The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, v6
by
Abraham Lincoln

Part 8 out of 9






TO GOVERNOR SEYMOUR.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
August 27. 1863.

HIS EXCELLENCY HORATIO SEYMOUR,

Governor 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 meantime 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 enclose to
you.

Independently of this, I addressed a letter on the same subject to
the Secretary of War, a copy of which I also enclose to you. The
Secretary has sent my letter to the Provost-Marshal General, 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 Provost-Marshal-General can
find it practicable to give credits by subdistricts, 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.

Abraham Lincoln




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. M. SCHOFIELD.

WASHINGTON, D. C., August 27, 1863 8.30 P. M.

GENERAL SCHOFIELD, St. LOUIS:

I have just received the despatch which follows, from two very
influential citizens of Kansas, whose names I omit. The severe blow
they have received naturally enough makes them intemperate even
without there being any just cause for blame. Please do your utmost
to give them future security and to punish their invaders.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. G. MEADE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
August 27, 1863 9 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Warrenton, Va.:

Walter, Rionese, Folancy, Lai, and Kuhn appealed to me for mercy,
without giving any ground for it whatever. I understand these are
very flagrant cases, and that you deem their punishment 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. HAVES, Comptroller,
Chicago, Ill.:

Yours of the 24th, in relation to the draft, is received. It seems
to me the Government here will be overwhelmed if it undertakes to
conduct these matters with the authorities of cities and counties.
They must be conducted with the governors of States, who will, of
course, represent their cities and counties. Meanwhile you need not
be uneasy until you again hear from here.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL FOSTER.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, 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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL CRAWFORD.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., August 28, 1863.

GENERAL CRAWFORD, Rappahannock Station, Va.:

I regret that I cannot be present to witness the presentation of a
sword by the gallant Pennsylvania Reserve Corps to one so worthy to
receive it as General Meade.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO L. SWETT.

WASHINGTON, D. C., August 29, 1863.

HON. L. SWETT, San Francisco, Cal.:
If the Government's rights are reserved, the Government will be
satisfied, and at all events it will consider.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.
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.




TELEGRAM TO J. C. CONKLING.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
August 31, 1863.

HON. JAMES C. CONKLING, Springfield, Ill.:

In my letter of the 26th insert between the sentence ending "since
the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation as before" and the next,
commencing "You say you will not fight, etc.," what follows below my
signature hereto.

A. LINCOLN.

"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
colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the
rebellion, and that at least one of those 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
Republican party politics, but who hold them purely as military
opinions. I submit these opinions as being entitled to some weight
against the objections, often urged, that emancipation and arming the
blacks are unwise as military measures and were not adopted as such
in good faith."




TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
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 impressed through
General Halleck that I was dissatisfied 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 remember anything, that about the end of
last year and the beginning of this, you gave us a hard-earned
victory, which, had there been a defeat instead, the nation could
hardly have lived over. Neither can I forget the check you so
opportunely gave to a dangerous sentiment which was spreading in the
North.

Yours, as ever,

A. LINCOLN




TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.

August 31, 1863

It is not improbable that retaliation for the recent great outrage at
Lawrence, in Kansas, may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the
Missouri border, unless averted by very judicious action. I shall be
obliged if the general-in-chief can make any suggestions to General
Schofield upon the subject.

A. LINCOLN.




POLITICAL MOTIVATED MISQUOTATION IN NEWSPAPER

TELEGRAM TO J. C. CONKLING.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 3, 1863.

HON. JAMES C. CONKLING, Springfield, Ill.:

I am mortified this morning to find the letter to you botched up in
the Eastern papers, telegraphed from Chicago. How did this happen?

A. LINCOLN.




ORDER CONCERNING COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
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 commandants of
departments were, by order of the Secretary 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 for the use of the
United States any horses, mules, and live stock designed for
exportation, be so far modified that any arms heretofore imported
into the United States may be re-exported 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 Territory.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO J. SEGAR.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C..
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 Government extorted by fear,
and that he had already collected about $4000 of the money. If he
has proceeded since, I shall hold him accountable 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 accepted in the right
spirit.

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON. D. C.
September 6, 1863.

