"I give thefe Soaks
for the founding of e College in this .Colon f

• Y^LH«¥IMII¥IEIES2T¥''

Deposited by the
Linonian and Brothers Library

THE LIFE
OP
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

VOLUME II

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK • BOSTON ¦ CHICAGO < DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON ¦ BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO

LIFE MASK OF LINCOLN. i860. AGE 5 1
Made in 1860 by Leonard W. Volk of Chicago. From a photograph.

The LIFE of
ABRAHAM LINCOLN DRAWN from original SOURCES
and containing many SPEECHES,
LETTERS and TELEGRAMS
hitherto unpublished, and illustrated
with many reproductions from original
Paintings, Photographs, et cetera
New Edition with New Matter
BY
IDA M. TARBELL
Volume Two .< I I /.

New York '"v,,^>»/
The Macmillan Company
MCMXVII
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899
By The S. S. McClure Co.

Copyright, 1900
By Doubleday & McClure Co.

Copyright, 1900
By McClure, Phillips & Co.

NEW EDITION WITH NEW MATTER
Copyright, 191 7
By The Macmillan Company

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
XXII. The first inauguration of Lincoln — The relief of Fort
Sumter — Seward's ambition to control the adminis
tration ... -i
XXIII. The beginning of civil war - - - - - 33
XXIV. The failure of Fremont — Lincoln's first difficulties with
McClellan — The death of Willie Lincoln - - 61
XXV. Lincoln and emancipation ----- 93
XXVI. Lincoln's search for a General ..... 127
XXVII. Lincoln and the soldiers ---.-. 146
XXVIII. Lincoln's re-election in 1864 ------ 170
XXIX. Lincoln's work in the winter of 1864-65 — his second in
auguration ..-.-..- 205
XXX. The end of the war  230
XXXI. Lincoln's funeral -.-.----245
Appendix ------------ 363

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Life Mask of Lincoln, i860  Frontispiece
Facsimile of Fragment of First Inaugural  facing 10
Mary Todd Lincoln, Wife of the President  facing 24
Lincoln Early in 1861  facing 40
Lincoln in 1861  facing 100
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet,
September 20, 1862  between pages 116-117
Lincoln at McCleUan's Headquarters, Antietam, October 3, 1862.
facing 130
Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac. . . .between pages 142-143
Note from Lincoln to the Secretary of War  ,.  151
Mr. Lincoln and his Son " Tad "  facing 196
Legend Scratched on a Window Pane by J. Wilkes Booth  198
Lincoln in 1864  facing 220
The Last Portrait of President Lincoln  facing 232
The Last Bit of Writing Done by Lincoln  237
Watching at the Bedside of the Dying President on the Night of
April 14 and 15, 1863  facing 244

LIFE OF LINCOLN

CHAPTER XXII

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN — THE RELIEF OF
FORT SUMTER — SEWARD'S AMBITION TO CONTROL THE
ADMINISTRATIONDaybreak of March 4, 1861, found the city of Washing
ton astir. The Senate, which had met at seven o'clock the
night before, was still in session ; scores of persons who had
come to see the inauguration of the first Republican Presi
dent, and who had been unable to find other bed than the
floor, were walking the streets; the morning trains were
bringing new crowds. Added to the stir of those who had
not slept through the night were sounds unusual in Washing
ton — the clatter of cavalry, the tramp of soldiers.
All this morning bustle of the city must have reached the
ears of the President-elect, at his rooms in Willard's Hotel,
where from an early hour he had been at work. An amend
ment to the Constitution of the United States had passed the
Senate in the all-night session, and as it concerned the sub
ject of his inaugural, he must incorporate a reference to it in
the address. Then he had not replied to the note he had
received two days before from Mr. Seward, asking to be
released from his promise to accept the portfolio of State.
He could wait no longer. " I can't afford," he said to Mr.
Nicolay, his secretary, " to let Seward take the first trick."
And he despatched the following letter :
O) 1

2 LIFE OF LINCOLN
My dear Sir : Your note of the 2d instant, asking to with
draw your acceptance of my invitation to take charge of the
State Department, was duly received. It is the subject of
the most painful solicitude with me, and I feel constrained
to beg that you will countermand the withdrawal. The pub
lic interest, I think, demands that you should; and my per
sonal feelings are deeply enlisted in the same direction.
Please consider and answer by 9 a. m. to-morrow. Your
obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
At noon, Mr. Lincoln's work was interrupted. The Presi
dent of the United States was announced. Mr. Buchanan
had come to escort his successor to the Capitol. The route of
the procession was the historic one over which almost every
President since Jefferson had travelled to take his oath of
office ; but the scene Mr. Lincoln looked upon as his carriage
rolled up the avenue was very different from that upon which
one looks to-day. No great blocks lined the streets ; instead,
the buildings were low, and there were numerous vacant
spaces. Instead of asphalt, the carriage passed over cobble
stones. Nor did the present stately and beautiful approach
to the Capitol exist. The west front rose abrupt and stiff
from an unkept lawn. The great building itself was still un
completed, and high above his head Mr. Lincoln could see
the swinging arm of an enormous crane rising from the
unfinished dome.
But, as he drove that morning from Willard's to the Capi
tol, the President-elect saw far more significant sights than
these. Closed about his carriage, " so thickly," complained
the newspapers, " as to hide it from view," was a protecting
guard. Stationed at intervals along the avenue were pla
toons of soldiers. At every corner were mounted orderlies.
On the very roof-tops were groups of riflemen. When Lin
coln reached the north side of the Capitol, where he de
scended to enter the building, he found a board tunnel,

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 3
strongly guarded at its mouth, through which he passed into
the building. If he had taken pains to inquire what means
had been provided for protecting his life while in the build
ing, he would have been told that squads of riflemen were in
each wing; that under the platform from which he was to
speak were fifty or sixty armed soldiers ; that General Scott
and two batteries of flying artillery were in adjacent streets ;
and that a ring of volunteers encircled the waiting crowd.
The thoroughness with which these guards did their work
may be judged by the experience which Colonel Clark E.
Carr, of Illinois, tells :
" I was only a young man then," says Colonel Carr, " and
this was the first inauguration I had ever attended. I came
because it was Lincoln's. For three years Lincoln had been
my political idol, as he had been that of many young men in
the West. The first debate I heard between him and Douglas
had converted me from popular sovereignty, and after that
I had followed him all over the State, so fascinated was I by
his logic, his manner, and his character.
" Well, I went to Washington, but somehow, in the in
terest of the procession, I failed to get to the Capitol in time
to find a place within hearing distance ; thousands of people
were packed between me and the stand. I did get,1 however,
close to the high double fence which had been built from the
driveway to the north door. It suddenly occurred to me that,
if I could scale that wall, I might walk right in after the
President, perhaps on to the very platform. It wasn't a min
ute before I ' shinned ' up and jumped into the tunnel; but
before I lit on my feet, a half dozen soldiers had me by the
leg and arms. I suppose they thought I was the agent of the
long-talked-of plot to capture Washington and kill Mr. Lin
coln. They searched me, and then started me to the mouth
of the tunnel, to take me to the guard-house, but the crowd
was so thick we couldn't get out. This gave me time, and I
finally convinced them that it was really my eagerness to
hear Mr. Lincoln, and no evil intent, that had brought me in.
When they finally came to that conclusion, they took me

4 LIFE OF LINCOLN
around to one of the basement doors on the east side and let
me out. I got a place in front of Mr. Lincoln, and heard
every word."
The precautions taken against the long-threatened at
tack on Lincoln's life produced various impressions on
the throng. Opponents scornfully insisted that the new Ad
ministration was " scared." Radical Republicans rejoiced.
" I was thoroughly convinced at the time," says the Hon.
James Harlan, at that time a Senator from Iowa, "that Mr.
Lincoln's enemies meant what they said, and that Gen
eral Scott's determination that the inauguration should go off
peaceably prevented any hostile demonstration." Other sup
porters of Mr. Lincoln felt differently.
" Nothing could have been more ill-advised or more osten
tatious," wrote the " Public Man " that night in his " Diary,"
" than the way in which the troops were thrust everywhere
upon the public attention, even to the roofs of the houses
on Pennsylvania avenue, on which little squads of sharp
shooters were absurdly stationed. I never expected to ex
perience such a sense of mortification and shame in my own
country as I felt to-day, in entering the Capitol through
hedges of marines armed to the teeth. . . . Fortu
nately, all passed off well, but it is appalling to think of the
mischief which might have been done by a single evil-dis
posed person to-day. A blank cartridge fired from a window
on Pennsylvania avenue might have disconcerted all our
hopes, and thrown the whole country into inextricable con
fusion. That nothing of the sort was done, or even so much
as attempted, is the most conclusive evidence that could be
asked of the groundlessness of the rumors and old women's
tales on the strength of which General Scott has been led into
this great mistake."
Arm in arm with Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Lincoln passed

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 5
through the long tunnel erected for his protection, entered
the Capitol, and passed into the Senate Chamber, filled to
overflowing with Senators, members of the Diplomatic
Corps, and visitors. The contrast between the two men as
they entered struck every observer. " Mr. Buchanan was so
withered and bowed with age," wrote George W. Julian, of
Indiana, who was among the spectators, " that in contrast
with the towering form of Mr. Lincoln he seemed little more
than half a man."
A few moments' delay, and the movement from the Senate
towards the east front began, the justices of the Supreme
Court, in cap and gown, heading the procession. As soon
as the large company was seated on the platform erected on
the east portico of the Capitol, Mr. Lincoln arose and ad
vanced to the front, where he was introduced by his friend,
Senator Baker, of Oregon. He carried a cane and a little
roll — the manuscript of his inaugural address. There was
a moment's pause after the introduction, as he vainly looked
for a spot where he might place his high silk hat. Stephen
A. Douglas, the political antagonist of his whole public life,
the man who had pressed him hardest in the campaign of
i860, was seated just behind him. Douglas stepped forward
quickly, and took the hat which Mr. Lincoln held helplessly
in his hand. " If I can't be President," he whispered smil
ingly to Mrs. Brown, a cousin of Mrs. Lincoln and a mem
ber of the President's party, " I at least can hold his hat."
This simple act of courtesy was really the most significant
incident of the day, and after the inaugural the most dis
cussed. " Douglas's conduct can not be overpraised," wrote iiiie
" Public Man " in his " Diary." " I saw him for a moment
in the morning, when he told me that he meant to put him
self as prominently forward in the ceremonies as he properly
could, and to leave no doubt on any one's mind of his de-

6 LIFE OF LINCOLN
termination to stand by the new Administration in the per
formance of its first great duty to maintain the Union."
Adjusting his spectacles and unrolling his manuscript, the
President-elect turned his eyes upon the faces of the throng
before him. It was the largest gathering that had been seen
at any inauguration up to that date, variously estimated at
from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand. Who of the
men that composed it were his friends, who his enemies, he
could not tell; but he did know that almost every one of
them was waiting with painful eagerness to hear what
answer he would make there to the questions they had been
hurling at his head since his election.
Six weeks before, when he wrote the document, he had
determined to answer some of their questions. The first of
these was, " Will Mr. Lincoln stand by the platform of the
Republican party ? " He meant to open his address with this
reply :
The [more] modern custom of electing a Chief Magistrate
upon a previously declared platform of principles supersedes,
in a great measure, the necessity of restating those principles
in an address of this sort. Upon the plainest grounds of
good faith, one so elected is not at liberty to shift his posi
tion 
Having been so elected upon the Chicago platform, and
while I would repeat nothing in it of aspersion or epithet or
question of motive against any man or party, I hold myself
bound by duty, as well as impelled by inclination, to follow,
within the executive sphere, the principles therein declared.
By no other course could I meet the reasonable expectations
of the country.
But these paragraphs were not read. On reaching Wash
ington in February, Mr. Lincoln's first act had been to give
to Mr. Seward a copy of the paper he had prepared, and to
ask for his criticisms. Of the paragraphs quoted above, Mr.
Seward wroteJ

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 7
I declare to you my conviction that the second and third
paragraphs, even if modified as I propose in my amendments,
will give such advantages to the Disunionists that Virginia
and Maryland will secede, and we shall, within ninety, per
haps within sixty, days, be obliged to fight the South for this
Capital, with a divided North for our reliance.
Mr. Lincoln dropped the paragraphs, and began by an
swering another question : " Does the President intend to
interfere with the property of the South ? "
" Apprehension seems to exist," he said, " among the peo
ple of the Southern States that by the accession of a Repub
lican administration their property and their peace and per
sonal security are to be endangered. There has never been
any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the
most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed
and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all
the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I
do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that
' I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I
believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclina
tion to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so
with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar
declarations, and had never recanted them."
He followed this conciliatory statement by a full answer
to the question, " Will Mr. Lincoln repeal the fugitive slave
laws?" " There is much controversy about the delivering up of
fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as
plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its pro
visions :
" ' No person held to service or labor in one State, under
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence
of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due.'
" It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended

8 LIFE OF LINCOLN
by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call
fugitive slaves, and the intention of the lawgiver is the law.
All members of Congress swear their support to the whole
Constitution — to this provision as much as to any other. To
the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within
the terms of this clause ' shall be delivered up,' their oaths are
unanimous. "
Next he took up the question of Secession, " Has a State
the right to go out of the Union if it wants to ? "
I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of
the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.
Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental
law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no
government proper ever had a provision in its organic law
for its own termination. . . . Again, if the United
States be not a government proper, but an association of
States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract,
be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made
it? One party to a contract may violate it — break it, so to
speak; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?
. . . It follows from these views that no State, upon its
own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union; that
resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and
that acts of violence, within any State or States, against the
authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolu
tionary, according to circumstances.
The answer to this question led him directly to the point
on which the public was most deeply stirred at that moment.
What did he intend to do about enforcing laws in States
which had repudiated Federal authority; what about the
property seized by the Southern States ?
" .... to the extent of my ability," he answered,
" I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins
upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed
in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty
on my part; and I shall perform it, so far as practicable, un-

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 9
less my rightful masters, the American people, shall with
hold the requisite means, or in some authoritative manner
direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a
menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that
it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.
" In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence ;
and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national
authority. The power confided to me will be used to
hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging
to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but
beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will
be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people
anywhere." In his original copy of the inaugural address Mr. Lincoln
wrote, " All the power at my disposal will be used to reclaim
the public property and places which have fallen; to hold, oc
cupy, and possess these, and all other property and places be
longing to the government." At the suggestion of his friend,
the Hon. O. H. Browning, of Illinois, he dropped the words
" to reclaim the public property and places which have
fallen." Mr. Seward disapproved of the entire selection and
prepared a non-committal substitute. Mr. Lincoln, how
ever, retained his own sentences.
The foregoing quotations are a fairly complete expression
of what may be called Mr. Lincoln's policy at the beginning
of his administration. He followed this statement of his
principle by an appeal and a warning to those who really
loved the Union and who yet were ready for the " destruc
tion of the national fabric with all its benefits, its memories
and its hopes."
" Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any
possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no
real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are
greater than all the real ones you fly from — will you risk the
commission of so fearful a mistake ? 

IO LIFE OF LINCOLN
" Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot re
move our respective sections from each other, nor build an
impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may
be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach
of each other ; but the different parts of our country cannot
do this. They cannot but remain face to face, and inter
course, either amicable or hostile, must continue between
them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more
advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than be
fore? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can
make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced be
tween aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you
go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when, after much
loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting,
the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are
again upon you 
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ulti
mate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope
in the world ? In our present differences is either party with
out faith of being in the right ? If the Almighty Ruler of
Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side
of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that
justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great
tribunal of the American people 
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon
this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking
time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste
to a step which you would never take deliberately, that ob
ject will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object
can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied,
still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sen
sitive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while
the new administration will have no immediate power, if it
would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who
are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still
is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence,
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has
never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to
adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and

V

While the people remain patient, and true to themselves, no man, even in the pres
idential chair, by any extreme of -wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the
government in the short space of four years.
8®" My countrymen, one and all, take time and think well, upon this whole sub
ject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. Nothing worth preserving is
either breaking or burning. If there be an Object to liurry any of you, in hot haste,
to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by
taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the
laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no imme
diate power, if it would, to change either. If it "were admitted that you who are
dissatisfied, hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for
precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him,
who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best
way, all our present difficulty.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the moment
ous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you, unless you first assail it.
You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You, have no oath
registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while/shall have the most solemn one
to "preserve, protect and defend" it. Ion can forbear the assault upon it; /can not
shrink from the defense of it. With you, and not with me, is "the solemn question of
" Shall it be peace, or a sword?''
In compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you
to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Con
stitution of the United States, to be taken by the President "before he enters on the
execution of his office."
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to say more than I have, in relation
to those matters of administration, about which there is no special excitement.
8®-Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by
the accession of a Republican Administration, their property, and their peace, and per-

FACSIMILE FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN II
not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war. The gov
ernment will not assail you. You can have no conflict with
out being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath
registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I
shall have the most solemn one to " preserve, protect, and
defend it."
With this last paragraph Mr. Lincoln had meant to close
this his first address to the nation. Mr. Seward objected,
and submitted two suggestions for a closing; one of his
paragraphs read as follows :
I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies,
but fellow-countrymen and brethren. Although passion has
strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I
am sure they will not be broken. The mystic chords which,
proceeding from so many battlefields and so many patriotic
graves, pass through all the hearts and all hearths in this
broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonize in their
ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of
the nation.
Mr. Lincoln made a few changes in the paragraphs quoted,
and rewrote the above suggestion of Mr. Seward, making of
it the now famous closing words :*
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it
must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords
of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot
grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of
our nature.
" Mr. Lincoln read his inaugural," says Mr. Harlan in
*his unpublished " Recollections of Abraham Lincoln," " in
* The reader interested in the first inaugural of Mr. Lincoln should
not fail to read the admirable chapter on the subject in Vol. III. of
Nicolay and Hay's Life of Abraham Lincoln, where Mr. Seward's criti
cisms are given in full.

12 LIFE OF LINCOLN
a clear, distinct, and musical voice, which seemed to be heard
and distinctly understood to the very outskirts of this vast
concourse of his fellow-citizens. At its conclusion, he turned
partially around on his left, facing the justices of the Su
preme Court, and said, ' I am now ready to take the oath
prescribed by the Constitution,' which was then administered
by Chief Justice Taney, the President saluting the Bible with
his lips.
" At that moment, in response to a signal, batteries of field
guns, stationed a mile or so away, commenced firing a na
tional salute, in honor of the nation's new chief. And Mr.
Buchanan, now a private citizen, escorted President Lincoln
to the Executive Mansion, followed by a multitude of peo
ple." " What do you think of it? " was the question this crowd
was asking as it left the scene of the inauguration. Through
out the day, on every corner of Washington, and by night on
every corner of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo,
and every other city and town of the country reached by the
telegraph, men were asking the same question. The an
swers showed that the address was not the equivocal docu
ment Mr. Seward had tried to make it.
" It is marked," said the New York " Tribune " of March
5, " by no feeble expression. ' He who runs may read ' it;
and to twenty millions of people it will carry the tidings,
good or not, as the case may be, that the Federal Government
/of the United States is still in existence, with a Man at the
head of it."
" The inaugural is not a crude performance," said the New
York " Herald ; " " it abounds in traits of craft and cun
ning ; it is neither candid nor statesmanlike, nor does it pos
sess any essential of dignity or patriotism. It would have
caused a Washington to mourn, 'and would have inspired
Jefferson, Madison, or Jackson with contempt."
" Our community has not been disappointed, and exhibited

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 1 3
very little feeling on the subject," telegraphed Charleston,
South Carolina. " They are content to leave Mr. Lincoln
and the inaugural in the hands of Jefferson Davis and the
Congress of the Confederate States."
" The Pennsylvanian " declared it " a tiger's claw con
cealed under the fur of Sewardism." While "The Atlas
and Argus," of Albany, characterized it as " weak, rambling,
loose-jointed," and as " inviting civil war."
From Charleston, South Carolina, came the dispatch,
" Our community has not been disappointed, and exhibited
very little feeling on the subject. They are content to leave
Mr. Lincoln and the inaugural in the hands of Jefferson
Davis and the Congress of the Confederate States." In New
Orleans the assertion that the ordinance was void and that
Federal property must be taken and held was considered a
declaration of war. At Montgomery the head of the Con
federacy, the universal feeling provoked by the inaugural was
that war was inevitable.
The literary form of the document aroused general com
ment. " The style of the address is as characteristic as its tem
per," said the Boston " Transcript." " It has not one fawn
ing expression in the whole course of its firm and explicit
statements. The language is level to the popular mind — the
plain, homespun language of a man accustomed to talk with
' the folks ' and ' the neighbors; ' the language of a man of
vital common-sense, whose words exactly fit in his facts and
thoughts." This " homespun language " was a shock to many. The
Toronto " Globe " found the address of " a tawdry, corrupt,
school-boy style." And ex-President Tyler complained to
Francis Lieber of its grammar. Lieber replied :
" You complain of the bad grammar of President Lin
coln's message. We have to look at other things, just now.

14 LIFE OF LINCOLN
than grammar. For aught I know, the last resolution of the
South Carolina Convention may have been worded in suffi
ciently good grammar, but it is an attempt, unique in its dis-
gracefulness, to whitewash an act of the dirtiest infamy.
Let us leave grammar alone in these days of shame, and
rather ask whether people act according to the first and
simplest rules of morals and of honor."
The question which most deeply stirred the country, how
ever, was " Does Lincoln mean what he says ? Will he really
use the power confided to him to hold, occupy, and possess
the property and places belonging to the government ? " The
President was called upon for an answer sooner than he had
expected. Almost the first thing brought to his attention on
the morning of his first full day in office (March 5) was
a letter from Major Robert Anderson, the officer in command
of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, saying that he had
but a week's provisions, and that if the place was to be re-en
forced so that it could be held, it would take 20,000 " good
and well-disciplined men " to do it. „
A graver matter the new President could not have been
called upon to decide, for all the issues between North and
South were at that moment focused in the fate of Fort Sum
ter. A series of dramatic incidents had given the fort this
peculiar prominence. At the time of Mr. Lincoln's election
Charleston Harbor was commanded by Major Anderson.
Although there were three forts in the harbor, but one was
garrisoned, Fort Moultrie, and that not the strongest in posi
tion. Not long after the election Anderson, himself a South
erner, thoroughly familiar with the feeling in Charleston,
wrote the War Department that if the harbor was to be held
by the United States, Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckey must
be garrisoned. Later he repeated this warning. President
Buchanan was loath to heed him. He feared irritating the
South Carolinians. Instead of re-enforcements he sent An->

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 15
iderson orders to hold the forts but to do nothing which
would cause a collision. At the same time he entered into a
half-contract with the South Carolina Congressmen not to
re-enforce Anderson if the State did not attack him. All
through the early winter Anderson remained in Moultrie,
his position constantly becoming more dangerous. Interest
in him increased with his peril, and the discussion as to
whether the government should relieve, recall, or let him
alone, waxed more and more excited.
Anderson had seen from the first that if the South Caro
linians attempted to seize Moultrie he could not sustain his
position. Accordingly, on the night of December 26 he
spiked the guns of that fort and secretly transferred his force
to Sumter, an almost impregnable position in the centre of
the harbor. In the South the uproar over this act was terrific.
The administration was accused of treachery. It in turn cen
sured Anderson, though he had acted exactly within his or
ders which gave him the right to occupy whichever fort he
thought best. In the North there was an outburst of exulta
tion. It was the first act in defense of United States prop
erty, and Anderson became at once a popular hero and re-
enforcements for him were vehemently demanded.
Early in January Buchanan yielded to the pressure and
sent the Star of the West with supplies. The vessel was
fired on by the South Carolinians as she entered the harbor,
and retired. This hostile act did not quicken the sluggish
blood of the administration. Indeed, a quasi-agreement with
the Governor followed, that if the fort was not attacked no
further attempt would be made to re-enforce it, and there the
matter stood when Mr. Lincoln on the morning of March 5
received Anderson's letter.
What was to be done? The garrison must not be allowed
to starve ; but evidently 20,000 disciplined men could not be
had to relieve it — the whole United States army numbered

1 6 LIFE OF LINCOLN
but 16,000. But if Mr. Lincoln could not relieve it, how
could he surrender it ? The effect of any weakening or com
promise in his own position was perfectly clear to him.
" When Anderson goes out of Fort Sumter," he said rue
fully, "I shall have to go out of the White House." The exact
way in which he looked at the matter he stated later to Con
gress, in substantially the following words :
To abandon that position, under the circumstances, would
have been utterly ruinous ; the necessity under which it was
done would not have been fully understood; by many it
would have been construed as a part of a voluntary policy; at
home it would have discouraged the friends of the Union,
emboldened its adversaries, and gone far to insure to the
latter a recognition abroad ; in fact, it would have been our
national destruction consummated. This could not be al
lowed. In his dilemma he sought the advice of the Commander-
in-Chief of the Army, General Scott, who told him sadly that
" evacuation seemed almost inevitable."
Unwilling to decide at once, Lincoln devised a manoeuvre
by which he hoped to shift public attention from Fort Sumter
to Fort Pickens, in Pensacola Harbor. The situation of the
two forts was similar, although that at Sumter was more
critical and interested the public far more intensely. It
seemed to Mr. Lincoln that if Fort Pickens could be re-en
forced, this would be a clear enough indication to both sec
tions that he meant what he had said in his inaugural ad
dress, and after it had been accomplished the North would
accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military necessity,
and on March 11 he sent an order that troops which had
been sent to Pensacola in January by Mr. Buchanan, but
never landed, should be placed in Fort Pickens.
As this order went by sea, it was necessarily some time
before it arrived. Night and day during this interval Lin-

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN l?
coin was busy in a series of original investigations of all sides
of the Sumter question. While doing his utmost to obtain
such information as would enable him to come to an intellU
gent conclusion, he was beset by both North and South. A
report went out early in the month that Sumter was to be
evacuated. It could not be verified ; but it spread generally
until there was, particularly in Washington, around Mr. Lin
coln, a fever of excitement. Finally, on March 25, the
Senate asked for the correspondence of Anderson. The
President did not believe the time had come, however, to take
the public into his confidence, and he replied :
. . . On examination of the correspondence thus called
for, I have, with the highest respect for the Senate, come to
the conclusion that at the present moment the publication of
it would be inexpedient.
Three days later, March 28, while he still was uncertain
whether his order had reached Fort Pickens or not, General
Scott, who was ill, sent a letter over to the White House,
advising Mr. Lincoln to abandon both Sumter and Pickens.
Coming from such a source, the letter was a heavy blow to
the President. One of the men he most trusted had failed to
recognize that the policy he had laid down in his inaugural
address was serious and intended to be acted upon. It was
time to do something. Summoning an officer from the Navy
Department, he asked him to prepare at once a plan for a
relief expedition to Fort Sumter. That night Mr. Lincoln
gave his first state dinner. It was a large affair, many
friends besides the members of the Cabinet being present.
The conversation was animated, and Lincoln was seemingly
in excellent spirits. W. H. Russell, the correspondent of the
London "Times," was present, and he notes in his Diary how
Lincoln used anecdotes in his conversation that evening :
(0

18 LIFE OF LINCOLN
"Mr. Bates was remonstrating, apparently, against the
appointment of some indifferent lawyer to a place of judicial
importance," says Mr. Russell. " The President interposed
with, 'Come now, Bates, he's not half as bad as you
think. Besides that, I must tell you he did me a good turn
long ago. When I took to the law, I was going to court one
morning, with some ten or twelve miles of bad road before
me, and I had no horse. The judge overtook me in his
wagon. ' Hello, Lincoln ! Are you not going to the court
house? Come in, and I'll give you a seat.' Well, I got in,
and the judge went on reading his papers. Presently the
wagon struck a stump on one side of the road ; then it hopped
off to the other. I looked out, and I saw the driver was
jerking from side to side in his seat; so says I, 'Judge, I
think your coachman has been taking a little drop too much
this morning.' ' Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, ' I should
not wonder if you are right ; for he has nearly upset me half a
dozen times since starting.' So putting his head out of the
window, he shouted, ' Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are
drunk ! ' Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turning
round with great gravity, the coachman said, ' By gorra !
that's the first rightful decision you have given for the last
twelvemonth.' While the company were laughing, the Pres
ident beat a quiet retreat from the neighborhood of the At
torney-General." Lincoln's story-telling that evening was used, as often hap
pened, to cover a serious mental struggle. After many of
his guests had retired, he called his Cabinet aside, and agi
tatedly told them of General Scott's letter. He then asked
them to meet him the next day. That night the President
did not close his eyes in sleep. The moment had come, as it
must come, at one time or another, to every President
of the United States, when his vote was the only vote in the
Cabinet — the only vote in the country. The decision and
orders he should give the next day might plunge the country
into civil war. Could he escape it ? All night he went over
the problem, but his watch only strengthened his purpose.

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 1 9
When the Cabinet met, the President put the case before
them in such a light that, on his asking the members to give
him their views, only two, Seward and Smith, opposed the
relief of Fort Sumter.
That day Lincoln gave his order that the expedition be
prepared and ready to sail on April 6. Two days later, he
ordered that an expedition for the relief of Fort Pickens be
prepared. With the latter order he sent a verbal message to
General Scott :
Tell him that I wish this thing done, and not to let it fail
unless he can show that I have refused him something he
asked for.
By April 6, news reached Mr. Lincoln from Fort Pick
ens. The commander of the vessel on which the troops were
quartered, acting upon the armistice of Mr. Buchanan, had
refused to land the re-enforcements. To relieve Sumter was
the only alternative, and Lincoln immediately ordered for
ward the expeditions he had been preparing. At the same
time he wrote with his own hand instructions for an agent
whom he sent to Charleston to notify the Governor of South
Carolina that an effort would be made to supply Fort Sumter
with provisions only.
At last it was evident to the members of the Cabinet and to
others in the secret that Mr. Lincoln did mean what he had
said in his inaugural address : " The power confided to me ^
will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and
places belonging to the government."
Mr. Lincoln had another matter on hand at the moment
as vital as the relief of Sumter — how to prevent further ac
cessions to the Southern Confederacy. When he was in
augurated, seven of the slave-holding States had left the p
Union. In two others, Virginia and Missouri, conventions
were in session considering secession; but in both, Union

20 LIFE OF LINCOLN
sentiment predominated. Three others, North Carolina,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, had by popular vote decided to
hold no convention. Maryland had already held an irregular
State assembly, but nothing had been accomplished by the
separatists. Mr. Lincoln's problem was how to strengthen
this surviving Union sentiment sufficiently to prevent seces
sion in case the Administration was forced to relieve Sumter.
Evidently he could do nothing at the moment but inform
himself as accurately as possible, by correspondence and con
ferences, of the temper of the people and put himself into
relations with men in each State on whom he could rely in
case of emergency. He did this with care and persistency,
and so effectively that later, when matters became more seri
ous, visitors from the doubtful States often expressed their
amazement at the President's knowledge of the sentiments
and conditions of their parts of the country.
The first State in which Lincoln attempted any active in
terference in favor of the Union was one which had already
voted itself out, Texas. A conflict had arisen there between
the Southern party and the Governor, Sam Houston, and on
March 18 the latter had been deposed. When Mr. Lincoln
heard of this, he decided to try to get a message to the Gov
ernor, offering United States support if he would put himself
at the head of the Union party of the State. The messenger
who carried this word to Houston was Mr. G. H. Giddings,
at that time the holder of the contract for carrying the mails
by the El Paso route to California. He was taken to the
White House by his friend Postmaster-General Blair, and
gives the following account of what occurred at the inter
view. It is one of the very few descriptions of Mr. Lincoln
in a Cabinet meeting which we have :
I was taken into the Cabinet room, and introduced by the
Postmaster-General to President Lincoln and all the mem
bers of the Cabinet, who were there apparently waiting for

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 21
us. The President asked me to take a seat at the big table
next to him. He then said to me, " You have been highly
recommended to me as a reliable man by the Postmaster-
General, the Hon. G. A. Grow, and others. They tell me
that you are an old citizen of Texas and about to return to
your home. My object in wishing to see you is that I desire
to intrust to you a secret message to Governor Houston."
I said, " Yes, Mr. President, I should have left to-night
but for this invitation to call on you, which was a great
pleasure to me."
He then asked me a great many questions, where I was
born, when I went to Texas, what I had been doing there,
how I liked the State, and what was the public sentiment in
Texas in regard to the prospects of a war — all of which I
answered to the best of my ability.
He then said to me that the message was of such im
portance that, before handing it to me, he would read it to
me. Before beginning to read he said, " This is a confi
dential and secret message. No one besides my Cabinet and
myself knows anything about it, and we are all sworn to
secrecy. I am going to swear you in as one of my Cabinet."
And then he said to me in a jocular way, " Hold up your
right hand," which I did. " Now," said he, "consider your
self a member of my Cabinet."
He then read the message, explaining his meaning at times
as he was reading it. The message was written in big bold
hand, on large sheets of paper, and consisted of several pages.
It was signed " A. Lincoln." I cannot give the exact words
of the message, but the substance was as follows :
It referred first to the surrender, by General Twiggs, of
the United States troops, forts, and property in Texas to the
rebels, and offered to appoint Governor Houston a major-
general in the United States army in case he would accept.
It authorized him to take full command in Texas, taking
charge of all Government property and such of the old army
as he could get together, and to recruit 100,000 men, if pos
sible, and to hold Texas in the Union. In case he did accept,
the President promised to support him with the whole power
of the Government, both of the army and navy. After hear
ing the message read, I suggested to the President that it was

22 LIFE OF LINCOLN
of such importance that perhaps he had better send it by some
government official.
" No," he said. " Those Texans would hang any official
caught with that paper."
I replied that they would hang me, too, if they caught me
with that message.
" I do not wish to have you hung," he replied ; " and if you
think there is so much danger, I will not ask you to take it,
although I am anxious to get it to Governor Houston as soon
as possible. As you live in Texas and are about to return, I
was in hopes you would take it."
" I will take the message with much pleasure," I replied,
" as you personally request it, and will deliver it safely to
Governor Houston, only stipulating that it shall remain as
one of your Cabinet secrets." This he assured me should be
done. I remained there until about midnight. The question of
war or no war was discussed by different members of the
Cabinet. Mr. Seward said there would be no war.
The President said he hoped and prayed that there would
not be a war. I said to Mr. Seward that, as he knew, Con
gress had extended my overland mail contract one contract
term and doubled the service; that to put the increased ser
vice in operation would cost me over $50,000, which would
be lost in case of war ; and I asked him what I had better
do. " There will be no war," Mr. Seward said ; " go ahead
and put on the increased service. You will run no risk in
doing so." He said that Humphrey Marshall and some oth
ers, whose names I have forgotten, had left Washington a
few days before that, to go into the border States and hold
public meetings and ask the South to meet the North and
have a National Convention for the purpose of amending the
Constitution. He had no doubt, he said, that this would be
done, and that, so far as he was individually concerned, he
would prefer giving the Southern brothers the parchment
and let them enter the amendment to the Constitution to suit
themselves rather than have a civil war. He said, in all
probability, some arrangements would be made to pay for
the slaves and the gradual abolishment of slavery.

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 23
With these momentous affairs on hand, Lincoln needed
freedom from trivial and personal matters, if ever a President
needed it; yet one who reads the documents of the period
would infer that his entire time was spent in appointing post
masters. There was no escape for him. The office-seekers
had seized Washington, and were making the White House
their headquarters.
" There were days," says William O. Stoddard, " when
the throng of eager applicants for office filled the broad stair
case to its lower steps; the corridors of the first floor; the
famous East room ; the private parlors ; while anxious groups
and individuals paraded up and down the outer porch, the
walks, and the avenue."
They even attacked Lincoln on the street. One day as his
carriage rolled up the avenue, a man stopped it and attempted
to present his application and credentials. " No, no," said
Mr. Lincoln indignantly, " I won't open shop in the street."
This raid had begun in Springfield with the election. As
Mr. Lincoln had been elected without bargains on his part,
he did not propose to consider minor appointments until actu
ally inaugurated.
" I have made up my mind," he said to a visitor a few days
after his election, " not to be badgered about these places. I
have promised nothing high or low, and will not. By-and-
by, when I call somebody to me in the character of an ad
viser, we will examine the claims to the most responsible
posts and decide what shall be done. As for the rest, I shall
have enough to do without reading recommendations for
country postmasters."
All of the hundreds who had been put off in the winter,
now reappeared in Washington. Now, Lincoln had clear no
tions of the use of the appointing power. One side should
not gobble up everything, he declared ; but in the pressure of

24 LIFE OF LINCOLN
applications, it gave him the greatest difficulty to prevent this
" gobbling up." Another rule he had adopted was not to
appoint over the heads of his advisers. He preferred to win
their consent to an appointment by tact rather than to make
it by his own power. A case in point is disclosed in a letter
he wrote to General Scott, in June, in which he said :
Doubtless you begin to understand how disagreeable it is
for me to do a thing arbitrarily when it is unsatisfactory to
others associated with me.
I very much wish to appoint Colonel Meigs Quartermas
ter-General, and yet General Cameron does not quite consent.
I have come to know Colonel Meigs quite well for a short
acquaintance, and, so far as I am capable of judging, I do
not know one who combines the qualities of masculine intel
lect, learning, and experience of the right sort, and physical
power of labor and endurance, so well as he.
I know he has great confidence in you, always sustaining,
so far as I have observed, your opinions against any differ
ing ones.
You will lay me under one more obligation if you can and
will use your influence to remove General Cameron's objec
tion. I scarcely need tell you I have nothing personal in this,
having never seen or heard of Colonel Meigs until about the
end of last March.
But that he could appoint arbitrarily is certain from the
following letter :
. . . You must make a job of it, and provide a place
for the bearer of this, Elias Wampole. Make a job of it with
the collector and have it done. You can do it for me, and
you must.
In spite of the terrible pressure brought to bear upon him
by the place-hunters ; in spite of the frequent dissatisfaction
his appointments gave, and the abuse the disappointed heaped
upon him, he rarely lost his patience, rarely was anything but

1& "**

J _Ji

,.:¦;¦¦¦- ' '¦ «• *•'¦

;:!:;;:::;

i*??1™1""^)^

MARY TODD LINCOLN, WIFE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
From a photograph taken by Brady, in the War Department Collection of Civil War Photographs.

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 2$
kind. His sense of humor aided him wonderfully in this par
ticular. The incongruity of a man in his position, and with
the very life of the country at stake, pausing to appoint post
masters, struck him forcibly. " What is the matter, Mr. Lin
coln," said a friend one day, when he saw him looking par
ticularly grave and dispirited. " Has anything gone wrong
at the front?"
" No," said the President, with a tired smile. " It isn't
the war ; it's the post-office at Brownsville, Missouri."
The " Public Man " relates in his " Diary " the end of an
interview he and a friend had with the President on
March 7:
" He walked into the corridor with us ; and, as he bade us
good-by and thanked  for what he had told him, he
again brightened up for a moment and asked him in an
abrupt kind of way, laying his hand as he spoke with a queer
but not uncivil familiarity on his shoulder, 'You haven't such
a thing as a postmaster in your pocket, have you ? ' 
stared at him in astonishment, and I thought a little in alarm,
as if he suspected a sudden attack of insanity; then Mr. Lin
coln went on : ' You see it seems to me kind of unnatural
that you shouldn't have at least a postmaster in your pocket.
Everybody I've seen for days past has had foreign ministers,
and collectors, and all kinds, and I thought you couldn't have 0,
got in here without having at least a postmaster get into
your pocket ! "
The " strange bed-fellows " politics was constantly mak
ing always amused him. One day a man turned up who had
letters of recommendation from the most prominent pair of
enemies in the Republican party, Horace Greeley and Thur
low Weed. The President immediately did what he could
for him :
Mr. Adams is magnificently recommended; but the great
point in his favor is that Thurlow Weed and Horace Gree- ,.
ley join in recommending him I suppose the like never

26 LIFE OF LINCOLN
happened before, and never will again; so that it is now of
never. What say you ?
A less obvious perplexity than the office-seekers for Mr.
Lincoln at this period, though a no less real one, was the at
titude of his Secretary of State — his cheerful assumption
that he, not Mr. Lincoln, was the final authority of the ad
ministration. Mr. Seward had been for years the leader of the Republi
can party. His defeat in the Chicago Convention of i860
had been a terrible blow to a large number of people, though
Seward himself had taken it nobly. " The Republican party
was not made for Mr. Seward," he told his friends, " but Mr.
Seward for the Republican party," and he went heartily into
the campaign. But he believed, as many Republicans did,
that Lincoln was unfit for the presidency, and that some one
of his associates would be obliged to assume leadership.
When Mr. Seward accepted the Secretaryship of State, he
evidently did it with the idea that he was to be the Provi
dence of the administration. " It is inevitable," he wrote to
his wife on December 28th, the very day he wrote to Mr.
Lincoln of his acceptance. " I will try to save freedom and
my country." A week later he wrote home, " I have as
sumed a sort of dictatorship for defense, and am laboring
night and day with the cities and States. My hope, rather
my confidence, is unabated." And again, on January 18th;
" It seems to me if I am absent only eight days, this admin
istration, the Congress, and the District would fall into con
sternation and despair. I am the only hopeful, calm, con.'
ciliatory person here."
When Lincoln arrived in Washington and asked Seward
to read the inaugural address, the latter gave it the closest
attention, modifying it to fit his own policy, and in defense
of the changes he made, he wrote to the President-elect:
" Only the soothing words which I have spok"n have saved

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 2j
us and carried us along thus far. Every loyal man, and in
deed every disloyal man, in the South will tell you this."
He began his duties as Secretary of State with the same
confidence in his call to be the real, if not the apparent, head
of affairs. When the question of relieving Sumter came up,
he believed that it was he who was managing the matter.
" I wish I could tell you something of the political troubles
of the country," he wrote home, " but I cannot find the time.
They are enough to tax the wisdom of the wisest. Fort
Sumter is in danger. Relief of it practically impossible. The
commissioners from the Southern Confederacy are here.
These cares fall chiefly on me."
According to Mr. Welles, Secretary of the Navy, " con
fidence and mutual frankness on public affairs and matters
pertaining to the government, particularly on what related
to present and threatened disturbances, existed among all
the members [of the cabinet], with the exception of Mr.
Seward, who had, or affected, a certain mysterious knowl
edge which he was not prepared to impart." Mr. Welles
asserts that Mr. Seward carried so far his assumption of the
" cares " of Sumter and other questions as to meddle in the
duties of his associates in the cabinet. He opposed regular
cabinet meetings, and at first had his way. After Tuesdays
and Fridays were set as cabinet days, he contended that it
was not necessary that a member should come to the meet
ings unless especially summoned by Mr. Lincoln or him
self. If Mr. Seward had been less self-confident, he would
have seen before the end of March that Mr. Lincoln had a
mind of his own, and with it a quiet way of following its
decisions. Others had seen this. For instance, he had had t
his own way about who should go into the cabinet. " There
can be no doubt of it any longer," wrote the " Public Ma
in his " Diary " on March 2, " this man from Illinois ijs no

28 LIFE OF LINCOLN
in the hands of Mr. Seward." Then there was the inaugu
ral address — it was his, not Mr. Seward's; and more than
one prominent newspaper commented with astonishment
on that fact.
Nobody knew these facts better than the Secretary of
State. He had discovered also that Mr. Lincoln attended
to his business. " This President proposes to do all his
work," he wrote to Mrs. Seward on March 16. He had
received, too, at least one severe lesson, which ought to have
shown him that it was Mr. Lincoln, not he, who was cast
ing the decisive vote in the cabinet. This was in reference
to Sumter. During the period when the President was wait
ing to hear from Fort Pickens, commissioners from the
Southern Confederacy had been in Washington. Mr. Sew
ard had not received them, but through a trusted agent he
had assured them that Sumter would be evacuated. There
is no proof, so far as I know, that Mr. Lincoln knew of this
quasi-promise of his Secretary of State. As we have seen,
he did not decide to order an expedition prepared to relieve
the fort until March 29. From what we know of the
character of the man, it is inconceivable that he should have
authorized Mr. Seward to promise to do a thing which he
had not yet decided to do. The Secretary assumed that, be
cause he believed in evacuation, it would follow, and he as
sured the Southern commissioners to that effect. Suddenly
he realized that the President was not going to evacuate
Sumter, that his representations to the Southerners were
worthless, that he had been following a course which was
bound to bring on the administration the charge of decep
tion and fraud. Yet all these things taught him nothing of
the man he had to deal with, and on April 1 he sent Mr.
Lincoln a letter in which he laid down an astounding policy
— to make war on half Europe — and offered to t»^e the
reins of administration into his own hands.

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 29
SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE PRESIDENT'S CONSIDERATION,
APRIL I, l86l.
First. We are at the end of a month's administration, and
yet without a policy, either domestic or foreign.
Second. This, however, is not culpable, and it has even
been unavoidable. The presence of the Senate, with the
need to meet applications for patronage, have prevented at
tention to other and more grave matters.
Third. But further delay to adopt and prosecute our poli
cies for both domestic and foreign affairs would not only
bring scandal on the administration, but danger upon the
country. Fourth. To do this we must dismiss the applicants for
office. But how ? I suggest that we make the local appoint
ments forthwith, leaving foreign or general ones for ulterior
and occasional action.
Fifth. The policy at home. I am aware that my views
are singular, and perhaps not sufficiently explained. My
system is built upon this idea as a ruling one, namely, that
we must
CHANGE THE QUESTION BEFORE THE PUBLIC FROM ONE
upon slavery, or about slavery, for a question upon
UNION OR DISUNION :
In other words, from what would be regarded as a party
question, to one of patriotism or union.
The occupation or evacuation of Fort Sumter, although
not in fact a slavery or a party question, is so regarded. Wit
ness the temper manifested by the Republicans in the free
States, and even by the Union men in the South.
I would therefore terminate it as a safe means for chang
ing the issue. I deem it fortunate that the last administra
tion created the necessity.
For the rest, I would simultaneously defend and re-enforce
all the ports in the Gulf, and have the navy recalled from for
eign stations to be prepared for a blockade. Put the island
of Key West under martial law.
This will raise distinctly the question of union or disunion.
I would maintain every fort and possession in the South.

30 LIFE OF LINCOLN
FOR FOREIGN NATIONS.
I would demand explanations from Spain and France,
categorically, at once.
I would seek explanations from Great Britain and Russia,
and send agents into Canada, Mexico, and Central America
to rouse a vigorous continental spirit of independence on this
continent against European intervention.
And, if satisfactory explanations are not received from
Spain and France,
^- Would convene Congress and declare war against them.
But whatever policy we adopt, there must be an energetic
prosecution of it.
For this purpose it must be somebody's business to pursue
and direct it incessantly.
Either the President must do it himself, and be all the
while active in it, or
Devolve it on some member of his cabinet. Once adopted,
debates on it must end, and all agree and abide.
It is not in my especial province ;
But I neither seek to evade nor assume responsibility.
Mr. Lincoln replied :
Executive Mansion, 'April I, 1861.
Hon. W. H. Seward.
My dear Sir: Since parting with you, I have been consid
ering your paper dated this day, and entitled " Some
Thoughts for the President's Consideration." The first
proposition in it is, "First, We are at the end of a month's
administration, and yet without a policy, either domestic or
foreign." At the beginning of that month, in the inaugural, I said:
" The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and
possess the property and places belonging to the government,
and to collect the duties and imposts." This had your distinct
approval at the time ; and taken in connection with the order
I immediately gave General Scott, directing him to employ

THE FIRST INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN 3*
every means in his power to strengthen and hold the forts,
comprises the exact domestic policy you now urge, with the
single exception that it does not propose to abandon Fort
Sumter. Again, I do not perceive how the re-enforcement of Fort
Sumter would be done on a slavery or a party issue, while
that of Fort Pickens would be on a more national and pa
triotic one.
The news received yesterday in regard to St. Domingo
certainly brings a new item within the range of our foreign
policy ; but up to that time we have been preparing circulars
and instructions to ministers and the like, all in perfect har
mony, without even a suggestion that we had no foreign
policy. Upon your closing proposition — that " whatever policy
we adopt, there must be an energetic prosecution of it.
" For this purpose it must be somebody's business to pur
sue and direct it incessantly.
" Either the President must do it himself, and be all the
while active in it, or
" Devolve it on some member of his cabinet. Once adopted,
debates on it must end, and all agree and abide " — I remark
that if this must be done, I must do it. When a general line (->"
of policy is adopted, I apprehend there is no danger of its
being changed without good reason, or continuing to be a
subject of unnecessary debate ; still, upon points arising in its
progress I wish, and suppose I am entitled to have, the ad
vice of all the cabinet. Your obedient servant,
A. Lincoln.*
The magnanimity of this letter was only excelled by the
President's treatment of the matter. He never revealed Mr.
Seward's amazing proposition to any one but Mr. Nicolay,
his private secretary, and it never reached the public until
Nicolay and Hay published it. Mr. Lincoln's action in this
matter, and his handling of the events which followed,
* Abraham Lincoln, a History, Vol. III. By Nicolay and Hay.

32 LIFE OF LINCOLN
gradually dispelled Mr. Seward's illusion. By June, the Sec
retary had begun to understand Mr. Lincoln. He was quick
and generous to acknowledge his power. " Executive force
and vigor are rare qualities," he wrote to Mrs. Seward on
June 5. " The President is the best of us."

CHAPTER XXIII
THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR
It was on April 9, 1861, that the expedition ordered by
President Lincoln for the relief of Fort Sumter sailed from
New York. The day before, the Governor of South Carolina
had received from the President the notification sent on the
6th that he might expect an attempt to be made to provision
the fort. Ever since Mr. Lincoln's inauguration the Con
federate government had been watching intently the new
Administration's course. Sumter, it was resolved, should
never be captured, re-enforced, even provisioned. When it
was certain that an expedition had started for its relief an
order to attack the fort was given, and it was bombarded
until it fell.
The bombardment of Sumter began at half past four
o'clock in the morning of April 12. All that day rumors
and private telegrams came to the White House reporting
the progress of the attack and Anderson's heroic defense, but
there was nothing official. By evening, however, there was
no doubt that Fort Sumter was being reduced. Mr. Lincoln
was already formulating his plan of action, his one question
to the excited visitors who called upon him being, " Will
your State support me with military power ? " The way in
which the matter presented itself to his mind he stated clearly
to Congress, when that body next came together :
. . . The assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter
was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the
(3) 33

34 LIFE OF LINCOLN
assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort
could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They
knew — they were expressly notified — that the giving of
bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was
all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless them
selves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. They
knew that this government desired to keep the garrison in
the fort, not to assail them, but merely to maintain visible pos
session, and thus to preserve the Union from actual and im
mediate dissolution — trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time,
discussion, and the ballot-box for final adjustment; and they
assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse ob
ject — to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union,
and thus force it to immediate dissolution. . . .
And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United
States. It presents to the whole family of man the question
whether a constitutional republic or democracy — a govern
ment of the people by the same people — can or can not main
tain its territorial integrity against its own domestic
foes. . . .
So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the
war power of the government; and so to resist force em
ployed for its destruction, by force for its preservation.
This was not Mr. Lincoln's view alone. It was the view of
the North. And when, on April 15, he issued a proclama
tion calling for 75,000 militia and appealing to all loyal citi
zens " to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National
Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to re
dress wrongs already long enough endured," there was an
immediate and overwhelming response. The telegraph of
the very day of the proclamation announced that in almost
every city and town of the North volunteer regiments were
forming and that Union mass meetings were in session in
halls and churches and public squares. " What portion of
the 75,000 militia you call for do you give to Ohio ? We will

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 35
furnish the largest number you will receive," telegraphed the
Governor of that State in response to the President's mes
sage. Indiana, whose quota was less than 5,000 men, tele
graphed back that 10,000 were ready. " We will furnish
you the regiments in thirty days if you want them, and 50,-
000 men if you need them," telegraphed Zachariah Chandler
from Michigan. So rapidly did men come in under this
call for 75,000, that in spite of the efforts of the War De
partment to keep the number down, it swelled to 91,816.
It was not troops alone that were offered. Banks and
private individuals offered money and credit. Supplies of
every sort were put at the government's order. Corpora
tions sent their presidents to Washington, offering rail
roads and factories. Stephen Douglas sought Lincoln
and offered all his splendid power to the Administration.
Edward Everett, who had strongly sympathized with the
South, declared for the movement. Individuals suspected of
Southern sympathy were promptly hooted off the streets and
newspapers which had been advocating disunion were forced
to hang out the Stars and Stripes, or suffer a mob to raze
their establishments. The fall of Summer seemed for the
moment to make a unit of the North.
Patriotic fervor was intensified by the satisfaction that at
last the long tension was over. Nor was this strange. For
months the war fever had been burning in the veins of both
North and South. At times compromise had seemed cer
tain, then suddenly no one knew why it seemed as if another
twenty-four hours would plunge the country into war. Many
a public man on both sides had grown thin and haggard in
wrestling with the terrible problem that winter and spring.
Congressmen in Washington had walked the streets argu
ing, groaning, seeking an escape. Many a sleepless man had
tossed nightly on his bed until daybreak, then rose to smoke
and walk, always pursued by the same problems and never

36 LIFE OF LINCOLN
seeing any final solution but war. The struggle had
penetrated the social circles, particularly in border cities like
Washington, and rarely did people assemble that hot discus
sions did not rise. The very children in the schools took up
the debates, and for many weeks in Washington the school
grounds were the scenes of small daily quarrels, ending often
in blows and tears. The fall of Sumter ended this exhaust
ing uncertainty. Henceforth there was nothing to do but
range yourself on one side or the other and fight it out.
But if Sumter unified the sentiment of the North, it did
no less for the South. Henceforth there was but one voice
in the Southern States, and that for the Confederacy. North
Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkan
sas, all refused the President's call for troops. In Virginia
a convention was in session, whose members up to that day
were in the main for the Union. On April 17 that conven
tion passed an ordinance of secession. The next day the
arsenal at Harper's Ferry was seized by the State, and the
Southern Confederacy at Montgomery was informed that
Virginia was open to its troops. The line of hostility had
reached the very boundaries of Washington. The bluffs
across the Potomac, now beautiful in the first green of
spring, on which Mr. Lincoln looked every morning from
his windows in the White House, were no longer in his
country. They belonged to the enemy.
With the news of the secession of Virginia, there reached
Washington on Thursday, April 18, a rumor that a large
Confederate force was marching on the city. Now there
were not over 2,500 armed men in Washington. Regiments
were known to be on their way from Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts, but nobody could say when they would ar
rive. Washington might be razed to the ground before they
came. A hurried effort at defense was at once made.
Women and children were sent out of the city. At the

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 3?
White House, Mrs. Lincoln was urged to go with her boys,
but she refused positively. " I am as safe as Mr. Lincoln,
and I shall not leave him," was her stout answer.
Guards were stationed at every approach to the city, can.
non were planted in commanding positions, while " govern
ment officials, foreign ministers, governors, senators, office-
seekers" werepressed into one or the other of two impromptu
organizations, the Clay Battalion of Cassius M. Clay, and
the Frontier Guards of Senator Lane of Kansas. For a short
time the Frontier Guards were quartered in the East Room
of the White House, and Clay's Battalion at Willard's
Hotel, which had been stripped of its guests in a night.
The confusion and alarm of the city was greatly increased
on Friday by news received from Baltimore. The Sixth
Massachusetts, en route to the Capital, had reached there.
that day, and had been attacked as it marched through by a
mob of Southern sympathizers. Four of its members had
been killed and many wounded. " No troops should go
through Maryland," the people of Baltimore declared,
" whose purpose was to invade Virginia and coerce sister
States." That evening about five o'clock the regiment
reached Washington. Dusty, torn, and bleeding, they
marched two by two through a great crowd of silent people
to the Capitol. Behind them there came, in single line, seven
teen stretchers, bearing the wounded. The dead had been
left behind.
Early the next day, Saturday, the 20th, a delegation of
Baltimore men appeared at the White House. They had
come to beg Mr. Lincoln to bring no more troops through
their city. After a long discussion, he sent them away with
a note to the Maryland authorities, suggesting that the troops
be marched around Baltimore. But as he gave them the
letter, Mr. Nicolay heard him say laughingly: " If I grant
you this concession, that no troops shall pass through the

38 LIFE OF LINCOLN
city, you will be back here to-morrow, demanding that none
shall be marched around it."
The President was right. That afternoon, and again on
Sunday and Monday, committees sought him, protesting that
Maryland soil should not be " polluted " by the feet of sol
diers marching against the South. The President had but
one reply : " We must have troops ; and as they can neither
crawl under Maryland nor fly over it, they must come across
it." While the controversy with the Baltimoreans was going
on, the condition of Washington had become hourly more
alarming. In 1861 there was but one railroad running north
from Washington. At Annapolis Junction this line con
nected with a branch to Chesapeake Bay; at the Relay House,
with the Baltimore and Ohio to the west ; at Baltimore, with
the only two lines then entering that city from the North,
one from Harrisburg, the other from Philadelphia. On Fri
day, April 19, after the attack on the Sixth Massachusetts,
the Maryland authorities ordered that certain of the bridges
on the railroads running from Baltimore to Harrisburg and
Philadelphia be destroyed. This was done to prevent any
more trains bearing troops entering the city. The telegraph
lines were also partially destroyed at this time. Inspired by
this example, the excited Marylanders, in the course of the
next two or three days, tore up much of the track running
north from Washington, as well as that of the Annapolis
branch, and still further damaged the telegraph. Exit from
Washington to the north, east, and west by rail was now
impossible. On Sunday night matters were made still worse
by the complete interruption of the telegraph to the north.
The last wire had been cut. All the news which reached
Washington now came by way of the south, and it was all
of the most disturbing nature. From twelve to fifteen thou
sand Confederates were reported near Alexandria, and an

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 3§
army under Jefferson Davis was said to be ready to march
from Richmond. The alarmed citizens, expecting hourly to
be attacked, were constantly reporting that they heard can
non booming from this or that direction, or had seen scouts
prowling around the outskirts of the town.
The activity of the War Department under these condi
tions was extraordinary. General Scott had only four or
five thousand men under arms, but he proposed, if the town
was attacked, to contest possession point by point, and he
had every public building, including school-houses, barri
caded. At the Capitol, barricades of cement barrels, sand
bags, and iron plates such as were being used in the con
struction of the dome were erected ten feet high, at every en
trance. In all his efforts the General was assisted by the
loyal citizens. Even the men exempted from service by age
formed a company called the " Silver Grays," and the sol
diers of the War of 1812 offered themselves.
By Tuesday, April 23, a new terror was added to the
situation — that of famine. The country around had been
scoured for provisions, and supplies were getting short. If
Washington was to be besieged, as it looked, what was to be
done about food? The government at once ordered that
the flour at the Georgetown mills, some 25,000 barrels, be
seized, and sold according to the discretion of the military
authorities. In its distress, it was to Mr. Lincoln that the city turned.
The fiber of the man began to show at once. Bayard Taylor
happened to be vn Washington at the very beginning of the
alarm, and called on the President. " His demeanor was
thoroughly calm and collected," Taylor wrote to the New
York " Tribune," " and he spoke of the present crisis
with that solemn, earnest composure which is the sign of a
soul not easily perturbed. I came away from his presence
cheered and encouraged." However, the suspense of the

4° LIFE OF LINCOLN
days when the Capital was isolated, the expected troops not
arriving, an hourly attack feared, wore on Mr. Lincoln
greatly. " I begin to believe," Mr. Hay heard him say bit
terly, one day, to some Massachusetts soldiers, " that there is
no North. The Seventh Regiment is a myth. Rhode Island
is another. You are the only real thing." And again, after
pacing the floor of his deserted office for a half hour, he was
heard to exclaim to himself, in an anguished tone, " Why
don't they come ! Why don't they come ! "
The delay of the troops to arrive was, perhaps, the most
mysterious and terrifying element in the situation for Mr.
Lincoln. He knew that several regiments had started, and
that the Seventh New York was at Annapolis, having come
down Chesapeake Bay. Why they did not make a way
through he could not understand. The most disquieting
rumors reached him — now that an army had been raised in
Maryland to oppose their advance; now that they had at
tempted to come up the Potomac, and were aground on Vir
ginia soil. At last, however, the long suspense was broken.
About noon, on Thursday, the 25th, the whole city was
thrown into excitement by the shrill whistle of a locomotive.
A great crowd gathered at the station, where the Seventh
New York was debarking. The regiment had worked its
way from Annapolis to the city, building bridges and laying
track as it went. Worn and dirty as the men were, they
marched gaily up Pennsylvania avenue, through the crowds
of cheering, weeping people, to the White House, where
Mr. Lincoln received them. The next day, 1,200 Rhode
Island troops and the Butler Brigade of 1,400 arrived. Be
fore the end of the week, there were said to be 17,000 troops
in the city, and it was believed that the number could easily
be increased to 40,000. Mr. Lincoln had won his first point
He had soldiers to defend his Capital.
But it was evident by this time that something more was

LINCOLN EARLY IN l86l
lfrom photograph in the collection of H. W. Fay of De Kalb, Illinois, tatenprob
.iw,Tti™itiVflpM early in 1861. It is supposed to have been the first, or at least
nnl7of the firl T portraits made of Mr. Lincoln after he began to wear a beard. As
?s weutoow^^rfacewai smooth until about the end of I860; when he first al;
lowed his beard to grow, it became a topic of newspaper comment, and even ¦<'
caricature.

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 41
necessary than to defend Washington. When, on April 15,
Mr. Lincoln called for 75,000 men for three months, he had
commanded the persons disturbing the public peace " to dis
perse and retire peacefully to their respective abodes within
twenty days from date."
In reply the South had marched on his Capital, cutting it
off from all communication with the North for nearly a week,
and had so threatened Harper's Ferry and Norfolk that to
prevent the arsenal and shipyards from falling into the hands
of the enemy, the Federal commanders had destroyed both
these fine government properties.
Before ten of the twenty days had passed, it was plain that
the order was worthless.
" I have desired as sincerely as any man, and I sometimes
think more than any other man," said the President on April
27 to a visiting military company, " that our present diffi
culties might be settled without the shedding of blood. I
will not say that all hope has yet gone; but if the alternative
is presented whether the Union is to be broken in fragments
and the liberties of the people lost, or blood be shed, you will
probably make the choice with which I shall not be dissatis
fied." If not as yet quite convinced that war was coming, Mr.
Lincoln saw that it was so probable that he must have an
army of something beside " three months' men," for the very
next day after this speech, the Secretary of War, Mr. Cam
eron, wrote to a correspondent that the President had de
cided to add twenty-five regiments to the regular army.
There was great need that the regular army be re-enforced.
At the beginning of the year it had numbered 16,367 men,
but a large part of this force was in the West, and the effi
ciency of the whole was greatly weakened by the desertion
of officers to the South, 313 of the commissioned officers,
nearly one-third of the whole number, having resigned. To

42 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Mr. Lincoln's great satisfaction, this disaffection did not ex
tend to the " common soldiers and common sailors." " To
the last man, so far as is known," he said proudly, " they
have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those
whose commands, but an hour before, they obeyed as ab
solute law." It was on May 3 that the President issued
a proclamation increasing the regulars by 22,714, and call
ing for three years' volunteers to the number of 42,034. But
the country was not satisfied to send so few. When the War
Department refused troops from States beyond the quota
assigned, Governors literally begged that they be allowed to
send more.
" You have no conception of the depth of feeling universal
in the Northern mind for the prosecution of this war until
the flag floats from every spot on which it had a right to float
a year ago," wrote Galusha A. Grow, on May 5. . . .
In my judgment, the enthusiasm of the hour ought not
to be represented by flat refusals on the part of the govern
ment, but let them (troops offered above the quota) be held
in readiness (in some way) in the States."
A meeting of the Governors of the Western and Border
States was held in Cleveland, Ohio, about the time of the
second call, and Mr. Randall, the Governor of Wisconsin,
wrote to Lincoln on May 6 :
" I must be permitted to say it, because it is a fact, there
is a spirit evoked by this rebellion among the liberty-loving
people of the country that is driving them to action, and if
the government will not permit them to act for it, they will
act for themselves. It is better for the government to direct
this spirit than to let it run wild. ... If it was abso
lutely certain that the 75,000 troops first called would wipe
out this rebellion in three weeks from to-day, it would still
be the policy of your Administration, and for, the best in
terest of the government, in view of what ought to be the

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 43
great future of this nation, to call into the field at once
300,000 men."
At the same time from Maine W. P. Fessenden wrote:
'• Rely upon it, you cannot at Washington fairly estimate
the resolute determination existing among all classes of peo
ple in the free States to put down at once and forever this
monstrous rebellion."
Under this pressure, regiment after regiment was added
to the three years' volunteers. It was Mr. Lincoln's personal
interference which brought in many of these regiments.
" Why cannot Colonel Small's Philadelphia regiment be re
ceived?" he wrote to the Secretary of War on May 21,
" I sincerely wish it could. There is something strange about
it. Give those gentlemen an interview, and take their regi
ment." Again on June 13 he wrote: "There is, it seems,
a regiment in Massachusetts commanded by Fletcher Web
ster, and which the Hon. Daniel Webster's old friends very
much wish to get into the service. If it can be received with
the approval of your department and the consent of the
Governor of Massachusetts, I shall indeed be much gratified.
Give Mr. Ashmun a chance to explain fully." And again on
June 17: "With your concurrence, and that of the Gov
ernor of Indiana, I am in favor of accepting into what we
call the three years' service any number not exceeding four
additional regiments from that State. Probably they should
come from the triangular region between the Ohio and Wa
bash rivers, including my own old boyhood home."*
So rapid was the increase of the army under this policy,
that on July 1, the Secretary of War reported 310,000 men
at his command, and added : " At the present moment the
government presents the striking anomaly of being em-
* These extracts are from letters to Mr. Cameron found in a volume
of the War Records as yet unpublished. Others of the same tenor are
in the volume.

