him to aid in the manufacture of the powder.
As I remember I requested you to allow him to
do so, which you did. A small quantity was
manufactured, and proved so far satisfactory that
Captain now, Admiral Dahlgren advised the
making of a large quantity so as to test it for
artillery use. I consented, and procured the
Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy,
to advance, from time [to time], sums amount
ing in the whole to five thousand dollars, from
funds under their discretionary control. Dr.
Wetherill's service was again required, and

1863] Letter to Commissioner 55
again obtained, perhaps, so far as you are con
cerned, at my request. At the time, nothing was
said, or thought of, so far as I remember, as to
his receiving his salary at your Department,
while engaged at the powder. Now, being
brought to my mind, it seems reasonable he
should receive his salary for that time, which he
tells me is refused. The manufacturer of the
powder has required the building of a good deal
of expensive machinery, leaving the five thou
sand dollars fund no reliance for Dr. Wetherill.
In fact, I suppose Captain Diller thought the
government was furnishing Dr. Wetherill, as
one of its officers, to make the experiment.
Dr. Wetherill presents another question,
which is as to the amount of his permanent or
general salary. I see that the law fixes the sal
aries of a class to which the chemist belongs
"corresponding to the salaries of similar officers
in other Departments" and I do not see that the
law assigns me any duty or discretion about it.
All I can do is to give a sort of legal opinion
that his salary should be fixed according to the
law. I do wish these questions could be set
tled, without further difficulty. I do not know
what has been fixed as the salary of similar offi
cers in other Departments; but I suppose this
can not be hard to ascertain.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.

56 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 5
Letter to General N. P. Banks.
Executive Mansion, August 5, 1863.
My dear General Banks: Being a poor cor
respondent is the only apology I offer for not
having sooner tendered my thanks for your very
successful and very valuable military operations
this year. The final stroke in opening the Mis
sissippi never should, and I think never will, be
forgotten. Recent events in Mexico, I think, render early
action in Texas more important than ever. I ex
pect, however, the general-in-chief will address
you more fully upon this subject.
Governor Boutwell read me to-day that part
of your letter to him which relates to Louisiana
affairs. While I very well know what I would
be glad for Louisiana to do, it is quite a different
thing for me to assume direction of the matter.
I would be glad for her to make a new constitu
tion recognizing the emancipation proclamation,
and adopting emancipation in those parts of the
State to which the proclamation does not apply.
And while she is at it, I think it would not be
objectionable for her to adopt some practical sys
tem by which the two races could gradually live
themselves out of the old relation to each other,
and both come out better prepared for the new.
Education for young blacks should be included

1863] Letter to Banks 57
in the plan. After all, the power or element of
"contract" may be sufficient for this probationary
period ; and, by its simplicity and flexibility, may
be the better.
As an anti-slavery man, I have a motive to de
sire emancipation which pro-slavery men do not
have ; but even they have strong enough reason
to thus place themselves again under the shield
of the Union; and to thus perpetually hedge
against the recurrence of the scenes through
which we are now passing.
Governor Shepley has informed me that Mr.
Durant is now taking a registry, with a view to
the election of a constitutional convention in
Louisiana. This to me appears proper. If
such convention were to ask my views, I could
present little else than what I now say to you. I
think the thing should be pushed forward, so
that, if possible, its mature work may reach here
by the meeting of Congress.
For my own part, I think I shall not, in any
event, retract the emancipation proclamation;
nor, as executive, ever return to slavery any per
son who is freed by the terms of that proclama
tion, or by any of the acts of Congress.
If Louisiana shall send members to Congress,
their admission to seats will depend, as you
know, upon the respective Houses, and not upon
the President.

58 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 7
If these views can be of any advantage in giv
ing shape and impetus to action there, I shall be
glad for you to use them prudently for that ob
ject. Of course you will confer with intelligent
and trusty citizens of the State, among whom I
would suggest Messrs. Flanders, Hahn, and Du
rant; and to each of whom I now think I may
send copies of this letter.
Still, it is perhaps better to not make the letter
generally public. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Indorsement.]
Copies sent to Messrs. Flanders, Hahn, and
Durant, each indorsed as follows :
The within is a copy of a letter to General
Banks. Please observe my directions to him. Do not
mention the paragraph about Mexico.
August 6, 1863. A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Seymour
Executive Mansion, August 7, 1863.
Governor Horatio Seymour, New York:
Your communication of the third instant has
been received and attentively considered.
I cannot consent to suspend the draft in New
York, as you request, because, among other rea
sons, time is too important.

1863] Letter to Seymour 59
By the figures you send, which I presume are
correct, the twelve districts represented fall into
two classes of eight and four respectively. The
disparity of the quotas for the draft in these two
classes is certainly very striking, being the differ
ence between an average of 2200 in one class,
and 4864 in the other. Assuming that the dis
tricts arc equal one to another in entire popula
tion, as required by the plan on which they were
made, this disparity is such as to require atten
tion. Much of it, however, I suppose will be
accounted for by the fact that so many more per
sons fit for soldiers are in the city than are in the
country, who have too recently arrived from oth
er parts of the United States and from Europe
to be either included in the census of i860, or to
have voted in 1862. Still, making due allow
ance for this, I am yet unwilling to stand upon it
as an entirely sufficient explanation of the great
disparity. I shall direct the draft to proceed in all the
districts, drawing, however, at first from each of
the four districts, to wit: the second, fourth,
sixth, and eighth, only 2200 being the average
quota of the other class. After this drawing,
these four districts, and also the seventeenth and
twenty-ninth, shall be carefully reenrolled, and,
if you please agents of yours may witness every
step of the process. Any deficiency which may

60 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 7
appear by the new enrolment will be supplied
by a special draft for that object, allowing due
credit for volunteers who may be obtained from
these districts respectively during the interval.
And at all points, so far as consistent with practi
cal convenience, due credits will be given for
volunteers ; and your excellency shall be notified
of the time fixed for commencing a draft in each
district. I do not object to abide a decision of the
United States Supreme Court, or of the judges
thereof, on the constitutionality of the draft law.
In fact, I should be willing to facilitate the ob
taining of it, but I cannot consent to lose the time
while it is being obtained. We are contending
with an enemy, who, as I understand, drives
every ablebodied man he can reach into his
ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks
into a slaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no ar
gument is used. This produces an army which
will soon turn upon our now victorious soldiers,
already in the field, if they shall not be sustained
by recruits as they should be. It produces an
army with a rapidity not to be matched on our
side, if we first waste time to reexperiment with
the volunteer system already deemed by Con
gress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted as
to be, inadequate, and then more time to obtain
a court decision as to whether a law is constitu-

l863] Letter to Seymour 61
tional which requires a part of those not now in
the service to go to the aid of those who are al
ready in it, and still more time to determine with
absolute certainty that we get those who are to
go in the precisely legal proportion to those who
are not to go. My purpose is to be in my action
just and constitutional, and yet practical, in per
forming the important duty with which I am
charged, of maintaining the unity and the free
principles of our common country.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Mrs. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, August 8, 1863.
My dear Wife: All as well as usual, and no
particular trouble anyway. I put the money
into the Treasury at five per cent, with the privi
lege of withdrawing it any time upon thirty
days' notice. I suppose you are glad to learn
this. Tell dear Tad poor "Nanny Goat" is lost,
and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it.
The day you left, Nanny was found resting her
self and chewing her little cud on the middle of
Tad's bed; but now she 's gone I The gardener
kept complaining that she destroyed the flowers,
till it was concluded to bring her down to the
White House. This was done, and the second
day she had disappeared and has not been heard

62 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 8
of since. This is the last we know of poor
"Nanny." The weather continues dry and ex
cessively warm here. Nothing very important
occurring. The election in Kentucky has gone
very strongly right. Old Mr. Wickliffe got
ugly, as you know: ran for governor, and is ter
ribly beaten. Upon Mr. Crittenden's death,
Brutus Clay, Cassius's brother, was put on the
track for Congress, and is largely elected. Mr.
Menzies, who, as we thought, behaved very bad
ly last session of Congress, is largely beaten in
the district opposite Cincinnati, by Green Clay
Smith, Cassius Clay's nephew. But enough.
Affectionately, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General J. G. Foster
Executive Mansion, August 8, 1863.
General Foster: This will be handed you by
Governor Peirpoint of Virginia.
He goes, among other things, seeking to adjust
a difficulty at Norfolk and Portsmouth. It
seems there is a large number of families in
Portsmouth who are destitute and whose natural
supporters are in the rebel army or have been
killed in it. These destitute families must live
somehow, and it seems the city authorities on one
side, and our military on the other, are in ruin
ous conflict about the mode of providing.

1863] Letter to Foster 63
Governor Peirpoint is a good man, and if you
will place him in conference and amicable rela
tions with the military authority in the vicinity,
I do not doubt that much good will come of it.
Please do it. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to J. M. Fleming and R. Morrow
Executive Mansion, August 9, 1863.
Gentlemen: The petition of which you were
the bearers has just been handed me. Your
cards and notes had come to me on two or three
successive days before ; and I knew then, as well
as I do now after reading the petition, what your
mission was. I knew it was the same true and
painful story which Governor Johnson, Mr.
Maynard, Dr. Clements, and others have been
telling me for more than two years. I also knew
that meeting you could do no good, because I
have all the while done, and shall continue to do,
the best for you I could and can. I do as much
for East Tennessee as I would or could if my
own home and family were in Knoxville. The
difficulties of getting a Union army into that
region, and of keeping it there, are so apparent
— so obvious — that none can fail to see them, un
less it may be those who are driven mad and
blind by their sufferings. Start by whatever
route they may, their lines of supply are broken

64 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 9
before they get half way. A small force suf
ficient to beat the enemy now there would be of
no value, because the enemy would reinforce to
meet them, until we should have to give back or
accumulate so large a force as to be very diffi
cult to supply, and as to ruin us entirely if a
great disaster should befall it. I know you are
too much distressed to be argued with, and there
fore I do not attempt it at lengh. You know I
am not indifferent to your troubles, else I should
not, more than a year and a half ago, have made
the effort I did to have a railroad built on pur
pose to relieve you. The Secretary of War,
General Halleck, General Burnside, and Gen
eral Rosecrans are all engaged now in an effort
to relieve your section. But, remember, you will
probably thwart them if you make this public.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General U. S. Grant
Executive Mansion, August 9, 1863.
My dear General Grant: I see by a despatch
of yours that you incline quite strongly toward
an expedition against Mobile. This would ap
pear tempting to me also, were it not that in view
of recent events in Mexico I am greatly im
pressed with the importance of reestablishing the
national authority in Western Texas as soon as

1863] Letter to Grant 65
possible. I am not making an order, however;
that I leave, for the present at least, to the gen-
eral-in-chief. A word upon another subject. General
Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Val
ley, with the view of raising colored troops. I
have no reason to doubt that you are doing what
you reasonably can upon the same subject. I
believe it is a resource which if vigorously ap
plied now will soon close the contest. It works
doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening
us. We were not fully ripe for it, until the river
was opened. Now, I think at least one hundred
thousand can and ought to be rapidly organized
along its shores, relieving all white troops to
serve elsewhere. Mr. Dana understands you as
believing that the emancipation proclamation
has helped some in your military operations. I
am very glad if this is so.
Did you receive a short letter from me dated
the thirteenth of July?
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Memorandum, August 10, 1863
After the report mentioned was made, this
case, including the report, was brought before
me, and upon quite full hearing and considera
tion, my conclusion was that Mr. Sands is prob-

66 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 10
ably a rather disagreeable man, and that these
charges made to get rid of him are frivolous.
Such is my present impression. A. Lincoln.
Letter to General W. S. Rosecrans
Executive Mansion, August 10, 1863.
My dear General Rosecrans: Yours of the
1st was received two days ago. I think you must
have inferred more than General Halleck has
intended, as to any dissatisfaction of mine with
you. I am sure you, as a reasonable man, would
not have been wounded could you have heard
all my words and seen all my thoughts in regard
to you. I have not abated in my kind feeling
for and confidence in you. I have seen most of
your despatches to General Halleck — probably
all of them. After Grant invested Vicksburg I
was very anxious lest Johnston should over
whelm him from the outside, and when it ap
peared certain that part of Bragg's force had
gone and was going to Johnston, it did seem to
me it was exactly the proper time for you to at
tack Bragg with what force he had left. In all
kindness let me say it so seems to me yet. Find
ing from your despatches to General Halleck
that your judgment was different, and being very
anxious for Grant, I, on one occasion, told Gen
eral Halleck I thought he should direct you to

1863] Letter to Rosecrans 67
decide at once to immediately attack Bragg or
to stand on the defensive and send part of your
force to Grant. He replied he had already so
directed in substance. Soon after, despatches
from Grant abated my anxiety for him, and in
proportion abated my anxiety about any move
ment of yours. When afterward, however, I
saw a despatch of yours arguing that the right
time for you to attack Bragg was not before, but
would be after, the fall of Vicksburg, it im
pressed me very strangely, and I think I so stated
to the Secretary of War and General Halleck.
It seemed no other than the proposition that you
could better fight Bragg when Johnston should
be at liberty to return and assist him than you
could before he could so return to his assistance.
Since Grant has been entirely relieved by the
fall of Vicksburg, by which Johnston is also re
lieved, it has seemed to me that your chance for
a stroke has been considerably diminished, and
I have not ben pressing you directly or indirect
ly. True, I am very anxious for East Tenness-
see to be occupied by us; but I see and appre
ciate the difficulties you mention. The question
occurs, Can the thing be done at all? Does
preparation advance at all? Do you not con
sume supplies as fast as you get them forward?
Have you more animals to-day than you had at
the battle of Stone's River? And yet have not

68 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 10
more been furnished you since then than your
entire present stock? I ask the same questions
as to your mounted force.
Do not misunderstand: I am not casting
blame upon you; I rather think by great exer
tion you can get to East Tennessee ; but a very
important question is, Can you stay there? I
make no order in the case — that I leave to Gen
eral Halleck and yourself.
And now be assured once more that I think of
you in all kindness and confidence, and that I am
not watching you with an evil eye.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Note to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, August 10, 1863.
Sir: I have not heard of any charges being
filed against General J. A. McClernand. Are
there any? Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter of Acknowledgment
Executive Mansion, August 10, 1863.
Dear Madam: I thank you very cordially
for the beautifully finished cushion received by
your courtesy to-day. But, grateful as I am, it
will be a greater pleasure to you to reflect that
the brave soldiers who reap the benefit of your
kindness and liberality are to-day more grateful
still. I am yours very sincerely, A. LINCOLN.

1 863] Letter to Seymour 69
Letter to Governor Seymour
Executive Mansion, August n, 1863.
Governor Horatio Seymour, New York:
Yours of the 8th, with Judge-Advocate-General
Waterbury's report, was received to-day.
Asking you to remember that I consider time
as being very important, both to the general
cause of the country and to the soldiers already
in the field, I beg to remind you that I waited, at
your request, from the 1st till the 6th inst., to re
ceive your communication dated the 3d. In
view of its great length, and the known time and
apparent care taken in its preparation, I did not
doubt that it contained your full case as you de
sired to present it. It contained figures for
twelve districts, omitting the other nineteen, as I
supposed, because you found nothing to com
plain of as to them. I answered accordingly.
In doing so I laid down the principle to which
I purpose adhering, which is to proceed with the
draft, at the same time employing infallible
means to avoid any great wrongs. With the
communication received to-day you send figures
for twenty-eight districts including the twelve
sent before, and still omitting three, from which
I supose the enrolments are not yet received.
In looking over the fuller list of twenty-eight
districts, I find that the quotas for sixteen of

70 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. n
them are above 2000 and below 2700, while of
the rest, six are above 2700 and six are below
2000. Applying the principle to these new facts,
the fifth and seventh districts must be added to
the four in which the quotas have already been
reduced to 2200 for the first draft; and with
these, four others must be added to those to be
reenrolled. The corrected case will then stand :
the quotas of the second, fourth, fifth, sixth,
seventh, and eighth districts fixed at 2200 for the
first draft. The Provost-Marshal-General in
forms me that the drawing is already completed
in [the] sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, twen
ty-second, twenty-fourth, twenty-sixth, twenty-
seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thir
tieth districts. In the others, except the three
outstanding, the drawing will be made upon the
quotas as now fixed. After the first draft, the
second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, six
teenth, seventeenth, twenty-first, twenty-fifth,
twenty-ninth, and thirty-first districts will be
reenroled for the purpose, and in the manner
stated in my letter of the 7th inst. The same
principle will be applied to the now outstanding
districts when they shall come in. No part of
my former letter is repudiated by reason of not
being restated in this, or for any other cause.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Meade 71-
Letter to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, August n, 1863.
My dear General Meade: Yesterday week I
made known to General Hooker our brief cor
respondence in regard to him. He seemed
gratified with the kind spirit manifested by both
of us; but said he was busy preparing a report
and would consider.
Yesterday he called again, and said he would
accept the offer if it was still open; would go at
once if you desire, but would prefer waiting till
the 1 st of September, unless there was to be a
battle, or you desire him to come sooner. I told
him I would write you. Please answer.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Indorsement, August n, 1863
Secretary of War: Please give General Lo
gan the extended leave asked for, unless you
know a good reason to the contrary. A. Lincoln.
Letter to General J. A. McClernand
Executive Mansion, August 12, 1863.
My dear Sir: Our friend, William G.
Greene, has just presented a kind letter in regard
to yourself, addressed to me by our other friends,
Yates, Hatch, and Dubois.

72 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 12
I doubt whether your present position is more
painful to you than to myself. Grateful for the
patriotic stand so early taken by you in this life-
and-death struggle of the nation, I have done
whatever has appeared practicable to advance
you and the public interest together. No
charges, with a view to a trial, have been pre
ferred against you by any one ; nor do I suppose
any will be. All there is, so far as I have heard,
is General Grant's statement of his reasons for
relieving you. And even this I have not seen or
sought to see; because it is a case, as appears to
me, in which I could do nothing without doing
harm. General Grant and yourself have been
conspicuous in our most important successes ; and
for me to interfere and thus magnify a breach
between you could not but be of evil effect. Bet
ter leave it where the law of the case has placed
it. For me to force you back upon General
Grant would be forcing him to resign. I cannot
give you a new command, because we have no
forces except such as already have commanders.
I am constantly pressed by those who scold be
fore they think, or without thinking at all, to
give commands respectively to Fremont, Mc
Clellan, Butler, Sigel, Curtis, Hunter, Hooker,
and perhaps others, when, all else out of the way,
I have no commands to give them. This is now
your case; which, as I have said, pains me not

1863] Letter to McClernand 73
less than it does you. My belief is that the per
manent estimate of what a general does in the
field is fixed by the "cloud of witnesses" who
have been with him in the field; and that relying
on these, he who has the right needs not to fear.
Your friend as ever, A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to General J. G. Foster
War Department, August 15, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va.:
I think you are right in placing "little reliance
in the report," still the question is so interesting
that I would like to know if the captain of the
Hudson gave any particulars how he got his
news and the like. Please answer. A. Lincoln.

74 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 15

Opinion on the Draft, never issued or pub
lished by the President, August [15?]
1863
IT is at all times proper that misunderstand
ing between the public and the public ser
vant should be avoided; and this is far
more important now than in times of peace and
tranquillity. I therefore address you without
searching for a precedent upon which to do so.
Some of you are sincerely devoted to the repub
lican institutions and territorial integrity of our
country, and yet are opposed to what is called
the draft, or conscription.
At the beginning of the war, and ever since, a
variety of motives, pressing, some in one direc
tion and some in the other, would be presented
to the mind of each man physically fit for a
soldier, upon the combined effect of which mo
tives he would, or would not, voluntarily enter
the service. Among these motives would be pa
triotism, political bias, ambition, personal
courage, love of adventure, want of employment,
and convenience, or the opposites of some of
these. We already have, and have had in the
service, as appears, substantially all that can be

1863] Opinion on Draft 75
obtained upon this voluntary weighing of mo
tives. And yet we must somehow obtain more,
or relinquish the original object of the contest,
together with all the blood and treasure already
expended in the effort to secure it. To meet this
necessity the law for the draft has been enacted.
You who do not wish to be soldiers do not like
this law. This is natural ; nor does it imply want
of patriotism. Nothing can be so just and nec
essary as to make us like it if it is disagreeable to
us. We are prone, too, to find false arguments
with which to excuse ourselves for opposing such
disagreeable things. In this case, those who
desire the rebellion to succeed, and others who
seek reward in a different way, are very active in
accommodating us with this class of arguments.
They tell us the law is unconstitutional. It is
the first instance, I believe, in which the power
of Congress to do a thing has ever been ques
tioned in a case when the power is given by the
Constitution in express terms. Whether a pow
er can be implied when it is not expressed has
often been the subject of controversy; but this is
the first case in which the degree of effrontery
has been ventured upon of denying a power
which is plainly and distinctly written down in
the Constitution. The Constitution declares that
"The Congress shall have power ... to
raise and support armies; but no appropriation

76 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 15
of money to that use shall be for a longer term
than two years." The whole scope of the con
scription act is "to raise and support armies."
There is nothing else in it. It makes no appro
priation of money, and hence the money clause
just quoted is not touched by it.
The case simply is, the Constitution provides
that the Congress shall have power to raise and
support armies; and by this act the Congress has
exercised the power to raise and support armies.
This is the whole of it. It is a law made in
literal pursuance of this part of the United
States Constitution; and another part of the same
Constitution declares that "this Constitution,
and the laws made in pursuance thereof, . . .
shall be the supreme law of the land, and the
judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the constitution or laws of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding." Do you ad
mit that the power is given to raise and support
armies, and yet insist that by this act Congress
has not exercised the power in a constitutional
mode? — has not done the thing in the right way?
Who is to judge of this? The Constitution gives
Congress the power, but it does not prescribe the
mode, or expressly declare who shall prescribe
it. In such case Congress must prescribe the
mode, or relinquish the power. There is no al
ternative. Congress could not exercise the pow-

l863l Opinion on Draft J7
er to do the thing if it had not the power of
providing a way to do it, when no way is pro
vided by the Constitution for doing it. In fact,
Congress would not have the power to raise and
support armies, if even by the Constitution it
were left to the option of any other or others to
give or withhold the only mode of doing it. If
the Constitution had prescribed a mode, Con
gress could and must follow that mode ; but, as
it is, the mode necessarily goes to Congress, with
the power expressly given. The power is given
fully, completely, unconditionally. It is not a
power to raise armies if State authorities con
sent; nor if the men to compose the armies are
entirely willing; but it is a power to raise and
support armies given to Congress by the Con
stitution, without an "if."
It is clear that a constitutional law may not
be expedient or proper. Such would be a law
to raise armies when no armies were needed.
But this is not such. The republican institutions
and territorial integrity of our country cannot
be maintained without the further raising and
supporting of armies. There can be no army
without men. Men can be had only voluntarily,
or involuntarily. We have ceased to obtain
them voluntarily, and to obtain them involuntar
ily is the draft — the conscription. If you dis
pute the fact, and declare that men can still be

78 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 15
had voluntarily in sufficient numbers, prove the
assertion by yourselves volunteering in such
numbers, and I shall gladly give up the draft.
Or, if not sufficient number, but any one of you
will volunteer, he for his single self will escape
all the horrors of the draft, and will thereby do
only what each one of at least a million of his
manly brethren have already done. Their toil
and blood have been given as much for you as
for themselves. Shall it all be lost rather than
that you, too, will bear your part?
I do not say that all who would avoid serving
in the war are unpatriotic; but I do think every
patriot should willingly take his chance under
a law made with great care, in order to secure
entire fairness. This law was considered, dis
cussed, modified, and amended by Congress at
great length, and with much labor; and was
finally passed by both branches, with a near ap
proach to unanimity. At last, it may not be ex
actly such as any one man out of Congress, or
even in Congress, would have made it. It has
been said, and I believe truly, that the Constitu
tion itself is not altogether such as any one of its
framers would have preferred. It was the joint
work of all, and certainly the better that it
was so.
Much complaint is made of that provision of
the conscription law which allows a drafted man

1 863] Opinion on Draft 79
to substitute three hundred dollars for himself;
while, as I believe, none is made of that provi
sion which allows him to substitute another man
for himself. Nor is the three hundred dollar
provision objected to for unconstitutionality;
but for inequality, for favoring the rich against
the poor. The substitution of men is the pro
vision, if any, which favors the rich to the ex
clusion of the poor. But this, being a provision
in accordance with an old and well-known prac
tice in the raising of armies, is not objected to.
There would have been great objection if that
provision had been omitted. And yet, being in,
the money provision really modifies the inequal
ity which the other introduces. It allows men
to escape the service who are too poor to escape
but for it. Without the money provision, com
petition among the more wealthy might, and
probably would, raise the price of substitutes
above three hundred dollars, thus leaving the
man who could raise only three hundred dollars
no escape from personal service. True, by the
law as it is, the man who cannot raise so much
as three hundred dollars, nor obtain a personal
substitute for less, cannot escape; but he can
come quite as near escaping as he could if the
money provision were not in the law. To put
it another way: is an unobjectionable law which
allows only the man to escape who can pay a

80 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. is
thousand dollars made objectionable by adding
a provision that any one may escape who can pay
the smaller sum of three hundred dollars? This
is the exact difference at this point between the
present law and all former draft laws. It is true
that by this law a somewhat larger number will
escape than could under a law allowing personal
substitutes only; but each additional man thus
escaping will be a poorer man than could have
escaped by the law in the other form. The
money provision enlarges the class of exempts
from actual service simply by admitting poorer
men into it. How then can the money provision
be a wrong to the poor man? The inequality
complained of pertains in greater degree to the
substitution of men, and is really modified and
lessened by the money provision. The inequal
ity could only be perfectly cured by sweeping
both provisions away. This, being a great in
novation, would probably leave the law more
distasteful than it now is.
The principle of the draft, which simply is in-
vountary or enforced service, is not new. It has
been practised in all ages of the world. It was
well-known to the framers of our Constitution
as one of the modes of raising armies, at the time
they placed in that instrument the provision that
"the Congress shall have power to raise and sup
port armies." It has been used just before in

1863] Opinion on Draft 81
establishing our independence, and it was also
used under the Constitution in 181 2. Wherein
is the peculiar hardships now? Shall we shrink
from the necessary means to maintain our free
government, which our grandfathers employed
to establish it and our own fathers have already
employed once to maintain it? Are we degen
erate? Has the manhood of our race run out?
Again, a law may be both constitutional and
expedient, and yet may be administered in an
unjust and unfair way. This law belongs to a
class, which class is composed of those laws
whose object is to distribute burdens or benefits
on the principle of equality. No one of these
laws can ever be practically administered with
that exactness which can be conceived of in the
mind. A tax law, the principle of which is that
each owner shall pay in proportion to the value
of his property, will be a dead letter, if no one
can be compelled to pay until it can be shown
that every other one will pay in precisely the
same proportion, according to value; nay, even,
it will be a dead letter if no one can be compelled
to pay until it is certain that every other one will
pay at all — even in unequal proportion. Again,
the United States House of Representatives is
constituted on the principle that each member
is sent by the same number of people that each
other one is sent by; and yet, in practice, no two

82 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 15
of the whole number, much less the whole num
ber, are ever sent by precisely the same number
of constituents. The districts cannot be made
precisely equal in population at first, and if they
could, they would become unequal in a single
day, and much more so in the ten years which
the districts, once made, are to continue. They
cannot be remodeled every day; nor, without
too much expense and labor, even every year.
This sort of difficulty applies in full force to
the practical administration of the draft law.
First, it starts with all the inequality of the con
gressional districts; but these are based on entire
population, while the draft is based upon those
only who are fit for soldiers, and such may not
bear the same proportion to the whole in one
district that they do in another. Again, the facts
must be ascertained and credit given for the un
equal numbers of soldiers which have already
gone from the several districts. In all these
points errors will occur in spite of the utmost
fidelity. The government is bound to adminis
ter the law with such an approach to exactness
as is usual in analogous cases, and as entire good
faith and fidelity will reach. If so great depart
ures as to be inconsistent with such good faith
and fidelity, or great departures occurring in
any way, be pointed out, they shall be corrected ;
and any agent shown to have caused such de-

1863] Telegram to Seymour 83
partures intentionally shall be dismissed. With
these views, and on these principles, I feel bound
to tell you it is my purpose to see the draft law
faithfully executed.
Telegram to Governor Seymour
Executive Mansion, August 16, 1863.
Governor Seymour, New York: Your des
patch of this morning is just received, and I fear
I do not perfectly understand it.
My view of the principle is that every soldier
obtained voluntarily leaves one less to be ob
tained by draft. The only difficulty is in apply
ing the principle properly. Looking to time, as
heretofore, I am unwilling to give up a drafted
man now even for the certainty, much less for
the mere chance, of getting a volunteer hereaf
ter. Again, after the draft in any district,
would it not make trouble to take any drafted
man out and put a volunteer in, for how shall
it be determined which drafted man is to have
the privilege of thus going out, to the exclusion
of all the others? And even before the draft
in any district the quota must be fixed; and the
draft might be postponed indefinitely if every
time a volunteer is offered the officers must stop
and reconstruct the quota. At least I fear there
might be this difficulty; but, at all events, let
credits for volunteers be given up to the last mo-

84 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 17
ment, which will not produce confusion or delay.
That the principle of giving credits for volun
teers shall be applied by districts seems fair and
proper, though I do not know how far by pres
ent statistics it is practicable. When for any
cause a fair credit is not given at one time, it
should be given as soon thereafter as practicable.
My purpose is to be just and fair, and yet to not
lose time. A. Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, August 16, 1863.
Sir: It seems that George W. McGuire and
David Bell have been tried and condemned to be
shot by a military commission at St. Louis, Mis
souri, of which commission General W. K.
Strong was the head. If a transcript of the
record is at your control, please send it to me.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to James H. Hackett
Executive Mansion, August 17, 1863.
My dear Sir: Months ago I should have ac
knowledged the receipt of your book and ac
companying kind note; and I now have to beg
your pardon for not having done so.
For one of my age I have seen very little of the
drama. The first presentation of Falstaff I ever

1863] Letter to Hackett 85
saw was yours here, last winter or spring. Per
haps the best compliment I can pay is to say, as
I truly can, I am very anxious to see it again.
Some of Shakspere's plays I have never read;
while others I have gone over perhaps as fre
quently as any unprofessional reader. Among
the latter are "Lear," "Richard III.," "Henry
VIII.," "Hamlet," and especially "Macbeth."
I think nothing equals "Macbeth." It is won
derful. Unlike you gentlemen of the profession, I
think the soliloquy in "Hamlet" commencing
"Oh, my offense is rank," surpasses that com
mencing "To be or not to be." But pardon this
small attempt at criticism. I should like to hear
you pronounce the opening speech of Richard
III. Will you not soon visit Washington again?
If you do, please call and let me make your per
sonal acquaintance. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to F. F. Lowe
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 17, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Lowe, San Francisco, Gal: There
seems to be considerable misunderstanding about
the recent movement to take possession of the
"New Almaden" mine. It had no reference to
any other mine or mines.