MRS. A. LINCOLN, Manchester, Vt.:

All well and no news except that General Burnside has Knoxville, Ten.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON,
September 6, 1863. 6 P.M.

HON. SECRETARY OF WAR, Bedford, Pa.:

Burnside has Kingston and Knoxville, and drove the enemy across the
river at Loudon, the enemy destroying 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.




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 government should execute the act in question
without dependence upon any other government, State, city, or county.
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 subject with counties and cities. They
are too numerous. As instances, I have corresponded with Governor
Seymour, but Not with Mayor Opdyke; with Governor Curtin, but not
with Mayor Henry.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 8, 1863. 9.30

HON. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.:

Despatch of yesterday just received. I shall try to find the paper
you mention and carefully consider it. In the meantime let me urge
that you do your utmost to get every man you can, black and white,
under arms at the very earliest moment, to guard roads, bridges, and
trains, allowing all the better trained soldiers to go forward to
Rosecrans. Of course I mean for you to act in co-operation with and
not independently of, the military authorities.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, 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 WHEATON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 1863.

GENERAL WHEATON, Army of Potomac:

Yesterday 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 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.




TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
SEPTEMBER, 11, 1863

HON. ANDREW JOHNSON.

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 co-operating friends there can better judge of the
ways and means than can be judged by any here. I only offer a few
suggestions. The reinauguration must not be such as to give control
of the State and its representation 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 Governor
Harris 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 recognized here as being the one of republican form
to be guaranteed to the State, and to be protected against invasion
and domestic violence. 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 cause. The raising of colored
troops, I think, will greatly help every way.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE.

WASHINGTON, September 11, 1863.

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




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, 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 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 in
the record of the trial.

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 12, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEAD, Warrenton, Va.:

The name is "Thomas Edds" not "Eddies" as in your despatch. The
papers left with me do not designate the regiment to 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 Burnside's mud march last
winter. If I get further information I will telegraph again.

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO H. H. SCOTT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 13, 1863.

Dr. WILLIAM H. H. SCOTT, Danville, Ill.:

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.




TELEGRAM TO J. G. BLAINE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 25, 1863.

J. G. BLAINE, Augusta, Me.:
Thanks both for the good news you send and for the sending of it.

A. LINCOLN.




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 public safety may
require it; and:

Whereas a rebellion 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
Congress assembled that during the present insurrection the President
of the United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may
require, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus in any case throughout the United States or any part thereof;
and:

Whereas, in the judgment of the President, the public safety does
require that the privilege of the said writ shall new be suspended
throughout the United States in the cases where, by the authority of
the President of the United States, military, naval, and civil
officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under
their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies,
or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen
enrolled or drafted or mustered or enlisted in or belonging to the
land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom,
or otherwise amenable to military law or the rules and articles of
war or the rules or regulations prescribed for the military or naval
services by authority of the President of the United States, or for
resisting a draft, or for any other offense against the military or
naval service

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President 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 duration of the said
rebellion or until this proclamation shall, by a subsequent one to be
issued by the President of the United States, be modified 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 services of the United States to take distinct
notice of this suspension and to give it full effect, and all
citizens of the United States to conduct and govern themselves
accordingly and in conformity with the Constitution of the United
States and the laws of Congress in such case made and provided.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth day of September,
A.D. 1863, and of the independence of the United States of America
the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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




TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 13, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:

If I did not misunderstand 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 attack, leaving to
developments whether he will make it a real attack. I think this
would develop Lee's real condition and purposes better than the
cavalry alone can do. Of course my opinion is not to control you and
General Meade.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO MRS. SPEED.

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

MRS. J. F. SPEED, Louisville, Ky.:

Mr. Holman will not be jostled from his place with my knowledge and
consent.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 16, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Warrenton, Va.:

Is Albert Jones of Company K, Third Maryland Volunteers, to be shot
on Friday next? If so please state to me the general features of the
case.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL 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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 17, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE,
Headquarters 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
Volunteers, by Governor Parker, Attorney-General Frelinghuysen,
Governor Newell, Hon. Mr. Middleton, M. C., of the district, and the
marshal who arrested him. I am also appealed to in behalf of Joseph
S. Smith, of Company A, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, by Governor
Parker, Attorney-General Frelinghuysen, and Hon. Marcus C. Ward.
Please state the circumstances of their cases to me.