44 LIFE OF LINCOLN
barrassed by the generous outpouring of volunteers to sup*
port its action." "
But Mr. Lincoln soon found that enrolling men does not
make an army. He must uniform, arm, shelter, feed, nurse,
and transport them as needed. It was in providing for the
needs of the men that came so willingly into service that the
Administration found its chief embarrassment. The most
serious difficulty was in getting arms. Men could go ununi-
formed, and sleep in the open air, but to fight they must have
guns. The supplies of the United States arsenals in the
North had been greatly depleted in the winter of i860 and
1 86 1 by transfers to the South, between one-fifth and one-
sixth of all the muskets in the country and between one-
fourth and one-fifth of all the rifles having been sent to the
six seceding States. The Confederates had not only ob
tained a large share of government arms, but through
January, February, March, April, and May they bought
from private factories in the North, " under the very noses of
the United States officers." This became such a scandal that
the Administration had to send out an agent to investigate
the trade. At the same time the Federal ministers abroad
were warning Mr. Lincoln that the South was picking up
all the arms Europe had to spare, and the North was buying
nothing. The need of arms opened the way for inventors,
and Washington was overrun with men having guns to be
tested. Mr. Lincoln took the liveliest interest in these new
arms, and it sometimes happened that, when an inventor
could get nobody else in the government to listen to him, the
President would personally test his gun. A former clerk in
the Navy Department tells an incident illustrative. He had
stayed late one night at his desk, when he heard some one
striding up and down the hall muttering : " I do wonder if
they have gone already and left the building all alone."
Looking out, the clerk was surprised to see the President

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 45
" Good evening," said Mr. Lincoln. " I was just looking
for that man who goes shooting with me sometimes."
The clerk knew that Mr. Lincoln referred to a certain mes
senger of the Ordnance Department who had been accus
tomed to going with him to test weapons, but as this man
had gone home, the clerk offered his services. Together they
went to the lawn south of the White House, where Mr. Lin
coln fixed up a target cut from a sheet of white Congressional
note-paper. " Then pacing off a distance of about eighty
or a hundred feet," writes the clerk, " he raised the rifle to a
level, took a quick aim, and drove the round of seven shots
in quick succession, the bullets shooting all around the target
like a Gatling gun and one striking near the centre.
" ' I believe I can make this gun shoot better,' said Mr.
Lincoln, after we had looked at the result of the first fire.
With this he took from his vest pocket a small wooden sight
which he had whittled from a pine stick, and adjusted it
over the sight of the carbine. He then shot two rounds, and
of the fourteen bullets nearly a dozen hit the paper ! "
It was in these early days of preparing for war that Mr.
Lincoln interested himself, too, in experiments with the bal
loon. He was one of the first persons in this country to
receive a telegraphic message from a balloon sent up to make
observations on an enemy's works. This experiment was
made in June, and so pleased the President that the balloonist
was allowed to continue his observations from the Virginia
side. These observations were successful, and on June 21,
Joseph Henry, the distinguished secretary of the Smith
sonian Institution, declared in a report to the Administration
that, " from experiments made here for the first time, it is
conclusively proved that telegrams can be sent with ease and
certainty between the balloon and the quarters of the com
manding officer."
The extraordinary conditions under which Mr. Lincoln

u--

4© LIFE OF LINCOLN
entered tne White House prevented him for some weeks
from adopting anything like systematic habits. By the time
of his second call for troops, however, he had adjusted him
self to his new home as well as he ever was able to do. The
arrangement of the White House was not materially different
then from what it is now. The entrance, halls, the East
Room, the Green Room, the Blue Room, the State Dining-
room, all were the same, the only difference being in furnish
ings and decorations. The Lincoln family used the west end
of the second floor as a private apartment ; the east end being
devoted to business. Mr. Lincoln's office was the large room
on the south side of the house, between the office of Private
Secretary Nicolay, at the southeast corner, and the room now
used as a Cabinet-room.
" The furniture of this room," says Mr. Isaac Arnold, a
friend and frequent visitor of the President, " consisted of
a large oak table covered with cloth, extending north and
south, and it was around this table that the Cabinet sat when
it held its meetings. Near the end of the table and between
the windows was another table, on the west side of which
the President sat, in a large arm-chair, and at this table he
wrote. A tall desk, with pigeon-holes for papers, stood
against the south wall. The only books usually found in
this room were the Bible, the United States Statutes and a
copy of Shakespeare. There were a few chairs and two
plain hair-covered sofas. There were two or three map
frames, from which hung military maps, on which the posi
tions and movements of the armies were traced. There was
an old and discolored engraving of General Jackson on the
mantel and a later photograph of John Bright. Doors opened
into this room from the room of the Secretary and from the
outside hall, running east and west across the house. A bell
cord within reach of his hand extended to the Secretary's
office. A messenger sat at the door opening from the hall,
and took in the cards and names of visitors."
One serious annoyance in the arrangement of the business

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 47
part of the White House at that date arose from the fact
that to reach his office Mr. Lincoln was obliged, in coming
from his private apartment, to pass through the hall. As
this hall was always filled with persons anxious to see him,
it was especially difficult for a man of his informal habits
and genial nature to get through. Late in 1864 this difficulty
was remedied. At the suggestion of one of his body-guard,
a door was cut from the family library into the present
cabinet-room and a light partition was run across the
south end, thus enabling him to pass into his office without
interruption. Most of his time, while President, Mr. Lincoln undoubt
edly spent in his office. He was a very early riser, being
often at his desk at six o'clock in the morning, and some
times even going out on errands at this early hour. A friend
tells of passing the White House early one morning in the
spring of 1861 and seeing Mr. Lincoln standing at the gate,
looking anxiously up and down the street. " Good morning,
good morning," he said. " I am looking for a newsboy.
When you get to the corner, I wish you would send one up
this way."
After the firing on Fort Sumter and the alarm for the
safety of Washington, the office-seekers fell off sufficiently
for the President to announce that he would see no visitors
before nine o'clock in the morning or after two in the after
noon. He never kept the rule himself, but those about him
did their best to keep it for him. He was most informal in
receiving visitors. Sometimes he even went out into the hall
himself to reply to cards. Ben : Perley Poore says he did
this frequently for newspaper men. Indeed, it was so much
more natural for Mr. Lincoln to do things for himself than
to call on others, to go to others than have them come to him,
that he was constantly appearing in unexpected places. The
place to which he went oftenest was the War Department

48 LIFE OF LINCOLN
In 1 86 1, separate buildings occupied the space now covered
by the State, Army, and Navy Building. The War Depart
ment stood on the site of the northeast corner of the present
structure, facing on Pennsylvania avenue. The Navy Build
ing was south and in line, and no street separated the White
House from these buildings, as now, but the lawn was con
tinuous, and a gravel walk ran from one to another. Mr.
Lincoln had no telegraph apparatus in the White House, so
that all war news was brought to him from the War Depart
ment, unless he went after it. He much preferred to go
after it, and he began soon after the fall of Fort Sumter to
run over to the Department whenever anything important
occurred. Mr. William B. Wilson, of Philadelphia, was in
the military telegraph office of the War Department from the
first of May, 1861, and in some unpublished recollections
of Mr. Lincoln he recalls an incident illustrating admirably
the President's informal relation to the telegraph office. Mr.
Wilson had been sent to the White House hurriedly to re
peat an important message from an excited Governor.
" Mr. Lincoln considered it of sufficient importance,"
writes Mr. Wilson, " to return with me to the War Depart
ment for the purpose of having a ' wire-talk ' with the per
turbed Governor. Calling one of his two younger boys to
join him, we then started from the White House, between
stately trees, along a gravel path which led to the rear of the
old War Department building. It was a warm day, and Mr.
Lincoln wore as part of his costume a faded gray linen duster
which hung loosely around his long gaunt frame ; his kindly
eye was beaming with good nature, and his ever-thoughtful
brow was unruffled. We had barely reached the gravel walk
before he stooped over, picked up a round smooth pebble,
and shooting it off his thumb, challenged us to a game of
' followings,' which we accepted. Each in turn tried to hit
rhe outlying stone, which was being constantly projected on
ward by the President. The game was short, but exciting ;
the cheerfulness of childhood, the ambition of young man-

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 49
hood, and the gravity of the statesman were all injected into
it. The game was not won until the steps of the War De
partment were reached. Every inch of progression was
toughly contested, and when the President was declared
victor, it was only by a hand span. He appeared to be as
much pleased as if he had won a battle, and softened the
defeat of the vanquished by attributing his success to his
greater height of person and longer reach of arm."
One noticeable feature of Mr. Lincoln's life, at this time,
was his relation to the common soldier. Officers he re
spected, even deferred to, but from the first arrival of troops
in Washington it was the man on foot, with a gun on his
shoulder, that had Mr. Lincoln's heart. Even at this early
period the men found it out, and went to him confidently for
favors refused elsewhere. Thus the franking of letters by
Congressmen was one of the perquisites of the boys, and
there are cases of their going to the President with letters
to be franked when they failed to find, or were refused by,
their Congressman. But they also soon learned that trivial
pleas or complaints were met by rebukes as caustic as the
help they received was genuine when they had a just cause.
General Sherman relates the following incident that befell
one day when he was riding through camp with Mr. Lin
coln: " I saw," says the general, " an officer with whom I had
had a little difficulty that morning. His face was pale and
his lips compressed. I foresaw a scene, but sat on the front
seat of the carriage as quiet as a lamb. The officer forced
his way through the crowd to the carriage, and said : ' Mr.
President, I have a cause of grievance. This morning I went
to speak to Colonel Sherman, and he threatened to shoot me.'
Mr. Lincoln said : ' Threatened to shoot you ? ' ' Yes, sir,
threatened to shoot me.' Mr. Lincoln looked at him, then at
me, and stooping his tall form towards the officer, said to
him, in a loud stage whisper, easily heard for some yards
(4)

50 LIFE OF LINCOLN
around, ' Well, if I were you, and he threatened to shoot me,
I would not trust him, for I believe he would do it.' "
It is curious to note in the records of the time how soon,
not only the soldiers, but the general public of Washington
discovered the big heart of the new President. A cor
respondent of the Philadelphia " Press," in a letter of May
23, tells how he saw Mr. Lincoln one day sitting in his
" new barouche " in front of the Treasury, awaiting Mr.
Chase, when there came along a boy on crutches. Lincoln
immediately called the boy to him, asked him several ques
tions, and then slipped a gold piece into his hands. " Such
acts of liberality and disinterested charity," said the cor
respondent, " are frequently practiced by our Executive,
who can never look upon distress without attempting to re
lieve it."
As soon as the first rush of soldiers to Washington was
over and the Capital was comparatively safe, Mr. Lincoln
began to take a drive every afternoon. It was among the
soldiers that he went almost invariably. Indeed, it was im
possible to escape the camps, so fully was the city turned
over to the military. The Capitol, Inauguration Ball-room,
Patent Office, and other public buildings were used as tem
porary quarters for incoming troops. The Corcoran Art
Gallery had been turned into a store-house for army supplies.
A bakery was established in the basement of the Capitol.
The Twelfth New York was in Franklin Park. At the
Georgetown College was another regiment. On Meridian
Hill the Seventh New York was stationed. Everywhere
were soldiers. Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet officers drove
daily to one or another of these camps. Very often his out
ing for the day was attending some ceremony incident to
camp life: a military funeral, a camp wedding, a review, a
flag-raising. He did not often make speeches. " I have
made a great many poor speeches," he said one day, in ex-

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 5 1
cusing himself, " and I now feel relieved that my dignity
does not permit me to be a public speaker."
All through these early days of calling the army to Wash
ington there was little to make one feel how terrible a thing
it is to collect and prepare men for battle. So far it was the
splendid outburst of patriotism, the dash of adventure, the
holiday gaiety of it all, which had impressed the country.
There were critics now who said, as they had said before the
inauguration and again before the firing on Fort Sumter,
that the President did not understand what was going on
before his eyes. General Sherman himself confesses his
irritation at what seemed to him an unbecoming placidity on
the part of Mr. Lincoln. The General had just come from
Louisiana. " How are they getting on down there? " asked
the President.
" They are getting on swimmingly," Sherman replied.
" They are preparing for war."
" Oh, well," Lincoln said, " I guess we'll manage to keep
house." More penetrating observers saw something else in the
President, an inner man, wrestling incessantly with an awful
problem. N. P. Willis, who saw him at one of the many
flag-raisings of that spring, records an impression common
enough among thoughtful observers :
" There was a momentary interval," writes Willis, " while
the band played the ' Star-Spangled Banner,' and during this
' brief waiting for the word,' all eyes, of course, were on the
President's face, in which (at least for those near enough
to see it well) there was the same curious problem of expres
sion which has been more than once noticed by the close
observer of that singular countenance — the two-fold working
of the twofold nature of the man. Lincoln the Westerner,
slightly humorous but thoroughly practical and sagacious,
was measuring the ' chore ' that was to be done, and wonder
ing whether that string was going to draw that heap of stuff

$2 LIFE OF LINCOLN
through the hole in the top of the partition, determining that
it should, but seeing clearly that it was mechanically
a badly arranged job, and expecting the difficulty that did
actually occur. Lincoln the President and statesman was
another nature, seen in those abstract and serious eyes, which
seemed withdrawn to an inner sanctuary of thought, sitting
in judgment on the scene and feeling its far reach into the
future. A whole man, and an exceedingly handy and joyous
one, was to hoist the flag, but an anxious and reverent and
deep-thinking statesman and patriot was to stand apart while
it went up and pray God for its long waving and sacred wel
fare. Completely, and yet separately, the one strange face
told both stories, and told them well."
By the middle of May, 1861, the problem of Mr. Lincoln's
life was how to use the army he had called together. The
capital was now well guarded. Troops were at Norfolk,
Baltimore, and Harper's Ferry, the points at which the Con
federates had made their earliest demonstrations. The un
certainty as to whether Kentucky would leave the Union had
imperiled the line of the Ohio and compelled military demon
strations at Cincinnati and Cairo, and in Missouri the strug
gle between the Northern and Southern sympathizers had
become so violent that a Military Department had been cre
ated there. Thus the President had a zig-zag line of troops
running from Missouri eastward to Norfolk. The bulk of all
the troops however, were in and around Washington. The
North had been urging the President, from the day it an
swered his first call, to advance the volunteers into Virginia.
" Don't establish batteries on Georgetown Heights," wrote
Zachariah Chandler from Michigan on April 17. " March
your troops into Virginia. Quarter them there." Finally,
about the middle of May, the President decided that a move
ment across the river should be made, the object being to
seize the heights from Arlington south to Alexandria. Mr,
Lincoln had the success of this movement deeply at heart

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 53
The Confederate flag flying from a staff at Alexandria had
been a constant eyesore to him. Again and again he was seen
standing with a gloomy face before one of the south win
dows of the White House looking through a glass at this
flag. The time for the advance was set for the night of May
23. By morning, Arlington, the shores of the Potomac
southward, and the town of Alexandria were occupied by
Federal troops. The enemy had fled at their approach. The
flag which had caused Mr. Lincoln so much pain was gone,
but its removal had cost a life very precious to the President.
Young Colonel Ellsworth, one of the most brilliant officers
in the volunteer service, a man whom the President had
brought to Washington and for whom he felt the warmest
affection, had been shot.
The Arlington heights seized, the army lay for weeks in
active. The one movement for which the North now clam
ored was a march from Arlington to Richmond. The delay
to move made the country irritable and sarcastic. Perhaps
thecompletest expression of the discontent of the North with
the military policy of the Administration is found in the New
York " Tribune." For days, beginning early in June, that
paper kept standing at the head of its editorial columns what
it called " The Nation's War Cry." " Forward to Rich
mond. Forward to Richmond. The Rebel Congress must
not be allowed to meet there on the 20th of July. By that
date the place must be held by the National Army."
Mr. Lincoln was as anxious for a successful movement
southward as any man in the country; but for some time he
resisted the popular outcry, giving his generals the oppor
tunity to make ready for which they begged. At last, to
wards the end of June, he decided that an advance must be
made, and he summoned his Cabinet and the leading mili
tary men near Washington to meet him on the evening of

54 LIFE OF LINCOLN
June 29 and discuss the advisability of and the plans for
an immediate attack on the enemy's army, then entrenched
at Manassas Junction, some twenty miles southwest of
Washington. The Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Gen
eral Scott, opposed the advance. He had another plan of
campaign; the army was not ready. But Mr. Lincoln in
sisted that the country demanded a movement, and that if
the Federal army was " green," so was that of the Con
federates. General Scott waived his objections, and the ad
vance was ordered for July 9.
Before the battle came off, however, the President wished
to impress again on the North what it was fighting for. On
July 4, when he sent his message to Congress, which he had
summoned in extra session, he put before them clearly his
theory of and justification for the war.
" This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the
Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that
form and substance of government whose leading object is to
elevate the condition of men — to lift artificial weights from
all shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all ;
to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race
of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from
necessity, this is the leading object of the government for
whose existence we contend. . . .
" Our popular government has often been called an ex
periment. Two points in it our people have already settled —
the successful establishing and the successful administering
of it. One still remains — its successful maintenance against
a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for
them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly
carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots
are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets ; and that
when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there
can be no successful appeal back to bullets ; that there can be
no successful appeal except to ballots themselves at succeed
ing elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace ; teaching

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 55
men that what they cannot take by election, neither can
they take it by a war ; teaching all the folly of being the be
ginners of a war. . . .
"' As a private citizen the executive could not have con
sented that the institutions of this country shall perish ; much
less could he, in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as
the free people have confided to him. He felt that he had no
moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his
own life in what might follow. In full view of his great
responsibility he has, so far, done what he has deemed his
duty. You will now, according to your own judgment, per
form yours. He sincerely hopes that your views and your
actions may so accord with his, as to assure all faithful citi
zens who have been disturbed in their rights of a certain and
speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution and the
laws. " And having thus chosen our course, without guile and
with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go for
ward without fear and with manly hearts."
With these words Mr. Lincoln started the first War Con
gress on its duties and the Army of Northeastern Virginia
towards Bull Run.
The advance of the Federals from Arlington towards Ma
nassas Junction had been ordered for July 9. For one and
another reason, however, it was July 21 before the army
was ready to attack. The day was Sunday, a brilliant, hot
Washington day. Anxious as Mr. Lincoln was over the
coming battle, he went to church as usual. It was while he
was there that a distant roar of cannon, the first sounds of
the battle, only twenty miles away, reached him. Returning
to the White House after the services, the President's first in
quiry was for news. Telegrams had just begun to come in.
They continued at intervals all the afternoon— broken re
ports from now this, now that, part of the field. Although
fragmentary, they were as a whole encouraging. The Presi
dent studied them carefully, and after a time went over to

56 LIFE OF LINCOLN
General Scott's headquarters to talk the news over with him.
By half-past five he felt so sure that the field was won that
he went out for his usual afternoon drive. What happened
at the White House then the only eye witnesses, his secre
taries, have told in their History :
" He had not returned when, at six o'clock, Secretary Sew
ard came to the Executive Mansion, pale and haggard.
' Where is the President ? ' he asked hoarsely of the private
secretaries. ' Gone to drive,' they answered. ' Have you
any late news ? ' he continued. They read him the telegrams
which announced victory. ' Tell no one,' said he. ' That
is not true. The battle is lost. The telegraph says that Mc
Dowell is in full retreat and calls on General Scott to save
the capital. Find the President and tell him to come imme
diately to General Scott's.'
" Half an hour later the President returned from his drive,
and his private secretaries gave him Seward's message, the
first intimation he received of the trying news. He listened
in silence, without the slightest change of feature or expres
sion, and walked away to army headquarters. There he read
the unwelcome report in a telegram from a captain of engi
neers : ' General McDowell's army in full retreat through
Centreville. The day is lost. Save Washington and the
remnants of this army. . . The routed troops will not
reform.' "
From that time on, for at least twenty-four hours, a con
tinuous stream of tales of disaster was poured upon Mr. Lin
coln. A number of public men had gone from Washington
to see the battle. Ex-Senator Dawes, who was among them,
says that General Scott urged him to go, telling him that it
was undoubtedly the only battle he would ever have a chance
to see. About midnight they begatl to return. They came
in haggard, worn, and horror-stricken, and a number of
them repaired to the White House, where Mr. Lincoln, lying
on his office sofa, listened to their tales of the panic that had
seized the army about four in the afternoon and of the re-

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 5?
treat that had followed. All of those who returned that
night to Washington were positive that the Confederates
would attack the city before morning.
The events of the next day were no less harrowing to Mr.
Lincoln than those of the night. A drizzling rain was fall
ing, and from daybreak there could be seen, crowding and
staggering across the Long Bridge, hundreds of soldiers, civ
ilians, negroes, and horses. Hour by hour the streets of the
city grew fuller. On the corners white-faced women stood
beside boilers of coffee, feeding the exhausted men. Now
and then the remnants of a regiment or company which
somehow had kept together marched up the street, mud-
splashed and dejected. One of the most pathetic sights of the
day was the return of Burnside and his men. The regiment
and its handsome general had been one of the town's de
lights. Now they came back broken in numbers and so over
come with fatigue that man after man dropped in the streets
as he marched, while slowly in front, his head on his breast,
the reins on the neck of his exhausted horse, rode Burnside.
Before Monday night, it was known that the enemy was
not following up his advantage. Two days later the Union
army was reintrenched on Arlington heights. A revulsion
of feeling had already begun. The effort to make out the
rout to be as complete and terrible as it could be, was fol
lowed by an attempt to show that it was nothing but a panic
among teamsters and sight-seers. Mr. Lincoln was asked to
listen to a number of these explanations. " Ah, I see," he
said to one vindicator of the day, " we whipped the enemy, s
and then ran away from him."
Explanations of the Battle of Bull Run did not interest the
President. He was giving his whole mind to repairing the
disaster. Two days later, July 23, he wrote out the follow
ing " Memoranda of Military Policy suggested by the Bull
Run Defeat." Nicolay and Hay. to whose history we owe

58 LIFE OF LINCOLN
this document, say that the President made the first notes
of this " policy " while men were bringing him news of the
disaster. i. Let the plan for making the blockade effective be
pushed forward with all possible dispatch.
2. Let the volunteer forces at Fort Monroe and vicinity
under General Butler be constantly drilled, disciplined, and
instructed without more for the present.
3. Let Baltimore be held as now, with a gentle but firm
and certain hand.
4. Let the force now under Patterson or Banks be
strengthened and made secure in its position.
5r Let the forces in Western Virginia act till further or
ders according to instructions or orders from General Mc
Clellan. 6. Let General Fremont push forward his organization
and operations in the West as rapidly as possible, giving
rather special attention to Missouri.
7. Let the forces late before Manassas, except the three
months' men, be reorganized as rapidly as possible in their
camps here and about Arlington.
8. Let the three months' forces who decline to enter the
longer service be discharged as rapidly as circumstances will
permit. 9. Let the new volunteer forces be brought forward as
fast as possible; and especially into the camps on the two
sides of the river here. July 27, 1861.
When the foregoing shall be substantially attended to :
1. Let Manassas Junction (or some point on one or other
of the railroads near it) and Strasburg be seized, and per
manently held, with an open line from Washington to Ma
nassas, and an open line from Harper's Ferry to Strasburg —
the military men to find the way of doing these.
2. This done, a joint movement from Cairo on Memphis;
and from Cincinnati on East Tennessee.
It was to points 7, 8 and 9 of the above memorandum that
the President gave his first attention.

THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL WAR 59
Congress, prostrated as it was by the unexpected defeat,
stood by Lincoln bravely, voting him men and money. Re
sources he was not going to lack. The confidence of the
country was what he needed. To stimulate this confidence,
Mr. Lincoln and his advisers summoned to Washington, on
July 22, George B. McClellan, the only man who had thus
far accomplished anything in the war on which the North
looked with pride, and asked him to take the command of
the demoralized army. A more effective move could not
have been made.
McClellan was a West Point graduate who had seen serv
ice in the Mexican War, but who, in the spring of 186 1 held
a position as a railroad president. His home was in Cincin
nati. After the fall of Sumter the fear of invasion spread
rapidly westward from Washington. On April 21 the
Governor of Ohio wired the Secretary of War that he desired
a suitable United States officer to be detailed at once to take
command of the volunteers of Cincinnati and to provide for
the defense of that city, and the next day several leading men
wired that the " People of Cincinnati " wished Captain
McClellan to be appointed to the position.
A month later, when West Virginia had decided to stay
with the Union and Eastern Virginia had decided to coerce
her to remain with the South, McClellan, who had been put
in charge of the Ohio troops as his friends requested, was
ordered to protect the Unionists of the section against the
Southern army. Early in July he undertook an offensive
campaign against the enemy, completely driving him from
the country in less than three weeks. McClellan announced
his victories in a series of addresses which thrilled the North.
They saw in him a great general, a second Napoleon and
were satisfied when he was put in charge of the army that the
disgrace of Bull Run would be speedily wiped out.
While occupied in reorganizing and increasing the army,

60 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Mr. Lincoln did his best to improve the morale of officers
and men. One of the first things he did, in fact, after the
battle was to " run over and see the boys," as he expressed
it. General Sherman, who was with Mr. Lincoln as he
drove about the camps on this visit, says that he made one of
the " neatest, best, and most feeling addresses " he ever lis
tened to, and that its effect on the troops was " excellent."
As often as he could after this, Mr. Lincoln went to the Ar
lington camps. Frequently in these visits he left his car
riage and walked up and down the lines shaking hands with
the men, repeating heartily as he did so, " God bless you,
God bless you." Before a month had passed, he saw that
under McCleUan's training the Army of the Potomac, as it
had come to be called, had recovered almost completely from
the panic of Bull Run, and that it was growing every day in
efficiency. But scarcely had his anxiety over the condition
of things around Washington been allayed, before a grave
problem was raised in the West. The severest criticisms be
gan to come to him on the conduct of a man whom he had
made a major-general and whom he had put in command
of the important Western division, John C. Fremont. The
force of these criticisms was intensified by serious disasters
to the Union troops in Missouri.

CHAPTER XXIV
THE FAILURE OF FREMONT  LINCOLN'S FIRST DIFFICULTIES
WITH McCLELLAN  THE DEATH OF WILLIE LINCOLN
The most popular military appointment Lincoln made be
fore McClellan was that of John C. Fremont to the command
of the Department of the West. Republicans appreciated it,
for had not Fremont been the first candidate of their party
for the Presidency? The West was jubilant : Fremont's ex
plorations had years before made him the hero of the land
along the Mississippi. The cabinet was satisfied, particularly
Postmaster-General Blair, whose " pet and protege " Fre
mont was. Lincoln himself " thought well of Fremont,"
believed he could do the work to be done; and he had al
ready had experience enough to discern that his great trou
ble was to be, not finding major-generals — he had more pegs
than holes to put them in, he said one day — but finding ma
jor-generals who could do the thing they were ordered to do.
Fremont had gone to his headquarters at St. Louis, Mis
souri, late in July. Before a month had passed, the gravest
charges of incompetency and neglect of duty were being
made against him. It was even intimated to the President
that the General was using his position to work up a North
western Confederacy.* Mr. Lincoln had listened to all these
* Dr. Emil Preetorius, editor of the " Westliche Post " of St. Louis,
Mo., said of this charge, in an interview for this work : " I know that
Fremont gave no countenance to any scheme which others may have
conceived for the establishment of a Northwestern Confederacy. I had
abundant proof, through the years that I knew him, that he was a patriot
and a most unselfish man. The defect in Fremont was that he was a
dreamer. Impractical, visionary things went a long way with him. He
was a poor judge of men and formed strange associations. He sur
rounded himself with foreigners, especially Hungarians, most of whom
61

6fc LIFE OF LINCOLN
charges, but taken no action, when, on the morning of Aug
ust 30, he was amazed to read it in his newspaper that Fre
mont had issued a proclamation declaring, among other
things, that the property, real and personal, of all the per
sons in the State of Missouri who should take up arms
against the United States, or who should be directly proved
to have taken an active part with its enemies in the field,
would be confiscated to public use and their slaves, if they
had any, declared freemen.
Fremont's proclamation astonished the country as much
as it did the President. In the North it elicited almost uni
versal satisfaction. This was striking at the root of the
trouble — slavery. But in the Border States, particularly in
Kentucky, the Union party was dismayed. The only possi
ble method of keeping those sections in the Union was not
to interfere with slavery. Mr. Lincoln saw this as clearly
as his Border State supporters. It was well known that this
was his policy. He felt that Fremont had not only defied
the policy of the administration, he had usurped power which
belonged only to the legislative part of the government. He
had a good excuse for reprimanding the general, even for
removing him. Instead, he wrote him, on September 2, a
most kindly letter :
I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph
[of the proclamation], in relation to the confiscation of
property and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners, will

were adventurers and some of whom were swindlers. I struggled hard
to persuade him not to let these men have so much to do with his ad
ministration. Mrs. Fremont, unlike the General, was most practical.
She was fond of success. She and the General were alike, however, in
their notions of the loyalty due between friends. Once, when I pro
tested against the character of the men who surrounded Fremont, she
replied : ' Do you know these very men went out with us on horseback
when we took possession of the Mariposa? They risked their lives for
11s. N<w vf can't go back on them.' It was the woman's feeling. She
forgot thai brave men may sometimes be downright thieves and rob
bers"

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 63
alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against
us; perhaps rum our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Al
low me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own mo
tion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and
fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled, " An act to
confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," ap
proved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith
send you.
This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of cen
sure. I send it by special messenger, in order that it may
certainly and speedily reach you.
But Lincoln did more than this. Without waiting for
Fremont's reply to the above, he went over carefully all the
criticisms on the General's administration, in order to see
if he could help him. His conclusion was that Fremont was
isolating himself too much from men who were interested
in the same cause, and so did not know what was going on
in the very matter he was dealing with. That Mr. Lincoln
hit the very root of Fremont's difficulty is evident from the
testimony of the men who were with the General in Mis
souri at the time. Colonel George E. Leighton of St. Louis,
who became provost-marshal of the city in the fall of 1861,
says: Fremont isolated himself, and, unlike Grant, Halleck, and
others of like rank, was unapproachable. When Halleck
came here to assume command and called on Fremont, he
was accompanied simply by a member of his staff ; but when
Fremont returned the call, he rode down with great pomp
and ceremony, escorted by his staff and bodyguard of one
hundred men.
General B. G. Farrar recounts his experience in trying to
get an important message to Fremont from General Lyon,
who was at Springfield with an insufficient force:
Word was returned to me that General Fremont was very
busy, that he could not receive the dispatch then, and re-

04 LIFE OF LINCOLN
quested me to call in the afternoon. I called in the after
noon, and was again told that General Fremont was very
busy. Three days passed before I succeeded in obtaining an
audience with Fremont. As commander of the department
Fremont assumed all the prerogatives of an absolute ruler.
The approach to his headquarters was through a long line
of guards. There were guards at the corners of the streets,
guards at the gate, guards at the door, guards at the entrance
to the adjutant-general's office, and a whole regiment of
troops in the barracks adjacent to his headquarters. I saw
his order making Colonel Harding of the home guard a
brigadier-general. This was done without consultation
with the President and without authority of law. The Czar
of Russia could hardly be more absolute in his authority than
Fremont assumed to be at St. Louis. . . . Fremont never
asked Washington for authority to do a thing. While at
St. Louis Fremont visited nobody, so far as I know. When
he went forth from his headquarters at all he went under the
escort of his bodyguard and a staff brilliantly uniformed.
When he removed his headquarters to Jefferson City he went
on a special train, with all the trappings and surroundings of
a royal potentate. . . ."
Having made up his mind what Fremont's fault was, Lin
coln asked General David Hunter to go to Missouri. " He
[Fremont] needs to have at his side a man of large experi
ence," he wrote to Hunter. " Will you not, for me, take
that place? Your rank is one grade too high to be ordered
to it, but will you not serve the country and oblige me by
taking it voluntarily ? " At the same time that Hunter was
asked to go to Fremont's relief, Postmaster-General Blair
went to St. Louis, with the President's approbation, to talk
with the General " as a friend."
In the meantime, Lincoln's letter of September 2 had
reached Fremont. After a few days the General replied that
he wished the President himself would make the general or
der modifying the clause of the proclamation which referred
to the liberation of slaves. This letter he sent by his wife.

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 05
Jessie Benton Fremont, a woman of ambition and great en
ergy of character. " While Fremont was in command of
the Department, Mrs. Fremont was the real chief of staff,"
says Col. Geo. F. Leighton. " She was a woman of strong
personality, having inherited much of the brains and force
of character which distinguished her father, Senator Ben
ton." " Mrs. Fremont was much like her father," says Judge
Clover of St. Louis. " She was intellectual and possessed
great force of will." She started East deeply indignant that
Mr. Lincoln should ask her husband to modify his procla
mation. When she reached Washington, she learned that
Mr. Blair had gone to St. Louis. Jumping to the conclusion
that it was with an order to remove her husband she hastened
to Mr. Lincoln. It was midnight, but the President gave
her an audience. Without waiting for an explanation, she
violently charged him with sending an enemy to Missouri,
to look into Fremont's case and threatening that if Fremont
desired to he could set up a government for himself. " I
had to exercise all the rude tact I have to avoid quarrelling
with her," said Mr. Lincoln afterwards.
The day after this interview Lincoln sent the order modi
fying the clause as Fremont had requested. When this was
made public, a perfect storm of denunciation broke over the
President. The whole North felt outraged. There was talk
of impeaching Lincoln and of replacing him with Fremont.
Great newspapers criticised his action, warning him to learn
whither he was tending. Influential men in all professions
spoke bitterly of his action. " How many times," wrote
James Russell Lowell to Miss Norton, " are we to save Ken
tucky and lose our self-respect?" The hardest of these
criticisms for Lincoln to bear were those from his old friends
in Illinois, nearly all of whom supported Fremont.
The general supposition throughout the country at this
time was that the President would remove Fremont. He,
(5)

66 LIFE OF LINCOLN
however, had no idea of dismissing the General on the
ground of the proclamation, and he hoped, as he wrote to
Senator Browning, that no real necessity existed for it on
any ground. The hope was vain. Disasters to the Union
army, the evident result of the General's inefficiency, and
positive proofs of corruption in the management of the finan
cial affairs of the Department, multiplied. In spite of ex
postulations and threats from Fremont's supporters, Lincoln
decided to remove him. But he would not do it without
giving him a last chance. In sending the order for his re
moval and the appointment of General Hunter to his place,
he directed that it was not to be delivered if there was any
evidence that Fremont had fought, or was about to fight, a
battle. It was not only Lincoln's sense of justice which led
him to give a last chance to Fremont; it was a part of that
far-seeing political wisdom of his — not to displace men until
they themselves had demonstrated their unfitness so clearly
that even their friends must finally agree that he had done
right. It was generally believed in Missouri that Fremont had
decided to receive no bearer of despatches, so that if the
President did remove him he could say that he never had
been informed of the fact. General Curtis, to whom Lin
coln forwarded his order by his friend Leonard Swett
knowing this, sent copies by three separate messengers to
Fremont's headquarters. The one who delivered it first was
General T. I. McKenny, now of Olympia, Washington. His
story, written out for this work, is good evidence of the pass
to which things had come in Fremont's department :
About three o'clock at night, ort October 27, 1861, I think
it was, I was awakened by a messenger stating that General
Curtis desired to see me at his headquarters. I found Leon
ard Swett there with the General, who informed me that he
had an important message from the President to be taken

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 67
to General Fremont, then in the field, it not being known
where. I was shown the order that I was to convey, that
General Fremont was relieved of his command of the De
partment of the West and General Hunter placed tempo
rarily in his stead. Aside from this, I had special instruc
tions which I understood were Mr. Lincoln's own —
ist. If General Fremont had fought and gained a decided
victory — not a mere skirmish — then not to deliver the mes
sage. 2d. If he was in the immediate presence of the enemy and
about to begin a battle, not to deliver it.
3d. If neither of these conditions prevailed, to deliver it
and to make it known immediately, as it was thought that he
was determined to receive no orders superseding him.
I immediately went to St. Louis, waked up a second-hand
dealer in clothing and fitted myself out as a Southern planter,
and then took the train for Rolla, Missouri. There I secured
horses and a guide, and about two o'clock at night rode rap
idly south in the direction of Springfield, Missouri, where I
expected to find Fremont. I rode this distance principally
in the night, passing through the small rebel towns at a very
rapid gait. About 117 miles from Rolla I reached the outer
cordon of Fremont's pickets. Here I had difficulty getting
through the lines, as the instructions to the guard were very
stringent. When I finally got in, there being no immediate
prospects of a battle, I straightway made my way to Fre
mont's headquarters, where I met the officer of the day, who
told me that I could not see General Fremont, but that he
would introduce me to his chief of staff, Colonel Eaton. The
latter also told me that I could not see the General ; but if I
would make my business known to him, that he would com
municate it to Fremont. This I positively refused to do.
He returned to Fremont, and communicated what I had said,
but it had no effect. Late in the evening, however, I was
hunted up by Colonel Eaton, who took me to General Fre
mont's office. ,
The General was sitting at the end of quite a long table
facing the door by which I entered. I never can forget the
appearance of the man as he sat there, with his piercing eye,
and his hair parted in the middle. I ripped from my coat

68 LIFE OF LINCOLN
lining the document, which had been sewed in there, and
handed the same to him, which he nervously took and opened.
He glanced at the superscription, and then at the signature at
the bottom, not looking at the contents. A frown came over
his brow, and he slammed the paper down on the table, and
said, " Sir, how did you get admission into my lines ? " I
told him that I had come in as a messenger bearing informa
tion from the rebel lines. He waved me out, saying, " That
will do for the present."
I had orders to make the contents of the document known
as soon as delivered. The first man I met was General Stur-
gis, to whom I gave the information. I was then overtaken
by the chief of staff, Eaton, who said that General Fremont
was much disappointed with the communication, as he had
thought that I had information from the rebel forces, and
that he requested me not to make the message known for the
present. I then told Colonel Eaton that I had important despatches
for General Hunter and would like transportation and a
guide, and he remarked that he would consult General Fre
mont on the subject. He soon returned with the informa
tion that Fremont did not know where General Hunter was
and refused to give me any transportation, saying that he had
been relieved and had no authority to do so. I then went to
a self-styled " Colonel " Richardson, who had a kind of ma
rauding company, having been mustered into neither the
United States service nor the State service. I gave him to
understand that I would use my influence to have him regu
larly mustered into the service, whereupon he furnished me
with a good horse and a pretended guide. I could get no
information in regard to Hunter, but there was a rumor that
he was making towards Springfield and was in the region
of a place called Buffalo. I therefore started out about eleven
o'clock at night on the Buffalo road, and, after great diffi
culty, reached the town about daylight, but I could hear
-nothing of General Hunter. I left my guide, and started out
on the road to Bolivar. I had not proceeded more than
twelve or fifteen miles before I heard the rattling of horses'
hoofs in my rear. I stopped to await their arrival, and found
that they were a small detachment of Hunter's troops to in-

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 69
form me that the General had just arrived in Buffalo, where
upon I retraced my steps and delivered my message. General
Hunter immediately started for Springfield in a four-mule
ambulance. Arriving, he issued a short proclamation as
suming command. It was thought by some that this would
produce a mutiny among the foreign element. It did not.
It was not in the West alone that the President was suffer
ing disappointment. At the time when Fremont received the
order retiring him, McClellan had been in command of the
Army of the Potomac for over three months. His force had
been increased until it numbered over 168,000 men. He had
given night and day to organizing and drilling this army,
and it seemed to those who watched him that he now had a
force as near ready for battle as an army could be made
ready by anything save actual fighting. Mr. Lincoln had
fully sympathized with his young general's desire to pre
pare the Army of the Potomac for the field, and he had given
him repeated proofs of his support. McClellan, however,
seems to have felt from the first that Mr. Lincoln's kindness
was merely a personal recognition of his own military ge
nius. He had conceived the idea that it was he alone who
was to save the country. " The people call upon me to save
the country," he wrote to his wife. " I must save it, and
cannot respect anything that is in the way." The President's
suggestions, when they did not agree with his own ideas, he
regarded as an interference. Thus he imagined that the
enemy had three or four times his force, and when the Presi
dent doubted this he complained, " The President cannot or
will not see the true state of affairs." Lincoln, in his anxiety
to know the details of the work in the army, went frequently
to McCleUan's headquarters. That the President had a
serious purpose in these visits McClellan did not see. " I
enclose a card just received from ' A. Lincoln,' " he wrote to
his wife one day; " it shows too much deference to be seen

70 LIFE OF LINCOLN
outside." In another letter to Mrs. McClellan he spoke of
being "interrupted" by the President and Secretary Seward,
" who had nothing in particular to say," and again of con
cealing himself " to dodge all enemies in shape of ' brows
ing' Presidents, etc." His plans he kept to himself, and
when at the Cabinet meetings, to which he was constantly
summoned, military matters were discussed, he seemed to
feel that it was an encroachment on his special business. " I
am becoming daily more disgusted with this Administration
— perfectly sick of it," he wrote early in October; and a
few days later, " I was obliged to attend a meeting of the
Cabinet at 8 p. m. and was bored and annoyed. There are
some of the greatest geese in the Cabinet I have ever seen —
enough to tax the patience of Job."
As time went on, he began to show plainly his contempt
of the President, frequently allowing him to wait in the ante
room of his house while he transacted business with others.
This discourtesy was so open that McCleUan's staff noticed
it, and newspaper correspondents commented on it. The
President was too keen not to see the situation, but he was
strong enough to ignore it. It was a battle he wanted from
McClellan, not deference. " I will hold McCleUan's horse,
if he will only bring us success," he said one day.
While there was a pretty general disposition at first to give
McClellan time to organize, before the first three months
were up Lincoln was receiving impatient comments on the
inactivity of the army. This impatience became anger and
dismay when, on October 21, the battle of Ball's Bluff
ended in defeat. To Mr. Lincoln, Ball's Bluff was more
than a military reverse. By it he suffered a terrible personal
loss, in the death of one of his oldest and dearest friends,
Colonel E. D. Baker. Mr. C. C. Coffin, who was at McClel-
lan's headquarters when Lincoln received the news of his
friend's death, tells of the scene ;

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 7 1
The afternoon was lovely, a rare October day. I learned
early in the day that something was going on up the Poto
mac, near Edwards's Ferry, by the troops under General
Banks. What was going on no one knew, even at McClel-
lan's headquarters. It was near sunset when, accompanied
by a fellow correspondent, I went to ascertain what was
taking place. We entered the ante-room, and sent our cards
to General McClellan. While we waited, President Lincoln
came in ; he recognized us, reached out his hand, spoke of the
beauty of the afternoon,while waiting for the return of the
young lieutenant who had gone to announce his arrival. The
lines were deeper in the President's face than when I saw him
in his own home, the cheeks more sunken. They had lines of
care and anxiety. For eighteen months he had borne a bur
den such as has fallen upon few men, a burden as weighty
as that which rested upon the great law-giver of Israel.
" Please to walk this way," said the lieutenant. We could
hear the click of the telegraph in the adjoining room and low
conversation between the President and General McClellan,
succeeded by silence, excepting the click, click of the instru
ment, which went on with its tale of disaster. Five minutes
passed, and then Mr. Lincoln, unattended, with bowed head
and tears rolling down his furrowed cheeks, his face pale
and wan, his breast heaving with emotion, passed through
the room. He almost fell as he stepped into the street. We
sprang involuntarily from our seats to render assistance, but
he did not fall. With both hands pressed upon his heart, he
walked down the street, not returning the salute of the senti
nel pacing his beat before the door.
General McClellan came a moment later. " I have not
much news to tell you," he said. " There has been a move
ment of troops across the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry,
under General Stone, and Colonel Baker is reported killed.
That is about all I can give you."
After Ball's Bluff, the grumbling against inaction in the
Army of the Potomac increased until public attention was
suddenly distracted by an incident of an entirely new char
acter, and one_which changed the discouragement of the

72 LIFE OF LINCOLN
North over the repeated military failures and the inactivity
of the army into exultation. This incident was the capture,
on November 8, by Captain Wilkes, of the warship San
Jacinto, of two Confederate commissioners to Europe,
Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Captain Wilkes had stopped
the British royal mail packet Trent, one day out from
Havana, and taken the envoys with their secretaries from
her. It was not until November 1 5 that Captain Wilkes put
into Hampton Roads and sent the Navy Department word of
his performance.
Of course the message was immediately carried to Mr.
Lincoln at the White House. A few hours later Benson J.
Lossing called on the President, and the conversation turned
on the news. Mr. Lincoln did not hesitate to express him
self. " I fear the traitors will prove to be white elephants," he
said. " We must stick to American principles concerning
the rights of neutrals. We fought Great Britain for insist
ing by theory and practice on the right to do exactly what
Captain Wilkes has done. If Great Britain shall now pro
test against the act and demand their release, we must give
them up, apologize for the act as a violation of our doc
trines, and thus forever bind her over to keep the peace in
relation to neutrals, and so acknowledge that she has been
wrong for sixty years."
As time went on, Lincoln had every reason to suppose that
there was an overwhelming sentiment in the country in fa
vor of keeping the commissioners and braving the wrath of
England. Banquets and presentations, votes of thanks by
the cabinet and by Congress, all kinds of ovation, were ac
corded Captain Wilkes. During this excitement the Presi
dent held his peace, not even referring to the affair in themes-
sage he sent to Congress on December 3. He was studying
the situation. Before his inauguration he had said one day to

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 73
Seward : " One part of the business, Governor Seward, I
think I shall leave almost entirely in your hands ; that is, the
dealing with those foreign nations and their governments."
Now, however, he saw that he must exercise a controlling
influence. The person with whom he seems to have dis
cussed the case most seriously was Charles Sumner, the
chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Sumner was one of the few men who had from the first
believed in Lincoln. Although himself most radical, he had
been appreciative of the President-elect's point of view, and
had seen in the interval between the election and the inau
guration that, as a matter of fact, Lincoln was, on the es
sential question at issue, " firm as a chain of steel." Thus,
on January 26, he wrote, " Mr. Lincoln is perfectly firm.
He says that the Republican party shall not, with his assent,
become a mere sucked egg, all shell and no meat, the princi
ple all sucked out." Although himself a most polished, even
a fastidious gentleman, Sumner never allowed Lincoln's
homely ways to hide his great qualities. He gave him a re
spect and esteem at the start which others accorded only
after experience. The Senator was most tactful, too, in his
dealings with Mrs. Lincoln, and soon had a firm footing in
the household. That he was proud of this, perhaps a little
boastful, there is no doubt. Lincoln himself appreciated this.
" Sumner thinks he runs me," he said, with an amused twin
kle, one day. After the seizure of Mason and Slidell, the
President talked over the question frequently with Sumner,
who had, from the receipt of the news, declared, " We shall
have to give them up."
Early in December, word reached America that England
was getting ready to go to war in case we did not give up the
commissioners. The news aroused the deepest indignation,
and the determination to keep Mason and Slidell was for a
brief time stronger than ever. Common sense was doing its

74 LIFE OF LINCOLN
work, however. Gradually the people began to feel thai,
after all, the commissioners were " white elephants." On
December 19, the Administration received a notice that the
only redress which would satisfy the British government
would be " the liberation of the four gentlemen," and their
delivery to the British minister at Washington and a " suit
able apology for the aggression which had been committed."
In the days which followed, while the Secretary of State was
preparing the reply to be submitted, Sumner was much with
the President. We have the Senator's assurance that the
President was applying his mind carefully to the answer, so
that it would be essentially his. It is evident from Sumner's
letter, that Lincoln was resolved that there should be no war
with England. Thus, on December 23, Sumner wrote to
John Bright, with whom he maintained a regular corre
spondence : " Your letter and also Cobden's I showed at once
to the President, who is much moved and astonished by the
English intelligence. He is essentially honest and pacific in
disposition, with a natural slowness. Yesterday he said to
me, ' There will be no war unless England is bent upon hav
ing one.' "
It was on Christmas day that Reward finally had his an
swer ready. It granted the British demand as to the sur
render of the prisoners, though it refused an apology — on
the ground that Captain Wilkes had acted without orders.
After the paper had been discussed by the Cabinet, but no de
cision reached, and all of the members but Seward had de
parted, Lincoln said, according to Mr. Frederick Seward:
" Governor Seward, you will go on, of course, preparing
your answer, which, as I understand it, will state the rea
sons why they ought to be given up. Now, I have a mind
to try my hand at stating the reasons why they ought not
to be given up. We will compare the points on each side."
But the next day, after a Cabinet meeting at which it was

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 75
decided finally to return the prisoners, when Secretary Sew
ard said to the President : " You thought you might frame
an argument for the other side ? " Mr. Lincoln smiled, and
shook his head. " I found I could not make an argument
that would satisfy my own mind," he said; " and that proved
to me your ground was the right one."
Lincoln's first conclusion was the real ground on which
the Administration submitted : " We must stick to American
principles concerning the rights of neutrals." The country
grimaced at the conclusion. It was to many, as Chase de
clared it was to him, " gall and wormwood." Lowell's clever
verse expressed best the popular feeling :
We give the critters back, John,
Cos Abram thought 't was right;
It warn't your bullyin' clack, John,
Provokin' us to fight.
The decision raised Mr. Lincoln immeasurably in the view
of thoughtful men, especially in England.
" If reparation were made at all, of which few of us felt
more than a hope," wrote John Stuart Mill, " we thought
that it would be made obviously as a concession to prudence,
not to principle. We thought that there would have been
truckling to the newspaper editors and supposed fire-eaters
who were crying out for retaining the prisoners at all haz
ards. . . . We expected everything, in short, which
would have been weak, and timid, and paltry. The only
thing which no one seemed to expect is what has actually
happened. Mr. Lincoln's government have done none of
these things. Like honest men they have said in direct terms
that our demand was right; that they yielded to it because
it was just; that if they themselves had received the same
treatment, they would have demanded the same reparation;
and if what seemed to be the American side of the question
was not the just side, they would be on the side of justice,
happy as they were to find after their resolution had been
taken, that it was also the side which America had formerly

76 LIFE OF LINCOLN
defended. Is there any one capable of a moral judgment or
feeling, who will say that his opinion of America and Ameri
can statesmen is not raised by such an act, done on such
grounds ? "
Before the Trent affair was settled another matter
came up to distract attention from McCleUan's inactivity
and to harass Mr. Lincoln. This time it was trouble in his
official family. Mr. Cameron, his Secretary of War, had
become even more obnoxious to the public than Fremont or
McClellan. Like Seward, Cameron had been one of Lin
coln's competitors at the Chicago Convention in i860. His
appointment to the Cabinet, however, had not been made,
like Seward's, because of his eminent fitness. It was the one
case in which a bargain had been made before the nomina
tion. This bargain was not struck by Mr. Lincoln, but by
his friend and ablest supporter at Chicago, Judge David
Davis. There was so general a belief in the country that
Cameron was corrupt in his political methods that, when it
was noised that he was to be one of Lincoln's Cabinet, a
strong effort was made to displace him. It succeeded tempo
rarily, the President-elect withdrawing the promise of ap
pointment after he had made it. Such pressure was brought
to bear, however, that in the end he made Judge Davis's
pledge good and gave the portfolio of war to Mr. Cameron.
The unsatisfactory preliminaries to the appointment must
have affected the relations of the two men. Cameron's ene
mies watched his Administration with sharp eyes, and not
long after the war began commenced to bring accusations
of maladministration to the President. The gist of them
was that contracts were awarded for politics' sake and that
the government was being swindled wholesale.
" We hear," said the " Evening Post " in June, " of knap
sacks glued together and falling to pieces after the first day's
use ; of uniform coats which are torn to pieces with a slight

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 77
pull of the fingers; of blankets too small if they were good,
and too poor stuff to be useful if they were of the proper
size, shoes, caps, trousers, coats— all are too often of such
poor material that before a soldier is ready for service he
must be clothed anew."
Soon after the extra session of Congress assembled in July,
a committee was appointed to look into the contracts the
War Department was making. This committee spent the
entire fall in investigation, sitting in Boston, New York,
Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. Its report, when made
public in December, proved to be full of sensational devel
opments. The Secretary of War, it was clear, had not been
able to manage his department without great scandal. If he
himself were incorruptible he was not big enough for his
duties and inefficiency in affairs of State, particularly in time
of war, is criminal. The matter was too serious a one for
Mr. Lincoln to overlook. The public would not have per
mitted him to overlook it, even if he had been so disposed.
Cameron not only brought the President into trouble by
his bad management of the business of his office ; but in his
December report he attempted, without Mr. Lincoln's knowl
edge, to advocate a measure in direct opposition to what he
knew to be the President's policy in regard to slavery. This
measure declared in favor of arming the slaves and employ
ing " their services against the rebels, under proper military
regulation, discipline, and command." This report was
mailed before the President saw it; but by his order it was
promptly withdrawn from circulation as soon as he knew its
contents. Nine months of this sort of experience convinced Lincoln
that Cameron was not the man for the place, and he took
advantage of a remark which the Secretary, probably in a
moment of depression, had made to him more than once, that
ht wanted a " change of position," and made him Minister

78 LIFE OF LINCOLN
to Russia. It is plain from Lincoln's letters to Cameron at
this time and his subsequent treatment of him that, with
characteristic fair-dealing, he took into consideration all the
enormous difficulties which beset the Secretary of War. He
saw what the public refused to see, that " to bring the War
Department up to the standard of the times, and work an
army of 500,000 with machinery adapted to a peace estab
lishment of 12,000, is no easy task." He had all this in mind
evidently when he relieved Cameron, for he assured him of
his personal regard and of his confidence in his " ability, pa
triotism, and fidelity to public trust." A few months later
he did still more for Cameron. In April, 1862, Congress
passed a bill censuring the Secretary for certain of his trans
actions. The President soon after sent the body a message
in which he claimed that he himself was equally responsible
in the transaction for which Cameron was being censured :
I should be wanting equally in candor and in justice if I
should leave the censure expressed in this resolution to rest
exclusively or chiefly upon Mr. Cameron. The same senti
ment is unanimously entertained by the heads of departments
who participated in the proceedings which the House of Rep
resentatives has censured. It is due to Mr. Cameron to say
that, although he fully approved the proceedings, they were
not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not only the
President but all the other heads of departments, were at least
equally responsible with him for whatever error, wrong, or
fault was committed in the premises.
In deciding on a successor to Mr. Cameron, the President
showed more clearly, perhaps, than in any other appointment
of his whole presidential career how far above personal re
sentments he was in his public dealings. He chose a man
who six years before, at a time when consideration from a
superior meant a great deal to him, had subjected him to a
slight, and this for no other apparent reason than that he was
rude in dress and unpolished in manner ; a man who, besides,

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 79
had been his most scornful, even vituperative, critic since his
election. This man was Edwin M. Stanton, a lawyer of abil
ity, integrity, and loyalty, who had won the confidence of the
North by his patriotic services in Buchanan's Cabinet from
December, i860, to the close of his administration, March 4*
1861. Lincoln's first encounter with Stanton had been irf
1855, in his first case of importance outside of Illinois. H«
was a counsel in the case with Stanton, but the latter ignored
him so openly that all those associated with them observed it.
Lincoln next knew of Stanton when, as President-elect,
he watched from Springfield the deplorable dissolution of
the federal authority which Buchanan allowed, and he must
have felt profoundly grateful for the new vigor and determi
nation which were infused into the Administration when, in
December, i860, Stanton and Holt entered Buchanan's Cabi
net. After Lincoln was inaugurated he had nothing to do
with Stanton. In fact he did not see him from the 4th of
March, 1861, to the day he handed him his commission as
Secretary of War, in January, 1862. Stanton, however, was
watching Lincoln's administration closely, even disdainfully.
After Bull Run he wrote to ex-President Buchanan : " The
imbecility of this Administration culminated in that catas
trophe; an irretrievable misfortune and national disgrace,
never to be forgotten, are to be added to the ruin of all peace
ful pursuits and national bankrputcy, as the result of Lin
coln's ' running the machine ' for five months."
McClellan, who saw much of Stanton in the fall of 1861,
says: The most disagreeable thing about him was the extreme
virulence with which he abused the President, the Adminis
tration, and the Republican party. He carried this to such
an extent that I was often shocked by it. He never spoke of
the President in any other way than as the " original go
rilla," and often said that Du Chaillu was a fool to wander

*to LIFE OF LINCOLN
all the way to Africa in search of what he could so easily
have found at Springfield, Illinois. Nothing could have been
more bitter than his words and manner always were when
speaking of the Administration and the Republican party.
He never gave them credit for honesty or patriotism, and
very seldom for any ability.
Lincoln, if he knew of this abuse, which is improbable, re
garded it no more seriously than he did McCleUan's slights.
He knew Stanton was able and loyal; that the country be
lieved in him ; that he would administer the department with
honesty and energy. Furthermore, he knew of the intimacy
between McClellan and Stanton, and as he saw the great
necessity of harmonious relations between the head of the
War Department and the commander of the army, he was
more in favor of Stanton. The appointment was generally
regarded as a wise selection, and in many quarters aroused
enthusiasm. " No man ever entered upon the discharge of the most mo
mentous public duties under more favorable auspices, so far
as public confidence and support can create such auspices,"
said the New York " Tribune." " In all the loyal States
there has not been one dissent from the general acclamation
which hailed Mr. Stanton's appointment as eminently wise
and happy. The simple truth is that Mr. Stanton was not
appointed to and does not accept the War Department in
support of any program or policy whatever, but the un
qualified and uncompromising vindication of the authority
and integrity of the Union. Whatever views he may enter
tain respecting slavery will not be allowed to swerve him
one hair from the line of paramount and single-hearted de
votion to the National cause. If slavery or anti-slavery shall
at any time be found obstructing or impeding the nation in
its efforts to crush out this monstrous rebellion, he will walk
straight on in the path of duty though that path should lead
him over or through the impediment and insure its annihila
tion."

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 8 1
Stanton took hold of his task with the aggressive ear
nestness and energy of his nature. He made open war on
contractors. He did not hesitate to let McClellan know
that he expected an advance. As he wrote Charles A. Dana
on January 22 :
" This army has got to fight or run away ; and while men
are striving nobly in the West, the champagne and oysters
on the Potomac must be stopped."
It is evident from this same letter to Mr. Dana that he had
undertaken to discipline even the President for his habit of
joking :
" I feel a deep, earnest feeling growing up around me. We
have no jokes or trivialities, but all with whom I act show
that they are in dead earnest."
The excitement over the Trent affair, the investigation
of the War Department, the dismissal of Cameron, and
the appointment of Stanton, diverted public criticism from
McClellan ; but never for long at a time. The inactivity of
the Army of the Potomac had become the subject of gibes
and sneers. Lincoln stood by the General. He had promised
him all the " sense and information " he had, and he gave it.
When Congress opened on December 3, he took the oppor
tunity to remind the country that the General was its own
choice, as well as his, and that support was due him :
Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General Scott
has retired, from the head of the army. . . . With the
retirement of General Scott came the executive duty of ap
pointing in his stead a general-in-chief of the army. It is a
fortunate circumstance that neither in council nor country
was there, so far as I know, any difference of opinion as to
the proper person to be selected. The retiring chief repeat
edly expressed his judgment in favor of General McClellan
for the position, and in this the nation seemed to give a
unanimous concurrence. The designation of General Me-

82 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Clellan is, therefore, in considerable degree the selection of
the country as well as of the executive, arid hence there is
better reason to hope there will be given him the confidence
and cordial support thus by fair implication promised, and
without which he cannot with so full efficiency serve the
country. At this time Lincoln had every reason to believe that Mc
Clellan would soon move. The General certainly was assur
ing the few persons whom he condescended to take into his
confidence to that effect. The Hon. Galusha A. Grow, of
Pennsylvania, Speaker of the House, says that very soon
after Congress came together, the members began to com
ment on the number of board barracks that were going up
around Washington.
" It seemed to them," says Mr. Grow, " that there were a
great many more than were necessary for hospital and re
serve purposes. The roads at that time in Virginia were ex
cellent ; everybody was eager for an advance. Congressmen
observed the barracks with dismay ; it looked as if McClellan
was going into winter quarters. Finally several of them
came to me and stated their anxiety, asking what it meant.
' Well, gentlemen,' I said, ' I don't know what it means, but
I will ask the General,' so I went to McClellan, who received
me kindly, and told him how all the members were feeling,
and asked him if the army was really going into winter quar
ters. ' No, no,' McClellan said, ' I have no intention of put
ting the army into winter quarters; I mean the campaign
shall be short, sharp, and decisive.' He began explaining his
plan to me, but I interrupted him, saying I did not desire to
know his plan ; I preferred not to know it, in fact. If I could
assure members of Congress that the army was going to
move, it was all that was necessary. I returned with his as
surance that there would soon be an advance. Weeks went
on, however, without the promised advance; nor did the
Army of the Potomac leave the vicinity of Washington until
Mr. Lincoln issued the special orders compelling McClellan
to move."

