The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete
by
Abraham Lincoln

Part 24 out of 36



Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.

WASHINGTON, September 11, 1862 12M

HON. ANDREW G. CURTIN:

Please tell me at once what is your latest news from or toward
Hagerstown, or of the enemy's movement in any direction.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL C. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, SEPTEMBER 11, 1862. 6 PM

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

This is explanatory. If Porter, Heintzelman, and Sigel were sent
you, it would sweep everything from the other side of the river,
because the new troops have been distributed among them, as I
understand. Porter reports himself 21,000 strong, which can only be
by the addition of new troops. He is ordered tonight to join you as
quickly as possible. I am for sending you all that can be spared,
and I hope others can follow Porter very soon,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

WASHINGTON CITY, D.C., SEPTEMBER 12, 1862

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN, Clarksburg, Maryland:

How does it look now?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON D.C.,
SEPTEMBER 12, 1862 10.35 AM

HON. ANDREW G. CURTIN, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:

Your despatch asking for 80,000 disciplined troops to be sent to
Pennsylvania is received. Please consider we have not to exceed
80,000 disciplined troops, properly so called, this side of the
mountains; and most of them, with many of the new regiments, are now
close in the rear of the enemy supposed to be invading Pennsylvania.
Start half of them to Harrisburg, and the enemy will turn upon and
beat the remaining half, and then reach Harrisburg before the part
going there, and beat it too when it comes. The best possible
security for Pennsylvania is putting the strongest force possible in
rear of the enemy.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL H. G. WRIGHT.

MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
WASHINGTON, September 12, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL WRIGHT, Cincinnati, Ohio:

I am being appealed to from Louisville against your withdrawing
troops from that place. While I cannot pretend to judge of the
propriety of what you are doing, you would much oblige me by
furnishing me a rational answer to make to the governor and others at
Louisville.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. T. BOYLE.

WASHINGTON, September 12, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL BOYLE, Louisville, Kentucky:

Your despatch of last evening received. Where is the enemy which you
dread in Louisville? How near to you? What is General Gilbert's
opinion? With all possible respect for you, I must think General
Wright's military opinion is the better. He is as much responsible
for Louisville as for Cincinnati. General Halleck telegraphed him on
this very subject yesterday, and I telegraph him now; but for us here
to control him there on the ground would be a babel of confusion
which would be utterly ruinous. Where do you understand Buell to be,
and what is he doing?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO A. HENRY.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C, September 12, 1862.

HON. ALEXANDER HENRY, Philadelphia:

Yours of to-day received. General Halleck has made the best
provision he can for generals in Pennsylvania. Please do not be
offended when I assure you that in my confident belief Philadelphia
is in no danger. Governor Curtin has just telegraphed me:
"I have advices that Jackson is crossing the Potomac at Williamsport,
and probably the whole rebel army will be drawn from Maryland."
At all events, Philadelphia is more than 150 miles from Hagerstown,
and could not be reached by the rebel army in ten days, if no
hindrance was interposed.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

WASHINGTON CITY, D.C., September 12, 1862. 5.45 PM

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Governor Curtin telegraphs me:
"I have advices that Jackson is crossing the Potomac at Williamsport,
and probably the whole rebel army will be down from Maryland."

Receiving nothing from Harper's Ferry or Martinsburg to-day, and
positive information from Wheeling that the line is cut, corroborates
the idea that the enemy is crossing the Potomac. Please do not let
him get off without being hurt.

A. LINCOLN.

[But he did! D.W.]




REPLY TO A COMMITTEE FROM THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS OF CHICAGO,
ASKING THAT THE PRESIDENT ISSUE A PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

September 13,1862.

The subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have
thought much for weeks past, and I may even say for months. I am
approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by
religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine
will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken
in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both. I hope it will
not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would
reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it
might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am
more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to
know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what
it is I will do it! These are not, however, the days of miracles,
and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct
revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case,
ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and
right.

The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance,
the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New
York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but
before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general
emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them. You
know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of
antislavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the
same is true of the religious people. Why, the rebel soldiers are
praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own
troops, and expecting God to favor their side: for one of our
soldiers who had been taken prisoner told Senator Wilson a few days
since that he met nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of
those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the
merits of the case.

What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially
as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the
whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's
bull against the comet! Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot
even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States? Is there a single
court, or magistrate or individual that would be influenced by it
there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater
effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I
approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of
rebel masters who come within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that
that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And suppose
they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw
themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and
care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days since
that he was issuing more rations to the slaves who have rushed to him
than to all the white troops under his command. They eat, and that
is all; though it is true General Butler is feeding the whites also
by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now,
the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans
to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from
reducing the blacks to slavery again? for I am told that whenever
the rebels take any black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately
auction them off. They did so with those they took from a boat that
was aground in the Tennessee River a few days ago. And then I am
very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when, after the
late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from
Washington under a flag of truce to bury the dead and bring in the
wounded, and the rebels seized the blacks who went along to help, and
sent them into slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the
government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?

Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would
follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire? Understand,
I raise no objections against it on legal or constitutional grounds;
for, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, in time of war I
suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the
enemy; nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of
possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I
view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on
according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the
suppression of the rebellion.

I admit that slavery is the root of the rebellion, or at least its
sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them
to act, but they would have been impotent without slavery as their
instrument. I will also concede that emancipation would help us in
Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than
ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the
North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent
imagine. Still, some additional strength would be added in that way
to the war, and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the rebels by
drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am
not so sure we could do much with the blacks. If we were to arm
them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of
the rebels; and, indeed, thus far we have not had arms enough to
equip our white troops. I will mention another thing, though it meet
only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in
the Union armies from the border slave States. It would be a serious
matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they
should go over to the rebels. I do not think they all would--not so
many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago--not so many to-day
as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are
also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels. Let
me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have
an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact
that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental
idea going down about as deep as anything.

Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections.
They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action
in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a
proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under
advisement; and I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by
day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be
God's will, I will do. I trust that in the freedom with which I have
canvassed your views I have not in any respect injured your feelings.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL H. G. WRIGHT.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 14, 1862.