A. LINCOLN.




REQUEST TO SUGGEST NAME FOR A BABY

TELEGRAM TO C. M. SMITH.

WASHINGTON, D. C., September 18, 1863.

C.M. SMITH, Esq., Springfield, Ill.:

Why not name him for the general you fancy most? This is my
suggestion.

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO MRS. ARMSTRONG.

WASHINGTON, September 18, 1863.

MRS. HANNAH ARMSTRONG, Petersburg, Ill.:

I have just ordered the discharge of your boy William, as you say,
now at Louisville, Ky.

A. LINCOLN.




TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 19.1863.

HON. ANDREW JOHNSON.

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.

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, WASHINGTON, D. C.,

September 19, 1863.

HON. ANDREW JOHNSON,
Military Governor of Tennessee:

In addition to the matters contained in the orders and instructions
given you by the Secretary of War, you are hereby authorized to
exercise such powers as may be necessary and proper to enable the
loyal people of Tennessee to present such a republican form of State
government as will entitle the State to the guaranty of the United
States therefor, and to be protected under such State government by
the United 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




MILITARY STRATEGY

TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON D.C.
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 advantage so small.

And yet the case presents matter for very serious consideration in
another aspect. These two armies confront each other across a small
river, substantially midway between the two capitals, each defending
its own capital, and menacing 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 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 advantage 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 practically 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 entrenchments 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 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 Potomac 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.




TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., 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 is most agreeable to yourself.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C, September 21, 1863.

MRS. A. LINCOLN. Fifth Avenue Hotel. New York:

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.




TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.

EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, D. C.,
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 inclusive, it keeps all Tennessee clear of the enemy,
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, expense, 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 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 position; and that,
in fact, our judgment is rather against his going beyond it. If he
can only maintain this position, without more, this rebellion can
only eke out a short and feeble existence, as an animal sometimes may
with a thorn in its vitals.

Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C., September 21, 1863.

GENERAL 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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE

WAR DEPARTMENT, September 21, 1863. 11 A.M.

GENERAL BURNSIDE, Knoxville, Tenn.:

Go to Rosecrans with your force without a moment's delay.

A. LINCOLN,




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS

WASHINGTON, September 21, 1863. 12.55 PM.

MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga:

Be of good cheer. We have unabated confidence in you, and in your
soldiers and officers. In 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 communication we
do not know how they are getting along. We shall do our utmost to
assist you. Send us your present positions.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
[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.M., and to General Halleck of 2 P. M.,
yesterday, tell us nothing later on those points. Please relieve my
anxiety as to the position and condition of your army up to the
latest moment.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO O. M. HATCH AND J. K. DUBOIS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON.
September 22, 1863.

HON. O. M. HATCH, HON. J. K. DUBOIS,
Springfield, Ill.:

Your letter is just received. The particular form of my despatch was
jocular, 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, WASHINGTON, September 22, 1863.

MRS. A. LINCOLN, Fifth Avenue House, New York:--Did you receive my
despatch of yesterday? Mrs. Cuthbert did not correctly 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. 9.13 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. He also confesses to heavy loss. An exchanged
general of ours leaving Richmond yesterday says two of 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.

"CHICAMAUGA RIVER, SEPTEMBER 20.
"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 loses are heavy on both sides,
especially in our officers..............
BRAXTON BRAGG

A. LINCOLN




PROCLAMATION OPENING THE PORT OF ALEXANDRIA, 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 advantage to the
interests of commerce:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United Sates, pursuant 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 information 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.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, September 24, 1863. 10 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Term.:

Last night we received the rebel accounts, 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 DesMer killed, and Major-Generals Preston, Cleburne,
and Gregg, and Brigadier-Generals Benning, Adams, Burm, 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




MRS. LINCOLN'S REBEL BROTHER-IN-LAW KILLED

TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, SEPTEMBER 24, 1863

MRS. A. LINCOLN, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York:

We now have a tolerably accurate summing up of the late battle
between Rosecrans and Braag. 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
turn. We lost in general officers one killed and three or four
wounded, all brigadiers, while, according to the rebel accounts which
we have, they lost six killed and eight wounded: of the killed one
major-general and five brigadiers including your brother-in-law,
Helm; and of the wounded three major-generals and five brigadiers.
This list may be reduced two in number by corrections of confusion in
names. At 11.40 A.M. yesterday General Rosecrans telegraphed from
Chattanooga: "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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL McCALLUM.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 25, 1863.