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 83
Lincoln continued to defend McClellan. " We've got to
stand by the General," he told his visitors. " I suppose," he
added dubiously, " he knows his business." But loyal as he
was he too was losing patience. His friend, Mr. Arnold, tells
how the President said one day to a friend of General Mc
Clellan, doubtless with the expectation that it would be re
peated : " McCleUan's tardiness reminds me of a man in
Illinois, whose attorney was not sufficiently aggressive. The
client knew a few law phrases, and finally, after waiting un
til his patience was exhausted by the non-action of his coun
sel, he sprang to his feet and exclaimed : " Why don't you go
at him with a Fi fa demurrer, a capias, a surrebutter, or a ne
exeat, or something, and not stand there like a nudum pac
tum, or a non est? "
Later he made a remark which was repeated up and down
the country : "If General McClellan does not want to use
the army for some days, I should like to borrow it and see if
it cannot be made to do something."
Towards the end of December McClellan fell ill. The
long-expected advance was out of the question until he re
covered. Distracted at this idea, the President for the first
time asserted himself as commander-in-chief of the forces of
the United States. Heretofore he had used his military au
thority principally in raising men and commissioning offi
cers ; campaigns he had left to the generals. It had been to
be sure largely because of his urgency that the Battle of Bull
Run had been fought. After Bull Run he had prepared a
" Memorandum of Military Policy Suggested by the Bull
Run Defeat," and may have thought the War Department
was working according to this. When he relieved Fremont
he had offered his successor a few suggestions but he had
been careful to add :
" Knowing how hazardous it is to bind down a distant
commander in the field to specific lines and operations, as so

84 LIFE OF LINCOLN
much always depends on a knowledge of localities and pass
ing events, it is intended therefore, to leave a considerable
margin for the exercise of your judgment and discretion."
Early in December, weary with waiting for McClellan, he
had sent him a list of questions concerning the Potomac
campaign. They were broad hints, but in no sense orders
and McClellan hardly gave them a second thought. Nicolay
and Hay say that after keeping them ten days, the General
returned them with hurried answers in pencil. Certainly he
was in no degree influenced by them. And this was about
all the military authority — " interference " some critics
called it, — that the President had exercised up to the time
McClellan was shut up by fever.
Now, however, he undertook to learn direct from the offi
cers the condition things were in, and if it was not possible
to get some work out of the army somewhere along the line.
Particularly was he anxious that East Tennessee be relieved.
The Unionists there were " being hanged and driven to de
spair," there was danger of them going over to the South.
All this the generals knew. Lincoln telegraphed Halleck,
then in command of the Western Department, and Buell, in
charge of the forces in Kentucky, asking if they were " in
concert " and urging a movement which he supposed to have
been decided upon some time before. The replies he received
disappointed and distressed him. There seemed to be no
more idea of advancing in the West than in the East. The
plans he supposed settled his generals now controverted. He
could get no promise of action, no precise information. " De
lay is ruining us," he wrote to Buell on January 7, " and
it is indispensable for me to have something definite." And
yet, convinced though he was that his plans were practica
ble, he would not make them into orders.
" For my own views," he wrote Buell on January 13, "I
have not offered and do not offer them as orders; and while

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 85
I am glad to have them respectfully considered, I would
blame you to follow them contrary to your own clear judg
ment, unless I should put them in the form of orders. As to
General McCleUan's views, you understand your duty in re
gard to them better than I do. With this preliminary, I state
my general idea of this war to be that we have the greater
numbers, and the enemy has greater facility of concentrat
ing forces upon points of collision ; that we must fail unless
we can find some way of making our advantage an over
match for his ; and that this can only be done by menacing
him with superior forces at different points at the same time,
so that we can safely attack one or both if he makes no
change ; and if he weakens one to strengthen the other, for
bear to attack the strengthened one, but seize and hold the
weakened one, gaining so much."
This hesitancy about exercising his military authority,
came from Lincoln's consciousness that he knew next to
nothing of the business of fighting. When he saw that those
supposed to know something of the science did nothing, he
resolved to learn the subject himself as thoroughly as he
could. " He gave himself, night and day, to the study of the
military situation," say Nicolay and Hay, his secretaries.
" He read a large number of strategical works. He pored
over the reports from the various departments and districts
of the field of war. He held long conferences with eminent
generals and admirals, and astonished them by the extent of
his special knowledge and the keen intelligence of his ques
tions." By the time McClellan was about again, Lincoln had
learned enough of the situation to convince him that the
Army of the Potomac could and must advance, and on Janu
ary 27, he, for the first time, used his power as comman
der-in-chief of the army, and issued his General War Order
No. 1.
Ordered, That the 22d day of February, 1862, be the day
for a general movement of all the land and naval forces of

86 LIFE OF LINCOLN
the United States against the insurgent forces. That es
pecially the army at and about Fortress Monroe ; the Army
of the Potomac; the Army of Western Virginia; the army
near Munfordville, Kentucky ; the army and flotilla at Cairo,
and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move
on that day.
That all other forces, both land and naval, with their re
spective commanders, obey existing orders for the time, and
be ready to obey additional orders when duly given.
That the heads of departments, and especially the Secre
taries of War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates,
and the general-in-chief, with all other commanders and sub
ordinates of land and naval forces, will severally be held to
their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execution of
this order.
Four days later the President issued his first Special War
Order, applying exclusively to the Army of the Potomac.
Ordered, That all the disposable force of the Army of the
Potomac, after providing safely for the defense of Washing
ton, be formed into an expedition for the immediate object
of seizing and occupying a point upon the railroad south-
westward of what is known as Manassas Junction, all de
tails to be in the discretion of the commander-in-chief, and
the expedition to move before or on the 22d day of Febru
ary next.
For a time after these orders were issued there was gen
eral hopefulness in the country. The newspapers that had
been attacking the President now praised him for taking
hold of the army. " It has infused new spirit into every one
since the President appears to take such an interest in our
operations," wrote an officer from the West, to the
" Tribune." The hope of an advance in the East was short-lived. Mc
Clellan was not willing to carry out the plan for the cam
paign which the President approved. Mr. Lincoln believed
that the Army of the Potomac should move directly across

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 87
Virginia against Richmond, while McClellan contended that
the safe and brilliant movement was down the Chesapeake,
up the Rapahannock to Urbana and across land to the York
river. There was much controversy between the friends
of the two plans. It ended in the President giving up to his
general. Of one thing he felt certain, McClellan would
not work as well on a plan in which he did not believe as
on one to which he was committed, and as success was what
Mr. Lincoln wanted he finally consented to the Chesapeake
route. It brought bitter criticism upon him, especially from
the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.
Common sense told men that the direct overland route to
Richmond was the better. The President, they said, was
afraid of his general-in-chief.
While harassed by this inaction and obstinacy of McClel
lan' s, Mr. Lincoln was plunged into a bitter private sorrow.
Early in February his two younger boys, Willie and Tad,
as they were familiarly known, fell sick. In the tender
ness of his nature Mr. Lincoln could never see suffering
of any kind without a passionate desire to relieve it. Es
pecially was he moved by the distress of a child. Indeed his
love for children had already become familiar to the whole
public by the touching little stories which visitors had
brought away from the White House and which crept into
the newspapers :
" At the reception Saturday afternoon, at the President's
house," wrote a correspondent of the " Independent,"
" many persons noticed three little girls, poorly dressed, the
children of some mechanic or laboring man, who had fol
lowed the visitors into the White House to gratify their cu
riosity. They passed around from room to room, and were
hastening through the reception room, with some trepida
tion, when the President called to them, ' Little girls, are you
going to pass me without shaking hands ? ' Then he bent his
tall, awkward form down, and shook each little girl warmly

88 LIFE OF LINCOLN
by the hand. Everybody in the apartment was spellbound by
the incident, so simple in itself."
Many men and women now living who were children in
Washington at this time recall the President's gentleness to
them. Mr. Frank P. Blair of Chicago, says :
During the war my grandfather, Francis P. Blair, Sr.,
lived at Silver Springs, north of Washington, seven miles
from the White House. It was a magnificent place of four
or five hundred acres, with an extensive lawn in the rear of
the house. The grandchildren gathered there frequently.
There were eight or ten of us, our ages ranging from eight
to twelve years. Although I was but seven or eight years of
age, Mr. Lincoln's visits were of such importance to us boys
as to leave a clear impression on my memory. He drove out
to the place quite frequently. We boys, for hours at a time,
played " town ball " on the vast lawn, and Mr. Lincoln would
join ardently in the sport. I remember vividly how he ran
with the children; how long were his strides, and how far
his coat-tails stuck out behind, and how we tried to hit him
with the ball, as he ran the bases. He entered into the spirit
of the play as completely as any of us, and we invariably
hailed his coming with delight.
The protecting sympathy and tenderness the President ex
tended to all children became a passionate affection for his
own. Willie and Tad had always been privileged beings at
the White House, and their pranks and companionship un
doubtedly did much to relieve the tremendous strain the
President was suffering. Many visitors who saw him with
the lads at this period have recorded their impressions: —
how keenly he enjoyed the children ; how indulgent and af
fectionate he was with them. Again and again he related
their sayings, sometimes even to grave delegations. Thus
Moncure Conway tells of going to see the President with a
commission which wanted to " talk over the situation." The
President met them, laughing like a boy. The White House

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 89
was in a state of feverish excitement, he said; one of his
boys had come in that morning to tell him that the cat had
kittens, and now the other had just announced that the dog
had puppies.
When both the children fell ill ; when he saw them suffer
ing, and when it became evident, as it finally did, that Willie,
the elder of the two, would die, the President's anguish
was intense. He would slip away from visitors and Cabinet
at every opportunity, to go to the sick room, and during the
last four or five days of Willie's life, when the child was suf
fering terribly and lay in an unbroken delirium, Mr. Lincoln
shared with the nurse the nightly vigils at the bedside. When
Willie finally died, on February 20, the President was so
prostrated that it was feared by many of his friends that he
would succumb entirely to his grief. Many public duties he
undoubtedly did neglect. Indeed, a month after Willie's
death, we find him apologizing for delay to answer a letter
because of a " domestic affliction."
If one consults the records of the day, however, it is evi
dent that Mr. Lincoln did try to attend to public duties even
in the worst of this trial. Only two days after the funeral,
on February 23, he held a Cabinet meeting, and the day fol
lowing that, a correspondent wrote to the New York
"Evening Post:"
Mr. Lincoln seems to have entirely recovered his health,
and is again at his ordinary duties, spending, not infre
quently, eighteen out of the twenty-four hours upon the af
fairs of the nation. He is frequently called up three and four
times in a night to receive important messages from the
West. Since his late bereavement he looks sad and care
worn, but is in very good health again.
There is ample evidence that in this crushing grief the
President sought earnestly to find what consolation the
Christian religion might have for him. It was the first ex-

90 LIFE OF LINCOLN
perience of his life, so far as we know, which drove him to
look outside of his own mind and heart for help to endure a
personal grief. It was the first time in his life when he had
not been sufficient for his own experience. Religion up to
this time had been an intellectual interest. The
Christian dogma had been taught him as a child
and all his life he had been accustomed to hearing
every phase of human conduct and experience tested
by the precepts of the Bible as they were in
terpreted by the more or less illiterate church of the West.
For a short period of his life when he was about twenty-five
years of age, it is certain that he revolted against the Chris
tian system, and even went so far as to prepare a pamphlet
against it. The manuscript of this work was destroyed by
his friend, Samuel Hill. This period of doubt passed, and
though there is nothing to show that Mr. Lincoln returned
to the literal interpretation of Christianity which he had
been taught, and though he never joined any religious sect,
it is certain that he regarded the Bible and the church with
deep reverence. He was a regular attendant upon religious
services, and one has only to read his letters and speeches to
realize that his literary style and his moral point of view
were both formed by the Bible.
It was after his election to the presidency that we begin
to find evidences that Mr. Lincoln held to the belief that
the affairs of men are in the keeping of a Divine Being who
hears and answers prayer and who is to be trusted to bring
about the final triumph of the right. He publicly acknow
ledged such a faith when he bade his Springfield friends
good-by in February, 1861. In his first inaugural address,
he told the country that the difficulty between North and
South could be adjusted in " the best way," by " intelli
gence, patriotism, Christianity and a firm reliance on Him
who has never vet forsaken this favored had." When he

THE FAILURE OF FREMONT 91
was obliged to summon a Congress to provide means for a
civil war, he started them forth on their duties with the
words, " Let us renew our trust in God, and go forward
without fear and with manly hearts." In August, 1861, he
issued a proclamation for a National Fast Day which is most
impressive for its reverential spirit :
" Whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times,
to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God ;
to bow in humble submission to His chastisements; to con
fess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full con
viction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon
of their past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present
and prospective action :
"And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the
blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now
afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us
to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and
in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a
nation, and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him,
and to pray for His mercy — to pray that we may be spared
further punishment, though most justly deserved; that our
arms may be blessed and made effectual for the re-establish
ment of law, order, and peace throughout the wide extent of
our country ; and that the inestimable boon of civil and reli
gious liberty, earned under His guidance and blessing by the
labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all
its original excellence."
But it is not until after the death of his son that we begin
to find evidence that Mr. Lincoln was making a personal test
of Christianity. Broken by his anxiety for the country,
wounded nigh to death by his loss, he felt that he must have
a support outside of himself ; that from some source he must
draw new courage. Could he find the help he needed in the
Christian faith? From this time on he was seen often with
the Bible in his hand, and he is known to have prayed fre-

92 LIFE OF LINCOLN
quently. His personal relation to God occupied his mind
much. He was deeply concerned to know, as he told a visit
ing delegation once, not whether the Lord was on his side,
but whether he was on the Lord's side. Henceforth, one of
the most real influences in Abraham Lincoln's life and con
duct is his dependence upon a personal God.

CHAPTER XXV
LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
The 22d of February was the day that the President had
set for an advance of the army but it was evident to both
the Administration and the country that the Army of the
Potomac would not be ready to move then. Nor could any
body find from McClellan when he would move. The mut
tering of the country began again. Committee after com
mittee waited on the President. He did his best to assure
them that he was doing all he could. He pointed out to them
how time and patience, as well as men and money, were
needed in war, and he argued that, above all, he must not
be interfered with. It was at this time that he used his strik
ing illustration of Blondin. Some gentlemen from the West
called at the White House one day, excited and troubled
about some of the commissions or omissions of the Admin
istration. The President heard them patiently, and then
replied : " Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth
was in gold and you had put it in the hands of Blondin, to
carry across the Niagara river on a rope. Would you
shake the cable or keep shouting at him, ' Blondin, stand up a
little straighter — Blondin, stoop a little more — go a little
faster — lean a little more to the north — lean a little more to
the south ? ' No, you would hold your breath as well as your
tongue, and keep your hands off until he was safe over. The
Government is carrying an enormous weight. Untold treas
ures are in their hands; they are doing the very best they
can. Don't badger them. Keep silence, and we will get you
safe across." 93

94 LIFE OF LINCOLN
One of the most insistent of the many bodies which beset
him was the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the
War, appointed the December before. Aggressive and pa
triotic, these gentlemen were determined the army should
move. But it was not until March that they became
convinced that anything would be done. One day early in
that month, Senator Chandler, of Michigan, a member of
the committee, met George W. Julian. He was in high
glee. " Old Abe is mad," he said to Julian, " and the war
will now go on."
Whether it would or not remained to be seen but it was
soon evident to everybody that the President was going to
make another effort to have it go on for on March 8 he is
sued General War Orders Nos. II and III, the first dividing
the Army of the Potomac into four army corps and the
second directing that the move against Richmond by the way
of the Chesapeake bay should begin as early as the 18th of
March and that the general-in-chief should be responsible
for its moving as early as that day. In this order Lincoln
made the important stipulation that General McClellan
should make no change of base without leaving in and about
Washington a force sufficient to guarantee its safety.
When Lincoln issued the above orders which were finally
to drive McClellan from his quarters around Washington,
the war against the South had been going on for nearly a
year. In that time the North had succeeded in gathering
and equipping an army of about 630,000 men, but this army
had not so far materially changed the line of hostilities be
tween the North and South, save in the West, where Ken
tucky and Northern Missouri had been cleared of most of
the Confederates. A navy had been collected but beyond es
tablishing a partial blockade of the ports of the Confederacy
it had done little. The ineffectiveness of the great effort the
North had made was charged naturally to the inefficiency of

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 95
the Administration. Mr. Lincoln was ignorant and weak,
men said, else he would have found generals who would have
won victories. A large part of the North, the anti-slavery
element, bitterly denounced him, because he had taken no
action as yet in regard to slavery. They would have
him employ the slaves in the armies, free those which
escaped. Lincoln understood clearly how strong a weapon against
the South the arming and emancipating of the slaves might
be, but he did not want to use it. Throughout his entire po
litical life he had disclaimed any desire to meddle with slav
ery in the States where the Constitution recognized it. He
had undertaken the war not to free men but to preserve the
Union. Moreover he feared that the least interference with
slavery would drive from him those States lying between
the North and South, which believed in the institution and
yet were for the Union.
Already they had given him much substantial aid. He
hoped to win them entirely to the North. Emancipation
would surely make that hope vain. It was largely because
he wished to keep their support that when as had happened
twice already in his year of service, prominent subordinates
had attempted to help the Northern cause by measures af
fecting slavery, he had promptly annulled their orders.
Yet now for many weeks he had been coming to the con
clusion that he must do something with this weapon. He
must do it to throw confusion into the South, with whom s6
far the military advantage lay, to win sympathy from
Europe, which, exasperated by the suffering which the fail
ure to get cotton caused the people, was threatening to re
cognize the Southern Confederacy as an independent nation,
above all to disarm the enemy in his rear — the dissatisfied
faction of his own supporters who were beginning to
threaten that if he did not free and arm the slaves he could

96 LIFE OF LINCOLN
get his hands on, they would stop the arms and money they
were sending him to carry on the war.
All through the fall of 1861 he was examining this
weapon of emancipation, much as a man in a desperate situa
tion might a dagger which he did not want to unsheath, but
feared he might be forced to. He was seeking a way to use
it, if the time came when he must, that would accomplish all
the ends he had in view and still would not drive the Border
States from the Union. The plan upon which he finally set
tled was a simple and just, though impracticable one — he
would ask Congress to set aside money gradually to buy and
free the negroes in those States that could be persuaded to
give up the institution of slavery. Having freed the slaves,
he proposed that Congress should colonize them in territory
bought for the purpose.
According to Charles Sumner, Mr. Lincoln had this plan
of compensated emancipation well developed by December
1, 1 86 1. The Senator reached Washington on that day, and
went in the evening to call on the President. Together they
talked over the annual message, which was to be sent to Con
gress on the 3d. Mr. Sumner was disappointed that it said
nothing about emancipation. He had been speaking in
Massachusetts on " Emancipation our Best Weapon," and
he ardently desired that the President use the weapon. The
President explained the plan he had developed, and Mr.
Sumner urged that it be presented at once. Mr. Lincoln de
clined to agree to this, but as he rose to say good-by to his
visitor, he remarked :
" Well, Mr. Sumner, the only difference between you and
me on this subject is a difference of a month or six weeks in
time." " Mr. President," said Mr. Sumner, " if that is the only
difference between us, I will not say another word to you
about it till the long-set time you name has passed by."
" Nor should I have done so," continues Sumner in telling

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 97
the story, " but about a fortnight after, when I was with him,
he introduced the subject himself, asked my opinion on some
details of his plan, and told me where it labored his mind.
At that time he had the hope that some one of the Border
States, Delaware, perhaps, if nothing better could be got,
might be brought to make a proposition which could be made
use of as the initiation to hitch the whole thing to. * He
was in correspondence with some persons at a distance with
this view, but he did not consult a person in Washington,
excepting Mr. Chase and Mr. Blair, and myself. Seward
knew nothing about it."
Sumner could not keep still, after this, about the plan. Al
most every time he saw Lincoln he put in a word. Thus,
when the Trent affair was up, he took occasion to read
the President a little lecture :
" Now, Mr. President," he said, " if you had done your
duty earlier in the slavery matter, you would not have this
trouble on you. Now you have no friends, or the country
has none, because it has no policy upon slavery. The country
has no friends in Europe, excepting isolated persons. Eng
land is not a friend. France is not. But if you had
commenced your policy about slavery, this thing could and
would have come and gone and would have given you no
anxiety. . . .
" Every time I saw him I spoke to him about it, and I saw
him every two or three days. One day I said to him, I re
member, ' I want you to make Congress a New Year's
present of your plan. But he had some reason still for delay.
He was in correspondence with Kentucky, there was a Mr.
Speed in Kentucky to whom he was writing; he read me
one of his letters once, and he thought he should hear from
there how people would be affected by such a plan.' At one

•The conversation between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Sumner here re
ported is taken from an unpublished manuscript courteously put at my
disposal by the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. Mr. Hale visited Washing
ton in April, 1862, and called on Mr. Sumner, who entertained him with
the history of the President's Message on Compensated Emancipation.
He made the full notes of the story, which are here published.
(7)

98 LIFE OF LINCOLN
time I thought he would send in the message on New Year's
Day; and I said something about what a glorious thing it
would be. But he stopped me in a moment; ' Don't say a
word about that,' he said; ' I know very well that the name
which is connected with this act will never be forgotten.'
Well, there was one delay and another, but I always spoke to
him till one day in January he said sadly that he had been up
all night with his sick child. I was very much touched, and I
resolved that I would say nothing to the President about this
or any other business if I could help it till that child was well
or dead. And I did not. ... I had never said a
word to him again about it — one morning here, before I had
breakfast, before I was up indeed, both his secretaries came
over to say that he wanted to see me as soon as I could see
him. I dressed at once, and went over. ' I want to read
you my message,' he said ; ' I want to know how you like it.
I am going to send it in to-day.' "
It was on the morning of March 6, 1862, that Mr. Lin
coln sent for Mr. Sumner to read his message. A few hours
later, when the Senator reached the Capitol, he went to the
Senate desk to see if the President had carried out his inten
tion. Yes, the document was there.
As Mr. Sumner's history of the message given to Dr. Hale
shows, Mr. Lincoln for months quietly prepared the way for
his plan. One of his most adroit preparatory manceuvers,
and one of which Mr. Sumner evidently knew nothing, was
performed in New York City, through the Hon. Carl Schurz,
who at that time was the American Minister to Spain.*
Mr. Schurz, who had gone to Madrid in 1861, had not
been long there before he concluded that there would be great
danger of the Southern Confederacy being recognized by
France and England unless the aspect of the situation was
*The following accounts of Mr. Schurz's interviews with Mr. Lincoln
and the plan the two gentlemen arranged for introducing the subject of
compensated emancipation to the public was given me by Mr. Schurz
himself. The manuscript has been corrected by him, and is published
with his permission.

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 99
speedily changed, either by a decisive military success, or
by some evidence on the part of the Administration that the
war was to end in the destruction of slavery. If the conflict
were put on this high moral plane, Mr. Schurz believed the
sympathy of the people in Europe would be so strong with
the North that interference in favor of the South would be
impossible. All of this he wrote to Mr. Seward in Septem
ber of 1 86 1, but he received no reply to his letter other than a
formal acknowledgment.
After a little time, Mr. Schurz wrote to Mr. Lincoln, say
ing that he wanted to come to Washington and personally
represent to the Administration what he conceived to be the
true nature of public opinion in Europe. Mr. Lincoln wrote
to him to come, and he arrived in Washington in the last
week of January, 1862. He went at once to the White
House, where he was received by the President, who listened
attentively to his arguments, the same he had made by letter
to Mr. Seward. When he had finished his presentation of
the case, Mr. Lincoln said that he was inclined to accept that
view, but that he was not sure that the public sentiment of
the country was ripe for such a policy. It had to be educated
up to it. Would not Mr. Schurz go to New York and
talk the matter over with their friends, some of whom he
named? Mr. Schurz assented, and a few days afterwards reported
to Mr. Lincoln that the organization of an " Emancipation
Society," for the purpose of agitating the idea, had been
started in New York, and that a public meeting would be
held at the Cooper Union on March 6.
"That's it; that is the very thing," Mr. Lincoln replied.
" You must make a speech at this meeting. Go home and
prepare it. When you have got it outlined, bring it to me,
and I will see what you are going to say."
Mr. Schurz did so. and in a few days submitted to Mr.

IOO LIFE OF LINCOLN
Lincoln the skeleton of his argument on " Emancipation as
a Peace Measure."
" That is the right thing to say," the President declared
after reading it, " And, remember, you may hear from me on
the same day."
On March 6 the speech was delivered, as had been ar
ranged, before an audience which packed Cooper Union. No
more logical and eloquent appeal for emancipation was made
in all the war period. The audience received it with repeated
cheers, and when Mr. Schurz sat down " the applause shook
the hall," if we may believe the reporter of the New York
" Tribune." Just as the meeting was adjourning, Mr.
Schurz did hear from Mr. Lincoln, a copy of the message
given that afternoon to Congress being placed in his hands.
He at once read it to the audience, which, already thoroughly
aroused, now broke out again in a " tremendous burst of ap
plause." The first effect of the message was to unite the radical
supporters of Mr. Lincoln with the more moderate. " We
are all brought by the common-sense message," said " Har
per's Weekly," " upon the same platform. The cannon shot
against Fort Sumter effected three-fourths of our political
lines; the President's message has wiped out the remaining
fourth." But to Mr. Lincoln's keen disappointment, the
Border State representatives in Congress let the proposition
pass in silence. He saw one and another of them but not a
word did they say of the message. The President stood this
for four days, then he summoned them to the White House
to explain his position.
The talk was long and entirely friendly. The President
said he did not pretend to disguise his anti-slavery feeling;
that he thought slavery was wrong, and should continue to
think so; but that was not the question they had to deal
with. Slavery existed, and that, too, as \vell by the act of the

iiiiiisi
LINCOLN IN 1 86 1. AGE 52
From photograph taken at Springfield, Illinois, early in 1861, by C. S. German and
owned by Allen Jasper Conant.

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION IOI
North as of the South ; and in any scheme to get rid of it,
the North as well as the South was morally bound to do its
full and equal share. He thought the institution wrong and
ought never to have existed ; but yet he recognized the rights
of property which had grown out of it, and would respect
those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property ;
that property can exist, and does legally exist. He thought
such a law wrong, but the rights of property resulting must
be respected ; he would get rid of the odious law, not by vio
lating the right, but by encouraging the proposition, and
offering inducements to give it up. The representatives as
sured Mr. Lincoln before they left that they believed him to
be " moved by a high patriotism and sincere devotion to the
happiness and glory of his country ; " they promised him to
" consider respectfully " the suggestions he had made, but
it must have been evident to the President that they either
had little sympathy with his plan or that they believed it
would receive no favor from their constituents.
Although the message failed to arouse the Border States,
it did stimulate the anti-slavery party in Congress to com
plete several practical measures. Acts of Congress were
rapidly approved forbidding the army and navy to aid in the
return of fugitive slaves, recognizing the independence of
Liberia and Haiti, and completing a treaty with Great Brit
ain to suppress slave trading. One of the most interesting of
the acts which followed close on the message of March 6
emancipated immediately all the slaves in the District of
Columbia. One million dollars was appropriated by Con
gress to pay the loyal slaveholders of the District for their
loss, and $100,000 was set aside to pay the expenses of such
negroes as desired to emigrate to Haiti or Liberia.
The Administration was now committed to compensated
emancipation, but there were many radicals who grew restive
at the slow working of the measure. They began again to call

102 LIFE OF LINCOLN
for more trenchant use of the weapon in Lincoln's hand.
The commander of the Department of the South, General
David Hunter, in his zeal, even issued an order declaring :
Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether
incompatible; the persons in Georgia, Florida,
and South Carolina heretofore held as slaves, are therefore
declared forever free.
Mr. Lincoln's first knowledge of this proclamation came
to him through the newspapers. He at once pronounced it
void. At the same time he made a declaration at which a
man less courageous, one less confident in his own policy,
would have hesitated — a declaration of his intention that no
one but himself should decide how the weapon in his hand
was to be used :
I further make known that, whether it be competent for
me, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, to declare
the slaves of any State or States free, and whether, at any
time, in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispens
able to the maintenance of the government to exercise such
supposed power, are questions which, under my responsi
bility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified
in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field.
It was a public display of a trait of Mr. Lincoln of which
the country had already several examples. He made his
own decisions, trusted his own judgment as a final authority.
In revoking Hunter's order, Mr. Lincoln again appealed
to the Border States to accept his plan of buying and freeing
their slaves, and as if to warn them that the unauthorized
step which Hunter had dared to take might yet be forced
upon the administration, he said :
I do not argue — I beseech you to make arguments for
yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs
of the times. I heg of you a calm and enlarged considera-

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 103
tion of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and
partizan politics. This proposal makes common cause for a
common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts '
not the Pharisee. The change it contemplates would come
gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking any
thing. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not
been done, by one effort, in all past time, as in the provi
dence of God it is now your high privilege to do. May
the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it.
The President's treatment of Hunter's order dissatisfied
many who had been temporarily quieted by the message of
March 6. Again they besought the President to emanci
pate and arm the slaves. The authority and magnitude of
the demand became such that Mr. Lincoln fairly staggered
under it. Still he would not yield. He could not give up yet
his hope of a more peaceful and just system of emancipation.
But while he could not do what was asked of him, he seems
to have felt that it was possible that he was wrong, and that
another man in his place would be able to see the way. In a
remarkable interview held early in the summer with several
Republican senators, among whom was the Honorable
James Harlan, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, the President actually
offered to resign and let Mr. Hamlin, the Vice-President,
initiate the policy.*
The senators went to Mr. Lincoln to urge upon him the
paramount importance of mustering slaves into the Union
army. They argued that as the war was really to free the
negro, it was only fair that he should take his part in work
ing out his own salvation. Mr. Lincoln listened thought
fully to every argument, and then replied :
Gentlemen, I have put thousands of muskets into the
hands of loyal citizens of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Western
*The account of this interview was given to me by the late Hon.
James Harlan of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and was corrected by him before
his death.

104 LIFE OF LINCOLN
North Carolina. They have said they could defend them
selves, if they had guns. I have given them the guns.
Now, these men do not believe in mustering in the negro.
If I do it, these thousands of muskets will be turned against
us. We should lose more than we should gain.
The gentlemen urged other considerations, among them
that it was not improbable that Europe, which was anti-
slavery in sentiment, but yet sympathized with the notion
of a Southern Confederacy, preferring two nations to one
in this country, would persuade the South to free her slaves
in consideration of recognition. After they had exhausted
every argument, Mr. Lincoln answered them.
" Gentlemen," he said, " I can't do it. I can't see it as
you do. You may be right, and I may be wrong; but I'll
tell you what I can do ; I can resign in favor of Mr. Hamlin.
Perhaps Mr. Hamlin could do it."
The senators, amazed at this proposition, " which," says
Senator Harlan, " was made with the greatest seriousness,
and of which not one of us doubted the sincerity," hastened
to assure the President that they could not consider such a
step on his part ; that he stood where he could see all around
the horizon; that he must do what he thought right; that,
in any event, he must not resign.
If at this juncture McClellan had given the President a
successful campaign it is probable that the radicals would
have been more patient with the measure for compensated
emancipation. The Border States seeing an overthrow of the
Confederacy imminent might have hastened to avail them
selves of it. But McClellan was giving the President little
but anxiety. He had undertaken the long deferred cam
paign against Richmond at the beginning of April, but had
begun by disobeying the clause of the President's order
which instructed him to leave enough troops around Wash.

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 105
ington to insure its safety. When he arrived in the Penin
sula he began to fortify his position as if he were entering on
a defensive instead of offensive campaign, and it was only
after repeated probing by the administration that he ad
vanced. Every mile of his route towards Richmond was
made only after urgent pleas and orders from the President
and the Secretary of War and bitter complaints and forebod
ings on his part.
Mr. Lincoln's attitude towards his general-in-chief in this
trying spring of 1862 is a most interesting study. He evi
dently had determined to exercise fully his power as com
mander-in-chief, to force McClellan into battle and to compel
him to carry out the orders which he as chief executive gave.
Conscious of his ignorance of military matters, and anxious
to avoid errors, he exhausted every source of information
on the army and its movements. Secretary Stanton him
self did not watch the Army of the Potomac more closely in
this campaign than did President Lincoln. Indeed, of the
three rooms occupied by the military telegraph office at the
War Department, one came to be called the " President's
room," so much time did he spend there. During a part of
the war, this room was occupied by Mr. A. B. Chandler, now
the President of the Postal Telegraph Union.
" I was alone in this room," says Mr. Chandler, " and
as few people came there to see me, Mr. Lincoln could be
alone. He used to say, ' I come here to escape my perse
cutors. Many people call and say they want to see me for
only a minute. That means, if I can hear their story and
grant their request in a minute, it will be enough.' My
desk was a large one with a flat top, and intended to be occu
pied on both sides. Mr. Lincoln ordinarily took the chair
opposite mine at this desk. Here he would read over the
telegrams received for the several heads of departments, all
of which came to this office. It was the practice to make three

106 LIFE OF LINCOLN
copies of all messages received, to whomsoever addressed.
One of these was what we called a ' hard copy,' and was
saved for the records of the War Department; two carbon
copies were made by stylus, on yellow tissue paper, one for
Mr. Lincoln and one for Mr. Stanton. Mr. Lincoln's copies
were kept in what we called the " President's drawer ' of the
' cipher desk.' He would come in at any time of the night
or day, and go at once to this drawer, and take out a file of
the telegrams, and begin at the top to read them. His posi
tion in running over these telegrams was sometimes very
curious. He had a habit of sitting frequently on the edge of
his chair, with his right knee dragged down to the floor.
I remember a curious expression of his when he got to the
bottom of the new telegrams and began on those that he had
read before. It was, ' Well, I guess I have got down to the
raisins.' The first two or three times he said this he made
no explanation, and I did not ask one. But one day, after
the remark, he looked up under his eyebrows at me with a
funny twinkle in his eyes, and said, ' I used to know a little
girl out West who sometimes was inclined to eat too much.
One day she ate a good many more raisins than she ought
to, and followed them up with a quantity of other goodies.
It made her very sick. After a time the raisins began to
come. She gasped and looked at her mother, and said,
" Well, I will be better now, I guess, for I have got down to
the raisins." '
" Mr. Lincoln frequently wrote telegrams in my office.
His method of composition was slow and laborious. It was
evident that he thought out what he was going to say before
he touched his pen to the paper. He would sit looking out
of the window, his left elbow on the table, his hand scratch
ing his temple, his lips moving, and frequently he spoke
the sentence aloud or in a half whisper. After he was satis
fied that he had the proper expression, he would write it

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 107
out. If one examines the originals of Mr. Lincoln's teie*
grams and letters, he will find very few erasures and very
little interlining. This was because he had them definitely
in his mind before writing them. In this he was the exact
opposite of Mr. Stanton, who wrote with feverish haste,
often scratching out words, and interlining frequently.
Sometimes he would seize a sheet which he had filled, and
impatiently tear it into pieces."
It is only necessary to examine the letters and telegrams
Lincoln sent to McClellan in the campaign of 1862 to appre
ciate the rare patience and still rarer firmness and common-
sense with which he was handling his hard military prob
lems. As has been said McClellan began his campaign by
disobeying the order to leave Washington fully guarded.
The President learning this kept back a corps of the army.
McClellan protested but Lincoln would not give up the
force. " Do you really think," he wrote McClellan, "' I
should permit the line from Richmond via Manassas Junction
to this city to be entirely open, except what resistance could
be presented by less than 20,000 unorganized troops ? This
is a question which the country will not allow me to evade."
When it became evident that McClellan did not intend
to advance promptly the President made a vigorous protest.
Once more let me tell you it is indispensable to you that
you should strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You
will do me the justice to remember I always insisted that
going down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting
at or near Manassas, was only shifting and not surmounting
a difficulty; that we would find the same enemy and the
same or equal intrenchments at either place. The country
will not fail to note — is noting now — that the present hesi
tation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story of
Manassas repeated.
I beg to assure you that I have never written you or
spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor

108 LIFE OF LINCOLN
with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as in my most
anxious judgment I consistently can; but you must act.
McClellan did act but with such caution that he consumed
all of April and most of May in working his way up the
Peninsula to Richmond. Every move he made was under
protest that his force was too small and with incessant com
plaint that the administration was not supporting him. To
wards the end of May when an extra corps, that of Mc
Dowell, was on its way to Richmond to co-operate with
McClellan the administration became alarmed by a threat
ened attack on Washington and recalled McDowell. The
most intelligent military authorities criticise Mr. Lincoln for
withdrawing this force just as the attack on the Confeder
ates was at last to be made. It was an honest enough error
on the President's part. He believed the capital in danger.
— He knew too that with 98,000 men present for duty Mc
Clellan ought to be able to take care of himself. The gen
eral-in-chief, however, regarded this interference with his
plans as added proof that the President did not intend to
support him, wished his overthrow, and he sent the bitterest
complaints to Washington. The President wrote him on
May 25 full explanations of the situation as he saw it, and
begged him to go ahead and do his best.
" If McDowell's force was now beyond our reach," he
said, " we should be utterly helpless. Apprehension of some
thing like this, and no unwillingness to sustain you, has
always been my reason for withholding McDowell's force
from you. Please understand this, and do the best you can
with the force you have."
Three days later, after the fighting for Richmond had
really begun, he telegraphed him, " I am painfully impressed
with the importance of the struggle before you, and shall
aid you all I can consistently with my view of due regard to
all points."

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 109
And through the month following while McClellan was
engaged in the series of battles by which he hoped to get
into Richmond the President did sustain him in every way
he could, sending him troops as he could get them, counsel
ling him whenever he saw a weak point, encouraging him
after every engagement. The result of the campaign was
disastrous. After working his way to within a few miles
of Richmond McClellan was forced back to the James
River, and in a burst of bitter despair he telegraphed to
Washington :
If, at this instant I could dispose of ten thousand fresh
men, I could gain a victory to-morrow. I know that a few
thousand more men would have changed this battle from
a defeat to a victory. As it is, the Government must not and
cannot hold me responsible for the result. I feel too ear
nestly to-night; I have seen too many dead and wounded
comrades to feel otherwise than that the Government has
not sustained this army. If you do not do so now, the game
is lost. If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe
no thanks to you or to any person in Washington. You
have done your best to sacrifice this army.
" Save your army at all events," Lincoln replied. " Will
send re-enforcements as fast as we can. Of course they can
not reach you to-day, to-morrow, or next day. I have not
said you were ungenerous for saying you needed re-enforce
ments. I thought you were ungenerous in assuming that I
did not send them as fast as I could. I feel any misfortune
to you and your army quite as keenly as you feel it yourself.
If you have had a drawn battle, or a repulse, it is the price we
pay for the enemy not being in Washington. We protected
Washington, and the enemy concentrated on you. Had we
stripped Washington, he would have been upon us before the
troops could have gotten to you. Less than a week ago you
notified us that re-enforcements were leaving Richmond to
come in front of us. It is the nature of the case, and neither
you nor the Government are to blame. Please tell at once
the present condition and aspect of things."

HO LIFE OF LINCOLN
This was June 28. Mr. Lincoln hoped that McClellan
might yet recover his position, but the developments of the
next two days showed him the campaign was a failure. It
was a terrible blow. " When the Peninsula campaign ter
minated suddenly at Harrison's Landing," Mr. Lincoln said
once to a friend who asked him if he had ever despaired of
his country, '"I was as nearly inconsolable as I could be
i/and live."
But he neither faltered nor blamed. He bade McClellan
"find a place of security and wait and rest and repair,"
to maintain his ground if he could but to save his army even
if he fell back to Fort Monroe. And he went to work to
bring light into about as black a situation as a President ever
faced. His first duty was to ask men of the sorrowing and
angry country. The War Department had felt so certain in
April when McClellan started on the Peninsula campaign
that it had force enough to finish the war that recruiting
had been stopped. Now a new call was made for 300,000
men for three years.
In order to learn the situation of the Army of the Poto
mac more exactly than he could from McCleUan's de
spairing and often contradictory letters and telegrams, the
President himself went to Harrison's Landing in July. The
first and important result of his visit was that it fixed his
determination to do something immediately about emancipa
tion. He was convinced that he was not going to have any
military encouragement very soon to offer to his supporters.
But he must show them some fruits of their efforts, some
sign that the men and money they were pouring into " Mc
CleUan's trap," as it was beginning to be called, were not
lost; that the new call for 300,000 men just made was not
to be in vain. There was nothing to do but use emancipa
tion in some way as a weapon, and he summoned the repre
sentatives of the Border States to the White House on July

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION III
12, and made an earnest, almost passionate, appeal to them
to consider his proposition of March 6.
It is doubtful if Mr. Lincoln in all his political career
ever had a measure more at heart than his scheme for com
pensated emancipation. Isaac Arnold, who knew him well,
says that rarely, . if ever, was he known to manifest such
solicitude as over this measure.
" Oh, how I wish the Border States would accept my
proposition," he said to Arnold and Owen Lovejoy one
day; "then you, Lovejoy, and you, Arnold, and all of us
would not have lived in vain. The labor of your life, Love
joy, would be crowned with success. You would live to see
the end of slavery."
" Could you have seen the President," wrote Sumner once
to a friend, " as it was my privilege often — while he was
considering the great questions on which he has already
acted — the invitation to emancipation in the States, emanci
pation in the District of Columbia, and the acknowledg
ment of the independence of Haiti and Liberia, even your
zeal would have been satisfied.
"His whole soul was occupied, especially by the first
proposition, which was peculiarly his own. In familiar in
tercourse with him, I remember nothing more touching than
the earnestness and completeness with which he embraced
this idea. To his mind it was just and beneficent, while it
promised the sure end of slavery."
His address to the Border States representatives on July
12 is full of this conviction :
" I intend no reproach or complaint," he said, " when I as
sure you that, in my opinion, if you all had voted for the
resolution in the gradual-emancipation message of last
March, the war would now be substantially ended. And the
plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift
means of ending it. Let. the States which are in rebellion
see definitely and certainly that in no event will the States
you represent ever join their proposed confederacy, and they

112 LIFE OF LINCOLN
cannot much longer maintain the contest. But you cannot
divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them
so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the in
stitution within your own States. Beat them at elections,
as you have overwhelmingly done, and, nothing daunted,
they still claim you as their own. You and I know what the
lever of their power is. Break that lever before their faces,
and they can shake you no more forever. * * * If
the war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner
attained, the institution in your States will be extinguished
by mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of
the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable
in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already. How much
better for you and for your people to take the step which at
once shortens the war and secures substantial compensa
tion, for that which is sure to be wholly lost in any other
event! * * *
" I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one
which threatens division among those who, united, are none
too strong. An instance of it is known to you. General
Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope still is, my
friend. I valued him none the less for his agreeing with me
in the general wish that all men everywhere could be free.
He proclaimed all men free within certain States, and I re
pudiated the proclamation. He expected more good and less
harm from the measure than I could believe would follow.
Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offense,
to many whose support the country cannot afford to lose.
And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction
is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding what I
now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve
the country, in this important point. * * * Our
common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest
views and boldest action to bring it speedy relief. Once re
lieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its be
loved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and
its happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivably
grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is
given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and
to link your own names therewith forever."

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 1 13
The majority of the Border States representatives re
jected the President's appeal. Now Mr. Lincoln never came
to a point in his public career where he did not have a card
in reserve, and he never lacked the courage to play it if he
was forced to. " I must save this government if possible,"
he said, now that his best efforts for compensated emancipa
tion were vain. "' What I cannot do, of course I will not do ;
but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall
not surrender this game leaving any available card un-
played." Just what his " available card " was he hinted to
Secretary Seward and Secretary Welles the very day after
his interview with the Border State representatives. He had
about come to the conclusion, he said, that he must free the
slaves by proclamation or be himself subdued. " It was a
new departure for the President," writes Welles in his
Diary, " for until this time, in all our previous interviews
whenever the question of emancipation or the mitigation of
slavery had been in any way alluded to, he had been prompt
and emphatic in denouncing any interference by the General
Government with the institution."
It was probably very shortly after this that a curious in
terview took place between Mr. Lincoln and his old and inti
mate friend, Leonard Swett, which shows admirably the
struggle in the President's mind. The story of this inter
view Mr. Swett used to tell often to his friends, and it is
through the courtesy of one of them, the Hon. Peter Stenger
Grosscup, United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Ju
dicial Circuit, that it is given here :
One day, during the course of the war, when Mr. Swett
was at his home in Bloomington, Illinois, he received a tele
gram asking him to come immediately to the President.
The second morning afterwards found him in Washington.
Thinking that something unusual was at hand, he went to
the White House upon arrival and before eating his break-
(8)

114 LIFE OF LINCOLN
fast. Mr. Lincoln asked him immediately into the cabinet
room, and after making a few inquiries about mutual friends
in Illinois, pulled up his chair to a little cabinet of drawers.
Swett, of course, awaited in silence the developments. Open
ing a drawer, Lincoln took out a manuscript which, he said,
was a letter from William Lloyd Garrison, and which he
proceeded to read. It proved to be an eloquent and pas
sionate appeal for the immediate emancipation of the slaves.
It recalled the devotion and loyalty of the North, but pointed
out, with something like peremptoriness, that unless some
step was taken to cut out by the roots the institution of slav
ery, the expectations of the North would be disappointed
and its ardor correspondingly cooled. It went into the moral
wrong that lay at the bottom of the war, and insisted that
the war could not, in the nature of things, be ended until the
wrong was at an end. The letter throughout was entirely
characteristic of Garrison.
Laying it back without comment, Mr. Lincoln took out
another, which proved to be a letter from Garrett Davis, of
Kentucky. It, too, treated of emancipation; but from the
Border State point of view. It carefully balanced the mar
tial and moral forces of the North and South, and pointed
out that if the Border States, now divided almost equally
between the belligerents, were thrown unitedly to the South,
a conclusion of the war favorable to the North would be
next to impossible. It then proceeded to recall that slavery
was an institution of these Border States with which their
people had grown familiar and upon which much of their
prosperity was founded. Emancipation, especially emanci
pation without compensation, would, in that quarter of the
country, be looked upon as a stab at prosperity and a depart
ure from the original Union purposes of the war. It beg
ged Mr. Lincoln to be led by the Northern abolition senti
ment into no such irretrievable mistake.
Laying this back, Mr. Lincoln took out another, which
turned out to be from a then prominent Swiss statesman,
a sympathizer with the Northern cause, but whose name I
cannot recall. It breathed all through an ardent wish that
the North should succeed. The writer's purpose was to call
attention to the foreign situation and the importance of pre-

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 1 15
venting foreign intervention. This he summed up as fol
lows : The governing classes in England and Napoleon in
France were favorable to the success of the Confederacy.
They were looking for a pretext upon which to base some sort
of intervention. Anything that, in international law, would
justify intervention would be quickly utilized. A situation
justifying such a pretext must be avoided. The writer then
pointed out that from the earliest times any interference with
the enemy's slaves had been regarded as a cruel and improper
expedient; that emancipation would be represented to
Europe as an equivalent of inciting slave insurrection; and
would be seized upon, the writer feared, as a pretext upon
which forcibly to intervene. The letter went over the whole
foreign situation, bringing out clearly this phase of the con
sequences of emancipation.
Laying this letter back, the President turned to Mr. Swett,
and without a word of inquiry, took up himself the subject
of emancipation, not only in the phases pointed out by the
letters just read, but every possible phase and consequence
under which it could be considered. For more than an hour
he debated the situation, first the one side and then the
other of every question arising. His manner did not indi
cate that he wished to impress his views upon his hearer,
but rather to weigh and examine them for his own enlight
enment in the presence of his hearer. It was an instance of
stating conclusions aloud, not that they might convince an
other, or be combatted by him, but that the speaker might see
for himself how they looked when taken out of the region
of mere reflection and embodied in words. The President's
deliverance was so judicial, and so free from the quality of
debate, or appearance of a wish to convince, that Mr. Swett
felt himself to be, not so much a hearer of Lincoln's views,
as a witness of the President's mental operations. The
President was simply framing his thought in words, under
the eye of his friend, that he might clear up his own mind.
When the President concluded, he asked for no comment,
and made no inquiry, but rising, expressed his hope that Mr.
Swett would get home safely, and entrusted to him some
messages to their mutual friends. The audience thus
ended.

Il6 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Mr. Lincoln had, no doubt, determined at this time on
the Emancipation Proclamation, perhaps had in his drawer,
with the letters he read to Mr. Swett, the original draft
which, as he afterwards told Mr. F. B. Carpenter, he pre
pared " without consultation with or the knowledge of the
cabinet." It was on July 22 that, " after much anxious
thought," he called a cabinet meeting to consider the sub
ject. " I said to the cabinet," the President told Mr. Carpenter,
" that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them
together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject matter of
a proclamation before them ; suggestions as to which would
be in order, after they had heard it read."
The gist of the proclamation which Mr. Lincoln read to
the cabinet was that, on the first day of January, 1863, all
persons held as slaves within any 'State or States wherein
the constitutional authority of the United States should not
then be practically recognized, should " then, thenceforward,
and forever be free." He called his proclamation " a fit
and necessary military measure," and prefaced it by declar
ing that, upon the next meeting of Congress, he intended to
recommend a practical plan for giving pecuniary aid to any
State which by that time had adopted " gradual abolish
ment of slavery."
The cabinet seems to have been bewildered by the sweep
ing proposition of the President. Nicolay and Hay quote
a memorandum of the meeting made by Secretary Stanton,
in which he says: '"The measure goes beyond anything I
have recommended." Mr. Lincoln, in his account of the
meeting given to Mr. Carpenter, says :
Various suggestions were offered. . . . Noth
ing, however, was offered that I had not already fully an<

Stanton
PPJf

Chase

President Lincoln
'<•'"<' i ffflHIIHHIM

FIRST READING OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
From the original painting by F. B. Carpenter
The original was painted in the state dining-room of the White House between February 5
and August 1, 1864, under the eye and with the kindly help of President Lincoln. Accord
ing to a letter of Secretary Chase to Mr. Carpenter, "Mr. Lincoln, before reading his manu
script of the proclamation, said, in substance : ' I have considered everything that has been
said to me about the expediency of emancipation, and have made up my mind to issue this
proclamation, and I have invited you to come together, not to discuss what is to be done,
but to have you hear what I have written and to get your suggestions about form and style ; '
adding : ' I have thought it all over, and have made a promise that this should be done to
myself and to God.'" Secretary Chase adds: "The picture well represents that moment
which followed the reading of the proclamation. It puts the two members who thoroughly
advised and heartily believed in the measure on the right of Mr. Lincoln ; the others (who,
though they all acquiesced, and Mr. Seward, who, particularly, made important suggestions,
had hitherto doubted or advised delay or even opposed) on the left."

Weues

Blair

Bates

BEFORE THE CABINET, SEPTEMBER 20, 1 862
now in the Capitol at Washington.
Upon its completion, the painting was exhibited for two days in the East Room of the
White House. After having been exhibited through the country, it was purchased by Mrs.
Elizabeth Thompson, of New York, and presented to the re-United States, Congress unani
mously accepting the gift and voting Mrs. Thompson the "thanks of Congress," the highest
honor ever paid a woman in our country, and setting apart Lincoln's birthday, February 12,
1878, for the acceptance of the painting. On that day both houses of Congress adjourned
in honor of the celebration ; the painting was elevated over the chair of the Speaker of the
House of Representatives ; Garfield, then a member of Congress, made the speech of presen
tation on behalf of Mrs. Thompson, while the Hon. Alexander Stephens, former vice-presi
dent of the Confederacy, who, in a famous speech at the beginning of the war, had declared,
"Slavery is the cornerstone of the new Confederacy," made the speech accepting, on behalf
of Congress, this painting which commemorates the abolition of slavery.

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION U7
ticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Sew
ard spoke. He said in substance : " Mr. President, I ap
prove of the proclamation, but I question the expediency
of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public
mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great that
I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as
the last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help ;
the government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, in
stead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the govern
ment." His idea was that it would be considered our last
shriek, on the retreat. " Now," continued Mr. Seward,
" while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you post
pone its issue, until you can give it to the country, supported
by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the
case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war ! " Th*
wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me with
very great force. It was an aspect of the case that, in all my
thoughts upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The
result was that I put the draft of the proclamation aside, as
you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory. From
time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here
and there, anxiously waiting the progress of events.
The victory Mr. Lincoln waited for was long in coming.
Disaster after disaster followed. Each new delay or failure
only intensified the radical anti-slavery sentiment, and made
the demand for emancipation more emphatic and threaten
ing. The culmination of this dissatisfaction was an editorial
signed by Horace Greeley, and printed in the New York
" Tribune " of August 20, entitled, " The Prayer of 20,-
000,000 " — two columns of bitter and unjust accusations
and complaints addressed to Mr. Lincoln, charging him with
" ignoring, disregarding, and defying " the laws already
enacted against slavery.
Mr. Lincoln answered it in a letter published in the " Na
tional Intelligencer" of Washington, August 23. The
document challenges comparison with the State papers of
all times and all countries for its lucidity andjts courage :

Il8 LIFE OF LINCOLN
" As to the policy I ' seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I
have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
" I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest
way under the Constitution. The sooner the national au
thority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be ' the
Union as it was.' If there be those who would not save the
Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do
not agree with them. If there be those who would not save
the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery,
I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this strug
gle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to de
stroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any
slave, I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the
slaves, I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing some
and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do
about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it
helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear be
cause I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I
shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts
the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing
more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when
shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as
they shall appear to be true views.
The " Greeley faction," as it was called, not only pursued
Mr. Lincoln through the press and pulpit and platform ; an
unending procession of radical committees and delegations
waited upon him. Although he was at that time, by his own
statement, adding or changing a line of the proclamation,
" touching it up here and there," he seems almost invariably
to have argued against emancipation with those who came to
plead for it.
It was only his way of making his own judgment surer.
He was not only examining every possible reason for eman
cipation; he was steadily seeking reasons against it. Per
haps the best illustration preserved to us of this intellectual
method of Lincoln is his argument to a committee from the

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 1 19
religious denominations of Chicago, who came to him on
September 13:
" 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 neces
sarily 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 Con
gress, 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 in
duced 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 ? * * 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 men
tion another thing, though it meets 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 de
sire, they should go over to the rebels."
The letter to Greeley, the passages quoted above, show
how the President was wrestling with the question. There
is every indication indeed that an incessant struggle against
violent emancipation went on in his mind through the whole
period. He regarded it as the act of a dictator. He feared
it might be fruitless. He dreaded the injury it would do the
loyal people of the South. He said once to a friend, that
he had prayed to the Almighty to save him from the neces
sity of it, adopting the very language of Christ, " If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me." In talking to the

120 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Chicago delegations, who argued that it was God's will that
he issue a proclamation, he said :
" 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 de
ceived 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 victory for which the President waited came on Sep
tember 17. McClellan had followed Lee into Maryland,
and defeated him. The President was at his summer house
at the Soldier's Home when the news of Antietam reached
him. He at once finished the second draft of the Emancipa
tion Proclamation, and called the cabinet together on Mon
day, September 22. Secretary Chase recorded in his diary,
that day, how, after reading his colleagues a chapter from
Artemus Ward, the President " took a graver tone." The
words he spoke, as recorded by Mr. Chase, are a remarkable
revelation of the man's feelings at the moment :
I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about the
relation of this war to slavery; and you all remember that,
several weeks ago, I read to you an order I had prepared on
this subject, which, on account of objections made by some
of you, was not issued. Ever since then my mind has been
much occupied with this subject, and I have thought, all
along, that the time for acting on it might probably come.
I think the time has come now. I wish it was a better time.
I wish that we were in a better condition. The action of
the army against the rebels has not been quite what I should
have best liked. But they have been driven out of Maryland,

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 121
and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion. When
the rebel army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as
it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclama
tion of emancipation, such as I thought m( st likely to be
useful. I said nothing to any one, but I made the promise
to myself and [hesitating a little] to my Maker. The rebel
army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfil that prom
ise. I have got you together to hear what I have written
down. I do not wish your advice about the main matter, for
that I have determined for myself. This, I say without in
tending anything but respect for any one of you. But I al
ready know the views of each on this question. They have
been heretofore expressed, and I have considered them as
thoroughly and carefully as I can. What I have written is
that which my reflections have determined me to say. If
there is anything in the expressions I use, or in any minor
matter, which any of you thinks had best be changed, I shall
be glad to receive the suggestions. One other observation
I will make. I know very well that many others might, in
this matter as in others, do better than I can ; and if I was
satisfied that the public confidence was more fully possessed
by any one of them than by me, and knew of any constitu
tional way in which he could be put in my place, he should
have it. I would gladly yield it to him. But, though I believe
that I have not so much of the confidence of the people as I
had some time since, I do not know that, all things consid
ered, any other person has more ; and, however this may be,
there is no way in which I can have any other man put where
I am. I am here ; I must do the best I can, and bear the re
sponsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take.
The proclamation appeared in the newspapers of the fol
lowing morning. One substantial addition had been made
to the document since July 22. It now declared that the
Government of the United States would "' recognize and
maintain " the freedom of the persons set at liberty.
There was no exultation in the President's mind ; indeed
there was almost a groan in the words which, the night
after he had given it out, he addressed to a party of sere-

122 LIFE OF LINCOLN
naders, " I can only trust in God that I have made no
mistake." The events of the fall brought him little en
couragement. Indeed, the promise of emancipation seemed
to effect nothing but discontent and uneasiness ; stocks went
down, troops fell off. In five great States — Indiana, Illinois,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York — the elections went
against him. Little but menaces came from Europe. Many
said that the President would not dare, in the face of the un
rest of the country, fulfil his promise, and issue the procla
mation. But when Congress opened on December i, he
did submit the proclamation, together with the plan for
compensated emancipation which he had worked out. Over
one-half of the message, in fact, was given to this plan.
Mr. Lincoln pleaded with Congress for his measure as
he had never pleaded before. He argued that it would " end
the struggle and save the Union forever," that it would
" cost no blood at all," that Congress could do it if they
would unite with the executive^ that the " good people "
would respond and support it if appealed to.
" It is not," he said, " " Can any of us imagine better ? '
but,' Can we all do better? ' Object whatsoever is possible,
still the question occurs, ' Can we do better ? ' The dogmas
of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The
occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with
the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew
and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we
shall save our country.
" Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this
Congress and this Administration will be remembered in
spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignifi
cance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through
which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to
the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The
world will not forget that we say this. We know how to
save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save
it. We — even we here — hold the power «id bear the re-

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 1 23
sponsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure free
dom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what
we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last,
best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could
not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way
which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God
must forever bless."
As the ist of January drew near, many friends of the
proclamation doubted that Mr. Lincoln would keep his
promise. Among these was the Rev. Byron Sunderland,
of Washington, at that time chaplain of the Senate and one
of the most aggressively loyal ministers in the city. Dr.
Sunderland feared that there was truth in the rumor that the
President would withdraw, not issue, the proclamation on
the ist of January, and on the Sunday before the New Year
he preached a sermon on the subject. Mr. Z. S. Robbins, of
Washington, a friend of Mr. Lincoln, asked Dr. Sunderland
to go with him to the President and urge him to keep his
promise. " We were ushered into the cabinet room," says Dr. Sun
derland. " It was very dim, but one gas-jet burning. As
we entered, Mr. Lincoln was standing at the farther end of
the long table which filled the middle of the room. As I
stood by the door, I am so very short, that I was obliged to
look up to see the President. Mr. Robbins introduced me,
and I began at once by saying : " I have come, Mr. President,
to anticipate the New Year with my respects, and if I may,
to say to you a word about the serious condition of this
country.' " ' Go ahead, Doctor,' replied the President; ' every little
helps.' But I was too much in earnest to laugh at his sally
at my smallness. ' Mr. President,' I continued, ' they say
that you are not going to keep your promise to give us the
Emancipation Proclamation; that it is your intention to
withdraw it'

124 LIFE OF LINCOLN
" ' Well, Doctor,' said Mr. Lincoln, ' you know Peter was
going to do it, but when the time came he didn't.'
" " Mr. President,' I continued, ' I have been studying
Peter. He did not deny his Master until after his Master
rebuked him in the presence of the enemy. You have a mas
ter, too, Mr. Lincoln, the American people. Don't deny
your master until he has rebuked you before all the world.'
" My earnestness seemed to interest the President, and
his whole tone changed immediately. ' Sit down, Doctor
Sunderland,' he said ; ' let us talk.'
" We seated ourselves in the room, and for a moment the
President was silent, his elbow resting on the table, his big,
gnarled hands closed over his forehead. Then looking up
gravely at me, he began to speak :
" ' Doctor, if it had been left to you and me, there would
have been no war. If it had been left to you and me, there
would have been no cause for this war ; but it was not left to
us. God has allowed men to make slaves of their fellows.
He permits this war. He has before Him a strange specta
cle. We, on our side, are praying Him to give us victory,
because we believe we are right ; but those on the other side
pray Him, too, for victory, believing they are right. What
must He think of us ? And what is coming from the strug
gle? What will be the effect of it all on the whites and on
the negroes ? ' And then suddenly a ripple of amusement
broke the solemn tone of his voice. ' As for the negroes,
Doctor, and what is going to become of them : I told Ben
Wade the other day, that it made me think of a story I read
in one of my first books, '" ^Esop's Fables." It was an old
edition, and had curious rough wood-cuts, one of which
showed four white men scrubbing a negro in a potash kettle
filled with cold water. The text explained that the men
thought that by scrubbing the negro they might make him
white. Just about the time they thought they were succeed
ing, he took cold and died. Now, I am afraid that by the
time we get through this war the negro will catch cold and
die.' " The laugh had hardly died away before he resumed his
grave tone, and for half an hour he discussed the question of
emancipation. He stated it in every light, putting his points

LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION 125
so clearly that each statement was an argument. He showed
the fullest appreciation of every side. It was like a talk of
one of the old prophets. And though he did not tell me at
the end whether the proclamation would be issued or not, I
went home comforted and uplifted, and I believed in Abra
ham Lincoln from that day."
Mr. Lincoln had no idea of withdrawing the proclama
tion. On December 30, he read the document to his cabi
net, and asked the members to take copies home and give
him their criticisms. The next day at cabinet meeting these
criticisms and suggestions were presented by the different
members, Mr. Lincoln took them all to his office, where,
during that afternoon and the morning of January 1, 1863,
he rewrote the document. He was called from it at eleven
o'clock to go to the East Room and begin the customary
New Year's handshaking. It was the middle of the after
noon before he was free and back in the executive chamber,
where the Emancipation Proclamation, which in the inter
val had been duly engrossed at the State Department and
brought to the White House by Secretary Seward and his
son, was waiting his signature.
" They found the President alone in his room," writes
Frederick Seward. " The broad sheet was spread out be
fore him on the cabinet table. Mr. Lincoln dipped his pen in
the ink, and then, holding it a moment above the paper,
seemed to hesitate. Looking around, he said :
'" ' I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing
right, than I do in signing this paper. But I have been re
ceiving calls, and shaking hands since nine [eleven ?] o'clock
this morning, till my arm is stiff and numb. Now, this sig
nature is one that will be closely examined, and if they find
my hand trembled, they will say " he had some compunc
tions." But, any way, it is going to be done! '
" So saying, he slowly and carefully wrote his name at the
bottom of the proclamation."

126 LIFE OF LINCOLN
At last the Emancipation Proclamation was a fact. But
there was little rejoicing in the heart of the man who had
framed and given it to the world. In issuing it, all he had
dared hope was that in the long run it would give greater
gain than loss. He was not confident that this would be so,
but he was willing to risk it. " Hope and fear and doubt con
tended over the new policy in uncertain conflict," he said
months later. As he had foreseen, dark days followed.
There were mutinies in the army; there was ridicule; there
was a long interval of waiting for results. Nothing but the
greatest care in enforcing the proclamation could make it
a greater good than evil, and Mr. Lincoln now turned all his
energies to this new task. " We are like whalers," he said
one day, " who have been long on a chase ; we have at last
got the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how
we steer, or with one ' flop ' of his tail he will send us all into
eternity."

CHAPTER XXVI
Lincoln's search for a general
The failure of McClellan in the Peninsular Campaign not
only forced the emancipation proclamation from Lincoln, it
set him to working on a fresh set of military problems. The
most important of these was a search for a competent gen
eral-in-chief for the armies of the United States. As has
already been noted General McClellan had been appointed
general-in-chief in July, 1861, after the first battle of Bull
Run. A few months' experience had demonstrated to the
Administration that able as McClellan was in forming an
army and inspiring his soldiers, he lacked the ability to di
rect a great concerted movement extending over so long a
line as that from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. In March
when he took the field at the head of the Army of the
Potomac the President relieved him from the command of
all military departments except that of the Department of
the Potomac. From March to July, 1862, Lincoln had no
general-in-chief. He felt so keenly his need of an ex
perienced military counsellor that towards the end of June
he made a hurried and secret visit to General Scott, who
since he had been superseded by McClellan had been in re
tirement. One result of his visit to McClellan at Harrison's Landing
in July was to fix Lincoln's determination to have in Wash
ington a general-in-chief of all the armies who could supple
ment his own meagre knowledge of military matters, and
who could aid him in forming judgments. He knew that in
the campaign against Richmond he had, at more than one
127

128 LIFE OF LINCOLN
critical moment, made decisions which were contrary to Mc
CleUan's plans. He knew that McClellan claimed that these
decisions had caused his failure. He had acted to the best of
his judgment in every case, but he undoubtedly felt the dan
ger in a civilian's taking such a responsibility. He wanted a
man at his side whom he believed was wiser than he in these
matters. So far the war had brought out but one man who
seemed to him at all fit for this work, Major-General H. W.
Halleck, the commander of the Department of the Missis
sippi. On his return to Washington from his visit to Mc
Clellan, almost the first act of the President was to summon
Halleck to Washington as general-in-chief. Halleck was a
West Point man highly regarded by General Scott, who
had been appointed to take charge of the Department of the
West after Fremont's failure there. He had shown such
vigor in his field in the winter of i86i-'62, that in March,
when McClellan was relieved of the position of general-in-
chief, a new department including all the Mississippi region
west of Knoxville, Tennessee, was given to Halleck. Since
that time he had succeeded in opening the Mississippi with
the aid of the gunboats as far south as Memphis.
Halleck was appointed on July n, and soon after his ar
rival in Washington he went to Harrison's Landing to look
over McCleUan's situation. He found McClellan determined
to make another attack on Richmond after he received re-
enforcements. Halleck disapproved of the idea. He be
lieved that McClellan should return to the Potomac and
unite with the new army of Virginia which had just been
formed of the troops around Washington and placed under
the direction of General John Pope, another product of the
Mississippi campaign, from whom the President hoped
great things.
McClellan persistently fought this plan and his removal
was seriously discussed at this time. The great body of the

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 1 29
Kepublican party indeed demanded it. Many did not hesi
tate to say that McClellan was a traitor only waiting the
proper opportunity to surrender his army to the enemy — an
accusation which never had other foundation than McClel-
lan's obstinacy and procrastination. Lincoln would not re
lieve him. He believed him loyal. He knew that no man
could be better loved by his soldiers or more capable
of putting an army into form. He had no one to put
in his place. There was a political reason, too; McClellan
was a Democrat. The party took his view of the disastrous
Peninsular campaign — that Mr. Lincoln had not supported
him. To remove him was to arouse bitter Democratic oppo
sition and so to decrease the support of the Union cause and
at this juncture to hold as solid a North as possible to the
war was quite as imperative as to win a battle.
Lincoln would not relieve McClellan, but he sanctioned
the plan for a change of base from the James to the Potomac
and early in August, McClellan was ordered to move his
army. He continued to struggle against the movement, be
lieving he could, if re-enforced, capture Richmond, and when
forced to yield he had made the movement with delay and ill-
humor. The withdrawal of McClellan freed Lee's army, and
the Confederate general marched quickly northward against
the Army of Virginia under General Pope. On August 30,
Lee defeated Pope in the second battle of Bull Run — a de
feat scarcely less discouraging to the Federals than the first
Bull Run had been, and one that caused almost as great a
panic at Washington. Pope was defeated, the country gener
ally believed, because McClellan, who was hardly twenty
miles away, did not, in spite of orders, do anything to relieve
him. It seemed to Lincoln that McClellan even wanted Pope
to fail. The indignation of the Secretary of War and of the
majority of the members of the cabinet was so great against
McClellan that a protest against keeping him any longer in
(9)

130 LIFE OF LINCOLN
command of any force was written by Stanton and signed
by three of his colleagues. Major A. E. H. Johnson, the pri
vate secretary of Stanton, first published this protest in the
Washington "Evening Star," March 18, 1893. Mr. John
son says that the President thought it unwise to publish the
document that Mr. Stanton had prepared ; but he consented
that the following protest should be signed and handed to
him as a substitute. The understanding of the cabinet mem
bers interested was that this revised protest should go to the
country. Mr. Johnson believes that Mr. Lincoln himself
wrote this protest ; at all events, he is certain that the Presi
dent consented to it.
The undersigned, who have been honored with your se
lection as part of your confidential advisers, deeply im
pressed with our great responsibility in the present crisis, do
but perform a painful duty in declaring to you our deliberate
opinion that at this time it is not safe to intrust to Major-
General McClellan the command of any army of the United
States. And we hold ourselves ready at any time to explain
to you in detail the reasons upon which this opinion is based.
In spite of this evident sympathy of Lincoln with the in
dignation against McClellan, on September 2 he placed that
general in command of all the troops around Washington.
Probably no act of his ever angered the Secretary of War so
thoroughly. A large part of the North, too, was indignant.
A general cry went up to the President for a new leader.
Lincoln only showed again in this determined and bitterly
criticised action his courage in acting in a Crisis according
to his own judgment. The army under Pope was demoral
ized. Washington was, perhaps, in danger. The defeat had
robbed Pope of confidence. Halleck, worn out with fatigue
and anxiety, was beseeching McClellan to come to his
relief. There was no other general in the army who could
so quickly " lick the troops into shape," as Lincoln put

lt& iiilliiilii

LINCOLN AT MCCLELLAN's HEADQUARTERS, ANTIETAM, OCTOBER 3, l862
From photograph loaned by Mr. C. M. Derickson, Mercer, Pa. After defeating Lee at Antietam on
September 17, McClellan had failed to follow up his advantage, alleging that his army lacked "everything"
and needed rest. Lincoln then went to Antietam to study the situation for himself ; ajid it was during
this visit that the picture was taken. At Lincoln's right stands McClellan.