86 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 17
In regard to mines and miners generally, no
change of policy by the government has been
decided on, or even thought of, so far as I know.
The "New Almaden" mine was peculiar in
this, that its occupants claimed to be the legal
owners of it, on a Mexican grant, and went into
court on that claim. The case found its way
into the Supreme Court of the United States,
and last term, in and by that court the claim of
the occupants was decided to be utterly fraudu
lent. Thereupon it was considered the duty of
the government by the Secretary of the Interior,
the Attorney-General, and myself, to take pos
session of the premises; and the Attorney-Gen
eral carefully made out the writ, and I signed it.
It was not obtained surreptitiously, although I
suppose General Halleck thought it had been,
when he telegraphed, simply because he thought
possession was about being taken by a military
order, while he knew no such order had passed
through his hands as general-in-chief.
The writ was suspended, upon urgent repre
sentations from California, simply to keep the
peace. It never had any direct or indirect ref
erence to any mine, place, or person, except the
"New Almaden" mine and the persons con
nected with it. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

1863]1 Letter to Blunt 87
?Telegram to Governor Andrew Johnson
Washington, D. G, August 17, 1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.: The ap
pointment of Colonel Gillam to be a brigadier-
general has been ordered. A. Lincoln.
Letter to General J. G. Blunt
Executive Mansion, August 18, 1863.
Major-General Blunt: Yours of July 31st
is received. Governor Carney did leave some
papers with me concerning you; but they made
no great impression upon me, and I believe they
are not altogether such as you seem to think. As
I am not proposing to act upon them, I do not
now take the time to reexamine them.
I regret to find you denouncing so many per
sons as liars, scoundrels, fools, thieves, and per
secutors of yourself. Your military position
looks critical, but did anybody force you into it?
Have you been ordered to confront and fight
10,000 men with 3000 men? The government
cannot make men; and it is very easy, when a
man has been given the highest commission, for
him to turn on those who gave it and vilify them
for not giving him a command according to his
rank. My appointment of you first as a briga
dier, and then as a major-general, was evidence
of my appreciation of your services; and I have

88 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 19
since marked but one thing in connection with
you with which to be dissatisfied. The sending
a military order twenty-five miles outside of your
lines, and all military lines, to take men charged
with no offense against the military, out of the
hands of the courts, to be turned over to a mob
to be hanged, can find no precedent or principle
to justify it. Judge Lynch sometimes takes jur
isdiction of cases which prove too strong for the
courts ; but this is the first case within my knowl
edge wherein the court being able to maintain
jurisdiction against Judge Lynch, the military
has come to the assistance of the latter. I take
the facts of this case as you state them yourself,
and not from any report of Governor Carney, or
other person. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, August 19, 1863.
Dear Sir: The bearer of this, Judge Colt, of
Missouri, introduced to me by the Attorney-
General, tells me he has a stepson — Singleton
Wilson — who ran away into the rebel army, then
under seventeen, and still under nineteen, and
who is now a prisoner at Camp Morton, Indi
ana. He now wants to take the oath of allegi
ance, and go home with the judge, and the judge
desires the same. May it not be safely done?
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

1863] Letter to Stanton 89
?Telegram to J. C. Conkling
(Cipher.)
War Department, August 20, 1863.
Hon. James C. Conkling, Springfield, III.:
Your letter of the 14th is received. I think I
will go or send a letter, probably the latter.
A. Lincoln
?Telegram to General A. J. Hamilton
(Cipher.)
War Department, August 20, 1863.
General A. J. Hamilton (of Texas), New
York: Telegraph me the name of a boy or
young man who you would like to have ap
pointed to West Point. A. Lincoln.
?Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, August 21, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.: At
this late moment I am appealed to in behalf of
William Thompson of Company K, Third
Maryland Volunteers, in Twelfth Army Corps,
said to be at Kelly's Ford, under sentence to be
shot to-day as a deserter. He is represented to
me to be very young, with symptoms of insanity.
Please postpone the execution till further order.
A. Lincoln.

90 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 24
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, August 21, 1863.
My dear Sir: In the autumn of 1861, certain
persons in armed rebellion against the United
States, within the counties of Accomac and
Northampton, laid down their arms upon cer
tain terms then proposed to them by General
Dix, in and by a certain proclamation. It is
now said that these persons, or some of them, are
about to be forced into the military lines of the
existing rebellion, unless they will take an oath
prescribed to them since, and not included in
General Dix's proclamation referred to. Now,
my judgment is that no one of these men should
be forced from his home, who has not broken
faith with the government, according to the
terms fixed by General Dix and these men.
It is bad faith in the government to force new
terms upon such as have kept faith with it — at
least so it seems to me. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to General D. Sickles
Washington, D. G, August 22, 1863.
My dear Sir: Your note and brief about the
California land claim are received. The ques
tion presented is a property question, with which
I do not think I should meddle as a volunteer.
It will save me labor, therefore, if you will

1863I Letter to Usher

91

first point me to the law which assigns any duty
to the President in the case. This done, next
send me a reference to the treaty, and all the
statutory law which bears upon the case.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
?Telegram to Mrs. E. J. Grimsley
War Department, August 24, 1863.
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Grimsley, Springfield, III.:
I mail the papers to you to-day appointing
Johnny to the Naval school. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Secretary Usher
Executive Mansion, August 24, 1863.
Sir: By the within you see the claim of Illi
nois for the two per cent, on sales of public lands
is again presented.
My view of the case is not changed. I be
lieve the law is with the State ; and yet I think
it is ungracious to be pressing the claim at this
time of national trouble.
Nevertheless, I have to ask that you will de
termine what is your duty according to the law,
and then do it. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Indorsement on Note of Secretary Stanton
War Department, August 25, 1863.
Dear Sir: Please give me the reference to the act
of Congress in relation to the election of members of

92 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 26
the House, which you have mentioned to me on one
or two occasions. I cannot find the act.
Truly yours,
To the President. Edwin M. Stanton.
[Indorsement.]
The little short act on page 804 of the large
new volume was shown to me by Mr. Bingham
of Ohio, as being the one, in connection with
the other laws therein referred to, which works
the result. I have not tracked up the other laws.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, August 26, 1863.
Sir: In my correspondence with Governor
Seymour in relation to the draft, I have said to
him, substantially, that credits shall be given for
volunteers up to the latest moment, before draw
ing in any district, that can be done without
producing confusion or delay. In order to do
this, let our mustering officers in New York
and elsewhere be at once instructed that when
ever they muster into our service any number of
volunteers, to at once make return to the War
Department, both by telegraph and mail, the
date of the muster, the number mustered, and the
Congressional or enrolment district or districts,
of their residences, giving the numbers sepa
rately for each district. Keep these returns dili-

1863] Letter to Stanton

93

gently posted, and by them give full credit on
the quotas, if possible, on the last day before
the draft begins in any district.
Again, I have informed Governor Seymour
that he shall be notified of the time when the
draft is to commence in each district in his State.
This is equally proper for all the States. In
order to carry it out, I propose that so soon as the
day for commencing the draft in any district is
definitely determined, the governor of the State,
including the district, be notified thereof, both
by telegraph and mail, in form about as follows:

 1863.
Governor of 

You are notified that the draft will commence in the
 district, at  on the 
day of  J863, at. . . .A. M. of said day.
Please acknowledge receipt of this by telegraph and
mail.

This notice may be given by the Provost-
Marshal-General here, the sub-provost-marshal-
generals in the States, or perhaps by the district
provost-marshals. Whenever we shall have so far proceeded in
New York as to make the reenrolment specially

94

Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 26

promised there, practicable, I wish that also to
go forward, and I wish Governor Seymour no
tified of it; so that if he choose, he can place
agents of his with ours to see the work fairly
done. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to I. N. Morris
Executive Mansion, August 26, 1863.
Dear Sir: Your note asking what you were
to understand, was received yesterday. Mon
day morning I sent the papers to the Secretary
of the Interior, with an indorsement that my im
pression of the law was not changed, and that I
desired him to take up the case and do his duty
according to his view of the law. Yesterday I
said the same thing to him verbally.
Now, my understanding is that the law has not
assigned me, specifically, any duty in the case,
but has assigned it to the Secretary of the In
terior. It may be my general duty to direct him
to act — which I have performed. When he
shall have acted, if his action is not satisfactory,
there may or may not be an appeal to me. It
is a point I have not examined ; but if it be shown
that the law gives such appeal, I shall not hesi
tate to entertain it when presented.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

Major-General Winfield S. Hancock
Wood Engraving after a Photograph by

Gum

wn e\

Sou.

1 863], Letter to Conkling 95

Letter to James C. Conkling *
Executive Mansion, August 26, 1863.
MY DEAR SIR: Your letter inviting
me to attend a mass-meeting of un
conditional Union men, to be held at
the capital of Illinois on the 3d day of Septem
ber has been received. It would be very agree
able to me to thus meet my old friends at my
own home, but I cannot just now be absent from
here so long as a visit there would require.
The meeting is to be of all those who main
tain unconditional devotion to the Union; and
I am sure my old political friends will thank
me for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude
to those and other noble men whom no partizan
malice or partizan hope can make false to the
nation's life.
There are those who are dissatisfied with me.
1 On June 17, 1863, a meeting had been held in Springfield
with the idea of forming a Northwestern Confederacy. The
Republicans prepared to hold there in the beginning of Septem
ber the greatest mass meeting of the campaign. They were
very anxious to have Lincoln appear in person and James Conk
ling wrote urging him to be present. As this was impossible,
Lincoln wrote this letter to be read at the meeting. He thought
it " rather a good letter." It was received with enthusiasm and
has often been considered his " last stump speech."

96 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 26
To such I would say: You desire peace, and
you blame me that we do not have it. But how
can we attain it? There are but three conceiv
able ways: First, to suppress the rebellion by
force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are
you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed.
If you are not for it, a second way is to give up
the Union. I am against this. Are you for it?
If you are, you should say so plainly. If you
are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there
only remains some imaginable compromise. I
do not believe any compromise embracing the
maintenance of the Union is now possible. All
I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The
strength of the rebellion is its military, its army.
That army dominates all the country and all the
people within its range. Any offer of terms
made by any man or men within that range, in
opposition to that army, is simply nothing for
the present, because such man or men have no
power whatever to enforce their side of a com
promise, if one were made with them.
To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the
South and peace men of the North get together
in convention, and frame and proclaim a com
promise embracing a restoration of the Union.
In what way can that compromise be used to
keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's
army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania,

1863] Letter to Conkling 97
and, I think, can ultimately drive it out of ex
istence. But no paper compromise to which
the controllers of Lee's army are not agreed can
at all affect that army. In an effort at such com
promise we should waste time which the enemy
would improve to our disadvantage; and that
would be all. A compromise, to be effective,
must be made either with those who control
the rebel army, or with the people first liberated
from the domination of that army by the success
of our own army. Now, allow me to assure you
that no word or intimation from that rebel army,
or from any of the men controlling it, in relation
to any peace compromise, has ever come to my
knowledge or belief. All charges and insinua
tions to the contrary are deceptive and ground
less. And I promise you that if any such pro
position shall hereafter come, it shall not be
rejected and kept a secret from you. I freely
acknowledge myself the servant of the people,
according to the bond of service — the United
States Constitution — and that, as such, I am re
sponsible to them.
But to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me
about the negro. Quite likely there is a differ
ence of opinion betwen you and myself upon
that subject. I certainly wish that all men
could be free, while I suppose you do not. Yet,
I have neither adopted nor proposed any meas-

98 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 26
ure which is not consistent with even your view,
provided you are for the Union. I suggested
compensated emancipation, to which you replied
you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But
I had not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes,
except in such way as to save you from greater
taxation to save the Union exclusively by other
means. You dislike the emancipation proclamation,
and perhaps would have it retracted. You say
it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I
think the Constitution invests its commander-in-
chief with the law of war in time of war. The
most that can be said — if so much — is that slaves
are property. Is there — has there ever been —
any question that by the law of war, property,
both of enemies and friends, may be taken when
needed? And is it not needed whenever tak
ing it helps us, or hurts the enemy? Armies, the
world over, destroy enemies' property when they
cannot use it; and even destroy their own to keep
it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do
all in their power to help themselves or hurt the
enemy, except a few things regarded as barbar
ous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the
massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants,
male and female.
But the proclamation, as law, either is valid
or is not valid. If it is not valid, it needs no

1863] Letter to Conkling 99
retraction. If it is valid, it cannot be retracted
any more than the dead can be brought to life.
Some of you profess to think its retraction would
operate favorably for the Union. Why better
after the retraction than before the issue?
There was more than a year and a half of trial
to suppress the rebellion before the proclama
tion issued ; the last one hundred days of which
passed under an explicit notice that it was com
ing, unless averted by those in revolt returning
to their allegiance. The war has certainly pro
gressed as favorably for us since the issue of the
proclamation as before.1 [I know, as fully as
one can know the opinions of others, that some
of the commanders of our armies in the field,
who have given us our most important successes,
believe the emancipation policy and the use of
the colored troops constitute the heaviest blow
yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one of
these important successes could not have been
achieved when it was but for the aid of black
soldiers. Among the commanders holding these
views are some who have never had any affinity
with what is called Abolitionism, or with Re
publican party politics, but who hold them
purely as military opinions. I submit these
1 The remainder of this paragraph, which has been placed
between brackets to distinguish it, was not included in the letter
as first sent, but was forwarded in a separate letter with instruc
tions on Aug. 31, 1863.

ioo Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 26
opinions as being entitled to some weight against
the objections often urged that emancipation and
arming the blacks are unwise as military meas
ures, and were not adopted as such in good
faith.] You say you will not fight to free negroes.
Some of them seem willing to fight for you ; but
no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively, to save
the Union. I issued the proclamation on pur
pose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever
you shall have conquered all resistance to the
Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting,
it will be an apt time then for you to declare you
will not fight to free negroes.
I thought that in your struggle for the Union,
to whatever extent the negroes should cease
helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened
the enemy in his resistance to you. Do you
think differently? I thought that whatever
negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just
so much less for white soldiers to do in saving
the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you?
But negroes, like other people, act upon motives.
Why should they do anything for us if we will
do nothing for them? If they stake their lives
for us they must be prompted by the strongest
motive, even the promise of freedom. And the
premise, being made, must be kept.
The signs look better. The Father of Waters

1863] Letter to Conkling ior
again goes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the
great Northwest for it. Nor yet wholly to
them. Three hundred miles up they met New
England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hew
ing their way right and left. The sunny South,
too, in more colors than one, also lent a hand.
On the spot, their part of the history was jotted
down in black and white. The job was a great
national one, and let none be banned who bore
an honorable part in it. And while those who
have cleared the great river may well be proud,
even that is not all. It is hard to say that any
thing has been more bravely and well done than
at Antietam, Murfreesboro', Gettysburg, and on
many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle
Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery
margins they have been present. Not only on
the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river,
but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wher
ever the ground was a little damp, they have
been and made their tracks. Thanks to all : for
the great republic — for the principle it lives by
and keeps alive — for man's vast future — thanks
to all.
Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I
hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and
so come as to be worth the keeping in all future
time. It will then have been proved that among
free men there can be no successful appeal from

102 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 27
the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take
such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay
the cost. And then there will be some black
men who can remember that with silent tongue,
and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-
poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to
this great consummation, while I fear there will
be some white ones unable to forget that with
malignant heart and deceitful speech they strove
to hinder it.
Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy
final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us
diligently apply the means, never doubting that
a just God, in his own good time, will give us
the rightful result. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
*Letter to J. C. Conkling
(Private.)
War Department,
Washington, August 26, 1863.
My dear Conkling: I cannot leave here now.
Herewith is a letter instead. You are one of
the best public readers. I have but one sugges
tion — read it very slowly. And now God bless
you, and all good Union men.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Seymour 103
Letter to Governor Seymour
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 27, 1863.
Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York:
Yours of the 21st, with exhibits, was received on
the 24th.
In the midst of pressing duties I have been
unable to answer it sooner. In the mean time
the Provost-Marshal-General has had access to
yours, and has addressed a communication in
relation to it to the Secretary of War, a copy of
which communication I herewith inclose to you.
Independently of this, I addressed a letter on
the same subject to the Secretary of War, a copy
of which I also inclose to you. The Secretary
has sent my letter to the Provost-Marshal-Gen
eral, with direction that he adopt and follow the
course therein pointed out. It will, of course,
overrule any conflicting view of the Provost-
Marshal-General, if there be such.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
P. S. I do not mean to say that if the Pro
vost-Marshal-General can find it practicable to
give credits by sub-districts, I overrule him in
that. On the contrary, I shall be glad of it; but
I will not take the risk of over-burdening him
by ordering him to do it. A. L.

104 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 27
Telegram to A. C. Wilder and J. H. Lane
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 27, 1863. 8.30 a. m.
Hon. A. C. Wilder, Hon. J. H. Lane, Leav
enworth, Kan.: Notice of your demand for the
removal of General Schofield is hereby acknowl
edged A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 27, 1863. 8.30 a. m.
General Schofield, St. Louis: I have just re
ceived the despatch which follows from two very
influential citizens of Kansas, whose names I
omit. The severe blow they have received nat
urally enough makes them intemperate even
without there being any just cause for blame.
Please do your utmost to give them future se
curity and to punish their invaders. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General G. G. Meade
War Department,
Washington, D. G, August 27, 1863. 9 a. m.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Virginia:
Walter, Rionese, Folancy, Lai, and Kuhn ap
pealed to me for mercy, without giving any
ground for it whatever. I understand these are

1863] Telegram to Sherman 105
very flagrant cases, and that you deem their pun
ishment as being indispensable to the service.
If I am not mistaken in this, please let them
know at once that their appeal is denied.
A. Lincoln.
Telegram to F. C. Sherman and J. S. Hayes
Washington, August 27, 1863.
F. C. Sherman, Mayor, J. S. Hayes, Comp
troller, Chicago: Yours of the 24th, in relation
to the draft, is received. It seems to me the
government here will be overwhelmed if it un
dertakes to conduct these matters with the au
thorities of cities and counties. They must be
conducted with the governors of States, who
will, of course represent their cities and coun
ties. Meanwhile you need not be uneasy until
you again hear from here. A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to General J. G. Foster
War Department, August 28, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Please notify, if you can, Senator Bowden, Mr.
Segar, and Mr. Chandler, all, or any of them,
that I now have the record in Dr. Wright's case
and am ready to hear them. When you shall
have got the notice to them please let me know.
A. Lincoln.

106 Abraham Lincoln [Aug. 31
*Telegram to General Crawford
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 28, 1863.
Gen. Crawford, Rappahannock Station, Va.:
I regret that I cannot be present to witness the
presentation of a sword by the gallant Pennsyl
vania Reserve Corps to one so worthy to receive
it as General Meade. A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to L. Swett
Washington, D. G, August 29, 1863.
Hon. L. Swett, San Francisco, Gal.: If the
Government's rights are reserved, the Govern
ment will be satisfied, and at all events it will
consider. A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, August 29, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, N. H.: All
quite well. Fort Sumter is certainly battered
down and utterly useless to the enemy, and it is
believed here, but not entirely certain that both
Sumter and Fort Wagner are occupied by our
forces. It is also certain that General Gilmore
has thrown some shot into the city of Charleston.
A. Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Rosecrans 107
Letter to General W. S. Rosecrans
Executive Mansion, August 31, 1863.
My dear General Rosecrans: Yours of the
22d was received yesterday. When I wrote you
before, I did [not] intend, nor do I now, to
engage in an argument with you on military
questions. You had informed me you were im
pressed through General Halleck that I was dis
satisfied with you; and I could not bluntly deny
that I was without unjustly implicating him.
I therefore concluded to tell you the plain truth,
being satisfied the matter would thus appear
much smaller than it would if seen by mere
glimpses. I repeat that my appreciation of you
has not abated. I can never forget whilst I re
member anything that about the end of last year
and beginning of this, you gave us a hard-
earned victory, which, had there been a defeat
instead, the nation could scarcely have lived
over. Neither can I forget the check you so op
portunely gave to a dangerous sentiment which
was spreading in the North. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Note to General H. W. Halleck, August 31,
1863
It is not improbable that retaliation for the
recent great outrage at Lawrence, in Kansas,

108 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 2
may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the
Missouri border, unless averted by very judi
cious action. I shall be obliged if the general-
in-chief can make any suggestions to General
Schofield upon the subject. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, September i, 1863.
My dear Sir: I am now informed, contrary
to my impression when I last talked with you,
that the order compelling the four hundred on
the eastern shore of Virginia to take the oath
or be sent away is about being carried into ex
ecution. As this, and also the assessment for
damage done to and at the lighthouse, are very
strong measures, and as I have to bear the re
sponsibility of them, I wish them suspended un
til I can at least be better satisfied of their pro
priety than I now am. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Draft of Letter to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion, September 2, 1863.
My dear Sir: Knowing your great anxiety
that the Emancipation Proclamation shall now
be applied to certain parts of Virginia and Lou
isiana which were exempted from it last Jan
uary, I state briefly what appear to me to be
difficulties in the way of such a step. The ori-

1863] Draft of Letter to Chase 109
ginal proclamation has no constitutional or legal
justification, except as a military measure. The
exemptions were made because the military
necessity did not apply to the exempted locali
ties. Nor does that necessity apply to them now
any more than it did then. If I take the step,
must I not do so without the arguments of mili
tary necessity, and so without any argument ex
cept the one that I think the measure politically
expedient and morally right? Would I not
thus give up all footing upon Constitution or
law? Would I not thus be in the boundless field
of absolutism? Could this pass unnoticed or
unresisted? Could it fail to be perceived that
without any further stretch I might do the same
in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Missouri, and even change any law in any
State? Would not many of our own friends
shrink away appalled? Would it not lose us the
elections and with them the very cause we seek
to advance? [A. LINCOLN.]
*Telegram to J. C. Conkling
Executive Mansion, September 3, 1863.
Hon. James C7. Conkling, Springfield, III.:
I am mortified this morning to find the letter to
you botched up in the Eastern papers, tele
graphed from Chicago. How did this happen?
A. Lincoln.

no Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 3
*Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
Washington, D. G, September 3, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, N. H.: The
Secretary of War tells me he has telegraphed
General Doubleday to await further ordeis.
We are all well and have nothing new.
A. Lincoln.
Order concerning Commercial Regulations
Executive Mansion, September 4, 1863.
Ordered, That the Executive Order, dated
November 21, 1862, prohibiting the exportation
from the United States of arms, ammunition, or
munitions of war, under which the command
ants of departments were, by order of the Secre
tary of War dated May 13, 1863, directed to
prohibit the purchase and sale for exportation
from the United States of all horses and mules
within their respective commands, and to take
and appropriate to the use of the United States
any horses, mules, and live stock designed for
exportation, be so far modified as that any arms
heretofore imported into the United States may
be reexported to the place of original shipment,
and that any live stock raised in any State or
Territory bounded by the Pacific Ocean may be
exported from any port of such State or Terri
tory. Abraham Lincoln.

1 863] Telegram to Segar m
*Telegram to Joseph Segar
War Department,
Washington, D. G, September 5, 1863.
Hon. Joseph Segar, Fort Monroe, Va.: I
have just seen your despatch to the Secretary of
War, who is absent. I also send a despatch from
Major Hayner of the 3d showing that he had
notice of my order, and stating that the people
were jubilant over it, as a victory over the Gov
ernment extorted by fear, and that he had al
ready collected about 4,000 of the money. If
he has proceeded since I shall hold him account
able for his contumacy. On the contrary no
dollar shall be refunded by my order until it
shall appear that my act in the case has been ac
cepted in the right spirit. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to Secretary Stanton
War Department, September 6. 1863. 6 p. M.
Hon. Secretary of War, Bedford, Pa. : Burn
side has Kingston and Knoxville, and drove the
enemy across the river at Loudon, the enemy de
stroying the bridge there; captured some stores
and one or two trains; very little fighting; few
wounded and none killed. No other news of
consequence. A. Lincoln.

112 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 8
*Telegram to General R. C. Schenck
War Department, September 6, 1863.
The Secretary of War is absent. Please direct
or order that the collection of the light house be
suspended, and that the money already collected
be held, both till further order. A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
War Department, September 6, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, N. H.: All
well and no news except that General Burnside
has Knoxville, Tenn. A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to F. C. Sherman and J. S. Hayes
Washington, September 7, 1863.
Yours of August 29 just received. I suppose
it was intended by Congress that this govern
ment should execute the act in question without
dependence upon any other government, State,
city, or country. It is, however, within the
range of practical convenience to confer with the
governments of States while it is quite beyond
that range to have correspondence on the sub
ject with counties and cities. They are too num
erous. As instances, I have corresponded with
Governor Seymour, but not with Mayor Op-
dyke; with Governor Curtin, but not with
Mayor Henry. A. LINCOLN.

1863] Telegram to Johnson 113
Telegram to Governor Johnson
Executive Mansion, September 8, 1863. 9.30 a. m.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tennessee:
Despatch of yesterday just received. I shall try
to find the paper you mention and carefully con
sider it. In the mean time let me urge that you
do your utmost to get every man you can, black
and white, under arms at the very earliest mo
ment, to guard roads, bridges, and trains, allow
ing all the better trained soldiers to go for
ward to Rosecrans. Of course I mean for you
to act in cooperation with, and not independently
of, the military authorities. A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, September 9, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.: It
would be a generous thing to give General
Wheaton a leave of absence for ten or fifteen
days, and if you can do so without injury to the
service, please do it. A. LINCOLN.
?Telegram to General F. Wheaton
Washington, D. G, September 10, 1863.
General Wheaton, Army of Potomac: Yes
terday at the instance of Mr. Blair, senator, I
telegraphed General Meade asking him to grant
you a leave of absence, to which he replied that

114 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 10
you had not applied for such leave, and that you
can have it when you do apply. I suppose it is
proper for you to know this. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Dr. John P. Gray
Executive Mansion, September 10, 1863.
Sir: Dr. David M. Wright is in military
custody at Norfolk, Virginia, having been by a
military commission tried for murder and sen
tenced to death, his execution awaiting the order
of the major-general in command of that mili
tary department, or of the President of the
United States. The record is before me, and a
question is made as to the sanity of the accused.
You will please proceed to the military depart
ment whose headquarters are at Fort Monroe,
and take in writing all evidence which may be
offered on behalf of Dr. Wright and against
him, and any, in addition, which you may find
within your reach, and deem pertinent; all said
evidence to be directed to the question of Dr.
Wright's sanity or insanity, and not to any other
questions ; you to preside with power to exclude
evidence which shall appear to you clearly not
pertinent to the question. When the taking of
the evidence shall be closed, you will report the
same to me, together with your own conclusions
as to Dr. Wright's sanity both at the time of the
homicide and at the time of your examination.