GENERAL WRIGHT, Cincinnati, Ohio:

Thanks for your despatch. Can you not pursue the retreating enemy,
and relieve Cumberland Gap?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON,

September 15, 1862. 2.45 P.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Your despatch of to-day received. God bless you, and all with you.
Destroy the rebel army if possible.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO J. K. DUBOIS. WASHINGTON, D.C.,

September 15, 1862. 3 P.M.

HON. K. DUBOIS, Springfield, Illinois:

I now consider it safe to say that General McClellan has gained a
great victory over the great rebel army in Maryland, between
Fredericktown and Hagerstown. He is now pursuing the flying foe.

A. LINCOLN.

[But not very fast--and he did not catch them! D.W.]




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN,

WASHINGTON, D. C., September 16, 1862. Noon.

GOVERNOR CURTIN, Harrisburg:

What do you hear from General McClellan's army? We have nothing from
him to-day.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR MORTON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 1862.

GOVERNOR O. P. MORTON, Indianapolis, Indiana:

I have received your despatch in regard to recommendations of General
Wright. I have received no such despatch from him, at least not that
I can remember. I refer yours for General Halleck's consideration.
A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL KETCHUM.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 20, 1862.

GENERAL KETCHUM, Springfield, Illinois:

How many regiments are there in Illinois, ready for service but for
want of arms? How many arms have you there ready for distribution?

A. LINCOLN.




PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION,
SEPTEMBER 22, 1862.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim
and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted
for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation
between the United States and each of the States and the people
thereof in which States that relation is or may be suspended or
disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid
to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called,
the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United
States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or
thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of
slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to
colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this
continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the
governments existing there, will be continued.

That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves
within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do
no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any
efforts they may make for their actual freedom.


That the Executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in
which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion
against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people
thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the
Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections
wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have
participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the
people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An
act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862,
and which act is in the words and figure following:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the
following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for
the government of the Army of the United States and shall be obeyed
and observed as such.

"ART. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of
the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces
under their respective commands for the purpose of returning
fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any person,
to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer
who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this
article shall be dismissed from the service.

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect
from and after its passage."

Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to
suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved
July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures
following:


"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who
shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the
United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them
and coming under the control of the Government of the United States,
and all slaves of such persons found on (or) being within any place
occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the
United States, shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever
free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.

"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State
shall be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his
liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless
the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the
person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be
due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United
States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort
thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of
the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to
decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or
labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the
claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and
sections above recited.

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the
United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the
rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation
between the United States and their respective States and people, if
that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated
for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of
slaves.

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-second day of September,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and
of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.




PROCLAMATION SUSPENDING THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, SEPTEMBER 24,
1862.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A Proclamation

Whereas it has become necessary to call into service not only
volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft,
in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States,
and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary
processes of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and
comfort in various ways to the insurrection:

Now, therefore, be it ordered

First. That during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary
measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their
aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons
discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or
guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to rebels
against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to
martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by courts-martial or
military commissions.

Second. That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to
all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the
rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort camp, arsenal, military
prison or other place of confinement by any military authority or by
the sentence of any court-martial or military commission.

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.
A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the
United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.




REPLY TO SERENADE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1862.

I appear before you to do little more than acknowledge the courtesy
you pay me, and to thank you for it. I have not been distinctly
informed why it is that on this occasion you appear to do me this
honor, though I suppose it is because of the proclamation. What I
did, I did after a very full deliberation, and under a very heavy and
solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have made
no mistake. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain what
I have done or said by any comment. It is now for the country and
the world to pass judgment and, maybe, take action upon it.

I will say no more upon this subject. In my position I am environed
with difficulties. Yet they are scarcely so great as the
difficulties of those who upon the battle-field are endeavoring to
purchase with their blood and their lives the future happiness and
prosperity of this country. Let us never forget them. On the
fourteenth and seventeenth days of this present month there have been
battles bravely, skillfully, and successfully fought. We do not yet
know the particulars. Let us be sure that, in giving praise to
certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I only ask you,
at the conclusion of these few remarks, to give three hearty cheers
for all good and brave officers and men who fought those successful
battles.




RECORD EXPLAINING THE DISMISSAL OF MAJOR JOHN J. KEY FROM THE
MILITARY SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,

September 26, 1862.

MAJOR JOHN J. KEY:

I am informed that, in answer to the question, "Why was not the rebel
army bagged immediately after the battle near Sharpsburg?" propounded
to you by Major Levi C. Turner, Judge Advocate, etc., you said:
"That is not the game. The object is, that neither army shall get
much advantage of the other; that both shall be kept in the field
till they are exhausted, when we will make a compromise and save
slavery."

I shall be very happy if you will, within twenty-four hours from the
receipt of this, prove to me by Major Turner that you did not, either
literally or in substance, make the answer stated.

[Above delivered to Major Key at 10.25 a.m. September 27th.]

At about 11 o'clock A.M., September 27, 1862, Major Key and Major
Turner appeared before me. Major Turner says:
"As I remember it, the conversation was: 'Why did we not bag them
after the battle of Sharpsburg?' Major Key's reply was: 'That was
not the game; that we should tire the rebels out and ourselves; that
that was the only way the Union could be preserved, we come together
fraternally, and slavery be saved.'"

On cross-examination, Major Turner says he has frequently heard Major
Key converse in regard to the present troubles, and never heard him
utter a sentiment unfavorable to the maintenance of the Union. He
has never uttered anything which he, Major T., would call disloyalty.
The particular conversation detailed was a private one.

[Indorsement on the above.]

In my view, it is wholly inadmissible for any gentleman holding a
military commission from the United States to utter such sentiments
as Major Key is within proved to have done. Therefore, let Major
John J. Key be forthwith dismissed from the military service of the
United States.

A. LINCOLN.




TO HANNIBAL HAMLIN.
(Strictly private.)

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 28, 1862.

HON. HANNIBAL HAMLIN.

MY DEAR SIR: Your kind letter of the 25th is just received. It is
known to some that, while I hope something from the proclamation, my
expectations are not as sanguine as are those of some friends. The
time for its effect southward has not come; but northward the effect
should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and, while commendation
in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all that a vain man
could wish, the stocks have declined, and troops come forward more
slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is not very
satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the end of the
six days than we had at the beginning--the attrition among the old
outnumbering the addition by the new. The North responds to the
proclamation sufficiently in breath; but breath alone kills no
rebels.