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 13*
it, and man the fortifications around the city. He made the
order, and McClellan entirely justified the President's faith
in him. He did put the army into form, and was able to fol
low at once after Lee, who was making for Maryland and
Pennsylvania. Overtaking Lee at Antietam; north of the
Potomac, McClellan defeated him on September 17. But
to Lincoln's utter despair, he failed to follow up his victory
and allowed Lee to get back south of the Potomac river;
nor would he follow him, in spite of Lincoln's reiterated urg
ing. It was this failure to move McCleUan's army from
camp that sent Lincoln to visit him early in October. He
would find out the actual condition of the army; see if, as
McClellan complained, it lacked " everything " and needed
rest. He found McClellan with over 100,000 men around
him; two days of his visit he spent in the saddle reviewing
this force. He visited the hospitals, talked with the men, in
terviewed the generals, saw everything. What his opinion of
the ability of the army to do something was, is evident from
an order sent McClellan the day after he returned to Wash
ington : " The President directs that you cross the Potomac
and give battle to the enemy or drive him south." This was
on October 6. A week later, McClellan being still in camp,
Mr. Lincoln wrote him the following letter :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 13, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
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 con
stantly 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

132 LIFE OF LINCOLN
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 Ferry to Winchester, but it
wastes all 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 communica
tions 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? . . .
If he should move northward, I would follow him closely,
holding his communications. If he should prevent our seiz
ing his communications, and move toward Richmond, I
would press closely to him, fight him, if a favorable opportu
nity 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 nor 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
^he intrenchments of Richmond. . . .
This patient, sensible letter had no effect on McClellan.
Now, forbearing as Lincoln was as a rule, he could lose his
patience in a way which it does one good to see. He lost it a

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 133
few days later, when McClellan gave as a reason for inaction
that his cavalry horses had sore tongues.
" I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongued and
fatigued horses," Lincoln telegraphed. " Will you pardon
me for asking what the horses of your army have done since
the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything? "
Yet even for this telegram he half apologized two days
later :
Most certainly 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 7,918, 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 dispatch.
On the first day of November, McClellan crossed the Po
tomac ; but four days later the President, acting on a curious,
half-superstitious ultimatum which he had laid down for his
own guidance, removed the General. He had decided, Mr.
Hay heard him say, that if McClellan permitted Lee to cross
the Blue Ridge and place himself between Richmond and the
Army of the Potomac, there would be a change in generals.
Four days later Lee did this very thing, and Lincoln, un
moved by the fact that McClellan had at last begun the
movement south, kept the compact with himself.
But who should be asked to take the command of the
army? There was no man whose achievements made him
pre-eminent — no one whom the country demanded as it had
Fremont and McClellan. The choice seemed to be confined
to the corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac, and
General Ambrose Burnside was ordered to relieve McClel
lan. Lincoln had been watching Burnside closely for many

134 LIFE OF LINCOLN
months. Indeed, he had already twice asked him to take the
command, but Burnside, believing in McClellan and mis
trusting his own fitness, had refused.
With an anxious heart the President watched the new
commander as he followed Lee into Virginia and took a po
sition north of the Rappahannock, facing Lee, who was now
at Fredericksburg, on the south of the river. Burnside at
once made ready for battle and Lincoln wanting as al
ways to see with his own eyes the army's condition, went
down the Potomac on November 27 to Acquia Creek, where
Burnside met him and explained his plan. The President
thought it risky and in a letter to Halleck suggested a less
hazardous substitute. Both Burnside and Halleck objected
however and the President yielded.
Burnside began his movement on December 9. During
the 10th, nth, 12th, and 13th, the President studied intently
the yellow-tissue telegrams in his drawer at the telegraph
office, telling where troops were crossing the river and what
positions had been gained. At half-past four o'clock on the
morning of the 14th, a message was received saying that the
troops were all over the river — " loss, 5,000." This meant
that the final struggle was at hand. About eight o'clock that
morning, Mr. Lincoln appeared at the telegraph office of the
War Department in dressing-gown and carpet slippers. Mr.
Rosewater, the present editor of the Omaha " Bee," was re
ceiving messages, and he says that the President did not leave
the room until night. Secretary Stanton, Major Eckert, and
Captain Fox were the only other persons present, as he re
members. The excitement and suspense were too great for
any one to eat, and it was not until evening that the Secre
tary sent out for food for the watchers. All day the 15th the
anxiety lasted; then, at a quarter past four o'clock on the
morning of the 16th, came news of a retreat. " I have
thought it necessary," telegraphed Burnside from the north

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 135
of the Rappahannock, " to withdraw the army to this side of
the river." Slowly the dreadful returns came in — over
10,000 men dead and wounded, 2,000 more missing. The
government did its utmost to conceal the disaster, but gradu
ally it came out and again the heart-sick country heaped its
anger on the President.
Lincoln's faith in Burnside was sorely tried by the battle
of Fredericksburg. Reports which soon came to him of the
discouragement of the army, and the disaffection of the
corps commanders, alarmed him still further, and he refused,
without Halleck's consent, to allow Burnside to make a new
movement which the latter had planned. But Halleck de
clined, at this critical moment, to accept the responsibilities
of his position as General-in-Chief and to give a decision.
Lincoln felt his desertion deeply.
" If in such a difficulty as this," he wrote Halleck, " you
do not help, you fail me precisely in the point for which I
sought your assistance. You know what General Burnside's
plan is, and it is my wish that you go with him to the ground,
examine it as far as practicable, confer with the officers, get
ting their judgment and ascertaining their temper — in a
word, gather all the elements for forming a judgment of
your own, and then tell General Burnside that you do ap
prove or that you do not approve his plan. Your military
skill is useless to me if you will not do this."
The passing weeks only added to the disorganization of
the Army of the Potomac, and on January 25 the Presi
dent ordered General Joseph Hooker to relieve General
Burnside. Stanton and Halleck were not satisfied with the
selection. They wanted the next experiment tried on a
Western general who was promising well, General W. S.
Rosecrans. That Lincoln himself saw danger in the ap
pointment is evident from the letter he wrote to General
Hooker:

136 LIFE OF LINCOLN
General: I have placed you at the head of the Army of the
Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appear to
me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to
know that there are some things in regard to which I am not
quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skill
ful soldier, which of course I like. I also believe you do not
mix politics with your profession, in which you are right.
You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an
indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which, within rea
sonable bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think that
during General Burnside's command of the army you have
taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as
you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country,
and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I
have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently
saying that both the army and the government needed a dic
tator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I
have given you the command. Only those generals who gain
successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is
military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The gov
ernment will support you to the utmost of its ability, which
is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all
commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have
aided to infuse into the army, of criticising their commander
and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon
you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither
you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good
out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it ; and now be
ware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy and
sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. Yours
very truly, A. Lincoln.
Hooker had a manly heart, and the President's words ap
pealed to the best that was in him. Noah Brooks tells how
he heard the General read the letter soon after its receipt.
" He finished reading it," writes Mr. Brooks, " almost with
tears in his eyes ; and as he folded it and put it back in the
breast of his coat, he said, ' That is just such a letter as a
father might write to a son. It is a beautiful letter, and al-

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 137
though I think he was harder on me than I deserved, I will
say that I love the man who wrote it. ' "
By the first of April, the Army of the Poton.„». had been
put into splendid form by General Hooker. An advance
against the enemy, still entrenched at Fredericksburg, where
Burnside had engaged him, was contemplated, but prior to
the battle a grand review of the troops before the President
was planned. It was on Saturday, April 4, that Lincoln
left Washington, by a river steamer, for Hooker's headquar
ters at Falmouth, Virginia. A great snow-storm began that
night, and it was with serious delay and discomfort that the
review was conducted. Difficult as it was, the President was
indefatigable in his efforts to see all the army, to talk with
every officer, to shake hands with as many men as possible.
A strange foreboding seemed to possess him. Hooker's con
fident assurance, " I am going straight to Richmond, if I
live," filled him with dread. " It's about the worst thing I
have seen since I have been down here," he told Noah
Brooks, who was one of the party. When he watched the
splendid column of that vast army of a hundred thousand,
there was no rejoicing in his face. The defeats of two years,
the angry clamor of an unhappy North, the dead of a dozen
battle-fields, seemed written there instead. So haggard was
his countenance that even the men in the line noticed it. Ira
Seymour Dodd, in one of his graphic Civil War stories, has
described this very review, and he tells how he and his com
rades were almost awe-stricken by the glimpse they caught
of the President's face:
As we neared the reviewing-stand, the tall figure of Lin
coln loomed up. He was on horseback, and his severely
plain, black citizen's dress set him in bold relief against the
crowd of generals in full uniform grouped behind him. Dis
tinguished men were among them ; but we had no eyes save
for our revered President, the Commander-in-Chief of the;

lib LIFE OF LINCOLN
army, the brother of every soldier, the great leader of a
nation in its hour of trial. There was no time save for a
marching salute ; the occasion called for no cheers. Self-ex
amination, not glorification, had brought the army and its
chief together. But we passed close to him, so that he could
look into our faces and we into his.
None of us to our dying day can forget that countenance !
From its presence we marched directly onward toward our
camp, and as soon as "' route step " was ordered and the men
were free to talk, they spoke thus to each other : " Did you
ever see such a look on any man's face ? " " He is bearing
the burdens of the nation." " It is an awful load; it is killing
him." " Yes, that is so; he is not long for this world ! "
Concentrated in that one great, strong yet tender face, the
agony of the life or death struggle of the hour was revealed
as we had never seen it before. With new understanding we
knew why we were soldiers.
A day later Lincoln left the army, but before going he said
to Hooker and his generals, " Gentlemen, in your next battle
put in all your men." The next battle occurred on May i,
2, 3, and 4. Over 37,000 men were left out of the fight,
and on May 5 the army again withdrew north of the Po
tomac. The news of the retreat reached the President soon
after noon of May 6.
"About three o'clock in the afternoon," says Noah
Brooks, " The door opened, and Lincoln came into the room.
I shall never forget that picture of despair. He held a tele
gram in his hand, and as he closed the door and came toward
us, I mechanically noticed that his face, usually sallow, was
ashen in hue. The paper on the wall behind him was of the
tint known as ' French gray,' and even in that moment of
sorrow and dread expectation I vaguely took in the thought
that the complexion of the anguished President's visage was
almost exactly like that of the wall. He gave me the tele
gram, and in a voice trembling with emotion, said, ' Read it
¦ — news from the army.' The despatch was from General
Butterfield, Hooker's chief of staff, addressed to the War

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 1 39
Department, and was to the effect that the army had been
withdrawn from the south side of the Rappahannock, and
was then ' safely encamped ' in its former position. The ap
pearance of the President, as I read aloud these fateful
words, was piteous. Never, as long as I knew him, did he
seem to be so broken up, so dispirited, and so ghostlike.
Clasping his hands behind his back, he walked up and down
the room, saying, ' My God, my God, what will the country
say ! What will the country say ! ' "
This consternation was soon mastered. Lincoln's almost
superhuman faculty of putting disaster behind him and turn
ing his whole force to the needs of the moment came to his
aid. Ordering a steamer to be ready at the wharf, he sum
moned Halleck, and at four o'clock the two men were on
their way to Hooker's headquarters. The next day, the
President had the situation in hand, and was planning the
next move of the Army of the Potomac.
The country could not rally so quickly from the blow of
Chancellorsville. From every side came again the despair
ing cry, " Abraham Lincoln, give us a man ! " But Lincoln
had no man of whom he felt surer than he did of Hooker,
and for two months longer he tried to sustain that General.
A fundamental difficulty existed, however — what Lincoln
called a " family quarrel " — an antagonism between Halleck
and Hooker, which caused constant friction. Since the be
ginning of the war, Lincoln had been annoyed, his plans
thwarted, the cause crippled, by the jealousies and animosi
ties of men. So far as possible the President tried to keep out
of these complications. " I have too many family controver
sies, so to speak, already on my hands, to voluntarily, or so
long as I can avoid it, take up another," he wrote to General
McClernand once. " You are now doing well — well for the
country, and well for yourself — much better than you could
possibly be if engaged in open war with General Halleck."
But his letters and telegrams show how, in spite of himself,

140 LIFE OF LINCOLN
he was continually running athwart somebody's prejudice or
dislike. The trouble between Halleck and Hooker reached a cli
max at a critical moment. On June 3, Lee had slipped from
his position on the Rapahannock and started north. Hooker
had followed him with great skill. Both armies were well
north of the Potomac, and a battle was imminent when, on
June 2J, angered by Halleck's refusal of a request, Hooker
resigned. During the days when Hooker was chasing Lee north
ward, the President had spent much of his time in his room
at the telegraph office. Mr. Chandler, who was on duty there,
relates that one of his most constant inquiries was about the
Fifth Corps, under General Meade. "Where's Meade?"
" What's the Fifth Corps doing? " he was asking constantly.
He had seen, no doubt, that he might be obliged to displace
Hooker, and was observing the man whom he had in mind
for the position. At all events, it was Meade whom he now
ordered to take charge of the army.
The days following were ones of terrible suspense at
Washington. The North, panic-stricken by the Southern in
vasion, was clamoring at the President for a hundred things.
Among other demands was a strongly supported one for the
recall of McClellan. Col. A. K. McClure, of Philadelphia,
who, among others, urged Lincoln to restore McClellan,
says in a letter to the writer :
When Lee's army entered Pennsylvania in June, 1863,
there was general consternation throughout the State. The
Army of the Potomac was believed to be very much demor
alized by the defeat of Chancellorsville, by want of confi
dence in Hooker as commander, and by the apprehension
that any of the corps commanders, called suddenly to lead
the army just on the eve of the greatest battle of the war,
would not inspire the trust of the soldiers. The friends of
General McClellan believed that he could best defend the

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL I41
State. He was admittedly the best organizer in our entire
army, and preeminently equipped as a defensive officer, and
they assumed that his restoration to the command would
bring in immense Democratic support to the Administra
tion. Lincoln's view of the matter is fully shown by the tele
gram which he sent in reply to the one from Colonel Mc
Clure urging McCleUan's appointment.
War Department,
Washington City, June 30, 1863.
A. K. McClure, Philadelphia :
Do we gain anything by opening one leak to stop another?
Do we gain anything by quieting one clamor merely to open
another, and probably a larger one ? A. Lincoln.
Three days after his appointment, Meade met Lee at Get
tysburg, in Pennsylvania, and after three days of hard fight
ing defeated him. During these three terrible days — the
ist, 2d, and 3d of July — Mr. Lincoln spent most of his time
in the telegraph office.
" He read every telegram with the greatest eagerness,"
says Mr. Chandler, " and frequently was so anxious that he
would rise from his seat and come around and lean over my
shoulder while I was translating the cipher. After the bat
tle of Gettysburg, the President urged Meade to pursue Lee
and engage him before he should cross the Potomac. His
anxiety seemed as great as it had been during the battle
itself, and now, as then, he walked up and down the floor,
his face grave and anxious, wringing his hands and showing
every sign of deep solicitude. As the telegrams came in, he
traced the positions of the two armies on the map, and
several times called me up to point out their location,
seeming to feel the need of talking to some one. Finally, a
telegram came from Meade saying that under such and such
circumstances he would engage the enemy at such and such

142.' LIFE OF LINCOLN
a time. ' Yes,' said the President bitterly, ' he will be ready
to fight a magnificent battle when there is no enemy there to
fight!'" Perhaps Lincoln never had a harder struggle to do what
he thought to be just than he did after Meade allowed Lee to
escape across the Potomac. He seems to have entertained
a suspicion that the General wanted Lee to get away, for in a
telegram to Simon Cameron, on July 1 5, he says : " I
would give much to be relieved of the impression that
Meade, Couch, Smith, and all, since the battle at Gettysburg,
have striven only to get Lee over the river without another
fight." The day before, he wrote Meade a letter in which he
put frankly all his discontent :
. . . . My dear General, I do not believe you appreci
ate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's es
cape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed
upon him would, in connection with our other late successes,
have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged in
definitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday,
how can you possibly do so south of the river, when you can
take with you very few more than two-thirds of the force
you then had in hand ? It would be unreasonable to expect
and I do not expect that you can now effect much. Your
golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasur
ably because of it.
I beg you will not consider this a prosecution or persecu
tion of yourself. As you had learned that I was dissatisfied,
I have thought it best to kindly tell you why.*
He never sent the letter. Thinking it over, in his dispas
sionate way, he evidently concluded that it would not repair
the misfortune and that it might dishearten the General. He
smothered his regret, and went on patiently and loyally for
many months in the support of his latest experiment.
But while in the East the President had been experiment-
?Abraham Lincoln. A History. By Nicolay and Hay.

GRAND REVIEW OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BY PRESIDENT
General Joseph Hooker had now been in command of the army since

LINCOLN, AT FALMOUTH, VA., IN APRIL, 1 863
January 25, 1863, and had brought it into " splendid form."

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 1 43
ing with men, in the West a man had been painfully and si
lently making himself. His name was Ulysses S. Grant
The President had known nothing of his coming into the
army. No political party had demanded him ; indeed he had
found it difficult at first, West Point graduate though he was
and great as the need of trained service was, to secure the
lowest appointment. He had taken what he could get, how
ever, and from the start he had always done promptly the
thing asked of him; more than that, he seemed always to be
looking for things to do. It was these habits of his that
brought him at last, in February of 1862, to the command of
a movement in which Lincoln was deeply interested. This
was the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, near the
mouth of the Tennessee river. " Our success or failure at
Fort Donelson is vastly important, and I beg you to put
your soul in the effort," Lincoln wrote on February 16 to
Halleck and Buell, then in command of Missouri and Ten
nessee. While the President was writing his letters, Grant,
in front of Fort Donelson, was writing a note to the
Confederate commander, who had asked for terms of capitu
lation : " No terms except unconditional and immediate sur
render can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on
your works." To the harrassed President at Washington
these words must have been like a war-cry. He had spent
the winter in a vain effort to inspire his supposed great gen
erals with the very spirit breathed in the words and deeds of
this unknown officer in the West.
Grant was now made a major-general, and entrusted with
larger things. He always brought about results ; but in spite
of this, the President saw there was much opposition to him.
For a long period he was in partial disgrace; but Lincoln
must have noticed that while many other generals, whose
achievements were less than Grant's, complained loudly arod
incessantly at reprimands — "snubbing," the President

144 LIFE OF LINCOLN
called it — Grant said nothing. He stayed at his post dog
gedly, working his way inch by inch down the Mississippi.
Finally, in July, 1862, when General Halleck was called
to Washington as General-in-Chief, Grant was put at the
head of the armies of the West. There was much opposition
to him. Men came to the President urging his removal. Lin
coln shook his head. " I can't spare this man," he said; " he
fights." Many good people complained that he drank. " Can
you tell me the kind of whisky? " asked Lincoln, " I should
like to send a barrel to some of my other generals."
Nevertheless, the President grew anxious as the months
went on. The opening of the Mississippi was, after the cap
ture of Richmond, the most important task of the war. The
wrong man there was only second in harm to the wrong man
on the Potomac. Was Grant a " wrong man ? " Little could
be told from his telegrams and letters. '" General Grant is a
copious worker and fighter," said Lincoln later, " but he is
a very meager writer or telegrapher." Finally, the Presi
dent and the Secretary of War sent for a brilliant and loyal
newspaper man, Charles A. Dana, and asked him to go to
Grant's army, " to act as the eyes of the Government at
the front," said the President. His real mission was to find
out for them what kind of a man Grant was. Dana's letters
soon showed Lincoln that Grant was a general that nothing
could turn from a purpose. That was enough for the Presi
dent. He let him alone, and watched. When, finally, Vicks
burg was captured, he wrote him the following letter — it
may be called his first recognition of the General :
Washington, July 13, 1863.
Major-General Grant.
My Dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever
met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledg
ment for the almost inestimable service you have done the
country. I wish to say a word further. When yoif first

LINCOLN'S SEARCH FOR A GENERAL 145
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do
what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run
the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and I
never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew
better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like
could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson,
Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the
river and join General Banks, and when you turned north
ward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now
wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were
right and I was wrong. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Grant was busy with new movements before this letter
reached him; indeed, as soon as Vicksburg capitulated, he
had begun getting ready to do something else. So occupied
was he that he did not even take time to write his plans to
the Government, asking Mr. Dana to do it for him.
Three and a half months later, after the Army of the
Cumberland had been defeated at Chickamauga and had re
tired into Chattanooga, Grant was called to its relief. In a
month the Confederates were driven from their positions
on the ridges above him and East Tennessee was saved.
There was no longer in Lincoln's mind a doubt that at last
he had found the man he wanted. In the winter following,
'63 and '64, after much discussion Congress revived the
grade of lieutenant-general in the army purposely for
Grant's benefit and on February 29, Lincoln nominated the
general to the rank. He proceeded at once to Washington,
where on March 9 the President and the General met for the
first time. What did the President want him to do, Grant
asked. Take Richmond was the President's reply, could he
doit? If he had the troops Grant answered. The President
promised them. Two months later Grant had re-organized
the Army of the Potomac and had started at its head for the
final march to Richmond.
(10)

CHAPTER XXVII
LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS
Another serious problem which the failure of the Penin«
sular campaign thrust on the President was where to get
troops for a renewal of the war. When one recalls the eager
ness with which men rushed into arms at the opening of the
Civil war, it seems as if President Lincoln should never have
had anxiety about filling the ranks of the army. For
the first year, indeed, it gave him little concern. So promptly
were the calls of 1861 answered that in the spring of 1862
an army of 637,126 men was in service. It was believed that
with this force the war could be ended, and in April recruit
ing was stopped. It was a grave mistake. Before the end of
May, the losses and discouragements of the Peninsular cam
paign made it necessary to re-enforce the Army of the Poto
mac. More men were needed, in fact, all along the line.
Lincoln saw that, rather than an army of 600,000 men, he
should have one of a million, and, July 2, he issued a call
for 300,000 men for three years, and August 4 an order
was issued for a draft of 300,000 more for nine months.
By the end of 1862, nearly one and a half million men had
been enrolled in the army. Nevertheless, the " strength of
the army " at that time was counted at but 918,000. What
had become of the half million and more? Nearly 100,000
of them had been killed or totally disabled on the battlefield ;
200,000 more, perhaps, had fallen out in the seasoning pro
cess. Passed by careless medical examiners, the first five-
mile march, the first week of camp life, had brought out
some physical weakness which made soldiering out of the
146

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 147
question. The rest of the loss was in three-months', six-
months', or nine-months' men. They had enlisted for these
short periods, and their terms up, they had left the army.
Moreover, the President had learned by this time that,
even when the Secretary of War told him that the " strength
of the army " was 918,000, it did not by any means follow
that there were that number of men present for duty. Expe
rience had taught him that about one-fourth of the reputed
" strength " must be allowed for shrinkage ; that is, for men
in hospitals, men on furloughs, men who had deserted. He
had learned that this enormous wastage went on steadily. It
followed that, if the army was to be kept up to the million-
men mark, recruiting must be as steady as, and in proportion
to, the shrinkage.
Recruiting, so easy at the beginning of the war, had be
come by 1862 quite a different matter. Patriotism, love of
adventure, excitement could no longer be counted on to fill
the ranks. It was plain to the President that hereafter, if
he was to have the men he needed, military service must be
compulsory. Nothing could have been devised which would
have created a louder uproar in the North than the sugges
tion of a draft. All through the winter of 1862-63, Congress
wrangled over the bill ordering it, much of the press in the
meantime denouncing it as " despotic " and " contrary to
American institutions." The bill passed, however, and the
President signed it in March, 1863. At once there was put
into operation a huge new military machine, the Bureau of
the Provost-Marshal-General, which had for its business the
enrollment of all the men in the United States whom the new
law considered capable of bearing arms and the drafting
enough of them to fill up the quota assigned to each State.
This bureau was also to look after deserters.
A whole series of new problems was thrust on the Presi
dent when the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General came

148 LIFE OF LINCOLN
into being. The quotas assigned the States led to endless
disputes between the governors and the War Department;
the drafts caused riots; an inferior kind of soldier was ob
tained by drafting, and deserters increased. Lincoln shirked
none of these new cares. He was determined that the effi
ciency of the war engine should be kept up, and nobody in
the Government studied more closely how this was to be
done, or insisted more vigorously on the full execution of
the law. In assigning the quotas to the different States, cer
tain credits were made of men who had enlisted previously.
Many disputes arose over the credits and assignments,
some of them most perplexing. Ultimately most of these
reached the President. The draft bore heavily on districts
where the percentage of death among the first volunteers had
been large, and often urgent pleas were made to the Presi
dent to release a city or county from the quota assigned. The
late Joseph Medill, the editor of the Chicago " Tribune,"
once told me how he and certain leading citizens of Chicago
went to Lincoln to ask that the quota of Cook County be re
duced. " In 1864, when the call for extra „«©ops came, Chicago
revolted," said Mr. Medill. " She had already sent 22,000
men up to that time, and was drained. When the new call
came, there were no young men to go — no aliens except
what were bought. The citizens held a mass meeting, and
appointed three persons, of whom I was one, to go to Wash
ington and ask Stanton to give Cook County a new enroll
ment. I begged off; but the committee insisted, so I went.
On reaching Washington, we went to Stanton with our
statement. He refused entirely to give us the desired aid.
Then we went to Lincoln. ' I cannot do it,' he said, * but I
will go with you to Stanton and hear the arguments of both
sides.' So we all went over to the War Department together.
Stanton and General Frye were there, and they, of course,
contended that the quota should not be changed. The argu
ment went on for some time, and finally was referred to Lin-

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 149
coin, who had been sitting silently listening. I shall never
forget how he suddenly lifted his head and turned on us a
black and frowning face.
Gentlemen,' he said, in a voice full of bitterness, ' after
Boston, Chicago has been the chief instrument in bringing
this war on the country. The Northwest has opposed the
South as New England has opposed the South. It is you
who are largely responsible for making blood flow as it has.
You called for war until we had it. You called for Emanci
pation, and I have given it to you. Whatever you have asked
you have had. Now you come here begging to be let off
from the call for men which I have made to carry out the
war you have demanded. You ought to be ashamed of your
selves. I have a right to expect better things of you. Go
home, and raise your 6,000 extra men. And you, Medill,
you are acting like a coward. You and your ' Tribune ' have
had more influence than any paper in the Northwest in mak
ing this war. You can influence great masses, and yet you
cry to be spared at a moment when your cause is suffering.
Go home and send us those men.'
" I couldn't say anything. It was the first time I ever was
whipped, and I didn't have an answer. We all got up and
went out, and when the door closed, one of my colleagues
said : ' Well, gentlemen, the old man is right. We ought to
be ashamed of ourselves. Let us never say anything about
this, but go home and raise the men.' And we did — 6,000
men — making 28,000 in the war from a city of 156,000. But
there might have been crape on every door almost in Chi
cago, for every family had lost a son or a husband. I lost two
brothers. It was hard for the mothers."*
Severe as Lincoln could be with any disposition to shirk
what he considered a just and necessary demand, strenu
ously as he insisted that the ranks must be kept full, he never
came to regard the army as a mere machine, never forgot the
individual men who made it up. Indeed, he was the one man
* These notes were made immediately after an interview given me by
Mr. Medill in June, 189?. They were to be corrected before publication,
but Mr. Medill's death" occurred before they were in type, so that the
account was never seen by him.

150 LIFE OF LINCOLN
in the Government who, from first to last, was big enough to
use both his head and his heart. From the outset, he was the
personal friend of every soldier he sent to the front, and
somehow every man seemed to know it. No doubt, it was on
Lincoln's visits to the camps around Washington, in the
early days of the war, that the body of the soldiers got this
idea. They never forgot his friendly hand-clasp, his hearty
"" God bless you," his remonstrance against the youth of
some fifteen-year-old boy masquerading as twenty, his jocu
lar remarks about the height of some soldier towering above
his own six feet four. When, later, he visited the Army of
the Potomac on the Rappahannock and at Antietam, these
impressions of his interest in the personal welfare of the sol
diers were renewed. He walked down the long lines of tents
or huts, noting the attempts at decoration, the housekeep
ing conveniences, replying by smiles and nods and sometimes
with words to the greetings, rough and hearty, which he re
ceived. He inquired into every phase of camp life, and the
men knew it, and said to one another, " He cares for us ; he
makes us fight, but he cares."
Reports of scores of cases where he interfered personally
to secure some favor or right for a soldier found their way to
the army and gave solid foundation to this impression that
he was the soldier's friend. From the time of the arrival of
the first troops in Washington, in April, 1861, the town was
full of men, all of them wanting to see the President. At
first they were gay and curious merely, their requests trivial ;
but later, when the army had settled down to steady fight
ing, and Bull Run and the Peninsula and Antietam and
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville had cut and scarred and
aged it, the soldiers who haunted Washington were changed.
They stumped about on crutches. They sat pale and thin
in the parks, empty sleeves pinned to their breasts; they
came to the White House begging for furloughs to see

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 151
dying parents, for release to support a suffering family.
No man will ever know how many of these soldiers Abra
ham Lincoln helped. Little cards are constantly turning up
in different parts of the country, treasured by private sol
diers, on which he had written some brief note to a proper
authority, intended to help a man out of a difficulty. Here
is one:

,Je£/* f~^// '^^f, *^~/

Sec. of War, please see this> Pittsburgh boy. He
is very young, and I shall be satisfied with whatever
you do with him. A. Lincoln.
Aug. 21, 1863.
The " Pittsburgh boy " had enlisted at seventeen. He
had been ill with a long fever. He wanted a furlough, and
with a curious trust that anything could be done if he could
only get to the President, he had slipped into the White
House, and by chance met Lincoln, who listened to his story
and gave him this note.
Many applications reached Lincoln as he passed to and
from the White House and the War Department. One day
as he crossed the park he was stopped by a negro who told
him a pitiful story. The President wrote him out a check
for five dollars. " Pay to colored man with one leg," it
read. This check is now in the collection of H. H. Officee
of Denver, Colorado.
A pleasing scene between Lincoln and a soldier once fell
under the eve of Mr. A. W. Swan of Albuquerque, New

152 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Mexico, on this same path between the White House and the
War Department:
" In company with a gentleman, I was on the way to the
War Department one day. Our way led through a small
park between the White House and the War Department
building. As we entered this park we noticed Mr. Lincoln
just ahead of us, and meeting him a private soldier who was
evidently in a violent passion, as he was swearing in a high
key, cursing the Government from the President down. Mr.
Lincoln paused as he met the irate soldier, and asked him
what was the matter. ' Matter enough,' was the reply. ' I
want my money. I have been discharged here, and can't get
my pay.' Mr. Lincoln asked if he had his papers, saying that
he used to practice law in a small way and possibly could
help him. My friend and I stepped behind some convenient
shrubbery where we could watch the result. Mr. Lincoln
took the papers from the hands of the crippled soldier, and
sat down with him at the foot of a convenient tree, where he
examined them carefully, and writing a line on the back
told the soldier to take them to Mr. Potts, Chief Clerk of the
War Department, who would doubtless attend to the matter
at once. After Mr. Lincoln had left the soldier, we stepped
out and asked him if he knew whom he had been talking
with. ' Some ugly old fellow who pretends to be a lawyer,'
was the reply. My companion asked to see the papers, and
on their being handed to him, pointed to the indorsement
they had received. This indorsement read : ' Mr. Potts, at
tend to this man's case at once and see that he gets his pay.
A. L.' The initials were too familiar with men in position
to know them to be ignored. We went with the soldier, who
had just returned from Libby Prison and had been given a
hospital certificate for discharge, to see Mr. Potts, and be
fore the Paymaster's office was closed for the day, he had
received his discharge and check for the money due him, he
in the meantime not knowing whether to be the more pleased
or sorry to think he had cursed ' Abe Lincoln ' to his face."
It was not alone the soldier, to whom the President lis
tened ; it was also to his wife, his mother, his daughter.

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 153
" I remember one morning," says Mr. A. B. Chandler,
"his coming into my office with a distressed expression on
his face and saying to Major Eckert, ' Eckert, who is that
woman crying out in the hall? What is the matter with
her ? ' Eckert said he did not know, but would go and find
out. He came back soon, and said that it was a woman who
had come a long distance expecting to go down to the army
to see her husband, that she had some very important mat
ters to consult him about. An order had gone out a short
time before to allow no women in the army, except in special
cases. She was bitterly disappointed, and was crying over it.
Mr. Lincoln sat moodily for a moment after hearing this
story, and suddenly looking up, said, ' Let's send her down.
You write the order, Major.' Major Eckert hesitated a mo
ment, and said, ' Would it not be better for Colonel Hardie
to write the order ? ' ' Yes,' said Mr. Lincoln, ' that is better ;
let Hardie write it.' The major went out, and soon returned,
saying, ' Mr. President, would it not be better in this case to
let the woman's husband come to Washington ? ' Mr. Lin
coln's face lighted up with pleasure. ' Yes, yes,' he said ;
' let's bring him up.' The order was written, and the woman
was told that her husband would come to Washington. This
done, her sorrows seemed lifted from Mr. Lincoln's heart,
and he sat down to his yellow tissue telegrams with a serene
face." The futility of trying to help all the soldiers who found
their way to him must have come often to Lincoln's mind.
" Now, my man, go away, go away," General Fry overheard
him say one day to a soldier who was pleading for the Presi
dent's interference in his behalf ; " I cannot meddle in your
case. I could as easily bail out the Potomac with a teaspoon
as attend to all the details of the army."
The President's relations with individual soldiers were, of
course, transient. Washington was for the great body of sol
diers, whatever their condition, only a half-way house be
tween North and South. The only body of soldiers with
which the President had long association was Company K

154 LIFE OF LINCOLN
of the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers. This company,
raised in Crawford County, in northwestern Pennsylvania,
reached Washington in the first days of September, 1862.
September 6, Captain D. V. Derickson of Meadville, Penn
sylvania, who was in command of the company, received
orders to march his men to the Soldiers' Home, to act
there as a guard to the President, who was occupying a cot
tage in the grounds.
" The next morning after our arrival," says Mr. Derick
son, " the President sent a messenger to my quarters, stating
that he would like to see the captain of the guard at his resi
dence. I immediately reported. After an informal intro
duction and handshaking, he asked me if I would have any
objection to riding with him to the city. I replied that it
would give me much pleasure to do so, when he invited me
to take a seat in the carriage. On our way to the city, he
made numerous inquiries, as to my name, where I came
from, what regiment I belonged to, etc. . . .
" When we entered the city, Mr. Lincoln said he would
call at General Halleck's headquarters and get what news
had been received from the army during the night. I in
formed him that General Cullum, chief aid to General Hal
leck, was raised in Meadville and that I knew him when I
was a boy. He replied, ' Then we must see both the gentle
men.' When the carriage stopped, he requested me to remain
seated, and said he would bring the gentlemen down to see
me, the office being on the second floor. In a short time the
President came down, followed by the other gentlemen.
When he introduced them to me, General Cullum recognized
and seemed pleased to see me. In General Halleck I thought
I discovered a kind of quizzical look, as much as to say,
' Isn't this rather a big joke to ask the Commander-in-Chief
of the Army down to the street to be introduced to a country
captain ? ' . . .
" Supposing that the invitation to ride to the city with the
President was as much to give him an opportunity to look
over and interview the new captain as for any other purpose,
I did not report the next morning. During *h« day I was in-

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 155
formed that it was the desire of the President that I should
breakfast with him and accompany him to the White House
every morning, and return with him in the evening. This
duty I entered upon with much pleasure, and was on hand in
good time next morning; and I continued to perform this
duty until we moved to the White House in November. It
was Mr. Lincoln's custom, on account of the pressure of
business, to breakfast before the other members of the fam-|
ily were up ; and I usually entered his room at half-past six
or seven o'clock in the morning, where I often found him
reading the Bible or some work on the art of war. On my
entering, he would read aloud and offer comments of his
own as he read.
" I usually went down to the city at four o'clock and re
turned with the President at five. He often carried a small
portfolio containing papers relating to the business of the
day, and spent many hours on them in the evening. . . .
I found Mr. Lincoln to be one of the most kind-hearted and
pleasant gentlemen that I had ever met. He never spoke un
kindly of any one. and always spoke of the rebels as ' those
Southern gentlemen.' "*
This kindly relation begun with the captain, the President
extended to every man of his company. It was their pride
that he knew every one of them by name. " He always called
me Joe," I heard a veteran of the guard say, a quaver in his
voice. He never passed the men on duty without acknowl
edging their salute, and often visited their camp. Once in
passing when the men were at mess, he called out, " That
coffee smells good, boys; give me a cup." And on another
occasion he asked for a plate of beans, and sat down on a
camp-stool and ate them. Mrs. Lincoln frequently visited
the company with the President, and many and many a gift
to the White House larder from enthusiastic supporters of
the Administration was sent to the boys — now a barrel of
apple butter, now a quarter of beef. On holidays, Mrs. Lin-

* Major D. V. Derickson in the Centennial Edition of the Meadville
" Tribune-Republicatt."

156 LIFE OF LINCOLN
coin made it a rule to provide Company K with a turlcey
dinner. Late in the fall of 1862, an attempt was made to depose
the company. Every member of the guard now living can
quote verbatim the note which the President wrote settling
the matter :
Executive Mansion, Washington,
November 1, 1862.
To Whom it May Concern : Captain Derickson, with his
company, has been for some time keeping guard at my resi
dence, 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 Derickson and his company. A. Lincoln.
The welfare of the men, their troubles, escapades, amuse
ments, were treated by the President as a kind of family
matter. He never forgot to ask after the sick, often secured
a pass or a furlough for some one, and took genuine delight
in the camp fun.
" While we were in camp at the Soldiers' Home in the
fall of 1862," says Mr. C. M. Derickson of Mercer, Penn
sylvania, " the boys indulged in various kinds of amuse'
ment. I think it was the Kepler boys who introduced the
trained elephant. Two men of about the same size, both in
a stooped position, were placed one ahead of the other. An
army blanket was then thrown over them so that it came
about to their knees, and a trunk, improvised by wrapping
a piece of a blanket around a small elastic piece of wood,
was placed in the hands of the front man. Here you have
your elephant. Ours was taught to get down on his knees,
stand on one leg, and do various other tricks. While the
elephant was going through his exercises one evening, the
President strolled into camp. He was very much amused at
the wonderful feats the elephant could perform, and a few
evenings after he called again and brought a friend with him,

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 157
and asked the captain if he would not have the elephant
brought out again, as he would like to have his friend see
him perform. Of course it was done, to the great amuse
ment of both the President and his friend."
No doubt much of the President's interest in Company
K was due to his son Tad. The boy was a great favorite
with the men, and probably carried to his father many a tale
of the camp. He considered himself, in fact, no unimportant
part of the organization, for he wore a uniform, carried a
lieutenant's commission, often drilled with the men or rode
on his pony at their head in reviews, and much of the time
messed with them. One of the odd duties which devolved
upon Company K was looking after Tad's goats. These
animals have been given a place in history by Lincoln him
self in telegrams to Mrs. Lincoln, duly filed in the records
of the War Department : " Tell Tad the goats and father
are very well, especially the goats," he wired one day; and
again. " All well, including Tad's pony and the goats."
They were privileged beings on the White House lawn, and
were looked after by the company because of Tad's affection
for them. They met an untimely end, being burned to death
in a fire, which destroyed the White House stables, February
io, 1864.
The two most harowing consequences of war, the havoc
of the battlefield and the disease of camp life, from the be
ginning to the end of the Civil War, centered in Washing
ton. It was the point to which every man disabled in the
Army of the Potomac must come sooner or later for care or
to be transferred to the North. After battles, the city
seemed turned into one great hospital. For days then a
long, straggling train of mutilated men poured in. They
came on flat cars or open transports, piled so close together
that no attendant could pass between them ; protected occa
sionally from the cold by a blanket which had escaped with

150 LIFE OF LINCOLN
its owner, or from the sun by green boughs placed in their
hands or laid over their faces. When Washington was
reached, all that could be done was to lay them in long rows
on the wharfs or platforms until ambulances could carry
them to the hospitals. It is when one considers the numbers
of wounded in the great Virginia battles that he realizes
the length and awfulness of the streams which flowed into
Washington. At Fredericksburg they numbered 9,600; at
Chancellorsville, 9,762; in the Wilderness, 12,037; at Spott-
sylvania, 13,416.
In the early days of the war, Washington was so poorly
supplied with hospitals that after the first battle of Bull Run
churches, dwellings, and government buildings were seized
to place the wounded in, and there were so few nurses that
the people of Washington had to be called upon. Very rap
idly little settlements of board barracks or of white army
tents multiplied in the open spaces in and around the town,
quarters for the sick and wounded. Nurses poured in from
the North. Organizations for relief multiplied. By the
end of 1862, Mr. Lincoln could scarcely drive or walk in any
direction about Washington without passing a hospital.
Even in going to his summer cottage, at the Soldiers' Home,
the President did not escape the sight of the wounded. The
rolling hillside was dotted with white hospital tents during
the entire war. In many places the tents were placed close
to the road, so as to get more air, the grounds being more
thickly wooded than they are now. As he drove home, after
a harrowing day in the White House, the President fre
quently looked from his carriage upon the very beds of
wounded soldiers.
Every member of the Government, whether he would or
not, was obliged to give some attention to this side of the
war. It became a regular feature of a congressman's life
in those days *o spend every Saturday or Sunday afternoon

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 159
in the hospitals, visiting the wounded men from his district.
He wrote their letters, brought them news, saw to their
wants. If he had not done it, his constituents would have
disposed of him in short order.
In 1862, Mr. Lincoln called Dr. D. Willard Bliss from the
field to Washington, to aid in organizing a more perfect
system of general hospitals in and about the city. One re
sult of Dr. Bliss's coming was the building of Armory
Square Hospital, one of the best conducted institutions of
the Civil War. Lincoln gave his personal attention to the
building of Armory Square, and for a long time met Dr.
Bliss twice each week to consider the ingenious appliances
which the latter devised to aid in caring for and treating the
wounded. Some of these appliances the President paid for
out of his own pocket. Not infrequently he had some sug
gestion to make for the comfort of the place. It was due
to him that Armory Square became a bower of vine and
bloom in the summer. " Why don't you plant flower
seeds ? " he asked Dr. Bliss one day. The doctor said he
would if he had seeds. " I'll order them for you from the
Agricultural Department," replied the President, and sure
enough he did ; and thereafter, all through the season, each
of the long barracks had its own flower bed and vines.
The President himself visited the hospitals as often as he
could, visits never forgotten by the men to whom he spoke as
he passed up and down the wards, shaking hands here, giv
ing a cheering word there, making jocular comments every
where. There are men still living who tell of a little scene
they witnessed at Armory Square in 1863. A soldier of the
140th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, had been
wounded in the shoulder at the battle of Chancellorsville
and taken to Washington. One day, as he was becoming
convalescent, a whisper ran down the long row of cots
that the President was in the building and would soon pass

160 LIFE OF LINCOLN
by. Instantly every boy in blue who was able arose, stood
erect, hands to the side, ready to salute his Commander-in-
Chief. The Pennsylvanian stood six feet seven inches in his
stockings. Lincoln was six feet four. As the President ap
proached this giant towering above him, he stopped in
amazement, and casting his eyes from head to foot and from
foot to head, as if contemplating the immense distance from
one extremity to the other, he stood for a moment speech
less. At length, extending his hand, he exclaimed, " Hello,
comrade, do you know when your feet get cold ? "
Lincoln rarely forgot a patient whom he saw a second
time, and to stubborn cases that remained from month to
month he gave particular attention. There was in Armory
Square Hospital for a long time a boy known as " little
Johnnie." He was hopelessly crippled — doomed to death,
but cheerful, and a general favorite. Lincoln never failed
to stop at " little Johnnie's " cot when he went to Armory
Square, and he frequently sent him fruit and flowers and a
friendly message through Mrs. Lincoln.
Of all the incidents told of Lincoln's hospital visits, there
is nothing more characteristic, better worth preservation,
than the one following, preserved by Dr. Jerome Walker of
Brooklyn :
" Just one week before his assassination, President Lin
coln visited the Army of the Potomac, at City Point, Vir
ginia, and carefully examined the hospital arrangements of
the Ninth, Sixth, Fifth, Second, and Sixteenth Corps hospi
tals and of the Engineer Corps, there stationed. At that time
I was an agent of the United States Sanitary Commission
attached to the Ninth Corps Hospital. Though a boy of
nineteen years, to me was assigned the duty of escorting the
President through our department of the hospital system.
The reader can imagine the pride with which I fulfilled the
duty, and as we went from tent to tent I could not but note
his gentleness, his friendly greetings to the sick and

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 161
wounded, his quiet humor as he drew comparisons between
himself and the very tall and very short men with whom
he came in contact, and his genuine interest in the welfare of
the soldiers.
" Finally, after visiting the wards occupied by our invalid
and convalescing soldiers, we came to three wards occupied
by sick and wounded Southern prisoners. With a feeling
of patriotic duty, I said, ' Mr. President, you won't want to
go in there; they are only rebels' I will never forget how
he stopped and gently laid his large hand upon my shoulder
and quietly answered, ' You mean Confederates' And I
have meant Confederates ever since.
" There was nothing left for me to do after the Presi
dent's remark but to go with him through these three wards ;
and I could not see but that he was just as kind, his hand
shakings just as hearty, his interest just as real for the wel
fare of the men, as when he was among our own soldiers.
" As we returned to headquarters, the President urged
upon me the importance of caring for them as faithfully as I
should for our own sick and wounded. When I visited next
day these three wards, the Southern officers and soldiers
were full of praise for ' Abe ' Lincoln, as they called him,
and when a week afterwards the news came of the assassina
tion, there was no truer sorrow nor greater indignation any
where than was shown by these same Confederates."
One great cause of sorrow to Lincoln throughout the war
was the necessity of punishing soldiers. Not only did the
men commit all the crimes common to society, like robbery
and murder; they were guilty of others peculiar to military
organization and war, such as desertion, sleeping on post,
disobedience to orders, bounty jumping, giving informa
tion to the enemy. As the army grew larger, desertion be
came so common and so disastrous to efficiency that it had
to be treated with great severity. Lincoln seems to have
had his attention first called to it seriously when he visited
McCleUan's army in July, 1862, for he wrote to McClellan,
July 13:
(»)

i02 LIFE OF LINCOLN
My Dear Sir: I am told that over 160,000 men have gone
into your army on the Peninsula. When I was with you
the other day we made out 86,500 remaining, leaving 73,500
to be accounted for. I believe 23,500 will cover all the killed,
wounded, and missing in all your battles and skirmishes,
leaving 50,000 who have left otherwise. Not more than
5,000 of these have died, leaving 45,000 of your army still
alive and not with it. I believe half or two-thirds of them
are fit for duty to-day. Have you any more perfect knowl
edge of this than I have ? If I am right, and you had these
men with you, you could go into Richmond in the next three
days. How can they be got to you, and how can they be
prevented from getting away in such numbers for the fu
ture? A. Lincoln.
About the same time, Buell reported 14,000 absentees
from his army. In the winter of 1862 and 1863 it grew
worse. General Hooker says that when he took charge of
the Army of the Potomac in January, 1863, the desertions
were at the rate of 200 a day. "T caused a return to be made
of the absentees of the army," he continues, "and found
the number to be 2,922 commissioned officers and 81,964
non-commissioned officers and privates. These were scat
tered all over the country, and the majority were absent
from causes unknown."
When the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal was established
in March, 1863, finding and punishing deserters became one
of its duties. Much of the difficulty was due to the methods
of recruiting. To stimulate volunteering for long periods,
the Government began in 1861 to offer bounties. The boun
ties offered by the Government were never large, however,
and were paid in installments, so that no great evil resulted
from them. But later, when the quota of each State and dis
trict was fixed, and the draft instituted, State and local
bounties were added to those of the Government. In some
places the bounties offered aggregated $1,500, a large part

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 1 63
of which was paid on enlistment. Immediately a new class
of military criminals sprang up, " bounty-jumpers," men
who enlisted, drew the bounty, deserted, and reenlisted at
some other point.
The law allowed men who had been drafted to send substi
tutes, and a new class of speculators, known as " substitute-
brokers," appeared. They did a thriving business in procur
ing substitutes for drafted men who, for one reason or an
other, did not want to go into the war. These recruits were
frequently of a very poor class, and a large percentage of
them took the first chance to desert. It is said that, out of
625 recruits sent to re-enforce one regiment, over 40 per
cent, deserted on the way. In the general report of the
Provost-Marshal-General made at the close of the war, the
aggregate deserting was given at 201,397.
The result of all this was that the severest penalties were
enforced for desertion. The President never ceased to ab
hor the death penalty for this offense. While he had as little
sympathy as Stanton himself with the frauds practised and
never commuted the sentence of a bounty- jumper, as far as
I have been able to discover, over the great number of sen
tences he hesitated. He seemed to see what others ignored,
the causes which were behind. Many and many a man de
serted in the winter of 1862- 1863 because of the Emancipa
tion Proclamation. He did not believe the President had the
right to issue it, and he refused to fight. Lincoln knew, too,
that the " copperhead " agitation in the North reached
the army, and that hundreds of men were being urged by
parents and friends hostile to the Administration to desert.
His indignation never was against the boy who yielded to
this influence.
" Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,"
he said, " while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator
who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious

1 64 LIFE OF LINCOLN
when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend into
a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings until
he is persuaded to write the soldier boy that he is fighting in
a bad cause, for a wicked administration of a contemptible
government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall
desert. I think that in such a case, to silence the agitator,
and save the boy, is not only constitutional, but withal a
great mercy."
Another cause he never forgot was that mortal homesick
ness which so often ate the very heart out of a boy away
from home for the first time. It filled many a hospital cot
in the Civil War, and shriveled the nerves and sapped the
courage until men forgot everything but home, and fled.
Lincoln seemed to see in a flash the whole army history of
these cases : the boy enlisting in the thrill of perhaps his first
great passion; his triumphal march to the field; the long,
hard months of seasoning; the deadly longing for home
overtaking him ; a chance to desert taken ; the capture. He
could not condemn such a boy to death.
The time Lincoln gave to listening to the intercessions of
friends in behalf of condemned deserters, the extent of his
clemency, is graphically shown in the manuscript records
of the War Department which refer to prisoners of war.
Scores of telegrams are filed there, written out by Lincoln
himself, inquiring into the reasons for an execution or sus
pending it entirely. These telegrams, which have never been
published, furnish the documentary proof, if any is wanted,
of the man's great heart, his entire willingness to give him
self infinite trouble to prevent an injustice or to soften a
sorrow. " Suspend execution and forward record for exam*
ination," was his usual formula for telegrams of this nature.
The record would be sent, but after it was in his hands he
would defer its examination from week to week. Often he
telegraphed, " Suspend execution of death sentence until

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS ^65
further orders." " But that does not pardon my boy," said a
father to him once.
" My dear man," said the President, laying his hand on
his shoulder, " do you suppose / will ever give orders for
your boy's execution ? "
In sending these orders for suspension of execution, the
President frequently went himself personally to the telegraph
office and watched the operator send them, so afraid was he
that they might not be forwarded in time. To dozens of the
orders sent over from the White House by a messenger is
attached a little note signed by Mr. Lincoln, or by one of his
secretaries, and directed to Major Eckert, the chief of the
office : " Major Eckert, please send above despatch," or
" Will you please hurry off the above ? To-morrow is the
day of execution." Not infrequently he repeated a telegram
or sent a trailer after it inquiring, " Did you receive my
despatch suspending sentence of  ?"
Difficulty in tracing a prisoner or in identifying him some
times arose. The President only took additional pains. The
following telegrams are to the point :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade,
Army of Potomac.
If there is a man by the name of K  under sentence to
be shot, please suspend execution till further order, and send
record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade,
Army of Potomac.
An intelligent woman in deep distress called this morning,
saying her husband, a lieutenant in the Army of the Poto-

166 LIFE OF LINCOLN
mac, was to be shot next Monday for desertion, and putting
a letter in my hand, upon which I relied for particulars, she
left without mentioning a name or other particular by which
to identify the case. On opening the letter I found it equally
vague, having nothing to identify it, except her own signa
ture, which seems to be Mrs. A  S. K  . I could not
again find her. If you have a case which you think is proba
bly the one intended, please apply my despatch of this morn
ing to it. A. Lincoln.
In another case, where the whereabouts of a man who had
been condemned were unknown, Lincoln telegraphed him
self to four different military commanders, ordering suspen
sion of the man's sentence.
The execution of very young soldiers was always hateful
to him. " I am unwilling for any boy under eighteen to be
shot," he telegraphed Meade in reference to one prisoner.
And in suspending another sentence he gave as an excuse,
" His mother says he is but seventeen." This boy he after
ward pardoned " on account of his tender age."
If a reason for pardoning was not evident, he was willing
to see if one could not be found :
S  W  , private in  , writes that he is to
be shot for desertion on the 6th instant. His own story is
rather a bad one, and yet he tells it so frankly, that I am
somewhat interested in him. Has he been a good soldier
except the desertion? About how old is he? A. Lincoln.
Some of the deserters came very close to his own life.
The son of more than one old friend was condemned for a
military offense in the war, and in the telegrams is recorded
Lincoln's treatment of these trying cases. In one of them
the boy had enlisted in the Southern Army and had been
taken a prisoner. " Please send him to me by an officer," the
President telegraphed the military commander having him
in charge. Four days later he telegraphed to the boy's father:

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 1 67
Your son — — has just left me with my order to the Sec
retary of War to administer to him the oath of allegiance,
discharge him and send him to you.
In another case, where the son of a friend was under trial
for desertion, Lincoln kept himself informed of the trial,
telegraphing to the general in charge, " He is the son of so
close a friend that I must not let him be executed."
And yet, in spite of the evident reluctance which every
telegram shows to allowing the execution of a death sen
tence, there are many which prove that, unless he had what
he considered a good reason for suspending a sentence, he
would not do it. The following telegrams are illustrative :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 23, 1863.
E. P. Evans,
West Union, Adams County, Ohio.
Yours to Governor Chase in behalf of J  A. W 
is before me. Can there be a worse case than to desert, and
with letters persuading others to desert ? I cannot interpose
without a better showing than you make. When did he de
sert? When did he write the letters ? A. Lincoln.
In this case sentence was later suspended " until further
orders."
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, April 21, 1864.
Major-General Dix,
New York.
Yesterday I was induced to telegraph the officer in mili
tary command at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Massachu
setts, suspending the execution of C  C  , to be ex
ecuted to-morrow for desertion. Just now, on reading your
order in the case, I telegraphed the same order withdrawing

1 68 LIFE OF LINCOLN
the suspension, and leaving the case entirely with you.
man's friends are pressing me, but I refer them to you, in
tending to take no further action myself.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, City, April 25, 1864.
Major-General Meade,
Army of Potomac.
A Mr. Corby brought you a note from me at the foot of
a petition, I believe, in the case of D  , to be executed
to-day. The record has been examined here, and it shows
too strong a case for a pardon or commutation, unless there
is something in the poor man's favor outside of the record,
which you on the ground may know, but I do not. My note
to you only means that if you know of any such thing ren
dering a suspension of the execution proper, on your own
judgment, you are at liberty to suspend it. Otherwise I do
not interfere. A. Lincoln.
It is curious to note how the President found time to at
tend to these cases even on the most anxious days of his ad
ministration. On the very day on which he telegraphed to
James G. Blaine in response to the latter's announcement
that Maine had gone for the Union, " On behalf of the
Union, thanks to Maine. Thanks to you personally for
sending the news," he sent two telegrams suspending sen
tences. Such telegrams were sent on days of great battles,
in the midst of victory, in the despair of defeat. Whatever
he was doing, the fate of the sentenced soldier was on his
heart. On Friday, which was usually chosen as execution
day, he often was heard to say, " They are shooting a boy
at  to-day. I hope I have not done wrong to allow it."
In spite of his frequent interference, there were 267 men ex
ecuted by the United States military authorities during the
Civil War. Of these, 141 were executed for desertion, and

LINCOLN AND THE SOLDIERS 1 69
eight for desertion coupled with some other crime, such as
murder. After those for desertion, the largest number of
executions were for murder, sixty-seven in all. As to the
manner of the executions, one hundred and eighty-seven
were shot, seventy-nine hung, and in one case the offender
was sent out of the world by some unknown way.
Incidents and documents like those already given, show
ing the care and the sympathy President Lincoln felt for
the common soldier, might be multiplied indefinitely. Noth
ing that concerned the life of the men in the line was foreign
to him. The man might have shown cowardice. The
President only said, "' I never felt sure but I might drop
my gun and run away if I found myself in line of battle."
The man might be poor and friendless. " If he has no
friends, I'll be his friend," Lincoln said. The man might
have deserted. " Suspend execution, send me his record,"
was the President's order. He was not only the Com
mander-in-chief of all the armies of the United States, he
was the father of the army, and never did a man better de
serve a title than did he the one the soldiers gave him —
" Father Abraham."

CHAPTER XXVIII
Lincoln's re-election in 1864
It was not until the fall of 1863 that Abraham Lincoln
was able to point to any substantial results from the long
months of hard thought and cautious experiment he had
given to the Civil War. By that time he did have something
( ( to show. The borders of the Confederacy had been pressed
back and shut in by an impregnable wall of ships and men.
Not only were the borders of the Confederacy narrowed ; the
territory had been cut in two by the opening of the Missis
sippi, which, in Lincoln's expressive phrase, now ran " un-
vexed to the sea." He had a war machine at last which kept
the ranks of the army full. He had found a commander-in-
chief in Grant; and, not less important, he had found,
simultaneously with Grant, also Sherman, McPherson, and
Thomas, as well as the proper places for the men with
whom he had tried such costly experiments — for Burn
side and Hooker. He had his first effective results, too,
from emancipation, that policy which he had inaugurated
with such foreboding. Fully 100,000 former slaves were
now in the United States service, and they had proved be
yond question their value as soldiers. More than this, it was
evident that some form of emancipation would soon be
adopted by the former slave States of Tennessee, Arkansas,
Maryland, and Missouri.
At every point, in short, the policy which Lincoln had set
in motion with painful foresight and labor was working as
he had believed it would work, but it was working slowly.
He saw that many months of struggle and blood and pa-
170

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 171
iience were needed to complete his task ; many months — and
in less than a year there would be a presidential election, and
he might be obliged to leave his task unfinished. He did not
hesitate to say frankly that he wanted the opportunity to
finish it. Among the leaders of the Republican party were a
few conservatives who, in the fall of 1863, supported Lin
coln in his desire for a second term; but there were more
who doubted his ability and who were secretly looking for
an abler man. At the same time, a strong and open opposi
tion to his re-election had developed in the radical wing of
the party.
The real cause of this opposition was Lincoln's unswerv-
able purpose to use emancipation purely as a military meas
ure. The earliest active form this opposition took was prob
ably under the direction of Horace Greeley. In the spring
of 1863, Mr. Greeley had become thoroughly disheartened
by the slow progress of the war and the meager results of
the Emancipation Proclamation. He was looking in every
direction for some one to replace Lincoln, and eventually
he settled on General Rosecrans, who at that moment was
the most successful general before the country. Greeley,
after consulting with a number of Republican leaders, de
cided that some one should go to Rosecrans and sound him.
James R. Gilmore (" Edmund Kirke ") was chosen for this
mission. Mr. Gilmore recounts, in his " Personal Recollec
tions of Abraham Lincoln," as an evidence of the extent of
the discontent with Lincoln, that when he started on his
mission, Mr. Greeley gave him letters to Rosecrans from
about all the more prominent Republican leaders except Ros
coe Conkling, Charles Sumner, and Henry Wilson.
Mr. Greeley's idea was, as he instructed Mr. Gilmore, to
find out, first, if Rosecrans was " sound on the goose " (po
litical slang for sound on the anti-slavery policy), and, sec->
ondly, if he would consider the nomination to the presi->

1 72 LIFE OF LINCOLN
dency. If Mr. Gilmore found Rosecrans satisfactory,
Greeley declared that he would force Lincoln to resign, put
Hamlin in his place, and compel the latter to give Rosecrans
the command of the whole army. His idea was, no doubt,
that the war would then be finished promptly and Rosecrans
would naturally be the candidate in 1864.
Mr. Gilmore went on his mission. Rosecrans seemed to
him to fulfil Mr. Greeley's ideas, and finally he laid the case
before him. The General replied very promptly : " My place
is here. The country gave me my education, and so has a
right to my military services." He also declared that Mr.
Greeley was wrong in his estimate of Lincoln and that
time would show it.
Lincoln knew thoroughly the feeling of the radicals at
this time; he knew the danger there was to his hopes of a
second term in opposing them ; but he could be neither per
suaded nor frightened into modifying his policy. The most
conspicuous example of his firmness was in the case of the
Missouri radicals.
The radical party in Missouri was composed of men of
great intelligence and perfect loyalty ; but they were men of
the Fremont type, idealists, incapable of compromise and
impatient of caution. They had been in constant conflict
with the conservatives of the State since the breaking out of
the war, and by the spring of 1863, the rupture had become
almost a national affair. Both sides claimed to be Union
men and to believe in emancipation ; but while the conserva
tives believed in gradual emancipation, the radicals de
manded that it be immediate. The fight became so bitter
that, as Lincoln said to one of the radicals who came to
him early in 1863, begging his interference: " Either party
would rather see the defeat of their adversary than that of
Jefferson Davis. You ought to have your heads knocked to
gether," he added in his exasperation.

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 173
Finally, he determined that he must break up somehow
what he called their " pestilent, factional quarrel," and sent
a new military governor, General J. M. Schofield, to Mis
souri. The advice he gave him was this:
Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the
invader and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unneces
sarily harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role,
and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well.
If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will prob
ably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and
praised by the other.
General Schofield was not able to live up to Lincoln's
counsel. He incurred the suspicion and dislike of the radi
cals, and they determined that he must be removed. Sep
tember 1, a great convention was held, and a committee of
seventy persons was appointed to go to Washington and de
mand from Mr. Lincoln a redress of grievances. The con
vention of course had the sympathy of the radical anti-sla
very element of the whole North in its undertaking, and
when the Committee of Seventy started for Washington they
received an ovation in almost every State through which they
passed. Arrived in Washington, they became the centre of
the town's interest, and a great reception was given them in
Union League Hall, at which eminent men denounced the
conservatives of Missouri and demanded immediate emanci
pation. Mr. Lincoln did not receive the Committee at once but
sent for their Secretary, Dr. Emil Preetorius, a leading Ger
man Radical. Mr. Preetorius says :
" In response to a request from the President himself I
immediately, in company with Senator ' Jim ' Lane, called
at the White House. Mr. Lane soon excused himself and left
me alone with the President. I had a long talk with him,

174 LIFE OF LINCOLN
explaining the situation in Missouri, as we Radicals viewed
it, and stating just why we had come to Washington. We
Germans had not felt so kindly toward Mr. Lincoln since
he had set aside Fremont's proclamation of emancipation.
We thought he had missed a great opportunity and had
thereby displayed a lack of statesmanship. We believed him
to be under the influence of the Blair family. Now that he
himself had issued an emancipation proclamation we felt
wronged because it applied only to the States in rebellion,
and not to our own State. ' Thus,' I said to the President,
' you are really punishing us for our courage and patriot
ism.' We felt, as Gratz Brown expressed it, that we had to
fight three administrations — Lincoln's, Jeff Davis's, and our
own Governor Gamble's. We felt that we had a right to
complain because Lincoln sent out to Missouri generals that
were not in sympathy with us.
" Our talk was of the very frankest kind. Lincoln said
he knew I was a German revolutionist and expected me to
take extreme views. I recollect distinctly his statement that
he would rather be a follower than a leader of public opinion.
He had reference to public opinion in the Border States.
' We need the Border States,' said he. ' Public opinion in
them has not matured. We must patiently educate them up
to the right opinion.' The situation at that time was less
favorable in the other Border States than in Missouri. Their
Union men had not the strong fighters that Missouri had.
As things were then going, the attitude of the Border States
was of the very highest importance. I could realize that the
more fully as Lincoln argued the case."
An arrangement was made for the President to receive
the committee on September 30 and hear their statement
of grievances. The imposing procession of delegates went
to the White House at nine o'clock in the morning. At the
Committee's own request, all reporters and spectators were
refused admission to the audience, only the President and
one of his secretaries meeting them. Even the great front
doors of the White House were locked during the forenoon.
The conference began by the reading of an address which

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 1 75
denounced the conservative party, and demanded that Gen
eral Schofield be removed and General Benjamin F. Butler
be put in his place, and that the enrolled militia of the State
be discharged and national troops replace them.
After the reading of the address, the President replied.
Mr. Enos Clarke of St. Louis, who was one of the delegates,
records the impression this reply made upon his mind :
" The President listened with patient attention to our ad
dress," says Mr. Clarke, " and at the conclusion of the read
ing replied at length. I shall never forget the intense chagrin
and disappointment we all felt at the treatment of the matter
in the beginning of his reply. He seemed to belittle and min
imize the importance of our grievances and to give magni
tude to minor or unimportant matters. He gave us the im
pression of a pettifogger speaking before a justice of the
peace jury. But as he talked on and made searching in
quiries of members of the delegation and invited debate, it
became manifest that his manner at the beginning was really
the foil of a master, to develop the weakness of the presenta
tion. Before the conclusion of the conference, he addressed
himself to the whole matter in an elevated, dignified, exhaus
tive, and impressive manner.
- " There was no report made of this conference, but I
remember that Mr. Lincoln made this statement : ' You
gentlemen must bear in mind that in performing the duties
of the office I hold I must represent no one section of the
Union, but I must act for all sections of the Union in trying
to maintain the supremacy of the government.' And he also
said this : ' I desire to so conduct the affairs of this Admin
istration that if, at the end, when I come to lay down the
reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall
at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down in
side of me.' These were characteristic expressions.
" Toward the conclusion of the conference and after the
whole matter had been exhaustively discussed by the Presi
dent and the petitioners, Mr. C. D. Drake, our chairman,
stepped forward and said : ' Mr. President, the time has now
come when we can no longer trespass upon your attention,

176 LIFE OF LINCOLM
but must take leave of you ; ' and in those deep, impressive,
stentorian tones peculiar to Mr. Drake, he added, ' Many of
these men who stand before you to-day return to inhospit
able homes, where rebel sentiments prevail, and many of
them, sir, in returning there do so at the risk of their lives,
and if any of those lives are sacrificed by reason of the mili
tary administration of this government, let me tell you, sir,
that their blood will be upon your garments and not upon
ours.' " During this impressive address the President stood be
fore the delegation with tears streaming down his cheeks,
seeming deeply agitated.
" The members of the delegation were then presented in
dividually to the President and took leave of him. I shall
always remember my last sight of Mr. Lincoln as we left the
room. I was withdrawing, in company with others, and as
I passed out I chanced to look back. Mr. Lincoln had met
some personal acquaintances with whom he was exchanging
pleasantries, and instead of the tears of a few moments be
fore, he was indulging in hearty laughter. This rapid and
wonderful transition from one extreme to the other im
pressed me greatly."
Ex-Governor Johnson of Missouri, another member of
the committee, says of Lincoln's reply to their address :
" The President in the course of his reply hesitated a great
deal and was manifestly, as he said, very much troubled over
the condition of affairs in Missouri. He said he was sorry
there should be such divisions and dissensions; that they
were a source of more anxiety to him than we could imagine.
He expressed his appreciation of the zeal of the radical men,
but sometimes thought they did not understand the real sit
uation. He besought us not to get out of humor because
things were not going as rapidly as we thought they should.
The war, he pointed out, affected a much larger territory
than that embraced within the borders of Missouri, and
possibly he had better opportunities of judging of things
than some of us gentlemen. He spoke with great kindness,
but all the way through showed his profound regret at the

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 177
condition of affairs in our State. He regretted especially
that some of the men who had founded the Republican party
should now be arrayed apparently against his administra
tion. " I had met Mr. Lincoln twice before then. This time he
appeared different from what he had on the two former oc
casions. There was a perplexed look on his face. When he
said he was bothered about this thing, he showed it. He
spoke kindly, yet now and then there was a little rasping
tone in his voice that seemed to say : ' You men ought to fix
this thing up without tormenting me.' But he never lost his
temper.'* One of Mr. Lincoln's secretaries was present at this con
ference and made notes on Mr. Lincoln's answer to the
delegation. The following sentences quoted from these
notes in Nicolay and Hay's " Abraham Lincoln " show still
further how plainly the President dealt with the committee :
" Your ideas of justice seem to depend on the application
of it."
" When you see a man loyally in favor of the Union —
willing to vote men and money — spending his time and
money and throwing his influence into the recruitment of
our armies, I think it ungenerous, unjust, and impolitic to
make views on abstract political questions a test of his loy
alty. I will not be a party to this application of a pocket in
quisition. " You appear to come before me as my friends, if I agree
with you, and not otherwise. I do not here speak of mere per
sonal friendship. When I speak of my friends I mean those
who are friendly to my measures, to the policy of the Gov
ernment. I am well aware that by many, by some even
among this delegation — I shall not name them — I have been
in public speeches and in printed documents charged with
' tyranny and wilfulness,' with a disposition to make my
own personal will supreme. I do not intend to be a tyrant.
At all events I shall take care that in my own eyes I do not
become one."