1863] Letter to Gray 115
On reaching Fort Monroe, you will present this
letter to the officer then commanding that de
partment, and deliver to him a copy of the same,
upon which he is hereby directed to notify Hon.
L. J. Bowden and Hon. L. H. Chandler of the
same; to designate some suitable person in his
command to appear for the government as judge-
advocate or prosecuting attorney; to provide for
the attendance of all such witnesses before you
as may be desired by either party, or by your
self, and who may be within convenient reach of
you ; to furnish you a suitable place, or places,
for conducting the examination; and to render
you such other reasonable assistance in the prem
ises as you may require. If you deem it pro
per, you will examine Dr. Wright personally,
and you may in your discretion require him to
be present during the whole or any part of the
taking of the evidence. The military are here
by charged to see that an escape does not occur.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.

n6 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. n

Letter to Governor Andrew Johnson
Executive Mansion, September n, 1863. h
MY DEAR SIR: All Tennessee is now
clear of armed insurrectionists. You
need not to be reminded that it is the
nick of time for reinaugurating a loyal State
government. Not a moment should be lost.
You and the cooperating friends there can bet
ter judge of the ways and means than can be
judged by any here. I only offer a few sug
gestions. The reinauguration must not be such
as to give control of the State and its represen
tation in Congress to the enemies of the Union,
driving its friends there into political exile.
The whole struggle for Tennessee will have been
profitless to both State and nation if it so ends
that Governor Johnson is put down and Gov
ernor Harris is put up. It must not be so. You
must have it otherwise. Let the reconstruction
be the work of such men only as can be trusted
for the Union. Exclude all others, and trust
that your government so organized will be rec
ognized here as being the one of republican
form to be guaranteed to the State, and to be

1863] Letter to Johnson 117
protected against invasion and domestic vio
lence. It is something on the question of time
to remember that it cannot be known who is next
to occupy the position I now hold, nor what he
will do. I see that you have declared in favor
of emancipation in Tennessee, for which may
God bless you. Get emancipation into your new
State government — constitution — and there will
be no such word as fail for your case. The rais
ing of colored troops, I think, will greatly help
every way. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to Hannibal Hamlin
Washington, D. G, September n, 1863.
Vice President Hamlin, Bangor, Me.: Your
letter of August 22, to be presented by your son
Cyrus is on my table, but I have not seen him,
or know of his being here recently. A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to General G. G. Meade *
Executive Mansion, September 11, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.: It
is represented to me that Thomas Edds, in your
army, is under sentence of death for desertion, to
1 Much dissatisfaction was caused to the generals in the field
by Lincoln's willingness to pardon military offenders. Such
softness of heart made it difficult for them to enforce proper
discipline. On file in the War Department are countless orders
to " suspend execution till further orders.'' Lincoln is reported
to have often said : " If the Lord gives a man a pair of cow
ardly legs, how can he help their running away with him?"

118 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 12
be executed next Monday. It is also said his
supposed desertion is comprised in an absence
commencing with his falling behind last winter,
being captured and paroled by the enemy, and
then going home. If this be near the truth,
please suspend the execution till further order
and send me the record of the trial. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General A. E. Burnside
Washington, September n, 1863. 11.30 a. m.
Major-General Burnside, Cumberland Gap:
Yours received. A thousand thanks for the late
successes you have given us. We cannot allow
you to resign until things shall be a little more
settled in East Tennessee. If then, purely on
your own account, you wish to resign, we will
not further refuse you. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Josiah Quincy
Executive Mansion, September 12, 1863.
Dear and honored Sir: Allow me to express
the personal gratification I feel at the receipt of
your very kind letter of the 7th of September,
and to thank you most cordially for its wise and
earnest words of counsel.
Believe me, my dear sir, to be very respect
fully and sincerely your friend and servant,
A. Lincoln.

1863] Telegram to Meade 119
*Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Washington, D. G, September 12, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.:
The name is "Thomas Edds" not "Eddies" as
in your despatch. The papers left with me do
not designate the regiment fo which he belongs.
The man who gave me the papers, I do not
know how to find again. He only told me that
Edds is in the Army of the Potomac, and that he
fell out of the ranks during Burnsides' mud
march last winter. If I get further information
I will telegraph again. A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to J. K. Dubois and O. M. Hatch
Washington, September 13, 1863.
Hon. J. K. Dubois, Hon. 0. M. Hatch:
What nation do you desire General Allen to be
made quarter-master-general of? This nation
already has a quarter-master-general. A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to Dr. J. P. Gray
Executive Mansion, September 13, 1863.
Dr. John P. Gray, Norfolk, Va. : The names
of those whose affidavits are left with me on the
question of Dr. Wright's sanity are as follows:
Mrs. Jane C. Bolsom, Mrs. M. E. Smiley,
Moses Hudgin, J. D. Ghislin, Jr., Felix Logue,

120 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 14
Robert B. Tunstall, M. D., Mrs. Elizabeth
Rooks, Dr. E. D. Granier, Thomas K. Murray,
William J. Holmes, Miss Margaret E. Wigeon,
Mrs. Emily S. Frost. A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to Dr. W. H. H. Scott
Washington, September 13, 1863.
Dr. William H. H. Scott, Danville, III.:
Your niece, Mrs. Kate Sharp, can now have no
difficulty in going to Knoxville, Tenn., as that
place is within our military lines. A. Lincoln.
Letter from Secretary Stanton to General
McClernand
War Department, September 14, 1863.
General: Your letter of the 5th instant has
been submitted to the President, who directs me
to say that a court of inquiry embracing any one
of the subjects specified in that letter would
necessarily withdraw from the field many officers
whose presence with their commands is abso
lutely indispensable to the service, and whose
absence might cause irreparable injury to the
success of operations now in active progress.
For these reasons he declines at present your ap
plication, but if hereafter it can be done with
out prejudice to the service, he will, in view of
your anxiety upon the subject, order a court.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

1 863] Proclamation

I2II

Proclamation Suspending Writ of Habeas
Corpus, September 15, 1863.
By the President of the United States of
America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the Constitution of the United States
has ordained that the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the pub
lic safety may require it; and whereas, a rebel
lion was existing on the third day of March,
1863, which rebellion is still existing; and
whereas, by a statute which was approved on
that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States, in Con
gress assembled, that during the present insur
rection the President of the United States, when
ever in his judgment the public safety may re
quire it, is authorized to suspend the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus in any case through
out the United States, or any part thereof; and
whereas, in the judgment of the President, the
public safety does require the privilege of the
said writ shall now be suspended, throughout the
United States, in the cases where, by the au
thority of the President of the United States,
military, naval, and civil officers of the United
States, or any of them, hold persons under their

122 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 14
command, or in their custody, either as prison
ers of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the
enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled
or drafted or mustered or enlisted in, or belong
ing to, the land or naval forces of the United
States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise
amenable to military law, or the rules and arti
cles of war, or the rules or regulations prescribed
for the military or naval service by authority
of the President of the United States; or for re
sisting a draft, or for any other offense against
the military or naval service :
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi
dent of the United States, do hereby proclaim
and make known to all whom it may concern,
that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
is suspended throughout the United States in
the several cases before mentioned, and that this
suspension will continue throughout the dura
tion of the said rebellion, or until this procla
mation shall, by a subsequent one to be issued
by the President of the United States, be modi
fied or revoked. And I do hereby require all
magistrates, attorneys, and other civil officers
within the United States, and all officers and
others in the military and naval service of the
United States, to take distinct notice of this sus
pension, and to give it full effect, and all citi
zens of the United States to conduct and govern

"863] Letter to Halleck 123
themselves accordingly, and in conformity with
the Constitution of the United States and the
laws of Congress in such cases made and pro
vided. In testimony whereof, I have here
unto set my hand, and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed, this
[L. S.J fifteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hun
dred and sixty-three, and of the inde
pendence of the United States of Amer
ica the eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President:
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 15, 1863.
Major-General Halleck: If I did not mis
understand General Meade's last despatch, he
posts you on facts as well as he can, and desires
your views and those of the government as to
what he shall do. My opinion is that he should
move upon Lee at once in manner of general at
tack, leaving to developments whether he will
make it a real attack. I think this would de
velop Lee's real condition and purposes better
than the cavalry alone can do. Of course my

124 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 17
opinion is not to control you and General Meade.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to J. G. Blaine
War Department, September 15, 1863.
J. G. Blaine, Augusta, Me. : Thanks both for
the good news you send and for the sending of it.
A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to Mrs. J. F. Speed
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, September 16, 1863.
Mrs. J. F. Speed, Louisville, Ky. : Mr. Hol-
man will not be jostled from his place with my
knowledge and consent. A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to General R. C. Schenck
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 17, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
Major Haynor left here several days ago under
a promise to put down in writing, in detail the
facts in relation to the misconduct of the people
on the Eastern shore of Virginia. He has not
returned. Please send him over. A. Lincoln.

1863] Telegram to Meade 125
•Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 17, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Yours in relation to Albert Jones is received.
I am appealed to in behalf of Richard M.
Abrams of Company A, Sixth New Jersey Vol
unteers, by Governor Parker, Attorney-General
Freelinghuysen, Governor Newell, Hon. Mr.
Middleton, M. C, of the district and the mar
shal who arrested him. I am also appealed to in
behalf of Joseph S. Smith, of Company A, Elev
enth New Jersey Volunteers, by Governor
Parker, Attorney-General Freelinghuysen, and
Hon. Marcus C. Ward. Please state the cir
cumstances of their cases to me. A. Lincoln.
Letter to I. N. Morris
Executive Mansion, September 18, 1863.
Sir: Please carefully put the argument in
writing, with reference to authorities, in the mat
ter intended to show that the law gives an appeal
to me in the case referred to. When that is
ready to be presented, I will try to give you the
personal interview about Illinois matters gener
ally. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

,i26 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 19
•Telegram to C. M. Smith
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, September i8, 1863.
C. M. Smith, Springfield, III. : Why not name
him for the general you fancy most? This is
my suggestion. A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to Mrs. Hannah Armstrong
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 18, 1863.
Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, Petersburg, III.:
I have just ordered the discharge of your boy
William as you say, now at Louisville, Ky.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Andrew Johnson
(Private.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, September 19, 1863.
My dear Sir: Herewith I send you a paper,
substantially the same as the one drawn up by
yourself and mentioned in your despatch, but
slightly changed in two particulars: First,
yours was so drawn as that I authorized you to
carry into effect the fourth section, etc., whereas
I so modify it as to authorize you to so act as to
require the United States to carry into effect that
section.

1863] Letter to Johnson 127
Secondly, you had a clause committing me in
some sort to the State constitution of Tennessee,
which I feared might embarrass you in making
a new constitution, if you desire; so I dropped
that clause. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
[Inclosure.]
Executive Mansion, September 19, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of
Tennessee: In addition to the matters con
tained in the orders and instructions given you
by the Secretary of War, you are hereby author
ized to exercise such powers as may be necessary
and proper to enable the loyal people of Ten
nessee to present such a republican form of State
government as will entitle the State to the guar
anty of the United States therefor, and to be pro
tected under such State government by the Unit
ed States against invasion and domestic violence,
all according to the fourth section of the fourth
article of the Constitution of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln.

128 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 19

Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 19, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK: By
General Meade's despatch to you of
yesterday it appears that he desires
your views and those of the government as to
whether he shall advance upon the enemy. I
am not prepared to order, or even advise, an
advance in this case, wherein I know so little of
particulars, and wherein he, in the field, thinks
the risk is so great, and the promise of advan
tage so small.
And yet the case presents matters for very
serious consideration in another aspect. These
two armies confront each other across a small
river, substantially midway between the two cap
itals, each defending its own capital, and men
acing the other. General Meade estimates the
enemy's infantry in front of him at not less than
40,000. Suppose we add fifty per cent, to this
for cavalry, artillery, and extra-duty men
stretching as far as Richmond, making the whole
force of the enemy 60,000.
General Meade, as shown by the returns, has

Lincoln, McClellan, and Staff",
Antietam, 1862
From a Rare Photograph in the Oldroyd Lincoln
Memorial Collection, Washington, D. C.

1863] Letter to Halleck 129
with him, and between him and Washington, of
the same classes of well men, over 90,000.
Neither can bring the whole of his men into a
battle; but each can bring as large a percentage
in as the other. For a battle, then, General
Meade has three men to General Lee's two. Yet,
it having been determined that choosing ground
and standing on the defensive gives so great ad
vantage that the three cannot safely attack the
two, the three are left simply standing on the
defensive also.
If the enemy's 60,000 are sufficient to keep
our 90,000 away from Richmond, why, by the
same rule, may not 40,000 of ours keep their
60,000 away from Washington, leaving us 50,-
000 to put to some other use? Having practi
cally come to the mere defensive, it seems to be
no economy at all to employ twice as many men
for that object as are needed. With no object,
certainly, to mislead myself, I can perceive no
fault in this statement, unless we admit we are
not the equal of the enemy, man for man. I
hope you will consider it.
To avoid misunderstanding, let me say that to
attempt to fight the enemy slowly back into his
intrenchments at Richmond, and then to capture
him, is an idea I have been trying to repudiate
for quite a year.
My judgment is so clear against it that I

130 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 21
would scarcely allow the attempt to be made if
the general in command should desire to make
it. My last attempt upon Richmond was to get
McClellan, when he was nearer there than the
enemy was, to run in ahead of him. Since then
I have constantly desired the Army of the Poto
mac to make Lee's army, and not Richmond, its
objective point. If our army cannot fall upon
the enemy and hurt him where he is, it is plain
to me it can gain nothing by attempting to follow
him over a succession of intrenched lines into
a fortified city. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Telegrams to Mrs. Lincoln
War Department, September 20, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: I neither see
nor hear anything of sickness here now, though
there may be much without my knowing it. I
wish you to stay, or come just as it is most agree
able to yourself. A. Lincoln.
War Department, September 21, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln : The air is so clear and cool
and apparently healthy that I would be glad
for you to come. Nothing very particular but
I would be glad to see you and Tad. A. Lincoln.

i863] Letter to Halleck 131
•Telegram to Governor F. H. Pierpoint
War Department, September 21, 1863.
Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va.: I
would be glad to have your opinion whether it
would be good policy to refund the money col
lected from the people of East Virginia, as in
demnity for the light house depredation. I be
lieve you once gave me your opinion on the
point, but I am not entirely sure. Please an
swer. A. Lincoln.
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion, September 21, 1863.
Major-General Halleck: I think it very
important for General Rosecrans to hold his
position at or about Chattanooga, because if
held from that place to Cleveland, both in
clusive, it keeps all Tennessee clear of the ene
my, and also breaks one of his most important
railroad lines. To prevent these consequences
is so vital to his cause that he cannot give up the
effort to dislodge us from the position, thus
bringing him to us and saving us the labor, ex
pense, and hazard of going farther to find him,
and also giving us the advantage of choosing
our own ground and preparing it to fight him
upon. The details must, of course, be left to
General Rosecrans, while we must furnish him

132 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 21
the means to the utmost of our ability. If you
concur, I think he would better be informed
that we are not pushing him beyond this posi
tion; and that, in fact, our judgment is rather
against his going beyond it. If he can only
maintain this position, without more, this re
bellion can only eke out a short and feeble ex
istence, as an animal sometimes may with a
thorn in its vitals. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Telegrams to General A. E. Burnside
War Department, September 21, 1863. 11 a. m.
Gen. Burnside, Greenville, Tenn.: If you
are to do any good to Rosecrans it will not do
to waste time with Jonesboro. It is already too
late to do the most good that might have been
done, but I hope it will still do some good.
Please do not lose a moment. A. LINCOLN.
War Department, September 21, 1863.
Gen. Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.: Go to
Rosecrans with your force without a moment's
delay. A. LINCOLN.
Telegrams to General W. S. Rosecrans
Washington, September 21, 1863. 12.55 p- m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga: Be
of good cheer. We have unabated confidence
in you, and in your soldiers and officers. In

1 863] Telegram to Rosecrans 133
the main you must be the judge as to what is to
be done. If I were to suggest, I would say,
save your army by taking strong positions until
Burnside joins you, when, I hope, you can turn
the tide. I think you had better send a courier
to Burnside to hurry him up. We cannot reach
him by telegraph. We suppose some force is
going to you from Corinth, but for want of com
munication we do not know how they are get
ting along. We shall do our utmost to assist
you. Send us your present positions. A. Lincoln.
(In Cipher.)
War Department, September 22, 1863. 8.30 a. m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: We have not a word here as to the
whereabouts or condition of your army up to
a later hour than sunset, Sunday, the 20th.
Your despatches to me of 9 A. Mv and to Gen
eral Halleck of 2 P. M., yesterday, tell us nothing
later on those points. Please relieve my anx
iety as to the position and condition of your
army up to the latest moment. A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to O. M. Hatch and J. K. Dubois1
Executive Mansion, September 22, 1863.
Hon. 0. M. Hatch, Hon. J. K. Dubois,
Springfield, III.: Your letter is just received.
1 Referring to his telegram of Sept. 13.

134 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 24
The particular form of my despatch Was joc
ular, which I supposed you gentlemen knew
me well enough to understand. General Allen
is considered here as a very faithful and capable
officer, and one who would be at least thought
of for quartermaster-general if that office were
vacant. A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, September 22, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: Did you re
ceive my despatch of yesterday? Mrs. Cuth-
bert did not corrctly understand me. I directed
her to tell you to use your own pleasure whether
to stay or come, and I did not say it is sickly and
that you should on no account come. So far as
I see or know, it was never healthier, and I
really wish to see you. Answer this on receipt.
A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
Washington, September 23, 1863. 9.15 a. m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: Below is Bragg's despatch as found in
the Richmond papers. You see he does not
claim so many prisoners or captured guns as
you were inclined to concede. Pie also con
fesses to heavy loss. An exchanged general of
ours leaving Richmond yesterday says two of

1 863] Proclamation

i35

Longstreet's divisions and his entire artillery
and two of Pickett's brigades and Wise's legion
have gone to Tennessee. He mentions no
other.Chickamauga River, September 20 (via Ringold, 21st).
General Cooper, Adjutant-General: After two
days' hard fighting we have driven the enemy, after a
desperate resistance, from several positions, and now
hold the field; but he still confronts us. The losses
are heavy on both sides, especially in our officers.
We have taken over twenty pieces of artillery and
some 2,500 prisoners.
Braxton Bragg.
A. Lincoln.
Proclamation opening the Port of Alex
andria, Virginia, September 24, 1863
By the President of the United States of
America
(A Proclamation.)
Whereas, in my proclamation of the twenty-
seventh of April, 1861, the ports of the States of
Virginia and North Carolina were, for reasons
therein set forth, placed under blockade; and
whereas the port of Alexandria, Virginia, has
since been blockaded, but as the blockade of
said port may now be safely relaxed with ad
vantage to the interests of commerce:

136 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 24
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States, pursu
ant to the authority in me vested by the fifth
section of the act of Congress, approved on the
13th of July, 1861, entitled "An act further to
provide for the collection of duties on imports,
and for other purposes," do hereby declare that
the blockade of the said port of Alexandria
shall so far cease and determine, from and after
this date, that commercial intercourse with said
port, except as to persons, things, and informa
tion contraband of war, may from this date be
carried on, subject to the laws of the United
States, and to the limitations, and in pursuance
of the regulations which are prescribed by the
Secretary of the Treasury in his order, which is
appended to my proclamation of the 12th of
May, 1862.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand, and caused the seal of the United States
to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-
fourth day of September, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three, and of the independence of the United
States the eighty-eighth.
[l- s.] Abraham Lincoln.
By the President: William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.

1 863] Telegram to Rosecrans 137
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, September 24, 1863. 10 a. m.
Major - General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: Last night we received the rebel ac
counts, through Richmond papers, of your late
battle. They give Major-General Hood as
mortally wounded, and Brigadiers Preston
Smith, Wofford, Walthall, Helm of Kentucky,
and Deshler killed, and Major-Generals Pres
ton, Cleburne, and Gregg, and Brigadier-Gen
erals Benning, Adams, Bunn, Brown and John
[B. H.] Helm wounded. By confusion the two
Helms may be the same man, and Bunn and
Brown may be the same man. With Burnside,
Sherman, and from elsewhere we shall get to you
from forty to sixty thousand additional men.
A. Lincoln.
Telegram to Mrs. Lincoln
War Department, September 24, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: We now have
a tolerably accurate summing up of the late bat
tle between Rosecrans and Bragg. The result
is that we are worsted, if at all, only in the fact
that we, after the main fighting was over,
yielded the ground, thus leaving considerable
of our artillery and wounded to fall into the
enemy's hands, for which we got nothing in

138 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 24
turn. We lost in general officers one killed and
three or four wounded, all brigadiers, while, ac
cording to the rebel accounts which we have,
they lost six killed and eight wounded. Of the
killed one major-general and five brigadiers, in
cluding your brother-in-law, Helm; and of the
wounded three major-generals and five briga
diers. This list may be reduced two in number
by corrections of confusion in names. At 1 1 :40
A. M. yesterday General Rosecrans telegraphed
from Chattanoga: "We hold this point, and I
cannot be dislodged except by very superior
numbers and after a great battle." A despatch
leaving there after night yesterday says: "No
fight to-day." A. LINCOLN.
•Telegrams to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, September 24, 1863.
Major-General Meade: I am appealed to in
favor of a private (name not remembered) in
Company D, First Regiment New Jersey Vol
unteers, in Sixth Corps, who is said to be under
sentence to be shot to-morrow. Please give me
briefly the facts of the case, including his age
and your opinion on it. A. LINCOLN.
P. S. Also give me a like statement in the
case of Daniel Sullivan, of Thirteenth Regi
ment of Massachusetts Volunteers, First Army
Corps. A. Lincoln.

1 863] Telegrams to Meade 139
War Department, September 25, 1863.
Major-General Meade: Owing to the press
in behalf of Daniel Sullivan, Company E, Thir
teenth Massachusetts, and the doubt though
small, which you express of his guilty intention,
I have concluded to say let his execution be sus
pended till further order, and copy of record
sent me. A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to General McCallum
War Department, September 25, 1863.
General McCallum, Alexandria, Va.: I
have sent to General Meade, by telegraph, to
suspend the execution of Daniel Sullivan of
Company E, Thirteenth Massachusetts, which
was to be to-day, but understanding there is an
interruption on the line, may I beg you to send
this to him by the quickest mode in your power?
A. Lincoln.
Draft of Letter to General A. E. Burnside
(Not Sent.)
War Department, September 25, 1863.
Major-General Burnside: Yours of the 23d
is just received, and it makes me doubt whether
I am awake or dreaming. I have been strug
gling for ten days, first through General Hal
leck, and then directly, to get you to go to assist
General Rosecrans in an extremity, and you

140 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 27
have repeatedly declared you would do it, and
yet you steadily move the contrary way. On
the 19th you telegraph once from Knoxville,
and twice from Greenville, acknowledging re
ceipt of order, and saying you will hurry sup
port to Rosecrans. On the 20th you telegraph
again from Knoxville, saying you will do all
you can, and are hurrying troops to Rosecrans.
On the 2 1 st you telegraph from Morristown,
saying you will hurry support to Rosecrans, and
now your despatch of the 23d comes in from
Carter's Station, still farther away from Rose
crans, still saying you will assist him, but giv
ing no account of any progress made toward as
sisting him.
You came in upon the Tennessee River at
Kingston, Loudon, and Knoxville; and what
bridges, or the want of them, upon the Holston,
can have to do in getting the troops toward
Rosecrans at Chattanooga, is incomprehensible.
They were already many miles nearer Chatta
nooga than any part of the Holston River is,
and on the right side of it. If they are now on
the wrong side of it, they can only have got so
by going from the direction of Chattanooga,
and that, too, since you have assured us you
would move to Chattanooga; while it would
seem, too, that they could recross the Holston
by whatever means they crossed in going east.

1863] Telegram to Burnside 141
•Telegram to General R. C. Schenck
War Department, September 25, 1863.
Maj.-Gen. Schenck, Baltimore, Md.: Please
send Mayor Hayner over now. A. LINCOLN.
Telegrams to General A. E. Burnside
War Department, September 27, 1863. 6.45 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Your despatch just received. My order to you
meant simply that you should save Rosecrans
from being crushed out, believing if he lost his
position you could not hold east Tennessee in
any event; and that if he held his position, east
Tennessee was substantially safe in any event.
This despatch is in no sense an order. General
Halleck will answer you fully. A. LINCOLN.
War Department, September 27, 1863. 8 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.:
It was suggested to you, not ordered, that you
should move to Rosecrans on the north side of
the river, because it was believed the enemy
would not permit you to join him if you should
move on the south side. Hold your present
positions, and send Rosecrans what you can
spare, in the quickest and safest way. In the
meantime hold the remainder as nearly in
readiness to go to him as you can consistently

142 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 28
with the duty it is to perform while it remains.
East Tennessee can be no more than tempora
rily lost so long as Chattanooga is firmly held.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to General W. S. Rosecrans
Executive Mansion, September 28, 1863.
My dear General Rosecrans: We are send
ing you two small corps, one under General
Howard and one under General Slocum, and
the whole under General Hooker. Unfortu
nately the relations between Generals Hooker
and Slocum are not such as to promise good, if
their present relative positions remain. There
fore, let me beg — almost enjoin upon you — that
on their reaching you, you will make a transposi
tion by which General Slocum with his corps
may pass from under the command of General
Hooker, and General Hooker, in turn, receive
some other equal force. It is important for this
to be done, though we could not well arrange it
here. Please do it. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, September 28, 1863. 8 a. m.
Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
You can perhaps communicate with General
Burnside more rapidly by sending telegrams di-

1863] Letter to Ames

i43

rectly to him at Knoxville. Think of it. I send
a like despatch to him. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Horatio Ames
Executive Mansion, September 28, 1863.
Mr. Horatio Ames, Falls Village, Conn.: If
you will on or before the first day of March,
1864, within the State of Connecticut, or at any
point nearer this city, produce fifteen guns,
each of capacity to carry a missile of at least
one hundred pounds' weight, and notify me
thereof, I will cause some person or persons to
examine and test said guns; and if, upon such
examination and test, it shall be the opinion of
such person or persons that said guns, or any of
them, are, on the whole, better guns than any
of like caliber heretofore, or now, in use in the
United States, I will, on account of the United
States, accept said guns, or so many thereof, as
shall be so favorably reported on, and advise
that you be paid for all so accepted, at the rate
of eighty-five cents per pound, avoirdupois
weight, of said guns so accepted; it being un
derstood that I have no public money at my
control, with which I could make such pay
ment absolutely. Yours, etc.,
A. Lincoln.

144 Abraham Lincoln [Sept. 29

Reply to Sons of Temperance
September 29, 1863
AS a matter of course, it will not be pos
sible for me to make a response co
extensive with the address which you
have presented to me. If I were better known
than I am, you would not need to be told that
in the advocacy of the cause of temperance you
have a friend and sympathizer in me.
When I was a young man — long ago — be
fore the Sons of Temperance as an organization
had an existence — I, in a humble way, made
temperance speeches, and I think I may say
that to this day I have never, by my example,
belied what I then said.
In regard to the suggestions which you make
for the purpose of the advancement of the cause
of temperance in the army, I cannot make par
ticular responses to them at this time. To pre
vent intemperance in the army is even a part of
the articles of war. It is part of the law of the
land, and was so, I presume, long ago, to dis
miss officers for drunkenness. I am not sure
that, consistently with the public service, more
can be done than has been done. All, there-

1863] Reply to Address 145
fore, that I can promise you is — if you will be
pleased to furnish me with a copy of your ad
dress — to have it submitted to the proper de
partment, and have it considered whether it
contains any suggestions which will improve
the cause of temperance and repress the cause
of drunkenness in the army any better than it
is already done. I can promise no more than
that. I think that the reasonable men of the world
have long since agreed that intemperance is
one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of
all evils among mankind. That is not a matter
of dispute, I believe. That the disease exists,
and that it is a very great one, is agreed upon
by all. The mode of cure is one about which
there may be differences of opinion. You have
suggested that in an army — our army — drunken
ness is a great evil, and one which, while it
exists to a very great extent, we cannot expect
to overcome so entirely as to have such suc
cesses in our arms as we might have without
it. This undoubtedly is true, and while it is
perhaps rather a bad source to derive comfort
from, nevertheless, in a hard struggle, I do not
know but what it is some consolation to be
aware that there is some intemperance on the
other side, too; and, that they have no right to
beat us in physical combat on that ground.