GENERAL McCALLUM, Alexandria, Va.:

I have sent to General Meade, by telegraph, to suspend the execution
of Daniel Sullivan of Company F, 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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 25, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:

Owing to the press in behalf of Daniel Sullivan, Company E,
Thirteenth Massachusetts, and the doubt; though small, which you
express of his guilty intention, I have concluded to say let his
execution be suspended till further order, and copy of record sent
me.

A. LINCOLN.




TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 25, 1863.

MY DEAR GENERAL ROSECRANS:

We are sending you two small corps, one under General Howard and one
under General Slocum, and the whole under General Hooker.

Unfortunately the relations between Generals Hooker and Slocum are
not such as to promise good, if their present relative positions
remain. Therefore, let me beg--almost enjoin upon you--that on their
reaching you, you will make a transposition 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.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, September 28, 1863. 8 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga., Tenn.:

You can perhaps communicate with General Burnside more rapidly by
sending telegrams directly to him at Knoxville. Think of it. I send
a like despatch to him.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C, September 30, 1863.

GENERAL SCHOFIELD, Saint Louis, Mo.:

Following despatch just received:

"Union Men Driven out of Missouri."
"Leavenworth, September 29, I863.

"Governor Gamble having authorized Colonel Moss, of Liberty,
Missouri, to arm the men in Platte and Clinton Counties, he has armed
mostly the returned rebel soldiers and men wider bonds. Moss's 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 Colonel Moss's men."

Please look to this and, if true, in main or part, put a stop to it.

A. LINCOLN




TELEGRAM TO F. S. CORKRAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 30, 1863.

HON. FRANCIS S. CORKRAN, Baltimore, Md.:
MRS. L. is now at home and would be pleased 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 GENERAL TYLER

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 1863.

GENERAL TYLER, Baltimore:

Take care of colored troops in your charge, but do nothing further
about that branch of affairs until further orders. Particularly do
nothing about General Vickers of Kent County.

A. LINCOLN.

Send a copy to Colonel Birney.
A. L.




TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
OCTOBER 1, 1863

GENERAL JOHN M. SCHOFIELD:

There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the
General Government now in Missouri, and if any shall reappear, your
duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special
instruction. Still, the condition of things, both there and
elsewhere, is such as to render it indispensable 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 to so use
it, as far as practicable, to compel the excited people there to let
one another alone.

Under your recent order, which I have approved, 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 exercise with great caution, calmness, and
forbearance.

With the matter 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 discretion.

Nor am I interfering with what may still seem to you to be necessary
restrictions upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, however, 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 availability for good of the
enrolled militia of the State. Allow no one to enlist colored
troops, except upon orders from you, or from here through you.

Allow no one to assume the functions of confiscating 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 restrictions 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, marauders, and murderers, and all who are known to
harbor, aid, or abet them. But in like manner you will repress
assumptions of unauthorized individuals to perform the same service,
because under pretense of doing this they become marauders and
murderers themselves.

To now restore peace, let the military obey orders, and those not of
the military leave each other alone, thus not breaking the peace
themselves.

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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL S. M. SCHOFIELD.

WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 2, 1863

MAJOR-GENERAL SCHOFIELD:

I have just 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. Meantime supply me
the particulars of Major-General Blunt's case.

A. LINCOLN.


TELEGRAM TO COLONEL BIRNEY.
[Cipher.]
WAR DEPARTMENT, 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 AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards 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
even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful
providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of
unequalled magnitude and severity which has sometimes seemed to
invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign states; peace has been
preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have
been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere
except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has
been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the
Union. The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields
of peaceful industry, to the national defense has not arrested the
plough, the shuttle, or the ship: The axe has enlarged the borders 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, notwithstanding 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 a continuance 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 reverently,
solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and 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 those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set
apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of
thanksgiving and prayer 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
perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those
who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the
lamentable 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 consistent
with divine purposes, to the full enjoyment 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 Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of
the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. M. SCHOFIELD.