178 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Mr. Lincoln then sent the committee away, promising to
reply by letter to their address. The events of the next day
showed him more plainly than ever what a following they
had. The night after the conference, Secretary Chase gave
them a great reception at his house. He did not hesi
tate to say, in the course of the evening, that he was heartily
in sympathy with their mission and that he hoped their
military department would be entrusted to a gentleman
whose motto was " Freedom for all." Going on to New
York, the committee were given a great and enthusiastic
meeting at Cooper Union: William Cullen Bryant made a
sympathetic speech, and various members of the committee
indulged in violent denunciations of the conservative ele
ment of the country, and did not hesitate to threaten Mr.
Lincoln with revolutionary action if he did not yield to
their demands.
Mr. Lincoln of course was not insensible to the political
power of the Missouri radicals. He knew that this was a
test case. He knew that they made their issue at a critical
time for him, it being the eve of the fall elections. So im
portant did his supporters consider it that he do something
to pacify radical sentiment that Mr. Leonard Swett, one of
his most intimate friends, and one heartily in sympathy with
his policy, urged him, one day in October, to take a more
advanced position and recommend in his annual message a
constitutional amendment abolishing slavery:
Turning to me suddenly, he said, " Is not the question of
emancipation doing well enough now ? " I replied it was.
" Well," said he, " I have never done an official act with a
view to promote my own personal aggrandizement, and I
don't like to begin now. I can see that emancipation is
coming ; whoever can wait for it will see it ; whoever stands
in its way will be run over by it."
In spite of the pressure and threats of the Committee of

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 1 79
Seventy, Lincoln, when he answered their letter on October
5, yielded to none of their demands. He would not re
move General Schofield. He would not discharge the en
rolled militia.
He repeated that they were acting as factionists, declared
that they had failed to convince him that General Schofield
and the enrolled militia which they charged caused the suf
fering of the Union party in the State were responsible, and
in a few remarkable paragraphs described what in his
opinion was the cause of the trouble in Missouri :
We are in 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 differ
ences each will prefer a different way of sustaining the
Union. At once sincerity is questioned and motives are as
sailed. Actual war coming, 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 first killed by him. Revenge
and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may
be amongst 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 mur-

180 LIFE OF LINCOLN
ders for pelf, proceed under any cloak that will best cover
for the occasion. These causes amply account for what has
occurred in Missouri, without ascribing it to the weakness or
wickedness of any general.
He closed his letter refusing their requests with a few of
those resolute sentences of which he was capable when he
had made up his mind to do a thing in spite of all opposition :
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 obliged 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 bear all, but at last I must within my sphere, judge
what to do and what to forbear.
There was no mistaking this letter of Lincoln. It told
the radicals not only of Missouri, but of the whole North,
that the President was not to be moved from his emancipa
tion policy.
Another complaint which many Republicans as well as all
Democrats made against Mr. Lincoln in 1864, was his inter
pretation of what constituted treason against the govern
ment. Their dissatisfaction culminated in what is known as
the Vallandigham case. Mr. Vallandigham was an Ohio
Democrat of the Copperhead variety who, from the begin
ning had opposed the war, although declaring himself for the
Union. In the spring of 1863 his attacks on the administra

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 tSl
tion were particularly virulent. He accused the government
of not being willing to meet the Confederacy and arrange a
peace, of being unconstitutional in enforcing the draft and of
making arbitrary military arrests and imprisonments. The
party which he represented seemed to be growing in influence
every day, and it was known that the efficiency of the army in
the winter of 1862-63 had been seriously undermined by the
influence of the Copperhead element at home. Mr. Lincoln
was opposed to noticing any opposition of this kind unless
driven to it, but not all of his subordinates felt the same
way. Some of the generals in the army were especially in
censed by it, among them General Burnside, then at the
head of the Department of the Ohio, who, on April 13,
1863, issued an order in which he said:
" The habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy will
not be allowed in this department. Persons committing
such offenses will be at once arrested with a view to being
tried as above stated or sent beyond our lines into the lines
of their friends.
" It must be distinctly understood that treason expressed
or implied will not be tolerated in this department."
Mr. Vallandigham was angered by this order and in public
addresses declared it a " base usurpation of arbitrary author
ity," which he should resist. General Burnside retaliated
by ordering Vallandigham's arrest at Dayton, Ohio, after a
public address in which he had declared among other things
that the present war was a " wicked, cruel and unnecessary
war; " "a war not being waged for the preservation of the
Union; " " a war for the purpose of crushing out liberty and
erecting a despotism; " " a war for the freedom of the blacks
and the enslavement of the white;" stating " that if the Ad
ministration had so wished the war could have been honor
ably terminated months ago ; " that " peace might have been

1 82 UFE OF LINCOLN
honorably obtained by listening to the proposed intermedia
tion of France," etc., etc.
Vallandigham was tried soon after arrest by a military
commission, pronounced guilty and sentenced to " close con
finement in some fortress of the United States." The arrest,
the trial by military instead of by civil court, the sentence,
aroused a tremendous outcry throughout the country. The
best newspapers, including the New York " Evening Post "
and the New York " Tribune " condemned the government.
Protests and applications for his release poured in upon the
President. It is probable that Mr. Lincoln regretted the arrest of Val
landigham, for he wrote Burnside afterward : "All the
Cabinet regret the necessity of arresting 
Vallandigham, some perhaps doubting there was a real
necessity for it; but, being done, all were for seeing you
through with it." Lincoln had, however, no idea of releas
ing Vallandigham. His one concern was to prevent the
prisoner appearing to the country as a martyr for liberty,
the victim of tyranny, and, taking the hint from Burn
side's order he directed that " the prisoner be put beyond
our military lines," that is, that he be sent over to the Con
federates. General Burnside objected to this. His earnest
ness had so blinded his sense of humor that he did not see
that this disposition of the prisoner would take away much
of the sympathy and dignity which must always attend the
tragedy of close confinement. Mr. Lincoln insisted, and
finally Vallandigham, attended only by a military escort,
was secretly conducted under a flag of truce within the lines
of the Confederate general, Braxton Bragg.
There was nothing heroic about this turn in the affair.
Vallandigham protested vehemently that he was not a sym
pathizer of the South, that he was for the Union. The Con
federates were as disgusted as the prisoner. Mr. Lincoln,

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 183
they said to one another, intends to make a Botany Bay of
the Confederacy. The Confederate Secretary of War wrote
General Bragg in a rather irritable tone that it was clearly an
abuse of the flag of truce to employ it to cover a guard over
expelled citizens, non-combatants. An old friend of Val
landigham in Virginia offered the government to give him a
home if he desired to remain in the Confederacy, but both
Vallandigham and the Confederates saw the absurdity of the
situation and desired only that it be changed as quickly as pos
sible. Considerable correspondence passed between the pris
oner and the authorities with the result that on June 2, Jeffer
son Davis ordered General Bragg to send Vallandigham,
as an alien enemy, under guard of an officer, to Wilmington,
and the Secretary of War wrote to the commissioner hav
ing the prisoner in charge, the following directions :
It is not the desire or purpose of this govern
ment to treat this victim of unjust and arbitrary power with
other than lenity and consideration, but as an alien enemy he
cannot be received to friendly hospitality or allowed a con
tinued refuge in freedom in our midst. This is due alike
to our safety and to him in his acknowledged position as an
enemy. You have therefore been charged with the duty,
not inappropriate to the commission you hold in relation to
prisoners, etc., of meeting him in Lynchburg, and there as
suming direction and control of his future movements. He
must be regarded by you as under arrest, permitted, unless
in your discretion you deem it necessary to revoke the privi
lege to be at large on his parole not to attempt to escape nor
hereafter to reveal to the prejudice of the Confederate States
anything he may see or learn while therein. You will see
that he is not molested or assailed or unduly intruded upon,
and extend to him the attentions and kind treatment consist
ent with his relations as an alien enemy. After a reason
able delay with him at Lynchburg, to allow rest and recrea
tion from the fatigues of his recent exposure and travel, you
will proceed with him to Wilmington, N. G, and there de-

1 84 LIFE OF LINCOLN
liver him to the charge of Major-General (Whiting, com
manding in that district, by whom he will be allowed at an
early convenient opportunity to take shipping for any neutral
port he may prefer, whether in Europe, the Islands, or on
this Continent. More full instructions on this point will be
given to General Whiting, and your duty will be discharged
when you shall have conducted Mr. Vallandigham to Wil
mington and placed him at the disposition of that com
mander. These directions were carried out and Vallandigham
sailed for Bermuda and thence for Halifax. August 27 the
Provost-Marshal-General was notified that he was at Wind
sor, opposite Detroit.
Although Lincoln, by his adroit disposition of Vallandig
ham had taken much of the dignity out of his position, his
supporters were determined to make the matter an issue,
and on May 19 the New York Democrats, and again on
June 26, the Ohio Democrats, while urging their loyalty to
the Union protested against the arrest, and called upon the
President to restore the exile to his home. Such arrests and
trials as his were, they declared, contrary to the Constitu
tion, a violation of the right of free speech and the right
to a fair trial. On June 12 and June 29, Lincoln replied
respectively to these protests in a couple of letters in which
he defended his course. Only the briefest extract can be
given here, but they show the clearness and boldness of his
argument. "... The resolutions promise to support me in
every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress the re
bellion; and I have not knowingly employed, nor shall
knowingly employ, any other. But the meeting, by their
resolutions assert and argue that certain military arrests, and
proceedings following them, for which I am ultimately re
sponsible, are unconstitutional. I think they are not.

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 185
" . . . he who dissuades one man from volunteering,
or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the Union cause
as much as he who kills a Union soldier in battle. Yet this
dissuasion or inducement may be so conducted as to be no
defined crime of which any civil court would take cogni
zance. " Ours is a case of rebellion — so called by the resolutions
before me — in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of
rebellion ; and the provision of the Constitution 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,' is the provision which specially ap
plies to our present case.
" Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the
part of the Union ; and his arrest was made because he was
laboring, with some effect, to prevent the raising of troops,
to encourage desertions from the army, and to leave the re
bellion without an adequate military force to suppress it.
He was not arrested because he was damaging the political
prospects of the administration or the personal interests of
the commanding general, but because he was damaging the
army, upon the existence and vigor of which the life of the
nation depends. He was warring upon the military, and
this gave the military constitutional jurisdiction to lay
hands upon him. If Mr. Vallandingham was not damaging
the military power of the country, then his arrest was made
on mistake of fact, which I would be glad to correct on rea
sonably satisfactory evidence.
" I understand the meeting whose resolutions I am con
sidering to be in favor of suppressing the rebellion by mili
tary force — by armies. Long experience has shown that
armies cannot be maintained unless desertion shall be pun
ished by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and
the law and the Constitution sanction, this punishment.
• •••••••
" If I be wrong on this question of constitutional power,
my error lies in believing that certain proceedings are con
stitutional when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public

1 86 LIFE OF LINCOLN
safety requires them, which would not be constitutional
when, in absence of rebellion or invasion, the public safety
does not require them; in other words, that the Constitu
tion is not in its application in all respects the same in cases
of rebellion or invasion involving the public safety, as it is
in times of profound peace and public security. The Con
stitution itself makes the distinction, and I can no more be
persuaded that the government can constitutionally take no
strong measures in time of rebellion, because it can be shown
that the same could not be lawfully taken in time of peace,
than I can be persuaded that a particular drug is not good
medicine for a sick man because it can be shown to not be
good food for a well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the
danger apprehended by the meeting, that the American peo
ple will by means of military arrests during the rebellion lose
the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the
press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas corpus
throughout the indefinite peaceful future which I trust lies
before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man
could contract so strong an appetite for emetics during tem
porary illness as to persist in feeding upon them during the
remainder of his healthful life."
The Democrats called the letter despotic, but the people
saw the sound sense of the arguments, and when in the fall
Vallandigham, still in exile, was run for Governor of Ohio,
he was defeated by over 100,000 votes. When a few months
later he dared the President, came back and began to make
violent speeches, no attention was paid to him. The right
of the President to suppress any man who hurt the army and
thus the Union cause was clearly fixed in the people's mind.
If anybody wavered, Lincoln's letters were brought out.
Vallandigham henceforth rather helped than injured the
President. The first effect of Lincoln's resolution in enforcing his
own policy was to stimulate the search his opponents were
making for a man to put in his place. At that time — the
fall of 1863 — Grant was the military her© of the country,

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 187
and his name began to be urged for the Presidency. Now
Lincoln had never seen Grant. Was he a man whose head
could be turned by a sudden notoriety? Could it be that,
just as he had found the commander for whom he had
searched so long, he was to lose him through a burst of
popular gratitude and hero-worship? He decided to find
out Grant's feeling. He did this through Mr. J. Russell
Jones of Chicago, a friend of the General.
" In 1863," says Mr. Jones,. " some of the newspapers,
especially the New York ' Herald,' were trying to boom
Grant for the Presidency.* While General Grant was at
Chattanooga, I wrote him, in substance, that I did not wish
to meddle with his affairs, but that I could not resist suggest
ing that he pay no attention to what the newspapers were
saying in that connection. He immediately replied, saying
that everything of that nature which reached him went into
the waste-basket ; that he felt he had as big a job on hand as
one man need desire ; that his only ambition was to suppress
the rebellion ; and that, even if he had a desire to be Presi
dent, he could not possibly entertain the thought of becoming
a candidate for the office, nor of accepting a nomination were
one tendered him, so long as there was a possibility of keep
ing Mr. Lincoln in the presidential chair. The whole spirit
of his letter was one of the most perfect devotion to Lin
coln. " Before this letter reached me, however, President Lin
coln telegraphed me to come to Washington. The telegram
gave no hint of the business upon which he wished to see me,
and I had no information upon which to found even a sus
picion of its nature. On my way to the train I stopped at
my office, in the postoffice building, and in passing my box
in the postoffice I opened it and took out several letters. I
put them into my pocket, and did not look at them until after
I had gotten aboard the train. I then discovered that one of
the letters was from General Grant ; it was the letter of which
*The "Herald" published its first editorial advocating Grant on
December IS, 1863. It was headed, " Grant as the People's Candidate."

1 88 LIFE OF LINCOLN
I have already spoken. The circumstance has always seemed
to me to have been providential.
" Upon my arrival at Washington, I sent word to the
President that I had arrived and would be glad to call when
ever it was most convenient and agreeable for him to receive
me. He sent back a request for me to call that evening at
eight o'clock. I went to the White House at that hour.
" When the President had gotten through with the per
sons with whom he was engaged, I was invited into his
room. The President then gave directions to say to all that
he was engaged for the evening. Mr. Lincoln opened the
conversation by saying that he was anxious to see somebody
from the West with whom he could talk upon the general
situation and had therefore sent for me. Mr. Lincoln made
no allusion whatever to Grant. I had been there but a few
minutes, however, when I fancied he would like to talk about
Grant, and I interrupted him by saying :
" 'Mr. President, if you will excuse me for interrupting
you, I want to ask you kindly to read a letter that I got from
my box as I was on my way to the train.'
" Whereupon I gave him Grant's letter. He read it with
evident interest. When he came to the part where Grant said
that it would be impossible for him to think of the presidency
as long as there was a possibility of retaining Mr. Lincoln in
the office, he read no further, but arose and, approaching me,
put his hand on my shoulder and said :
" ' My son, you will never know how gratifying that is to
me. No man knows, when that presidential grub gets to
gnawing at him, just how deep it will get until he has tried
it; and I didn't know but what there was one gnawing at
Grant.' " The fact was that this was just what Mr. Lincoln wanted
to know. He had said to Congressman Washburne, as I af
terwards ascertained :
" ' About all I know of Grant I have got from you. I have
never seen him. Who else besides you knows anything about
Grant?' " Washburne replied :
" * I know very little about him. He is my townsman, but
I never saw very much of him. The only man who really

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 180
knows Grant is Jones. He has summered and wintered with
him.' (This was an allusion to the winter I spent with Grant
in Mississippi, at the time Van Dorn got into Holly
Springs. )
" It was this statement of Washburne's which caused Lin
coln to telegraph me to come to Washington."
But there were other names than Grant's in the mouth of
the opposition. All through the winter of 1863- 1864, in
fact, the great majority of the Republican leaders were dis
cussing different candidates. One of the men whom they
approached was the Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin. He
was a man of strong anti-slavery feeling, and it was well
known that Lincoln never had gone fast enough to suit him.
Would he accept the candidacy ? he was asked. Mr. Hamlin
would not listen to the suggestion. Lincoln, he said, was his
friend. Their views were not always the same, but he be
lieved in Lincoln, and would not be untrue to his official re
lation. Not every member of the official family, however,
had the same sense of loyalty. Indeed, before the end of
1863, an active campaign for the nomination was being con
ducted by one of the members of the cabinet, Mr. Chase,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Mr. Chase had been a rival of Lincoln in i860. He had
gone into the cabinet with a feeling very like that of Mr.
Seward, that Lincoln was an inexperienced man, incapable
of handling the situation, and that he or Mr. Seward would
be the premier. Mr Seward soon found that Lincoln was
the master, and he was great enough to acknowledge the su
premacy. But Mr. Chase was never able to realize Lincoln's
greatness. He continued to regard him as an inferior mind,
and seemed to believe, honestly enough, that the people
would prefer himself as President if they could only have
an opportunity to vote for him. All through the winter of
1863-1864 he carried on a voluminous private correspond*

190 LIFE OF LINCOLN
ence in the interests of his nomination, and about the middle
of the winter he consented that his name be submitted to the
people. The first conspicuous effort to promote his can
didacy was a circular marked " confidential," sent out in
February 1864, by Senator Pomeroy of Kansas, calling on
the country to organize in behalf of Mr. Chase. The Secre
tary hastened to assure Mr. Lincoln that he knew nothing of
this circular until he saw it in the newspapers, but he con
fessed that he had consented that his name be used as a presi
dential candidate, and said that if Mr. Lincoln felt that this
impaired his usefulness as Secretary of the Treasury, he did
not wish to continue in his position.
Lincoln had known for many months of Mr. Chase's
anxiety for the nomination, but he had studiously ignored
it. He could not be persuaded by anybody to do anything
to interrupt Mr. Chase's electioneering. Now that the Sec
retary had called his attention to the matter of the circular,
however, he replied courteously, though indifferently:
"... My knowledge of Mr. Pomeroy's letter having
been made public came to me only the day you wrote; but I
had, in spite of myself, known of its existence several days
before. I have not yet read it, and I think I shall not. I
was not shocked or surprised by the appearance of the letter,
because I had had knowledge of Mr. Pomeroy's committee,
and of secret issues which, I supposed came from it, and of
secret agents who I supposed were sent out by it, for sev
eral weeks. I have known just as little of these things as
my friends have allowed me to know. They bring the docu
ments to me, but I do not read them ; they tell me what they
think fit to tell me, but I do not inquire for more. . . .
" Whether you shall remain at the head of the Treasury
Department is a question which I will not allow myself to
consider from any standpoint other than my judgment of the
public service, and, in that view, I do not perceive occasion
for a change."

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 191
Mr. Chase was free, as far as Lincoln was concerned, to
conduct his presidential campaign from his seat in the cabi
net. But the Republicans of his State were not willing that
he should do so, and three days after the Pomeroy circular
first appeared in print, the Union members of the legislature
demanded, in the name of the people and of the soldiers of
Ohio, that Lincoln be renominated. There was nothing to
do then but for Mr. Chase to withdraw.
Indeed, it was already becoming evident to Lincoln's most
determined antagonists in the party that it would be useless
for them to try to nominate anybody else. On all sides — in
State legislatures, Union leagues, caucuses — the people were
demanding that Lincoln be renominated. The case was a
curious one. Four years before, Lincoln had been nominated
for the Presidency of the United States because he was an
available candidate, not from any general confidence that he
was the best man in the Republican party for the place.
Now, on the contrary, it was declared that he would have to
be nominated because he had won the confidence of the
people so completely that no candidate would have any
chance against him. In four years he had risen from a posi
tion of comparative obscurity to be the most generally
trusted man in the North. The great reason for this confi
dence was that the people understood exactly what he was
trying to do and why he was trying to do it. From the be
ginning of his Administration, in fact, Lincoln had taken
the people into his confidence. Whenever a strong opposi
tion to his policy developed in any quarter, it was his habit
to explain in a public letter exactly why he was doing what
he was doing, and why he was not doing the thing he was
urged to do. He had written such a letter to Greeley in
August, 1862, explaining his view of the relation of emanci
pation to the war; such were his letters in June, 1863, reply
ing to the Democrats of New York and Ohio who protested

192 LIFE OF LINCOLN
against the arrest of Vallandigham for treasonable speech;
such his letter to James C. Conkling in August, 1863, ex
plaining his views of peace, of emancipation, of colored
troops. These public letters are Lincoln's most remarkable
state papers. They are invincible in their logic and incom
parable in their simplicity and lucidity of expression. By
means of them he convinced the people of his own rigid
mental honesty, put reasons for his actions into their mouths,
gave them explanations which were demonstrations. They
believed in him because he had been frank with them, and
because he tried to make matters so clear to them, used
words they could understand, kept the principle free from all
non-essential and partisan considerations.
Scarcely less important than these letters in convincing the
people of the wisdom of his policy were Lincoln's stories and
sayings. In February, 1864, just after the popular demand
for his renomination began to develop, the New York
" Evening Post " published some two columns of Lincoln's
stories. The New York " Herald " jeered at the collection
as the " first electioneering document " of the campaign, and
reprinted them as a proof of the unfitness of Lincoln for the
presidency. But jeer as it would, the " Herald " could not
hide from its readers the wit and the philosophy of the jokes.
Every one of them had been used to explain a point or to set
tle a question, and under their laughter was concealed some
of the man's soundest reasoning. Indeed, at that very mo
ment the " Herald " might have seen, if it had been more dis
cerning, that it was a Lincoln saying going up and down the
country that was serving as one the strongest arguments for
his renomination, the remark that it is never best to swap
horses in crossing a stream. Lincoln had used it in speaking
of the danger of changing Presidents in the middle of the
war. He might have written a long message on the value
of experience in a national crisis, and it would have been

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 193
meaningless to the masses ; but this homely figure 0. swap
ping horses in the middle of the stream appealed to their hu
mor and their common sense. It was repeated over and over
in the newspapers of the country. It was in every man's
mouth, and was of inestimable value in helping plain people
to see the danger of changing Presidents while the war was
going on.
The Union convention was set for June. As the time ap
proached, Lincoln enthusiasm grew. It was fed by Grant's
steady beating back of Lee toward Richmond. The country,
wild with joy, cried out that before July Grant would be in
the Confederate capital and the war would be ended. The
opposition to Lincoln that had worked so long steadily dwin
dled in the face of military success, until all of which it was
capable was a small convention in May, in Cleveland, at
which Fremont was nominated.
The Union convention met in June. That it would nomi
nate Lincoln was a foregone conclusion. " The convention
has no candidate to choose," said the Philadelphia " Press."
" Choice is forbidden it by the previous action of the people."
The preliminary work of the convention, seating delegates
and framing a platform, was rapidly disposed of. Then on
June 8, after a skirmish about the method of nominating
the candidates, Illinois presented the name of Abraham Lin
coln. A call of States was immediately taken. One after
another they answered: Pennsylvania for Lincoln, New
York for Lincoln, New England solid for him, Kentucky
solid, and so on through the thirty States and Territories
represented; only one dissenting delegation in the entire
thirty: Missouri, whose radical Union representatives gave
twenty-two votes for Grant. On the second reading of the
vote this ballot was changed, so that the final vote stood 506
for Lincoln.
The President took his renomination calmly. " I do not
(13)

194 LIFE OF LINCOLN
allow myself to suppose," he said to a delegation from the
National Union League which came to congratulate him,
" that either the convention or the League have concluded to
decide that I am either the greatest or best man in America,
but rather they have concluded that it is not best to swap
horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded
that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a
botch of it trying to swap."
The renomination of Lincoln had taken place when the
country and the Administration were rejoicing in Grant's
successes and still prophesying that the war was practically
over. The developments of the next few days after the nom
ination put a new look on the military situation. Instead of
entering Richmond, Grant attacked Petersburg; but before
he could capture it the town had been so re-enforced that it
was evident nothing but a siege could reduce it. Now the
Army of the Potomac in its march from the Rapidan to the
James, extending from May 4th to June 24th, had lost
nearly 55,000 men. If Petersburg was to be besieged, it was
clear that the army must be re-enforced, that there must be
another draft. The President had hinted that this was pos
sible only a week after his nomination, in an address in Phil
adelphia at a sanitary fair :
" If I shall discover," he asked, " that General Grant and
the noble officers and men under him can be greatly facili
tated in their work by a sudden pouring forward of men and
assistance, will you give them to me? Are you ready to
march ? " Cries of " yes " answered him. " Then I say,
stand ready," he replied, " for I am watching for the
chance." A few days later he visited Grant, and rode the lines in
front of Petersburg. All that he saw, all the events of the
following days, only made it clearer to him that there must
be another outpouring of men. His friends besought him to

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 195
try to get on without it. The country was growing daily
more discouraged as it realized that its hope of speedy vic
tory was vain. A new draft would arouse opposition, give
a new weapon to the Democrats, make his re-election uncer
tain: he could not afford it. He refused their counsels.
" We must lose nothing even if I am defeated," he said. " I
am quite willing the people should understand the issue. My
re-election will mean that the rebellion is to be crushed by
force of arms." And on July 18, he called for 500,000
volunteers for one, two, and three years.
All the discontent that had been prophesied broke forth on
this call. The awful brutality of the war came upon the
country as never before. There was a revulsion of feeling
against the sacrifice going on, such as had not been ex
perienced since the war began. All the complaints that had
been urged against Lincoln both by radical Republicans and
by Democrats broke out afresh. The draft was talked of as
if it were the arbitrary freak of a tyrant. It was declared that
Lincoln had violated constitutional rights, personal liberty,
the liberty of the press, the rights of asylum ; that, in short,
he had been guilty of all. the abuses of a military dictator.
Much bitter criticism was made of his treatment of peace
overtures. It was declared that the Confederates were
anxious to make peace, and had taken the first steps, but that
Lincoln was so bloodthirsty that he was unwilling to use any
means but force. Even Horace Greeley joined now in this
criticism, though up to this summer he had stood with the
President on the question. In May, 1864, when Congress
man Dawson proposed in the Senate that the North should
" tender the olive branch of peace as an exchange for the
sword," the " Tribune " ridiculed the idea and suggested that
Mr. Dawson, without waiting for the House to adopt his
resolution, should start at once on his private account for
the camp of General Lee " with a whole cart-load of olive

196 LIFE OF LINCOLN
branches." " Some good may come of it," said Mr. Gree
ley; " Mr. Dawson may possibly be treated as a spy."
Later, when peace was proposed in the Confederate Con
gress, Mr. Greeley said :
" Speaking generally, it is safe to say that if there had
been any foundation other than the unconditional surrender
of the ' Confederacy,' upon which to build it, we would have
had peace long ago. But the quarrel is a mortal one ....
there can be no peace the terms of which are not dictated and
enforced by the Congress of the United States."
On June io, in answer to an attack on the administra
tion for refusing to allow a Confederate gun-boat to bring
Stephens to Washington, Greeley said :
" The naked truth lies here : Up to this hour the rebels
have never been ready or willing to treat with our govern
ment on any other footing than that of independence; and
this we have not been inclined to concede. When they (or
we) have been beaten into a willingness to concede the vital
matter in dispute, negotiations for r»e?.ce will be in order —
and not till then."
In spite of these utterances however, Mr. Greeley wavered
in July, upon receiving from an irresponsible and officious
individual known as " Colorado Jewett," a communication
stating that two ambassadors of " Davis and Company "
were in Canada with full and complete powers for a peace,
and requesting Mr. Greeley to come immediately to Niagara,
Taking the matter seriously he wrote the President a long
and hysterical letter, urging that the offer be accepted, and
some one sent to Niagara. Mr. Lincoln saw his chance to
demonstrate to the country the futility of peace negotiations.
He replied immediately appointing Greeley himself as an
ambassador to meet the parties.

MR. LINCOLN AND HIS SON THOMAS, FAMILIARLY KNOWN AS "TAD." ABOUT
I 864. BY BRADY.

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 197
" If you can find any person anywhere," he wrote, " prch
fessing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing
for peace, embracing the restoration of the Union and aban*
donment of slavery, whatever else it embraces, say to him
he may come to me with you; and that if he really brings
such proposition, he shall at the least have safe conduct with
the paper (and without publicity, if he chooses) to the point
where you shall have met him. The same if there be two or
more persons."
This was a turn that the editor of the " Tribune " had evi
dently not expected, but Mr. Lincoln insisted that he carry
out the commission, his only conditions being the ones stated
above, and he sent him the following paper :
" To Whom It May Concern : Any proposition which
embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole
Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes
by and with an authority that can control the armies now at
war against the United States, will be received and con
sidered by the Executive Government of the United States,
and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and
collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have
safe conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln."
Mr. Greeley went to Niagara, but as it turned out the
persons whom he had taken seriously had no authority what
ever from Davis, and they declared that no negotiations for
peace were possible if Mr. Lincoln's conditions must be con
ceded. So the conference, which ran over a number of days,
and which was enveloped in much mystery, fell through. At
the end it got into the newspapers, though only a portion of
the correspondence was published at the time. It was evi
dent to people of sense however, that Mr. Greeley had been
hoodwinked. It was evident, too, that the President was
willing to carry on peace negotiations if those points for
which the war had been fought were yielded. All the
effectiveness of peace cries after this, was gone. Senator

198 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Harlan of Iowa, who, with other Republicans, appreciated
thoroughly the clever way in which Lincoln had disposed of
the editor of the " Tribune," said to him one day on the ter
race of the White House : " Some of us think, Mr. Lincoln,
that you didn't send a very good ambassador to Niagara."
" Well, I'll tell you about that, Harlan," replied the Presi
dent, " Greeley kept abusing me for not entering into peace

faBGBND BOBATOHBD ON A WINDOW PANE BT J. WILKES BOOTH, AT MEADVUXB,
PENNSYLVANIA, AUGUST, 1864.
negotiations. He said he believed we could have peace if I
would do my part and when he began to urge that I send an
ambassador to Niagara to meet Confederate emissaries, I
just thought I would let him go up and crack that nut for
himself." As July dragged on and August passed there was no break
in the gloom. Farragut was threatening Mobile; Sherman,

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 199
Atlanta; Grant, Petersburg; but all of these three great un
dertakings seemed to promise nothing but a fruitless
slaughter of men. The despair and indignation of the coun
try in this dreadful time all centered on Lincoln. Republi
cans, hopeless of reelecting him, talked of replacing him by
another candidate. The Democrats argued that the war and
all its woes were the direct result of his tyrannical and un
constitutional policy The more violent intimated that he
should be put out 01 the way. A sign of the bitterness against
him little noted at the moment, but sinister in the light of
after events, was an inscription found one August morning
written on the window of a room in a Meadville (Pennsyl
vania) hotel. The room had been occupied the night before
by a favorite actor, J. Wilkes Booth. The inscription ran :
" Abe Lincoln Departed this Life Aug. 13th, 1864, By the
effects of Poison."
In the dreadful uproar of discontent one cry alarmed Lin
coln more than all others ; this was the revival of the demand
that Grant be presented for the presidency. It was not so
much the fear of defeat by Grant that affected him as it was
the dread that the campaign would be neglected if the Gen
eral went into politics. He concluded that he ought to sound
Grant again. Colonel John Eaton (now General), a friend
of Grant, was in Washington at the time and often with Mr.
Lincoln. Referring to the efforts making to nominate
Grant, Lincoln asked if the Colonel knew what the General
thought of the attempt. No, the Colonel said, he didn't.
" Well," said Lincoln, " if Grant is the great general we
think he is, he must have some consciousness of it, and know
that he cannot be satisfied with himself and secure the credit
due for his great generalship if he does not finish the job."
And he added, " I don't believe they can get him to run. '
The President then asked the Colonel if he could not go to
Grant and find out for him how the General felt. Colonel

200 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Eaton started at once on his errand. Reaching headquarters
and being received by the General, he worked his way to the
subject by recounting how he had met persons recently in
travelling who had asked him if he thought Grant could be
induced to run against Lincoln, not as a partisan, but as a
citizen's candidate, to save the Union. Grant brought his
hand down emphatically on the strap arm of his camp-chair.
" They can't do it ! They can't compel me to do it ! "
"Have you said this to the President?" asked Colonel
Eaton. " No," said Grant, " I have not thought it worth while to
assure the President of my opinion. I consider it as import
ant for the cause that he should be elected as that the army
should be successful in the field."
Lincoln's friends took the situation at this period more
seriously than he. Their alarm is graphically pictured in the
following letter from Leonard Swett to his wife. It was
probably written toward the end of August :
Astor House, New York,
Monday, , 1864.
My Dear Wife: The fearful things in relation to the
country have induced me to stay a week here. I go to
Washington to-night, and can't see how I can get away from
there before the last of the week.
A summary of movements is as follows :
The malicious foes of Lincoln are calling or getting up a
Buffalo convention to supplant him. They are Sumner,
Wade, Henry Winter Davis, Chase, Fremont, Wilson, etc.
The Democrats are conspiring to resist the draft. We
seized this morning three thousand pistols going to Indiana
for distribution. The war Democrats are trying to make
the Chicago nominee a loyal man. The peace Democrats are
trying to get control of the Government, and through al
liance with Jefferson Davis, to get control of both armies
and make universal revolution necessary.

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 201
The most fearful things are probable.
I am acting with Thurlow Weed, Raymond, etc., to try to
avert. There is not much hope.
Unless material changes can be wrought, Lincoln's elec
tion is beyond any possible hope. It is probably clean gone
now.* Lincoln himself had made up his mind that he would be
defeated. What would be his duty then? It was so clear to
him, that he wrote it down on a slip of paper :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 23, 1864.
This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly
probable that this administration will not be re-elected. Then
it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President-elect
as to save the Union between the election and the inaugura
tion; as he will have secured his election on such ground
that he cannot possibly save it afterward. A. LlNCOLN.f
He folded the slip, and when the cabinet met, he asked
the members to put their names on the back. What was in
side he did not tell them. In the incessant buffeting of his
life he had learned that the highest moral experience of
which a man is capable is standing clear before his own con
science. He laid the paper away, a compact with his con
science in case of defeat.
The Democrats had deferred their national convention as
long as possible, hoping for a military situation which would
enable them to win the people. They could not have had a
situation more favorable to their plans. But they miscalcu
lated in one vital particular. They took the despair of the
country as a sign that peace would be welcome even at the

* Letter loaned by Mr. Leonard Herbert Swett, of Aurora, 111.
t " Abraham Lincoln; A History." _ By Nicolay and Hay.

202 LIFE OF LINCOLN
cost of the Union, and they adopted a peace platform. They
nominated on this platform a candidate vowed to war and to
the Union, General McClellan. So unpopular was the com
bination that General McClellan, in accepting the nomina
tion, practically repudiated the platform.
But at this moment something further interfered to save
the Administration. Sherman captured Atlanta, and Farra-
gut took Mobile Bay. " Sherman and Farragut," said Sew
ard, " have knocked the bottom out of the Chicago nomina
tions." If they had not quite done that, they had at least
given heart to Lincoln's supporters, who went to work with
a will to secure his re-election. The following letter by
Leonard Swett shows something of what was done :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 8, 1864.
My Dear Wife: There has never been an instance in
which Providence has kindly interposed in our behalf in our
national struggles in so marked and essential manner as in
the recent Union victories.
You know I had become very fearful before leaving home.
When I arrived in New York, I found the most alarming
depression possessing the minds of all the Republicans,
Greeley, Beecher, Raymond, Weed; and all the small poli
ticians without exception utterly gave up in despair. Ray
mond, the chairman of the National Committee, not only
gave up, but would do nothing. Nobody would do anything.
There was not a man doing anything except mischief.
A movement was organizing to make Mr. Lincoln with
draw or call a convention and supplant him.
I felt it my duty to see if some action could not be inaugu
rated. I got Raymond, after great labor, to call the com
mittee at Washington three days after I would arrive here,
and came first to see if Mr. Lincoln understood his danger
and would help to set things in motion. He understood fully
the danger of his position, and for once seemed anxious I
should try to stem the tide bearing him down. When the

LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION IN 1864 203
committee met, they showed entire want of organization and
had not a dollar of money.
Maine was calling for speakers. Two men were obtained,
and I had to advance them a hundred dollars each to go.
The first gleam of hope was in the Chicago convention.
The evident depression of the public caused the peace men to
control that convention, and then, just as the public began
to shrink from accepting it, God gave us the victory at At
lanta, which made the ship right itself, as a ship in a storm
does after a great wave has nearly capsized it.
Washburne, of Illinois, a man of great force, came, and
he and I have been working incessantly. I have raised and
provided one hundred thousand dollars for the canvass.
Don't think this is for improper purposes. It is not.
Speakers have to be paid. Documents have to be sent, and
innumerable expenses have to be incurred.
The Secessionists are flooding the Northwest with money.
Voorhees and Vallandigham are arming the people there,
and are trying to make the draft an occasion for an uprising.
We are in the midst of conspiracies equal to the French Rev
olution. I have felt it my solemn duty under these circumstances
to stay here. I have been actuated by no other motive than
that of trying to save our country from further dismember
ment and war. People from the West, and our best people,
say if we fail now the West will surely break off and go with
the South. Of course that would be resisted, and the re
sistance would bring war.*
All through September and October the preparation for
the November election continued. The loyal governors of
the North, men to whom the Union cause owed much more
than has ever been fully realized, worked incessantly. The
great orators of the Republican party were set at work, Carl
Schurz even giving up his opportunity in the army to take
the platform, and many an officer and private who had in
fluence in their communities going home on furloughs to aid
in electioneering. The most elaborate preparations were
•Letter loaned by Mr. Herbert Leonard Swett of Aurora, 111.

204 LIFE OF LINCOLN
made for getting the vote of every man, most oi the States
allowing the soldiers to vote in the field. Where this was not
arranged for, the War Department did its utmost to secure
furloughs for the men. Even convalescents from the hospi
tals were sent home to vote.
In this great burst of determined effort Lincoln took little
part. The country understood, he believed, exactly what
his election meant. It meant the preservation of the Union
by force. It meant that he would draft men so long
as he needed them; that he would suspend the writ of
habeas corpus, and employ a military tribunal, whenever he
deemed it necessary. It meant, too, that he would do his ut
most to secure an amendment to the Constitution abolishing
slavery forever, for the platform the Union convention had
adopted before nominating him contained that plank. He
could not be persuaded by the cautious and timid to modify
or obscure this policy. He wanted the people to understand
exactly what he intended, he said, and whenever he did speak
or write, it was only to reiterate his principles in his pe
culiarly plain, unmistakable language. Nor would he allow
any interference with the suffrage of men in office. They
must vote as they pleased. " My wish is," he wrote to the
postmaster of Philadelphia, who had been accused of trying
to control the votes of his subordinates, " that you will do
just as you think fit with your own suffrage in the case, and
not constrain any of your subordinates to do other than as he
thinks fit with his."
Thus when the election finally came off, on November 8
there was not a man of any intelligence in the country who
did not know exactly what he was voting for, if he voted for
Lincoln. What these men thought of him the work of that
day showed. Out of 233 electoral votes, General McClellan
received twenty-one, 212 being for Lincoln. The oppor
tunity to finish the task was now his.

CHAPTER XXIX
Lincoln's work in the winter of 1864-65 — his second
inauguration
Out of the election Lincoln got profound satisfaction.
He had striven to his utmost to let the people know what he
was trying to do — this overwhelming vote for him coming
after the dire discouragement of the summer, proved that
they understood him and were with him. " I am deeply
thankful to God for this approval of the people," he told a
band of serenaders. But there was something beside personal
triumph in his reflections on the elections. Since the be
ginning of the war Lincoln had repeatedly told the people
that Republican institutions were at stake. In his first ad
dress to Congress, July 4, 1861, he said : " Our popular gov
ernment has often been called an experiment. Two points
in it our people have already settled — the successful estab
lishing and the successful administering of it. One still re
mains — its successful maintenance against a formidable in
ternal attempt to overthrow it."
Three years of internal war had not been able to unseat
the government. But what would be the effect of a presiden
tial election added to war ? The warmest friends of repub
lican institutions feared that the strain would be too great.
" It has long been a grave question," said Lincoln
a few days after the election, " whether any government,
not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong
enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On
this point the present rebellion brought our republic to a
205

206 LIFE OF LINCOLN
severe test, and a presidential election occurring in regular
course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain.
" If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of
their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when
divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among
themselves? But the election was a necessity. We cannot
have free government without elections; and if the rebel
lion could force us to forego or postpone a national elec
tion, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and
ruined us. * * * But the election, along with its in
cidental and undesirable strife, has done good too. It has
demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a na
tional election in the midst of a great civil war. Until now,
it has not been known to the world that this was a possi
bility." Another fact vital to Mr. Lincoln's policy was proved by
the election. The North was far from exhaustion in " the
most important branch of national resources — that of liv
ing men."
" While it is melancholy to reflect,'" the President
said in his December address to Congress, " that the war
had filled so many graves, and carried mourning to so
many hearts, it is some relief to know that compared with
the surviving, the fallen have been so few. While corps,
and divisions, and brigades, and regiments have formed,
and fought, and dwindled, and gone out of existence, a great
majority of the men who composed them are still living.
The same is true of the naval service. The election returns
prove this. So many voters could not else be found. The
States regularly holding elections, both now and four years
ago . . . cast 3,982,011 votes now, against 3,870,222
cast then; showing an aggregate now of 3,982,011. To
this is to be added 33,762 cast now in the new States of
Kansas and Nevada, which States did not vote in i860; thus
swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773, and the net increase
during the three years and a half of war, to 145,551. .
To this again should be added the number of all soldiers in
the field from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey,

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 207
Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, and California, who by the laws
of those States could no.t vote away from their homes, and
which number cannot be less than 90,000. Nor yet is this all.
The number in organized Territories is triple now what it
was four years ago, while thousands, white and black, join
us as the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So
much is shown, affirmatively and negatively by the election.
"It is not material to inquire how the increase has been
produced, or to show that it would have been greater but
for the war, which is probably true. The important fact
remains demonstrated that we have more men now than we
had when the war began ; that we are not exhausted, nor in
process of exhaustion; that we are gaining strength, and
may, if need be, maintain the contest indefinitely. This as
to men. Material resources are now more complete and
abundant than ever."
Approved by the people, convinced that the institutions
of the country had successfully resisted the worst strain
which could be given them, inexhaustible resources at his
command, Lincoln took up his task. To put an end to
the armed resistance to the union was the first duty. This
had got to be done by war not by negotiation. He put it
plainly to Congress in December:
" On careful consideration of all the evidence accessi
ble, it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the
insurgent leader could result in any good. He would ac
cept nothing short of severance of the Union — precisely
what we will not and cannot give. His declarations to this
effect are explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt
to deceive us. He affords us no excuse to deceive our
selves. He cannot voluntarily re-accept the Union ; we can
not voluntarily yield it. Between him and us the issue
is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue which can
only be tried by war, and decided by victory. If we yield,
we are beaten ; if the Southern people fail him, he is beaten.
Either way it would be the victory and defeat following
war."

208 LIFE OF LINCOLN
By this time the boundaries of the Confederacy had been
so narrowed, their territory so divided by invading armies
that it seemed to all observers that they must soon yield.
The Mississippi was open and the territory on each side
practically under federal control. Louisiana was under
military government. Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee
were so cleared of troops that they had produced fair crops.
Three ports, Norfolk, Fernandina and Pensacola, were
opened on December i to commercial intercourse except
ing of course " persons, things and information contra
band of war." Grant held Lee arid the bulk of the Con
federate army at Richmond. Sherman who had taken
Atlanta in August had marched three hundred miles di
rectly through the Confederate country destroying every
thing as he went. Nobody knew just then where he would
come out but it was certain he could be counted on to
hold the Confederate force under Johnston in check. Be
sides the armies under Lee and Johnston there were other
smaller forces holding positions, but it was evident that
if Lee and Johnston were defeated, the surrender of these
smaller forces was inevitable. The Confederate navy, too,
had been destroyed by this time. The task seemed short,
yet such was the courage, the resourcefulness, the audacity
in attack and defense which the Confederates had shown
from the beginning of the war that Mr. Lincoln was the
last man in the North to relax efforts. Although he had
an army of nearly a million men enrolled at the time of his
re-election, on December 19, he called for 300,000 volunteers
to serve for one, two or three years.
A week after this call Sherman " came out " and pre
sented the country Savannah as a Christmas gift. The
letter Lincoln wrote him, is worthy to be placed beside the
one he wrote to Grant after Vicksburg :

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 209
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 26, 1864.
My Dear General Sherman :
Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift, the capture
of Savannah.
When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic
coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you
were the better judge, and remembering that " nothing
risked, nothing gained," I did not interfere. Now, the
undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I
believe none of us went further than to acquiesce.
And taking the work of General Thomas into the count,
as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not
only does it afford the obvious and immediate military ad
vantages ; but in showing to the world that your army could
be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new
service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old oppos
ing force of the whole, — Hood's army, — it brings those who
sat in darkness to see a great light. But what next?
I suppose it will be safe if I leave General Grant and
yourself to decide.
Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole
army — officers and men. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
Although the great majority of the country agreed with
Mr. Lincoln that the issue between North and South " could
only be tried by war, and decided by victory," advocates of
peace conferences still nagged the President, begging that
if they were allowed to go South or if commissioners from
the South were allowed to come North everything could
be adjusted. Among these peace-makers was Francis P.
Blair, Sr. He knew the South well, he believed honestly
enough, no doubt, that mediation would be successful.
Finally at the end of December the president gave him a
(14)

210 LIFE OF LINCOLN
pass through the lines. Blair saw President Davis and from
him received a letter saying that if Blair would promise
that a confederate commissioner, minister or other agent
would be received by President Lincoln he would appoint
one at once " with a view to secure peace to the two coun
tries." Mr. Lincoln answered:
" You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of
the 12th instant, you may say to him that I have con
stantly been, am now, and shall continue ready to receive
any igent whom he, or any other influential person now
resisting the national authority, may informally send to
me, with the view of securing peace to the people of our
one common country."
It is evident from the letters of the two leaders that
neither yielded on the essential point at issue. Jefferson
Davis recognized " two countries," Abraham Lincoln " one
common country." The upshot of Mr. Blair's mediation
was that President Davis sent three commissioners, Alex
ander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter and John A. Camp
bell, all members of the Confederate government, to Grant's
headquarters for conference. Lincoln sent Seward to meet
the commissioners with instructions that three things were
indispensable to mediation:
I. The restoration of the national authority through
out all the States.
2. No receding by the executive of the United States
on the slavery question from the position assumed thereon
in the late annual message to Congress, and in preceding
documents. 3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the
war and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the gov
ernment.

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 211
Before Seward had met the commission Lincoln decided
to join him and a meeting was arranged at Fortress Mon
roe, the Confederate envoys being conducted to the steamer
River Queen where Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward were
quartered. The meeting of the men, all of them acquaintances in
earlier days, was cordial and they began and ended their
conference in an entirely friendly mood. But from the
outset it was evident that nothing would come of it. There
was but one way to end the war, Mr. Lincoln told them
frankly, and that was for those who were resisting the
laws of the Union to cease their resistance. He would
grant no armistice — would in no way recognize the States — ¦
so long as they were in arms. He would make no promises
as to reconstruction after the war had ceased until they
had given him a pledge of reunion and of cessation of resist
ance. Mr. Hunter attempted to argue this point with him.
There was precedent, he said, for an executive entering into
agreement with persons in arms against public authority.
Charles I. of England repeatedly recognized the people
in arms against him in this way. " I do not profess to be
posted in history," replied Mr. Lincoln. " On all such
matters I will turn you over to Seward. All I distinctly
recollect about the case of Charles is that he lost his head."
But while Lincoln held firmly to what he regarded as
the essentials to peace, he did not hesitate to give the com-
.nissioners some very good advice. " If I resided in Geor
gia, with my present sentiments," Mr. Stephens reports
him as saying, " I'll tell you what I would do if I were in
your place. I would go home and get the Governor of
the State to call the legislature together, and get them to
recall all the State troops from the war; elect senators and
members to Congress, and ratify this constitutional amend
ment prospectively, so as to take effect — say in five years.

212 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Such a ratification would be valid, in my opinion. I have
looked into the subject, and think such a prospective ratifi
cation would be valid. Whatever may have been the views
of your people before the war, they must be convinced now
that slavery is doomed. It cannot last long in any event,
and the best course, it seems to me, for your public men
to pursue would be to adopt such a policy as will avoid,
as far as possible, the evils of immediate emancipation.
This would be my course, if I were in your place."
And so the Hampton Roads conference ended without
other result than a renewed confirmation of what Lincoln
had contended from the beginning of the agitation for
peace measures — that the South would never grant until
defeated what he claimed as vital to any negotiation — a
recognition of the Union.
It was understood by the country that Mr. Lincoln's re
election meant not only a continuation of the war but the
emancipation of the slaves by a constitutional amendment.
The Emancipation Proclamation was never intended by
the president for anything but a military measure. He
had been careful to state this in delivering it and when
called upon to retract it by a large body of the North be
cause it turned the war into a contest to " free negroes,"
he had gone to great pains to explain his view. Thus in
a letter written in August '63 to his political friends in
Illinois, he said:
" You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and per
haps would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitu
tional. I think differently. I think the Constitution invests
its commander-in-chief with the law of war in time of war.
The most that can be said — if so much — is that slaves are
property. Is there — has there ever been — any question
that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and
friends, may be taken when needed ? And is it not needed

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 213
whenever taking it helps us, or hurts the enemy? Armies,
the world over, destroy enemies' property when they can
not use it ; and even destroy their own to keep it from the
enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power to
help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things
regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions
are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants,
male and female.
" But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not
valid. If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is
valid, it cannot be retracted any more than the dead can
be brought to life. Some of you profess to think its re
traction would operate favorably for the Union. Why bet
ter after the retraction than before the issue. There was
more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion
before the proclamation issued; the last one hundred days
of which passed under an explicit notice that it was com
ing, unless averted by those in revolt returning to their
allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably
for us since the issue of the proclamation as before. I
know, as fully as one can know the opinions of others,
that some of the commanders of our armies in the field, who
have given us our most important successes, believe the
emancipation policy and the use of the colored troops con
stitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion, and that
at least one of these important successes could not have
been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers.
Among the commanders holding these views are some who
have never had any affinity with what is called Abolition
ism, 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. " You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of
them seem willing to fight for you ; but no matter. Fight
you, then, exclusively, to save the Union. I issued the
proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union.
Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the

214 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will tie
an apt time then for you to declare you will not fight to
free negroes.
"I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to
whatever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy,
to that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to
you. Do you think differently? I thought that whatever
negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just as much
less for white soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it
appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people,
act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us
if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives
for us they must be prompted by the strongest motive, even
the promise of freedom. And the promise, being made,
must be kept."
Mr. Lincoln believed that as soon as the war was over,
the proclamation would become void. Voters would have to
decide then what slaves it freed — whether only those who
had under it made an effort for their freedom and had
come into the Union lines or all of those in the States and
parts of States in rebellion at the time it was issued. Mr.
Lincoln inclined to the former view. But even if the latter
interpretation was decided on, there would still be many
slaves in the country — the institution if weakened would
still exist. It became plainer every day to him that some
measure must be devised removing finally and forever the
evil root from which the nation's long and sorrowful strug
gle had grown. Slavery must end with the war. The
only complete and irrevocable method to attain this was
a constitutional amendment abolishing it forever. In De
cember, 1863, an amendment of this character had been
proposed in the House and in the January after a similar
one in the Senate. The latter passed, but the House failed
to give the requisite two-thirds majority. Mr. Lincoln was
convinced nevertheless that the people if asked directly to

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 18645 215
vote on the subject would approve the amendment and be
fore the meeting of the Republican Convention in June,
'64, he sent for the chairman of the National Committee,
Senator Morgan of New York. " I want you," he said, " to
mention in your speech, when you call the convention to
order as its keynote, and to put into the platform, as the
keystone, the amendment of the Constitution abolishing and
prohibiting slavery forever." It was done, the third article
of the platform reading :
Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now con
stitutes the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be,
always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of repub
lican government, justice and the national safety demand
its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the re
public; and that while we uphold and maintain the acts
and proclamations by which the government, in its own
defense, has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic evil, we
are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the
Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with
its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the
existence of slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of
the United States.
When in December '64 Lincoln addressed Congress for
the first time after his election he reminded them that the
people in electing him had voted for an amendment prohib
iting slavery: —
"Although the present is the same Congress" (which
defeated the bill of Dec, '63) he said, "and nearly the
same members, and without questioning the wisdom or
patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to
recommend the reconstruction and passage of the measure
at the present session. Of course the abstract question is
not changed, but an intervening election shows, almost cer
tainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure if this
does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to

216 LIFE OF LINCOLN
when the proposed amendment will go to the States for
their action. And as it is to so go, at all events, may we
not agree that the sooner the better ? It is not claimed that
the election has imposed a duty on members to change their
views or their votes any further than as an additional ele
ment to be considered, their judgment may be affected by
it. It is the voice of the people now for the first time
heard upon the question. In a great national crisis like
ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a common
end is very desirable — almost indispensable. And yet no
approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some defer
ence shall be paid to the will of the majority, simply because
it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end
is the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to
secure that end, such will, through the election, is almost
clearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment."
After the bill was introduced he followed its course with
greatest care working adroitly and constantly in its interests.
Its passage on January 31 was a genuine satisfaction to
him. " This finishes the job," he said joyfully, and that
night he said to a band of serenaders, that he thought the
measure was a very fitting if not an indispensable adjunct to
the winding up of the great difficulty. He wished the
reunion of all the States perfected, and so effected as to
remove all causes of disturbance in the future; and, to at
tain this end, it was necessary that the original disturb
ing cause should, if possible, be rooted out. He thought
all would bear him witness that he had never shrunk from
doing all that he could to eradicate slavery, by issuing an
emancipation proclamation. But that proclamation falls
short of what the amendment will be when fully consum
mated. A question might be raised whether the proclama
tion was legally valid. It might be urged, that it only
aided those that came into our lines, and that it was inopera
tive as to those who did not give themselves up ; or that it
would have no effect upon the children of slaves born here*

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 217
after; in fact, it would be urged that it did not meet the
evil. But this amendment is a king's cure-all for all evils.
It winds the whole thing up. He would repeat that it was
the fitting if not the indispensable adjunct to the con
summation of the great game we are playing. He could
not but congratulate all present — himself, the country,
and the whole world — upon this great moral victory.
The third matter which engrossed Lincoln after his elec
tion was reconstruction. From the very beginning of the
war he had watched for opportunities, however small, to
bring back into the Union disaffected districts and individ
uals. He was not particular about the way in which the
wanderer returned. It was enough in Mr. Lincoln's opin
ion if he acknowledged the Union. Portions of Tennessee,
Arkansas and Louisiana were put under military rule in the
first six months of 1862 in order to encourage the Union
sympathizers to keep up a semblance of republican gov
ernment and whenever the President had a chance he
encouraged the avowed Unionists in these States to get
together so as to form a nucleus for action when the oppor
tunity offered.
By the end of 1863 Mr. Lincoln believed that the time had
come for him publicly to offer protection and pardon to
those persons and districts which had been in rebellion, but
which had had enough of the experience and were ready
to come back. He believed from what he could learn that
there was a considerable number of these. Accordingly in
December in sending in his annual message to Congress he
issued a "proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction."
This proclamation offered pardon to all save the persons
who had led the rebellion upon their taking an oath to sup
port the Constitution and accept the emancipation procla
mation. It also promised to protect any State government
formed in accordance with a few simple and just regulations

218 LIFE OF LINCOLN
which he set forth very clearly. A few weeks after the
proclamation was issued, the President, anxious to know
how it was working, sent General D. E. Sickles on an in
spection tour.
" Please ascertain at each place," he wrote him, " what
is being done, if anything, for reconstruction; how
the amnesty proclamation works — if at all; what prac
tical hitches, if any, there are about it; whether deserters
come in from the enemy, what number has come in at
each point since the amnesty, and whether the ratio of their
arrival is any greater since than before the amnesty; what
deserters report generally, and particularly whether, and
to what extent, the amnesty is known within the rebel lines."
As the months went on Lincoln found that in spite of the
fact that efforts at forming governments were making and
that the pardon was being accepted by many persons there
was strong and bitter opposition even in the Republican
party to his plans of reconstruction. No little of this op
position was resentment that the President had worked out
the plan alone and had announced it without consulting
anybody. Congress said that he was usurping their rights.
Many felt that the pardon Lincoln offered was too generous.
Rebels should be punished, not pardoned, they argued.
Many declared the States which had seceded could not be
allowed to reorganize without congressional action. At
the same time the President was constantly harassed by con
tests between the military and civil authorities in the States
which were trying to organize. These contests seemed so
unreasonable and so selfish to Mr. Lincoln that he wrote
some very plain letters to the persons concerned.
" Few things since I have been here," he wrote General
Hurlbut in November, " have impressed me more painfully
that what for four or five months past has appeared a bitter

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 219
military opposition to the new State government of Louisi
ana. ... A very fair proportion of the people of Louisiana
have inaugurated a new State government, making an excel
lent new Constitution — better for the poor black man than
we have in Illinois. Thiswas done under military protection,
directed by me, in the belief, still sincerely entertained, that
with such a nucleus around which to build we could get
the State into position again sooner than otherwise. In
this belief a general promise of protection and support, ap
plicable alike to Louisiana and other States, was given in
the last annual message. During the formation of the new
government and Constitution they were supported by nearly
every loyal person, and opposed by every secessionist. And
this support and this opposition, from the respective stand
points of the parties, was perfectly consistent and logical.
Every Unionist ought to wish the new government to suc
ceed ; and every disunionist must desire it to fail. Its failure
would gladden the heart of Slidell in Europe, and of every
enemy of the old flag in the world. Every advocate of
slavery naturally desires to see blasted and crushed the
liberty promised the black man by the new Constitution.
But why General Canby and General Hurlbut should join
on the same side is to me incomprehensible. ..."
After his re-election, in spite of all opposition, Lincoln
steadily supported the new State governments. His practical
common sense in dealing with a difficult problem never
showed to better advantage than in the plan of reconstruc
tion he had offered and was trying. It was not the only plan
he kept repeating, but it was accomplishing something, was
not this something better than nothing? If it proved bad
he would change it for a better one, if a better was offered,
but until it was shown that it was adverse to the interests of
the people he was trying to bring back into the Union he
should follow it. As for the abstract question over which a
great part of the North was quarrelling, whether the seceded
States were in the Union or out of it, he would not consider
it. It was " bad as the basis of a controversy " he declared

22Q LIFE OF LINCOLN
4nd " good for nothing at all — a merely pernicious abstrac
tion."
" We all agree," he continued, " that the seceded States, so
called, are out of their proper practical relation with the
Union, and that the sole object of the government, civil and
military, in regard to those States is to again get them into
the proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only pos
sible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even
considering whether these States have ever been out of the
Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it
would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been
abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restor
ing the proper practical relations between these States and the
Union, and each forever after innocently indulge his own
opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from
without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance,
they never having been out of it."
As the winter passed into the spring the President saw
every day that the end was approaching and as he realized
that at last the mighty problem over which he had agonized
for so many months was unfolding, as he saw not only that
the primary object for which he had been struggling: — the
Union — was to be attained but that even before this end
was attained the evil which had caused all the trouble was to
be eradicated, he experienced a lofty exaltation, a fresh real
ization that the will of God prevails in human affairs.
From the time of his election he had been animated by a
simple theory : — If we do right, God will be with us and if
God is with us we cannot fail. He had struggled to see
what was right and no man or men had been able to bring to
bear pressure heavy enough to turn him from a step he had
concluded was right. Yet as the days went on he saw his
cause fail again and again. Many times it seemed on the
verge of destruction. He pondered deeply over this seem
ing contradiction. Was he wrong in his own judgment of

LINCOLN IN 1864. AGE $$
From photograph by Brady in the War Department Collection.