146 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 1
But I have already said more than I expected
to be able to say when I began, and if you please
to hand me a copy of your address, it shall be
considered. I thank you very heartily, gentle
men, for this call, and for bringing with you
these very many pretty ladies.
•Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 30, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.: Fol
lowing despatch just received:
Union Men Driven Out of Missouri.
Leavenworth, September 29. — Governor Gam
ble having authorized Colonel Moss, of Liberty,
Mo., to arm the men in Platte and Clinton Counties,
he has armed mostly the returned rebel soldiers and
men under bonds. Moss' men are now driving the
Union men out of Missouri. Over one hundred
families crossed the river to-day. Many of the wives
of our Union soldiers have been compelled to leave.
Four or five Union men have been murdered by Col
onel Moss' men.
Please look to this and if true, in whole or part
put a stop to it. A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to F. S. Corkran
Executive Mansion, September 30, 1863.
Hon. Francis S. Corkran, Baltimore, Md.:
Mrs. L. is now at home and would be pleased

1863] Letter to Schofield 147
to see you any time. If the grape time has not
passed away, she would be pleased to join in
the enterprise you mention.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to Governor A. W. Bradford
Executive Mansion, October i, 1863.
Gov. Bradford, Baltimore, Md.: Please be
here in person at 12 M. Saturday to fix up defi
nitely in writing the matter about which Mr.
Johnson and Governor Hicks brings a com
munication from you. A. Lincoln.
Please repeat to Annapolis. A. L.
Letter to General J. M. Schofield
Executive Mansion, October 1, 1863.
General John M. Schofield: There is no or
ganized military force in avowed opposition to
the General Government now in Missouri, and
if any such shall reappear, your duty in regard
to it will be too plain to require any special in
struction. Still, the condition of things both
here and elsewhere is such as to render it indis
pensable to maintain for a time the United
States military establishment in that State, as
well as to rely upon it for a fair contribution of
support to that establishment generally. Your
immediate duty in regard to Missouri now is to
advance the efficiency of that establishment, and

148 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 1
to so use it as far as practicable to compel the
excited people there to leave one another alone.
Under your recent order, which I have ap
proved, you will only arrest individuals and
suppress assemblies or newspapers when they
may be working palpable injury to the military
in your charge, and in no other case will you
interfere with the expression of opinion in any
form or allow it to be interfered with violently
by others. In this you have a discretion to ex
ercise with great caution, calmness, and for
bearance. With the matters of removing the
inhabitants of certain counties en masse, and of
removing certain individuals from time to time
who are supposed to be mischievous, I am not
now interfering, but am leaving to your own dis
cretion. Nor am I interfering with what may
still seem to you to be necessary restrictions upon
trade and intercourse. I think proper, how
ever, to enjoin upon you the following:
Allow no part of the military under your
command to be engaged in either returning
fugitive slaves or in forcing or enticing slaves
from their homes, and, so far as practicable,
enforce the same forbearance upon the people.
Report to me your opinion upon the availa
bility for good of the enrolled militia of the
State. Allow no one to enlist colored troops except

1 863]; Letter to Schofield 149
upon orders from you or from here, through
you. Allow no one to assume the functions of con
fiscating property under the law of Congress, or
otherwise, except upon orders from here.
At elections see that those, and only those, are
allowed to vote who are entitled to do so by the
laws of Missouri, including, as of those laws,
the restriction laid by the Missouri convention
upon those who may have participated in the
rebellion. So far as practicable, you will, by
means of your military force, expel guerrillas,
maurauders, and murderers, and all who are
known to harbor, aid, or abet them. But in like
manner you will repress assumptions of unau
thorized individuals to perform the same service
because, under pretense of doing this, they be
come marauders and murderers themselves.1
To now restore peace, let the military obey
orders, and, those not of the military leave each
other alone, thus not breaking the peace them
selves. In giving the above directions, it is not
intended to restrain you in other expedient and
necessary matters not falling within their range.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
1 An active secession minority kept Missouri in continual
social, political and military turmoil during- the war. Only the
President's patience, tact and wisdom saved the State to the
Union.

150 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 3
•Telegram to General E. B. Tyler
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October i, 1863.
General Tyler, Baltimore: Take care of
colored troops in your charge, but do nothing
further about that branch of affairs until fur
ther orders. Particularly do nothing about
General Vickers of Kent County. A. LINCOLN.
Send a copy to Colonel Birney. A. L.
•Telegram to T. A. Scott
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 1, 1863. 4.20 p.m.
Thomas A. Scott, Louisville, Ky.: Tell me
how things have advanced so far as you know.
A.' Lincoln.
Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 2, 1863. 9 a. m.
Major-General Schofield: I have just seen
seen your despatch to Halleck about Major-
General Blunt. If possible, you better allow
me to get through with a certain matter here
before adding to the difficulties of it. Mean
time supply me the particulars of Major-Gen
eral Blunt's case. A. Lincoln.

1863] Thanksgiving Proclamation 151
•Telegram to Colonel Birney
Washington, D. C, October 3, 1863.
Colonel Birney, Baltimore, Md.: Please
give me as near as you can the number of slaves
you have recruited in Maryland. Of course the
number is not to include the free colored.
A. Lincoln.
Proclamation for Thanksgiving, October 3,
1863
By the President of the United States of
America.-
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing toward its close has
been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields
and healthful skies. To these bounties, which
are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to
forget the source from which they come, others
have been added, which are of so extraordinary
a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and
soften the heart which is habitually insensible
to the ever-watchful providence of almighty
God. In the midst of a civil war of unequal mag
nitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed
to foreign states to invite and provoke their ag
gressions, peace has been preserved with all na
tions, order has been maintained, the laws have

1 52 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 3
been respected and obeyed, and harmony has
prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of
military conflict; while that theater has been
greaty contracted by the advancing armies and
navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength
from the fields of peaceful industry to the na
tional defense have not arrested the plow, the
shuttle, or the ship ; the ax has enlarged the bor
ders of our settlements, and the mines, as well
of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have
yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstand
ing the waste that has been made in the camp,
the siege, and the battle-field, and the country,
rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented
strength and vigor, is permitted to expect con
tinuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any
mortal hand worked out these great things.
They are the gracious gifts of the most high
God, who, while dealing with us in anger for
our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they
should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully
acknowledged as with one heart and one voice
by the whole American people. I do, therefore,
invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the
United States, and also those who are at sea and

1863] Thanksgiving Proclamation 153
those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set
apart and observe the last Thursday of Novem
ber next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to
our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the
heavens. And I recommend to them that, while
offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for
such singular deliverances and blessings, they do
also, with humble penitence for our national
pcrvcrsencss and disobedience, commend to his
tender care all those who have become widows,
orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lament
able civil strife in which we are unavoidably
engaged, and fervently implore the interposition
of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the
nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be con
sistent with the Divine purposes, to the full en
joyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and
union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand, and caused the seal of the United States
to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this
third day of October, in the year of our
[L. S.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three, and of the independence of
the United States the eighty-eighth. A. Lincoln.
By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Sec
retary of State.

i54 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 4
Telegram to General J. M. Schofield
Washington, D. C, October 4, 1863. n a. m.
Major-General Schofield, St. Louis, Mo.: I
think you will not have just cause to complain
of my action. A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, October 4, 1863. 11.30 a.m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: Yours of yesterday received. If we
can hold Chattanooga and East Tennessee, I
think the rebellion must dwindle and die. I
think you and Burnside can do this, and hence
doing so is your main object. Of course to
greatly damage or destroy the enemy in your
front would be a greater object, because it would
include the former and more, but it is not so
certainly within your power. I understand the
main body of the enemy is very near you, so
near that you could "board at home," so to speak,
and menace or attack him any day. Would not
the doing of this be your best mode of counter
acting his raid on your communications? But
this is not an order. I intend doing something
like what you suggest whenever the case shall
appear ripe enough to have it accepted in the
true understanding rather than as a confession
of weakness and fear. A. Lincoln.

Montgomery Blair
Wood Engraving after a Photograph by Brady.

¦mm

'WMI&\ < < -

1863] Letter to Drake 155

Letter to Charles D. Drake and Others
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 5, 1863.
GENTLEMEN: Your original address
presented on the 30th ultimo, and the
four supplementary ones presented on
the 3d instant, have been carefully considered.
I hope you will regard the other duties claiming
my attention, together with the great length and
importance of these documents, as constituting
a sufficient apology for my not having responded
sooner. These papers, framed for a common
object consist of the things demanded and the
reasons for demanding them. The things de
manded are:
First: That General Schofield shall be re
lieved, and General Butler be appointed, as com
mander of the military department of Missouri.
Second. That the system of enrolled militia
in Missouri may be broken up, and national
forces be substituted for it; and
Third. That at elections persons may not be
allowed to vote who are not entitled by law to
do so.
Among the reasons given, enough of suffering

156 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 5
and wrong to Union men is certainly, and I sup
pose truly, stated. Yet the whole case, as pre
sented, fails to convince me that General Scho
field or the enrolled militia is responsible for
that suffering and wrong. The whole can be
explained on a more charitable and, as I think,
a more rational hypothesis. We are in civil
war. In such cases there always is a main ques
tion; but in this case that question is a perplex
ing compound — Union and slavery. It thus be
comes a question not of two sides merely but of
at least four sides, even among those who are for
the Union, saying nothing of those who are
against it. Thus, those who are for the Union
with, but not without, slavery — those for it with
out, but not with — those for it with or without,
but prefer it with — and those for it with or with
out, but prefer it without.
Among these again is a subdivision of those
who are for gradual, but not for immediate, and
those who are for immediate, but not for grad
ual, extinction of slavery. It is easy to conceive
that all these shades of opinion, and even more,
may be sincerely entertained by honest and
truthful men. Yet, all being for the Union, by
reason of these differences each will prefer a
different way of sustaining the Union. At once
sincerity is questioned, and motives are assailed.
Actual war coming, blood grows hot, and blood

1863] Letter to Drake 157
is spilled. Thought is forced from old chan
nels into confusion. Deception breeds and
thrives. Confidence dies and universal sus
picion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to
kill his neighbor, lest he be first killed by him.
Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this,
as before said, may be among honest men only;
but this is not all. Every foul bird comes
abroad and every dirty reptile rises up. These
add crime to confusion. Strong measures
deemed indispensable, but harsh at best, such
men make worse by maladministration. Mur
ders for old grudges, and murders for pelf, pro
ceed under any cloak that will best cover for the
occasion. These causes amply account for what
has occurred in Missouri, without ascribing it
to the weakness or wickedness of any general.
The newspaper files, those chroniclers of current
events, will show that the evils now complained
of were quite as prevalent under Fremont,
Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield.
If the former had greater force opposed to them,
they also had greater force with which to meet
it. When the organized rebel army left the
State, the main Federal force had to go also,
leaving the department commander at home rel
atively no stronger than before. Without dis
paraging any, I affirm with confidence that no
commander of that department has, in propor-

158 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 5
tion to his means, done better than General Scho
field. The first specific charge against General Scho
field is that the enrolled militia was placed un
der his command, whereas it had not been placed
under the command of General Curtis. The
fact, I believe, is true; but you do not point out,
nor can I conceive how that did or could injure
loyal men or the Union cause.
You charge that, upon General Curtis being
superseded by General Schofield, Franklin A.
Dick was superseded by James O. Broadhead as
Provost-Marshal-General. No very specific
showing is made as to how this did or could in
jure the Union cause. It recalls, however the
condition of things as presented to me, which
led to a change of commander for that depart
ment. To restrain contraband intelligence and trade,
a system of searches, seizures, permits, and
passes had been introduced, I think, by General
Fremont. When General Halleck came, he
found and continued this system, and added an
order, applicable to some parts of the State, to
levy and collect contributions from noted rebels,
to compensate losses and relieve destitution
caused by the rebellion. The action of General
Fremont and General Halleck, as stated, con
stituted a sort of system, which General Curtis

1863] Letter to Schofield 159
found in full operation when he took command
of the department. That there was a necessity
for something of the sort was clear, but that it
could only be justified by stern necessity and that
it was liable to great abuse in administration,
was equally clear. Agents to execute it, con
trary to the great prayer, were led into tempta
tion. Some might, while others would not, re
sist that temptation. It was not possible to hold
any to a very strict accountability, and those
yielding to the temptation would sell permits
and passes to those who would pay most and
most readily for them; and would seize prop
erty and collect levies in the aptest way to fill
their own pockets. Money being the object, the
man having money, whether loyal or disloyal,
would be a victim. This practice doubtless ex
isted to some extent, and it was a real additional
evil that it could be and was plausibly charged
to exist in greater extent than it did.
When General Curtis took command of the
deparment, Mr. Dick, against whom I never
knew anything to allege, had general charge of
this system. A controversy in regard to it rap
idly grew into almost unmanageable propor
tions. One side ignored the necessity and mag
nified the evils of the system, while the other
ignored the evils and magnified the necessity,
and each bitterly assailed the motives of the

160 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 5
other. I could not fail to see that the contro
versy enlarged in the same proportion as the
professed Union men there distinctly took sides
in two opposing political parties. I exhausted
my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in
efforts to convince both that the evils they
charged on each other were inherent in the case,
and could not be cured by giving either party a
victory over the other.
Plainly the irritating system was not to be
perpetual, and it was plausibly urged that it
could be modified at once with advantage. The
case could scarcely be worse, and whether it
could be made better could only be determined
by a trial. In this view, and not to ban or brand
General Curtis, or to give a victory to any party,
I made the change of commander for the depart
ment. I now learn that soon after this change Mr.
Dick was removed, and that Mr. Broadhead, a
gentleman of no less good character, was put in
the place. The mere fact of this change is more
distinctly complained of than is any conduct of
the new officer or other consequences of the
change. I gave the new commander no instructions as
to the administration of the system mentioned
beyond what is contained in the private letter
afterward surreptitiously published, in which I

i863]| Letter to Schofield 161
directed him to act solely for the public good
and independently of both parties. Neither
anything you have presented me nor anything
I have otherwise learned has convinced me that
he has been unfaithful to this charge.
Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing
General Schofield and the late massacre at Law
rence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of that im
becility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to
prove the proposition. That massacre is only
an example of what Grierson, John [H.] Mor
gan and many others might have repeatedly done
on their respective raids had they chosen to in
cur the personal hazard and possessed the fiend
ish hearts to do it.
The charge is made that General Schofield,
on purpose to protect the Lawrence murderers,
would not allow them to be pursued into Mis
souri. While no punishment could be too sud
den or too severe for those murderers, I am well
satisfied that the preventing of the threatened
remedial raid into Missouri was the only safe
way to avoid an indiscriminate massacre there,
including probably more innocent than guilty.
Instead of condemning I therefore approve
what I understand General Schofield did in that
respect. The charges that General Schofield has pur
posely withheld protection from loyal people

1 62 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 5
and purposely facilitated the objects of the dis
loyal are altogether beyond my power of belief.
I do not arraign the veracity of gentlemen as
to the facts complained of, but I do more than
question the judgment which would infer that
those facts occurred in accordance with the pur
poses of General Schofield.
With my present views, I must decline to re
move General Schofield. In this I decide noth
ing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it
were convenient to assign him a suitable com
mand. In order to meet some existing evils I
have addressed a letter of instructions to Gen
eral Schofield, a copy of which I inclose to you.
As to the enrolled militia, I shall endeavor to
ascertain better than I now know what is its ex
act value. Let me say now, however, that your
proposal to substitute national forces for the en
rolled militia implies that in your judgment the
latter is doing something which needs to be
done; and if so, the proposition to throw that
force away and to supply its place by bringing
other forces from the field where they are ur
gently needed seems to me very extraordinary.
Whence shall they come? Shall they be with
drawn from Banks, or Grant or Steele or Rose
crans? Few things have been so grateful to my
anxious feelings as when, in June last, the local
force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so

1863]! Letter to Schofield 163
promptly send a large general force to the relief
of General Grant, then investing Vicksburg, and
menaced from without by General Johnston.
Was this all wrong? Should the enrolled mi
litia then have been broken up and General Her-
ron kept from Grant to police Missouri? So
far from finding cause to object, I confess to a
sympathy for whatever relieves our general
force in Missouri and allows it to serve else
where. I therefore, as at present advised, can
not attempt the destruction of the enrolled mi
litia of Missouri. I may add that the force
being under the national military control, it is
also within the proclamation in regard to the
habeas corpus.
I concur in the propriety of your request in
regard to elections, and have, as you see, directed
General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel
justified to enter upon the broad field you pre
sent in regard to the political differences be
tween Radicals and Conservatives. From time
to time I have done and said what appeared to
me proper to do and say. The public knows
it all. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I
trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The Rad
icals and Conservatives each agree with me in
some things and disagree in others. I could
wish both to agree with me in all things, for
then they would agree with each other and

164 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 9
would be too strong for any foe from any quar
ter. They, however, choose to do otherwise;
and I do not question their right. I too shall
do what seems to be my duty. I hold who
ever commands in Missouri or elsewhere re
sponsible to me and not to either Radicals or
Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all, but at
last I must, within my sphere, judge what to do
and what to forbear. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Memorandum Concerning T. J. Carter
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 5, 1863.
Whom it may concern: Unless something
now unknown and unexpected shall come to my
knowledge, tending to change my purpose, I
shall, at the proper time, appoint Timothy J.
Carter one of the two directors to be appointed
by the President, according to a provision in
the first section of the act of Congress, entitled
" An act to aid in the construction of a railroad
and telegraph line from the Missouri River
to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the
government the use of the same for postal,
military, and other purposes, approved Tulv 1.
1862." y '
Abraham Lincoln.

1863] Detail of Stewart 165
•Telegram to Governor Andrew Johnson
War Department, October 7, 1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.: What
news have you from Rosecrans' army, or in that
direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN.
Detail of C. B. Stewart for Certain
Purposes
Executive Mansion, October 9, 1863.
To whom it may concern: In pursuance of a
resolution of the Senate and Assembly of the
State of New York, in the words following, to
wit: " Resolved, That the governor be and
hereby is empowered and requested to invite
the President of the United States to select and
detail a competent engineer in behalf and at the
expense of the General Government, to consult
with the engineers so to be appointed by the
canal board in respect to the surveys mentioned
in the preceding resolution and as to the mode
of constructing the work so as most effectually
to promote the national interests," and in re
sponse to the invitation of the governor of said
State of New York, made in virtue of said reso
lution, I do hereby select and detail Charles B.
Stewart, of Geneva, in said State, to perform the
duties contemplated in and by said resolution,
it being understood by said Stewart that he is

1 66

Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 12

to rely upon an appropriation hereafter to be
made by Congress, for any compensation he may
receive. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Washington, October 10, 1863. 4.55 p. m.
General Meade: Am interested with your
despatch of noon. How is it now? A. Lincoln.
•Telegrams to General G. G. Meade
War Department, October 11, 1863. 9.50 a. m.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
How is it now? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, October 12, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
The father and mother of John Murphy, of the
One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Vol
unteers, have filed their own affidavits that he
was born June 22, 1846, and also the affidavits
of three other persons who all swear that they
remembered the circumstances of his birth and
that it was in the year 1846, though they do not
remember the particular day. I therefore on
account of his tender age, have concluded to
pardon him, and to leave it to yourself, whether
to discharge him or continue him in the service.
A. Lincoln.

1 863 Telegram to Rosecrans 167
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, October 12, 1863. 8.35 a. m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: As I understand, Burnside is menaced
from the west, and so cannot go to you without
surrendering East Tennessee. I now think the
enemy will not attack Chattanooga and I think
you will have to look out for his making a con
centrated drive at Burnside. You and Burn
side now have him by the throat; and he must
break your hold or perish. I therefore think
you better try to hold the road up to Kingston,
leaving Burnside to what is above there. Sher
man is coming to you, though gaps in the tele
graph prevent our knowing how far he is ad
vanced. He and Hooker will so support you on
the west and northwest as to enable you to look
east and northeast. This is not an order. Gen
eral Halleck will give his views. A. LINCOLN
Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Washington, October 12, 1863. 9 a. m.
Major-General Meade: What news this
morning? A despatch from Rosecrans, leav
ing him at 7:30 P. M. yesterday, says:
Rebel rumors that head of Ewell's column reached
Dalton yesterday.
I send this for what it is worth. A. LINCOLN.

1 68 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 14
•Telegrams to Wayne McVeigh
Executive Mansion, October 13, 1863.
McVeigh, Philadelphia: The enemy some
days ago made a movement, apparently to turn
General Meade's right. This led to a manceu-
vering of the two armies and to pretty heavy
skirmishing on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
We have frequent dispatches from General
Meade, and up to 10 o'clock last night nothing
had happened giving either side any marked
advantage. Our army reported to be in excel
lent condition. The telegraph is open to Gen
eral Meade's camp this morning, but we have
not troubed him for a despatch. A. LINCOLN.
War Department, October 14, 1863. 3.35.
Wayne McVeigh, Philadelphia: How does
it stand now? A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Thurlow Weed
Executive Mansion, October 14, 1863.
My dear Sir: I have been brought to fear
recently that somehow, by commission or omis
sion, I have caused you some degree of pain.
I have never entertained an unkind feeling or a
disparaging thought toward you ; and if I have
said or done anything which has been construed
into such unkindness or disparagement, it has
been misconstrued. I am sure if we could meet

1863] Letter to Weed 169
we would not part with any unpleasant impres
sion on either side. Yours as eyer, A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to J. W. Grimes
Executive Mansion, October 15, 1863.
Hon. James W. Grimes, Burlington, Iowa:
Thanks for your Iowa election news. I sup
pose you know that Pennsylvania and Ohio are
all right. Governor Morton telegraphs that
county elections in Indiana have gone largely in
the same direction. A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to General J. G. Foster
War Department, October 15, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Postpone the execution of Dr. Wright to Friday
the 23d instant, (October) . This is intended for
his preparation and is final. A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to L. B. Todd
War Department, October 15, 1863.
L. B. Todd, Lexington, Ky.: I send the fol
lowing pass to your care. A. LINCOLN.
Washington, D. C, October 15, 1863.
To whom it may concern: Allow Mrs.
Robert S. Todd, widow, to go South and bring
her daughter, Mrs. General B. Hardin Helm,
with her children north to Kentucky. A. Lincoln.

170 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 16
* Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, October 15, 1863.
Major-General Meade: On the 4th instant
you telegraphed me that Private Daniel Hanson,
of Ninety-seventh New York Volunteers, had
not yet been tried. When he shall be, please
notify me of the result, with a brief statement of
his case, if he be convicted. Gustave Blitters-
dorf, whom you say is enlisted in the One hun
dred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers,
as William Fox, is proven to me to be only fif
teen years old last January. I pardon him and
you will discharge him or put him in the ranks
at your discretion. Mathias Brown, of Nine
teenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, is proven to me
to be eighteen last May, and his friends say he is
convicted on an enlistment and for a desertion,
both before that time. If this last be true he is
pardoned, to be kept or discharged as you please.
If not true, suspend his execution and report the
facts of his case. Did you receive my dispatch
of 1 2th pardoning John Murphy? A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion, October 16, 1863.
Hon. S. P. Chase, Cincinnati, O.: If "fudge
Lawrence cannot go to Key West at once, I shall
have to appoint another. A. LINCOLN.

1863] Letter to Halleck 171
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion, October 16, 1863.
Major-General Halleck: I do not believe
Lee can have over 60,000 effective men.
Longstreet's corps would not be sent away to
bring an equal force back upon the same road;
and there is no other direction for them to have
come from.
Doubtless, in making the present movement,
Lee gathered in all available scraps, and added
them to Hill's and Ewell's corps; but that is
all and he made the movement in the belief that
four corps had left General Meade; and Gen
eral Meade's apparently avoiding a collision
with him has confirmed him in that belief. If
General Meade can now attack him on a field
no worse than equal for us, and will do so with
all the skill and courage which he, his officers,
and men possess, the honor will be his if he suc
ceeds, and the blame may be mine if he fails.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to T. W. Sweeney
War Department, October 16, 1863.
Thomas W. Sweeney: Tad is teasing me to
have you forward his pistol to him. A. Lincoln.

172 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 17
* Telegram to T. C Durant
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 16, 1863.
T. C. Durant, New York: I remember re
ceiving nothing from you of the 10th, and I do
not comprehend your despatch of to-day. In
fact I do not remember, if I ever knew who you
are, and I have very little conception as to what
you are telegraphing about. A. Lincoln.
Call for 300,000 Volunteers, October 17,
1863
By the President of the United States
of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the term of service of a part of the
volunteer forces of the United States will ex
pire during the coming year, and whereas, in
addition to the men raised by the present draft,
it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred
thousand volunteers to serve for three years or
the war, not, however, exceeding three years :
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi
dent of the United States, and commander-in-
chief of the army and navy thereof, and of the
militia of the several States when called into

1 863] Call for Volunteers 173
actual service, do issue this, my proclamation,
calling upon the governors of the different States
to raise and have enlisted into the United States
service, for the various companies and regiments
in the field from their respective States, their
quotas of three hundred thousand men.
I further proclaim that all volunteers thus
called out and duly enlisted shall receive ad
vance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore
communicated to the governors of States by the
War Department, through the Provost-Mar-
hal-General's office, by special letters.
I further proclaim that all volunteers received
under this call as well as all others not heretofore
credited, shall be duly credited on, and deducted
from, the quotas established for the next draft.
I further proclaim that if any State shall fail
to raise the quota assigned to it by the War De
partment under this call, then a draft for the
deficiency in said quota shall be made on said
State, or on the districts of said State, for their
due proportion of said quota; and the said draft
shall commence on the fifth day of January,
1864. And I further proclaim that nothing in this
proclamation shall interfere with existing or
ders, or those which may be issued, for the pres
ent draft in the States where it is now in
progress, or where it has not yet commenced.

174 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 17
The quotas of the States and districts will be
assigned by the War Department, through the
Provost-Marshal-General's office, due regard
being had for the men heretofore furnished,
whether by volunteering or drafting, and the re
cruiting will be conducted in accordance with
such instructions as have been or may be issued
by that department.
In issuing this proclamation I address myself
not only to the governors of the several States,
but also to the good and loyal people thereof,
invoking them to lend their willing, cheerful,
and effective aid to the measures thus adopted,
with a view to reinforce our victorious armies
now in the field, and bring our needful military
operations to a prosperous end, thus closing for
ever the fountains of sedition and civil war.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand, and caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this
seventeenth day of October, in the year
[L. S.] of our Lord one thousand eight hun
dred and sixty-three, and of the inde
pendence of the United States the
eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President: William H. Seward, Sec
retary of State.

1863] Telegram to Thomas 175
Telegram to J. Williams and N. G. Taylor
War Department, October 17, 1863.
John Williams and N. G. Taylor, Knoxville,
Tenn.: You do not estimate the holding of
East Tennessee more highly than I do. There
is no absolute purpose of withdrawing our forces
from it, and only a contingent one to withdraw
them temporarily for the purpose of not losing
the position permanently. I am in great hope of
not finding it necessary to withdraw them at all,
particularly if you raise new troops rapidly for
us there. A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to General A. E. Burnside
(Cipher.)
War Department, October 17, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.: I
am greatly interested to know how many new
troops of all sorts you have raised in Tennessee.
Please inform me. A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to W. B. Thomas
Executive Mansion, October 17, 1863.
Hon. William B. Thomas, Philadelphia, Pa.:
I am grateful for your offer of 100,00 men, but
as at present advised I do not consider that
Washington is in danger, or that there is any
emergency requiring 60 or 90 days men.
A. Lincoln.

176 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 19
•Telegram to General J. G. Foster.
(Cipher.)
War Department, October 17, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va.: It
would be useless for Mrs. Dr. Wright to come
here. The subject is a very painful one, but the
case is settled. A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to T. C. Durant
Executive Mansion, October 18, 1863.
T. C. Durant, New York: As I do with oth
ers, so I will try to see you when you come.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Gamble
Executive Mansion, October 19, 1863.
Hamilton R. Gamble, Governor of Missouri:
Yours of the ist instant was duly received; and
I have delayed so long to answer it because of
other pressing duties; because it did not appear
to me that the domestic violence you apprehend
was very imminent; and because, if it were so
imminent, my direction to General Schofield em
braces very nearly the extent of my power to
repress it. Being instructed to repress all vio
lence, of course he will, so far as is in his power,
repress any which may be offered to the State
government. At the beginning of our present

1 863]! Letter to Governor Gamble 177
troubles, the regularly installed State officers
of Missouri, taking sides with the rebellion,
were forced to give way to the provisional State
government, at the head of which you stand, and
which was placed in authority, as I understand,
by the unanimous action and acquiescence of the
Union people of the State. I have seen no oc
casion to make a distinction against the pro
visional government because of its not having
been chosen and inaugurated in the usual way.
Nor have I seen any cause to suspect it of un
faithfulness to the Union. So far as I have yet
considered, I am as ready, on a proper case
made, to give the State the constitutional pro
tection against invasion and domestic violence,
under the provisional government, as I would be
if it were under a government installed in the
ordinary manner. I have not thought of mak
ing a distinction.
In your proclamation of the 12th instant you
state the proposition substantially, that no ob
jection can be made to any change in the State
government which the people may desire to
make so far as the end can be effected by means
of conforming to the constitution and laws
through the expression of the popular will, but
that such change should not be effected by vio
lence. I concur in this, and I may add that it
makes precisely the distinction I wish to keep in

178 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 19
view. In the absence of such violence, or immi
nent danger thereof, it is not proper for the na
tional executive to interfere, and I am unwilling
by any formal action to show an appearance of
belief that there is such imminent danger before
I really believe there is. I might thereby to
some extent bear false witness. You tell me " a
party has sprung up in Missouri which openly
and loudly proclaims the purpose to overturn
the provisional government by violence." Does
the party so proclaim, or is it only that some
members of the party so proclaim? If I mis
take not, the party alluded to recently held a
State convention and adopted resolutions. Did
they therein declare violence against the pro
visional State government? No party can be
justly held responsible for what individual mem
bers of it may say or do. Nothing in this letter
is written with reference to any State which may
have maintained within it no State government
professedly loyal to the United States.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, October 19, 1863. 9 a. m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Chattanooga,
Tenn.: There has been no battle recently at
Bull Run. I suppose what you have heard a

1863] Telegrams to Schenck 179
rumor of was not a general battle but an " af
fair" at Bristow Station, on the railroad a few
miles beyond Manassas Junction toward the
Rappahannock, on Wednesday, the 14th. It
began by an attack of the enemy upon General
Warren, and ended in the enemy being repulsed
with a loss of four cannon and from four to
seven hundred prisoners. A. LINCOLN.
Telegrams to General R. C. Schenck
Executive Mansion, October 21, 1863. 2.45 p. m.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Mary
land: A delegation is here saying that our
armed colored troops are at many, if not at all,
the landings on the Patuxent River, and by their
presence with arms in their hands are frighten
ing quiet people and producing great confusion.
Have they been sent there by any order, and if
so, for what reason? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, October 22, 1863. 1.30 p. m.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Mary
land: Please come over here. The fact of one
of our officers being killed on the Patuxent is a
specimen of what I would avoid. It seems to
me we could send white men to recruit better
than to send negroes and thus inaugurate hom
icides on punctilio. Please come over.
A. Lincoln.