WASHINGTON D.C., OCTOBER 4, 1863

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 counteracting 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.




TO C. D. DRAKE AND OTHERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 5, 1863.

HON. CHARLES D. DRAKE AND OTHERS, Committee.

GENTLEMEN:-Your original address, presented on the 30th ult., and the
four supplementary ones presented on the 3d inst., 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 not
having responded sooner.

These papers, framed for a common object, consist of the things
demanded and the reasons for demanding them.

The things demanded are

First. That General Schofield shall be relieved, and General Butler
be appointed as Commander of the Military Department of Missouri.

Second. That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be
broken up, and national forces he 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 and wrong to Union men
is certainly, and I suppose truly, stated. Yet the whole case, as
presented, fails to convince me that General Schofield, 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 a civil war. In such cases there always is a main
question, but in this case that question is a perplexing compound--
Union and slavery. It thus becomes 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
without, but not with; those for it with or without, but prefer it
with; and those for it with or without, 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
gradual 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 coining, blood
grows hot and blood is spilled. Thought is forced from old channels
into confusion. Deception breeds and thrives. Confidence dies, and
universal suspicion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his
neighbor, lest he be 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. Murders for old grudges, and murders for self,
proceed under any cloak that will best serve 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 relatively no stronger than before. Without disparaging any, I
affirm with confidence that no commander of that department has, in
proportion to his means, done better than General Schofield.

The first specific charge against General Schofield is, that the
enrolled militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not
been placed under the command of General Curtis. The fact is, I
believe, 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, 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 injure the Union cause. It recalls, however, the
condition of things, as presented to me, which led to a change of
commander of that department.

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
the 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,
constituted a sort of system which General Curtis 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,
contrary to the great prayer, were led into temptation. Some might,
while others would not, resist 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 property 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 existed 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 department, Mr. Dick, against
whom I never knew anything to allege, had general charge of this
system. A controversy in regard to it rapidly grew into almost
unmanageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and
magnified the evils of the system, while the other ignored the evils
and magnified the necessity; and each bitterly assailed the other. I
could not fail to see that the controversy 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 department. 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 consequence 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
afterwards surreptitiously published, in which I directed him to act
solely for the public good, and independently of both parties.
Neither any thing 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 Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of that
imbecility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to prove the
proposition. That massacre is only an example of what Grierson, John
Morgan, and many others might have repeatedly done on their
respective raids, had they chosen to incur the personal hazard, and
possessed the fiendish 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 Missouri.
While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those
murderers, I am well satisfied that the preventing of the threatened
remedial raid into Missouri was the only 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 purposely withheld protection
from loyal people and purposely facilitated the objects of the
disloyal 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 purposes of General Schofield.

With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield.
In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it
were convenient to assign him a suitable command. In order to meet
some existing evils I have addressed a letter of instructions to
General Schofield, a copy of which I enclose to you.

As to the enrolled militia, I shall endeavor to ascertain better than
I now know what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that
your proposal to substitute national forces for the enrolled 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 urgently needed seems to me very extraordinary. Whence
shall they come? Shall they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or
Steele, or Rosecrans? 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 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 militia then have been broken up and General Herron 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 elsewhere. I therefore, as at
present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the enrolled
militia 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 present in regard to
the political differences between 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 Radicals 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 would be too strong for any foe
from any quarter. 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 whoever commands in Missouri or elsewhere responsible 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.




APPROVAL OF THE DECISION OF THE COURT IN THE
CASE OF DR. DAVID M. WRIGHT.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE,

WASHINGTON, October 8, 1863.


MAJOR-GENERAL J. G. FOSTER, Commanding Department of Virginia and
North Carolina, Fort Monroe, Va.