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 221
what was right or could it be that God had some end in view
different from either that of the North or South? Late in
1862, evidently to help clear up his mind, he wrote down on
a slip of paper a statement of the puzzling problem. His
secretaries later found it and published it in their history.
" The will of God prevails. In great contests each party
claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may
be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against
the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war
it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different
from the purpose of either party ; and yet the human instru
mentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adapta
tion to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this
is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that
it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the mindj
of the now contestants, he could have either saved or de
stroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the con
test began. And, having begun, he could give the final vic
tory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds."
As time went on and his conviction that his cause was
right grew stronger, in spite of the reverses he suffered, he
began to feel that God's purpose was to wipe out slavery and
that the war was a divine retribution on North as well as
South for the toleration of slavery. In a letter written in
April, 1864, he expressed this view:
" . . .At the end of three years' struggle, the nation's
condition is not what either party, or any man, devised or
expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending
seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong,
and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the
South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong,
impartial history will find therein newcause to attest and
revere the justice and goodness of God."
By the spring of 1865 this explanation of the continuation
of the war fully possessed him and in his inaugural he laid it

222 LIFE OF LINCOLN
before the people in a few solemn, beautiful sentences — a
prophet's cry to a nation bidding them to complete the task
the Lord God Almighty had set before them, and to expiate
in humility their sins.
"... The Almighty has his own purposes," he said.
" ' Woe unto the world because of offenses ! for it must needs
be that offenses come ; but woe to that man by whom the of
fense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery
is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God,
must needs come, but which, having continued through his
appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives
to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due
to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein
any departure from those divine attributes which the be
lievers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do
we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge
of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it
continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two
hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thou
sand years ago, so still it must be said, ' The judgments of
the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
" With malice toward none ; with charity for all ; with
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let
us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the na
tion's wounds ; to care for him who shall have borne the bat
tle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among our
selves, and with all nations."
It was in this lofty spirit that Abraham Lincoln entered
on his second term. Every act of the few days of that
term which he served was in full harmony with the words
of his inaugural. Although the criticism on him for par
doning prisoners of war was at that time very bitter, even
General Grant protesting against his broad exercise of the
pardoning power, he could be persuaded easily to set free

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 223

1

any man or men for whom any honest official would vouch.
Honorable John B. Henderson, then in the United States
Senate from Missouri, relates for this work his experience
in securing pardons from Lincoln in the spring of 1865.
" From 1862 to 1865," says Mr. Henderson, " the con
ditions were such in Missouri, that every man was obliged
to espouse actively either the Union or the Confederate
cause. No man really was safe out of one army or another.
Property was insecure, and if a person attempted to remain
neutral he was suspected by both Confederates and Feder
als, and was liable to be arrested by either side, and his prop
erty destroyed. During the progress of the war a large
number of Missourians had been arrested by the Federals
and were confined in the military prisons, many of them at
St. Louis where the McDowell Medical College had been
taken and used for the purpose, and some at Alton, Illinois,
about twenty-five miles above St. Louis on the river. The
friends and relations of many of these military prisoners
appealed to me to secure their release, or to save them from
whatever sentence had been pronounced. These sentences,
of course, varied. In flagrant cases where they were con
victed of acting as spies, or of prosecuting guerilla warfare,
the death sentence was sometimes ordered but not often
inflicted. Others were condemned to prison for life or dur
ing the war. Few of the death sentences were ever inflicted.
There was a tacit understanding among the military au
thorities that while a show of severity be kept up it was only
under extreme circumstances that a prisoner should be exe
cuted. Towards the close of the winter of 1864-65, 1 found
that I had a large number of these applications for clemency
and pardon on hand.
" Congress adjourned on March 4, 1865, and Mr. Lincoln
on that day was inaugurated for a second term. An extra
session of the Senate only was called immediately to act on
presidential nominations, but it continued in session until
about the 18th of March. I was anxious to clear up as many
as possible of these imprisonment cases before leaving for
home. I accordingly had mv clerk classify them, according

224 LIFE OF LINCOLN
to the evidence in each case, giving the name of the pris
oner, the character of his offense, together with a statement
of the proofs or evidence against him. I caused them to
be divided into three classes. Into the first class I put those
of whose innocence I had but little doubt; into the second
class those whose innocence was more doubtful, but whom
I believed it would be safe and proper, under the circum
stances, to release; the third class consisted of those who
ought still to be retained in confinement. As I had very
little time before leaving for the West, I took the first and
second classes to the President and asked their pardon and
release. " Mr. Lincoln looked over the list and then said : ' Do
you mean to tell me, Henderson, that you wish me to let
loose all these people at once ? '
" ' Yes,' I said, ' I believe it can be easily done.'
" ' But,' said Mr. Lincoln, ' I have no time to examine
the evidence. I am constantly reproached for my too abun
dant charity, and what would be said if I should turn loose
so many sinners at once. And again what would be the in
fluence in Missouri ? '
" ' I believe, Mr. President,' I said, ' that the influence
would be most beneficial. The war is nearly over. The day
for generosity and kindness has come.'
" ' Do you really think so ? ' said the President.
" ' Yes, the rebellion is broken ; the rebels will soon be
returning to their homes if permitted to do so. What I es
pecially wish is to prevent in my State a prolonged guerilla
warfare. The rebels are already conquered in war. Let
us try charity and kindness rather than repression and sever
ity. The policy of mercy will prove to be a wise reconstruc
tion measure.'
" ' I hope you are right,' said the President ; ' but I have
no time to examine this evidence. If I sign this list as a
whole, will you be. responsible for the future good behavior
of the men ? '
" ' Yes,' I said.
" ' Then I will take the risk and sign it," said the Presi
dent. And after inserting, in his own hand-writing, the
word ' pardoned ' after the name of each person who had

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 225
been convicted of offenses by military commission, he signed
the general order of release, and returned the paper to me.
" ' Thank you, Mr. President; but that is not all; I have
another list here.'
" ' I hope you are not going to make me let loose another
lot?' " ' Yes. I am not quite so sure of the merits of this list,
but I believe the men are not dangerous, and it will be good
policy to let them go. I think it safer and better to err on
the side of mercy.'
" ' Yes,' said Mr. Lincoln ; ' but you know I am charged
with making too many mistakes on the side of mercy.'
" ' Mr. President, my argument for this is the same as
in the other case. The war is substantially over. The guilt
of these men is at least doubtful And mercy is and must
be after all the policy of peace.'
" ' I guess you are right,' said Mr. Lincoln.
" ' Yes,' I said, ' I am sure I am, and I think that you
ought to sign it.'
" ' Well, I'll be durned if I don't,' said the President, and
he signed his name after inserting the word ' pardoned '
over the name of those laboring under conviction.
" This was the only time that I ever heard Mr. Lincoln use
a word which approached profanity.
" ' Now, Henderson,' he said, as he handed the list back
to me, ' remember you are responsible to me for these men.
If they do not behave, I shall have to put you in prison for
their sins.' "
A few days after this interview with Mr. Henderson the
President decided to take a holiday — the first he had taken
since he entered the White House in 1861. Boarding a
river steamer with a few friends he went to City Point on
the James River, where General Grant had his headquar
ters. Here he could not possibly be reached by the office-
seekers incident to a new term and here, too, he would be
near the operations which he felt would soon end the war.
Grant's headquarters at this time were in a group of cot-

226 LIFE OF LINCOLN
tages on a high bluff at the juncture of the Appomattox *nd
James Rivers. It was a point which commanded a view of
a wide and active scene, including many places made his
toric by the operations of the four years just past. To the
north were the flats of Bermuda Hundred, with the con
spicuous look-out tower, with tents and barracks and
wharves ; beyond the wooded slopes of Malvern Hill. Look
ing eastward across the great bay which the confluence of
the two rivers makes here, could be seen Harrison's Landing.
On every side wharves ran out from the shore. Here night
and day steamers, transports, gun boats were coming and
going, unloading men and supplies, carrying away wounded
and prisoners. The President's little steamer anchored at
the foot of the bluff and here he lived for some ten days.
It had been intended that on the day of his arrival at City
Point, March 25, the President should review a portion of
the troops on the Petersburg line, but that morning the final
struggle between besieged and besiegers was begun by the
unexpected attack of the Confederates on Fort Stedman. A
terrific battle followed and the review was deferred. Com
parative quiet followed this attack for some five days and in
this interim Lincoln visited the lines behind Petersburg with
Grant several times to review the troops and watch the op
erations, and he spent considerable time sailing up and down
the river with Admiral Porter on his flag-ship.
Two days after tke President reached City Point Sher
man, whose army had since the fall of Atlanta, marched
to the sea and as far northward as Goldsboro, North Caro
lina, and was now expecting soon to meet the Confederate
army under Johnston, came to City Point to confer with
Grant and Lincoln. Both generals agreed that their work
was nearly over, but each thought he must fight another
great battle. The President urged them to avoid this if pos
sible. " No more blood-shed," was his repeated counsel.

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 227
Grant's final movements began on March 31. Lincoln at
City Point sat all day in the telegraph office at headquarters
as at critical moments he did in Washington, receiving re
ports from Grant and sending them on to Stanton. It was
he who first informed the War Department of Sheridan's
success at Five Points on April 1. It was he who on the
morning of April 3 wired the Secretary of War that at last
Petersburg was evacuated and Richmond said to be. A
few hours later he went at Grant's request to Petersburg
for a last interview with the general before he followed his
army which was now moving after the retreating Confed
erate army. The city had suffered terribly from the long
siege, many of its houses being destroyed and all being more
or less riddled by shot and shell. Even to-day a visitor to
Petersburg is shown house after house where great cannon
balls are embedded in the walls. As Lincoln rode through
the streets, busy as he was with the stupendous event he
had so long desired, he noticed the destruction with a sorry
shake of his head. The talk with Grant was held on the
porch of a comfortable house still standing, and then the
two parted, Grant to go to Appomattox, Lincoln to City
Point. The news of the abandonment of Richmond on April 2
had by this time reached City Point. Lincoln's first excla
mation on receiving the news was "I want to see Rich
mond." A party was at once arranged and on the morning
of April 4 he started up the river. The trip must have been
full of exciting interest to the President, leading as it did
by a score of places which had been made forever famous
by the struggles of war which he knew now to be over —
Malvern Hill, Deep Bottom, Dutch Gap, Varina! It was
full of real danger, too, for there was no way of knowing
positively that the stream was free from torpedoes or the
banks entirely cleared of the enemy. The entrance into

228 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Richmond was even more dangerous. Here was the Presir
dent of the United States with four companions and
a guard of only ten marines, entering on foot a city
which for four years he had been doing his utmost to
capture by force. That city was in a condition of the wild
est confusion. The army and government had abandoned
it. Fire had destroyed a large part of it and was still raging.
The Federals who had entered the day before had not as
yet established any effective patrol. A hostile people filled
the streets and hung from the windows. And yet through
this chaos of misery, disorganization, and defeat Abraham
Lincoln walked in safety. More, as it was noised abroad
that he had come his passage became a triumph. The ne
groes full of superstitious veneration for the name of Lin
coln flocked about him weeping. " Bres de Lord," cried
one, " dere is de great Messiah," and throwing himself on
his knees he kissed the President's feet. It was only after
a long struggle that the guard was able to conduct Mr. Lin
coln from this tumultuous rejoicing crowd and bring him
safe to the house of Jefferson Davis — now the headquarters
of the federal troops.
The President remained two days in Richmond carefully
going over the situation and discussing the best means of
restoring Union authority and of dealing with the individ
uals who had been in insurrection. The President was em
phatic in his opinion. The terms must be liberal. " Get
them to plowing once," he said in Admiral Porter's presi
ence, " and gathering in their own little crops, eating pop
corn at their own firesides, and you can't get them to shoul
der a musket again for half a century." Being cheered at
City Point the day after he left Richmond by a crowd of
Confederate prisoners, he said again to Admiral Porter:
" They will never shoulder a musket again in anger, and if
Grant is wise he will leave them their guns to shoot crows

HIS WORK IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5 229
with and their horses to plow with ; it would do no harm."
j j As to the people of Richmond his one counsel to the military
governor was to " let them down easy." Nor would he
while there listen to a word of harshness in the treatment
of even the leaders of the rebellion. One day when visiting
Libby Prison, a member of the party remarked to him that
Jefferson Davis ought to be hung, " Judge not that ye be
not judged," Charles Sumner heard him quote. No bit
terness was in his soul, only a great thankfulness that the
end seemed so near and a firm determination to regulate
with mercy all questions of reconstruction.
Returning to City Point Mr. Lincoln learned that Mr.
Seward had been thrown from a carriage and injured and
he resolved to go at once to Washington. He had only just
reached there when he received word that on April 9 Gen
eral Lee had surrendered his army to General Grant at Ap
pomattox. This could mean but one thing, the war was
over. No force was now left to the enemy which must not
surrender on hearing that the principal Confederate force
had laid down its arms. Immediately the President and his
associates began the glad task of shutting down the vast
war machinery in operation — the first act being to issue an
order suspending the draft

CHAPTER XXX
the end of the war
u The war is over." Throughout the breadth of the North
this was the jubilant cry with which people greeted one an
other on the morning of April 14, 1865. For ten days re
ports of victories had been coming to them ; Petersburg
evacuated, Richmond fallen, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet
fled, Lee surrendered, Mobile captured. Nothing of the
Confederacy, in short, remained but Johnston's army, and
it was generally believed that its surrender to Sherman was
but a matter of hours. How completely the conflict was at an
end, however, the people of the North had not realized until
they read in their newspapers, on that Good Friday morn
ing the order of the Secretary of War suspending the draft,
stopping the purchase of military supplies, and removing
military restrictions from trade. The war was over indeed,
Such a day of rejoicing as followed the world has rarely
seen. At Fort Sumter scores of well-known citizens of the
North, among them Henry Ward Beecher, William Lloyd
Garrison, General Robert Anderson, and Theodore Tilton,
raised over the black and shattered pile the flag which four
years ago Charleston, now lying desolate and wasted, had
dragged down.
Cities and towns, hamlets and country road-sides blos
somed with flags and bunting. Stock exchanges met to pass
resolutions. Bells rang. Every man who could make a
speech was on his feet. It was a Millennium Day, restoring
broken homes, quieting aching hearts, easing distracted
minds. Even those who mourned — and who could count the
number whom that dreadful four years had stripped of those
230

THE END OF THE WAR 231
they held dearest? — even those who mourned exulted. Their
dead had saved a nation, freed a people. And so a subtle joy,
mingled triumph, resignation, and hope, swept over the
North. It was with all men as James Russell Lowell wrote to
his friend Norton that it was with him : " The news, my
dear Charles is from Heaven. I felt a strange and tender ex
altation. I wanted to laugh and I wanted to cry, and ended
by holding my peace and feeling devoutly thankful."
One man before all others in the nation felt and showed
his gladness that day — the President, Abraham Lincoln. For
weeks now as he had seen the end approaching, little by lit
tle he had been thankfully laying aside the ways of war and
returning to those of peace. His soul, tuned by nature to gen
tleness and good-will, had been for four years forced to lead
in a pitiless war. Now his duties were to " bind up the na
tion's wounds ; to care for him who shall have borne the bat
tle, and for his widow, and his orphan ; " to devise plans by
which the members of the restored Union could live together
in harmony, to plan for the future of the four million human
beings to whom he had given freedom. All those who were
with him in this period remarked the change in his feelings
and his ways. He seemed to be aroused to a new sense of
the beauty of peace and rest, to love to linger in quiet
spots, and to read over and over with infinite satisfac
tion lines of poetry which expressed repose. The perfect
tranquillity in death seemed especially to appeal to him.
Mrs. Lincoln once related to her friend, Isaac Arnold, that,
while at City Point, in April, she was driving one day with
her husband along the banks of the James, when they passed
a country grave-yard. " It was a retired place, shaded
by trees, and early spring flowers were opening on nearly
every grave. It was so quiet and attractive that they
stopped the carriage and walked through it. Mr. Lincoln
seemed thoughtful and impressed. He said : ' Mary, you

2 32 LIFE OF LINCOLN
are younger than I. You will survive me. When I am
gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.' "
A few days after this, as he was sailing down the James
bound for Washington, Charles Sumner, who was in the
party, was much impressed by the tone and manner in which
Mr. Lincoln read aloud two or three times a passage from
Macbeth : " Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further!"
There was a marked change in his appearance. All through
1863 .and 1864 his thin face had day by day grown more hag
gard, its lines had deepened, its pallor had become a more
ghastly gray. His eye, always sad when he was in thought,
had a look of unutterable grief. Through all these months
Lincoln was, in fact, consumed by sorrow. " I think I shall
never be glad again," he said once to a friend. But as one by
one the weights lifted, a change came over him ; his form
straightened, his face cleared, the lines became less accentu
ated. " His whole appearance, poise, and bearing had mar
vellously changed," says the Hon. James Harlan. " He was
in fact, transfigured. That indescribable sadness which had
previously seemed to be an adamantine element of his very
being, had been suddenly changed for an equally indescriba
ble expression of serene joy, as if conscious that the great
purpose of his life had been achieved."
Never since he had become convinced that the end of the
war was near had Mr. Lincoln seemed to his friends more
glad, more serene, than on the 14th of April. The morning
was soft and sunny in Washington, and as the spring was
early in 1865, the Judas-trees and the dogwood were blos
soming on the hillsides, the willows were green along the
Potomac, and in the parks and gardens the lilacs bloomed-—

THE LAST PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, TAKEN APRIL 9, 1865, THE SUNDAY
BEFORE HIS ASSASSINATION
Drawn from a photograph made by Alexander Gardner, photographer to the Army of
the Potomac, while the President was sharpening a pencil for his son Tad. Copyright,
1894, by Watson Porter.

THE END OF THE WAR 233
a day of promise and joy to which the whole town responded.
Indeed, ever since the news of the fall of Richmond reached
Washington the town had been indulging in an almost un
broken celebration, each new victory arousing a fresh out
burst and rekindling enthusiasm. On the night of the 13th,
there had been a splendid illumination, and on the 14th, the
rejoicing went on. The suspension of the draft and the
presence of Grant in town — come this time not to plan new
campaigns, but to talk of peace and reconstruction — seemed
to furnish special reason for celebrating.
At the White House the family party which met at break
fast was unusually happy. Captain Robert Lincoln, the
President's oldest son, then an aide-de-camp on Grant's staff,
had arrived that morning, and the closing scenes of Grant's
campaign were discussed with the deepest interest by father
and son. Soon after breakfast the President received
Schuyler Colfax, who was about to leave for the West, and
later in the morning the cabinet met, Friday being its regular
day. General Grant was invited to remain to its session.
There was the greatest interest at the moment in General
Sherman's movements, and Grant was plied with questions
by the cabinet. The President was least anxious of all.
The news would soon come, he said, and it would be favor
able. He had no doubt of this, for the night before he had
had a dream which had preceded nearly every important
event of the war.
"He said it was in my department, it related to the
water," Secretary Welles afterward wrote; " that he seemed
to be in a singular and indescribable vessel, but always the
same, and that he was moving with great rapidity toward a
dark and indefinite shore; that he had had this singular
dream preceding the firing on Sumter, the battles of Bull
Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, Wil
mington, etc. . . . Victory did not always follow his dream,

234 LIFE 0F LINCOLN
but the event and results were important. He had no doubt
that a battle had taken place, or was about being fought, ' and
Johnston will be beaten, for I had this strange dream again
last night. It must relate to Sherman; my thoughts are in
that direction, and / know of no other very important event
which is likely just now to occur.' "
The greater part of the meeting was taken up with a dis
cussion of the policy of reconstruction. How were they to
treat the States and the men who had tried to leave the
Union, but who now were forced back into their old rela
tions? How could practical civil government be reestab
lished; how could trade be restored between North and
South ; what should be done with those who had led the
States to revolt ? The President urged his cabinet to consider
carefully all these questions, and he warned them em
phatically, Mr. Welles says, that he did not sympathize with
and would not participate in any feelings of hate and vin-
dictiveness. " He hoped there would be no persecution, no
bloody work, after the war was over. None need expect he
Would take any part in hanging or killing these men, even
the worst of them. Frighten them out of the country, let
down the bars, scare them off, said he, throwing up his hands
as if scaring sheep. Enough lives have been sacrificed. We
must extinguish our resentment if we expect harmony and
union. There was too much desire on the part of our very
good friends to be masters, to interfere with and dictate to
those States, to treat the people not as fellow-citizens ; there
was too little respect for their rights. He didn't sympathize
in these feelings."
The impression he made on all the cabinet that day was ex
pressed twenty-four hours later by Secretary Stanton : " He
was more cheerful and happy than I had ever seen him, re
joiced at the near prospect of firm and durable peace at home
and abroad, manifested in marked degree the kindness and

THE END OF THE WAR 235
humanity of his disposition, and the tender and forgiving
spirit that so eminently distinguished him."
In the afternoon the President went for his usual drive.
Only Mrs. Lincoln was with him. Years afterward Mrs.
Lincoln related to Isaac Arnold what she remembered of Mr.
Lincoln's words that day : " Mary," he said, " we have had
a hard time of it since we came to Washington ; but the war
is over, and with God's blessing we may hope for four years
of peace and happiness, and then we will go back to Illinois,
and pass the rest of our lives in quiet. We have laid by some
money, and during this term we will try and save up more,
but shall not have enough to support us. We will go back to
Illinois, and I will open a law office at Springfield or Chicago,
and practice law, and at least do enough to help give us a
livelihood." It was late in the afternoon when he returned from his
drive, and as he left his carriage he saw going across the
lawn toward the Treasury a group of friends, among them
Richard Oglesby, then Governor of Illinois. " Come back,
boys, come back," he shouted. The party turned, joined the
President on the portico, and went up to his office with him.
" How long we remained there I do not remember," says
Governor Oglesby. " Lincoln got to reading some humorous
book ; I think it was by ' John Phoenix.' They kept sending
for him to come to dinner. He promised each time to go, but
would continue reading the book. Finally he got a sort of
peremptory order that he must come to dinner at once. It
was explained to me by the old man at the door that they
were going to have dinner and then go to the theater."
A theater party had been made up by Mrs. Lincoln for that
evening — General and Mrs. Grant being her guests — to see
Laura Keene, at Ford's theater, in " Our American Cousin."
Miss Keene was ending her season in Washington that night
with a benefit. The box had been ordered in the morning,

236 LIFE OF LINCOLN
and unusual preparations had been made to receive the presi
dential party. The partition between the two upper proscen
ium boxes at the left of the stage had been removed, com
fortable upholstered chairs had been put in, and the front of
the box had been draped with flags. The manager, of
course, took care to announce in the afternoon papers that
the " President and his lady " and the " Hero of Appo
mattox " would attend Miss Keene's benefit that evening.
By eight o'clock the house was filled with the half-idle,
half-curious crowd of a holiday night. Many had come
simply to see General Grant, whose face was then unfamiliar
in Washington. Others, strolling down the street, had
dropped in because they had nothing better to do. The play
began promptly, the house following its nonsensical fun with
friendly eyes and generous applause, one eye on the Presi
dent's box.
The presidential party was late. Indeed it had not left the
White House until after eight o'clock, and then it was made
up differently from what Mrs. Lincoln had expected, for in
the afternoon she had received word that General and Mrs.
Grant had decided to go North that night. It was suggested
then that the party be given up, but the fear that the public
would be disappointed decided the President to keep the en
gagement. Two young friends, the daughter of Senator Ira
Harris and his stepson, Major H. R. Rathbone, had been in
vited to take the place of General and Mrs. Grant.
Schuyler Colfax and Mr. Ashmun, of Massachusetts, had
called early in the evening, and the President had talked with
them a little while. He rose finally with evident regret to go
to his carriage. The two gentlemen accompanied him to the
door, and he paused there long enough to write on a card,
"Allow Mr. Ashmun and friends to come in at nine a. m. to
morrow." As he shook hands with them he said to Mr. Col
fax : " Colfax, don't forget to tell those people in the mining

THE END OF THE WAR 217
THB LAST BIT OF WHITING DONE BT LINCOLN.
Loaned by G. A. Morton, New Haven, Conn.
regions what I told you this morning." Then, entering the
carriage, he was driven to the theater on Tenth street, be
tween E and F.
When the presidential party finally entered the theater,
making its way along the gallery behind the seats of the dress
circle, the orchestra broke into " Hail to the Chief," and the
people, rising in their seats and waving hats and handker
chiefs, cheered and cheered, the actors on the stage standing
silent in the meantime. The party passed through the nar
row entrance into the box, and the several members laid aside
their wraps, and bowing and smiling to the enthusiastic
crowd below, seated themselves, Mr. Lincoln in a large arm
chair at the left, Mrs. Lincoln next to him, Miss Harris next,
and to the extreme right, a little behind Miss Harris, Major
Rathbone ; and then the play went on.
The party in the box was well entertained, it seemed, es
pecially the President, who laughed good-humoredly at the
jokes and chatted cheerfully between the acts. He moved
from his seat but once, rising then to put on his overcoat, for
the house was chilly. The audience was well entertained,

23^ LIFE OF LINCOLN
too, though not a few kept an eye on the box entrance, still
expecting General Grant. The few whose eyes sought the
box now and then noticed, in the second scene of the third
act, that a man was passing behind the seats of the dress cir
cle and approaching the entrance to the box. Those who did
not know him noticed that he was strikingly handsome,
though very pale ; that was all. They did not look again. It
was not General Grant.
One man did watch him. He knew him, and wanted to
see who in the presidential box it could be that he knew well
enough to call on in the middle of an act. If any attendant
saw him, there was no question of his movements. He was a
privileged person in the theater, having free entrance to
every corner. He had been there in the course of the day;
he had passed out and in once or twice during the evening.
Crowding behind some loose chairs in the aisle, the man
passed out of sight through the door leading into the pas
sage behind the President's box. He closed the door behind
him, paused for a moment, then did a curious thing for a
visitor to a theater party. He picked up a piece of stout
plank which he seemed to know just where to find, and
slipped one end into a hole gouged into the wall close to the
door-casing. The plank extended across the door, making
a rough but effective bolt. Turning to the door which led
from the passage to the boxes, he may have peered through
a tiny hole which had been drilled through the panel. If he
did, he saw a quiet party intent on the play, the President
just then smiling over a bit of homely wit.
Opening the door so quietly that no one heard him, the
man entered the box. Then if any eye in the house could but
have looked, if one head in the box had been turned, it would
have been seen that the man held in his right hand a Derrin
ger pistol, and that he raised the weapon and aimed it
steadily at the head of the smiling President.

THE END OF THE WAR 239
No eye saw him, but a second later and every ear heard a
pistol shot. Those in the house unfamiliar with the play
thought it a part of the performance, and waited expectant.
Those familiar with " Our American Cousin," the orches
tra, attendants, actors, searched in amazement to see from
where the sound came. Only three persons in all the house
knew just where it was — three of the four in the box knew it
was there by their side — a tragedy. The fourth saw nothing,
heard nothing, thought nothing. His head had fallen quietly
on his breast, his arms had relaxed a little, the smile was still
on his lips.
Then from the box, now filled with white smoke, came a
woman's sharp cry, and there was a sound of a struggle.
Major Rathbone, at the sound of the shot, had sprung to his
feet and grappled with the stranger, who now had a dagger
in his hand, and who struck viciously with it at the Major's
heart. He, warding the blow from his breast, received it in
his upper arm, and his hold relaxed. The stranger sprang to
the balustrade of the box as if about to leap, but Major Rath
bone caught at his garments. They were torn from his
grasp, and the man vaulted toward the stage, a light, agile
leap, which turned to a plunge as the silken flag in front
caught at a spur on his boot. As the man struck the floor his
left leg bent and a bone snapped, but instantly he was up;
and limping to the middle of the stage, a long strip of the
silken banner trailing from his spur, he turned full on the
house, which still stared straight ahead, searching for the
meaning of the muffled pistol shot. Brandishing his dagger
and shouting — so many thought, though there were others
whose ears were so frozen with amazement that they heard
nothing — " Sic semper tyrannis! " he turned to fly. Not,
however, before more than one person in the house had said
to himself, " Why, it is John Wilkes Booth! " Not before
others had realized that the shot was that of a murderer, that

240 LIFE OF LINCOLN
the woman's cry in the box came from Mrs. Lincoln, that the
President in all the turmoil alone sat calm, his head unmoved
on his breast. As these few grasped the awful meaning of
the confused scene, it seemed to them that they could not rise
nor cry out. They stretched out inarticulate arms, struggling
to tear themselves from the nightmare which held them.
When strength and voice did return, they plunged over the
seats, forgetting their companions, bruising themselves, and
clambered to the stage, crying aloud in rage and despair,
" Hang him, hang him ! " But Booth, though his leg was
broken, was too quick. He struck with his dagger at one who
caught him, plunged through a familiar back exit, and, leap
ing upon a horse standing ready for him, fled. When those
who pursued reached the street, they heard only the rapidly
receding clatter of a horse's hoofs.
But while a few in the house pursued Booth, others had
thought only of reaching the box. The stage was now full of
actors in their paint and furbelows, musicians with their in
struments, men in evening dress, officers in uniform — a mot
ley, wild-eyed crowd which, as Miss Harris appeared at the
edge of the box crying out, " Bring water. Has any one
stimulants?" demanded, "What is it? What is the mat
ter?" " The President is shot," was her reply.
A surgeon was helped over the balustrade into the box.
The star of the evening, whose triumph this was to have
been, strove to calm the distracted throng; then she, too,
sought the box. Major Rathbone, who first of all in the
house had realized that a foul crime had been attempted, had
turned from his unsuccessful attempt to stop the murderer
to see that it was the President who had been shot. He had
rushed to the door of the passage, where men were already
beating in a furious effort to gain admission, and had found
it barred. It was an instant before he could pull away the

THE END OF THE WAR 241
plank, explain the tragedy, demand surgeons, and press back
the crowd.
The physicians admitted lifted the silent figure, still sitting
calmly in the chair, stretched it on the floor, and began to
tear away the clothing to find the wound, which they sup
posed was in the breast. It was a moment before it was dis
covered that the ball had entered the head back of the left ear
and was imbedded in the brain.
There seemed to be but one desire then : that was to get
the wounded man from the scene of the murder. Two per*
sons lifted him, and the stricken party passed from the box,
through the dress circle, down the stairs into the street, the
blood dripping from the wound faster and faster as they
went. No one seemed to know where they were going, for as
they reached the street there was a helpless pause and an ap
peal from the bearers, " Where shall we take him ? " Across
the street, on the high front steps of a plain, three-storied
brick house, stood a man, who but a moment before had left
the theater, rather bored by the play. He had seen, as he
stood there idly wondering if he should go in to bed or not, a
violent commotion in the vestibule of the theater; had seen
people rushing out, the street filling up, policemen and sol
diers appearing. He did not know what it all meant. Then
two men bearing a body came from the theater, behind them
a woman in evening gown, flowers in her hair, jewels on her
neck. She was wringing her hands and moaning. The man
on the steps heard some one say, " The President is shot ; "
heard the bearers of the body asking, " Where shall we take
him ? " and quickly coming forward, he said, " Bring him
here into my room."
And so the President was carried up the high steps,
through a narrow hall, and laid, still unconscious, still mo
tionless, on the bed of a poor, little, commonplace room of a
commonplace lodging-house, where surgeons and physicians
'16)

242 LIFE OF LINCOLN
gathered about in a desperate attempt to rescue him from
death. While the surgeons worked the news was spreading to the
town. Every man and woman in the theater rushed forth to
tell it. Some ran wildly down the streets, exclaiming to
those they met, " The President is killed! The President is
killed ! " One rushed into a ball-room, and told it to the
dancers ; another bursting into a room where a party of emi
nent public men were playing cards, cried, " Lincoln is
shot i " Another, running into the auditorium of Grover's
Theater, cried, " President Lincoln has been shot in his pri
vate box at Ford's Theater." Those who heard the cry
thought the man insane or drunk, but a moment later they
saw the actors in a combat called from the stage, the mana
ger coming forward. His face was pale, his voice agonized,
as he said, " Ladies and gentlemen, I feel it my duty to say
to you that the announcement made from the front of the
theater just now is true, President Lincoln has been shot."
One ran to summon Secretary Stanton. A boy picked up at
the door of the house where the President lay was sent to the
White House for Robert Lincoln. The news spread by the
very force of its own horror, and as it spread it met other
news no less terrible. At the same hour that Booth had sent
the ball into the President's brain, a man had forced his way
into the house of Secretary Seward, then lying in bed with a
broken arm, and had stabbed both the Secretary and his son
Frederick so seriously that it was feared they would die. In
his entrance and exit he had wounded three other members
of the household. Like Booth, he had escaped. Horror bred
rumor, and Secretary Stanton, too, was reported wounded,
while later it was said that Grant had been killed on his way
North. Dread seized the town. " Rumors are so thick,"
wrote the editor of the " National Intelligencer " at two
o'clock in the morning, " the excitement of this hour is so in
tense, that we rely entirely uoon our reporters to advise the

THE END OF THE WAR 243
public of the details and result of this night of horrors. Evi
dently conspirators are among us. To what extent does the
conspiracy exist? This is a terrible question. When a spirit
so horrible as this is abroad, what man is safe? We can only
advise the utmost vigilance and the most prompt measures by
the authorities. We can only pray God to shield us, His un
worthy people, from further calamities like these."
The civil and military authorities prepared for attack from
within and without. Martial law was at once established.
The long roll was beaten; every exit from the city was
guarded ; out-going trains were stopped ; mounted police and
cavalry clattered up and down the street ; the forts were or
dered on the alert ; guns were manned..
In the meantime there had gathered in the house on
Tenth Street, where the President lay, his family physician
and intimate friends, as well as many prominent officials. Be
fore they reached him it was known there was no hope, that
the wound was fatal. They grouped themselves about the
bedside or in the adjoining rooms, trying to comfort the
weeping wife, or listening awe-struck to the steady moaning
and labored breathing of the unconscious man, which at
times could be heard all over the house. Stanton alone
seemed able to act methodically. No man felt the tragedy
more than the great War Secretary, for no one in the cabinet
was by greatness of heart and intellect so well able to com
prehend the worth of the dying President ; but no man in that
distracted night acted with greater energy or calm. Sum
moning the Assistant Secretary, C. A. Dana, and a stenog
rapher, he began dictating orders to the authorities on all
sides, notifying them of the tragedy, directing them what
precautions to take, what persons to arrest. Grant, now re
turning to Washington, he directed should be warned to keep
close watch on all persons who came close to him in the cars
and to see that an engine be sent in front of his train. He
sent out, too, an official account of the assassination. To-day

244 LIFE OF LINCOLN
the best brief account of the night's awful work remains the
one which Secretary Stanton dictated within sound of the
moaning of the dying President.
And so the hours passed without perceptible change in the
President's condition, and with only slight shifting of the
scene around him. The testimony of those who had wit
nessed the murder began to be taken in an adjoining room.
Occasionally the figures at the bedside changed. Mrs. Lin
coln came in at intervals, sobbing out her grief, and then was
led away. This man went, another took his place. It was not
until daylight that there came a perceptible change. Then
the breathing grew quieter, the face became more calm. The
doctors at Lincoln's side knew that dissolution was near.
Their bulletin of six o'clock read, " Pulse failing; " that of
half-past six, " Still failing; " that of seven, " Symptoms of
immediate dissolution," and then at twenty-two minutes past
seven, in the presence of his son Robert, Secretaries Stanton,
Welles and Usher, Attorney-General Speed, Senator Sum
ner, Private Secretary Hay, Dr. Gurley, his pastor, and sev
eral physicians and friends, Abraham Lincoln died. There
was a prayer, and then the solemn voice of Stanton broke the
stillness, " Now he belongs to the ages."
Two hours later the body of the President, wrapped in an
American flag, was borne from the house in Tenth Street,
and carried through the hushed streets, where already thou
sands of flags were at half-mast and the gay buntings and
garlands had been replaced by black draperies, and where the
men who for days had been cheering in excess of joy and re
lief now stood with uncovered heads and wet eyes. They car
ried him to an upper room in the private apartments of the
White House, and there he lay until three days later a heart
broken people claimed their right to look for a last time on
his face.

WATCHING AT THE BEDSIDE OF THE DYING PRESIDENT ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL IA
AND 15, 1865. 4

CHAPTER XXXI
Lincoln's funeral
The first edition of the morning papers in all the cities
and towns of the North told their readers on Saturday,
April 15, 1865, that Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, lay mortally wounded in Washington. The
extras within the next two hours told them he was dead.
The first impulse of men everywhere seems to have been to
doubt. It could not be. They realized only too quickly
that it was true! There was no discrediting the circum
stantial accounts of the later telegrams. There was no es
cape from the horror and uncertainty which filled the air,
driving out the joy and exultation which for days had inun
dated the country.
In the great cities like New York a death-like silence fol
lowed the spreading of the news — a silence made the more
terrible by the presence of hundreds of men and women walk
ing in the streets with bent heads, white faces, and knit
brows. Automatically, without thought of what their neigh
bors were doing, these men went to their shops only to send
away their clerks and close their doors for the day. Stock
exchanges met only to adjourn. By ten o'clock business had
ceased. It was not only in the cities, where the tension of
feeling is always greatest, that this was true. It was the same
in the small towns.
" I was a compositor then, working in a printing office at
Danville, Illinois," says Prof. A. G. Draper, of Washing
ton, D. C. " The editor came into the room early in the
forenoon with a telegram in his hand; he was regarding it
245

246 LIFE OF LINCOLN
intently, with a pale face. Without saying a word he passed
it to one and another of the compositors. I noticed that as
the men read it they laid down their sticks, and without a
word went, one after another, took their coats and hats off
the nails where they were hanging, put them on, and went
into the street. Finally the telegram was passed to me. It
was the announcement that Lincoln had been shot the night
before and had died that morning. Automatically I laid
down my stick, took my hat and coat, and went into the
street. It seemed to me as if every man in town had
dropped his business just where it was and come out. There
was no sound; but the people, with pale faces and tense
looks, regarded one another as if questioning what would
happen next."
Just as the first universal impulse seems to have been to
cease all business, so the next was to drag down the banners
of victory which hung everywhere and replace them by crape.
New York City before noon of Saturday was hung in black
from the Battery to Harlem. It was not only Broadway and
Washington Square and Fifth Avenue which mourned. The
soiled windows of Five Points tenements and saloons were
draped, and from the doors of the poor hovels of upper Marf-
hattan west of Central Park bits of black weed were strung.
And so it was in all the cities and towns of the North.
" About nine o'clock on Saturday the intelligence reached
us of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln and the attempt upon
Mr. Seward's life," wrote Senator Grimes from Burlington,
Iowa. " Immediately the people began to assemble about the
' Hawkeye ' office, and soon Third Street became packed
with people. And such expressions of horror, indignation,
sorrow, and wonder were never heard before. Shortly, some
one began to decorate his house with the habiliments of
mourning; and soon all the business part of the town, even
the vilest liquor dens, was shrouded with the outward signs

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 247
of sorrow. All business was at once suspended, and not re
sumed during the day ; but every one waited for further in
telligence from Washington."
And this was true not only of the towns, it was true of the
distant farms. There the news was slower in coming. A
traveller journeying from the town stopped to tell it at a
farm-house. The farmer, leaving his plow, walked or rode
across lots to repeat it to a neighbor. Everywhere they
dropped their work, and everywhere they brought out a strip
of black and tied it to the door-knob.
The awful quiet of the North through the first few hours
after the tragedy covered not grief alone; below it was a
righteous anger, which, as the hours passed, began to break
out. It showed itself first against those of Southern sympa
thy who were bold enough to say they were " glad of it." In
New York a man was heard to remark that " it served old
Abe right." Cries of " Lynch him, lynch him ! " were raised.
He was set upon by the crowd, and escaped narrowly. All
day the police were busy hustling suspected Copperheads
away from the mobs which seemed to rise from the ground
at the first word of treason.
" I was kept busy last night," further wrote Senator
Grimes from Burlington, "' trying to prevent the destruction
of the store of a foolish woman who, it was said, expressed
her joy at Mr. Lincoln's murder. Had she been a man, so
much was the old Adam aroused in me, I would not have ut
tered a word to save her."
In Cincinnati, which had spent the day and night before in
the most elaborate jubilation, the rage against treason broke
out at the least provocation. " Some individuals of the ' but
ternut ' inclination," says a former citizen, in recalling these
days, " were knocked into the gutters and kicked, because
they would make no expression of sorrow, or because of their
well-known past sympathy with the rebellion. Others as

248 LIFE OF LINCOLN
loyal as any suffered also, through mistaken ideas of mean
ness on the part of personal enemies. Junius Brutus Booth, a
brother of the assassin, was closing a two-weeks' engage
ment at Pike Opera House. He was stopping at the Bur
net House. While there was no violent public demonstra
tion against him, it was well known that his life would not be
worth a farthing should he be seen on the streets or in public.
Of course the bills were taken down, and there was no per
formance that night. Mr. Booth was well pleased quietly to
escape from the Burnet and disappear."
In one New Hampshire town, where a company of volun
teers from the country had gathered to drill, only to be met
by the news, it was rumored that a man in a factory near by
had been heard to say, " The old abolitionist ought to have
been killed long ago." The volunteers marched in a body to
the factory, entered, and dragged the offender out into the
road. There they held a crude court-martial. " The company
surrounded him," says one of the men, " in such military or
der as raw recruits could get into, and questioned him as to
his utterances. He was willing to do or say anything. ' Duck
him ! ' was the cry raised on every hand. The canal was close
at hand, but there were voices heard saying : ' He's an old
man. Don't duck him. Send him out of town.' And so it
was done. He was compelled to give three cheers for the
Stars and Stripes. I shall never forget his pitiful little * Hoo
ray ! ' He was made to kneel down and repeat something in
praise of Abraham Lincoln that one of the officers dictated
to him, and then he was marched to his boarding-place, given
certain minutes to pack up his effects, and escorted to the
railroad station, where he was sent off on the next train.
This was a very mild example of the feeling there was. Had
the man been a real American Copperhead, he would
scarcely have escaped a ducking, and perhaps a drubbing

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 249
also ; but many said : ' He's only an Englishman, and doesn't
know any better.' "
The most important expression of the feeling was that at a
great noon meeting held at the Custom House in New York.
Among the speakers were General Butler, E. L. Chittenden,
Daniel L. Dickinson, William P. Fessenden, and General
Garfield. The awful, wrathful, righteous indignation of the
meeting is told in the following citations from the speeches.
" If rebellion can do this to the wise, the kind, the benevo
lent Abraham Lincoln," said Butler, " what ought we to do
to those who from high places incited the assassin's mind and
guided the assassin's knife? [Applause, and cries of ' Hang
them!'] Shall we content ourselves with simply crushing
out the strength, the power, the material resources of the re
bellion? [' Never, never.'] Shall we leave it yet unsubdued
to light the torch of conflagration in our cities? Are we to
have peace in fact or peace only in name ? [Cries of ' In fact '
and applause.] Is this nation hereafter to live in peace, or
are men to go about in fear and in dread, as in some of the
countries of the Old World, in times past, when every man
feared his neighbor, and no man went about except he was
armed to the teeth or was clad in panoply of steel ? This ques
tion is to be decided this day, and at this hour by the Ameri
can people. It may be that this is a dispensation of God,
through his providence, to teach us that the spirit of rebellion
has not been broken with the surrender of its arms." [Ap
plause.] " Fellow citizens," said Garfield, " they have slain the
noblest and most generous spirit that ever put down a rebel
lion on this earth. [Applause.] It may be almost impious to
say it ; but it does seem to me that his death almost parallels
that of the Son of God, who cried out, ' Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.' But in taking away that
life they have left the iron hand of the people to fall upon
them. [Great applause.] Peace, forgiveness and mercy are
the attributes of this government, but Justice and Judgment
with inexorable tread follow behind, and when they have

250

LIFE OF LINCOLN

slain love, when they have despised mercy, when they have
rejected those that would be their best friends, then comes
justice with hoodwinked eyes and the sword."
The tense despair and rage of the people on Saturday had
not broken when they gathered on Sunday for worship.
Never, perhaps, in any sorrow, any disaster that this nation
has suffered, was there so spontaneous a turning to the
church for consolation as on this Sabbath day. Never, per
haps, did the clergy of a country rise more universally to con
sole the grief of a people than on this day. Everywhere,
from East to West, the death of the President was the theme
of the sermons, and men who never before in their lives had
said anything but commonplaces rose this day to eloquence.
One of the most touching of the Sunday gatherings was at
Bloomington, Illinois. Elsewhere it was only a President, a
national leader, who had been lost; here it was a personal
friend, and people refused to be comforted. On Sunday
morning there were sermons in all the churches, but they
seemed in no way to relieve the tension. Later in the day
word was circulated that a general out-of-door meeting
would be held at the court-house, and people gathered from
far and near, townspeople and country people, in the yard
about the court-house, where for years they had been accus
tomed to see Lincoln coming and going ; and the ministers of
the town, all of them his friends, talked one after another,
until finally, comforted and resigned, the people separated
silently and went home.
On Monday a slight distraction came in the announcement
of the plan for the funeral ceremonies. After much discus
sion, it had been decided that a public funeral should be held
in Washington, and that the body should then lie in state for
brief periods at each of the larger cities on the way to
Springfield, whither it was to be taken for burial. The neces
sity of at once beginning preparations for tbw reception of the

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 251
funeral party furnished the first real relief to the universal
grief which had paralyzed the country.
The dead President had lain in an upper chamber of the
White House from the time of his removal there on Satur
day morning until Tuesday morning, when he was laid un
der a magnificent catafalque in the centre of the great East
Room. Although there were in Washington many citizens
who sympathized with the South, although the plot for as
sassination had been developed there, yet no sign appeared
of any feeling but grief and indignation. It is said that there
were not fifty houses in the city that were not draped in
black, and it seemed as if every man, woman, and child were
seeking some souvenir of the tragedy. A child was found at
the Tenth Street house staining bits of soft paper with the
half-dried blood on the steps. Fragments of the stained linen
from the bed on which the President died were passed from
hand to hand; locks of the hair cut away by the surgeons
were begged; his latest photograph, the papers of the day,
programmes of the funeral, a hundred trivial relics were
gathered together, and are treasured to-day by the original
owners or their children. They
"dip their napkins in his sacred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,
Unto their issue."
On Tuesday morning, when the White House was opened,
it was practically the whole population, augmented by hun
dreds from the North, who waited at the gates. All day long
they surged steadily through the East Room, and at night,
when the gates were closed, Lafayette Park and the adjoin
ing streets were still packed with people waiting for admis
sion. In this great company of mourners two classes were

252 LIFE OF LINCOLN
conspicuous, the soldiers and the negroes. One had come
from camp and hospital, the other from country and hovel,
and both wept unrestrainedly as they looked on the dead face
of the man who had been to one a father, to the other a liber
ator. Wednesday had been chosen for the funeral, and every de
vice was employed by the Government to make the ceremony
fitting in pomp and solemnity. The greatest of the nation —
members of the cabinet, senators, congressmen, diplomats;
representatives of the churches, of the courts, of commerce,
of all that was distinguished and powerful in the North, were
present in the East Room. Mr. Lincoln's friend, Bishop
Simpson, and his pastor, Dr. Gurley, conducted the services.
More than one spectator noted that in the great assembly
there was but one person bearing the name of Lincoln and re
lated to the President — his son Robert. Mrs. Lincoln was
not able to endure the emotion of the scene, and little Tad
could not be induced to be present.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the booming of cannon
and the tolling of bells announced that the services were
ended. A few moments later, the coffin was borne from the
White House and placed in a magnificent funeral car, and
under the conduct of a splendid military and civilian escort,
conveyed slowly to the Capitol, attended by thousands upon
thousands of men and women. At the east front of the Capi
tol the procession halted, and the body of Abraham Lincoln
was borne across the portico, from which six weeks before in
assuming for the second time the presidency, he had ex
plained to the country his views upon reconstruction : " With
malice toward none ; with charity for all ; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds ; to
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 253
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with
all nations."
The rotunda of the Capitol, into which the coffin was now
carried, was draped in black, and under the dome was a great
catafalque. On this the coffin was placed, and after a simple
service there left alone, save for the soldiers who paced back
and forth at the head and foot.
But it was not in Washington alone that funeral services
were held that day. All over the North, in Canada, in the
Army of the Potomac, even in Richmond, business was sus
pended, and at noon people gathered to listen to eulogies of
the dead. Twenty-five million people literally participated in
the funeral rites of that Wednesday.
On Thursday the Capitol was opened, and here again, in
spite of a steady rain, were repeated the scenes of Tuesday at
the White House, thousands of persons slowly mounting the
long flight of steps leading to the east entrance and passing
through the rotunda.
At six o'clock on the morning of April 21, there gathered
in the rotunda the members of the cabinet, Lieutenant-Gen
eral Grant and his staff, many senators, army and navy offi
cers, and other dignitaries. After a prayer by Dr. Gurley, the
party followed the coffin to the railway station, where the
funeral train which was to convey the remains of Abraham
Lincoln from Washington to Springfield now stood. A great
company of people had gathered for the last scene of the
tragedy, and they waited in absolute silence and with uncov
ered heads while the coffin was placed in the car. At its foot
was placed a smaller coffin, that of Willie Lincoln, the Presi
dent's beloved son, who had died in February, 1862. At Mrs.
Lincoln's request, father and son were to make together this
last earthly journey.
Following the remains of the President came the party
which was to serve as an escort to Springfield. It included

254 LIFE OF LINCOLN
several of Lincoln's old-time friends, among them Judge Da
vid Davis and Ward Lamon; a Guard of Honor, composed
of prominent army officers; a large congressional committee,
several governors of States, a special delegation from Illi
nois, and a bodyguard. From time to time on the journey
this party was joined for brief periods by other eminent
men, though it remained practically the same throughout.
Three of its members — Judge Davis, General Hunter, and
Marshal Lamon — had been with Mr. Lincoln when he came
on to Washington for his first inauguration.
Precisely at eight o'clock, the train of nine cars pulled out
from the station. It moved slowly, almost noiselessly, not
a bell ringing nor a whistle sounding, through a mourning
throng that lined the way to the borders of the town.
The line of the journey begun on this Friday morning
was practically the same that Mr. Lincoln had followed four
years before when he came to Washington for his first in
auguration. It led through Baltimore, Harrisburg, Phila
delphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus,
Indianapolis, and Chicago, to Springfield. The entire pro
gramme of the journey, including the hours when the train
would pass certain towns where it could not stop, had been
published long enough beforehand to enable the people along
the way to arrange, if they wished, to pay a tribute to the
dead President. The result was a demonstration which in
sincerity and unanimity has never been equalled in the world's
history. The journey began at six o'clock on the morning
of April 21, and lasted until nine o'clock of the morning of
May 3 : and it might almost be said that during the whole
time there was not an hour of the night or day, whether the
coffin lay in state in some heavily draped public building or
was being whirled across the country, when mourning
crowds were not regarding it with wet eyes and bowed heads.
Night and darkness in no way lessened the number of the

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 255
mourners. Thus it was not until eight o'clock on Saturday
evening (April 22) that the coffin was placed in Independ
ence Hall, at Philadelphia. The building was at once opened
to the public, and through the whole night thousands filed in
to look on the dead man's face. It was at one o'clock in the
morning, on Monday, that the coffin was carried from Inde
pendence Hall to the train, but thousands of men, women,
and children stood in the streets while the procession passed,
as if it were day. In New York, on the following Tuesday,
City Hall, where the coffin had been placed in the afternoon,
remained open the whole night. The crowd was even greater
than during the day, filling the side streets around the square
in every direction. It was more impressive, too, for the men
and women who were willing to watch out the night in the
flare of torches and gaslights were laborers who could not
secure release in daytime. Many of them had come great
distances, and hundreds were obliged, after leaving the hall,
to find a bed in a doorway, so overfilled was the town. The
crowd was at its greatest at midnight, when, as the bells were
tolling the hour, a German chorus of some seventy voices
commenced suddenly to sing the Integer vitae. The thrill
ing sweetness of the music coming unexpectedly upon the
mourners produced an effect never to be forgotten.
Nor did rain make any more difference with the crowd
than the darkness. Several times during the journey there
arose heavy storms; but the people, in utter indifference,
stood in the streets, often uncovered, to see the catafalque
and its guard go by or waiting their turn to be admitted to
view the coffin.
The great demonstrations were, of course, in the cities
where the remains lay in state for a few hours. These
demonstrations were perforce much alike. The funeral train
was met at the station by the distinguished men of the city
and representatives of organizations. The coffin was trans

256 LIFE OF LINCOLN
ferred to a stately hearse, draped in velvet and crape, sur
mounted by heavy plumes, ornamented in silver, and drawn
by six, eight, ten, or more horses. Then, to the tolling of
the bells and the regular firing of minute guns, followed by
a vast concourse of people, it was carried to the place ap
pointed for the lying in state. Here a crowd which seemed
unending filed by until the time came to close the coffin, when
the procession reformed to attend the hearse to the funeral
train. The first of these demonstrations was in Baltimore, the
city which a little over four years before it had been thought
unsafe for the President to pass through openly, the city
in which the first troops called out for the defense of the
Union had been mobbed. Now no offering was sufficient
to express the feeling of sorrow. All buildings draped in
black, all business suspended, the people poured out in a driv
ing rain to follow the catafalque to the Exchange, where for
two hours, on April 21, the public was admitted.
¦ As was to be expected, the most elaborate of the series of
funeral ceremonies was in New York. There, when the
funeral train arrived on Tuesday, April 25, the whole city
was swathed in crape, and vast crowds filled the streets. The
climax of the obsequies was the procession which, on
Wednesday, followed the hearse up Broadway and Fifth
Avenue to Thirty-fourth Street and thence to the Hudson
River station. For a week this procession had been prepar
ing, until finally it included representatives of almost every
organization of every nature in the city and vicinity. The
military was represented by detachments from scores of dif
ferent regiments, and by many distinguished officers of the
army and navy, among them General Scott and Admiral
Farragut. Companies of the Seventh Regiment were on
each side of the funeral car. The city sent its officials — edu
cational, judicial, protective. The foreign consuls marched

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 257
in full uniform. There were scores of societies and clubs,
including all the organizations of Irish, German, and He
brews. The whole life of the city was, in fact, represented
in the solid column of men which marched that day through
the streets of New York in such numbers that it took four
hours to pass a single point. Deepest in significance of all
the long rank was the rear body in the last division: 200
colored men bearing a banner inscribed with the words,
" Abraham Lincoln — Our Emancipator." A platoon of po
lice preceded, another followed the delegation, for the
presence of these freedmen would, it was believed by many,
cause disorder, and permission for them to march had only
been obtained by an appeal to the Secretary of War, Mr.
Stanton. Several white men walked with them, and at many
points sympathizers took pains to applaud. With this single
exception, the procession passed through a silent multitude,
the only sound the steady tramp of feet and the music of the
funeral dirges.
At four o'clock the funeral car reached the station, and
the journey was continued toward Albany. But the obse
quies in New York did not end then. A meeting was held
that night in Union Square, at which George Bancroft deliv
ered an oration that will remain as one of the great expres
sions of the day upon Lincoln and the ideas for which he
worked. It was for this gathering that Bryant wrote his
" Ode for the Burial of Abraham Lincoln," beginning :
"Oh, slow to smite and swift to spare,
Gentle and merciful and just ;
Who in the fear of God did'st bear
The sword of power, a Nation's trust."
Imposing, solemn, and sincere as was this series of muni
cipal demonstrations over the bier of Lincoln, there was an
other feature of the funeral march which showed more viv
idly the affectionate reverence in which the whole people
a7) r

258 LIFE OF LINCOLN
held the President. This was the outpouring at villages,
country cross-roads, and farms to salute, as it passed, the
train bearing his remains. From Washington to Springfield
the train entered scarcely a town that the bells were not toll
ing, the minute guns firing, the stations draped, and all the
spaces beside the track crowded with people with uncovered
heads. At many points arches were erected over the track ;
at others the bridges were wreathed from end to end in crape
and evergreens and flags. And this was not in the towns
alone; every farm-house by which the train passed became
for the time a funeral house; the plow was left in the furrow,
crape was on the door, the neighbors were gathered, and
those who watched from the train as it flew by could see
groups of weeping women, of men with uncovered heads,
sometimes a minister among them, his arms raised in prayer.
Night did not hinder them. Great bonfires were built in
lonely country-sides, around which the farmers waited pa
tiently to salute their dead. At the towns the length of the
train was lit by blazing torches. Storm as well as darkness
was unheeded. Much of the journey was made through the
rain, in fact, but the people seemed to have forgotten all
things but that Abraham Lincoln, the man they loved and
trusted, was passing by for the last time.
At eleven o'clock on the morning of Monday, May i, the
funeral train reached Chicago, and here the mourning began
to take on a character distinctly different from what had
marked it through the East. The people who now met the
coffin, who followed it to the court-house, who passed in end
less streams by it to look on Lincoln's face, dated their trust
in him many years earlier than 1861. Man after man of
them had come to pay their last tribute, not to the late Presi
dent of the United States, but to the genial lawyer, the
resourceful, witty political debater who had educated Illinois
to believe that a countrv could not endure half slave and half

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 259
free, and who, after defeat, had kept her faithful to the " dur
able struggle" by his counsel. The tears these men
shed were the tears of long-time friends and personal
followers. As the train advanced from Chicago toward Springfield
the personal and intimate character of the mourning grew.
The journey was made at night, but the whole population of
the country lined the route. Nearly every one of the towns
passed — indeed, one might almost say every one of the farms
passed — had been visited personally by Lincoln on legal or
political errands, and a vast number of those who thus in
the dead of night watched the flying train he had at some
time in his life taken by the hand.
It was nine o'clock on the morning of May 3 that the
funeral train entered the town where, four years and two
months before, Abraham Lincoln had bidden his friends
farewell, as he left them to go to Washington. Nearly all
of those who on that dreary February morning had listened
to his solemn farewell words were present in the May sun
shine to receive him. Their hearts had been heavy as he de
parted ; they were broken now, for he was more than a great
leader, an honored martyr, to the men of 'Springfield. He
was their neighbor and friend and helper, and as they bore
his coffin to the State House, in the centre of the city, their
minds were busy, not with the greatness and honor that had
come to him and to them through him, but with the scenes of
more than a quarter of a century in which he had always
been a conspicuous figure. Every corner of the street sug
gested that past. Here was the office in which he had first
studied law ; here, draped in mourning, the one before which
his name still hung. Here was the house where he had lived,
the church he had attended, the store in which he had been
accustomed to tell stories and to discuss politics. His name
was written everywhere, even on the walls of the Hall of

260 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Representatives in the State House, where they placed his
coffin, for here he had spoken again and again.
During the time that the body lay in state — from the noon
of May 3 until the noon of May 4 — the place Lincoln
held in Springfield and the surrounding country was shown
as never before. The men and women who came to look on
his face were many of them the plain farmers of Sangamon
and adjacent counties, and they wept as over the coffin of a
father. Their grief at finding him so changed was incon
solable. In the days after leaving Washington the face
changed greatly, and by the time Springfield was reached it
was black and shrunken almost beyond recognition. To
many the last look at their friend was so painful that the re
membrance has never left them. The writer has seen men
weep as they recalled the scene, and heard them say repeat
edly, " If I had not seen him dead ; if I could only remember
him alive ! "
It was on May 4, fifteen days after the funeral in Wash
ington, that Abraham Lincoln's remains finally rested in
Oakland Cemetery, a shaded and beautiful spot, two miles
from Springfield. Here, at the foot of a woody knoll, a vault
had been prepared; and thither, attended by a great con
course of military and civic dignitaries, by governors of
States, members of Congress, officers of the army and navy,
delegations from orders, from cities, from churches, by the
friends of his youth, his young manhood, his maturer years,
was Lincoln carried and laid, by his side his little son. The
solemn rite was followed by dirge and prayer, by the reading
of his last inaugural address, and by a noble funeral oration
by Bishop Simpson. Then, as the beautiful day drew toward
evening, the vault was closed, and the great multitudes
slowly returned to their duties.
The funeral pageant was at an end, but the mourning was
not silenced. From every corner of the earth there came to

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL 261
the family and to the Government tributes to the greatness
of the character and life of the murdered man. Medals
were cast, tablets engraved, parchments engrossed. At the
end of the year, when the State Department came to publish
the diplomatic correspondence of 1865, there was a volume
of over 700 pages, containing nothing but expressions of
condolence and sympathy on Lincoln's death. Nor did the
mourning and the honor end there. From the day of his
death until now, the world has gone on rearing monuments
to Abraham Lincoln.
The first and inevitable result of the emotion which swept
over the earth at Lincoln's death was to enroll him among
martyrs and heroes. Men forgot that they had despised him,
jeered at him, doubted him. They forgot his mistakes, for
got his plodding caution, forgot his homely ways. They saw
now, with the vision which an awful and sudden disaster so
often gives, the simple, noble outlines on which he had
worked. They realized how completely he had sunk every
partisan and personal consideration, every non-essential, in
the tasks which he had set for himself — to prevent the exten
sion of slavery, to save the Union. They realized how, while
they had forgotten everything in disputes over this man, this
measure, this event, he had seen only the two great objects
of the struggle. They saw how slowly, but surely, he had
educated them to feel the vital importance of these objects,
had resolved their partisan warfare into a moral struggle.
The wisdom of his words, the sincerity of his acts, the stead
fastness of his life were clear to them at last. With this rea
lization came a feeling that he was more than a man. He
was a prophet, they said, a man raised up by God for a
special work, and they laid then the foundation of the Lin
coln myth which still enthralls so many minds.
The real Lincoln, the great Lincoln, is not, however, this
prophet and martyr. He is the simple, steady, resolute, un-

262 LIFE OF LINCOLN
selfish man whose supreme ambition was to find out the truth
of the questions which confronted him in life, and whose
highest satisfaction was in following the truth he discovered.
He was not endowed by nature with the vision of a seer.
His power of getting at the truth of things he had won by in
cessant mental effort. From his boyhood he would under
stand, though he must walk the floor all night with his prob
lem. Nor had nature made him a saint. His lofty moral
courage in the Civil War was the logical result of life-long
fidelity to his own conscience. From his boyhood he would
keep faith with that which his mind told him was true,
though he lost friend and place by it. When he entered pub
lic life these qualities at first won him position ; but they cost
him a position more than once. They sent him to Congress ;
but, in 1849, mey forced him out of public life. They
brought him face to face with Douglas from 1854 to 1858,
and enabled him to shape the moral sentiment of the North
west ; but later they defeated him. They made him Illinois's
candidate for the presidency in i860; but they brought upon
him as President the distrust and hatred of even his own
party. It took four years of dogged struggle, of constant
repetitions of the few truths which he believed to be essential,
to teach the people of the United States that they could trust
him; it took a murderer's bullet to make them realize the
surpassing greatness of his simplicity, his common sense,
and his resolution. It is this man who never rested until he
had found what he believed to be the right, and, who, having
found it, could never be turned from it, who is the Real Lin
coln.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

The following Letters, Telegrams and Speeches of Abraham Lin
coln have been collected by the author in the course of the work of
preparing this Life of Lincoln. None of these documents appear
in Lincoln's " Complete Works " edited by Nicolay and Hay or in
any other collection of his writings. New Salem, Aug. 10, 1833.
E. C. Blankenship :
Dear Sir : — In regard to the time David Eankin served the en
closed discharge shows correctly — as well as I can recollect — having
no writing to refer. The transfer of Eankin from my company
occurred as follows — Eankin having lost his horse at Dixon's ferry
and having acquaintance in one of the foot companies who were
going down the river was desirous to go with them, and one Gal-
ishen being an acquaintance of mine and belonging to the com
pany in which Eankin wished to go wished to leave it and join
mine, this being the case it was agreed that they should exchange
places and answer to each others names — as it was expected we all
would be discharged in very few days. As to a blanket — I have
no knowledge of Eankin ever getting any. The above embraces
all the facts now in my recollection which are pertinent to the
case. I shall take pleasure in giving any further information in my
power should you call on me. Tour friend, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by DeWitt C. Sprague, Washington, D. 0.)
Mr. Spears:
At your request I send you a receipt for the postage on your
paper. I am somewhat surprised at your request. I will, however
comply with it. The law requires Newspaper postage to be paid in
advance, and now that I have waited a full year you choose to
wound my feelings by insinuating that unless you get a receipt
I will probably make you pay it again —
Respectfully, A. Lincoln.
265

266 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Received of George Spears in full for postage on the " Sangamon
Journal " up to the first of July, 1834. A. Lincoln, P. M.
(From fac-simile of letter printed in Menard-Salem-Lincoln
Souvenir Album. Petersburg, 1893.)
Report of Road Survey, written by Abraham Lincoln.
To the County Commissioner's Court for the County of Sanga
mon : —
We, the undersigned, being appointed to view and relocate a part
of the road between Sangamon town and the town of Athens
respectfully report that we have performed the duty of said ap
pointment according to law — and that we have made the said re
location on good ground — and believe the same to be necessary and
proper. James Strowbridge, ,
Levi Cantrall,
Athens, Nov. 4, 1834. A. Lincoln.
Herewith is the map — The court may allow me the following
charges if they think proper —
1 day's labour as surveyor  $3.00
Making map  .50

$3.50
A. Lincoln.
(Original in office of county clerk, Springfield, HI.)
John Bennett, Esq. Springfield, III., Aug. 5, 1837.
Dear Sir : — Mr. Edwards tells me you wish to know whether the
act to which your town incorporation provision was attached
passed into a law. It did. You can organize under the general
incorporation law as soon as you choose. I also tacked a provision
on to a fellow's bill to authorize the re-location of the road from
Salem down to your town, but I am not certain whether or not the
bill passed, neither do I suppose I can ascertain before the law will
be published, if it is a law. Bowling Greene, Bennett Abell, and
yourself are appointed to make the change.
No news. No excitement except a little about the election of
Monday next. I suppose of course our friend, Dr. Henry, stands
no chance in your " diggings."
Your friend and humble servant, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by E. R. Oeltjen, Petersburg, Illinois.)

APPENDIX 267

TO THE PEOPLE.
" Sangamo Journal," Springfield, III., Aug. 19, 1837.
In accordance with our determination, as expressed last week, we
present to the reader the articles which were published in hand-bill
form, in reference to the case of the heirs of Joseph Anderson vs.
James Adams. These articles can now be read, uninfluenced by
personal or party feeling, and with the sole motive of learning the
truth. When that is done, the reader can pass his own judgment
on the matters at issue.
We only regret in this case, that the publications were not made
some weeks before the election. Such a course might have pre
vented the expressions of regret, which have often been heard since,
from different individuals, on account of the disposition they made
of their votes.
TO THE PUBLIC.
It is well known to most of you, that there is existing at this
time, considerable excitement in regard to Gen. Adams's titles to
certain tracts of land, and the manner in which he acquired them.
As I understand, the Gen. charges that the whole has been gotten
up by a knot of iawyers to injure his election ; and as I am one of
the knot to which he refers — and as I happen, to be in possession
of facts connected with the matter, I will, in as brief a manner as
possible, make a statement of them, together with the means by
Which I arrived at the knowledge of them.
Sometime in May or June last, a widow woman, by the name of
Anderson, and her son, who resides in Fulton county, came to
Springfield, for the purpose, as they said, of selling a ten acre
lot of ground lying near town, which they claimed as the property
of the deceased husband and father.
When they reached town they' found the land was claimed by
Gen. Adams. John T. Stuart and myself were employed to look
into the matter, and if it was thought we could do so with any
prospect of success, to commence a suit for the land. I went imme
diately to the recorder's office to examine Adams's title, and found
that the land had been entered by one Dixon, deeded by Dixon to
Thomas, by Thomas to one Miller, and by Miller to Gen. Adams.
— The oldest of these three deeds was about ten or eleven years old,
and the latest more than five, all recorded at the same time, and
that within less than one year. This I thought a suspicious cir
cumstance, and I was thereby induced to examine the deeds very
closely, with a view to the discovery of some defect by which to
overturn the title, being almost convinced then it was founded in
fraud. I finally discovered that in the deed from Thomas to Mil
ler, although Miller's name stood in a sort of marginal note on
the record book, it was nowhere in the deed itself. I told the f ac*

268 LIFE OF LINCOLN
to Talbott, the recorder, and proposed to him that he should go to
Gen. Adams's and get the original deed, and compare it with the
record, and thereby ascertain whether the defect was in the orig
inal, or there was merely an error in the recording. As Talbott
afterwards told me, he went to the General's, but not finding him
at home, got the deed from his son, which, when compared with the
record, proved what we had discovered was merely an error of the
recorder. After Mr. Talbott corrected the record, he brought the
original to our office, as I then thought and think yet, to show us
that it was right. When he came into the room he handed the
deed to me, remarking that the fault was all his own. On opening
it, another paper fell out of it, which on examination, proved to
be an assignment of a judgment in the Circuit Court of Sangamon
County from Joseph Anderson, the late husband of the widow
above named, to James Adams, the judgment being in favor of
said Anderson against one Joseph Miller. Knowing that this
judgment had some connection with the land affair, I immediately
took a copy of it, which is word for word, letter for letter and cross
for cross as follows:

" Joseph Anderson,
vs.
Joseph Miller.

Judgment in Sangamon Circuit Court
against Joseph Miller obtained on a note
originally 25 dolls and interest thereon
¦ accrued. I assign all my right, title and interest
to James Adams which is in consideration
of a debt I owe said Adams.