180 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 26
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion, October 24, 1863.
Major-General Halleck: Taking all our in
formation together, I think it probable that
Ewell's corps has started for East Tennessee by
way of Abingdon, marching last Monday, say,
from Meade's front directly to the railroad at
Charlottesville. First, the object of Lee's recent movement
against Meade; his destruction of the Alexan
dria and Orange Railroad, and subsequent with
drawal, without more motive, not otherwise ap
parent, would be explained by this hypothesis.
Secondly, the direct statement of Sharpe's men
that Ewell has gone to Tennessee.
Thirdly, the Irishman's statement that he has
not gone through Richmond and his further
statement of an appeal made to the people at
Richmond to go and protect their salt, which
could only refer to the works near Abingdon.
Fourthly, Graham's statement from Martins-
burg that Imboden is in retreat for Harrison
burg. This last matches with the idea that Lee
has retained his cavalry, sending Imboden and
perhaps other scraps to join Ewell. Upon this
probability what is to be done?
If you have a plan matured, I have nothing
to say. If you have not, then I suggest that,

1863] Letter to Boker 181
with all possible expedition, the Army of the
Potomac get ready to attack Lee, and that in
the mean time a raid shall, at all hazards, break
the railroad at or near Lynchburg,
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter Transmitting Original Draft of
Emancipation Proclamation *
Executive Mansion, October 26, 1863.
According to the request made in your behalf,
the original draft of the Emancipation Procla
mation is herewith enclosed. The formal words
at the top and the conclusion, except the signa
ture, you perceive, are not in my handwriting.
They were written at the State Department, by
whom I know not. The printed part was cut
from a copy of the preliminary proclamation,
and pasted on, merely to save writing. I had
some desire to retain the paper; but if it shall
contribute to the relief or comfort of the sol
diers, that will be better.
Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN.

Letter to George H. Boker
Executive Mansion, October 26, 1863.
My dear Sir: It is with heartfelt gratifica
tion that I acknowledge the receipt of your com-
1 Addressed to ladies having- in charge the Northwestern Fair
for the Sanitary Commission, Chicago, Illinois.

1 82 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 26
munication of the 6th, and the accompanying
medal by which I am made an honorary mem
ber of the Union League of Philadelphia.
I shall always bear with me the consciousness
of having endeavored to do my duty in the trying
times through which we are passing, and the
generous approval of a portion of my fellow-
citizens so intelligent and so patriotic as those
composing your association assures me that I
have not wholly failed.
I could not ask, and no one could merit, a
better reward.
Be kind enough, sir, to convey to the gentle
men whom you represent, the assurance of the
grateful appreciation with which I accept the
honor you have conferred upon me.
I am very truly your obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to E. B. Washburne
(Private and Confidential.)
Executive Mansion, October 26, 1863.
My dear Sir: Yours of the 12th has been
in my hands several days. Inclosed I send the
leave of absence for your brother, in as good
form as I think I can safely put it. Without
knowing whether he would accept it, I have
tendered the collectorship at Portland, Maine,
to your other brother, the governor.

1 863] Letter to Washburne 183
Thanks to both you and our friend Campbell
for your kind words and intentions. A second
term would be a great honor and a great labor,
which, together, perhaps I would not decline if
tendered. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion, October 26, 1863.
My dear Sir: The writer of the accompany
ing letter is one of Mrs. Lincoln's numerous
cousins. He is a grandson of " Milliken's
Bend," near Vicksburg — that is, a grandson of
the man who gave name to Milliken's Bend.
His father was a brother to Mrs. Lincoln's
mother. I know not a thing about his loyalty
beyond what he says. Supposing he is loyal,
can any of his requests be granted, and if any,
which of them? Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Opinion on the loss of General R. H.
Milroy's Division, October 27, 1863
In June last a division was substantially lost
at or near Winchester, Va. At the time, it was
under General Milroy as immediate commander
in the field, General Schenck as department
commander at Baltimore, and General Halleck
as general-in-chief at Washington.

184 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 27
General Milroy, as immediate commander,
was put in arrest, and subsequently a court of
inquiry examined chiefly with reference to diso
bedience of orders, and reported the evidence.
The foregoing is a synoptical statement of the
evidence, together with the judge-advocate-
general's conclusions. The disaster, when it
came was a surprise to all. It was very well
known to Generals Schenck and Milroy for
some time before, that General Halleck thought
the division was in great danger of a surprise at
Winchester; that it was of no service commen
surate with the risk it incurred, and that it ought
to be withdrawn; but, although he more than
once advised its withdrawal, he never positively
ordered it. General Schenck, on the contrary, be
lieved the service of the force at Winchester was
worth the hazard, and so did not positively or
der its withdrawal until it was so late that the
enemy cut the wire and prevented the order
reaching General Milroy.
General Milroy seems to have concurred with
General Schenck in the opinion that the force
should be kept at Winchester at least until the
approach of danger, but he disobeyed no order
upon the subject.
Some question can be made whether some of
General Halleck's despatches to General
Schenck could not have been construed to be

1863] Opinion on Milroy's Loss 185
orders to withdraw the force, and obeyed ac
cordingly; but no such question can be made
against General Milroy. In fact, the last order
he received was to be prepared to withdraw, but
not actually withdraw until further order, which
further order never reached him.
Serious blame is not necessarily due to any
serious disaster, and I cannot say that in this case
any of the officers are deserving of serious
blame. No court-martial is deemed necessary
or proper in the case. A. Lincoln.
Letter to Thomas Swann
(Private.)
Executive Mansion, October 27, 1863.
Dear Sir: Your letter, a copy of which is on
the other half of this sheet is received. I trust
there is no just ground for the suspicion you
mention; and I am somewhat mortified that
there could be any doubt of my views upon the
point of your inquiry. I wish all loyal qualified
voters in Maryland and elsewhere to have the
undisturbed privilege of voting at elections; and
neither my authority nor my name can be prop
erly used to the contrary.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
Publish both letters, if either. A. L.

1 86 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 28
* Telegram to Governor Andrew Johnson
(Cipher.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 28, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.: If
not too inconvenient, please come at once and
have a personal conversation with me.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to General J. M. Schofield
(Private and Confidential.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 28, 1863.
General John M. Schofield : There have re
cently reached the War Department, and thence
been laid before me, from Missouri, three com
munications, all similar in import and identical
in object. One of them, addressed to nobody,
and without place or date, but having the signa
ture of (apparently) the writer, is a letter of
eight closely written foolscap pages. The other
two are written by a different person, at St. Jo
seph, Mo., and of the dates, respectively, Oc
tober 12 and 13, 1863 and each inclosing a large
number of affidavits. The general statements of
the whole are that the Federal and State au
thorities are arming the disloyal and disarming
the loyal and that the latter will all be killed or

1 863] Letter to Schofield 187
driven out of the State unless there shall be a
change. In particular, no loyal man who has
been disarmed is named, but the affidavits show
by name forty-two persons as disloyal who have
been armed. They are as follows: [The
names are omitted.]
A majority of these are shown to have been in
the rebel service. I believe it could be shown
that the government here has deliberately armed
more than ten times as many captured at Gettys
burg, to say nothing of similar operations in East
Tennessee. These papers contain altogether
thirty-one manuscript pages, and one newspaper
in extenso, and yet I do not find it anywhere
charged in them that any loyal man has been
harmed by reason of being disarmed, or that
any disloyal one has harmed anybody by reason
of being armed by the Federal or State Govern
ment. Of course, I have not had time to care
fully examine all ; but I have had most of them
examined and briefed by others, and the result
is as stated. The remarkable fact that the ac
tual evil is yet only anticipated — inferred — in
duces me to suppose I understand the case; but
I do not state my impression, because I might
be mistaken, and because your duty and mine is
plain in any event. The locality of nearly all
this seems to be St. Joseph and Buchanan
County. I wish you to give special attention

1 88 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 29
to this region, particularly on election day.
Prevent violence from whatever quarter, and
see that the soldiers themselves do no wrong.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Note to General Clinton B. Fisk
Executive Mansion, October 29, 1863.
My dear Sir: I have just received and read
your very kind and instructive letter of the 24th,
for which please accept my thanks. It is so free
from passion, and so full-of charity and good
will, that I regret not having time to do more
than acknowledge the receipt of it.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to T. J. Carter
Executive Mansion, October 29, 1863.
T. J. Carter, New York: I made your ap
pointment yesterday, and the Secretary of the
Interior undertook to send it to you. I suppose
it will reach you to-day. A. LINCOLN.
* Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, October 29, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I see in a newspaper that you have recently ap
proved sentences of death for desertion of
Thomas Sands, James Haley, H. H. Williams,
Mathias Brown, alias Albert Brown, H. C.

1863] Letter to Grimes 189
Beardsley, and George F. Perkins. Several of
of these are persons in behalf of whom appeals
have been made to me. Please send me a short
statement of each one of the cases, stating the
age of each, so far as you can. A. LINCOLN.
* Letter to James W. Grimes
Executive Mansion, October 29, 1863.
My dear Sir: The above act of Congress
was passed, as I suppose, for the purpose of
shutting out improper applicants for seats in the
House of Representatives; and I fear there is
some danger that it will be used to shut out
proper ones. Iowa, having an entire Union
delegation, will be one of the States the attempt
will be made, if upon any. The Governor
doubtless has made out the certificates, and they
are already in the hands of the members. I sug
gest that they come on with them ; but that, for
greater caution, you, and perhaps Mr. Harlan
with you, consult with the Governor, and have
an additional set made out according to the form
on the other half of this sheet; and still another
set, if you can, by studying the law, think of a
form that in your judgment, promises addi
tional security, and quietly bring the whole on
with you, to be used in case of necessity. Let
what you do be kept still. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.

190 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 29
Letter to Vice-President Hamlin
An Act to regulate the duties of the Clerk
of the House of Representatives in prepar
ing FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives of the United States of America in Con
gress assembled, that, before the first meeting of the
next Congress, and every subsequent Congress, the
clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives
shall make a roll of the Representatives-elect, and
place thereon the names of all persons, and of such
persons only, whose credentials show that they were
regularly elected in accordance with the laws of their
States respectively, or the laws of the United States.
Approved March 3, 1863.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 29, 1863.
My dear Sir: The above act of Congress
was passed, as I suppose, to exclude improper
applicants from seats in the House of Repre
sentatives and there is danger now that it will be
used to exclude proper ones. The attempt will
be made, if at all, upon the members of those
States whose delegations are entirely, or by a
majority, Union men and of which your State
is one. I suppose your members already have the
usual certificates — which let them bring on. I

1863] Letter to Hamlin 191
suggest that for greater caution, yourself, the
two senators, Messrs. Fessenden and Morrill,
and the Governor consider this matter, and that
the Governor make out an additional certificate,
or set of certificates, in the form on the other half
of this sheet, and still another, if on studying the
law you gentlemen shall be able to frame one
which will give additional security; and bring
the whole with you, to be used if found neces
sary. Let it all be done quietly. The members
of Congress themselves need not know of it.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
* Letter to F. F. Lowe
(Cipher.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 30, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Lowe, San Francisco, Cal.: Be
low is an act of Congress, passed last session, in
tended to exclude applicants not entitled to seats,
but which there is reason to fear, will be used
to exclude some who are entitled. Please get
with the Governor and one or two other discreet
friends, study the act carefully, and make cer
tificates in two or three forms, according to your
best judgment, and have them sent to me, so as
to multiply the chances of the delegation getting
their seats. Let it be done without publicity.

192 Abraham Lincoln [Oct. 30
Below is a form which may answer for one. If
you could procure the same to be done for the
Oregon member it might be well. A. LINCOLN.
By His Excellency 
Governor of the State of California.
I,  , Governor of the State
of California, do hereby certify and make known that
the following persons, namely:
Names. Districts.
have been regularly elected members of the House of
Representatives of the United States for the Thirty-
eighth Congress, and for the districts above men
tioned, in accordance with the laws of the said State
and of the United States, and that they only have been
so elected.
IN TESTIMONY THEREOF, 1 have hereunto
set my hand and caused the  seal of the
said State to be affixed.

Secretary of State.
•Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, October 30, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Much obliged for the information about de
serters contained in your despatch of yesterday,
while I have to beg your pardon for troubling

1863] Telegram to Meade 193
you in regard to some of them, when, as it ap
pears by yours, I had the means of answering
my own questions. A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to A. Wakeman
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 31, 1863.
Hon. Abram Wakeman, New York: Hans-
com's despatch just received. Have made care
ful inquiry as to the truth of assertions you refer
to and find them unfounded. The provost-
marshal-general has issued no proclamation at
all. He has in no form announced anything re
cently in regard to troops in New York, except
in his letter to Governor Seymour of October 21,
which has been published in the newspapers of
that State. John Hay.
* Telegram to Saint Nicholas Hotel
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 31, 1863.
Saint Nicholas Hotel Office, New York:
Not knowing whether Colonel Parsons could be
spared from duty elsewhere to come to Wash
ington, I referred Governor Yates's despatch to
the Secretary of War, who I presume still holds
it under advisement. A, Lincoln.

194 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 2
Memorandum, October 31, 1863
Executive Mansion, October 31, 1863.
The Provost-Marshal-General has issued no
proclamation at all. He has in no form an
nounced anything recently in regard to troops
in New York, except in his letter to Governor
Seymour of October 21, which has been pub
lished in the newspapers of that State. It has
not been announced or decided in any form by
the Provost-Marshal-General, or any one else in
authority of the government, that every citizen
who has paid his three hundred dollars commu
tation is liable to be immediately drafted again,
or that towns that have just raised the money to
pay their quotas will have again to be subject to
similar taxation or suffer the operations of the
new conscription, nor is it probable that the like
of them ever will be announced or decided.
•Telegram to Secretary Seward
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 1, 1863.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Auburn, N. Y.: No
important news. Details of Hooker's night
fight do great credit to his command, and par
ticularly to the Eleventh Corps and Geary's part
of the Twelfth. No discredit on any.
A. Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Blair 195
Letter to Postmaster-General Blair
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 2, 1863.
My dear Sir: Some days ago I understood
you to say that your brother, General Frank
Blair, desires to be guided by my wishes as to
whether he will occupy his seat in Congress or
remain in the field. My wish, then, is com
pounded of what I believe will be best for the
country and best for him, and it is that he will
come here, put his military commission in my
hands, take his seat, go into caucus with our
friends, abide the nominations, help elect the
nominees, and thus aid to organize a House of
Representatives which will really support the
government in the war. If the result shall be
the election of himself as Speaker, let him serve
in that position ; if not, let him retake his com
mission and return to the army. For the coun
try this will heal a dangerous schism; for him
it will relieve from a dangerous position. By
a misunderstanding, as I think, he is in danger
of being permanently separated from those with
whom only he can ever have a real sympathy — ¦
the sincere opponents of slavery. It will be a
mistake if he shall allow the provocations of
fered him by insincere time-servers to drive him
out of the house of his own building. He is

196 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 2
young yet. He has abundant talent — quite
enough to occupy all his time without devoting
any to temper. He is rising in military skill
and usefulness. His recent appointment to the
command of a corps by one so competent to
judge as General Sherman proves this. In that
line he can serve both the country and himself
more profitably than he could as a member of
Congress on the floor. The foregoing is what I
would say if Frank Blair were my brother in
stead of yours. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Governor Bradford, of Maryland
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 2, 1863.
Sir: Yours of the 31st ult. was received yes
terday about noon, and since then I have been
giving most earnest attention to the subject-mat
ter of it. At my call General Schenck has at
tended, and he assures me it is almost certain that
violence will be used at some of the voting places
on election day unless prevented by his provost-
guards. He says that at some of those places
Union voters will not attend at all, or run a
ticket, unless they have some assurance of pro
tection. This makes the Missouri case, of my
action in regard to which you express your ap
proval.

1863] Letter to Bradford 197
The remaining point of your letter is a pro
test against any person offering to vote being
put to any test not found in the laws of Mary
land. This brings us to a difference between
Missouri and Maryland. With the same reason
in both States, Missouri has, by law, provided
a test for the voter with reference to the present
rebellion, while Maryland has not. For exam
ple, General Trimble, captured fighting us at
Gettysburg, is, without recanting his treason, a
legal voter by the laws of Maryland. Even
General Schenck's order admits him to vote, if
he recants upon oath. I think that is cheap
enough. My order in Missouri, which you ap
prove, and General Schenck's order here, reach
precisely the same end. Each assures the right
of voting to all loyal men, and whether a man
is loyal, each allows that man to fix by his own
oath. Your suggestion that nearly all the can
didates are loyal, I do not think quite meets the
case. In this struggle for the nation's life, I
cannot so confidently reply on those whose elec
tions may have depended upon disloyal votes.
Such men, when elected, may prove true; but
such votes are given them in the expectation
that they will prove false.
Nor do I think that to keep the peace at the
polls, and to prevent the persistently disloyal
from voting, constitutes just cause of offense to

198 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 2
Maryland. I think she has her own example
for it. If I mistake not, it is precisely what
General Dix did when your Excellency was
elected governor.
I revoke the first of the three propositions in
General Schenck's General Order No. 53; not
that it is wrong in principle, but because the
military, being of necessity exclusive judges as
to who shall be arrested, the provision is too lia
ble to abuse. For the revoked part I substi
tute the following:
That all provost marshals and other military offi
cers do prevent all disturbance and violence at or
about the polls, whether offered by such persons as
above described, or by any other person or persons
whomsoever. The other two propositions of the order I al
low to stand. General Schenck is fully deter
mined, and has my strict orders besides, that
all loyal men may vote, and vote for whom they
please. Your obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to James H. Hackett
(Private.)
Washington, D. C, November 2, 1863.
My dear Sir: Yours of October 22 is re
ceived, as also was in due course that of Oc-

1863] Letter to Hackett 199
tober 3. I look forward with pleasure to the
fulfilment of the promise made in the former.
Give yourself no uneasiness on the subject
mentioned in that of the 22d.
My note to you I certainly did not expect to
see in print; yet I have not been much shocked
by the newspaper comments upon it. Those
comments constitute a fair specimen of what has
occurred to me through life. I have endured
a great deal of ridicule without much malice;
and have received a great deal of kindness, not
quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to Secretary Seward
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 3, 1863.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Aburn, N. Y.: Noth
ing new. Despatches up to 12 last night from
Chattanooga show all quiet and doing well.
How is your son? A. Lincoln.
•Telegrams to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Samuel Wellers, private in Company B, Forty-
ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, writes that he is
to be shot for desertion on the 6th instant. His

200 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 5
own story is rather a bad one, and yet he tells it
so frankly, that I am somewhat interested in him.
Has he been a good soldier except the deser
tion? About how old is he? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, November 5, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Please suspend the execution of Samuel Wellers,
Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, until fur
ther orders. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to General N. P. Banks
Executive Mansion, November 5, 1863.
Major-General Banks: Three months ago
to-day I wrote you about Louisiana affairs, stat
ing, on the word of Governor Shepley, as I un
derstood him, that Mr. Durant was taking a reg
istry of citizens preparatory to the election of a
constitutional convention for that State. I sent
a copy of the letter to Mr. Durant, and I now
have his letter, written two months after, ac
knowledging receipt, and saying he is not taking
such registry; and he does not let me know that
he personally is expecting to do so. Mr. Flan
ders, to whom I also sent a copy, is now here, and
he says nothing has yet been done. This dis
appoints me bitterly; yet I do not throw blame
on you or on them.

1863] Letter to Banks 201
I do, however, urge both you and them to
lose no more time.
Governor Shepley has special instructions
from the War Department. I wish him — those
gentlemen and others cooperating — without
waiting for more territory, to go to work and
give me a tangible nucleus which the remainder
of the State may rally around as fast as it can,
and which I can at once recognize and sustain
as the true State government. And in that work
I wish you and all under your command to give
them a hearty sympathy and support.
The instruction to Governor Shepley bases the
movement (and rightfully, too) upon the loyal
element. Time is important. There is danger,
even now, that the adverse element seeks insid
iously to preoccupy the ground. If a few pro
fessedly loyal men shall draw the disloyal about
them, and colorably set up a State government,
repudiating the Emancipation Proclamation,
and reestablishing slavery, I cannot recognize
or sustain their work. I should fall powerless
in the attempt. This government in such an at
titude would be a house divided against itself.
I have said, and say again, that if a new State
government, acting in harmony with this gov
ernment, and consistently with general freedom,
shall think best to adopt a reasonable temporary
arrangement in relation to the landless and

202 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 9
homeless freed people, I do not object; but my
word is out to be for and not against them on
the question of their permanent freedom. I do
not insist upon such temporary arrangement, but
only say such would not be objectionable to me.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to W. B. Astor and R. B. Roose
velt
Executive Mansion, November 8, 1863.
William B. Astor, Robert B. Roosevelt, New
York: I shall be happy to give the interview
to the committee as you request. A. Lincoln.
Letter to J. J. Astor, Jr., R. B. Roosevelt and
N. Sands
(Private, except to General Dix.)
Executive Mansion, November 9, 1863.
Gentlemen: Upon the subject of your letter,
I have to say that it is beyond my province to
interfere with New York city politics; that I
am very grateful to General Dix for the zealous
and able military and quasi-civil support he has
given the government during the war, and that
if the people of New York should tender him
the mayoralty, and he accept it, nothing on that
subject could be more satisfactory to me. In
this I must not be understood as saying aught

1 863] Letter to Flanders 203
against any one, or as attempting the least degree
of dictation in the matter.
To state it in another way, if General Dix's
present relation to the General Government lays
any restraint upon him in this matter, I wish to
remove that restraint. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to B. F. Flanders
Executive Mansion, November 9, 1863.
My dear Sir: In a conversation with Gen
eral Butler, he made a suggestion which im
pressed me a good deal at the time. It was that,
as a preliminary step, a vote be taken, yea or nay,
whether there shall be a State convention to re
peal the ordinance of secession and remodel the
State constitution. I send it merely as a sug
gestion for your consideration, not having con
sidered it maturely myself.
The point which impressed me was, not so
much the questions to be voted on, as the effect
of crystallizing, so to speak, in taking such popu
lar vote on any proper question.
In fact, I have always thought the act of se
cession is legally nothing, and needs no repeal
ing. Turn the thought over in your mind, and
see if in your own judgment you can make any
thing of it. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.

204 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 10
Telegram to General A. E. Burnside
War Department, November 9, 1863. 4 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Have seen despatch from General Grant about
your loss at Rogersville. Per contra, about the
same time, Averell and Duffie got considerable
advantage of the enemy at and about Lewisburg,
Virginia; and on Saturday, the seventh, Meade
drove the enemy from Rappahannock Station
and Kelly's Ford, capturing eight battle-flags,
four guns, and over 1,800 prisoners, with very
little loss to himself. Let me hear from you.
A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Washington, November 9, 1863. 7.30 p. m.
Major-General Meade: I have seen your
despatches about operations on the Rappahan
nock on Saturday, and I wish to say, "WeU
donel" Do the 1500 prisoners reported by
General Sedgwick include the 400 taken by Gen
eral French, or do the whole amount to 1900?
A. Lincoln.
•Telegrams to General J. M. Schofield
War Department, November 10, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.: I see a
despatch here from Saint Louis, which is a little

1863] Telegrams to Schofield 205
difficult for me to understand. It says "Gen
eral Schofield has refused leave of absence to
members in military service to attend the legis
lature. All such are radical and administration
men. The election of two Senators from this
place on Thursday will probably turn upon this
thing." What does this mean? Of course
members of the legislation must be allowed to
attend its sessions. But how is there a session
before the recent election returns are in? And
how is it to be at "this place" — and that is Saint
Louis? Please inform me. A. LINCOLN.
War Department, November n, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.: I be
lieve the Secretary of War has telegraphed you
about members of the legislation. At all events,
allow those in the service to attend the session,
and we can afterward decide whether they can
stay through the entire session. A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to Hiram Barney
(Cipher.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November n, 1863.
Hon Hiram Barney, New York: I would
like an interview with you. Can you not come?
A. Lincoln. •

2o6 Abraham Lincoln INov. 17
•Telegram to John Milderborger
Executive Mansion, November n, 1863.
John Milderborger, Peru, Ind.: I cannot
comprehend the object of your despatch. I do
not often decline seeing people who call upon
me, and probably will see you if you call.
A. Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, November 11, 1863.
Dear Sir: I personally wish Jacob Freese, of
New Jersey, to be appointed colonel for a col
ored regiment, and this regardless of whether he
can tell the exact shade of Julius Caesar's hair.
Yours, etc., A. Lincoln.
Letter to Postmaster-General Blair
Executive Mansion, November n, 1863.
My dear Sir: Mr. Crisfield's letter, which'
you inclose, is received. Let Mr. S  procure
the sworn statement of the election judges at
any voting place as to what may be deemed the
misconduct of any military officer, and present
it to me, and I will call any such officer to ac
count who shall by such statement appear to
have violated or transcended his orders.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

1 863] Note to Chase

207

•Telegram to E. H. & E. Jameson
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 13, 1863.
E. H. & E. Jameson, Jefferson City, Mo.:
Yours saying Brown and Henderson are elected
senators is received. I understand this is one
and one. If so it is knocking heads together to
some purpose. A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to General W. S. Rosecrans
War Department, Nov. 14, 1863. 12.15 p- m.
Major-General Rosecrans, Cincinnati, O.: I
have received and considered your despatch of
yesterday. Of the reports you mention, I have
not the means of seeing any except your own.
Besides this, the publication might be improper
in view of the court of inquiry which has been
ordered. With every disposition, not merely to
do justice, but to oblige you, I feel constrained
to say I think the publications better not be made
now. A. Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 17, 1863.
My dear Sir: I expected to see you here at
Cabinet meeting, and to say something about go
ing to Gettysburg. There will be a train to

208 Abraham Lincoln tNov- J9
take and return us. The time for starting is not
yet fixed, but when it shall be I will notify you.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Indorsement on Note of Secretary Stanton
War Department, November 17, 1863.
Mr. President: It is proposed by the Baltimore
and Ohio road —
First, to leave Washington Thursday morning at
6 A. M. ; and
Second, To leave Baltimore at 8 A. Mv arriving at
Gettysburg at 12 noon, thus giving two hours to view
the ground before the dedication ceremonies com
mence. Third, To leave Gettysburg at 6 r. M., and arrive
in Washington, midnight; thus doing all in one day.
Mr. Smith says the Northern Central road agrees
to this arrangement.
Please consider it, and if any change is desired, let
me know, so that it can be made.
Yours truly,
Edwin M. Stanton.
[Indorsement.]
I do not like this arrangement. I do not wish
to so go that by the slightest accident we fail
entirely, and, at the best, the whole to be a mere
breathless running of the gauntlet. But, any
way. A. Lincoln.

1863] Gettysburg Address 209

Address at the Dedication of the Gettys
burg National Cemetery, November 10
1863 »
FOURSCORE and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this continent
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are cre
ated equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation, or any nation so con
ceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We
are met on a great battle-field of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of that field as
a final resting-place for those who here gave
1 There are three successive versions of the Gettysburg ad
dress — all identical in thought, but differing slightly in expres
sion. The last of these is given above and is the regular out
growth of the two which preceded it. The three versions are:
1. The original autograph MS. draft, written by Mr. Lincoln
partly at Washington and partly at Gettysburg.
2. The version made by the shorthand reporter on the stand
at Gettysburg when it was delivered, and printed in the leading
newspapers of the country on the following morning.
3. The revised copy made a few days afterwards, upon a
careful comparison of the other two.
Before delivering the address Lincoln told a friend: "It is a
flat failure. The people won't like it." But it was received
with enthusiasm by those who heard it and has ever since
ranked among the world's great orations.

210 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 20
their lives that that nation might live. It is alto
gether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate —
we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it far above our
poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It
is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work which they who fought
here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us — that from these hon
ored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion; that we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom ; and that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth. Letter to Edward Everett
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 20, 1863.
My dear Sir: Your kind note of to-day is re
ceived. In our respective parts yesterday, you
could not have been excused to make a short

1863] Letter to Everett

211

address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know
that, in your judgment, the little I did say was
not entirely a failure.1
Of course I knew Mr. Everett would not fail,
and yet, while the whole discourse was emi
nently satisfactory, and will be of great value,
there were passages in it which transcended my
expectations. The point made against the theory of the
General Government being only an agency
whose principals are the States, was new to me,
and, as I think, is one of the best arguments for
the national supremacy. The tribute to our
noble women for their angel ministering to the
suffering soldiers surpasses in its way, as do the
subjects of it, whatever has gone before.
Our sick boy, for whom you kindly inquire,
we hope is past the worst.
Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
1 Edward Everett was the orator of the day at the dedication
of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The next day he wrote
a letter to the President in which he said : " I beg leave in
this way to thank you for your great thoughtfulness for my
daughter's accommodation on the platform yesterday. . . .
Permit me also to express my great admiration of the thoughts
expressed by you ... at the consecration of the cemetery.
I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to
the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two
minutes. My son, who parted from me at Baltimore, and my
daughter concur in this sentiment."