I wish I could write more cheerfully; nor do I thank you the less for
the kindness of your letter.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TO GENERAL HALLECK.

McCLELLAN'S HEADQUARTERS, October 3, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:

General Stuart, of the rebel army, has sent in a few of our prisoners
under a flag of truce, paroled with terms to prevent their fighting
the Indians, and evidently seeking to commit us to their right to
parole prisoners in that way. My inclination is to send the
prisoners back with a definite notice that we will recognize no
paroles given to our prisoners by the rebels as extending beyond a
prohibition against fighting them, though I wish your opinion upon
it, based both upon the general law and our cartel. I wish to avoid
violations of the law and bad faith. Answer as quickly as possible,
as the thing, if done at all, should be done at once.

A. LINCOLN, President




REMARKS TO THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC AT
FREDERICK, MARYLAND, OCTOBER, 4, 1862.

I am surrounded by soldiers and a little farther off by the citizens
of this good City of Frederick. Nevertheless I can only say, as I
did five minutes ago, it is not proper for me to make speeches in my
present position. I return thanks to our soldiers for the good
services they have rendered, the energy they have shown, the
hardships they have endured, and the blood they have shed for this
Union of ours; and I also return thanks, not only to the soldiers,
but to the good citizens of Frederick, and to the good men, women,
and children in this land of ours, for their devotion to this
glorious cause; and I say this with no malice in my heart towards
those who have done otherwise. May our children and children's
children, for a thousand generations, continue to enjoy the benefits
conferred upon us by a united country, and have cause yet to rejoice
under these glorious institutions, bequeathed to us by WASHINGTON and
his compeers. Now, my friends, soldiers and citizens, I can only say
once more-farewell.




TELEGRAM FROM GENERAL HALLECK

TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.,
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

I am instructed to telegraph you as follows: The President directs
that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him
south. Your army must move now, while the roads are good. If you
cross the river between the enemy and Washington, and cover the
latter by your operation, you can be reinforced by thirty thousand
men. If you move up the valley of the Shenandoah, not more than
twelve or fifteen thousand can be sent you. The President advises
the interior line between Washington and the enemy, but does not
order it. He is very desirous that your army move as soon as
possible. You will immediately report what line you adopt, and when
you intend to cross the river; also to what point the reinforcements
are to be sent. It is necessary that the plan of your operations be
positively determined on, before orders are given for building
bridges and repairing railroads. I am directed to add that the
Secretary of War and the General-in-chief fully concur with the
President in these directions.

H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 7, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN, Hdqs. Army of the Potomac:

You wish to see your family and I wish to oblige you. It might be
left to your own discretion; certainly so, if Mrs. M. could meet you
here at Washington.

A. LINCOLN.




TO T. H. CLAY.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 8, 1862.

THOMAS H. CLAY, Cincinnati, Ohio:

You cannot have reflected seriously when you ask that I shall order
General Morgan's command to Kentucky as a favor because they have
marched from Cumberland Gap. The precedent established by it would
evidently break up the whole army. Buell's old troops, now in
pursuit of Bragg, have done more hard marching recently; and, in
fact, if you include marching and fighting, there are scarcely any
old troops east or west of the mountains that have not done as hard
service. I sincerely wish war was an easier and pleasanter business
than it is; but it does not admit of holidays. On Morgan's command,
where it is now sent, as I understand, depends the question whether
the enemy will get to the Ohio River in another place.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 8, 1862

MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:

I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and
victories. How does it all sum up? I especially regret the death of
General Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of
General Oglesby, who is an intimate personal friend.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. T. BOYLE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 11,1862. 4 P.M.

GENERAL BOYLE, Louisville, Kentucky:

Please send any news you have from General Buell to-day.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. T. BOYLE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 12, 1862. 4.10 P.M.

GENERAL BOYLE, Louisville, Kentucky:

We are anxious to hear from General Buell's army. We have heard
nothing since day before yesterday. Have you anything?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL CURTIS.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 12, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL CURTIS, Saint Louis, Missouri:

Would the completion of the railroad some distance further in the
direction of Springfield, Mo., be of any military advantage to you?
Please answer.

A. LINCOLN.




TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 13, 1862.

MY DEAR SIR--You remember my speaking to you of what I called your
over-cautiousness. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that
you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should you not
claim to be at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim?

As I understand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot
subsist your army at Winchester unless the railroad from Harper's
Ferry to that point be put in working order. But the enemy does now
subsist his army at Winchester, at a distance nearly twice as great
from railroad transportation as you would have to do, without the
railroad last named. He now wagons from Culpepper Court-House, which
is just about twice as far as you would have to do from Harper's
Ferry. He is certainly not more than half as well provided with
wagons as you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to have the
advantage of the railroad from Harper's Perry to Winchester; but it
wastes an the remainder of autumn to give it to you, and, in fact,
ignores the question of time, which cannot and must not be ignored.

Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is "to operate
upon the enemy's communications as much as possible, without exposing
your own." You seem to act as if this applies against you, but
cannot apply in your favor. Change positions with the enemy, and
think you not he would break your communication with Richmond within
the next twenty-four hours? You dread his going into Pennsylvania.
But if he does so in full force, he gives up his communications to
you absolutely, and you have nothing to do but to follow and ruin
him; if he does so with less than full force, fall upon and beat what
is left behind all the easier.

Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer to Richmond than the
enemy is, by the route that you can and he must take. Why can you
not reach there before him, unless you admit that he is more than
your equal on a march? His route is the arc of a circle, while yours
is the chord. The roads are as good on yours as on his.

You know I desired, but did not order, you to cross the Potomac below
instead of above the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. My idea was, that
this would at once menace the enemy's communications, which I would
seize if he would permit. If he should move northward, I would
follow him closely, holding his communications. If he should prevent
our seizing his communications, and move toward Richmond, I would
press closely to him, fight him if a favorable opportunity should
present, and at least try to beat him to Richmond on the inside
track. I say "try;" if we never try, we shall never succeed. If he
makes a stand at Winchester, moving neither north or south, I would
fight him there, on the idea that if we cannot beat him when he bears
the wastage of coming to us, we never can when we bear the wastage of
going to him. This proposition is a simple truth, and is too
important to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming to us he
tenders us an advantage which we should not waive. We should not so
operate as to merely drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere
or fail finally, we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far
away. If we cannot beat the enemy where he now is, we never can, he
again being within the entrenchments of Richmond.