May 10th, 1827. his
Joseph X Anderson.
mark."
As the copy shows, it bore date May 10, 1827; although the
judgment assigned by it was not obtained until the October after
wards, as may be seen by any one on the records of the Circuit
Court. Two other strange circumstances attended it which cannot
be represented by a copy. One of them was, that the date " 1827 "
had first been made " 1837 " and without the figure " 3 " being fully
obliterated, the figure " 2 " had afterwards been made on top of it;
the other was that, although the date was ten years old, the writing
on it, from the freshness of its appearance, was thought by many,
and I believe by all who saw it, not to be more than a week old.
The paper on which it was written had a very old appearance ; and
there were some old figures on the back of it which made the
freshness of the writing on the face of it, much more striking
than I suppose it otherwise might have been. The reader's curi-

APPENDIX 269
osity is no doubt excited to know what connection this assignment
had with the land in question. The story is this : Dixon sold and
deeded the land to Thomas: — Thomas sold it to Anderson; but
before he gave a deed, Anderson sold it to Miller, and took Miller's
note for the purchase money. — When this note became due, Ander
son sued Miller on it, and Miller procured an injunction from the
Court of Chancery to stay the collection of the money until he
should get a deed for the land. Gen. Adams was employed as an
attorney by Anderson in this chancery suit, and at the October
term, 1827, the injunction was dissolved, and a judgment given
in favor of Anderson against Miller; and it was provided that
Thomas was to execute a deed for the land in favor of Miller, and
deliver it to Gen. Adams, to be held up by him till Miller paid the
judgment, and then to deliver it to him. Miller left the county
without paying the judgment. Anderson moved to Fulton county,
where he has since died. When the widow came to Springfield last
May or June, as before mentioned, and found the land deeded to
Gen. Adams by Miller, she was naturally led to enquire why the
money due upon the judgment had not been sent to them, inas
much as he, Gen. Adams, had no authority to deliver Thomas's
deed to Miller until the money was paid. Then it was the General
told her, or perhaps her son, who came with her, that Anderson,
in his lifetime, had assigned the judgment to him, Gen. Adams.
I am now told that the General is exhibiting an assignment of the
same judgment bearing date " 1828 ;" and in other respects differing
from the one described; and that he is asserting that no such
assignment as the one copied by me ever existed ; or if there did,
it was forged between Talbott and the lawyers, and slipped into his
papers for the purpose of injuring him. Now, I can only say that
I know precisely such a one did exist, and that Ben. Talbott, Wm.
Butler, C. R. Matheny, John T. Stuart, Judge Logan, Robert Irwin,
P. C. Canedy and S. M. Tinsley, all saw and examined it, and that
at least one half of them will swear that IT WAS IN GENERAL
ADAMS'S HANDWRITING! ! And further, I know that Tal
bott will swear that he got it out of the General's possession, and
returned it into his possession again. The assignment which the
General is now exhibiting purports to have been by Anderson in
writing. The one I copied was signed with a cross.
I am told that Gen. Neale says that he will swear, that he heard
Gen. Adams tell young Anderson that the assignment made by hia
father was signed with a cross.
The above are facts, as stated. I leave them without comment.
I have given the names of persons who have knowledge of these
facts, in order that any one who chooses may call on them and
ascertain how far they will corroborate my statements. I have
only made these statements because I am known by many to be
one of the individuals against whom the charge of forging the
assignment and slipping it into the General's papers, has beeD
made; and because our silence might be construed into a confes-

270 LIFE OF LINCOLN
sion of its truth. I shall not subscribe my name; but I hereby
authorize the editor of the ' Journal ' to give it up to any one that
may call for it."
"It having been stated this morning that the subscriber had
refused to give the name of the author of the hand-bill above re
ferred to (which statement is not true) : to save any farther re
marks on this subject, I now state that A. Lincoln, Esq., is the
author of the hand-bill in question. Simeon Francis.
"August 7, 1837."
'Messrs. Lincoln and Talbott in reply to Gen. Adams.
u Sangamo Journal/' Springfield, III., Sept. 9, 1837.
In the "Republican" of this morning a publication of Gen.
Adams's appears, in which my name is used quite unreservedly.
For this I thank the General. I thank him because it gives me an
opportunity, without appearing obtrusive, of explaining a part of
a former publication of mine, which appears to me to have been
misunderstood by many.
In the former publication alluded to, I stated, in substance, that
Mr. Talbott got a deed from a son of Gen. Adams's for the purpose
of correcting a mistake that had occurred on the record of the said
deed in the recorder's office — that he corrected the record, and
brought the deed and handed it to me — and that, on opening the
deed, another paper, being the assignment of a judgment, fell out
of it. This statement Gen. Adams and the editor of the " Republi
can," have seized upon as a most palpable evidence of fabrication
and falsehood. They set themselves gravely about proving that
the assignment could not have been in the deed when Talbott
got it from young Adams, as he, Talbott, would have seen it when
he 'opened the deed to correct the record. Now, the truth is, Tal
bott did see the assignment when he opened the deed, or at least
he told me he did on the same day; and I only omitted to say so,
in my former publication, because it was a matter of such palpable
and necessary inference. I had stated that Talbott had corrected
the record by the deed; and of course he must have opened it;
and, just as the General and his friends argue, must have seen the
assignment. I omitted to state the fact of Talbott's seeing the
assignment, because its existence was so necessarily connected
with other facts which I did state, that I thought the greatest
dunce could not but understand it. Did I say Talbott had not
seen it ? Did I say anything that was inconsistent with his having
seen it before? Most certainly I did neither; and if I did not,
what becomes of the argument? These logical gentlemen cannot
sustain their argument only by assuming that I did say negatively
everything that I did not say affirmatively; and upon the same
assumption, we may expect to find the General, if a little harder

APPENDIX 271
pressed for argument, saying that I said Talbott came to our office
with his head downward, not that I actually said so, but because 1
omitted to say he came feet downward.
In his publication to-day, the General produces the affidavit of
Reuben Radford, in which it is said that Talbott told Radford that
he did not find the assignment in the deed, in the recording of
which the error was omitted, but that he found it wrapped in
another paper in the recorder's office, upon which statement the
Genl. comments, as follows, to-wit: — "If it be true as stated by
Talbott to Radford, that he found the assignment wrapped up in
another paper at his office, that contradicts the statement of Lin
coln that it fell out of the deed."
Is common sense to be abused with such sophistry? Did I say
what Tabott found it in? If Talbott did find it in another paper
at his office, is that any reason why he could not have folded it in
a deed and brought it to my office, can any one be so far duped, as
to be made believe that what may have happened at Talbott's office
at one time, is inconsistent with what happened at my office at
another time?
Now Talbott's statement of the case ss he makes it to me is this,
that he got a bunch of deeds from young Adams, and that he knows
he found the assignment in the bunch, but he is not certain which
particular deed it was in, nor is he certain whether it was folded
in the same deed out of which it was took, or another one, when it
was brought to my office. Is this a mysterious story? Is there
anything suspicious about it?
" But it is useless to dwell longer on this point. Any man who
is not wilfully blind can see at a blush, that there is no discrepancy
and Lincoln has shown that they are not only inconsistent with
truth, but each other " — I can only say, that I have shown that he
has done no such thing; and if the reader is disposed to require
any other evidence than the General's assertion, he will be of my
opinion. Excepting the General's most flimsy attempt at mystification, in
regard to a discrepance between Talbott and myself, he has not
denied a single statement that I made in my hand-bill. Every
material statement that I made has been sworn to by men who, in
former times, were thought as respectable as General Adams. I
stated that an assignment of a judgment, a copy of which I gave,
had existed — Benj. Talbott, C. R. Matheny, Wm. Butler, and Judge
Logan, swore to its existence, I stated that it was said to be in Gen.
Adams's handwriting — the same men swore it was in his handwrit
ing. I stated that Talbott would swear that he got it out of Gen.
Adams's possession — Talbott came forward and did swear it.
Bidding adieu to the former publication, I now propose to exam
ine the General's last gigantic production. I now propose to point
out some discrepancies in the General's address; and such too,
as he shall not be able to escape from. Speaking of the famous as
signment, the General says " This last charge, which was their last

272 LIFE OF LINCOLN
resort, their dying effort to render my character infamous among
my fellow citizens, was manufactured at a certain lawyer's office in
the town, printed at the office of the ' Sangamon Journal,' and
found its way into the world some time between two days just
before the last election." Now turn to Mr. Keys's affidavit in
which you will find the following, (viz.) " I certify that some time
in May or the early part of June, 1837, I saw at Williams's corner,
a paper purporting to be an assignment from Joseph Anderson to
James Adams, which assignment, was signed by a mark to Ander
son's name," etc. Now mark, if Keys saw the assignment on the
last of May or first of June, Gen. Adams tells a falsehood when he
says it was manufactured just before the election, which was on the
7th of August; and if it was manufactured just before the elec
tion, Keys tells a falsehood when he says ho saw it on the last of
May or first of June. Either Keys or the General is irretrievably
in for it; and in the General's very condescending language, I
say " let them settle it between them."
Now again, let the reader, bearing in mind that General Adams
has unequivocally said, in one part of his address, that the charge
in relation to the assignment was manufactured just before the
election; turn to the affidavit of Peter S. Weber, where the fol
lowing will be found, (viz.) " I, Peter S. Weber, do certify that
from the best of my recollection, on the day or day after Gen.
Adams started for the Illinois Rapids, in May last, that I was at
the house of Gen. Adams, sitting in the kitchen, situated on the
back part of the house, it being in the afternoon, and that Benja
min Talbott came around the house, back into the kitchen, and
appeared wild and confused, and that he laid a package of papers
on the kitchen table and requested that they should be handed to
Lucian. He made no apology for coming to the kitchen, nor for
not handing them to Lucian himself, but showed the token of
being frightened and confused both in demeanor and speech and
for what cause I could not apprehend."
Commenting on Weber's affidavit, Gen. Adams asks, " Why this
fright and confusion?" I reply that this is a question for the
General himself. Weber says that it was in May, and if so, it is
most clear, that Talbott was not frightened on account of the
assignment, unless the General lies when he says the assignment
charge was manufactured just before the election. Is it not a
strong evidence, that the General is not traveling with the pole-
star of truth in his front, to see him in one part of his address
roundly asserting that the assignment was manufactured just
before the election, and then, forgetting that position, procuring
Weber's most foolish affidavit, to prove that Talbott had been en
gaged in manufacturing it two months before?
In another part of his address, Gen. Adams says, " That I hold
an assignment of said judgment, dated the 20th of May, 1828, and
signed by said Anderson, I have never pretended to deny or' con
ceal, but stated that fact in one of my circulars previous to the

APPENDIX 273
election, and also in answer to a bill in chancery." Now I pro
nounce this statement unqualifiedly false, and shall not rely on the
word or oath of any man to sustain me in what I say; but will let
the whole be decided by reference to the circular and answer ic
chancery of which the General speaks. In his circular he did
speak of an assignment; but he did not say it bore date 20th of
May, 1828; nor did he say it bore any date. In his answer in
chancery, he did say that he had an assignment; but he did not
say that it bore date the 20th May, 1828; but so far from it, he
said on oath (for he swore to the answer) that as well as recollected,
he obtained it in 1827. If any one doubts, let him examine the
circular and answer for himself They are both accessible.
It will readily be observed that the principal part of Adams's
defense, rests upon the argument, that if he had been base enough
to forge an assignment, he would not have been fool enough to
forge one that would not cover the case. This argument he used
in his circular before the election. The " Republican " has used
it at least once, since then; and Adams uses it again in his publi
cation of to-day. Now I pledge myself to show that he is just such
a fool, that he and his friends have contended it was impossible
for him to be. Recollect — he says he has a genuine assignment;
and that he got Joseph Klein's affidavit, stating that he had seen it,
and that he believed the signature to have been executed by the
same hand, that signed Anderson's name to the answer in Chan
cery. Luckily Klein took a copy of this genuine assignment,
which I have been permitted to see; and hence I know it does not
cover the case. In the first place it is headed " Joseph Anderson
vs. Joseph Miller," and heads off " Judgment in Sangamon Circuit
Court." Now, mark, there never was a case in Sangamon Circuit
Court entitled Joseph Anderson vs. Joseph Miller. The case men
tioned in my former publication, and the only one between these
parties that ever existed in the Circuit Court, was entitled Joseph
Miller vs. Joseph Anderson, Miller being the plaintiff. What then
becomes of all their sophistry about Adams not being fool enough
to forge an assignment that would not cover the case? It is cer
tain that the present one does not cover the case ; and if he got it
honestly, it is still clear that he was fool enough to pay for an
assignment that does not cover the case.
The General asks for the proof of disinterested witnesses. Who
does he consider disinterested? None can be more so than those
who have already testified against him. No one of them had the
least interest on earth, so far as I can learn, to injure him. True,
he says they had conspired against him; but if the testimony
of an angel from Heaven were introduced against him, he would
make the same charge of conspiracy. And now I put the ques
tion to every reflecting man, do you believe that Benjamin Tal
bott, Chas. R. Matheny, William Butler and Stephen T. Logan
all sustaining high and spotless characters, and justly proud of
them, would deliberately perjure themselves, without any motive

274 LIFE OF LINCOLN
whatever, except to injure a man's election; and that, too, a mail
who had been a candidate, time out of mind, and yet who had
never been elected to any office?
Adams's assurance, in demanding disinterested testimony, is
surpassing. He brings in the affidavit of his own son, and even
of Peter S. Weber, with whom I am not acquainted, but who,
I suppose, is some black or mulatto boy, from his being kept in
the kitchen, to prove his points; but when such a man as Talbott, a
man who, but two years ago, run against Gen. Adams for the
office of Recorder and beat him more than four votes to one, is
introduced against him, he asks the community, with all the con
sequence of a Lord, to reject his testimony.
I might easily write a volume, pointing out inconsistencies be
tween the statements in Adams's last address with one another, and
with other known facts; but I am aware the reader must already
be tired with the length of this article, his opening statements,
that he was first accused of being a tory, and that he refuted
that; that then the Sampson's ghost story was got up, and he
refuted that; that as a last resort, a dying effort, the assignment
charge was got up is all as false as hell, as all this community
must know. Sampson's ghost first made its appearance in print,
and that too, after Keys swears he saw the assignment, as any
one may see by reference to the files of papers; and Gen. Adams
himself, in reply to the Sampson's ghost story, was the first man
that raised the cry of toryism and it was only by way of set off,
and never in seriousness that it was banded back at him. His
effort is to make the impression that his enemies first made the
charge of toryism and he drove them from that, then Sampson's
ghost, he drove them from that, then finally the assignment charge
was manufactured just before the election. Now, the only general
reply he ever made to the Sampson's ghost and tory charges, he
made at one and the. same time, and not in succession as he states;
and the date of that reply will show, that it was made at least a
month after the date on which Keys swears he saw the Anderson
assignment. But enough. In conclusion I will only say that I have
a character to defend as well as Gen. Adams, but I disdain to whim
about it as he does. It is true I have no children nor Tcitchev
boys; and if I had, I should scorn to lug them in to make affida
vits for me. A. Lincoln.
September 6, 1837.
TO THE PUBLIC.
Sanoamo Journal, Springfield, III., Oct. 28, 1837.
Such is the turn which things have lately taken, that when Gen,
Adams writes a book, I am expected to write a commentary on
it. In the " Republican " of this morning he has presented the world
With a new work of six columns in length : in consequence of which

APPENDIX 275
I must beg the room of one column in the " Journal." It is ob
vious that a minute reply cannot be made in one column to every
thing that can be said in six; and, consequently, I hope that ex
pectation will be answered, if I reply to such parts of the General's
publication as are worth replying to.
It may not be improper to remind the reader that in his publica
tion of Sept. 6th General Adams said that the assignment charge
was manufactured just before the election; and that in reply I
proved that statement to be false by Keys, his own witness. Now,
without attempting to explain, he furnishes me with another wit
ness (Tinsley) by which the same thing is proved, to wit, that
the assignment was not manufactured just before the election;
but that it was some weehs before. Let it be borne in mind that
Adams made this statement — has himself furnished two witnesses
to prove its falsehood, and does not attempt to deny or explain it.
Before going farther, let a pin be stuck here, labeled " one lie
proved and confessed." On the 6th of September he said he had
before stated in the hand bill that he held an assignment dated
May 20th, 1828, which in reply I pronounced to be false, and
referred to the hand bill for the truth of what I said. This week
he forgets to make any explanation of this. Let another pin be
stuck here, labeled as before. I mention these things, because, if,
when I convict him in one falsehood, he is permitted to shift his
ground and pass it by in silence, there can be no end to this con
troversy. The first thing that attracts my attention in the General's pres
ent production, is the information he is pleased to give to " Those
who are made to suffer at his (my) hands."
Under present circumstances, this cannot apply to me, for I
am not a widow nor an orphan : nor have I a wife or children who
might by possibility become such. Such, however, I have no
doubt, have been, and will again be made to suffer at his hands! I
Hands! Yes, they are the mischievous agents. — The next thing
I shall notice is his favorite expression, "not of lawyers, doctors
and others," which he is so fond of applying to all who dare ex
pose his rascality. Now, let it be remembered that when he first
came to this country he attempted to impose himself upon the
community as a lawyer, and actually carried the attempt so far,
as to induce a man who was under a charge of murder to entrust
the defense of his life in his hands, and finally took his money
and got him hanged. Is this the man that is to raise a breeze
in his favor by abusing lawyers ? If he is not himself a lawyer, it
is for the lack of sense, and not of inclination. If he is not a
lawyer, he is a liar for he proclaimed himself a lawyer, and got
a man hanged by depending on him.
Passing over such parts of the article as have neither fact nor
argument in them, I come to the question asked by Adama
whether any person ever saw the assignment in his possession,
This is an insult to common sense. Talbott has sworr> once and

276 LIFE OF LINCOLN
repeated time and again, that he got it out of Adams's possession
and returned it into the same possession. Still, as though he was
addressing fools, he has assurance to ask if any person ever saw
it in his possession. — Next I quote a sentence, "Now my son
Lucian swears that when Talbott called for the deed, that he, Tal
bott, opened it and pointed out the error." True. His son Lucian
did swear as he says; and in doing so, he swore what I will proye
by his own affidavit to be a falsehood. Turn to Lucian's affidavit,
and you will there see that Talbott called for the deed by which
to correct an error on the record. Thus it appears that the error
in question was on the record, and not in the deed. How then
could Talbott open the deed and point out the error? Where a
thing is not, it cannot be pointed out. The error was not in the
deed, and of course could not be pointed out there. This does not
merely prove that the error could not be pointed out, as Lucian
swore it was; but it proves, too, that the deed was not opened in
his presence with a special view to the error, for if it had been,
he could not have failed to see that there was no error in it. It
is easy enough to see why Lucian swore this. His object was to
prove that the assignment was not in the deed, when Talbott got
it: but it was discovered he could not swear this safely, without
first swearing the deed was opened — and if he swore it was
opened, he must show a motive for opening it, and the conclusion
with him and his father was, that the pointing out the error,
would appear the most plausible.
For the purpose of showing that the assignment was not in the
bundle when Talbott got it, is the story introduced into Lucian's
affidavit that the deeds were counted. It is a remarkable fact,
and one that should stand as a warning to all liars and fabricators,
that in this short affidavit of Lucian's, he only attempted to depart
from the truth, so far as I have the means of knowing, in two
points, to-wit, in the opening the deed and pointing out the error;
and the counting of the deeds, — and in both of these he caught
himself. About the counting, he caught himself thus — after say
ing the bundle contained five deeds and a lease, he proceeds,
" and I saw no other papers than the said deed and lease." First
he has six papers, and then he saw none but two for "my son
Lucian's " benefit, let a pin be stuck here.
Adams again adduces the argument, that he could not have
forged the assignment, for the reason that he could have had no
motive for it. With those that know the facts there is no ab'
sence of motive. Admitting the paper, which he has filed in the
suit to be genuine, it is clear that it cannot answer the purpose
for which he designs it. Hence his motive for making one that
he supposed would answer, is obvious. — His making the date too
old is also easily enough accounted for. The records were not in
his hands, and then there being some considerable talk upon this
particular subject, he knew he could not examine the records to
ascertain the precise dates without subjecting himself to sus-

APPENDIX 277
jioion; and hence he concluded to try it by guess, and as it turned
out, missed it a little. About Miller's deposition, I have a word to
say. In the first place, Miller's answer to the first question shows
upon its face, that he had been tampered with, and the answer
dictated to him. He was asked if he knew Joel Wright and
James Adams; and above three-fourths of his answer consists
of what he knew about Joseph Anderson, a man about whom
nothing had been asked, nor a word said in the question — a fact
that can only be accounted for upon the supposition, that Adams
had secretly told him what he wished him to swear to.
Another of Miller's answers I will prove both by common sense
and the Court of Record is untrue. To one question he answers,
" Anderson brought a suit against me before James Adams, then
an acting Justice of the Peace in Sangamon County, before whom
he obtained a judgment.
Q. — Did you remove the same by injunction to the Sangamon
Circuit Court? Ans. — I did remove it. Now mark- — it is said
he removed it by injunction. The word " injunction " in common
language imports a command that some person or thing shall not
move or be removed; in law it has the same meaning. An in
junction issuing out of Chancery to a Justice of the Peace, is a
command to him to stop all proceedings in a named case until
further orders. It is not an order to remove but to stop or stay
something that is already moving. Besides this, the records of the
Sangamon Circuit Court show, that the judgment of which Miller
swore was never removed into said Court by injunction or other
wise. I have now to take notice of a part of Adams's address which in
the order of time should have been noticed before. It is in these
words, "I have now shown, in the opinion of two competent
judges, that the handwriting of the forged assignment differed from
mine, and by one of them that it could not be mistaken for mine."
That is false. Tinsley no doubt is the judge referred to; and by
reference to his certificate it will be seen that he did not say the
handwriting of the assignment could not be mistaken for Adams's —
nor did he use any other expression substantially, or anything near
substantially the same. But if Tinsley had said the handwriting
could not be mistaken for Adams's, it would have been equally
unfortunate for Adams: for it then would have contradicted
Keys, who says, "I looked at the writing and judged it the said
Adams's or a good imitation."
Adams speaks with much apparent confidence ot his success on
attending law suits, and the ultimate maintenance of his title to
the land in question. Without wishing to disturb the pleasure of
his dream, I would say to him that it is not impossible, that he
may yet be taught to sing a different song in relation to the
matter. At the end of Miller's deposition, Adams asks, " Will Mr. Lin
coln now say that he is almost convinced my title to this ten acre

278 LIFE OF LINCOLN
fract of land is founded in fraud ? " I answer, I will not. I will
now change the phraseology so as to make it run — I am quite
convinced, &c. I cannot pass in silence Adams's assertion that
he has proved that the forged assignment was not in the deed
when it came from his house by Talbott, the Recorder. In this,
although Talbott has sworn that the assignment was in the bundle
of deed when it came from his house, Adams has the unaccountable
assurance to say that he has proved the contrary by Talbott.
Let him or his friends attempt to show, wherein he proved any
such thing by Talbott.
In his publication of the 6th of September he hinted to Tal
bott, that he might be mistaken. In his present, speaking of Tal
bott and me he says " They may have been imposed upon." Can
any man of the least penetration fail to see the obj'ect of this?
After he has stormed and raged till he hopes and imagines he has
got us a little scared he wishes to softly whisper in our ears, " If
you'll quit I will." If he could get us to say, that some unknown,
undefined being had slipped the assignment into our hands without
our knowledge, not a doubt remains but that he would immedi
ately discover, that we were the purest men on earth. This is
the ground he evidently wishes us to understand he is willing
to compromise upon. But we ask no such charity at his hands.
We are neither mistaken nor imposed upon. We have made the
statements we have, because we know them to be true and we
choose to live or die by them.
Esq. Carter, who is Adams's friend, personal and political, will
recollect, that, on the 5th of this month, he, (Adams) with a
great affectation of modesty, declared that he would never intro
duce his own child as a witness. Notwithstanding this affectation
of modesty, he has in his present publication introduced his child
as witness; and as if to show with hoxr much contempt he could
treat his own declaration, he has had this same Esq. Carter to
administer the oath to him. And so important a witness does he
consider him, and so entirely does the whole of his entire present
production depend upon the testimony of his child, that in it he
has mentioned "my son," "my son Lucian," "Lucian, my son,"
and the like expressions no less than fifteen different times. Let
it be remembered here, that I have shown the affidavit of " my
darling son Lucian" to be false by the evidence apparent on
its own face; and I now ask if that affidavit be taken away what
foundation will the fabric have left to stand upon?
General Adams's publications and out-door maneuvring taken in
connection with the editorial articles of the " Republican," are not
more foolish and contradictory than they are ludicrous and amus
ing. One week the "Republican" notifies the public that Gen,
Adams is preparing an instrument that will tear, rend, split, rive
blow up, confound, overwhelm, annihilate, extinguish, exterminate,
burst asunder, and grind to powder all its slanderers, and particu
larly Talbott and Lincoln — all of which is to be done in due time.

APPENDIX 279
Then for two or three weeks all is calm — not a word naid. Again
the " Republican " comes forth with a mere passing remark that
"Public opinion has decided in favor of Gen. Adams," and inti
mates that he will give himself no more trouble about the matter.
In the meantime Adams himself is prowling about, and as Burns
says of the Devil, " For prey, a' holes and corners tryin'," and
in one instance, goes so far as to take an old acquaintance of mine
several steps from a crowd and apparently weighed down with
the importance of his business, gravely and solemnly asks him if
"he ever heard Lincoln say he was a deist." Anon the "Repub
lican" comes again, "We invite the attention of the public to
General Adams's communication," &c, "The victory is a great
one," " The triumph is overwhelming." (I really believe the edi
tor of the Illinois " Republican " is fool enough to think General
Adams is an honest man.) Then Gen. Adams leads off — " Authors
most egregiously mistaken," &c,  " most wofully shall their pre
sumption be punished," &c. (Lord, have mercy on us.) " The hour
is yet to come, yea nigh at hand — (how long first do you reckon?)
— when the r Journal' and its junto shall say, I have appeared too
early." — " Then infamy shall be laid bare to the public gaze." Sud
denly the Gen. appears to relent at the severity with which he is
treating us and he- exclaims, " The condemnation of my enemies
is the inevitable result of my own defense." For your health's
sake dear Gen., do not permit your tenderness of heart to afflict
you so much on our account. For some reason (perhaps because we
are killed so quickly) we shall never be sensible of our suffering.
Farewell, General. I will see you again at Court, if not bef ore —
when and where we will settle the question whether you or the
widow shall have the land. A. Lincoln.
October 18, 1837.
SPEECH BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN BEFORE THE ILLI
NOIS LEGISLATURE IN JANUARY, 1837.
In the House of Representatives, upon the resolution offered by
Mr. Linder, to institute an enquiry into the management of
the affairs of the State Bank.
Mr. Chairman : Lest I should fall into the too common error, of
being mistaken in regard to which side I design to be upon, I shall
make it my first care to remove all doubt on that point, by declar
ing that I am opposed to the resolution under consideration, in
toto. Before I proceed to the body of the subject, I will further
remark, that it is not without a considerable degree of appre
hension, that I venture to cross the track of the gentleman from
Coles (Mr. Linder). Indeed, I do not believe I could muster a
sufficiency of courage to come in contact with that gentleman, were
it not for the fact, that he, some days since, most graciously con
descended to assure us that he would never be found wasting am-

280 LIFE OF LINCOLN
munition on small game. On the same fortunate occasion, he
further gave us to understand, that he regarded himself as be
ing decidedly the superior of our common friend from Randolph
(Mr. Shields) ; and feeling, as I really do, that I, to say the most
of myself, am nothing more than the peer of our friend from Raa-
dolph, I shall regard the gentleman from Coles as decidedly my
superior also, and consequently, in the course of what I shall
have to say, whenever I shall have occasion to allude to that gen
tleman, I shall endeavor to adopt that kind 'of court language
which I understand to be due to decided superiority. In one
faculty, at least, there can be no dispute of the gentleman's su
periority over me, and most other men ; and that is, the faculty of
entangling a subject, so that neither himself, or any other man,
can find head or tail to it. Here he has introduced a resolution,
embracing ninety-nine printed lines across common writing paper,
and yet more than one-half of his opening speech has been made
upon subjects about which there is not one word said in his reso
lution. Though his resolution embraces nothing in regard to the con
stitutionality of the Bank, much of what he has said has been
with a view to make the impression that it was unconstitutional
in its inception. Now, although I am satisfied that an ample field
may be found within the pale of the resolution, at least for small
game, yet as the gentleman has travelled out of it, I feel that I
may, with all due humility, venture to follow him. The gentle
man has discovered that some gentleman at Washington city has
been upon the very eve of deciding our Bank unconstitutional,
and that he would probably have completed his very authentic
decision, had not some one of the Bank officers placed his hand
upon his mouth, and begged him to withhold it. The fact that
the individuals composing our Supreme Court, have, in an official
capacity, decided in favor of the constitutionality of the Bank,
would, in my mind, seem a sufficient answer to this. It is a fact
known to all, that the members of the Supreme Court, together
with the Governor, form a Council of Revision, and that this
Council approved this Bank Charter. I ask, then, if the extra
judicial decision — not quite, but almost made, by the gentleman
at Washington, before whom, by the way, the question of the
constitutionality of our Bank never has, nor never can come —
is to be taken as paramount to a decision officially made by that
tribunal, by which and which alone, the constitutionality of the
Bank can never be settled? But aside from this view of the sub
ject, I would ask, if the committee which this resolution proposes
to appoint, are to examine into the constitutionality of the Bank?
Are they to be -clothed with power to send for persons and papers,
for this object? And after they have found the Bank to be
unconstitutional, and decided it so, how are they to enforce their
decision? What will their decision amount to? They cannot
compel the Bank to cease operations, or to change the course of it?

APPENDIX 281
operations. What good, then, can their labors result in? Cer
tainly none.
The gentleman asks, if we, without an examination, shall,
by giving the State deposits to the Bank, and by taking the stock
reserved for the State, legalize its former misconduct? Now I
do not pretend to possess sufficient legal knowledge to decide,
whether a legislative enactment, proposing to, and accepting from,
the Bank, certain terms, which would have the effect to legalize
or wipe out its former errors, or not; but I can assure the gen
tleman, if such should be the effect, he has already got behind
the settlement of accounts; for it is well known to all, that the
Legislature, at its last session, passed a supplemental Bank char
ter, which the Bank has since accepted, and which, according to his
doctrine, has legalized all the alleged violations of its original
charter in the distribution of its stock.
I now proceed to the resolution. By examination it will be found
that the first thirty-three lines, being precisely one-third of the
whole, relate exclusively to the distribution of the stock by the
commissioners appointed by the State. Now, Sir, it is clear that
no question can arise on this portion of the resolution, except
a question between capitalists in regard to the ownership of stock.
Some gentlemen have their stock in their hands, while others,
who have more money, than they know what to do with, want it;
and this, and this alone, is the question, to settle which we are
called on to squander thousands of the people's money. What
interest, let me ask, have the people in the settlement of this ques
tion? What difference is it to them whether the stock is owned
by Judge Smith or Sam Wiggins? If any gentleman be entitled
to stock in the Bank, which he is kept out of possession of by
others, let him assert his right in the Supreme Court, and let him
or his antagonist, whichever may be found in the wrong, pay the
costs of suit. It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he
that dances should always pay the fiddler Now, Sir, in the pres
ent case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them,
choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the people's
money being used to pay the fiddler. No one can doubt that the
examination proposed by this resolution, must cost the State
some ten or twelve thousand dollars ; and all this to settle a question
in which the people have no interest, and about which they care
nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in con
cert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quar
rel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's
money to settle the quarrel.
I leave this part of the resolution and proceed to the remainder.
It will be found that no charge in the remaining part of the reso
lution, if true, amounts to the violation of the Bank charter,
except one, which I will notice in due time. It might seem quite
sufficient to say no more upon any of these charges or insinua
tions, than enough to show they arp vx)t violations of the charter;

282 LIFE OF LINCOLN
yet, as they are ingeniously framed and handled, with a view to
deceive and mislead, I will notice in their order, all the most
prominent of them. The first of these is in relation to a con
nection between our Bank and several Banking institutions in other
States. Admitting this connection to exist, I should like to see
the gentleman from Coles, or any other gentleman, undertake to
show that there is any harm in it. What can there be in such a,
connection, that the people of Illinois are willing to pay their
money to get a peep into? By a reference to the tenth section of
the Bank charter, any gentleman can see that the framers of the
act contemplated the holding of stock in the institutions of other
corporations. Why, then, is it, when neither law nor justice for
bids it, that we are asked to spend out time and money, in inquir
ing into its truth ?
The next charge, in the order of time, is, that some officer, di
rector, clerk or servant of the Bank, has been required to take
an oath of secrecy in relation to the affairs of said Bank. Now,
I do not know whether this be true or false — neither do I believe
any honest man cares. I know that the seventh section of the
charter expressly guarantees to the Bank the right of making,
under certain restrictions, such by-laws as it may think fit; and I
further know that the requiring an oath of secrecy would not
transcend those restrictions. What, then, if the Bank has chosen
to exercise this right? Who can it injure? Does not every mer
chant have his secret mark? and who is ever silly enough to com
plain of it? I presume if the Bank does require any such oath of
secrecy, it is done through a motive of delicacy to those indi
viduals who deal with it. Why, sir, not many days since, one
gentleman upon this floor, who, by the way I have no doubt is now
ready to join this hue and cry against the Bank, indulged in a
phillippic against one of the Bank officials, because, as he said,
he had divulged a secret.
Immediately following this last charge, there are several in
sinuations in the resolution, which are too silly to require any
sort of notice, were it not for the fact, that they conclude by
saying, " to the great injury of the people at large." In answer
to this I would say that it is strange enough, that the people
are suffering these "great injuries," and yet are not sensible of
it! Singular indeed that the people should be writhing under op
pression and injury, and yet not one among them to be found, to
raise the voice of complaint. If the Bank be inflicting injury
upon the people, why is it, that not a single petition is presented to
this body on the subject? If the Bank really be a grievance,
why is it, that no one of the real people is found to ask redress
of it? The truth is, no such oppression exists. If it did, our
people would groan with memorials and petitions, and we would
not be permitted to rest day or night, till we had put it down The
people know their rights, and they are never slow to assert and
maintain them, when they are invaded. Let *hem call for al)

APPENDIX 28^
investigation, and I shall ever stand ready to respond to the call.
But they have made no such call. I make the assertion boldly, and
without fear of contradiction, that no man, who does not hold an
office, or does not aspire to one, has ever found any fault of the
Bank. It has doubled the prices of the products of their farms,
and filled their pockets with a sound circulating medium, and they
are all well pleased with its operations. No, Sir, it is the politician
who is the first to sound the alarm, (which, by the way, is a false
one.) It is he, who, by these unholy means, is endeavoring to
blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct. It is he,
and he alone, that here proposes to spend thousands of the people's
public treasure, for no other advantage to them, than to make
valueless in their pockets the reward of their industry. Mr.
Chairman, this work is exclusively the work of politicians; a set
of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people,
and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least
one long step removed from honest men. I say this with the
greater freedom, because, being a politician myself, none can
regard it as personal.
Again, it is charged, or rather insinuated, that officers of the
Bank have loaned money at usurious rates of interest. Suppose
this to be true, are we to send a committee of this House to
enquire into it? Suppose the committee should find it true, can
they redress the injured individuals? Assuredly not. If any
individual had been injured in this way, is there not an ample
remedy to be found in the laws of the land? Does the gentleman
from Coles know, that there is a statute standing in full force,
making it highly penal, for an individual to loan money at a higher
rate of interest than twelve per cent? 1£ he does not he is too
ignorant to be placed at the head of the committee which his
resolution proposes; and if he does, his neglect to mention it,
dhows him to be too uncandid to merit the respect or confidence of
any one.
But besides all this, if the Bank were struck from existence,
could not the owners of the capital still loan it usuriously, as well
as now? Whatever the Bank, or its officers, may have done, I
know that usurious transactions were much more frequent and
enormous, before the commencement of its operations, than they
have ever been since.
The next insinuation is, that the Bank has refused specie pay
ments. This, if true, is a violation of the charter. But there is
not the least probability of its truth; because, if such had been
the fact, the individual to whom payment was refused, would
have had an interest in making it public, by suing for the dam
ages to which the charter entitles him. Yet no such thing has
been done; and the strong presumption is, that the insinuation is
false and groundless.
From this to the end of the resolution, there is nothing that
merits attention — I therefore drop the particular examination of it.

284 LIFE OF LINCOLN
By a general view of the resolution, it will be seen that a prin
cipal object of the committee is, to examine into, and ferret out,
a mass of corruption, supposed to have been committed by the
commissioners who apportioned the stock of the Bank. I be
lieve it is universally understood and acknowledged, that all men
will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.
If this be true, we can only suppose that the commissioners acted
corruptly, by also supposing that they were bribed to do so. Tak
ing this view of the subject, I would ask if the Bank is likely to
find it more difficult to bribe the committee of seven, which we
are about to appoint, than it may have found it to bribe the com
missioners ?
(Here Mr. Linder called to order. The Chair decided that Mr.
Lincoln was not out of order. Mr. Linder appealed to the House;
— but before the question was put, withdrew his appeal, saying, he
preferred to let the gentleman go on; he thought he would break
his own neck. Mr. Lincoln proceeded) —
Another gracious condescension, I acknowledge it with grati
tude. I know I was not out of order; and I know every sensible
man in the House knows it. I was not saying that the gentleman
from Coles could not ( ?) be bribed, nor, on the other hand, will I
say he could not. In that particular I leave him where I found
him. I was only endeavoring to show that there was at least as
great a probability of any seven members that could be selected
from this House, being bribed to act corruptly, as there was, that
the twenty-four commissioners had been so bribed. By a ref
erence to the ninth seetion of the Bank charter, it will be seen
that those commissioners were John Tilson, Robert K. McLaugh
lin, Daniel Wann, A. G. S. Wight, John C. Riley, W. H. David
son, Edward M. Wilson, Edward L. Pierson, Robert R. Green,
Ezra Baker, Aquilla Wren, John Taylor, Samuel C. Christy, Ed
mund Roberts, Benjamin Godfrey, Thomas Mather, A. M. Jenkins,
W. Linn, W. S. Gilman, Charles Prentice, Richard I. Hamilton,
A. H. Buckner, W. F. Thornton, and Edmund D. Taylor.
These are twenty-four of the most respectable men in the State.
Probably no twenty-four men could be selected in the State, with
whom the people are better acquainted, or in whose honor and
integrity, they would more readily place confidence. And I now
repeat, that there is less probability that those men have been
bribed and corrupted, than that any seven men, or rather any
six men, that could be selected from the members of this House,
might be so bribed and corrupted; even though they were headed
and led on by " decided superiority " himself.
In all seriousness, I ask every reasonable man, if an issue be
joined by these twenty-four commissioners, on the one part, and
any other seven men, on the other part, and the whole depend
upon the honor and integrity of the contending parties, to which
party would the greatest degree of credit be due? Again: An
other consideration is, that we have no right to make the exam-

APPENDIX 285
ination. What I shall say upon this head, I design exclusively
for the law-loving and law-abiding part of the House. To those
who claim omnipotence for the Legislature, and who in the plenti-
tude of their assumed powers, are disposed to disregard the Con
stitution, law, good faith, moral right, and every thing else, I
have not a word to say. But to the law-abiding part I say, examine
the Bank charter, go examine the Constitution; go examine the
acts that the General Assembly of this State has passed, and you
will find just as much authority given in each and every of them,
to compel the Bank to bring its coffers to this hall, and to pour
their contents upon this floor, as to compel it to submit to this
examination which this resolution proposes. Why, sir, the gen
tleman from Coles, the mover of this resolution, very lately denied
on this floor, that the Legislature had any right to repeal, or other
wise meddle with its own acts, when those acts were made in the
nature of contracts, and had been accepted and acted on by other
parties. Now I ask, if this resolution does not propose, for this
House alone, to do, what he, but the other day, denied the right
of the whole Legislature to do? He must either abandon the posi
tion he then took, or he must now vote against his own resolution. It
is no difference to me, and I presume but little to any one else,
which he does.
I am by no means the special advocate of the Bank. I have
long thought that it would be well for it to report its condition to
the General Assembly, and that cases might occur, when it might
be proper to make an examination of its affairs by a committee.
Accordingly, during the last session, while a bill supplemental to
the Bank charter, was pending before the House, I offered an
amendment to the same, in these words : " The said corporation
shall, at the next session of the General Assembly, and at each
subsequent General Session, during the existence of its charter,
report to the same the amount of debts due from said corpora
tion; the amount of debts due to the same; the amount of specie
in its vaults, and an account of all lands then owned by the same,
and the amount for which such lands have been taken; and more
over, if said corporation shall at any time neglect or refuse to
submit its books, papers, and all and every thing necessary, for a
full and fair examination of its affairs, to any person or persons
appointed by the General Assembly, for the purpose of making
such examination, the said corporation shall forfeit its charter."
This amendment was negatived by a vote of 34 to 15. Eleven
of the 34 who voted against it, are now members of this House;
and though it would be out of order to call their names, I hope
' they will all recollect themselves, and not vote for this examina
tion to be made without authority, inasmuch as they refused to
receive the authority when it was in their power to do so.
I have said that cases might occur, when an examination might
be proper; but I do not believe any such case has now occurred;
and if it has, I should still be opposed to making an examination

2S6 LIFE OF LINCOLN
without legal authority. I am opposed to encouraging that law
less and mobocratic spirit, whether in relation to the Bank or any
thing else, which is already abroad in the land; and is spreading
with rapid and fearful impetuosity, to the ultimate overthrow of
every institution, of even moral principle, in which persons and
property have hitherto found security.
But supposing we had the authority, I would ask what good
can result from the examination? Can we declare the Bank un
constitutional, and compel it to desist from the abuses of its
power, provided we find such abuses to exist? Can we repair the
injuries which it may have done to individuals? Most certainly
we can do none of these things. Why then shall we spend the
public money in such employment? O, say the examiners, we
can injure the credit of the Bank, if nothing else. — Please tell me,
gentlemen, who will suffer most by that? You cannot injure, to
any extent, the stockholders. They are men of wealth — of large
capital; and consequently, beyond the power of malice. But by
injuring the credit of the Bank, you will depreciate the value of
its paper in the hands of the honest and unsuspecting farmer and
mechanic, and that is all you can do. But suppose you could
affect your whole purpose; suppose you could wipe the Bank
from existence, which is the grand ultimatum of the project, what
would be the consequence? Why, sir, we should spend several
thousand dollars of the public treasure in the operation, annihi
late the currency of the State; render valueless in the hands of
our people that reward of their former labors; and finally, be once
more under the comfortable obligation of paying the Wiggins'
loan, principal and interest.
(The foregoing speech is found in the Sangamo "Journal" of
January 28, 1837. It was copied by the ' ' Journal " from the Van
dalia " Free Press.") Springfield, June 11th, 1839.
Dear Row: —
Mr. Redman informs me that you wish me to write you the
particulars of a conversation between Dr. Felix and myself rela
tive to you. The Dr. overtook me between Rushville and Beards-
town. He, after learning that I had lived at Springfield, asked
if I was acquainted with you. I told him I was. He said you
had lately been elected constable in Adams, but that you never
would be again. I asked him why? He said the people there,
had found out that you had been Sheriff or Deputy Sheriff in
Sangamon County, and that you came off and left your securities
to suffer. He then asked me if I did not know such to be the fact.
1 told him I did not think you had ever been Sheriff or Deputy
Sheriff in Sangamon; but that I thought you had been consta
ble. I further told him that if you had left your securities to
suffer in that or any other case, I had never heard of it, and that
if it had been so, I thought I would have heard of it.

APPENDIX 287
Ii the Dr. is telling that I told him anything againsx you what
ever, I authorize you to contradict it flatly. We have no news here.
Your friend, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
Sprtngjibld, III., Feby. 16, 1842.
G. B. Sheledt,Ebqr. :
Yours of the 10th is duly received. Judge Logan and myself
are doing business together now, and we are willing to attend
to your cases as you propose — As to the terms, we are willing to
attend each case you prepare and send us for $10 (when there shall
be no opposition) to be sent in advance, or you to know that it
is safe — It takes $5.75 of cost to start upon, that is, $1.75 to
clerk, and $2 to each of two publishers of papers — Judge Logan
thinks it will take the balance of $20 to carry a case through —
This must be advanced from time to time as the services are per
formed, as the officers will not act without — I do not know
whether you can be admitted an attorney of the Federal court
in your absence or not; nor is it material, as the business can
be done in our names.
Thinking it may aid you a little, I send you one of our blank
forms of Petitions — It, you will see, is framed to be sworn to
before the Federal court clerk, and, in your cases, will have (to)
be so far changed, as to be sworn to before the clerk of your cir
cuit court; and his certificate must be accompanied with his offi
cial seal — The schedules too, must be attended to — Be sure
that they contain the creditors names, their residences, the
amounts due each, the debtors names, their residences, and the
amounts they owe, also all property and where located.
Also be sure that the schedules are signed by the applicants
as well as the Petition.
Publication will have to be made here in one paper, and in one
nearest the residence of the applicant. Write us in each case
where the last advertisement is to be sent, whether to you or to
what paper.
I believe I have now said everything that can be of any ad
vantage. Your friend, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Historical Dep't of Iowa, loaned by the
Hon. Charles Aldrich, curator, Des Moines, Iowa.) February 22, 1842.
To George E. Pickett.
I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have
got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The
fact is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circum-

288 LIFE OF LINCOLN
stances are. Notwithstanding this copy-book preamble, my boy,
I am inclined to suggest a little prudence on your part. You sea
I have a congenital aversion to failure, and the sudden announce
ment to your Uncle Andrew of the success of your " lamp-rubbing "
might possibly prevent your passing the severe physical examina
tion to which you will be subjected in order to enter the Military
Academy. You see, I should like to have a perfect soldier cred
ited to dear old Illinois — no broken bones, scalp wounds, etc. So
I think perhaps it might be wise to hand this letter from me, in
to your good uncle through his room-window after he has had a
comfortable dinner, and watch its effect from the top of the pigeon-
house. I have just told the folks here in Springfield on this 111th an
niversary of the birth of him whose name, mightiest in the cause
of civil liberty, still mightiest in the cause of moral reformation,
we mention in solemn awe, in naked, deathless splendor, that
the one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which
proclaims that there is not one slave or one drunkard on the face
of God's green earth. Recruit for this victory.
Now, boy, on your march, don't you go and forget the old maxim
that " one drop of honey catches more flies than a half -gallon of
gall." Load your musket with this maxim, and smoke it in your
pipe. (Original owned by Lasalle Corbell Pickett. Extracts published
in "'Pickett & His Men.") Springfield, August 15, 1842.
Friend Walker :
Enclosed you have an order of court allowing your assignee to
sell your property on a credit. Nothing is said in it about allow
ing your creditors pay for what they may purchase without money.
We however, think this a matter of no consequence; as it will be
a matter of course to take their bonds and security, as of other
purchasers, and then, in the final settlement, to set off their divi
dends against those bonds in whole or as far as they will go.
Yours, &c,
Logan & Lincoln.
(Original owned by J. H. Franklin, Lacon, HI.)
John Bennett. Springfield, March 7, 1843.
Friend Bennett :
Your letter of this day was handed me by Mr. Miles — It is too
late now to effect the object you desire — On yesterday morning
the most of the whig members from this District got together and

APPENDIX 289
agreed to hold the convention at Tremont in Tazewell County —
I am sorry to hear that any of the whigs of your County, or in
deed of any County, should longer be against conventions. —
On last Wednesday evening a meeting of all the whigs then
here from all parts of the state was held, and the question of the
propriety of conventions was brought up and fully discussed, and
at the end of the discussion a resolution recommending the sys
tem of conventions to all the whigs of the state was unanimously
adopted — Other resolutions were also passed, all of which wifl
appear in the next Journal. The meeting also appointed a com
mittee to draft an address to the people of the state, which ad
dress will also appear in the next Journal.
In it you will find a brief argument in favor of conventions — and
although I wrote it myself I will say to you that it is conclusive
upon the point and can not be reasonably answered. The right
way for you to do is hold your meeting and appoint delegates any
how, and if there be any who will not take part, let it be so. —
The matter will work so well this time that even they who now
oppose will come in next time.
The convention is to be held at Tremont on the 5th of April and
according to the rule we have adopted your County is to have dele
gates — being double the number of your representation —
If there be any good whig who is disposed to stick out against
conventions get him at least to read the argument in their favor
in the address. Yours as ever.
(Original owned by E. B. Oeltjen, Petersburg, 111.)
Springfield, May 11th, 1843.
Friend Hardin:
Butler informs me that he received a letter from you, in which
you expressed some doubt whether the whigs of Sangamon will
support you cordially — You may, at once, dismiss all fears on
that subject — We have already resolved to make a particular
effort to give you the very largest majority possible in our coun
ty — From this, no whig of the county dissents — We have
many objects for doing it. We make it a matter of honor and
pride to do it; we do it, because we love the whig cause; we do
it, because we like you personally; and last, we wish to convince
you, that we do not bear that hatred to Morgan county, that
you people have so long seemed to imagine. You will see by the
journal of this week, that we propose, upon pain of losing a Bar
becue, to give you twice as great a majority in this county as you
shall receive in your own. I got up the proposal.
Who of the five appointed, is to write the District address? I
did the labor of writing one address this year; and got thunder
for my reward. Nothing new here. Yours as ever, A.. Lincoln.

290 LIFE OF LINCOLN
P. S. — I wish you would measure one of the largest of those
swords, we took to Alton, and write me the length of it, from tip
of the point to tip of the hilt, in feet and inches, I have a dispute
about the length. A. L.
(Original owned by Ellen Hardin Walworth, New York City.)
This memorandum witnesseth that Charles Dresser and Abraham
Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois, have contracted with each other as
follows :
The said Dresser is to convey to or procure to be conveyed to said
Lincoln, by a clear title in fee simple, the entire premises (ground
and improvements) in Springfield, on which said Dresser now re
sides, and give him possession of said premises, on or before the
first day of April next — for which said Lincoln, at or before the
same day, is to pay to said Dresser twelve hundred dollars, or what
said Dresser shall then at his option, accept as equivalent thereto;
and also to procure to be conveyed to said Dresser, by a clear title
in fee simple, the entire premises (ground and building) in Spring
field, on the block immediately West of the Public square, the
building on which is now occupied by H. A. Hough as a shop, being
the same premises some time since conveyed by N. W. Edwards and
wife to said Lincoln and Stephen T. Logan — Said Dresser takes
upon himself to arrange with said Hough for the possession of said
shop and premises. Charles Dresser
Jan'y 16, 1844. A. Lincoln.
(Signed duplicates.)
(Original on file in Springfield, DI.) SpRiNGFrELD, May 21, 1844.
Dear Hardin:
Knowing that you have correspondents enough, I have forborne
to trouble you heretofore; and I now only do so, to get you to
set a matter right which has got wrong with one of our best
friends. It is old uncle Thomas Campbell of Spring Creek — (Ber
lin P. 0.) He has received several documents from you, and he
says they are old newspapers and documents, having no sort of
interest in them. He is, therefore, getting a strong impression
that you treat him with disrespect. This, I know, is a mistaken
impression; and you must correct it. The way, I leave to your
self. Rob't W. Canfield, says he would like to have a document
or two frcfm you.
The Locos here are in considerable trouble about Van Buren's
letter on Texas, and the Virginia electors. They are growing sick
of the Tariff question; and consequently are much confounded at
V. B.'s cutting them off from the new Texas question. Nearly
half the leaders swear they wont stand it. Of those are Ford, T,

APPENDIX 291
Campbell, Ewing, Calhoun and others. They don't exactly say
they won't vote for V. B., but they say he will not be the candi
date, and that they are for Texas anyhow. As ever yours,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Ellen Hardin Walworth, New York City.)
To General John J. Hardin. Springfield, January 19, 1845.
Dear General:
I do not wish to join in your proposal of a new plan for the
selection of a whig candidate for Congress, because —
1st. I am entirely satisfied with the old system under which
you and Baker were successively nominated and elected to Con
gress; and because the Whigs of the District are well acquainted
with the system, and so far as I know or believe, are well satisfied
with it. If the old system be thought to be vague, as to all the
delegates of the county voting the same way; or as to instructions
to them as to whom they are to vote for; or as to filling vacan
cies, — I am willing to jo1' in a provision to make these matters
certain. 2nd. As to your proposals that a poll shall be opened in every
precinct, and that the whole shall take place on the same day, I
do not personally object. They seem to me to be not unfair ; and I
forbear to join in proposing them, only because I choose to leave
the decision in each county to the Whigs of the county, to be
made as their own judgment and convenience may dictate.
3rd. As to your proposed stipulation that all the candidates
shall remain in their own counties, and restrain their friends in
the same — it seems to me that on reflection you will see, the fact
of your having been in Congress has, in various ways, so spread
your name in the District, as to give you a decided advantage in
such a stipulation. I appreciate your desire to keep down ex
citement ; and I promise you ' keep cool ' under all circumstances.
4th. I have already said I am satisfied with the old system under
which such good men have triumphed, and that I desire no de
parture from its principles. But if there must be a departure
from it, I shall insist upon a more accurate and just apportionment
of delegates, or representative votes, to the constituent body, than
exists by the old; and which you propose to retain in your new
plan. If we take the entire population of the Counties as shown
by the late census, we shall see by the old plan, and by your pro
posed new plan, —
Morgan county, with a population of 16541, has but  8 votes
While Sangamon with 18697 — 2156 greater, has but  8 votes
So Scott with 6553 has  4 votes
While Tazewell with 7615 has 1062 greater, has but  4 votes
So Mason with 3135 has  1 vote
While Logan with 3907. 772 greater, has but  1 vote

292 LIFE OF LINCOLN
And so on in a less degree the matter runs through all the coun
ties, being not only wrong in principle, but the advantage of it
being all manifestly in your favor with one slight exception, in
the comparison of two countie3 not here mentioned.
Again, if we take the whig votes of the counties as shown by
the late Presidential election as a basis, the thing is still worse.
Take a comparison of the same six counties —
Morgan with her 1443 whig votes has  8 votes
Sangamon with her 1837, 394 greater, only has  8 votes
Mason with her 255 has  1 vote
Logan with her 310, 55 greater, has only  1 vote
Scott with her 670 has  4 votes
Tazewell with her 1011, 341 greater, has only  4 votes
It seems to me most obvious that the old system needs adjust
ment in nothing so much as in this : and still, by your proposal, no
notice is taken of it. I have always been in the habit of acceding
to almost any proposal that a friend would make and I am truly
sorry that I cannot in this. I perhaps ought to mention that
some friends at different places are endeavoring to secure the
honor of the sitting of the convention at their towns respectively,
and I fear that they would not feel much complimented if we shall
make a bargain that it should sit no where. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Copied from the Sangamo "Journal" for Feb. 26, 1846.)
Springfield, March 1, 1845.
Friend Williams:
The supreme court adjourned this morning for the term. Your
cases of Reinhardt vs. Schuyler, Bunce vs. Schuyler, Dickhut vs.
Dunell, and Sullivan vs. Andrews are continued. Hinman vs.
Pope I wrote you concerning some time ago. McNutt et al. vs.
Bean and Thompson is reversed and remanded.
Fitzpatrick vs. Brady et al. is reversed and remanded with
leave to complainant to amend his bill so as to show the real
consideration given for the land.
Bunce against Graves, the court confirmed, wherefore, in ac
cordance with your directions, I moved to have the case remanded
to enable you to take a new trial in the court below. The court
allowed the motion ; of which I am glad, and I guess you are.
This, I believe, is all as to court business. The canal men have
got their measure through the legislature pretty much or quite
in the shape they desired. Nothing else now. Yours, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. A. J. Morton. Washington, D. G.J

APPENDIX 293
Williamson Durley. Springfield, October 3, 1845.
When I saw you at home, it was agreed that I should write to
you and your brother Madison. Until I then saw you I was not
aware of your being what is generally called an Abolitionist, or, as
you call yourself, a Liberty man, though I well knew there were
many such in your country.
I was glad to hear that you intended to attempt to bring about,
at the next election in Putnam, a union of the Whigs proper and
such of the Liberty men as are Whigs in principle on all ques
tions save only that of slavery. So far as I can perceive, by such
union neither party need yield anything on the point in difference
between them. If the Whig abolitionists of New York had voted
with us last fall, Mr. Clay would now be President, Whig princi
ples in the ascendant, and Texas not annexed; whereas, by the di
vision, ail that either had at stake in the contest was lost. And,
indeed, it was extremely probable, beforehand, that such would
be the result. As I always understood, the Liberty men depre
cated the annexation of Texas extremely; and this being so, why
they should refuse to cast their votes (so) as to prevent it, even
to me seemed wonderful. What was their process of reasoning,
I can only judge from what a single one of them told me. It was
this: 'We are not to do evil that good may come.' This gen
eral proposition is doubtless correct; but did it apply? If by
your votes you could have prevented the extension, etc., of slav
ery would it not have been good, and not evil, so to have used
your votes, even though it involved the casting of them for a
slave-holder. By the fruit the tree is to be known. An evil tree
cannot bring forth good fruit. If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay
would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act
of electing have been evil ?
But I will not argue further. I perhaps ought to say that
individually I never was much interested in the Texas question.
I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as
they were already a free republican people on our own model. On
the other hand. I never could very clearly see how the annexa
tion would augment the evil of slavery. It always seemed to me
that slaves would be taken there in about equal numbers, with or
without annexation. And if more were taken because of an
nexation, still there would be just so many the fewer left where
they were taken from. It is possibly true, to some extent, that,
with annexation, some slaves may be sent to Texas and continued
in slavery that otherwise might have been liberated. To whatever
extent this may be true, I think annexation an evil. I hold it to
be a paramount duty of us in the free States, due to the Union of
the States, and perhaps to liberty itself (paradox though it may
seem), to let the slavery of the other States alone; while, on
the other hand, I hold it to be equally clear that we should never
knowingly lend ourselves, _ directly or indirectly, to jjrevent that

294 LIFE OF LINCOLN
slavery from dying a natural death — to find new places for it to
live in, when it can no longer exist in the old. Of course I am
not now considering what would be our duty in cases of insur
rection among the slaves. To recur to the Texas question, I un
derstand the Liberty men to have viewed annexation as a much
greater evil than ever I did; and I would like to convince you,
if I could, that they could have prevented it, if they had chosen.
I intend this letter for you and Madison together; and if you
and he or either shall think fit to drop me a line, I shall be pleased.
Yours with respect, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. W. Durley, Princeton, Illinois.)
Dr. Robert Boal, Lacon, HI. Springfield, Jany. 7, 1846.
Dear Doctor:
Since I saw you last fall, I have often thought of writing you,
as it was then understood I would, but, on reflection, I have al
ways found that I had nothing new to tell you. All has hap
pened as I then told you I expected it would — Baker's declining,
Hardin's taking the track, and so on.
If Hardin and I stood precisely equal, if neither of us had been
to Congress, or. if we both had — it would not only accord with
what I have always done, for the sake of peace, to give way to
him ; and I expect I should do it. That I can voluntarily postpone
my pretentions, when they are no more than equal to those to
which they are postponed, you have yourself seen. But to yield
to Hardin under present circumstances, seems to me as nothing
else than yielding to one who would gladly sacrifice me altogether.
This, I would rather not submit to. That Hardin is talented,
energetic, usually generous and magnanimous, I have, before
this, affirmed to you, and do not now deny. You know that my
only argument is that "turn about is fair play." This he prac
tically at least, denies.
If it would not be taxing you too much, I wish you would write
me, telling the aspect of things in your country, or rather your
district; and also, send the names of some of your Whig neigh
bours, to whom I might, with propriety, write. Unless I can get
some one to do this, Hardin, with his old franking list, will have
the advantage of me. My reliance for a fair shake (and I want
nothing more) in your county is chiefly on you, because of your
position and standing, and because I am acquainted with so few
others. Let me hear from you soon. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Dr. Robert Boal, Lacon, Illinois.)

APPENDIX 295
John Bennett. Springfield, Jany 15, 1846.
Friend John:
Nathan Dresser is here, and speaks as though the contest be
tween Hardin and me is to be doubtful in Menard County — I
know he is candid and this alarms me some — I asked him to
tell me the names of the men that were going strong for Hardin;
he said Morris was about as strong as any — Now tell me, is Morris
going it openly? You remember you wrote me, that he would be
neutral. Nathan also said that some man who he could not re
member had said lately that Menard County waB going to de
cide the contest and that that made the contest very doubtful.
Do you know who that was ? Don't fail to write me instantly on
receiving telling me all — particularly the names of those who are
going strong against me. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by E. R. Oeltjen, Petersburg, HI.)
Springfield, January 21, 1846.
N. J. Rockwell:
Dear Sir: You perhaps know that General Hardin and I hav«
a contest for the Whig nomination for Congress for this district
He has had a turn and my argument is " Turn about is fair play.
I shall be pleased if this strikes you as a sufficient argument.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.

Jas. Berdan, Jacksonville, HI. SpRTNGFrELD, April 26, 1846.
Jas. Berdan, Esqr.:
Dear Sir: I thank you for the promptness with which you
answered my letter from Bloomington. I also thank you for the
frankness with which you comment upon a certain part of my
letter; because that comment affords me an opportunity of try
ing to express myself better than I did before, seeing, as I do, that
in that part of my letter, you have not understood me as I intended
to be understood. In speaking of the " dissatisfaction " of men who
yet mean to do no wrong, &c, I meant no special application
of what I said to the Whigs of Morgan, or of Morgan & Scott.
I only had in my mind the fact, that previous to General Hardin's
withdrawal some of his friends and some of mine had become a
little warm; and I felt, and meant to say, that for them now to
meet face to face and converse together was the best way to
efface any remnant of unpleasant feeling, if any such existed.
I did not suppose that General Hardin's friends were in any

296 LIFE OF LINCOLN
greater need of having their feelings corrected than mine were.
Since I saw you at Jacksonville, I have had no more suspicion of
the Whigs of Morgan than of those of any other part of the Dis
trict. I write this only to try to remove any impression that I
distrust you and the other Whigs of your country.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Mary Berdan Tiffany, Springfield, HL)
James Berdan, Jacksonville, HL Springfield, May 7th, 1846.
Jas. Berdan, Esqr.:
Dear Sm: It is a matter of high moral obligation, if not of
necessity, for me to attend the Coles and Edwards courts. I have
some cases in both of them, in which the parties have my promise,
and are depending upon me. The court commences in Coles on
the second Monday, and in Edgar on the third. Your court in
Morgan commences on the fourth Monday ; and it is my purpose to
be with you then, and make a speech. I mention the Coles and
Edgar courts in order that if I should not reach Jacksonville at
the time named you may understand the reason why. I do not,
however, think there is much danger of my being detained; as
I shall go with a purpose not to be, and consequently shall engage
in no new cases that might delay me. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Mary Berdan Tiffany, Springfield, HI.)