212 Abraham Lincoln [Nov. 20
•Telegrams to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
If there is a man by the name of King under
sentence to be shot, please suspend execution till
further order, and send record. A. LINCOLN.
Executive Mansion, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
An intelligent woman in deep distress, called
this morning, saying her husband, a lieutenant
in the Army of Potomac, was to be shot next
Monday for desertion, and putting a letter in my
hand, upon which I relied for particulars, she
left without mentioning a name or other par
ticular by which to identify the case. On open
ing the letter I found it equally vague, having
nothing to identify by, except her own signa
ture, which seems to be "Mrs. Anna S. King."
I could not again find her. If you have a case
which you shall think is probably the one in
tended, please apply my despatch of this morn
ing to it. A. Lincoln.
Letter to Zachariah Chandler
Executive Mansion, November 20, 1863.
My dear Sir: Your letter of the 15th, mark
ed "private," was received to-day. I have seen
Governor Morgan and Thurlow Weed, sepa-

1 863T. Telegrams to Meade 213
rately, but not together, within the last ten days ;
but neither of them mentioned the forthcoming
message, or said anything, so far as I can re
member, which brought the thought of the mes
sage to my mind. I am very glad the elections
this autumn have gone favorably, and that I
have not, by native depravity or under evil in
fluences, done anything bad enough to prevent
the good result. I hope to "stand firm" enough
to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast
enough to wreck the country's cause.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Seward
Executive Mansion, November 23, 1863.
My dear Sir: Two despatches since I saw
you; one not quite so late on firing as we had
before, but giving the points that Burnside
thinks he can hold the place, that he is not
closely invested, and that he forages across the
river. The other brings the firing up to 11
A. M. yesterday, being twenty-three hours later
than we had before. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
•Telegram to E. P. Evans
Executive Mansion, November 23, 1863.
E. P. Evans, West Union, O. : Yours to Gov
ernor Chase in behalf of John A. Welch is be-

2i4 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. i
fore me. Can there be a worse case than to
desert and with letters persuading others to de
sert? I cannot interpose without a better show
ing than you make. When did he desert?
When did he write the letters? A. Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Seward
Executive Mansion, November 24, 1863.
My dear Sir: A despatch from Foster, at
Cincinnati, received half an hour ago, contains
one from Wilcox at Cumberland Gap, without
date, saying: "Fighting going on at Knoxville
to-day." The want of date makes the time of
fighting uncertain, but I rather think it means
yesterday, the 23d. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to General Grant
Washington, November 25, 1863. 8.40 a. m.
Major-General U. S. Grant: Your "des
patches as to fighting on Monday and Tuesday
are here. Well done! Many thanks to all.
Remember Burnside. A. Lincoln.
Letter to General John A. Dix, President
of the Union Pacific Railroad Company.,
Executive Mansion, December 1, 1863.
Dear Sir: I have not been permitted until

1863] Letter to General Dix 215
to-day to present to the President your com
munication of November 23. He directs me to
express his deep regret that his illness will pre
vent him from giving on this occasion expression
to the profound interest he feels in the success
of a work so vast and so beneficent as that which
you are about to inaugurate.
Respectfully your obedient servant,
John Hay, Assistant Private Secretary.
Letter to George Opdyke and Others,1 De
cember 2, 1863
Executive Mansion, December 2, 1863.
Gentlemen: Yours of the 28th ultimo, invit
ing me to be present at a meeting to be held
at the Cooper Institute on the 3d instant, to pro
mote the raising of volunteers, is received.
Nothing would be more grateful to my feelings,
or better accord with my judgment, than to con
tribute, if I could, by my presence or otherwise,
to that eminently patriotic object. Neverthe
less, the now early meeting of Congress, to
gether with a temporary illness, render my at
tendance impossible.
You propose also to celebrate our Western
victories. Freed from the apprehension of
wounding the just sensibilities of brave soldiers
1 Besides George Opdyke this letter was addressed to a com
mittee composed of Joseph Sutherland, Benjamin F. Manierre,
Prosper M. Wetmore, and Spencer Kirby.

216 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 7
fighting elsewhere, it would be exceedingly
agreeable to me to join in a suitable acknowl
edgment to those of the great West, with whom
I was born and have passed my life. And it is
exceedingly gratifying that a portion, lately of
the Army of the Potomac, but now serving with
the great Army of the West, has borne so con
spicuous a part in the late brilliant triumphs in
Georgia. Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere
who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor
also to the citizen who cares for his brother in
the field, and serves, as he best can, the same
cause — honor to him, only less than to him who
braves, for the common good, the storms of
heaven and the storms of battle.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
•Telegrams to Mrs. Lincoln *
Executive Mansion, December 4, 1863. 9 1-2 a. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: All going
well. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, December 5, 1863. 10 a. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: All doing
well1. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, December 6, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: All doing
well1. A. Lincoln.
1 Lincoln had been ill for some little time, hence these tele
grams to allay Mrs. Lincoln's anxiety.

1863] Announcement 217
Executive Mansion, December 7, 1863. 10.20 a. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: All doing
¦well. Tad confidently expects you to-night.
When will you come? A. LINCOLN.
Executive Mansion, December 7, 1863. 7 p. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York: Tad has re
ceived his book. The carriage shall be ready
at 6 P. M. to-morrow. A. LINCOLN.
•Telegram to C. P. Kirkland
Executive Mansion, December 7, 1863.
Charles P. Kirkland, Esq., New York: I
Tiave just received and have read your published
letter to the Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis. Under
the circumstances I may not be the most compe
tent judge but it appears to me to be a paper of
great ability, and for the country's sake more
than for my own I thank you for it.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Announcement of Union success in East
Tennessee
Executive Mansion, December 7, 1863.
Reliable information being received that the
insurgent force is retreating from East Tennes
see, under circumstances rendering it probable
that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dis
lodged from that important position, and es
teeming this to be of high national consequence,

218 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt
of this information, assemble at their places of
worship and render special homage and grati
tude to almighty God for this great advance
ment of the national cause. A. Lincoln.
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruc
tion, December 8, 1863
By the President of the United States of
America :
A Proclamation.
Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the
United States, it is provided that the President
"shall have power to grant reprieves and par
dons for offenses against the United States, ex
cept in cases of impeachment" ; and
Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the
loyal State governments of several States have
for a long time been subverted, and many per
sons have committed, and are now guilty of,
treason against the United States ; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and
treason, laws have been enacted by Congress,
declaring forfeitures and confiscation of prop
erty and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and
conditions therein stated, and also declaring that
the President was thereby authorized at any
time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to

1 863] Proclamation

219

persons who may have participated in the ex
isting rebellion, in any State or part thereof,
pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and
at such times and on such conditions as he may
deem expedient for the public welfare; and
Whereas the congressional declaration for
limited and conditional pardon accords with
well-established judicial exposition of the par
doning power; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the
President of the United States has issued several
proclamations, with provisions in regard to the
liberation of slaves ; and
Whereas it is now desired by some persons
heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume
their allegiance to the United States, and to re-
inaugurate loyal State governments within and
for their respective States; therefore
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to
all persons who have, directly or by implication,
participated in the existing rebellion, except as
hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby
granted to them and each of them, with restora
tion of all rights of property, except as to slaves,
and in property cases where rights of third par
ties shall have intervened, and upon the condi
tion that every such person shall take and sub
scribe an oath, and thenceforward keep and

22Q Abraham Lincoln [Dec 8
maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath
shall be registered for permanent preservation,
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to-
wit: lt  f do solemnly swear, in presence
of almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully
support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the
United States, and the union of the States thereunder;
and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully
support all acts of Congress passed during the exist
ing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so
far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Con
gress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that
1 will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully sup
port all proclamations of the President made during
the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so
long and so far as not modified or declared void by
decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God.
The persons exempted from the benefits of the
foregoing provisions are all who are, or shall
have been, civil or diplomatic officers or agents
of the so-called Confederate Government; all
who have left judicial stations under the United
States to aid the rebellion ; all who are or shall
have been military or naval officers of said so-
called Confederate Government above the rank
of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the
navy; all who left seats in the United States
Congress to aid the rebellion ; all who resigned

1863] Proclamation 221
commissions in the army or navy of the United
States and afterward aided the rebellion; and
all who have engaged in any way in treating col
ored persons, or white persons in charge of such,
otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and
which persons may have been found in the
United States service as soldiers, seamen, or in
any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make
known that whenever, in any of the States of
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ten
nessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Caro
lina, and North Carolina, a number of persons,
not less than one tenth in number of the votes
cast in such State at the presidential election of
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid
and not having since violated it, and being a
qualified voter by the election law of the State
existing immediately before the so-called act of
secession, and excluding all others, shall rees
tablish a State government which shall be re
publican, and in no wise contravening said oath,
such shall be recognized as the true government
of the State, and the State shall receive there
under the benefits of the constitutional provision
which declares that "the United States shall
guaranty to every State in this Union a republi
can form of government, and shall protect each

222 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
of them against invasion; and, on application
of the legislature, or the executive (when the
legislature cannot be convened), against domes
tic violence."
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make
known, that any provision which may be adopted
by such State government in relation to the freed
people of such State, which shall recognize and
declare their permanent freedom, provide for
their education, and which may yet be consistent
as a temporary arrangement with their present
condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless
class, will not be objected to by the national ex
ecutive. And it is suggested as not improper that, in
constructing a loyal State government in any
State, the name of the State, the boundary, the
subdivisions, the constitution, and the general
code of laws, as before the rebellion, be main
tained, subject only to the modifications made
necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated,
and such others, if any, not contravening said
conditions, and which may be deemed expedient
by those framing the new State government.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper
to say that this proclamation, so far as it relates
to State governments, has no reference to States
wherein loyal State governments have all the
while been maintained.

1863I Proclamation 223
And, for the same reason, it may be proper to
further say, that whether members sent to Con
gress from any State shall be admitted to seats,
constitutionally rests exclusively with the re
spective houses, and not to any extent with the
executive. And still further, that this procla
mation is intended to present the people of the
States wherein the national authority has been
suspended, and loyal State governments have
been subverted, a mode in and by which the na
tional authority and loyal State governments
may be reestablished within said States, or in any
of them; and while the mode presented is the
best the executive can suggest, with his present
impressions, it must not be understood that no
other possible mode would be acceptable.
Given under my hand at the city of
Washington, the eighth day of Decem
ber, in the year of our Lord one thou-
[L. S.] sand eight hundred and sixty-three, and
of the independence of the United
States of America the eighty-eighth.
Abraham Lincoln.
By the President: William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.

224 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 3

Annual Message to Congress, December 8,
1863
FELLOW-CITIZENS of the Senate and
House of Representatives: Another
year of health, and of sufficiently
abundant harvests, has passed. For these, and
especially for the improved condition of our na
tional affairs, our renewed and profoundest
gratitude to God is due.
We remain in peace and friendship with for
eign powers.
The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United
States to involve us in foreign wars, to aid an
inexcusable insurrection, have been unavailing.
Her Britannic Majesty's government, as was
justly expected, have exercised their authority to
prevent the departure of new hostile expeditions
from British ports. The Emperor of France
has, by a like proceeding, promptly vindicated
the neutrality which he proclaimed at the be
ginning of the contest. Questions of great in
tricacy and importance have arisen out of the
blockade, and other belligerent operations, be
tween the government and several of the mari-
tine powers, but they have been discussed, and,
as far as was possible, accommodated, in a spirit

1863I Annual Message 225
of frankness, justice, and mutual good-will. It
is especially gratifying that our prize courts, by
the impartiality of their adjudications, have
commanded the respect and confidence of mari-
tine powers.
The supplemental treaty between the United
States and Great Britain for the suppression of
the African slave-trade, made on the 17th day of
February last, has been duly ratified and carried
into execution. It is believed that, so far as
American ports and American citizens are con
cerned, that inhuman and odious traffic has been
brought to an end.
I shall submit, for the consideration of the
Senate, a convention for the adjustment of pos
sessory claims in Washington Territory, arising
out of the treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, be
tween the United States and Great Britain, and
which have been the source of some disquiet
among the citizens of that now rapidly improv
ing part of the country.
A novel and important question, involving the
extent of the maritine jurisdiction of Spain in
the waters which surround the island of Cuba,
has been debated without reaching an agreement,
and it is proposed, in an amicable spirit, to refer
it to the arbitrament of a friendly power. A
convention for that purpose will be submitted
to the Senate.

226 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
I have thought it proper, subject to the ap
proval of the Senate, to concur with the inter
ested commercial powers in an arrangement for
the liquidation of the Scheldt dues upon the
principles which have been heretofore adopted
in regard to the imports upon navigation in the
waters of Denmark.
The long-pending controversy between this
government and that of Chile, touching the
seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilian officers, of
a large amount in treasure belonging to citizens
of the United States, has been brought to a close
by the award of his Majesty the King of the
Belgians, to whose arbitration the question was
referred by the parties. The subject was thor
oughly and patiently examined by that justly re
spected magistrate, and although the sum
awarded to the claimants may not have been as
large as they expected, there is no reason to dis
trust the wisdom of his Majesty's decision.
That decision was promptly complied with by
Chile, when intelligence in regard to it reached
that country.
The joint commission, under the act of the
last session, for carrying into effect the conven
tion with Peru, on the subject of claims, has been
organized at Lima, and is engaged in the busi
ness intrusted to it.
Difficulties concerning inter-oceanic transit

1863] Annual Message 227
through Nicaragua are in course of amicable
adjustment. In conformity with the principles set forth in
my last annual message, I have received a repre
sentative from the United States of Columbia,
and have accredited a minister to that republic.
Incidents occurring in the progress of our
civil war have forced upon my attention the un
certain state of international questions touching
the rights of foreigners in this country and of
United States citizens abroad. In regard to
some governments, these rights are at least par
tially defined by treaties. In no instance, how
ever, is it expressly stipulated that, in the event
of civil war, a foreigner residing in this country,
within the lines of the insurgents, is to be ex
empted from the rule which classes him as a bel
ligerent, in whose behalf the government of his
country cannot expect any privileges or immuni
ties distinct from that character. I regret to say,
however, that such claims have been put for
ward, and, in some instances, in behalf of for
eigners who nave lived in the United States the
greater part of their lives.
There is reason to believe that many per
sons born in foreign countries who have declared
their intention to become citizens, or who have
been fully naturalized, have evaded the military
duty required of them by denying the fact, and

228 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
thereby throwing upon the government the bur
den of proof. It has been found difficult or im
practicable to obtain this proof, from the want of
guides to the proper sources of information.
These might be supplied by requiring clerks of
courts, where declarations of intention may. be
made, or naturalizations effected, to send, peri
odically lists of the names of persons naturalized,
or declaring their intention to become citizens, to
the Secretary of the Interior, in whose depart
ment those names might be arranged and printed
for general information.
There is also reason to believe that foreigners
frequently become citizens of the United States
for the sole purpose of evading duties imposed
by the laws of their native countries, to which,
on becoming naturalized here, they at once re
pair, and, though never returning to the United
States, they still claim the interposition of this
government as citizens. Many altercations and
great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of
this abuse. It is, therefore, submitted to your
serious consideration. It might be advisable to
fix a limit, beyond which no citizen of the
United States residing abroad may claim the
interposition of his government.
The right of suffrage has often been assumed
and exercised by aliens, under pretense of nat
uralization, which they have disavowed when!

i863]j Annual Message 229
drafted into the military service. I submit the
expediency of such an amendment of the law as
will make the fact of voting an estoppel against
any plea of exemption from military service, or
other civil obligations, on the ground of alien
age. In common with other Western powers, our
relations with Japan have been brought into seri
ous jeopardy, through the perverse opposition of
the hereditary aristocracy of the empire to the
enlightened and liberal policy of the Tycoon, de
signed to bring the country into the society of
nations. It is hoped, although not with entire
confidence, that these difficulties may be peace
fully overcome. I ask your attention to the
claim of the minister residing there for the dam
ages he sustained in the destruction by fire of the
residence of the legation at Yeddo.
Satisfactory arrangements have been made
with the Emperor of Russia, which, it is be
lieved, will result in effecting a continuous line
of telegraph through that empire from our Pa
cific coast.
I recommend to your favorable consideration
the subject of an international telegraph across
the Atlantic Ocean ; and also of a telegraph be
tween this capital and the national forts along
the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.
Such communications, established with any rea-

230 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
sonable outlay, would be economical as well as
effective aids to the diplomatic, military, and
naval service.
The consular system of the United States,
under the enactments of the last Congress, begins
to be self-sustaining; and there is reason to hope
that it may become entirely so, with the increase
of trade which will ensue whenever peace is re
stored. Our ministers abroad have been faith
ful in defending American rights. In protect
ing commercial interests, our counsels have nec
essarily had to encounter increased labors and
responsibilities, growing out of the war. These
they have, for the most part, met and discharged
with zeal and efficiency. This acknowledgment
justly includes those consuls who, residing in
Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and
other Oriental countries are charged with com
plex functions and extraordinary powers.
The condition of the several organized Terri
tories is generally satisfactory although Indian
disturbances in New Mexico have not been en
tirely suppressed. The mineral resources of
Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, and
Arizona are proving far richer than has been
heretofore understood. I lay before you a com
munication on this subject from the governor of
New Mexico. I again submit to your consider
ation the expediency of establishing a system for

1 863] Annual Message 231
the encouragement of immigration. Although
this source of national wealth and strength is
again flowing with greater freedom than for
several years before the insurrection occurred,
there is still a great deficiency of laborers in
every field of industry, especially in agricul
ture, and in our mines, as well of iron and coal
as of the precious metals. While the demand
for labor is thus increased here, tens of thou
sands of persons, destitute of remunerative occu
pation, are thronging our foreign consulates,
and offering to emigrate to the United States if
essential, but very cheap, assistance can be af
forded them. It is easy to see that, under the
sharp discipline of civil war, the nation is be
ginning a new life. This noble effort demands
the aid, and ought to receive the attention and
support of the government.
Injuries, unforseen by the government and un
intended, may, in some cases, have been in
flicted on the subjects or citizens of foreigu
countries, both at sea and on land, by persons
in the service of the United States. As this
government expects redress from other powers
when similar injuries are inflicted by persons
in their service upon citizens of the United
States, we must be prepared to do justice to for
eigners. If the existing judicial tribunals are
inadequate to this purpose, a special court may

232 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
be authorized, with power to hear and decide
such claims of the character referred to as may
have arisen under treaties and the public law.
Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint
commission have been proposed to some govern
ments, but no definitive answer to the proposi
tion has yet been received from any.
In the course of the session I shall probably
have occasion to request you to provide indem
nification to claimants where decrees of restitu
tion have been rendered, and damages awarded
by admiralty courts; and in other cases, where
this government may be acknowledged to be
liable in principle, and where the amount of that
liability has been ascertained by an informal ar
bitration. The proper officers of the treasury have
deemed themselves required by the law of the
United States upon the subject to demand a tax
upon the incomes of foreign consuls in this coun
try. While such a demand may not, in strict
ness, be in derogation of public law, or perhaps
of any existing treaty between the United States
and a foreign country, the expediency of so far
modifying the act as to exempt from tax the in
come of such consuls as are not citizens of the
United States, derived from the emoluments of
their office, or from property not situated in the
United States, is submitted to your serious con-

i863l Annual Message 233
sideration. I make this suggestion upon the
ground that a comity which ought to be recip
rocated exempts our consuls, in all other coun
tries, from taxation to the extent thus indicated.
The United States, I think, ought not to be ex
ceptionally illiberal to international trade and
commerce. The operations of the treasury during the last
year have been successfully conducted. The
enactment by Congress of a national banking
law has proved a valuable support of the public
credit; and the general legislation in relation to
loans has fully answered the expectations of its
favorers. Some amendments may be required
to perfect existing laws, but no change in their
principles or general scope is believed to be
needed. Since these measures have been in operation,
all demands on the treasury, including the pay
of the army and navy, have been promptly met
and fully satisfied. No considerable body of
troops, it is believed, were ever more amply
provided, and more liberally and punctually
paid; and it may be added, that by no people
were the burdens incident to a great war ever
more cheerfully borne.
The receipts during the year from all sources,
including loans and the balance in the treasury
at its commencement, were $901,125,674.86, and

234 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
the aggregate disbursements $895,796,630.65,
leaving a balance on the ist of July, 1863, of
$5,329,044.21. Of the receipts there were de
rived from customs $69,059,642.40; from inter
nal revenue, $37,640,787.95; from direct tax,
$1,485,103.61; from lands, $167,617.17; from
miscellaneous sources, $3,046,615.35; and from
loans, $776,682,361.57; making the aggregate,
$901,125,674.86. Of the disbursements there
were for the civil service, $23,253,922.08 ; for
pensions and Indians, $4,216,520.79; for interest
on public debt, $24,729,846.51 ; for the War De
partment, $599,298,600.83 ; for the Navy De
partment, $63,211,105.27; for payment of
funded and temporary debt, $181,086,635.07;
making the aggregate, $895,796,630.65, and
leaving the balance of $5,329,044.21. But the
payments of funded and temporary debt, hav
ing been made from moneys borrowed during
the year, must be regarded as merely nominal
payments, and the moneys borrowed to make
them as merely nominal receipts; and their
amount, $181,086,635.07, should therefore be
deducted both from receipts and disbursements.
This being done, there remain as actual receipts,
$720,039,039.79, and the actual disbursements,
$714,709,995.58, leaving the balance as already
stated. The actual receipts and disbursements for the

1863] Annual Message 235
first quarter and the estimated receipts and dis
bursements for the remaining three quarters, of
the current fiscal year, 1864, will be shown in
detail by the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury, to which I invite your attention. It
is sufficient to say here that it is not believed
that actual results will exhibit a state of the
finances less favorable to the country than the
estimates of that officer heretofore submitted;
while it is confidently expected that at the close
of the year both disbursements and debt will be
found very considerably less than has been an
ticipated. The report of the Secretary of War is a docu
ment of great interest. It consists of —
1. The military operations of the year, de
tailed in the report of the General-in-Chief.
2. The organization of colored persons into
the war service.
3. The exchange of prisoners, fully set
forth in the letter of General Hitchcock.
4. The operations under the act for enroll
ing and calling out the national forces, detailed
in the report of the Provost-Marshal-General.
5. The organization of the invalid corps;
and 6. The operation of the several departments
of the Quartermaster-General, Commissary-
General, Paymaster-General, Chief of Engi-

236 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
neers, Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon-General.
It has appeared impossible to make a valuable
summary of this report except such as would
be too extended for this place, and hence I con
tent myself by asking your careful attention to
the report itself.
The duties devolving on the naval branch of
the service during the year, and throughout the
whole of this unhappy contest, have been dis
charged with fidelity and eminent success. The
extensive blockade has been constantly increas
ing in efficiency, as the navy has expanded; yet
on so long a line it has so far been impossible to
entirely suppress illicit trade. From returns re
ceived at the Navy Department, it appears that
more than one thousand vessels have been cap
tured since the blockade was instituted, and that
the value of prizes already sent in for adjudica
tion amounts to over thirteen million dollars.
The naval force of the United States consists
at this time of five hundred and eighty-eight
vessels, completed and in the course of comple
tion, and of these, seventy-five are iron-clad or
armored steamers. The events of the war give
an increased interest and importance to the navy
which will probably extend beyond the war
itself. The armored vessels in our navy, completed
and in service, or which are under contract and

1863H Annual Message 237
approaching completion, are believed to exceed
in number those of any other power. But while
these may be relied upon for harbor defense
and coast service, others of greater strength and
capacity will be necessary for cruising purposes,
and to maintain our rightful position on the
ocean. The change that has taken place in naval ves
sels and naval warfare since the introduction of
steam as a motive power for ships of war de
mands either a corresponding change in some of
our existing navy-yards, or the establishment of
new ones, for the construction and necessary re
pair of modern naval vessels. No inconsider
able embarrassment, delay, and public injury
have been experienced from the want of such
governmental establishments. The necessity of
such a navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable
place upon the Atlantic seaboard, has on re
peated occasions been brought to the attention of
Congress by the Navy Department, and is again
presented in the report of the Secretary which
accompanies this communication. I think
it my duty to invite your special attention to this
subject, and also to that of establishing a yard
and depot for naval purposes upon one of the
western rivers. A naval force has been created
on those interior waters, and under many disad
vantages, within little more than two years, ex-

238 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
ceeding in numbers the whole naval force of the
country at the commencement of the present ad
ministration. Satisfactory and important as
have been the performances of the heroic men
of the navy at this interesting period, they are
scarcely more wonderful than the success of our
mechanics and artisans in the production of war
vessels which has created a new form of naval
power. Our country has advantages, superior to any
other nation in our resources of iron and timber,
with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the im
mediate vicinity of both, all available, and in
close proximity to navigable waters. Without
the advantage of public works the resources of
the nation have been developed, and its power
displayed, in the construction of a navy of such
magnitude, which has, at the very period of its
creation, rendered signal service to the Union.
The increase of the number of seamen in the
public service, from seven thousand five hun
dred men, in the spring of 1861, to about thirty-
four thousand at the present time, has been ac
complished without special legislation, or extra
ordinary bounties to promote that increase. It
has been found, however, that the operation of
the draft, with the high bounties paid for army
recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the
naval service, and will, if not corrected, be likely

i863]l Annual Message 239
to impair its efficiency, by detaching seamen
from their proper vocation and inducing them
to enter the army. I therefore respectfully sug
gest that Congress might aid both the army and
naval services by a definite provision on this sub
ject, which would at the same time be equitable
to the communities more especially interested.
I commend to your consideration the sugges
tions of the Secretary of the Navy in regard to
the policy of fostering and training seamen, and
also the education of officers and engineers for
the naval service. The Naval Academy is ren
dering signal service in preparing midshipmen
for the highly responsible duties which in after
life they will be required to perform. In order
that the country should not be deprived of the
proper quota of educated officers, for which
legal provision has been made at the naval
school, the vacancies caused by the neglect or
omission to make nominations from the States in
insurrection have been filled by the Secretary
of the Navy. The school is now more full and
complete than at any former period, and in
every respect entitled to the favorable consid
eration of Congress.
During the first fiscal year the financial con
dition of the Post Office Department has been
one of increasing prosperity, and I am gratified
in being able to state that the actual postal reve-

240 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
nue has nearly equaled the entire expenditures ;
the latter amounting to $11,314,206.84, and the
former to $11,163,789.59 leaving a deficiency of
but $150,417.25. In i860, the year immediately
preceding the rebellion, the deficiency amounted
to $5,656,705.49, the postal receipts of that year
being $2,645,722.19 less than those of 1863. The
decrease since i860 in the annual amount of
transportation has been only about 25 per cent,
but the annual expenditure on account of the
same has been reduced 35 per cent. It is mani
fest, therefore, that the Post Office Department
may become self-sustaining in a few years even
with the restoration of the whole service.
The international conference of postal dele
gates from the principal countries of Europe
and America, which was called at the sugges
tion of the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on
the nth of May last, and concluded its delib
erations on the 8th of June. The principles es
tablished by the conference as best adapted to
facilitate postal intercourse between nations, and
as the basis of future postal conventions, inau
gurate a general system of uniform international
charges, at reduced rates of postage, and cannot
fail to produce beneficial results.
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of
the Interior, which is herewith laid before you,
for useful and varied information in relation

1863] Annual Message 241
to the public lands, Indian affairs, patents, pen
sions, and other matters of public concern per
taining to his department.
The quantity of land disposed of during the
last and the first quarter of the present fiscal
years was three million eight hundred and forty-
one thousand five hundred and forty-nine acres,
of which one hundred and sixty-one thousand
nine hundred and eleven acres were sold for
cash, one million four hundred and fifty-six
thousand five hundred and fourteen acres were
taken up under the homestead law, and the res
idue disposed of under laws granting lands for
military bounties, for railroad and other pur
poses. It also appears that the sale of the pub
lic lands is largely on the increase.
It has long been a cherished opinion of some
of our wisest statesmen that the people of the
United States had a higher and more enduring
interest in the early settlement and substantial
cultivation of the public lands than in the
amount of direct revenue to be derived from the
sale of them. This opinion has had a control
ling influence in shaping legislation upon the
subject of our national domain. I may cite, as
evidence of this, the liberal measures adopted in
reference to actual settlers; the grant to the
States of the overflowed lands within their limits
in order to their being reclaimed and rendered

242 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
fit for cultivation; the grants to railway compa
nies of alternate sections of land upon the con
templated lines of their roads, which, when com
pleted, will so largely multiply the facilities for
reaching our distant possessions. This policy
has received its most signal and beneficent illus
tration in the recent enactment granting home
steads to actual settlers. Since the first day of
January last the before-mentioned quantity of
one million four hundred and fifty-six thousand
five hundred and fourteen acres of land have
been taken up under its provisions. This fact,
and the amount of sales, furnish gratifying evi
dence of increasing settlement upon the public
lands notwithstanding the great struggle in
which the energies of the nation have been en
gaged, and which has required so large a with
drawal of our citizens from their accustomed
pursuits. I cordially concur in the recom
mendation of the Secretary of the Interior, sug
gesting a modification of the act in favor of those
engaged in the military and naval service of the
United States. I doubt not that Congress will
cheerfully adopt such measures as will, without
essentially changing the general features of the
system, secure, to the greatest practicable extent,
its benefits to those who have left their homes in
defense of the country in this arduous crisis.
I invite your attention to the views of the Sec-

1 863 ]! Annual Message 243
retary as to the propriety of raising, by appro
priate legislation, a revenue from the mineral
lands of the United States.
The measures provided at your last session for
the removal of certain Indian tribes have been
carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been
negotiated, which will, in due time, be submitted
for the constitutional action of the Senate. They
contain stipulations for extinguishing the pos
sessory rights of the Indians to large and valu
able tracts of land. It is hoped that the effect
of these treaties will result in the establishment
of permanent friendly relations with such of
these tribes as have been brought into frequent
and bloody collision with our outlying settle
ments and emigrants. Sound policy, and our
imperative duty to these wards of the govern
ment, demand our anxious and constant atten
tion to their material well-being, to their prog
ress in the arts of civilization, and, above all, to
that moral training which, under the blessing of
Divine Providence, will confer upon them the
elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes
and consolations, of the Christian faith. I sug
gested in my last annual message the propriety of
remodeling our Indian system. Subsequent
events have satisfied me of its necessity. The de
tails set forth in the report of the Secretary evince
the urgent need for immediate legislative action.