[And, indeed, the enemy was let back into Richmond and it took
another two years and thousands of dead for McClelland cowardice--if
that was all that it was. I still suspect, and I think the evidence
is overwhelming that he was, either secretly a supporter of the
South, or, what is more likely, a politician readying for a different
campaign: that of the Presidency of the United States.]

Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside track, the
facility of supplying from the side away from the enemy is
remarkable, as it were, by the different spokes of a wheel extending
from the hub toward the rim, and this whether you move directly by
the chord or on the inside arc, hugging the Blue Ridge more closely.
The chord line, as you see, carries you by Aldie, Hay Market, and
Fredericksburg; and you see how turnpikes, railroads, and finally the
Potomac, by Aquia Creek, meet you at all points from WASHINGTON; the
same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press closer to the
Blue Ridge part of the way.

The gaps through the Blue Ridge I understand to be about the
following distances from Harper's Ferry, to wit: Vestal's, 5 miles;
Gregory's, 13; Snicker's, 18; Ashby's, 28; Manassas, 38; Chester, 45;
and Thornton's, 53. I should think it preferable to take the route
nearest the enemy, disabling him to make an important move without
your knowledge, and compelling him to keep his forces together for
dread of you. The gaps would enable you to attack if you should
wish. For a great part of the way you would be practically between
the enemy and both WASHINGTON and Richmond, enabling us to spare you
the greatest number of troops from here. When at length running for
Richmond ahead of him enables him to move this way, if he does so,
turn and attack him in rear. But I think he should be engaged long
before such a point is reached. It is all easy if our troops march
as well as the enemy, and it is unmanly to say they cannot do it.
This letter is in no sense an order.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR PIERPOINT.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.,
October 16, 1862.

GOVERNOR PIERPOINT, Wheeling, Virginia:

Your despatch of to-day received. I am very sorry to have offended
you. I appointed the collector, as I thought, on your written
recommendation, and the assessor also with your testimony of
worthiness, although I know you preferred a different man. I will
examine to-morrow whether I am mistaken in this.

A. LINCOLN.




EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING A PROVISIONAL COURT IN LOUISIANA.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY,

October 20, 1862.

The insurrection which has for some time prevailed in several of the
States of this Union, including Louisiana, having temporarily
subverted and swept away the civil institutions of that State,
including the judiciary and the judicial authorities of the Union, so
that it has become necessary to hold the State in military
Occupation, and it being indispensably necessary that there shall be
some judicial tribunal existing there capable of administering
justice, I have therefore thought it proper to appoint, and I do
hereby constitute, a provisional court, which shall be a court of
record, for the State of Louisiana; and I do hereby appoint Charles A
Peabody, of New York, to be a provisional judge to hold said court,
with authority to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil and
criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and admiralty,
and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as belong to the
district and circuit courts of the United States, conforming his
proceedings so far as possible to the course of proceedings and
practice which has been customary in the courts of the United States
and Louisiana, his judgment to be final and conclusive. And I do
hereby authorize and empower the said judge to make and establish
such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the exercise of
his jurisdiction, and empower the said judge to appoint a prosecuting
attorney, marshal, and clerk of the said court, who shall perform the
functions of attorney, marshal, and clerk according to such
proceedings and practice as before mentioned and such rules and
regulations as may be made and established by said judge. These
appointments are to continue during the pleasure of the President,
not extending beyond the military occupation of the city of New
Orleans or the restoration of the civil authority in that city and in
the State of Louisiana. These officers shall be paid, out of the
contingent fund of the War Department, compensation as follows:

The judge at the rate of $3500 per annum; the prosecuting attorney,
including the fees, at the rate of $3000 per annum; the marshal,
including the fees, at the rate of $3000 per annum; and the clerk,
including the fees, at the rate of $2500 per annum; such
compensations to be certified by the Secretary of War. A copy of
this order, certified by the Secretary of War and delivered to such
judge, shall be deemed and held to be a sufficient commission.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President of the United States.




TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 21, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT:

The bearer of this, Thomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee, goes to
that State seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to
avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace
again upon the old terms, under the Constitution of the United
States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the
Congress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a
Legislature, State officers, and a United States senator friendly to
their object.

I shall be glad for you and each of you to aid him, and all others
acting for this object, as much as possible. In all available ways
give the people a show to express their wishes at these elections.

Follow law, and forms of law, as far as convenient, but at all events
get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All
see how such action will connect with and affect the proclamation of
September 22. Of course the men elected should be gentlemen of
character, willing to swear support to the Constitution as of old,
and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity.

Yours very respectfully,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL JAMESON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 21, 1862.

GENERAL JAMESON, Upper Stillwater, Me.:
How is your health now? Do you or not wish Lieut. R. P. Crawford to
be restored to his office?

A. LINCOLN.




GENERAL McCLELLAN'S TIRED HORSES

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, October 24 [25?], 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

I have just read your despatch about sore-tongued and fatigued
horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army
have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, October 26, 1862. 11.30am

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Yours, in reply to mine about horses, received. Of course you know
the facts better than I; still two considerations remain: Stuart's
cavalry outmarched ours, having certainly done more marked service on
the Peninsula and everywhere since. Secondly, will not a movement of
our army be a relief to the cavalry, compelling the enemy to
concentrate instead of foraging in squads everywhere? But I am so
rejoiced to learn from your despatch to General Halleck that you
begin crossing the river this morning.

A. LINCOLN.




TO GENERAL DIX.
(Private and confidential.)

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON
October 26, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL Dix, Fort Monroe, Virginia:

Your despatch to Mr. Stanton, of which the enclosed is a copy, has
been handed me by him. It would be dangerous for me now to begin
construing and making specific applications of the proclamation.

It is obvious to all that I therein intended to give time and
opportunity. Also, it is seen I left myself at liberty to exempt
parts of States. Without saying more, I shall be very glad if any
Congressional
district will, in good faith, do as your despatch contemplates.