SIR:--The proceedings of the military commission instituted for the
trial of David Wright, of Norfolk, in Special Orders Nos. 195, 196,
and 197, of 1863, from headquarters Department of Virginia, have been
submitted to the President of the United States. The following are
his remarks on the case:

Upon the presentation of the record in this case and the examination
thereof, aided by the report thereon of the Judge-Advocate-General,
and on full hearing of counsel for the accused, being specified that
no proper question remained open except as to the sanity of the
accused, I caused a very full examination to be made on that
question, upon a great amount of evidence, including all effort by
the counsel for accused, by an expert of high reputation in that
professional department, who thereon reports to me, as his opinion,
that the accused, Dr. David M. Wright, was not insane prior to or on
the 11th day of July, 1863, the date of the homicide of Lieutenant
Sanborn; that he has not been insane since, and is not insane now
(Oct. 7, 1863). I therefore approve the finding and sentence of the
military commission, and direct that the major-general in command of
the department including the place of trial, and wherein the convict
is now in custody, appoint a time and place and carry such sentence
into execution.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 8, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:

I am appealed to in behalf of August Blittersdorf, at Mitchell's
Station, Va., to be shot to-morrow as a deserter. I am unwilling for
any boy under eighteen to be shot, and his father affirms that he is
yet under sixteen. Please answer. His regiment or company not given
me.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 8, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:

The boy telegraphs from Mitchell's Station, Va. The father thinks he
is in the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The
father signs the name "Blittersdorf." I can tell no more.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 12, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:

The father and mother of John Murphy, of the One hundred and
nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, 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.




TELEGRAM TO W. S. ROSECRANS.
[Cipher.]
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 12, 1863.8.35 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Term.:

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 concentrated drive at Burnside. You and Burnside
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. Sherman is coming to you,
though gaps in the telegraph prevent our knowing how far he is
advanced. 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. General 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, leaving 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.




TELEGRAM TO WAYNE McVEIGH.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 13, 1863.

McVEIGH, Philadelphia:

The enemy some days ago made a movement, apparently to turn General
Meade's right. This led to a maneuvering of the two armies and to
pretty heavy skirmishing on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We have
frequent despatches 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 excellent condition. The telegraph is
open to General Meade's camp this morning, but we have not troubled
him for a despatch.

A. LINCOLN.




TO THURLOW WEED.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 14, 1863.

HON. THURLOW WEED.

DEAR SIR:--I have been brought to fear recently that somehow, by
commission or omission, 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 we would not part with any
unpleasant impression On either side.

Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.




TO L. B. TODD.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
October 15, 1863.

L. B. TODD, Lexington, Ky.:

I send the following pass to your care.

A. LINCOLN.




AID TO MRS. HELM, MRS. LINCOLN'S SISTER

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.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL FOSTER.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., 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 GENERAL MEADE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 15, 1863.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:

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 Blittersdorf, who you say is
enlisted in the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers as
William Fox, is proven to me to be only fifteen years old last
January. I pardon him, and you will discharge him or put him in the
ranks at your discretion. Mathias Brown, of Nineteenth 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 despatch of 12th
pardoning John Murphy?

A. LINCOLN.

[The Lincoln papers during this time have a suspended execution on
almost every other page, I have omitted most of these D.W.]




TELEGRAM TO T. W. SWEENEY.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 16, 1863.

THOMAS W. SWEENEY, Continental, Philadelphia:

Tad is teasing me to have you forward his pistol to him.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO T. C. DURANT.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 16, 1863.

T. C. DURANT, New York:

I remember receiving 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.




COMMENT ON A NOTE.

NEW YORK, October 15, 1863.

DEAR SIR: On the point of leaving I am told, by a gentleman to whose
statements I attach credit, that the opposition policy for the
Presidential campaign will be to "abstain from voting."
J.

[Comment.]
More likely to abstain from stopping, once they get at it, until they
shall have voted several times each.

October 16.
A. L.




TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
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 General 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 now with all the skill and courage which he, his officers,
and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds, and the blame
may be mine if he fails.

Yours truly,

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 expire 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 during the war, not, however, exceeding three years:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President 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 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, the quotas of three hundred thousand men.


I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly
enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as
heretofore communicated to the governors of States by the War


 


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