244 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
I commend the benevolent institutions estab
lished or patronized by the government in this
District to your generous and fostering care.
The attention of Congress, during the last ses
sion, was engaged to some extent with a propo
sition for enlarging the water communication
between the Mississippi River and the north
eastern seaboard, which proposition, however,
failed for the time. Since then, upon a call of
the greatest respectability, a convention has been
held at Chicago upon the same subject, a sum
mary of whose views is contained in a memorial
addressed to the President and Congress, and
which I now have the honor to lay before you.
That this interest is one which, ere long, will
force its own way, I do not entertain a doubt,
while it is submitted entirely to your wisdom as
to what can be done now. Augmented interest
is given to this subject by the actual commence
ment of work upon the Pacific railroad, under
auspices so favorable to rapid progress and com
pletion. The enlarged navigation becomes a
palpable need to the great road.
I transmit the second annual report of the
Commissioner of the Department of Agricul
ture, asking your attention to the developments
in that vital interest of the nation.
When Congress assembled a year ago the war
had already lasted nearly twenty months, and

1863]; Annual Message 245
there had been many conflicts on both land and
sea with varying results. The rebellion had
been pressed back into reduced limits; yet the
tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and
abroad, was not satisfactory. With other signs,
the popular elections, then just past, indicated
uneasiness among ourselves while, amid much
that was cold and menacing, the kindest words
coming from Europe were uttered in accents of
pity that we were too blind to surrender a hope
less cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly
by a few armed vessels built upon, and furnished
from, foreign shores, and we were threatened
with such additions from the, same quarter as
would sweep our trade from the sea and raise
our blockade. We had failed to elicit from
European governments anything hopeful upon
this subject. The preliminary emancipation
proclamation, issued in September, was running
its assigned period to the beginning of the new
year. A month later the final proclamation
came, including the announcement that colored
men of suitable condition would be received into
the war service. The policy of emancipation,
and of employing black soldiers, gave to the fu
ture a new aspect, about which hope, and fear,
and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. Ac
cording to our political system, as a matter of
civil administration, the General Government

246 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
had no lawful power to effect emancipation in
any State, and for a long time it had been hoped
that the rebellion could be suppressed without
resorting to it as a military measure. It was all
the while deemed possible that the necessity for
it might come, and that if it should, the crisis
of the contest would then be presented. It came,
and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark
and doubtful ways. Eleven months having now
passed, we are permitted to take another review.
The rebel borders are pressed still further back,
and, by the complete opening of the Mississippi,
the country dominated by the rebellion is di
vided into distinct parts, with no practical com
munication between them. Tennessee and Ar
kansas have been substantially cleared of insur
gent control, and influential citizens in each,
owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the
beginning of the rebellion, now declare openly
for emancipation in their respective States. Of
those States not included in the Emancipation
Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither
of which three years ago would tolerate any re
straint upon the extension of slavery into new
Territories, only dispute now as to the best mode
of removing it within their own limits.
Of those who were slaves at the beginning of
the rebellion, full one hundred thousand are
now in the United States military service, about

1863] Annual Message 247
one half of which number actually bear arms
in the ranks; thus giving the double advantage
of taking so much labor from the insurgent
cause, and supplying the places which otherwise
must be filled with so many white men. So far
as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good
soldiers as any. No servile insurrection, or ten
dency to violence or cruelty, has marked the
measures of emancipation and arming the blacks.
These measures have been much discussed in
foreign countries, and contemporary with such
discussion the tone of public sentiment there is
much improved. At home the same measures
have been fully discussed, supported, criticized,
and denounced and the annual elections follow
ing are highly encouraging to those whose offi
cial duty it is to bear the country through this
great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning.
The crisis which threatened to divide the friends
of the Union is past.
Looking now to the present and future, and
with reference to a resumption of the national
authority within the States wherein that author
ity has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue
a proclamation, a copy of which is herewith
transmitted. On examination of this proclama
tion it will appear, as is believed, that nothing
is attempted beyond what is amply justified by
the Constitution. True, the form of an oath is

248 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
given, but no man is coerced to take it. The
man is only promised a pardon in case he volun
tarily takes the oath. The Constitution author
izes the executive to grant or withold the par
don at his own absolute discretion; and this in
cludes the power to grant on terms, as is fully
established by judicial and other authorities.
It is also proffered that if, in any of the States
named, a State government shall be, in the mode
prescribed, set up, such government shall be
recognized and guaranteed by the United States,
and that under it the State shall, on the consti
tutional conditions, be protected against invasion
and domestic violence. The constitutional obli
gation of the United States to guarantee to every
State in the Union a republican form of govern
ment, and to protect the State in the cases stated,
is explicit and full. But why tender the bene
fits of this provision only to a State government
set up in this particular way? This section of
the Constitution contemplates a case wherein the
element within a State favorable to republican
government in the Union may be too feeble for
an opposite and hostile element external to, or
even within, the State; and such are precisely
the cases with which we are now dealing.
An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived
State government, constructed in whole, or in
preponderating part, from the very element

1863] Annual Message 249
against whose hostility and violence it is to be
protected, is simply absurd. There must be a
test by which to separate the opposing elements,
so as to build only from the sound ; and that test
is a sufficiently liberal one which accepts as
sound whoever will make a sworn recantation of
his former unsoundness.
But if it be proper to require, as a test of ad
mission to the political body, an oath of alle
giance to the Constitution of the United States,
and to the Union under it, why also to the laws
and proclamations in regard to slavery? Those
laws and proclamations were enacted and put
forth for the purpose of aiding in the suppres
sion of the rebellion. To give them their fullest
effect, there had to be a pledge for their mainte
nance. In my judgment they have aided, and
will further aid, the cause for which they were
intended. To now abandon them would be not
only to relinquish a lever of power, but would
also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faith.
I may add, at this point, that while I remain in
my present position I shall not attempt to retract
or modify the Emancipation Proclamation; nor
shall I return to slavery any person who is free
by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of
the acts of Congress. For these and other rea
sons it is thought best that support of these meas
ures shall be included in the oath ; and it is be-

250 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
lieved the executive may lawfully claim it in
return for pardon and restoration of forfeited
rights, which he has clear constitutional power
to withhold altogether, or grant upon the terms
which he shall deem wisest for the public in
terest. It sould be observed, also, that this part
of the oath is subject to the modifying and abro
gating power of legislation and supreme judicial
decision. The proposed acquiescence of the national
executive in any reasonable temporary State ar
rangement for the freed people is made with the
view of possibly modifying the confusion and
destitution which must at best attend all classes
by a total revolution of labor throughout whole
States. It is hoped that the already deeply af
flicted people in those States may be somewhat
more ready to give up the cause of their afflic
tion, if, to this extent, this vital matter be left to
themselves; while no power of the national ex
ecutive to prevent an abuse is abridged by the
proposition. The suggestion in the proclamation as to
maintaining the political framework of the
States on what is called reconstruction is made
in the hope that it may do good without danger
of harm. It will save labor, and avoid great
confusion. But why any proclamation now upon this sub-

1863] Annual Message 251,
ject? This question is beset with the conflict
ing views that the step might be delayed too long
or be taken too soon. In some States the ele
ments for resumption seem ready for action, but
remain inactive apparently for want of a rally-
ing-point — a plan of action. Why shall A adopt
the plan of B, rather than B that of A? And if
A and B should agree, how can they know but
that the General Government here will reject
their plan? By the proclamation a plan is pre
sented which may be accepted by them as a ral-
lying-point, and which they are assured in ad
vance will not be rejected here. This may bring
them to act sooner than they otherwise would.
The objection to a premature presentation of
a plan by the national executive consists in the
danger of committals on points which could be
more safely left to further developments. Care
has been taken to so shape the document as to
avoid embarrassments from this source. Saying
that, on certain terms, certain classes will be
pardoned, with rights restored, it is not said that
other classes, or other terms will never be in
cluded. Saying that reconstruction will be ac
cepted if presented in a specified way, it is not
said it will never be accepted in any other way.
The movements, by State action, for emanci
pation in several of the States not included in
the Emancipation Proclamation, are matters of

252 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 8
profound gratulation. And while I do not re
peat in detail what I have heretofore so earn
estly urged upon this subject, my general views
and feelings remain unchanged; and I trust that
Congress will omit no fair opportunity of aiding
these important steps to a great consummation.
In the midst of other cares, however impor
tant, we must not lose sight of the fact that the
war power is still our main reliance. To that
power alone can we look, yet for a time, to give
confidence to the people in the contested regions
that the insurgent power will not again overrun
them. Until that confidence shall be established,
little can be done anywhere for what is called
reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must
still be directed to the army and navy, who have
thus far borne their harder part so nobly and
well. And it may be esteemed fortunate that in
giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensa
ble arms, we do also honorably recognize the
gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who
compose them, and to whom, more than to oth
ers, the world must stand indebted for the home
of freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged,
and perpetuated. Abraham Lincoln.
Message to Congress, December 8, 1863
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, 1 most

i863]l Message to Congress 253
cordially recommend that Captain John Rog
ers, United States Navy, receive a note of thanks
from Congress for the eminent skill and gal
lantry exhibited by him in the engagement with
the rebel iron-clad steamer Fingal, alias Atlanta,
whilst in command of the United States iron
clad steamer Weehawken, which led to her cap
ture on the 17th of June, 1863, and also for the
zeal, bravery, and general good conduct shown
by this officer on many occasions.
This recommendation is specially made in or
der to comply with the requirements of the ninth
section of the aforesaid act which is in the fol
lowing words, viz. :
That any line officer of the navy or marine corps
may be advanced one grade, if, upon recommendation
of the President, by name, he receives the thanks of
Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict
with the enemy, or for extraordinary heroism in the
line of his profession. Abraham Lincoln.
Telegram to General U. S. Grant
Washington, December 8, 1863.
Major-General Grant: Understanding that
your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is
now secure, I wish to tender you, and all under
your command, my more than thanks, my pro
foundest gratitude, for the skill, courage, and

254 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 9
perseverance with which you and they, over so
great difficulties, have effected that important
object. God bless you all! A. LINCOLN.
Letter to A. G. Curtin
Executive Mansion, December 9, 1863.
My dear Sir: I have to urge my illness, and
the preparation of the message, in excuse for
not having sooner transmitted you the inclosed
from the Secretary of War and Provost-Mar
shal-General in response to yours in relation to
recruiting in Pennsylvania. Though not quite
as you desire, I hope the grounds taken will be
reasonably satisfactory to you. Allow me to ex
change congratulations with you on the organ
ization of the House of Representatives, and
especially on recent military events in Georgia
and Tennessee. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Message to the Senate, December 10, 1863
To the Senate of the United States: I trans
mit herewith a report dated the 9th instant, with
the accompanying papers, received from the Sec
retary of State, in compliance with the require
ments of the sixteenth and eighteenth sections of
the act entitled: " An act to regulate the diplo
matic and consular systems of the United States,"
approved August 18, 1856. Abraham Lincoln.

1863] Message to the Senate 255
Amnesty to Mrs. E. T. Helm
Executive Mansion, December 14, 1863.
Mrs. Emily T. Helm, not being excepted from
the benefits of the proclamation by the President
of the United States issued on the eighth day of
December, 1863, and having on this day taken
and subscribed the oath according to said proc
lamation, she is fully relieved of all penalties
and forfeitures, and remitted to all her rights —
all according to said proclamation, and not
otherwise; and, in regard to said restored rights
of person and property, she is to be protected and
afforded facilities as a loyal person.
Abraham Lincoln.
P. S. Mrs. Helm claims to own some cotton
at Jackson, Mississippi, and also some in
Georgia; and I shall be glad, upon either place
being brought within our lines, for her to be af
forded the proper facilities to show her owner
ship, and take her property. A. Lincoln.
District of Columbia,
Washington County,
ss. :
I, Emily T. Helm, do solemnly swear in presence
of Almighty God that 1 will henceforth faithfully
support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the
United States, and the union of the States thereunder;

256 Abraham Lincoln [Dec 15
and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully
support all acts of Congress passed during the exist
ing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so
far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Con
gress, or by decisions of the Supreme Court; and that
I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support
all proclamations of the President, made during the
existing rebellion, having reference to slaves so long
and so far as not modified or declared void by the
Supreme Court. So help me God.
Executive Mansion, December 14, 1863.
Whom it may concern: It is my wish that
Mrs. Emily T. Helm (widow of the late Gen
eral B. H. Helm, who fell in the Confederate
service), now returning to Kentucky, may have
protection of person and property, except as to
slaves, of which I say nothing. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Dr. Thomas Cottman
Executive Mansion, December 15, 1863.
My dear Sir: You were so kind as to say
this morning that you desire to return to Louis
iana, and to be guided by my wishes, to some
extent, in the part you may take in bringing that
State to resume her rightful relation to the Gen
eral Government.
My wishes are in a general way expressed,
as well as I can express them, in the proclama
tion issued on the 8th of the present month, and

1863]! Letter to Coltman 257
in that part of the annual message which relates
to that proclamation. It there appears that I
deem the sustaining of the Emancipation Proc
lamation, where it applies, as indispensable; and
I add here that I would esteem it fortunate if
the people of Louisiana should themselves place
the remainder of the State upon the same foot
ing, and then, if in their discretion it should ap
pear best, make some temprary provision for
the whole of the freed people, substantially as
suggested in the last proclamation.
I have not put forth the plan in that procla
mation as a Procrustean bed, to which exact con
formity is to be indispensable; and, in Louisiana
particularly, I wish that labor already done,
which varies from that plan in no important
particular, may not be thrown away.
The strongest wish I have, not already pub
licly expressed, is that in Louisiana and else
where all sincere Union men would stoutly es
chew cliquism, and, each yielding something in
minor matters, all work together. Nothing is
likely to be so baleful in the great work before
us as stepping aside from the main object to con
sider who will get the offices if a small matter
shall go thus, and who else will get them if it
shall go otherwise. It is a time now for real
patriots to rise above all this. As to the particu
lars of what I may think best to be done in any

258 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 15
State, I have publicly stated certain points which
I have thought indispensable to the reestablish-
ment and maintenance of the national authority;
and I go no further than this because I wish to
avoid both the substance and the appearance of
dictation. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Message to the Senate, December 15, 1863
To the Senate of the United States: In an
swer to the resolution of the Senate of the nth
of March last, requesting certain information
touching persons in the service of this govern
ment, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State, to whom the resolution was referred.
Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to Judge Hoffman
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 15, 1863.
Hon. Ogden Hoffman, San Francisco: The
oath in the proclamation of December 8 is in
tended for those who may voluntarily take it,
and not for those who may be constrained to take
it in order to escape actual imprisonment or pun
ishment. It is intended that the latter class
shall abide the granting or withholding of the
pardoning power in the ordinary way.
A. Lincoln.

1863]! Letter to Hoffman 259
* Telegram to Mother Mary Gonyeag
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 15, 1863.
Mother Mary Gonyeag, Academy of Visita
tion, Keokuk, Iowa: The President has no au
thority as to whether you may raffle for the be
nevolent object you mention. If there is no
objection in the Iowa laws, there is none here.
A. Lincoln.

260 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 16

Proclamation Concerning Discriminating
Duties, December 16, 1863
By the President of the United States of
America:
A Proclamation.
WHEREAS, by an act of the Congress
of the United States of the twenty-
fourth of May, one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-eight, entitled "An act in
addition to an act entitled 'An act concerning
discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,'
and to equalize the duties on Prussian vessels
and their cargoes," it is provided that, upon sat
isfactory evidence being given to the President
of the United States, by the government of any
foreign nation, that no discriminating duties of
tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the
ports of said nation upon vessels wholly belong
ing to citizens of the United States, or upon the
produce, manufactures, or merchandise im
ported in the same from the United States, or
from any foreign country, the President is
thereby authorized to issue his proclamation de
claring that the foreign discriminating duties of

1863]; Proclamation 261
tonnage and impost within the United States are
and shall be suspended and discontinued so far
as respects the vessels of the said foreign nation,
and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise
imported into the United States in the same from
the said foreign nation, or from any other
foreign country; the said suspension to take
effeci: from the time of such notification being
given to the President of the United States, and
to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption
of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be
continued, and no longer;
And whereas, satisfactory evidence has lately
been received by me, through an official com
munication of Seiior Don Luis Molina, Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of
the Republic of Nicaragua, under date of the
28th of November, 1863, that no other or higher
duties of tonnage and impost have been imposed
or levied since the second day of August, 1838,
in the ports of Nicaragua, upon vessels wholly
belonging to citizens of the United States, and
upon the produce, manufactures, or merchan
dise imported in the same from the United
States, and from any foreign country whatever,
than are levied on Nicaraguan ships and their
cargoes in the same ports under like circum
stances :

262 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 17
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi
dent of the United States of America, do hereby
declare and proclaim that so much of the several
acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage
and impost within the United States are, and
shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of Nicaragua, and the pro
duce, manufactures, and merchandise imported
into the United States in the same from the do
minions of Nicaragua, and from any other for
eign country whatever; the said suspension to
take effect from the day above mentioned, and
to continue thenceforward so long as the reci
procal exemption of the vessels of the United
States, and the produce, manufactures, and mer
chandise imported into the dominions of
Nicaragua in the same, as aforesaid, shall be
continued on the part of the government of
Nicaragua. Given under my hand at the city of
Washington, the sixteenth day of De-
[L. S.] cember, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three, and the eighty-eighth of the inde
pendence of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln.
By the President: William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.

1863]] Message to Congress 263
Message to Congress, December 17, 1863
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
Herewith I lay before you a letter addressed to
myself by a committee of gentlemen represent
ing the Freedmen's Aid Societies in Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.
The subject of the letter, as indicated above,
is one of great magnitude and importance, and
one which these gentlemen of known ability and
high character seem to have considered with
great attention and care. Not having the time
to form a mature judgment of my own as to
whether the plan they suggest is the best, I sub
mit the whole subject to Congress, deeming that
their attention thereto is almost imperatively
demanded. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
* Telegram to General S. A. Hurlbut
(Cipher.)
Executive Mansion, December 17, 1863.
Major-General Hurlbut, Memphis, Tenn.:
I understand you have under sentence of death,
a tall old man, by the name of Henry F. Luckett.
I personally knew him, and did not think him a
bad man. Please do not let him be executed
unless upon further order from me, and in the
meantime send me a transcript of the record.
A. Lincoln.

264 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 18
Note to E. B. Washburne
Executive Mansion, December 18, 1863.
My dear Sir: The joint resolution of thanks
to General Grant and those under his command
has been before me, and is approved. If agree
able to you, I shall be glad for you to superin
tend the getting up of the medal, and the mak
ing of the copy to be engrossed on parchment,
which I am to transmit to the general.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, December 18, 1863.
My dear Sir: I believe General Schofield
must be relieved from command of the depart
ment of Missouri; otherwise a question of ver
acity, in relation to his declarations as to his
interfering, or not, with the Missouri legisla
ture, will be made with him, which will create
an additional amount of trouble, not to be over
come by even a correct decision of the question.
The question itself must be avoided. Now for
the mode. Senator Henderson, his friend,
thinks he can be induced to ask to be relieved,
if he shall understand he will be generously
treated; and, on this latter point, Gratz Brown
will help his nomination as a major-general
through the Senate. In no other way can he be

1 86311 Letter to Stanton 265
confirmed ; and upon his rejection alone it would
be difficult for me to sustain him as commander
of the department. Besides, his being relieved
from command of the department, and at the
same time confirmed as a major-general, will be
the means of Henderson and Brown leading off
together as friends, and will go far to heal the
Missouri difficulty. Another point. I find it
is scarcely less than indispensable for me to do
something for General Rosecrans; and I find
Henderson and Brown will agree to him for the
commander of their department.
Again, I have received such evidence and ex
planations, in regard to the supposed cotton
transactions of General Curtis, as fully restore
in my mind the fair presumption of his inno
cence ; and, as he is my friend, and what is more,
as I think, the country's friend, I would be glad
to relieve him from the impression that I think
him dishonest by giving him a command. Most
of the Iowa and Kansas delegations, a large part
of that of Missouri, and the delegates from Ne
braska and Colorado, ask this in behalf of Gen
eral C, and suggest Kansas and other contigu
ous territory west of Missouri as a department
for him. In a purely military point of view it
may be that none of these things are indispensa
ble, or perhaps advantageous; but in another
aspect, scarcely less important, they would give

266 Abraham Lincoln [Dec 20
great relief; while, at the worst, I think they
could not injure the military service much. I
therefore shall be greatly obliged if yourself and
General Halleck can give me your hearty coop
eration in making the arrangement. Perhaps
the first thing would be to send General Scho-
field's nomination to me. Let me hear from
you before you take any actual step in the matter.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to General U. S. Grant
War Department, December 19, 1863.
General Grant, Chattanooga, Tenn.: The
Indiana delegation in Congress, or at least a
large part of them, are very anxious that Gen
eral Milroy shall enter active service again, and
I share in this feeling. He is not a difficult man
to satisfy — sincerity and courage being his strong
traits. Believing in our cause, and wanting to
fight for it, is the whole matter with him. Could
you, without embarrassment, assign him to a
place, if directed to report to you? A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Welles
Executive Mansion, December 20, 1863.
My dear Sir: General Gilmore, believing
that a joint movement of the army and navy is
not likely to be made against Charleston verVj

i863]j Letter to Stanton 267
soon, has written asking leave to operate inde
pendently of the navy for a time. As this ap
plication comes to me, I will thank you to inform
me how long, according to any plan or reason
able calculation of the navy, it will be before it
will need the actual cooperation of the army be
fore Charleston. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
(Private.)
Executive Mansion, December 21, 1863.
My dear Sir: Sending a note to the Secre
tary of the Navy, as I promised, he called over
and said that the strikes in the ship-yards had
thrown the completion of vessels back so much
that he thought General Gillmore's proposition
entirely proper. He only wishes (and in which
I concur) that General Gillmore will courte
ously confer with, and explain to, Admiral
Dahlgren. In regard to the Western matter, I believe the
program will have to stand substantially as I
first put it. Henderson, and especially Brown,
believe that the social influence of St. Louis
would inevitably tell injuriously upon General
Pope in the particular difficulty existing there,
and I think there is some force in that view.
As to retaining General Schofield tempo-

268 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 21
rarily, if this should be done, I believe I should
scarcely be able to get his nomination through
the Senate. Send me over his nomination,
which, however, I am not quite ready to send
to the Senate. Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN.
Permit to Mrs. and Mrs. Craig
Executive Mansion, December 21, 1863.
Mr. and Mrs. Craig, of Arkansas, whose plan
tation, situated upon the Mississippi River a few
miles below Helena, has been desolated during
the present war, propose returning to reoccupy
and cultivate said plantation; and it is my wish
that they be permitted to do so, and that the
United States military forces in that vicinity will
not molest them or allow them to be molested,
as long as the said Mr. and Mrs. Craig shall de
mean themselves as peaceful, loyal citizens of the
United States. Abraham Lincoln.
Telegram to Major-General Butler
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 21, 1863.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
It is said that William H. Blake is under sen
tence of death at Fort Magruder, in your de
partment. Do not let him be executed without
further order from me, and in the meantime

1863] Letter to Filley 269
have the record sent me. He is said to belong
to the First or Second Pennsylvania Artillery.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to O. D. Filley
Executive Mansion, December 22, 1863.
O. D. Filley, St. Louis. Mo.: I have just
looked over a petition signed by some three
dozen citizens of St. Louis, and three accom
panying letters, one by yourself, one by a Mr.
Nathan Ranney, and one by a Mr. John D. Coal
ter, the whole relating to the Rev. Dr. Mc-
Pheeters. The petition prays, in the name of
justice and mercy, that I will restore Dr. Mc-
Pheeters to all his ecclesiastical rights. This
gives no intimation as to what ecclesiastical
rights are withheld.
Your letter states that Provost-Marshal Dick,
about a year ago, ordered the arrest of Dr. Mc-
Pheeters, pastor of the Vine Street Church, pro
hibited him from officiating, and placed the
management of the affairs of the church out of
the control of its chosen trustees ; and near the
close you state that a certain course "would in
sure his release." Mr. Ranney's letter says:
"Dr. Samuel S. McPheeters is enjoying all the
rights of a civilian, but cannot preach the Gos
pel !!1" Mr. Coalter, in his letter, asks: "Is it
not a strange illustration of the condition of

270 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 22
things, that the question of who shall be allowed
to preach in a church in St Louis shall be de
cided by the President of the United States?"
Now, all this sounds very strangely; and,
withal, a little as if you gentlemen making the
application do not understand the case alike;
one affirming that the doctor is enjoying all the
rights of a civilian, and another pointing out to
me what will secure his release! On the second
day of January last I wrote to General Curtis
in relation to Mr. Dick's order upon Dr. Mc-
Pheeters ; and, as I suppose the doctor is enjoy
ing all the rights of a civilian, I only quote that
part of my letter which relates to the church.
It is as follows: "But I must add that the
United States Government must not, as by this
order, undertake to run the churches. When an
individual, in a church or out of it, becomes
dangerous to the public interest, he must be
checked; but the churches, as such, must take
care of themselves. It will not do for the
United States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or
other agents for the churches."
This letter going to General Curtis, then in
command there, I supposed, of course, it was
obeyed, especially as I heard no further com
plaint from Dr. McPheeters or his friends for
nearly an entire year. I have never interfered,
nor thought of interfering, as to who shall or

18633! Letter to Filley 271
shall not preach in any church ; nor have I know
ingly or believingly tolerated any one else to so
interfere by my authority. If any one is so in
terfering by color of my authority, I would like
to have it specifically made known to me.
If, after all, what is now sought is to have me
put Dr. McPheeters back over the heads of a
majority of his own congregation, that, too, will
be declined. I will not have control of any
church on any side. Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln.
Indorsement on Petition Concerning Dr.
McPheeters, December 22, 1863
The assumptions of this paper, so far as I
know, or believe, are entirely false. I have
never deprived Doctor McPheeters of any ec
clesiastical right, or authorized or excused its
being done by any one deriving authority from
me. On the contrary, in regard to this very
case, I directed a long time ago that Doctor Mc
Pheeters was to be arrested, or remain at large,
upon the same rule as any one else ; and that in
no event was any one to interfere, by my author
ity, as to who should or should not preach in any
church. This was done, I think, in a letter, in
the nature of an order, to Mr. Dick. The as
sumption that I am keeping Dr. McPheeters
from preaching in his church is monstrous. If

272 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 24
any one is doing this by pretense of my author
ity, I will thank any one who can to make out
and present me a specific case against him. If,
after all, the doctor is kept out by the majority
of his own parishioners, and my official power is
sought to force him in over their heads, I decline
that also. A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to the Commander of Point
Lookout
Executive Mansion, December 22, 1863.
Military Commander, Point Lookout, Md.:
If you have a prisoner by the name Linder —
Daniel Linder, I think, and certainly the son of
U. F. Linder, of Illinois, please send him to me
by an officer. A. Lincoln.
Message to Congress, December 23, 1863
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit to Congress a copy of the report to the
Secretary of State of the commissioners on the
part of the United States under the convention
with Peru, of the 12th of January last, on the
subject of claims.
It will be noticed that two claims of Peruvian
citizens on this government have been allowed.
An appropriation for the discharge of the obli
gations of the United States in these cases is re
quested. Abraham Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Banks 273
Letter to General N. P. Banks
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 24, 1863.
'Major-General Banks: Yours of the sixth
instant has been received and fully considered.
I deeply regret to have said or done anything
which could give you pain or uneasiness. I
have all the while intended you to be master, as
well in regard to reorganizing a State govern
ment for Louisiana, as in regard to the military
matters of the department; and hence my letters
on reconstruction have nearly, if not quite, all
been addressed to you. My error has been that
it did not occur to me that Governor Shepley or
any one else would set up a claim to act inde
pendently of you ; and hence I said nothing ex
pressly upon the point.
Language has not been guarded at a point
where no danger was thought of. I now tell
you that in every dispute with whomsoever, you
are master.
Governor Shepley was appointed to assist the
commander of the department, and not to thwart
him or act independently of him. Instructions
have been given directly to him merely to spare
you detail labor, and not to supersede your au
thority. This, in its liability to be misconstrued,
it now seems was an error in us. But it is past.