Could you give me the facts which prompted you to telegraph?

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 27, 1862, 12.10

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Yours of yesterday received. Most certainly I intend no injustice to
any, and if I have done any I deeply regret it. To be told, after
more than five weeks' total inaction of the army, and during which
period we have sent to the army every fresh horse we possibly could,
amounting in the whole to 7918, that the cavalry horses were too much
fatigued to move, presents a very cheerless, almost hopeless,
prospect for the future, and it may have forced something of
impatience in my despatch. If not recruited and rested then, when
could they ever be? I suppose the river is rising, and I am glad to
believe you are crossing.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 27, 1862. 3.25pm

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Your despatch of 3 P.M. to-day, in regard to filling up old regiments
with drafted men, is received, and the request therein shall be
complied with as far as practicable.

And now I ask a distinct answer to the question, Is it your purpose
not to go into action again until the men now being drafted in the
States are incorporated into the old regiments?

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 29, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Your despatches of night before last, yesterday, and last night all
received. I am much pleased with the movement of the army. When you
get entirely across the river let me know. What do you know of the
enemy?

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 30, 1862.

GOVERNOR CURTIN, Harrisburg:

By some means I have not seen your despatch of the 27th about order
No.154 until this moment. I now learn, what I knew nothing of
before, that the history of the order is as follows:
When General McClellan telegraphed asking General Halleck to have the
order made, General Halleck went to the Secretary of War with it,
stating his approval of the plan. The Secretary assented and General
Halleck wrote the order. It was a military question, which the
Secretary supposed the General understood better than he.

I wish I could see Governor Curtin.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 31, 1862.

GOV. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn., via Louisville, Ky.:

Yours of the 29th received. I shall take it to General Halleck, but
I already know it will be inconvenient to take General Morgan's
command from where it now is. I am glad to hear you speak hopefully
of Tennessee. I sincerely hope Rosecrans may find it possible to do
something for her. David Nelson, son of the M. C. of your State,
regrets his father's final defection, and asks me for a situation.
Do you know him? Could he be of service to you or to Tennessee in
any capacity in which I could send him?

A. LINCOLN.




MEMORANDUM.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,

November 1, 1862.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Captain Derrickson, with his company, has
been for some time keeping guard at my residence, now at the
Soldiers' Retreat. He and his company are very agreeable to me, and
while it is deemed proper for any guard to remain, none would be more
satisfactory than Captain Derrickson and his company.

A. LINCOLN.




ORDER RELIEVING GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN AND
MAKING OTHER CHANGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, November 5, 1862.

By direction of the President, it is ordered that Major-General
McClellan be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac,
and that Major-General Burnside take the command of that army. Also
that Major-General Hunter take command of the corps in said army
which is now commanded by General Burnside. That Major-General Fitz.
John Porter be relieved from command of the corps he now commands in
said army, and that Major-General Hooker take command of said corps.

The general-in-chief is authorized, in [his] discretion, to issue an
order substantially as the above forthwith, or so soon as he may deem
proper.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO M. F. ODELL.

EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, November 5, 1862.

HON. M. F. ODELL, Brooklyn, New York:

You are re-elected. I wish to see you at once will you come? Please
answer.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO COLONEL LOWE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 7,1862.

COL. W. W. LOWE, Fort Henry, Tennessee:

Yours of yesterday received. Governor Johnson, Mr. Ethridge, and
others are looking after the very thing you telegraphed about.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. POPE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 10, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Paul, Minnesota:

Your despatch giving the names of 300 Indians condemned to death is
received. Please forward as soon as possible the full and complete
record of their convictions; and if the record does not fully
indicate the more guilty and influential of the culprits, please have
a careful statement made on these points and forwarded to me. Send
all by mail.

A. LINCOLN.




TO COMMODORE FARRAGUT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 11, 1862.

COMMODORE FARRAGUT:

DEAR SIR:--This will introduce Major-General Banks. He is in command
of a considerable land force for operating in the South, and I shall
be glad for you to co-Operate with him and give him such assistance
as you can consistently with your orders from the Navy Department.

Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.




ORDER CONCERNING BLOCKADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 12, 1862.

Ordered, First: that clearances issued by the Treasury Department for
vessels or merchandise bound for the port of Norfolk, for the
military necessities of the department, certified by the military
commandant at Fort Monroe, shall be allowed to enter said port.

Second: that vessels and domestic produce from Norfolk, permitted by
the military commandant at Fort Monroe for the military purposes of
his command, shall on his permit be allowed to pass from said port to
their destination in any port not blockaded by the United States.

A. LINCOLN




ORDER CONCERNING THE CONFISCATION ACT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, November 13, 1862.

Ordered, by the President of the United States, That the
Attorney-General be charged with the superintendence and direction of
all proceedings to be had under the act of Congress of the 17th of
July, 1862, entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish
treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of
rebels, and for other purposes," in so far as may concern the
seizure, prosecution, and condemnation of the estate, property, and
effects of rebels and traitors, as mentioned and provided for in the
fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of the said act of Congress. And
the Attorney-General is authorized and required to give to the
attorneys and marshals of the United States such instructions and
directions as he may find needful and convenient touching all such
seizures, prosecutions, and condemnations, and, moreover, to
authorize all such attorneys and marshals, whenever there may be
reasonable ground to fear any forcible resistance to them in the
discharge of their respective duties in this behalf, to call upon any
military officer in command of the forces of the United States to
give to them such aid, protection, and support as may be necessary to
enable them safely and efficiently to discharge their respective
duties; and all such commanding officers are required promptly to
obey such call, and to render the necessary service as far as may be
in their power consistently with their other duties.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
EDWARD BATES, Attorney-General




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.

WAR DEPARTMENT, November 14, 1862.

GOV. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tennessee:

Your despatch of the 4th, about returning troops from western
Virginia to Tennessee, is just received, and I have been to General
Halleck with it. He says an order has already been made by which
those troops have already moved, or soon will move, to Tennessee.

A. LINCOLN.




GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF
THE SABBATH DAY IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 15, 1862.


The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and
enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men
in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast
of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian
soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a
Christian people, and a due regard for the divine will demand that
Sunday labor in the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict
necessity.