274 Abraham Lincoln [Dec. 31
I now distinctly tell you that you are master of
all, and that I wish you to take the case as you
find it, and give us a free State reorganization
of Louisiana in the shortest possible time. What
I say here is to have a reasonable construction.
I do not mean that you are to withdraw from
Texas, or abandon any other military measure
which you may deem important. Nor do I
mean that you are to throw away available work
already done for reconstruction; nor that war is
to be made upon Governor Shepley, or upon any
one else, unless it be found that they will not
cooperate with you, in which case, and in all
cases, you arc master while you remain in com
mand of the department.
My thanks for your successful and valuable
operations in Texas.
Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to the Commander of Point
Lookout
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 24, 1863.
Military Commander, Point Lookout, Md.:
If you send Linder to me as directed a day or
two ago, also send Edwin C. Claybrook, of
Ninth Virginia rebel cavalry. A. Lincoln.

1863] Letter to Stanton 275
* Telegram to U. F. Linder
Executive Mansion, December 26, 1863.
Hon. U. F. Linder, Chicago, III.: Your son
Dan has just left me with my order to the Sec
retary of War, to administer to him the oath of
allegiance, discharge him and send him to you.
A. Lincoln.
Letter to General N. P. Banks
Executive Mansion, December 29, 1863.
Major-General Banks: Yours of the six
teenth is received, and I send you, as covering
the ground of it, a copy of my answer to yours of
the sixth, it being possible the original may not
reach you. I intend you to be master in every
controversy made with you. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, December 31, 1863.
Sir: Please fix up the department to which
Curtis is to go, without waiting to wind up the
Missouri matter. Lane is very anxious to have
Fort Smith in it, and I am willing, unless there
be decided military reasons to the contrary, in
which case of course, I am not for it. It will
oblige me to have the Curtis department fixed
at once. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

276 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 5
* Telegram to General G. G. Meade
Executive Mansion, January 5, 1864.
Major-General Meade: If not inconsistent
with the service, please allow General William
Harrow as long a leave of absence as the rules
permit with the understanding that I may
lengthen it if I see fit. He is an acquaintance
and friend of mine, and his family matters very
urgently require his presence. A. Lincoln.
Message to the Senate, January 5, 1864
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives: By a joint resolution of your hon
orable bodies, approved December 23, 1863, the
paying of bounties to veteran volunteers, as now
practised by the War Department, is, to the ex
tent of three hundred dollars in each case, pro
hibited after this fifth day of the present month.
I transmit, for your consideration, a communi
cation from the Secretary of War, accompanied
by one from the Provost-Marshal-General to
him, both relating to the subject above men
tioned. I earnestly recommend that the law be
so modified as to allow bounties to be paid as
they now are, at least until the ensuing first day
of February. I am not without anxiety lest I
appear to be importunate in thus recalling your

1864] Letter to Steele 277
attention to a subject upon which you have so
recently acted, and nothing but a deep conviction
that the public interest demands it could induce
me to incur the hazard of being misunderstood
on this point. The executive approval was
given by me to the resolution mentioned ; and it
is now, by a closer attention and a fuller knowl
edge of facts, that I feel constrained to recom
mend a reconsideration of the subject.
Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to General F. Steele
Executive Mansion, January 5, 1864.
Major-General Steele: I wish to afford the
people of Arkansas an opportunity of taking the
oath prescribed in the proclamation of Decem
ber 8, 1863, preparatory to reorganizing a State
government there.
Accordingly I send you by General Kimball
some blank books and other blanks, the manner
of using which will, in the main, be suggested
by an inspection of them ; and General Kimball
will add some verbal explanations.
Please make a trial of the matter immediately
at such points as you may think likely to give
success. I suppose Helena and Little Rock are
two of them. Detail any officer you may see fit
to take charge of the subject at each point; and
which officer, it may be assumed, will have au-

278 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 6
thority to administer the oath. These books of
course are intended to be permanent records.
Report to me on the subject.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
Telegram to General Boyle
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. G, January 6, 1864.
General Boyle, Camp Nelson, Ky. : Let exe
cution in the cases of Goddard, Crowell, Prick-
ett, and Smith, mentioned by you be suspended
till further notice. A. Lincoln.
Telegram to Governor Bramlette
Executive Mansion, January 6, 1864. 2 p. m.
Governor Bramlette, Frankfort, Ky.: Yours
of yesterday received. Nothing is known here
about General Foster's order, of which you com
plain, beyond the fair presumption that it comes
from General Grant, and that it has an object
which, if you understood, you would be loath to
frustrate. True, these troops are, in strict law,
only to be removed by my order; but General
Grant's judgment would be the highest incentive
to me to make such order. Nor can I under
stand how doing so is bad faith and dishonor,
nor yet how it so exposes Kentucky to ruin. Mil
itary men here do not perceive how it exposes

l864] Indorsement 279
Kentucky, and I am sure Grant would not per
mit it if it so appeared to him. A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to Officer in Command at
Covington
Executive Mansion, January 7, 1864.
Officer in Command, Covington, Ky.: The
death sentence of Henry Andrews is commuted
to imprisonment at hard labor during the re
mainder of the war. A. Lincoln.
Indorsement, January 7, 1864
Cincinnati, January 7, 1864.
To Hon. S. P. Chase: One Andrews is to be shot
for desertion at Covington, to-morrow. The pro
ceedings have never been submitted to the President.
Is this right? Governor Hoadley.
[Indorsement.]
The case of Andrews is really a very bad one,
as appears by the record already before me. Yet
before receiving this I had ordered his punish
ment commuted to imprisonment for during the
war at hard labor, and had so telegraphed. I
did this, not on any merit in the case, but because
I am trying to evade the butchering business
lately. A. Lincoln.

280 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 7

Letter to C. J. Wright and C. K. Hawkes
Executive Mansion, January 7, 1864.
Gentlemen: You have presented me a plan
for getting cotton and other products from
within the rebel lines, from which you think the
United States will derive some advantage.
Please, carefully and considerately, answer me
the following questions :
First. If now, without any new order or rule,
a rebel should come into our lines with cotton,
and offer to take the oath of December 8, what
do you understand would be done with him and
his cotton?
Second. How will the physical difficulty and
danger of getting cotton from within the rebel
lines be lessened by your plan? Or how will
the owner's motive to surmount that difficulty
and danger be heightened by it?
Third. If your plan be adopted, where do you
propose putting the cotton, etc., into market?
how assure the government of your good faith
in the business? and how be compensated for
your services? Very respectfully, A. Lincoln.
Message to Congress, January 7, 1864
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit to Congress a copy of the decree of

1864] Message to the Senate 28 1'
the district court of the United States for the
southern district of New York, awarding the
sum of seventeen thousand one hundred and
fifty dollars and sixty-six cents for the illegal
capture of the British schooner Glen, and re
quest that an appropriation of that amount may
be made as an indemnification to the parties in
terested. Abraham Lincoln
* Telegram to R. T. Lincoln
Executive Mansion, January n, 1864.
R. T. Lincoln, Cambridge, Mass.: I send
you draft to-day. How are you now? Answer
by telegraph at once. A. LINCOLN.
Note to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion, January n, 1864.
My Dear Sir: I am receiving letters and
despatches indicating an expectation that Mr.
Barney is to leave, the Custom House at New
York. Have you anything on the subject?
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Message to the Senate, January 12, 1864
To the Senate of the United States: In ac
cordance with the request of the Senate, con
veyed in their resolution of the 16th of Decem
ber, 1863, desiring any information in my pos
session relative to the alleged exceptional treat-

282 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 13
ment of Kanas troops when captured by those in
rebellion, I have the honor to transmit a com
munication from the Secretary of War, accom
panied by reports from the general-in-chief of
the army and the commissary-general of pris
oners relative to the subject-matter of the reso
lution. Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to General N. P. Banks
Executive Mansion, January 13, 1864.
Major-General Banks: I have received two
letters from you, which are duplicates each of
the other, except that one bears date the 27th and
the other the 30th of December. Your confi
dence in the practicability of constructing a free-
State government speedily for Louisiana, and
your zeal to accomplish it are very gratifying. It
is a connection than in which the words "can"
and "will" were never more precious. I am
much in hope that on the authority of my letter of
December 24, you have already begun the work.
Whether you shall have done so or not, please,
on receiving this, proceed with all possible de
spatch, using your own absolute discretion in all
matters which may not carry you away from
the conditions stated in your letters to me, nor
from those of the message and proclamation of
December 8. Frame orders, and fix times and
places for this and that, according to your own

1864] Letter to Gillmore 283
judgment I am much gratified to know that
Mr. Dennison, the Collector at New Orleans,
and who bears you this, understands your views
and will give you his full and zealous coopera
tion. It is my wish and purpose that all others
holding authority from me shall do the like;
and, to spare me writing, I will thank you to
make this known to them. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
* Telegram to Major Laidley1
Executive Mansion, January 13, 1864.
Major Laidley: Please make a trial of the
Amsterdam projectile, and report to the Secre
tary of War. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Letter to General Q. A. Gillmore
Executive Mansion, January 13, 1864.
Major-General Gillmore: I understand an
effort is being made by some worthy gentlemen
to reconstruct a loyal State government in Flor
ida. Florida is in your department, and it is
not unlikely that you may be there in person.
I have given Mr. Hay a commission of major,
1 There was no detail of the war neglected by Lincoln. He
took keen interest in all improvements in equipment, and often
gave up a great deal of time to examining and testing anything
of that nature.

284 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 16
and send him to you, with some blank-books and
other blanks, to aid in the reconstruction. He
will explain as to the manner of using the blanks,
and also my general views on the subject. It is
desirable for all to cooperate, but if irreconcil
able differences of opinion shall arise, you are
master. I wish the thing done in the most
speedy way possible, so that when done, it lie
within the range of the late proclamation on the
subject. The detail labor, of course, will have
to be done by others; but I shall be greatly
obliged if you will give it such general super
vision as you can find consistent with your more
strictly military duties. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to Crosby and Nichols
Executive Mansion, January i6, 1864.
Gentlemen: The number for this month and
year of the "North American Review " was duly
received, and for which please accept my thanks.
Of course, I am not the most impartial judge;
yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to
hope that the article entitled "The President's
Policy" will be of value to the country. I fear
I am not quite worthy of all which is therein
kindly said of me personally.1
lAn article written by James Russell Lowell.

1 864J Telegram to Bramlette 285
The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at
the top of page 252, I could wish to be not ex
actly as it is. In what is there expressed, the
writer has not correctly understood me. I have
never had a theory that secession could absolve
States or people from their obligations. Pre
cisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural
address; and it was because of my belief in the
continuation of these obligations that I was
puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal
rights of those citizens who remained individu
ally innocent of treason or rebellion. But I
mean no more now than to merely call attention
to this point. Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln.
Telegram to Governor Bramlette
Executive Mansion, January 17, 1864.
Governor Bramlette, Frankfort, Kentucky:
Your letter of the eighth is just received. To
your question, "May I not add q. e. d.?" I an
swer "No," because you omit the "premise" in
the law, that the President may in his discretion
send these troops out of Kentucky; and I take
it that if he shall do so, on the judgment of
General Grant as to its propriety, it will be
neither cruelty, bad faith, nor dishonor. When
I telegraphed you I knew though I did not say
so to you, that General Grant was about that

286 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 20
time with General Foster at Knoxville, and
could not be ignorant of, or averse to, the order
which alarmed you. I see he has since passed
through Kentucky, and I hope you have had a
conference with him. A. Lincoln.
Letter to Thomas B. Bryan
Executive Mansion, January 18, 1864.
My dear Sir: I have received the two copies
of the lithographed facsimile of the original
draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, which
you have had the kindness to send me, and in
answer to your question, I have to say that al
though I have not examined it in detail, yet it
impresses me favorably as being a faithful and
correct copy. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
*Telegram to R. T. Lincoln
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 19, 1864.
R. T. Lincoln, Cambridge, Mass.: There is
a good deal of small-pox here. Your friends
must judge for themselves whether they ought
to come or not. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert: Please send above dispatch.
Jno. G. Nicolay.

1864] Letter to Reynolds 287
Letter to General J. J. Reynolds
Executive Mansion, January 20, 1864.
Major-General Reynolds: It would appear
by the accompanying papers that Mrs. Mary E.
Morton is the owner, independently of her hus
band, of a certain building, premises, and fur
niture which she, with her children, has been oc
cupying and using peaceably during the war
until recently, when the Provost-Marshal has, in
the name of the United States Government,
seized the whole of said property, and ejected
her from it. It also appears by her statement to
me that her husband went off in the rebellion at
the beginning, wherein he still remains,
It would seem that this seizure has not been
made for any military object, as for a place of
storage, a hospital, or the like, because this would
not have required the seizure of the furniture,
and especially not the return of furniture pre
viously taken away.
The seizure must have been on some claim of
confiscation, a matter of which the courts, and
not the provost-marshals or other military of
ficers, are to judge. In this very case would
probably be the questions, "Is either the hus
band or wife a traitor?" "Does the property
belong to the husband or to the wife?" "Is the
property of the wife confiscable for the treason

288 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 20
of the husband?" and other similar questions, all
which it is ridiculous for a provost-marshal to
assume to decide.
The true rule for the military is to seize such
property as is needed for military uses and rea
sons, and let the rest alone. Cotton and other
staple articles of commerce are seizable for mil
itary reasons. Dwelling-houses and furniture
are seldom so. If Mrs. Morton is playing trai
tor to the extent of practical injury, seize her,
but leave her house to the courts. Please revise
and adjust this case upon these principles.
Yours, etc.
A. Lincoln.

1864] Letter to Steele 289

Letter to General F. Steele.
Executive Mansion, January 20, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE: Sun
dry citizens of the State of Arkansas
petition me that an election may be
held in that State, at which to elect a governor
thereof; . . . that it be assumed at said elec
tion and thenceforward that the constitution and
laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in
full force, except that the constitution is so mod
ified as to declare that "there shall be neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the
punishment of crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted; but the General As
sembly may make such provision for the freed
people as shall recognize and declare their per
manent freedom, provide for their education,
and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary
arrangement, with their present condition as a
laboring, landless, and homeless class"; and also
except that all now existing laws in relation to
slaves are inoperative and void; that said elec
tion be held on the twenty-eighth day of March
next at all the usual voting places of the State,
or all such as voters may attend for that pur-

290 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 20
pose; that the voters attending at each place,
at eight o'clock in the morning of said day, may
choose judges and clerks of election for that
place; that all persons qualified by said consti
tution and laws, and taking the oath prescribed
in the President's proclamation of December
the 8th, 1863, cither before or at the election,
and none others may be voters, provided that
persons having the qualifications aforesaid and
being in the volunteer military service of the
United States, may vote once wherever they may
be at voting places ; that each set of judges and
clerks may make return directly to you on or
before the eleventh day of April next; that in
all other respects said election may be conducted
according to said modified constitution and laws ;
that on receipt of said returns, you count said
votes, and that if the number shall reach or
exceed five thousand four hundred and six, you
canvass said votes and ascertain who shall
thereby appear to have been elected governor;
and that on the eighteenth day of April next,
the person so appearing to have been elected,
and appearing before you at Little Rock to have,
by you, administered to him an oath to support
the Constitution of the United States and said
modified constitution of the State of Arkansas,
and actually taking said oath, be, by you, de
clared qualified, and be enjoined to immediately

1864] Letter to Steele 291
enter upon the duties of the office of governor of
said State; and that you thereupon declare the
constitution of the State of Arkansas to have been
modified and amended as aforesaid by the action
of the people as aforesaid.
You will please order an election immediately,
and perform the other parts assigned you, with
necessary incidentals, all according to the fore
going. A. Lincoln.
Message to Congress, January 20, 1864.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives: In accordance with a letter ad
dressed by the Secretary of State, with my ap
proval, to the Hon. Joseph A. Wright of Indi
ana, that patriotic and distinguished gentleman
repaired to Europe and attended the interna
tional agricultural exhibition held at Hamburg
last year, and has, since his return, made a report
to me which, it is believed, cannot fail to be of
general interest and especially so to the agricul
tural community. I transmit for your consider
ation copies of the letter and report. While it
appears by the letter that no reimbursement of
expenses or compensation was promised him I
submit whether reasonable allowance should not
be made him for them. Abraham Lincoln.

292 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 23
Message to the Senate, January 21, 1864.
To the Senate of the United States: In com
pliance with the resolution of (he Senate of yes
terday, respecting the recent destruction by fire
of the Church of the Compafiia, at Santiago,
Chili, and the efforts of citizens of the United
States to rescue the victims of the conflagration,
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State,
with the papers accompanying it.
Abraham Lincoln.
Telegram to Officer in Command at Fort
Independence
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 22, 1864.
Military Commander, Fort Independence:
Suspend until further order execution of
Charles R. Belts, of Twelfth Massachusetts, and
send me the record of his trial. A. LINCOLN.
Letter to Alpheus Lewis
Executive Mansion, January 23, 1864.
My dear Sir: You have inquired how the
government would regard and treat cases
wherein the owners of plantations, in Arkansas,
for instance, might fully recognize the freedom
of those formerly slaves, and by fair contracts of
hire with them, recommence the cultivation of

1864] Letter to Lewis 293
their plantations. I answer, I should regard
such cases with great favor, and should as a prin
ciple treat them precisely as I would treat the
same number of free white people in the same
relation and condition. Whether white or
black, reasonble effort should be made to give
government protection. In neither case should
the giving of aid and comfort to the rebellion,
or other practices injurious to the government,
be allowed on such plantations; and in either,
the government would claim the right to take, if
necessary, those of proper ages and conditions
into the military service. Such plan must not
be used to break up existing leases or arrange
ments of abandoned plantations which the gov
ernment may have made to give employment and
sustenance to the idle and destitute people.
With the foregoing qualifications, and explana
tions, and in view of its tendency to advance
freedom, and restore peace and prosperity, such
hiring and employment of the freed people,
would be regarded by me with rather especial
favor. To be more specific, I add that all the mili
tary, and others acting by authority of the United
States, are to favor and facilitate the introduc
tion and carrying forward, in good faith, the
free-labor system as above indicated, by allowing
the necessary supplies therefor to be procured

294 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 23
and taken to the proper points, and by doing and
forbearing whatever will advance it, providing
that existing military and trade regulations be
not transcended thereby. I shall be glad to
learn that planters adopting this system shall
have employed one so zealous and active as your
self to act as an agent in relation thereto.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,  , 1864.
Confiding in the representations and assurances
made and given by Hon. Brutus J. Clay, of Kentucky,
that if permitted and afforded reasonable protection
and facilities by the government, his brother-in-law,
Christopher F. Field, and his son, Christopher F.
Clay, having, prior to the rebellion, had ownership
and lawful control of several plantations in Missis
sippi and Arkansas, would put said plantations into
cultivation, upon the system of free hired labor, recog
nizing and acknowledging the freedom of the labor
ers, and totally excluding from said plantations the
slave system of labor, and all actual slavery, and
would neither do nor permit anything on said planta
tions which would aid the rebellion, it is hereby or
dered that said ChristopherF. Field, and Christopher
F. Clay, or either of them, be permitted to so put said
plantations, or any of them, into cultivation; and that
the military, and all others acting by the authority of
the United States, are to favor and facilitate said
Field and Clay in the carrying forward said business

1864] Letter to Lewis 295
in good faith, by giving them protection, and allow
ing them to procure and take to the proper points, the
necessary supplies of all kinds, and by doing and for
bearing in whatever way will advance the object
aforesaid; provided that no existing military or trade
regulations, nor any military necessity be transcended
or overridden thereby.
Abraham Lincoln.
Note to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1864.
My dear Sir: Not intending to hurry you,
may I ask if the new provisions about trade in
cotton and sugar are nearly ready to go into ef
fect? Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Order Approving Trade Regulations
January 26, 1864
Executive Mansion, January 26, 1864.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, having seen and considered the additional
regulations of trade prescribed by the Secretary
of the Treasury, and numbered LI, LII, LIII,
LIV, LV, and LVI, do hereby approve the
same; and further declare and order that all
property brought in for sale in good faith, and
actually sold in pursuance of said Regulations
LII, LIII, LIV, LV, and LVI, after the same

296 Abraham Lincoln [J*rt- 2i
shall have taken effect and come in force as pro
vided in Regulation LVI, shall be exempt from
confiscation or forfeiture to the United States.
Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to General F. Steele
Washington, January 27, 1864.
Major-General Steele: I have addressed a
letter to you and put it in the hands of Mr. Gantt
and other Arkansas gentlemen, containing a pro
gram for an election in that State. This letter
will be handed you by some of these gentlemen.
Since writing it, I see that a convention in Ar
kansas having the same general object, has taken
some action, which I am afraid may clash some
what with my program. I therefore can do no
better than to ask you to see Mr. Gantt immedi
ately on his return, and with him do what you
and he may deem necessary to harmonize the
two plans into one, and then put it through with
all possible vigor. Be sure to retain the free-
State constitutional provision in some unques
tionable form, and you and1 he can fix the rest.
The points I have made in the program have
been well considered. Take hold with an hon
est heart and a strong hand. Do not let any
questionable man control or influence you.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

1864] Letter to Steele

297

*Telegram to General J. G. Foster
War Department, January 27, 1864.
Major-General Foster, Knoxville, Tenn.: Is
a supposed correspondence between General
Longstreet and yourself about the amnesty proc
lamation, which is now in the newspapers genu
ine? A. Lincoln.
Letter to General H. W. Halleck
Executive Mansion, January 28, 1864.
Major-General Halleck: Some citizens of
Missouri, vicinity of Kansas City, are apprehen
sive that there is special danger of renewed trou
bles in that neighborhood, and thence on the
route toward New Mexico. I am not impressed
that the danger is very great or imminent, but I
will thank you to give Generals Rosecrans and
Curtis, respectively, such orders as may turn
their attention thereto and prevent as far as pos
sible the apprehended disturbance.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
*Telegram to E. Stanley
Executive Mansion, January 28, 1864.
Hon. Edward Stanley, San Francisco : Yours
of yesterday received. We have rumors similar
to the despatch received by you, but nothing
very definite from North Carolina. Knowing

298 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 28
Mr. Stanley to be an able man, and not doubting
that he is a patriot, I should be glad for him to
be with his old acquaintances south of Virginia,
but I am unable to suggest anything definite
upon the subject. A. Lincoln.
Letter to Secretary Chase
Executive Mansion, January 28, 1864.
My dear Sir: Herewith I return this proof-
sheet of the new rules. I suggest two points,
but do not urge them. First, that as the trust
and emoluments of the agents are to be increased,
should not their bonds be increased? Secondly,
might it not be well to fix a maximum, as is some
times done in acts of Congress, beyond which the
one per cent, compensation shall not go in a
year? If the increase of business should necessitate
the appointment of an additional agent, I would
be glad for Charles K. Hawkes to be appointed.
He is one of the three so favorably mentioned
by the treasury and other officers at New Or
leans, in the letter I read in your hearing twice
or thrice, I believe. I have some reason to be
lieve it would please General Banks, though he
has not said so, that I have heard. I have heard
that he and General Banks are old acquaintances
and friends. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

1 864] Letter to Chase

299

*Telegram to General D. E. Stickles
Executive Mansion, January 29, 1864.
Major-General Sickles, New York: Could
you, without it being inconvenient or disagree
able to yourself, immediately take a trip to Ar
kansas for me? A, Lincoln.
Message to the Senate, January 29, 1864
To the Senate of the United States: I trans
mit herewith a report from the Secretary of
State, in answer to the resolution of the Senate,
respecting the correspondence with the authori
ties of Great Britain in relation to the proposed
pursuit of hostile bands of the Sioux Indians into
the Hudson Bay Territories. Abraham Lincoln.
Letter to General F. Steele
Executive Mansion, January 30, 1864.
Major-General Steele: Since writing mine
of the 27th, seeing still further accounts of the
action of the convention in Arkansas, induces me
to write you yet again. They seem to be doing
so well, that possibly the best you can do would
be to help them on their own plan; but of this
you must confer with them and be the judge.
Of all things, avoid, if possible, a dividing into

300 Abraham Lincoln [Jan. 31
cliques among the friends of the common object.
Be firm and resolute against such as you can
perceive would make confusion and division.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Letter to General N. P. Banks
Executive Mansion, January 31, 1864.
Major-General Banks: Yours of the 22d in
stant is just received. In the proclamation of
December 8 which contains the oath that you
say some loyal people wish to avoid taking, I
said: "And still further, that this proclamation
is intended to present the people of the States
wherein the national authority has been sus
pended, and loyal State governments have been
subverted, a mode in and by which the national
authority and loyal State governments may be
reestablished within said States, or in any of
them; and while the mode presented is the best
the executive can suggest with his present im
pressions, it must not be understood that no other
possible mode would be acceptable."
And speaking of this in the message [of De
cember 8, 1863,] I said: "Saying that recon
struction will be accepted if presented in a spec
ified way, it is not said it will never be accepted
in any other way."
These things were put into these documents on

1864] Letter to Banks 301
purpose that some conformity to circumstances
should be admissible; and when I have, more
than once, said to you in my letters that available
labor already done should not be thrown away,
I had in my mind the very class of cases you now
mention. So you see it is not even a modifica
tion of anything I have heretofore said, when I
tell you that you are at liberty to adopt any rule
which shall admit to vote any unquestionably
loyal free-State men and none others.
And yet I do wish they would all take the
oath. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
Order to Secretary Stanton
Executive Mansion, February i, 1864.
Sir: You are directed to have a transport (ei
ther a steam or sailing vessel, as may be deemed
proper by the Quartermaster General) sent to
the colored colony established by the United
States at the island of Vache, on the coast of San
Domingo, to bring back to this country such of
the colonists there as desire to return. You will
have the transport furnished with suitable sup
plies for that purpose, and detail an officer of
the Quartermaster's department, who, under
special instructions to be given, shall have
charge of the business. The colonists will be
brought to Washington unless otherwise hereaf
ter directed, and be employed and provided for

302 Abraham Lincoln [Feb. i
at the campus for colored persons around that city.
Those only will be brought from the island
who desire to return, and their effects will be
brought with them. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Order for Draft of 500,000 Men
Executive Mansion, February i, 1864.
Ordered, That a draft for five hundred thou
sand (500,000) men, to serve for three years or
during the war, be made on the tenth ( 10th) day
of March next, for the military service of the
United States, crediting and deducting there
from so many as may have been enlisted or
drafted into the service prior to the first (1st)
day of March, and not before credited.
Abraham Lincoln.
*Telegram to Governor R. Yates
Executive Mansion, February 3, 1864.
Governor Yates, Springfield, III.: The U. S.
Government lot in Springfield can be used for
a Soldiers' Home, with the understanding that
the Government does not incur any expense in
the case. A. LINCOLN
Letter to Edward Everett
Executive Mansion, February 4, 1864.
My dear Sir: Yours of January 30 was re
ceived four days ago, and since then the address
mentioned has arrived. Thank you for it.

1864] Order for Draft

303

I send herewith the manuscript of my remarks
at Gettysburg, which, with my note to you of
November 20, you are at liberty to use for the
benefit of our soldiers, as you have requested.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Message to the Senate, February 4, 1864
To the Senate: In compliance with the reso
lution of the Senate of the twenty-sixth ultimo,
requesting "a copy of all the correspondence be
tween the authorities of the United States and
the rebel authorities on the exchange of prison
ers, and the different propositions connected
with that subject," I transmit herewith a report
from the Secretary of War and the papers with
which it is accompanied. Abraham Lincoln.
Indorsement, February 5, 1864
Submitted to the Secretary of War. On prin
ciple I dislike an oath which requires a man to
swear he has not done wrong. It rejects the
Christian principle of forgiveness on terms of
repentence. I think it is enough if the man does
no wrong hereafter. A. Lincoln.

304 Abraham Lincoln [Feb. 6
Message to the Senate, February 5, 1864
To the Senate of the United States: In answer
to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday on the
subject of a reciprocity treaty with the Sandwich
Islands, I transmit a report from the Secretary
of State, to whom the resolution was referred.
Abraham Lincoln.
Telegram to Governor Murphy
Washington, February 6, 1864.
Governor J. Murphy: My order to General
Steele about an election was made in ignorance
of the action your convention had taken or would
take. A subsequent letter directs General Steele
to aid you on your own plan, and not to thwart
or hinder you. Show this to him. A. Lincoln.

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1993

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