The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer
nor the cause they defend be imperilled by the profanation of the day
or name of the Most High. "At this time of public distress,"
adopting the words of Washington in 1776, "men may find enough to do
in the service of God and their country without abandoning themselves
to vice and immorality." The first general order issued by the Father
of his Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the
spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be
defended:

"The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will
endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the
dearest rights and liberties of his country."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BLAIR

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 17,1862.

HON. F. P. BLAIR:

Your brother says you are solicitous to be ordered to join General
McLernand. I suppose you are ordered to Helena; this means that you
are to form part of McLernand's expedition as it moves down the
river; and General McLernand is so informed. I will see General
Halleck as to whether the additional force you mention can go with
you.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. A. DIX.

WASHINGTON, D. C., November 18, 1861.

MAJOR-GENERAL Dix, Fort Monroe:

Please give me your best opinion as to the number of the enemy now at
Richmond and also at Petersburg.

A. LINCOLN.




TO GOVERNOR SHEPLEY.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 21, 1862.

HON. G. F. SHEPLEY.

DEAR SIR:--Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that
Federal officers not citizens of Louisiana may be set up as
candidates for Congress in that State. In my view there could be no
possible object in such an election. We do not particularly need
members of Congress from there to enable us to get along with
legislation here. What we do want is the conclusive evidence that
respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing to be members of
Congress and to swear support to the Constitution, and that other
respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and send
them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as representatives,
elected, as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at the
point of the bayonet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and were I
a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such
man to a seat.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN,




ORDER PROHIBITING THE EXPORT OF ARMS AND
MUNITIONS OF WAR.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,

November 21, 1862.

Ordered, That no arms, ammunition, or munitions of war be cleared or
allowed to be exported from the United States until further orders.
That any clearance for arms, ammunition, or munitions of war issued
heretofore by the Treasury Department be vacated, if the articles
have not passed without the United States, and the articles stopped.
That the Secretary of War hold possession of the arms, etc., recently
seized by his order at Rouse's Point, bound for Canada.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




DELAYING TACTICS OF GENERALS

TO GENERAL N. P. BANKS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 22, 1862.

MY DEAR GENERAL BANKS:--Early last week you left me in high hope with
your assurance that you would be off with your expedition at the end
of that week, or early in this. It is now the end of this, and I
have just been overwhelmed and confounded with the sight of a
requisition made by you which, I am assured, cannot be filled and got
off within an hour short of two months. I enclose you a copy of the
requisition, in some hope that it is not genuine--that you have never
seen it. My dear General, this expanding and piling up of
impedimenta has been, so far, almost our ruin, and will be our final
ruin if it is not abandoned. If you had the articles of this
requisition upon the wharf, with the necessary animals to make them
of any use, and forage for the animals, you could not get vessels
together in two weeks to carry the whole, to say nothing of your
twenty thousand men; and, having the vessels, you could not put the
cargoes aboard in two weeks more. And, after all, where you are
going you have no use for them. When you parted with me you had no
such ideas in your mind. I know you had not, or you could not have
expected to be off so soon as you said. You must get back to
something like the plan you had then, or your expedition is a failure
before you start. You must be off before Congress meets. You would
be better off anywhere, and especially where you are going, for not
having a thousand wagons doing nothing but hauling forage to feed the
animals that draw them, and taking at least two thousand men to care
for the wagons and animals, who otherwise might be two thousand good
soldiers. Now, dear General, do not think this is an ill-natured
letter; it is the very reverse. The simple publication of this
requisition would ruin you.

Very truly your friend,

A. LINCOLN.




TO CARL SCHURZ.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 24, 1862.

GENERAL CARL SCHURZ.

MY DEAR SIR--I have just received and read your letter of the 20th.
The purport of it is that we lost the late elections and the
administration is failing because the war is unsuccessful, and that I
must not flatter myself that I am not justly to blame for it. I
certainly know that if the war fails the administration fails, and
that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I
ought to be blamed if I could do better. You think I could do
better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do
better; therefore I blame you for blaming me. I understand you now
to be willing to accept the help of men who are not Republicans,
provided they have "heart in it." Agreed. I want no others. But who
is to be the judge of hearts, or of "heart in it"? If I must discard
my own judgment and take yours, I must also take that of others and
by the time I should reject all I should be advised to reject, I
should have none left, Republicans or others not even yourself. For
be assured, my dear sir, there are men who have "heart in it" that
think you are performing your part as poorly as you think I am
performing mine. I certainly have been dissatisfied with the
slowness of Buell and McClellan; but before I relieved them I had
great fears I should not find successors to them who would do better;
and I am sorry to add that I have seen little since to relieve those
fears.

I do not see clearly the prospect of any more rapid movements. I
fear we shall at last find out that the difficulty is in our case
rather than in particular generals. I wish to disparage no one
certainly not those who sympathize with me; but I must say I need
success more than I need sympathy, and that I have not seen the so
much greater evidence of getting success from my sympathizers than
from those who are denounced as the contrary. It does seem to me
that in the field the two classes have been very much alike in what
they have done and what they have failed to do. In sealing their
faith with their blood, Baker and Lyon and Bohien and Richardson,
Republicans, did all that men could do; but did they any more than
Kearny and Stevens and Reno and Mansfield, none of whom were
Republicans, and some at least of whom have been bitterly and
repeatedly denounced to me as secession sympathizers? I will not
perform the ungrateful task of comparing cases of failure.

In answer to your question, "Has it not been publicly stated in the
newspapers, and apparently proved as a fact, that from the
commencement of the war the enemy was continually supplied with
information by some of the confidential subordinates of as important
an officer as Adjutant-General Thomas?" I must say "No," as far as my
knowledge extends. And I add that if you can give any tangible
evidence upon the subject, I will thank you to come to this city and
do so.

Very truly your friend,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 25, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL BURNSIDE, Falmouth, Virginia:

If I should be in boat off Aquia Creek at dark tomorrow (Wednesday)
evening, could you, without inconvenience, meet me and pass an hour
or two with me?

A. LINCOLN.




TO ATTORNEY-GENERAL BATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 29, 1862.

HON. ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

MY DEAR SIR:--Few things perplex me more than this question between
Governor Gamble and the War Department, as to whether the peculiar
force organized by the former in Missouri are State troops or United
States troops. Now, this is either an immaterial or a mischievous
question. First, if no more is desired than to have it settled what
name the force is to be called by, it is immaterial. Secondly, if it
is desired for more than the fixing a name, it can only be to get a
position from which to draw practical inferences; then it is
mischievous. Instead of settling one dispute by deciding the
question, I should merely furnish a nest-full of eggs for hatching
new disputes. I believe the force is not strictly either "State
troops" or "United States troops." It is of mixed character. I
therefore think it is safer, when a practical question arises, to
decide that question directly, and not indirectly by deciding a
general abstraction supposed to include it, and also including a
great deal more. Without dispute Governor Gamble appoints the
officers of this force, and fills vacancies when they occur. The
question now practically in dispute is: Can Governor Gamble make a
vacancy by removing an officer or accepting a resignation? Now,
while it is proper that this question shall be settled, I do not
perceive why either Governor Gamble or the government here should
care which way it is settled. I am perplexed with it only because
there seems to be pertinacity about it. It seems to me that it might
be either way without injury to the service; or that the offer of the
Secretary of War to let Governor Gamble make vacancies, and he (the
Secretary) to ratify the making of them, ought to be satisfactory.

Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL CURTIS.
[Cipher.]
WASHINGTON, November 30, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL CURTIS, Saint Louis, Missouri:

Frank Blair wants Manter's Thirty-second, Curly's Twenty seventh,
Boyd's Twenty-fourth and the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry to go with him
down the river. I understand it is with you to decide whether he
shall have them and if so, and if also it is consistent with the
public service, you will oblige me a good deal by letting him have
them.

A. LINCOLN.




ON EXECUTING 300 INDIANS

LETTER TO JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
December 1, 1862.

JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL.

SIR:--Three hundred Indians have been sentenced to death in Minnesota
by a military commission, and execution only awaits my action. I
wish your legal opinion whether if I should conclude to execute only
a part of them, I must myself designate which, or could I leave the
designation to some officer on the ground?

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
DECEMBER 1, 1862.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES--Since
your last annual assembling another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed; and while it has not pleased the Almighty to
bless us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the
best light he gives us, trusting that in his own good time and wise
way all will yet be well.

The correspondence touching foreign affairs which has taken place
during the last year is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance
with a request to that effect, made by the House of Representatives
near the close of the last session of Congress.

If the condition of our relations with other nations is less
gratifying than it has usually been at former periods, it is
certainly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as
we are might reasonably have apprehended. In the month of June last
there were some grounds to expect that the maritime powers which, at
the beginning of our domestic difficulties, so unwisely and
unnecessarily, as we think, recognized the insurgents as a
belligerent, would soon recede from that position, which has proved
only less injurious to themselves than to our own country. But the
temporary reverses which afterward befell the national arms, and
which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have
hitherto delayed that act of simple justice.

The civil war, which has so radically changed, for the moment, the
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily
disturbed the social condition, and affected very deeply the
prosperity, of the nations with which we have carried on a commerce
that has been steadily increasing throughout a period of half a
century. It has, at the same time, excited political ambitions and
apprehensions which have produced a profound agitation throughout the
civilized world. In this unusual agitation we have forborne from
taking part in any controversy between foreign states, and between
parties or factions in such states. We have attempted no
propagandism and acknowledged no revolution, but we have left to
every nation the exclusive conduct and management of its own affairs.
Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign nations
with reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and often
exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to those nations
themselves, nevertheless, complaint on the part of this government,
even if it were just, would certainly be unwise.

The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade
has been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success.
It is an occasion of special pleasure to acknowledge that the
execution of it on the part of her Majesty's government has been
marked with a jealous respect for the authority of the United States
and the rights of their moral and loyal citizens.

The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the state dues has
been carried into full effect under the act of Congress for that
purpose.

A blockade of 3000 miles of seacoast could not be established and
vigorously enforced in a season of great commercial activity like the
present without committing occasional mistakes and inflicting
unintentional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects.

A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners reside and carry
on trade under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of
complaints of the violation of neutral rights. All such collisions
tend to excite misapprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual
reclamations between nations which have a common interest in
preserving peace and friendship. In clear cases of these kinds I
have so far as possible heard and redressed complaints which have
been presented by friendly powers. There is still, however, a large
and an augmenting number of doubtful cases upon which the government
is unable to agree with the governments whose protection is demanded
by the claimants. There are, moreover, many cases in which the
United States or their citizens suffer wrongs from the naval or
military authorities of foreign nations which the governments of
those states are not at once prepared to redress. I have proposed to
some of the foreign states thus interested mutual conventions to
examine and adjust such complaints. This proposition has been made
especially to Great Britain, to France, to Spain, and to Prussia. In
each case it has been kindly received, but has not yet been formally
adopted.

I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the
owners of the Norwegian bark Admiral P. Tordenskiold, which vessel
was in May, 1861, prevented by the commander of the blockading force
off Charleston from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a
similar privilege had shortly before been granted to an English
vessel. I have directed the Secretary of State to cause the papers
in the case to be communicated to the proper committees.

Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African
descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization
as was contemplated in recent acts of Congress, Other parties, at
home and abroad--some from interested motives, others upon patriotic
considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic
sentiments--have suggested similar measures, while, on the other
hand, several of the Spanish American republics have protested
against the sending of such colonies to their respective territories.
Under these circumstances I have declined to move any such colony to
any state without first obtaining the consent of its government, with
an agreement on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all
the rights of freemen; and I have at the same time offered to the
several states situated within the Tropics, or having colonies there,
to negotiate with them, subject to the advice and consent of the
Senate, to favor the voluntary emigration of persons of that class to
their respective territories, upon conditions which shall be equal,
just, and humane. Liberia and Haiti are as yet the only countries to
which colonists of African descent from here could go with certainty
of being received and adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such
persons contemplating colonization do not seem so willing to migrate
to those countries as to some others, nor so willing as I think their
interest demands. I believe, however, opinion among them in this
respect is improving, and that ere long there will be an augmented
and considerable migration to both these countries from the United
States.

The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan of
Turkey has been carried into execution.

A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the
Senate's consent, with Liberia, and a similar negotiation is now
pending with the Republic of Haiti. A considerable improvement of
the national commerce is expected to result from these measures.

Our relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia,
Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and
the other European states remain undisturbed. Very favorable
relations also continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China,
and Japan.

During the last year there has not only been no change of our
previous relations with the independent states of our own continent,
but more friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are
believed to be entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and
progress are so intimately connected with our own. This statement
especially applies to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru,
and Chile.

The commission under the convention with the Republic of New Granada
closed its session without having audited and passed upon all the
claims which were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to
revive the convention, that it may be able to do more complete
justice. The joint commission between the United States and the
Republic of Costa Rica has completed its labors and submitted its
report.

I have favored the project for connecting the United States with
Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the
telegraph from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with
the line which is being extended across the Russian Empire.

The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions,
have remained undisturbed by the civil war; and they are exhibiting
such evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some of
them will soon be in a condition to be organized as States and be
constitutionally admitted into the Federal Union.

The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to
be developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction
would have a tendency to improve the revenues of the government and
diminish the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious
consideration whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end
cannot be adopted. The means which suggests itself as most likely to
be effective is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions in
those Territories with a view to the publication of its results at
home and in foreign countries--results which cannot fail to be
auspicious.

The condition of the finances win claim your most diligent
consideration. The vast expenditures incident to the military and
naval operations required for the suppression of the rebellion have
hitherto been met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar
circumstances, and the public credit has been fully maintained. The
continuance of the war, however, and the increased disbursements made
necessary by the augmented forces now in the field demand your best
reflections as to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue
without injury to business and with the least possible burdens upon
labor.

The suspension of specie payments by the banks soon after the
commencement of your last session made large issues of United States
notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of troops and
the satisfaction of other just demands be so economically or so well
provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the
receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties and making
them a legal tender for other debts, has made them an universal
currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time,
the long-felt want of an uniform circulating medium, saving thereby
to the people immense sums in discounts and exchanges.

A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period
compatible with due regard to all interests concerned should ever be
kept in view. Fluctuations in the value of currency are always
injurious, and to reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible
point will always be a leading purpose in wise legislation.
Convertibility, prompt and certain convertibility, into coin is
generally acknowledged to be the best and surest safeguard against
them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a circulation of United
States notes payable in coin and sufficiently large for the wants of
the people can be permanently, usefully, and safely maintained.

Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for
the public wants can be made and the great advantages of a safe and
uniform currency secured?

I know of none which promises so certain results and is at the same
time so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations,
under a general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To
such associations the government might furnish circulating notes, on
the security of United States bonds deposited in the treasury.
These notes, prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being
uniform in appearance and security and convertible always into coin,
would at once protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency
and facilitate commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.

A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would
compensate the United States for the preparation and distribution of
the notes and a general supervision of the system, and would lighten
the burden of that part of the public debt employed as securities.
The public credit, moreover, would be greatly improved and the
negotiation of new loans greatly facilitated by the steady market
demand for government bonds which the adoption of the proposed system
would create.

It is an additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable
weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible
all existing interests by the opportunity offered to existing
institutions to reorganize under the act, substituting only the
secured uniform national circulation for the local and various
circulation, secured and unsecured, now issued by them.

The receipts into the treasury from all sources, including loans and
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the
30th June, 1862, were $583,885,247.06, of which sum $49,056,397.62
were derived from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from
public lands, $152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64;
from loans in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder,
$2,257,065.80, was the balance from last year.

The disbursements during the same period were: For congressional,
executive, and judicial purposes, $5,939,009.29; for foreign
intercourse, $1,339,710.35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the
mints, loans, post-office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and
other like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior
Department, $3,102,985.52; under the War Department, $394,368,407.36;
under the Navy Department, $42,674,569.69; for interest on public
debt, $13,190,324.45; and for payment of public debt, including
reimbursement of temporary loan and redemptions, $96,096,922.09;
making an aggregate of $570,841,700.25, and leaving a balance in the
treasury on the 1st day of July, 1862, of $13,043,546.81.

It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922.09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in
the loans made, may be properly deducted both from receipts and
expenditures, leaving the actual receipts for the year
$487,788,324.97, and the expenditures $474,744,778.16.

Other information on the subject of the finances will be found in the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and
views I invite your most candid and considerate attention.

The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than
brief abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and
operations conducted through those departments. Nor could I give a
summary of them here upon any principle which would admit of its
being much shorter than the reports themselves. I therefore content
myself with laying the reports before you and asking your attention
to them.

It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial
condition of the Post-Office Department as compared with several
preceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to
$8,349,296.40, which embraced the revenue from all the States of the
Union for three quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation
of revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal
year, the increase of the correspondence of the loyal States has been
sufficient to produce a revenue during the same year of
$8,299,820.90, being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the
States of the Union during the previous year. The expenditures show
a still more favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was
$13,606,759.11. For the last year the amount has been reduced to
$11,125,364.13, showing a decrease of about $2,481,000 in the
expenditures as compared with the preceding year, and about
$3,750,000 as compared with the fiscal year 1860. The deficiency in
the department for the previous year was $4,551,966.98. For the last
fiscal year it was reduced to $2,112,814.57. These favorable results
are in part owing to the cessation of mail service in the
insurrectionary States and in part to a careful review of all
expenditures in that department in the interest of economy. The
efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has also been much
improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a correspondence
through the Department of State with foreign governments proposing a
convention of postal representatives for the purpose of simplifying
the rates of foreign postage and to expedite the foreign mails. This
proposition, equally important to our adopted citizens and to the
commercial interests of this country, has been favorably entertained
and agreed to by all the governments from whom replies have been
received.

I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the
Postmaster-General in his report respecting the further legislation
required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service.

The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the
public lands:

"The public lands have ceased to be a source of revenue. From the
1st July, 1861, to the 3oth September, 1862, the entire cash receipts
from the sale of lands were $137,476.2--a sum much less than the
expenses of our land system during the same period. The homestead
law, which will take effect on the 1st of January next, offers such
inducements to settlers that sales for cash cannot be expected to an


 


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