REPORT OF SPEECH DELIVERED AT WORCESTER,
MASS., ON SEPT. 12, 1848.
(From the Boston "Advertiser.")
Mr. Kellogg then introduced to the meeting the Hon. Abram
Lincoln, whig member of Congress from Illinois, a representative
of free soil.
Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with an intellectual
face, showing a searching mind, and a cool judgment. He spoke
in a clear and cool, and very eloquent manner, for an hour and
a half, carrying the audience with him in his able arguments and
brilliant illustrations — only interrupted by warm and frequent
applause. He began by expressing a real feeling of modesty in
addressing an audience "this side of the mountains," a part of
the country where, in the opinion of the people of his section,
everybody was supposed to be instructed and wise. But he had
devoted his attention to the question of the coming presidential

APPENDIX 297
election, and was not unwilling to exchange with all whom he
might the ideas to which he had arrived. He then began to show
the fallacy of some of the arguments against Gen. Taylor, mak
ing his chief theme the fashionable statement of all those who
oppose him, ("the old Locofocos as well as the new") that he
has no principles, and that the Whig party have abandoned their
principles by adopting him as their candidate. He maintained
that Gen. Taylor occupied a high and unexceptionable Whig
ground, and took for his first instance and proof of this state
ment in the Allison letter — with regard to the Bank, Tariff, Rivers
and Harbors, etc. — that the will of the people should produce its
own results, without Executive influence. The principle that the
people should do what — under the constitution — they please, is a
Whig principle. All that Gen. Taylor is not only to consent, but
to appeal to the people to judge and act for themselves. And this
was no new doctrine for Whigs. - It was the " platform " on
which they had fought all their battles, the resistance of Execu
tive influence, and the principle of enabling the people to frame
the government according to their will. Gen. Taylor consents to
be the candidate, and to assist the people to do what they think
to be their duty, and think to be best in their natural affairs, but
because he dont want to tell what we ought to do, he is accused
of having no principles. The Whigs here maintained for years
that neither the influence, the duress, or the prohibition of the
Executive should control the legitimately expressed will of the
people; and now that on that very ground, Gen. Taylor says that
he should use the power given him by the people to do, to the
best of his judgment, the will of the people, he is accused of want
of principle, and of inconsistency in position.
Mr. Lincoln proceeded to examine the absurdity of an attempt
to make a platform or creed for a national party, to all parts of
which all must consent and agree, when it was clearly the in
tention and the true philosophy of our government, that in Con
gress all opinions and principles should be represented, and that
when the wisdom of all had been compared and united, the will
of the majority should be carried out. On this ground he con
ceived (and the audience seemed to go with him) that Gen.
Taylor held correct, sound republican principles.
Mr. Lincoln then passed to the subject of slavery in the states,
saying that the people of Illinois agreed entirely with the people
of Massachusetts on this subject, except perhaps that they did
not keep so constantly thinking about it. All agreed that slav
ery was an evil, but that we were not responsible for it and can
not affect it in states of this Union where we do not live. But,
the question of the extension of slavery to new territories of this
country, is a part of our responsibility and care, and is under
our control. In opposition to this Mr. L. believed that the self-
named "Free Soil" party, was far behind the Whigs. Both
parties opposed the extension. As he understood it the new party

298 LIFE OF LINCOLN
had no principle except this opposition. If their platform held
any other, it was in such a general way that it was like the pair
of pantaloons the Yankee pedlar offered for sale "large enough
for any man, small enough for any boy." They therefore had
taken a position calculated to break down their single important
declared object. They were working for the election of either
Gen. Cass or Gen. Taylor. The speaker then went on to show,
clearly and eloquently, the danger of extension of slavery, likely
to result from the election of General Cass. To unite with those
who annexed the new territory to prevent the extension of slav
ery in that territory seemed to him to be in the highest degree
absurd and ridiculous. Suppose these gentlemen succeed in
electing Mr. Van Buren, they had no specific means to prevent
the extension of slavery to New Mexico and California, and Gen
Taylor, he confidently believed, would not encourage it, and would
not prohibit its restriction. But if Gen. Cass was elected, he
felt certain that the plans of farther extension of territory would
be encouraged, and those of the extension of slavery would meet
no check. The " Free Soil " men in claiming that name indi
rectly attempts a deception, by implying that Whigs were not
Free Soil men. In declaring that they would " do their duty and
leave the consequences to God," merely gave an excuse for taking
a course they were not able to maintain by a fair and full argu
ment. To make this declaration did not show what their duty
was. If it did we should have no use for judgment, we might as
well be made without intellect, and when divine or human law
does not clearly point out what is our duty, we have no means of
finding out what it is by using our most intelligent judgment of
the consequences. If there were divine law, or human law for
voting for Martin Van Buren, or if a fair examination of the
consequences and first reasoning would show that voting for him
would bring about the ends they pretended to wish — then he
would give up the argument. But since there was no fixed law on
the subject, and since the whole probable result of their action
would be an assistance in electing Gen. Cass, he must say that
they were behind the Whigs in their advocacy of the freedom
of the soil.
Mr. Lincoln proceeded to rally the Buffalo Convention for for
bearing to say anything — after all the previous declarations of
those members who were formerly Whigs — on the subject of the
Mexican war, because the Van Bur.ens had been known to have
supported it. He declared that of all the parties asking the confi
dence of the country, this new one had less of principle than any
other. He wondered whether it was still the opinion of these Free Soil
gentlemen as declared in the " whereas " at Buffalo, that the Whig
and Democratic parties were both entirely dissolved and absorbed
into their own body. Had the Vermont election given them any
light? They had calculated on making as great an impression
in that State as in any part of the Union, and there their attempts

APPENDIX 299
had been wholly ineffectual. Their failure there was a greater suc
cess than they would find in any other part of the Union.
Mr. Lincoln went on to say that he honestly believed that all
those who wished to keep up the character of the Union; who did
not believe in enlarging our field, but in keeping our fences where
they are_ and cultivating our present possessions, making it a
garden, improving the morals and education of the people; de
voting the administrations to this purpose; all real Whigs, friends
of good honest government; — the race was ours. He had oppor
tunities of hearing from almost every part of the Union from
reliable sources and had not heard of a country in which we had
not received accessions from other parties. If the true Whigs
come forward and join these new friends, they need not have a
doubt. We had a candidate whose personal character and prin
ciples he had already described, whom he could not eulogize if he
would. Gen. Taylor had been constantly, perseveringly, quietly
standing up, doing his duty, and asking no praise or reward for it.
He was and must be just the men to whom the interests, princi
ples and prosperity of the country might be safely intrusted. He
had never failed in anything he had undertaken, although many
of his duties had been considered almost impossible.
Mr. Lincoln then went into a terse though rapid review of the
origin of the Mexican war and the connection of the administra
tion and General Taylor with it, from which he deduced a strong
appeal to the Whigs present to do their duty in the support of
General Taylor, and closed with the warmest aspirations for and
confidence in a deserved success.
At the close of this truly masterly and convincing speech, the
audience gave three enthusiastic cheers for Hlinois, and three
more for the eloquent Whig member from that State.
J. Gillespie. Springfield, III., May 19, 1849.
Dear Gillespie:
Butterfield will be Commissioner of the Gen'l Land Office, un
less prevented by strong and speedy efforts. Ewing is for him,
and he is only not appointed yet because Old Zach. hangs fire.
I have reliable information of this. Now, if you agree with me
that his appointment would dissatisfy rather than gratify the
Whigs of this State, that it would slacken their energies in future
contests, that his appointment in '41 is an old sore with them
which they will not patiently have reopened, — in a word that
his appointment now would be a fatal blunder to the administra
tion and our political men, here in Hlinois, write Mr. Crittenden to
that effect. He can control the matter. Were you to write Ewing
I fear the President would never hear of your letter. This may
be mere suspicion. You might directly to Old Zach. You will
be the best judge of the propriety of that. Not a moment's time
is to be lost.

300 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Let this confidential except with Mr. Edwards and a few others
whom you know I would trust just as I do you.
Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine G. Prickett, Edwardsville,
UI.) Secretary of Interior, Washington, D. C.
Springfdjild, III., June 3, 1849.
Hon. Secretary of Interior,
Dear Sir: Vandalia, the Receiver's office at which place is the
subject of the within, is not in my district ; and I have been much
perplexed to express any preference between Dr. Stapp and Mr.
Remann. If any one man is better qualified for such an office
than all others, Dr. Stapp is that man; still, I believe a large
majority of the Whigs of the District prefer Mr. Remann, who
also is a good man. Perhaps the papers on file will enable you
to judge better than I can. The writers of the within are good
men, residing within the Land District. Your obt. servant, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
J. Gillespie. Springfdsld, July 13, 1849.
Dear Gillespie:
Mr. Edwards is unquestionably offended with me in connec
tion with the matter of the General Land Office. He wrote a
letter against me which was filed at the Department.
The better part of one's life consists of his friendships; and, of
them, mine with Mr. Edwards was one of the most cherished.
I have not been false to it. At a word I could have had the office
any time before the Department was committed to Mr. Butter-
field, — at least Mr. Ewing and the President say as much. That
word I forbore to speak, partly for other reasons, but chiefly for
Mr. Edwards' sake, — losing the office that he might gain it, I
was always for; but to lose his friendship, by the effort for him,
would oppress me very much, were I not sustained by the utmost
consciousness of rectitude. I first determined to be an applicant,
unconditionally, on the 2nd of June; and I did so then upon
being informed by a Telegraphic despatch that the question was
narrowed down to Mr. B — and myself, and that the Cabinet had
postponed the appointment, three weeks, for my benefit. Not
doubting that Mr. Edwards was wholly out of the question I,
nevertheless, would not then have become an applicant had I
supposed he would thereby be brought to suspect me of treachery

APPENDIX

301

to him. Two or three days afterwards a conversation with Levi
Davis convinced me Mr. Edwards was dissatisfied; but I was
then too far in to get out. His own letter, written on the 25th
of April, after I had fully informed him of all that had passed,
up to within a few days of that time, gave assurance I had that
entire confidence from him, which I felt my uniform and strong
friendship for him entitled me to. Among other things it says
"whatever course your judgment may dictate as proper to be
pursued, shall never be excepted to by me." I also had had a
letter from Washington, saying Chambers, of the Republic, had
brought a rumor then, that Mr. E — had declined in my favor,
which rumor I judged came from Mr. E — himself, as I had not
then breathed of his letter to any living creature. In saying I
had never, before the 22nd of June, determined to be an appli
cant, unconditionally, I mean to admit that, before then, I had
said substantially I would take the office rather than it should
be lost to the State, or given to one in the State whom the Whigs
did not want ; but I aver that in every instance in which I spoke of
myself, I intended to keep, and now believe I did keep, Mr. E — ¦
above myself. Mr. Edwards' first suspicion was that I had allowed
Baker to overreach me, as his friend, in behalf of Don Morrison.
I knew this was a mistake; and the result has proved it. I un
derstand his view now is, that if I had gone to open war with
Baker I could have ridden him down, and had the thing all my
own way. I believe no such thing. With Baker and some strong
man from the Military tract, & elsewhere for Morrison; and we
and some strong man from the Wabash & elsewhere for Mr. E — ,
it was not possible for either to succeed. I believed this in March,
and I know it now. The only thing which gave either any chance
was the very thing Baker & I proposed, — an adjustment with them
selves. You may wish to know how Butterfield finally beat me. I can
not tell you particulars, now, but will, when I see you. In the
meantime let it be understood I am not greatly dissatisfied, — I
wish the offer had been so bestowed as to encourage our friends
in future contests, and I regret exceedingly Mr. Edwards' feel
ings towards me. These two things away, I should have no re
grets, — at least I think I would not.
Write me soon. Your friend, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine G. Prickett, Edwardsville,
m)
Springfield, Sept. 14, 1849.
Dr. William Fithian, Danville, HI.
Dear Doctor: Your letter of the 9th was received a day or
two ago. The notes and mortgages you enclosed me were duly

302 LIFE OF LINCOLN
received. 1 also got the original Blanchard mortgage from An
trim Campbell, with whom Blanchard had left it for you. I got
a decree of foreclosure on the whole; but owing to there being no
redemption on the sale to be under the Blanchard mortgage, the
court allowed Mobley till the first of March to pay the money,
before advertising for sale. Stuart was empowered by Mobley
to appear for him, and I had to take such decree as he would con
sent to, or none at all. I cast the matter about in my mind and
concluded that as I could not get a decree now would put the
accrued interest at interest, and thereby more than match the
fact of throwing the Blanchard debt back from 12 to 6 per cent., it
was better to do it. This is the present state of the case.
I can well enough understand and appreciate your suggestions
about the Land Office at Danville; but in my present condition,
I can do nothing. Yours, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Dr. P. H. Fithian, Springfield, HL)
Springfield, Jan. 11, 1851.
C. Hoyt, Esq.
My Dear Sir : Our case is decided against us. The decision was
announced this morning. Very sorry, but there is no help. The
history of the case since it came here is this — On Friday morn
ing last, Mr. Joy filed his papers, and entered his motion for a
mandamus, and urged me to take up the motion as soon as pos
sible. I already had the points, and authorities sent me, by you
and by Mr. Goodrich but had not studied them — I began prepar
ing as fast as possible.
The evening of the same day I was again urged to take up the
case. I refused on the ground that I was not ready, and on which
plea I also got off over Saturday. But on Monday (the 14th) I had
to go into it. We occupied the whole day, I using the large part. I
made every point and used every authority sent me by yourself
and by Mr. Goodrich ; and in addition all the points I could think
of and all the authorities I could find myself. When I closed the
argument on my part, a large package was handed me, which
proved to be the Plat you sent me. The court received it of me,
but it was not different from the Plat already on the record. I
do not think I could ever have argued the case better than I did.
I did nothing else, but prepare to argue and argue this case, from
Friday morning till Monday evening. Very sorry for the result;
but I do not think it could have been prevented. Your friend as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by family of Mr. Ned Ames Higgins, Wash
ington, D. C.)

APPENDIX 3°3
Nov. 4, 1851.
Dear Mother:
Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him. I£ I
were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I think
you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman feels
very kindly to you; and I have no doubt he will make your situa
tion very pleasant. Sincerely your son,
A. Lincoln.
(From Herndon's " Life of Lincoln.")
Addressed John D. Johnston, Charleston, Coles County, Illinois.
Springfield, November 25, 1851.
John D. Johnston:
Dear Brother: Your letter of the 22d is just received — Your
proposal about selling the East forty acres of land is all that I want
or could claim for myself; but I am not satisfied with it on
Mother's account — I want her to have her living, and I feel that
it is my duty, to some extent, to see that she is not wronged — She
had a right of Dower (that is, the use of one-third for life) in
the other two forties; but, it seems, she has already let you take
that, hook and line — She now has the use of the whole of the East
forty, as long as she lives ; and if it be sold, of course she is entitled
to the interest on all the money it brings, as long as she lives ; but
you propose to sell it for three hundred dollars, take one hundred
away with you, and leave her two hundred at 8 per cent, making
her the enormous sum of 16 dollars a year — Now, if you are
satisfied with treating her in that way, I am not — It is true,
that you are to have that forty for two hundred dollars, at Mother's
death; but you are not to have it before. I am confident that
land can be made to produce for Mother at least $30' a year, and I
can not, to oblige any living person, consent that she shall be put
on an allowance of sixteen dollars a year — Yours, et«., A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mr. William H. Lambert, Philadelphia, Pa.)
The superscription of the letter is as here printed — but the cap
tion omits the town and state. Pekin, May 12, 1853.
Mr. Joshua R. Stanford :
Sir: — I hope the subject-matter of this letter will appear a suffi
cient apology to you for the liberty I, a total stranger, take in
addressing you. The persons here holding two lots under a con
veyance made by you, as the attorney of Daniel M. Baily, now
nearly twenty-two years ago, are in great danger of losing the lots,
and very much, perhaps all, is to depend on the testimony you give

304 LIFE OF LINCOLN
as to whether you did or did not account to Baily for the proceeds
reoeived by you on this sale of the lots. I, therefore, as one of the
counsel, beg of you to fully refresh your recollection by any means
in your power before the time you may be called on to testify. J£
persons should come about you, and show a disposition to pump
you on the subject, it may be no more than prudent to remember
that it may be possible they design to misrepresent you and em
barrass the real testimony you may ultimately give. It may be six
months or a year before you are called on to testify.
Respectfully, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Homer Stanford, of Alton, HL)

(Confidential.) Springfield, Sept. 7, 1854.
Hon. J. M. Palmer:
Dear Sir: You know how anxious I am that this Nebraska
measure shall be rebuked and condemned everywhere — Of course
I hope something from your position; yet I do not expect you to
do any thing which may be wrong in your own judgment; nor
would I have you do anything personally injurious to yourself —
You are, and always have been, honestly, and sincerely, a demo
crat; and I know how painful it must be to an honest sincere
man, to be urged by his party to the support of a measure, which
in his conscience he believes to be wrong — You have had a se
vere struggle with yourself, and you have determined not to swal
low the wrong — Is it not just to yourself that you should, in a
few public speeches, state your reasons, and thus justify yourself?
I wish you would; and yet I say " don't do it, if you think it will
injure you " — Yqu may have given your word to vote for Major
Harris; and if so, of course you will stick to it — But allow me
to suggest that you should avoid speaking of this; for it probably
would induce some of your friends, in like manner, to cast their
votes — You understand — And now let me beg your pardon
for obtruding this letter upon you, to whom I have ever been
opposed in politics — Had your party omitted to make Nebraska
a test of party fidelity; you probably would have been the Demo
cratic candidate for congress in the district — You deserved it,
and I believe it would have been given you — In that case I
should have been quite happy that Nebraska was to be rebuked
at all events — I still should have voted for the whig candidate;
but I should have made no speeches, written no letters; and you
would have been elected by at least a thousand majority —
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mr. William H. Lambert. Philadelphia, Pa.)

APPENDIX 3°5
Clinton, De Witt Co., Nov. 10, 1854.
Mr. Charles Hoyt.
Dear Sir: You used to express a good deal of partiality for
me, and if you are still so, now is the time. Some friends here
are really for me, for the U. S. Senate, and I should be very
grateful if you could make a mark for me among your members.
Please write me at all events giving me the names post-offices,
and " political position " of members round about you. Direct to
Springfield. Let this be confidential. Yours truly,A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. C. L. Hoyt of Aurora, HL)
(Copy) Springfield, Dec. 1, 1854.
J. Gillespie, Esq. :
My Dear Sir: I have really got it into my head to try to be
United States Senator, and, if I could have your support, my
chances would be reasonably good. But I know, and acknowledge,
that you have as just claims to the place as I have ; and therefore
I cannot ask you to yield to me, if you are thinking of becoming a
candidate, yourself. 11, however, you are not, then I should like
to be remembered affectionately by you; and also to have you
make a mark for me with the Anti-Nebraska members, down your
way. If you know, and have no objection to tell, let me know whether
Trumbull intends to make a push. If he does, I suppose the two
men in St. Clair, and one, or both, in Madison, will be for him.
We have the legislature, clearly enough, on joint ballot, but the
Senate is very close, and Cullom told me to-day that the Nebraska
men will stave off the election, if they can. Even if we get into
joint vote, we shall have difficulty to unite our forces. Please write
me, and let this be confidential. Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine Gillespie Prickett of Ed-
wardsville, HI.)
Sanford, Porter & Striker, New York City.
Springfield, March 10th, 1855.
Messrs. Sanford, Porter and Striker, New York.
Gentlemen: Yours of the 5th is received, as also was that of
15th Dec. last, inclosing bond of Clift to Pray. When I received
(SO)

3o6 LIFE OF LINCOLN
tha bond I was dabbling in politics, and of course neglecting busi
ness. Having since been beaten out I have gone to work again.
As I do not practice in Rushville I today open a correspondence
with Henry E. Dummer, Esq. of Beardstown, Ills., with the view
of getting the job into his hands. He is a good man if he will un
dertake it. Write me whether I shall do this or return the bond
to you. Very respectfully, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by the Skaneateles Library, Skaneateles, N. Y.)
Dec. 13, 1855.
Dear Sm: You will confer a favor on me, if you will send me
the Congressional " Globe " during the present session. Please
have it directed to me.
I will pay for the same when you visit your family.
Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln.
(Original formerly owned by Col. Thomas Donaldson. Loaned
by Stan. V. Henkels of Philade'^hia, Pa.)
REPORT MADE BY WILLIAM C. WHITNEY OF THE
SPEECH DELIVERED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN BE
FORE THE FIRST REPUBLICAN STATE CONVEN
TION OF ILLINOIS HELD AT BLOOMINGTON ON
MAY 29, 1856.
(Mr. Whitney's notes were made at the time but not written out
until 1896. He does not claim that the speech, as here reported, is
literally correct — only that he has followed the argument, and that
in many cases the sentences are as Mr. Lincoln spoke them.)*
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I was over at [cries of "Plat
form ! " " Take the platform I "] — I say, that while I was at Dan
ville Court, some of our friends of anti-Nebraska got together in
Springfield and elected me as one delegate to represent old Sanga
mon with them in this convention, and I am here certainly as a
sympathizer in this movement and by virtue of that meeting and
selection. But we can hardly be called delegates strictly, inas
much as, properly speaking, we represent nobody but ourselves. I
think it altogether fair to say that we have no anti-Nebraska party
in Sangamon, although there is a good deal of anti-Nebraska
feeling there ; but I say for myself, and I think I may speak also for
my colleagues, that we who are here fully approve of the platform
and of all that has been done [a voice; "Yes!"]; and even if
we are not regularly delegates, it will be right for me to answer
your call to speak. I suppose we truly stand for the public senti'
•Copyright, 1896. by Sarah A. WWtaey.

APPENDIX 307
ment of Sangamon on the great question of the repeal, although
we do not yet represent many numbers who have taken a distinct
position on the question.
We are in a trying time — it ranges above mere party — and this
movement to call a halt and turn our steps backward needs all
the help and good counsels it can get; for unless popular opinion
makes itself very strongly felt, and a change is made in our pres
ent course, blood will How on account of Nebraska, and brother's
hand will be raised against brother! [The last sentence was ut
tered in such an earnest, impressive, if not, indeed, tragic, man
ner, as to make a cold chill creep over me. Others gave a similar
experience.] I have listened with great interest to the earnest appeal made
to Illinois men by the gentleman from Lawrence [James S. Emery]
who has just addressed us so eloquently and forcibly. I was deeply
moved by his statement of the wrongs done to free-State men out
there. I think it just to say that all true men North should sym
pathize with them, and ought to be willing to do any possible and
needful thing to right their wrongs. But we must not promise
what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we can
not; we must be calm and moderate, and consider the whole diffi
culty, and determine what is possible and just. We must not be
led by excitement and passion to do that which our sober judgments
would not approve in our cooler moments. We have higher aims;
we will have more serious business than to dally with temporary
measures. We are here to stand firmly for a principle — to stand firmly for
a right. We know that great political and moral wrongs are done,
and outrages committed, and we denounce those wrongs and out
rages, although we cannot, at present, do much more. But we
desire to reach out beyond those personal outrages and establish
a rule that will apply to all, and so prevent any future outrages.
We have seen to-day that every shade of popular opinion is
represented here, with Freedom or rather Free-Soil as the basis.
We have come together as in some sort representatives of popular
opinion against the extension of slavery into territory now free
in fact as well as by law, and the pledged word of the statesmen
of the nation who are now no more. We come — we are here as
sembled together — to protest as well as we can against a great
wrong, and to take measures, as well as we _ now can, to make that
wrong right ; to place the nation, as far as it may be possible now,
as it was before the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; and the
plain way to do this is to restore the Compromise, and to demand
and determine that Kansas shall be free! [Immense applause.]
While we affirm, and reaffirm, if necessary, our devotion to the
principles of the Declaration of Independence, let our practical
work here be limited to the above. We know that there is not a
perfect agreement of sentiment here on the public questions which
might be rightfully considered in this convention, and that the

308 LIFE OF LINCOLN
indignation which we all must feel cannot be helped; Dut all of
us must give up something for the good of the cause. There ia
one desire which is uppermost in the mind, one wish common to
us all — to which no dissent will be made; and I counsel you ear
nestly to bury all resentment, to sink all personal feeling, make all
things work to a common purpose in which we are united and
agreed about, and which all present will agree is absolutely neces
sary — which must be done by any rightful mode if there be such:
Slavery must be kept out of Kansas! [Applause.] The test —
the pinch — is right there. If we lose Kansas to freedom, an ex
ample will be set which will prove fatal to freedom in the end.
We, therefore, in the language of the Bible, must " lay the axe to
the root of the tree." Temporizing will not do longer ; now is the
time for decision — for firm, persistent, resolute action. [Ap
plause.] The Nebraska bill, or rather Nebraska law, is not one of whole
some legislation, but was and is an act of legislative usurpation,
whose result, if not indeed intention, is to make slavery national;
and unless headed off in some effective way, we are in a fair way to
see this land of boasted freedom converted into a land of slavery
in fact. [Sensation.] Just open your two eyes, and see if this be
not so. I need do no more than state, to command universal ap
proval, that almost the entire North, as well as a large following
in the border States, is radically opposed to the planting of slav
ery in free territory. Probably in a popular vote throughout the
nation nine-tenths of the voters in the free States, and at least
one-half in the border States, if they could express their senti
ments freely, would vote NO on such an issue ; and it is safe to say
that two-thirds of the votes of the entire nation would be opposed
to it. And yet, in spite of this overbalancing of sentiment in this
free country, we are in a fair way to see Kansas present itself for
admission as a slave State. Indeed, it is a felony, by the local
law of Kansas, to deny that slavery exisxs there even now. By
every principle of law, a negro in Kansas is free; yet the bogus
legislature makes it an infamous crime to tell him that he is free ! *
The party lash and the fear of ridicule will overawe justice and
liberty; for it is a singular fact, but none the less a fact, and well
known by the most common experience, that men will do things
under the terror of the party lash that they would not on any ac
count or for any consideration do otherwise; while men who will
march up to the mouth of a loaded cannon without shrinking,
will run from the terrible name of " Abolitionist," even when pro-
* Statutes of Kansas, 1855, Chapter 151. Sec. 12. If any free person, by speaking
or by writing, assert or maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, circu
late . . . any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or circular containing any de
nial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be
deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of
not less than two years.
Sec. 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding slaves, or who does
not admit the right to hold slaves in this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial
of any prosecution for any violation of any Sections of this A"*

APPENDIX 309
nounced by a worthless creature whom they, with good reason,
despise. For instance — to press this point a little — Judge Douglas
introduced his anti-Nebraska bill in January ; and we had an extra
session of our legislature in the succeeding February, in which were
seventy-five Democrats; and at a party caucus, fully attended,
there were just three votes out of the whole seventy-five, for the
measure. But in a few days orders came on from Washington,
commanding them to approve the measure; the party lash was
applied, and it was brought up again in caucus, and passed by a
large majority. The masses were against it, but party necessity
carried it ; and it was passed through the lower house of Congress
against the will of the people, for the same reason. Here is where
the greatest danger lies — that, while we profess to be a government
of law and reason, law will give way to violence on demand of this
awful and crushing power. Like the great Juggernaut — I think
that is the name — the great idol, it crushes everything that comes
in its way, and makes a — or as I read once, in a blackletter law
book, " a slave is a human being who is legally not a person but a
thing." And if the safeguards to liberty are broken down, as is
now attempted, when they have made things of all the free negroes,
how long, think you, before they will begin to make things of poor
white men ? [Applause.] Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go
backward. The founder of the Democratic party declared that
all men were created equal. His successor in the leadership has
written the word " white " before men, making it read " all white
men are created equal." Pray, will or may not the Know-nothings,
if they should get in power, add the word "protestant," making
it read " all protestant white men "?
Meanwhile the hapless negro is the fruitful subject of reprisals
in other quarters. John Pettit, whom Tom Benton paid his re
spects to, you will recollect, calls the immortal Declaration "a
self-evident lie; " while at the birthplace of freedom — in the shadow
of Bunker Hill and of the " cradle of liberty," at the home of the
Adamses and Warren and Otis — Choate, from our side of the
house, dares to fritter away the birthday promise of liberty by pro
claiming the Declaration to be "a string of glittering generali
ties;" and the Southern Whigs, working hand in hand with pro-
slavery Democrats, are making Choate's theories practical.
Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder, mindful of the moral element in
slavery, solemnly declared that he "trembled for his country
when he remembered that God is just; " while Judge Douglas, with
an insignificant wave of the hand, " don't care whether slavery is
voted up or voted down." Now, if slavery is right, or even nega
tive, he has a right to treat it in this trifling manner. But if it
is a' moral and political wrong, as all Christendom considers it
to be, how can he answer to God for this attempt to spread and
fortify it? [Applause.]
But no man, and Judge Douglas no more than any other, can
maintain a negative, or merely neutral, position on this question;

3I0 LIFE OF LINCOLN
and, accordingly, he avows that the Union was made by white
men and for white men and their descendants. As matter of fact,
the first branch of the proposition is historically true; the gov
ernment was made by white men, and they were and are the su
perior race. This I admit. But the corner-stone of the govern
ment, so to speak, was the declaration that " all men are created
equal," and all entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap
piness." [Applause.]
And not only so, but the framers of the Constitution were par
ticular to keep out of that instrument the word "slave," the
reason being that slavery would ultimately come to an end, and
they did not wish to have any reminder that in this free country
human beings were ever prostituted to slavery. [Applause.] Nor
is it any argument that we are superior and the negro inferior —
that he has but one talent while we have ten. Let the negro pos
sess the Httle he has in independence; if he has but one talent,
he should be permitted to keep the little he has. [Applause.]
But slavery will endure no test of reason or logic; and yet its ad
vocates, like Douglas, use a sort of bastard logic, or noisy assump
tion, it might better be termed, like the above, in order to prepare
the mind for the gradual, but none the less certain, encroachments
of the Moloch of slavery upon the fair domain of freedom. But
however much you may argue upon it, or smother it in soft phrase,
slavery can only be maintained by force — by violence. The repeal
of the Missouri Compromise was by violence. It was a violation
of both law and the sacred obligations of honor, to overthrow and
trample underfoot a solemn compromise, obtained by the fearful
loss to freedom of one of the fairest of our Western domains.
Congress violated the will and confidence of its constituents in
voting for the bill; and while public sentiment, as shown by the
elections of 1854, demanded the restoration of this compromise,
Congress violated its trust by refusing, simply because it had the
force of numbers to hold on to it. And murderous violence is
being used now, in order to force slavery on to Kansas; for it
cannot be done in any other way. [Sensation.]
The necessary result was to establish the rule of violence — force,
instead of the rule of law and reason; to perpetuate and spread
slavery, and, in time, to make it general. We see it at both ends of
the line. In Washington on the very spot where the outrage was
started, the fearless Sumner is beaten to insensibility, and is now
slowly dying ; while senators who claim to be gentlemen and Chris
tians stood by, countenancing the act, and even applauding it
afterward in their places in the Senate. Even Douglas, our man,
saw it all and was within helping distance, yet let the murderous
blows fall unopposed. Then, at the other end of the line, at the
very time Sumner was being murdered, Lawrence was being de
stroyed for the crime of Freedom. It was the most prominent
stronghold of liberty in Kansas, and must give way to the all-
dominating power of slavery. Only two days ago. Judge Trum-

APPENDIX 311
bull found it necessary to^ propose a bill in the Senate to prevent
a general civil war and to restore peace in Kansas.
We live in the midst of alarms ; anxiety beclouds the future ; we
expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read. Are we
in a healthful political state? Are not the tendencies plain? Do
not the signs of the times point plainly the way in which we are
going ? [Sensation.]
In the early days of the Constitution slavery was recognized,
by South and North alike, as an evil, and the division of senti
ment about it was not controlled by geographical lines or consid
erations of climate, but by moral and philanthropic views. Peti
tions for the abolition of slavery were presented to the very first
Congress by Virginia and Massachusetts alike. To show the har
mony which prevailed, I will state that a fugitive slave law was
passed in 1793, with no dissenting voice in the Senate, and but
seven dissenting votes in the House. It was, however, a wise law,
moderate, and, under the Constitution, a just one. Twenty-five
years later, a more stringent law was proposed and defeated; and
thirty-five years after that, the present law, drafted by Mason
of Virginia, was passed by Northern votes. I am not, just now,
complaining of this law, but I am trying to show how the current
sets; for the proposed law of 1817 was far less offensive than the
present one. In 1774 the Continental Congress pledged itself,
without a dissenting vote, to wholly discontinue the slave trade,
and to neither purchase nor import any slave; and less than three
months before the passage of the Declaration of Independence,
the same Congress which adopted that declaration unanimously
resolved " that no slave be imported into any of the thirteen
United Colonies." [Great applause.]
On the second day of July, 1776, the draft of a Declaration of
Independence was reported to Congress by the committee, and
in it the slave trade was characterized as " an execrable commerce,"
as " a piratical warfare," as the " opprobrium of infidel powers,"
and as " a cruel war against human nature." [Applause.] All
agreed on this except South Carolina and Georgia, and in order to
preserve harmony, and from the necessity of the case, these ex
pressions were omitted. Indeed, abolition societies existed as far
south as Virginia; and it is a well-known fact that Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Lee, Henry, Mason, and Pendleton were quali
fied abolitionists, and much more radical on that subject than we
of the Whig and Democratic parties claim to be to-day. On
March 1, 1784, Virginia ceded to the confederation all its lands
lying northwest of the Ohio River. Jefferson, Chase of Mary
land, and Howell of Rhode Island, as a committee on that and
territory thereafter to be ceded, reported that no slavery should
exist after the year 1800. Had this report been adopted, not only
the Northwest, but Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Missis
sippi also would have been free; but it required the assent of
nine States to ratify it. North Carolina was divided, and thus

312 LIFE OF LINCOLN
its vote was lost; and Delaware, Georgia, and New Jersey refused
to vote. In point of fact, as it was, it was assented to by six
States. Three years later, on a square vote to exclude
slavery from the Northwest, only one vote, and that from
New York, was against it. And yet, thirty-seven years
later, five thousand citizens of Illinois out of a voting mass of less
than twelve thousand, deliberately, after a long and heated con
test, voted to introduce slavery in Illinois; and, to-day, a large
party in the free State of Illinois are willing to vote to fasten the
shackles of slavery on the fair domain of Kansas, notwithstanding
it received the dowry of freedom long before its birth as a political
community. I repeat, therefore, the question : Is it not plain in
what direction we are tending? [Sensation.] In the colonial
time, Mason, Pendleton, and Jefferson were as hostile to slavery
in Virginia as Otis, Ames, and the Adamses were in Massachusetts ;
and Virginia made as earnest an effort to get rid of it as old Massa
chusetts did. But circumstances were against them and they failed ;
but not that the good will of its leading men was lacking. Yet within
less than fifty years Virginia changed its tune, and made negro-
breeding for the cotton and sugar States one of its leading indus
tries. [Laughter and applause.]
In the Constitutional Convention, George Mason of Virginia
made a more violent abolition speech than my friends Lovejoy or
Codding would desire to make here to-day — a speech which could
not be safely repeated anywhere on Southern soil in this enlight
ened year. But while there were some differences of opinion on
this subject even then, discussion was allowed; but as you see by
the Kansas slave code, which, as you know, is the Missouri slave
code, merely ferried across the river, it is a felony to even express
an opinion hostile to that foul blot in the land of Washington and
the Declaration of Independence. [Sensation.]
In Kentucky — my State — in 1849, on a test vote, the mighty
influence of Henry Clay and many other good men there could not
get a symptom of expression in favor of gradual emancipation
on a plain issue of marching toward the light of civilization with
Ohio and Illinois; but the State of Boone and Hardin and Henry
Clay, with a nigger under each arm, took the black trail toward
the deadly swamps of barbarism. Is there — can there be — any
doubt about this thing? And is there any doubt that we must
all lay aside our prejudices and march, shoulder to shoulder, in
the great army of Freedom? [Applause.]
Every Fourth of July our young orators all proclaim this to be
" the land of the free and the home of the brave I " Well, now,
when you orators get that off next year, and, may be, this very
year, how would you like some old grizzled farmer to get up in
the grove and deny it? [Laughter.] How would you like that?
But suppose Kansas comes in as a slave State, and all the " border
ruffians " have barbecues about it, and free-State men come trail
ing back to the dishonored North, like whipped dogs with their

APPENDIX 313
tails between their legs, it is — ain't it? — evident that this is no
more the " land of the free ; " and if we let it go so, we won't dare
to say " home of the brave " out loud. [Sensation and confusion.]
Can any man doubt that, even in spite of the people's will, slav
ery will triumph through violence, unless that will be made mani
fest and enforced? Even Governor Reeder claimed at the outset
that the contest in Kansas was to be fair, but he got his eyes open
at last; and I believe that, as a result of this moral and physical
violence, Kansas will soon apply for admission as a slave State.
And yet we can't mistake that the people don't want it so, and
that it is a land which is free both by natural and political law.
No law, is free law! Such is the understanding of all Christendom.
In the Somerset case, decided nearly a century ago, the great Lord
Mansfield held that slavery was of such a nature that it must take
its rise in positive (as distinguished from natural) law; and that
in no country or age could it be traced back to any other source.
Will some one please tell me where is the positive law that estab
lishes slavery in Kansas ? [A voice : " The bogus laws."] Aye,
the bogus laws! And, on the same principle, a gang of Missouri'
horse-thieves could come into Illinois and declare horse-stealing
to be legal [Laughter], and it would be just as legal as slavery
is in Kansas. But by express statute, in the land of Washington
and Jefferson, we may soon be brought face to face with the dis
creditable fact of showing to the world by our acts that we prefer
slavery to freedom — darkness to light! [Sensation.]
It is, I believe, a principle in law that when one party to a
contract violates it so grossly as to chiefly destroy the object for
which it is made, the other party may rescind it. I will ask
Browning if that ain't good law. [Voices : " Yes ! "] Well, now
if that be right, I go for rescinding the whole, entire Missouri
Compromise and thus turning Missouri into a free State; and I
should like to know the difference— should like for any one to
point out the difference — between our making a free State of
Missouri and their making a slave State of Kansas. [Great ap
plause.] There ain't one bit of difference, except that our way
would be a great mercy to humanity. But I have never said —
and the Whig party has never said — and those who oppose the
Nebraska bill do not as a body say, that they have any intention
of interfering with slavery in the slave States. Our platform says
just the contrary. We allow slavery to exist in the slave States, —
not because slavery is right or good, but from the_ necessities of
our Union. We grant a fugitive slave law because it is so " nom
inated in the bond ; " because our fathers so stipulated — had to —
and we are bound to carry out this agreement. But they did not
agree to introduce slavery in regions where it did not previously
exist. On the contrary, they said by their example and teachings
that they did not deem it expedient — did not consider it right —
to do so; and it is wise and right to do just as they did about it
[Voices: " Good! "1. and that is what we propose— not to interfere

314 LIFE OF LINCOLN
with slavery where it exists (we have never tried to do it), and
to give them a reasonable and efficient fugitive slave law. [A
voice: "No!"] I say YES! [Applause.] It was part of the
bargain, and Pm for living up to it; but I go no further; I'm not
bound to do more, and I won't agree any further. [Great ap
plause.] We, here in Illinois, should feel especially proud of the pro
vision of the Missouri Compromise excluding slavery from what
is now Kansas; for an Illinois man, Jesse B. Thomas, was its
father. Henry Clay, who is credited with the authorship of the
Compromise in general terms, did not even vote for that pro
vision, but only advocated the ultimate admission by a second
compromise; and Thomas was, beyond all controversy, the real
author of the "slavery restriction" branch of the Compromise.
To show the generosity of the Northern members toward the South
ern side: on a test vote to exclude slavery from Missouri, ninety
voted not to exclude, and eighty-seven to exclude, every vote from
the slave States being ranged with the former and fourteen votes
from the free States, of whom seven were from New England
alone; while on a vote to exclude slavery from what 13 now Kan
sas, the vote was one hundred and thirty-four for, to forty-two
against. The scheme, as a whole, was, of course, a Southern
triumph. It is idle to contend otherwise, as is now being done
by the Nebraskites ; it was so shown by the votes and quite as em
phatically by the expressions of representative men. Mr. Lowndes
of South Carolina was never known to commit a political mistake;
his was the great judgment of that section; and he declared that
this measure " would restore tranquillity to the country — a result
demanded by every consideration of discretion, of moderation, of
wisdom, and of virtue." When the measure came before Presi
dent Monroe for his approval, he put to each member of his cabi
net this question : " Has Congress the constitutional power to
prohibit slavery in a territory ? " And John C. Calhoun and Wil
liam H. Crawford from the South, equally with John Quincy
Adams, Benjamin Rush, and Smith Thompson from the North,
alike answered, "Yes!" without qualification or equivocation;
and this measure, of so great consequence to the South, was passed ;
and Missouri was, by means of it, finally enabled to knock at the
door of the Republic for an open passage to its brood of slaves.
And, in spite of this, Freedom's share is about to be taken by vio
lence^ — by the force of misrepresentative votes, not called for by
the popular will. What name can I, in common decency, give to
this wicked transaction? [Sensation.]
But even then the contest was not over; for when the Missouri
constitution came before Congress for its approval, it forbade any
free negro or mulatto from entering the State. In short, our Hli
nois " black laws " were hidden away in their constitution [laugh
ter], and the controversy was thus revived. Then it was that Mr.
Clay's talents shone out conspicuously, and th controversy that

APPENDIX 315
shook the Union to its foundation was finally settled to the satis
faction of the conservative parties on both sides of the line, though
not to the extremists on either, and Missouri was admitted by the
small majority of six in the lower House. How great a majority,
do you think, would have been given had Kansas also been secured
for slavery? [A voice: "A majority the other way."] "A ma
jority the other way," is answered. Do you think it would have
been safe for a Northern man to have confronted his constituents
after having voted to consign both Missouri and Kansas to hope
less slavery? And yet this man Douglas, who misrepresents his
constituents and who has exerted his highest talents in that di
rection, will be carried in triumph through the State and hailed
with honor while applauding that act. [Three groans for " Dug!""]
And this shows whither we are tending. This thing of slavery is
(nore powerful than its supporters — even than the high priests that
minister at its altar. It debauches even our greatest men. It
gathers strength, like a rolling snow-ball, by its own infamy. Mon
strous crimes are committed in its name by persons collectively
which they would not dare to commit as individuals. Its aggres
sions and encroachments almost surpass belief. In a despotism,
one might not wonder to see slavery advance steadily and remorse
lessly into new dominions; but is it not wonderful, is it not even
alarming, to see its steady advance in a land dedicated to the
proposition that "all men are created equal?" [Sensation.]
It yields nothing itself; it keeps all it has, and gets all it can
besides. It really came dangerously near securing Illinois in
1824; it did get Missouri in 1821. The first proposition was to
admit what is now Arkansas and Missouri as one slave State.
But the territory was divided and Arkansas came in, without se
rious question, as a slave State; and afterwards Missouri, not as
a sort of equality, free, but also as a slave State. Then we had
Florida and Texas ; and now Kansas is about to be forced into the
dismal procession. [Sensation.] And so it is wherever you look.
We have not forgotten — it is but six years since — how dangerously
near California came to being a slave State. Texas is a slave
State, and four other slave States may be carved from its vast
domain. And yet, in the year 1829, slavery was abolished through
out that vast region by a royal decree of the then sovereign of
Mexico. Will you please tell me by what right slavery exists in
Texas to-day? By the same right as, and no higher or greater
than, slavery is seeking dominion in Kansas: by political force —
peaceful, if that will suffice; by the torch (as in Kansas) and the
bludgeon (as in the Senate chamber), if required. And so his
tory repeats itself; and even as slavery has kept its course by
craft, intimidation, and violence in the past, so it will persist,
in my judgment, until met and dominated by the will of a people
bent on its restriction.
We have, this very afternoon, heard bitter denunciations of
Brooks in Washington, and Titus, Stringfellow, Atchison, Jones,

316 LIFE OF LINCOLN
and Shannon in Kansas — the battle-ground of slavery. I cer«
tainly am not going to advocate or shield them; but they and
their acts are but the necessary outcome of the Nebraska law.
We should reserve our highest censure for the authors of the
mischief, and not for the catspaws which they use. I believe it
was Shakespeare who said, " Where the offence lies, there let the
axe fall; " and, in my opinion, this man Douglas and the Northern
men in Congress who advocate "Nebraska" are more guilty
than a thousand Joneses and Stringfellows, with all their mur
derous practices, can be. [Applause.]
We have made a good beginning here to-day. As our Methodist
friends would say, " I feel it is good to be here." While extrem
ists may find some fault with the moderation of our platform,
they should recollect that " the battle is not always to the Btrong,
nor the race to the swift." In grave emergencies, moderation is
generally safer than radicalism; and as this struggle is likely to be
long and earnest, we must not, by our action, repel any who are
in sympathy with us in the main, but rather win all that we can
to our standard. We must not belittle nor overlook the facts of
our condition — that we are new and comparatively weak, while
our enemies are entrenched and relatively strong. They have
the administration and the political power; and, right or wrong,
at present they have the numbers. Our friends who urge an ap
peal to arms with so much force and eloquence, should recollect
that the government is arrayed against us, and that the num
bers are now arrayed against us as well; or, to state it
nearer to the truth, they are not yet expressly and affirmatively
for us; and we should repel friends rather than gain them by
anything savoring of revolutionary methods. As it now stands,
we must appeal to the sober sense and patriotism of the people.
We will make converts day by day; we will grow strong by calm
ness and moderation; we will grow strong by the violence and
injustice of our adversaries. And, unless truth be a mockery and
justice a hollow lie, we will be in the majority after a while, and
then the revolution which we will accomplish will be none the
less radical from being the result of pacific measures. The
battle of freedom is to be fought out on principle. ¦ Slavery is
a violation of the eternal right. We have temporized with it from
the necessities of our condition; but as sure as God reigns and
school children read, that black foul lie can never be conse
crated into God's hallowed truth! [Immense applause lasting
some time.] One of our greatest difficulties is, that men who
know that slavery is a detestable crime and ruinous to the nation
are compelled, by our peculiar condition and other circumstances'
to advocate it concretely, though damning it in the raw. Henry
Clay was a brilliant example of this tendency; others of our purest
statesmen are compelled to do so; and thus slavery secures actual
support from those who detest it at heart, lot Henry Clay per
fected and forced through the Compromise which secured to

APPENDIX 317
slavery a great State as well as a political advantage. Not that
he hated slavery less, but that he loved the whole Union more.
As long as slavery profited by his great Compromise, the hosts of
pro-slavery could not sufficiently cover him with praise; but now
that this Compromise stands in their way —
44 . . . they never mention him.
His name is never heard :
Their lips are now forbid to speak
That once familiar word."
They have slaughtered one of his most cherished measures, and
his ghost would arise to rebuke them. [Great applause.]
Now, let us harmonize, my friends, and appeal to the moderation
and patriotism of the people: to the sober second thought; to the
awakened public conscience. The repeal of the sacred Missouri
Compromise has installed the weapons of violence: the bludgeon,
the incendiary torch, the death-dealing rifle, the bristling cannon —
the weapons of kingcratt, of the inquisition, of ignorance, of bar
barism, of oppression. We see its fruits in the dying bed of the
heroic Sumner; in the ruins of the "Free State" hotel; in the
smoking embers of the "Herald of Freedom;" in the free-State
Governor of Kansas chained to a stake on freedom's soil like a
horse-thief, for the crime of freedom. [Applause.] We see it in
Christian statesmen, and Christian newspapers, and Christian
pulpits applauding the cowardly act of a low bully, who crawled
upon his victim behind his back and dealt the deadly blow.
[Sensation and applause.] We note our political demoralization
in the catch-words that are coming into such common use; on the
one hand, " f reedom-shriekers," and sometimes " f reedom-screech-
ers " [Laughter] ; and, on the other hand, " border ruffians," and
that fully deserved. And the significance of catch-words cannot
pass unheeded, for they constitute a sign of the times. Every
thing in this world "jibes" in with everything else, and all the
fruits of this Nebraska bill are like the poisoned source from
which they come. I will not say that we may not sooner or later
be compelled to meet force by force; but the time has not yet
come, and if we are true to ourselves, may never come. Do not
mistake that the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Therefore let
the legions of slavery use bullets; but let us wait patiently till
November and fire ballots at them in return; and by that peaceful
policy, I believe we shall ultimately win. [Applause.]
It was by that policy that here in Hlinois the early fathers
fought the good fight and gained the victory. In 1824 the free
men of our State, led by Governor Coles (who was a native of
Maryland and President Madison's private secretary), deter
mined that those beautiful groves should never reecho the dirge
of one who has no title to himself. By their resolute determina
tion, the winds that sweep across our broad prairies shall never cool
the parched irow, nor shall the unfettered streams that bring joy

318 LIFE OF LINCOLN
and gladness to our free soil water the tired feet, of a slave; but
so long as those heavenly breezes and sparkling streams bless the
land, or the groves and their fragrance or memory remain, the
humanity to which they minister shall be forever free! [Great
applause.] Palmer, Yates, Williams, Browning, and some more
in this convention came from Kentucky to Hlinois (instead of
going to Missouri), not only to better their conditions, but also
to get away from slavery. They have said so to me, and it is under
stood among us Kentuckians that we don't like it one bit. Now,
can we, mindful of the blessings of liberty which the early men
of Illinois left to us, refuse a like privilege to the free men who
seek to plant Freedom's banner on our Western outposts ? [" No !
No ! "] Should we not stand by our neighbors who seek to better
their conditions in Kansas and Nebraska? ["Yes!" "Yes!"]
Can we as Christian men, and strong and free ourselves, wield the
sledge or hold the iron which is to" manacle anew an already op
pressed race ? [" No ! No ! "] " Woe unto them," it is written,
" that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness
which they have prescribed." Can we afford to sin any more deeply
against human liberty? ["No! No!"]
One great trouble in the matter is, that slavery is an insidious
and crafty power, and gains equally by open violence of the
brutal as well as by sly management of the peaceful. Even after
the ordinance of 1787, the settlers in Indiana and Illinois (it was
all one government then) tried to get Congress to allow slavery
temporarily, and petitions to that end were sent from Kaskaskia,
and General Harrison, the Governor, urged it from Vincennes,
the capital. If that had succeeded, good-by to liberty here. But
John Randolph of Virginia made a vigorous report against it;
and although they persevered so well as to get three favorable
reports for it, yet the United States Senate, with the aid of some
slave States, finally squelched it for good. [Applause.] And
that is why this hall is to-day a temple for free men instead of a
negro livery stable. [Great applause and laughter.] Once let
slavery get planted in a locality, by ever so weak or doubtful a
title, and in ever so small numbers, and it is like the Canada thistle
or Bermuda grass — you can't root it out. You yourself may
detest slavery; but your neighbor has five or six slaves, and
he is an excellent neighbor, or your son has married his daughter,
and they beg you to help save their property, and you vote against
your interest and principles to accommodate a neighbor, hoping
that your vote will be on the losing side. And others do the
same; and in those ways slavery gets a sure foothold. And when
that is done the whole mighty Union — the force of the nation —
is committed to its support. And that very process is working
in Kansas to-day. And you must recollect that the slave property
is worth a billion of dollars ($1,000,000,000) ; while free-State men
must work for sentiment alone. Then there are " blue lodges " —
•« tbey call them — everywhere doing their secret and deadly work.

APPENDIX 319
It is a very strange thing, and not solvable by any moral law
that I know of, that if a man loses his horse, the whole country will
turn out to help hang the thief; but if a man but a shade or two
darker than I am is himself stolen, the same crowd will hang one
who aids in restoring him to liberty. Such are the inconsisten
cies of slavery, where a horse is more sacred than a man; and the
essence of squatter or popular sovereignty — I don't care how you
call it — is that if one man chooses to make a slave of another,
no third man shall be allowed to object. And if you can do this
in free Kansas, and it is allowed to stand, the next thing you
will see is ship loads of negroes from Africa at the wharf at
Charleston; for one thing is as truly lawful as the other; and
these are the bastard notions we have got to stamp out, else they
will stamp us out. [Sensation and applause.]
Two years ago, at Springfield, Judge Douglas avowed that Illi
nois came into the Union as a slave State, and that slavery was
weeded out by the operation of his great, patent, everlasting prin
ciple of " popular sovereignty." [Laughter.] Well, now, that
argument must be answered, for it has a little grain of truth at
the bottom. I do not mean that it is true in essence, as he would
have us believe. It could not be essentially true if the ordinance
of '87 was valid. But, in point of fact, there were some degraded
beings called slaves in Kaskaskia and the other French settlements
when our first State constitution was adopted; that is a fact, and
I don't deny it. Slaves were brought here as early as 1720, and
were kept here in spite of the ordinance of 1787 against it. But
slavery did not thrive here. On the contrary, under the influence
of the ordinance, the number decreased fifty-one from 1810 to 1820;
while under the influence of squatter sovereignty, right across the
river in Missouri, they increased seven thousand two hundred and
eleven in the same time; and slavery finally faded out in niinois,
under the influence of the law of freedom, while it grew stronger and
stronger in Missouri, under the law or practice of "popular sovereign
ty." In point of fact there were but one hundred and seventeen slaves
in Hlinois one year after its admission, or one to every four hun
dred and seventy of its population; or, to state it in another way,
if Hlinois was a slave State in 1820, so were New York and New
Jersey much greater slave States from having had greater num
bers slavery having been established there in very early times,
But 'there is this vital difference between all these States and the
judge's Kansas experiment; that they sought to disestablish slav
ery which had been already established, while the judge seeks, so
far as he can, to disestablish freedom, which had been established
there by the Missouri Compromise. [Voices : " Good ! "]
The Union is undergoing a fearful strain; but it is a stout old
ship, and has weathered many a hard blow, and "the stars in
their courses," aye, an invisible power, greater than the puny efforts
of men, will fight for us. But we ourselves must not decline the
burden of responsibility, nor take counsel of unworthy passions.

320 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Whatever duty urges us to do or to omit, must be done or omitted:
and the recklessness with which our adversaries break the laws,
or counsel their violation, should afford no example for us. There
fore, let us revere the Declaration of Independence; let us continue
to obey the Constitution and the laws; let us keep step to the
music of the Union. Let us draw a cordon, so to speak, around the
slave States, and the hateful institution, like a reptile poisoning it
self, will perish by its own infamy. [Applause.]
But we cannot be free men if this is, by our national choice,
to be a land of slavery. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve
it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot
long retain it. [Loud applause.]
Did you ever, my friends, seriously reflect upon the speed with
which we are tending downwards? Within the memory of men
now present the leading statesmen of Virginia could make genuine,
red-hot abolitionist speeches in old Virginia! and, as I have said,
now even in " free Kansas " it is a crime to declare that it is " free
Kansas." The very sentiments that I and others have just ut
tered, would entitle us, and each of us, to the ignominy and se
clusion of a dungeon; and yet I suppose that, like Paul, we were
"free born." But if this thing is allowed to continue, it will be
but one step further to impress the same rule in Illinois. [Sensa
tion.] The conclusion of all is, that we must restore the Missouri
Compromise. We must highly resolve that Kansas must be free!
[Great applause.] We must reinstate the birthday promise of the
Republic; we must reaffirm the Declaration of Independence; we
must make good in essence as well as in form Madison's avowal
that "the word slave ought not to appear in the Constitution;"
and we must even go further, and decree that only local law, and
not that time-honored instrument, shall shelter a slave-holder. We
must make this a land of liberty in fact, as it is in name.
But in seeking to attain these results — so indispensable if the lib
erty which is our pride and boast shall endure — we will be loyal
to the Constitution and to the " flag of our Union," and no matter
what our grievance — even though Kansas shall come in as a slave
State ; and no matter what theirs — even if we shall restore the Com
promise — we will say to the Southern disunionists, We won't
go out of the Union, and you SHAN'T! ! ! [This was the cli
max; the audience rose to its feet en masse, applauded, stamped,
waved handkerchiefs, threw hats in the air, and ran riot for sev
eral minutes. The arch-enchanter who wrought this- transforma
tion looked, meanwhile, like the personification of political jus
tice.] But let us, meanwhile, appeal, to the sense and patriotism of
the people, and not to their prejudices; let us spread the floods
of enthusiasm here aroused all over these vast prairies, so sugges
tive of freedom. Let us commence by electing the gallant sol
dier Governor (Colonel) Bissell who stood for the honor of our

APPENDIX

321

State alike on the plains and amidst the chaparral of Mexico and
on the floor of Congress, while he defied the Southern Hotspur;
and that will have a greater moral effect than all the border ruf
fians can accomplish in all their raids on Kansas. There is both
a power and a magic in popular opinion. To that let us now ap
peal ; and while, in all probability, no resort to force will be needed,
our moderation and forbearance will stand us in good stead when,
if ever, we must make an appeal to battle and to the God op
hosts ! I [Immense applause and a rush for the orator.]
William Grimes. Springfield, Illinois, July 12, 1856.
Yours of the 29th of June was duly received. I did not an
swer it because it plagued me. This morning I received an
other from Judd and Peck, written by consultation with you. Now
let me tell you why I am plagued :
1. I can hardly spare the time.
2. I am superstitious. I have scarcely known a party pre
ceding an election to call in help from the neighboring States,
but they lost the State. Last fall, our friends had Wade, of
Ohio, and others, in Maine; and they lost the State. Last spring
our adversaries had New Hampshire full of South Carolinians,
and they lost the State. And so, generally, it seems to stir up
more enemies than friends.
Have the enemy called in any foreign help? If they have a
foreign champion there, I should have no objection to drive a
nail in his track. I shall reach Chicago on the night of the 15th,
to attend to a little business in court. Consider the things I have
suggested, and write me at Chicago. Especially write me whether
Browning consents to visit you. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
(From " Life of Wm. Grimes," by Salter.)
John Bennett. Springfield, Aug. 4, 1856.
John Bennett, Esq.
Dear Sir: I understand you are a Fillmore man — If, as be
tween Fremont and Buchanan you really prefer the election of
Buchanan, then burn this without reading a line further — But
if you would like to defeat Buchanan and his gang, allow me
a word with you — Does any one pretend that Fillmore can
carry the vote of this State? I have not heard a single man pre
tend so — Every vote taken from Fremont and given to Fillmore is
just so much in favor of Buchanan. The Buchanan men see this;
and hence their great anxiety in favor of the Fillmore movement —
They know where the shoe pinches — They now greatly prefer
having a man of your character go for Fillmore than for Buchanan
(21)

322

LIFE OF LINCOLN

because they expect several to go with you, who would go for
Fremont, if you were to go directly for Buchanan.
I think I now understand the relative strength of the three par
ties in this state as well as any one man does and my opinion
is that to-day Buchanan has alone 85,000— Fremont 78,000 and
Fillmore 21,000. This gives B. the state by 7,000 and leaves him
in the minority of the whole 14,000.
Fremont and Fillmore men being united on Bissell as they al
ready are, he can not be beaten — This is not a long letter, but
it contains the whole story, Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by E. R. Oeltjen, Petersburg, HI.)
Springfield, Aug. 19, 1856.
Dear Dubois : Your letter on the same sheet with Mr. Miller's is
just received. I have been absent four days. I do not know when
your court sits.
Trumbull has written the Committee here to have a set of
appointments made for him commencing here in Springfield,
on the 11th of Sept., and to extend throughout the south half
of the State. When he goes to Lawreneeville, as he will, I will
strain every nerve to be with you and him. More than that I can
not promise now. Yours as truly as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by O. F. Gunther, Chicago, HL)
Dr. R. Boal, Lacon, 111. Sept. 14, 1856.
Dr. R. Boal.
My Dear Sir: Yours of the 8th inviting me to be with (you)
at Lacon on the 30th is received. I feel that I owe you and our
friends of Marshall, a good deal; and I will come if I can; and
if I do not get there, it will be because I shall think my efforts
are now needed further South.
Present my regards to Mrs. Boal, and believe (me), as ever
Your friend, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Dr. Robert Boal, Lacon, HL)
Dr. R. Boal, Lacon, HI. Springfield, Dec. 25, 1858.
Dr. R. Boal.
Dear Sir: When I was at Chicago two weeks ago I saw Mr.
Arnold, and from a remark of his, I inferred he was thinking of
the Speakership, though I think he was not anxious about it.

APPENDIX 323
He seemed most anxious for harmony generally, and particularly
that the contested seats from Peoria and McDonough might be
rightly determined. Since I came home I had a talk with Cul-
lom, one of our American representatives here, and he says he
1S-iil y0U for SPeaker» and als° that he thinks all the Americans
will be for you, unless it be Gorin, of Macon, of whom he cannot
sPeak- H you would like to be Speaker go right up and see
Arnold. He is talented, a practiced debater, and, I think, would do
himself more credit on the floor than in the Speaker's seat. Go and
see him; and if you think fit, show him this letter.
Your friend as ever.
(Original owned by Dr. Robert Boal, Lacon, HL>
(Private.)
Springfield, III., February 20, 1857.
John E. Rosette, Esq. :
Dear Sm: Your note about the little paragraph in the "Re
publican" was received yesterday, since which time I have been
too unwell to notice it. I had not supposed you wrote or approved
it. The whole originated in mistake. You know by the conversa
tion with me that I thought the establishment of the paper unfor
tunate, but I always expected to throw no obstacle in its way, and
to patronize it to the extent of taking and paying for one copy.
When the paper was brought to my house, my wife said to me,
" Now are you going to take another worthless little paper ? " I
said to her evasively, "I have not directed the paper to be left."
From this, in my absence, she sent the message to the carrier. This
is the whole story. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(From Herndon's " Life of Lincoln.")
To William Grimes. SPRINGFrELD, ILLINOIS, August, 1857.
Dear Sm: Yours of the 14th is received, and I am much
obliged for the legal information you give.
You can scarcely be more anxious than I that the next election
in Iowa should result in favor of the Republicans. I lost nearly
all the working-part of last year, giving my time to the canvass;
and I am altogether too poor to lose two years together. I am
engaged in a suit in the United States Court at Chicago, in which
the Rock Island Bridge Company is a party. The trial is to com
mence on the 8th of September, and probably will last two or three
weeks. During the trial it is not improbable that all hands may
come over and take a look at the bridge, and, if it were possible

324 LIFE OF LINCOLN
to make it hit right, I could then speak at Davenport. My courts
go right on without cessation till late in November. Write me
again, pointing out the more striking points of difference be
tween your old and new constitutions, and also whether Demo
cratic and Republican party lines were drawn in the adoption of
it, and which were for and which were against it. If, by
possibility, I could get over among you it might be of some ad
vantage to know these things in advance. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
(From " Life of Wm. Grimes," by Salter.)
LINCOLN'S ARGUMENT IN THE ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE
CASE.
From " The Daily Press " of Chicago, Sept. 24, 1857.
THE ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE CASE.

Hurd et al.
vs.
Railroad Bridge Co.

United States Circuit Court,
Hon. John McClean, Presiding Judge.
13th day, Tuesday, Sept. 22nd, 1857.
HONORABLE ABRAM LINCOLN'S ARGUMENT.

)

Mr. A. Lincoln addressed the jury. He said he did not purpose to
assail anybody, that he expected to grow earnest as he proceeded
but not ill natured. " There is some conflict of , testi
mony in the case," he said, "but one quarter of such a number
of witnesses seldom agree and even if ail were on one side, some
discrepancy might be expected. We are to try and reconcile
them, and to believe that they are not intentionally erroneous
as long as we can." He had no prejudice, he said, against steam
boats or steamboatmen nor any against St. Louis for he sup
posed they went about this matter as other people would do in
their situation. " St. Louis," he continued, "as a commercial
place may desire that this bridge should not stand as it is ad
verse to her commerce, diverting a portion of it from the river;
and it may be that she supposes that the additional cost of rail
road transportation upon the productions of Iowa will force them
to go to St. Louis if this bridge is removed. The meetings in St.
Louis are connected with this case only as some witnesses are in
it and thus has some prejudice added color to their testimony."
The last thing that would be pleasing to him, Mr. Lincoln said,
would be to have one of these great channels extending almost

APPENDIX 325
from where it never freezes to where it never thaws blocked up
but there is a travel from east to west whose demands are not less
important than that of those of the river. It is growing larger and
larger, building up new countries with a rapidity never before
seen in the history of the world. He alluded to the astonishing
growth of Ulinois having grown within his memory to a population
of a million and a half; to Iowa and the other young rising com
munities of the northwest.
" This current of travel," said he, " has its rights as well as that
of north and south. If the river had not the advantage in priority
and legislation we could enter into free competition with it and we
could surpass it. This particular railroad line has a great im
portance and the statement of its business during a little less
than a year shows this importance. It is in evidence that from
September 8th, 1856, to August 8th, 1857, 12,586 freight cars and
74,179 passengers passed over this bridge. Navigation was closed
four days short of four months last year, and during this time
while the river was of no use this road and bridge were valuable.
There is too a considerable portion of time when floating or thin
ice makes the river useless while the bridge is as useful as ever.
This shows that this bridge must be treated with respect in this
court and is not to be kicked about with contempti The other
day Judge Wead alluded to the strike of the contending interest
and even a dissolution of the Union. The proper mode for all
parties in this affair is to 'live and let live'- and then we will
find a cessation of this trouble about the bridge. What mood
were the steamboat men in when this bridge was burned? Why
there was a shouting and ringing of bells and whistling on all
the boats as it fell. It was a jubilee, a greater celebration than
follows an excited election. The first thing I will proceed to is the
record of Mr. Gurney and the complaint of Judge Wead that
the record did not extend back over all the time from the comple
tion of the bridge. The principal part of the navigation after the
bridge was burned passed through the span. When the bridge
was repaired and the boats were a second time confined to the
draw it was provided that this record should be kept- That is the
simple history of that book.
" From April 19th, 1856, to May 6th — seventeen days — there were
twenty accidents and all the time since then there have been but
twenty hits, including seven accidents, so that the dangers of this
place are tapering off and as the boatmen get cool the accidents
get less. We may soon expect if this ratio is kept up that there
will be no accidents at all.
" Judge Wead said while admitting that the floats went straight
through there was a difference between a float and a boat, but I
do not remember that he indulged us with an argument in sup
port of this statement. Is it because there is a difference in size?
Will not a small body and a large one float the same way under
the same influence? True a flat boat will float faster than an

326

LIFE OF LINCOLN

egg shell and the egg shell might be blown away by the wind, but if
under the same influence they would go the same way. Logs, floats,
boards, various things the witnesses say all show the same cur
rent. Then is not this test reliable? At all depths too the direc
tion of the current is the same. A series of these floats would
make a line as long as a boat and would show any influence upon
any part and all parts of the boat.
" I will now speak of the angular position of the piers. What
is the amount of the angle ? The course of the river is a curve and
the pier is straight. 11 a line is produced from the upper end of
the long pier straight with the pier to a distance of 350 feet and a
line is drawn from a point in the channel opposite this point to
the head of the pier, Colonel Nason says they will form an angle
of twenty degrees. But the angle if measured at the pier is seven
degrees, that is we would- have to move the pier seven degrees
to make it exactly straight with the current. Would that make
the navigation better or worse? The witnesses of the plaintiff
seem to think it was only necessary to say that the pier formed
an angle with the current and that settled the matter. Our more
careful and accurate witnesses say that though they had been
accustomed to seeing the piers placed straight with the current,
yet they could see that here the current had been made straight
by us in having made this slight angle; that the water now runs
just right, that it is straight and cannot be improved. They think
that if the pier was changed the eddy would be divided and the
navigation improved.
" I am not now going to discuss the question what is a material
obstruction. We do not greatly differ about the law. The cases
produced here are I suppose proper to be taken into consideration
by the court in instructing a jury. Some of them I think are not
exactly in point, but I am still willing to trust his honor, Judge
McClean, and take his instructions as law. What is reasonable
skill and care? This is a thing of which the jury are to judge.
I differ from the other side when it says that they are bound to
exercise no more care than was taken before the building of the
bridge. If we are allowed by the legislature to build the bridge
which will require them to do more than before when a pilot
comes along it is unreasonable for him to dash on heedless of this
structure which has been legally put there. The Afton came there
on the 5th and lay at Rock Island until next morning. When a
boat lies up the pilot has a holiday, and would not any of these
jurors have then gone around to the bridge and gotten acquainted
with the place. Pilot Parker has shown here that he does not
understand the draw. I heard him say that the fall from the head
to the foot of the pier was four feet; he needs information. He
could have gone there that day and seen there was no such fall.
He should have discarded passion and the chances are that he
would have had no disaster at aU. He was bound to make himself
acquainted with the place.

APPENDIX 327
"McCammon says that the current and the swell coming from
the long pier drove her against the long pier. In other words
drove her toward the very pier from which the current came! It
is an absurdity, an impossibility. The only recollection I can
find for this contradiction is in a current which White says strikes
out from the long pier and then like a ram's horn turns back and
this might have acted somehow in this manner.
" It is agreed by all that the plaintiff's boat was destroyed and
that it was destroyed upon the head of the short pier; that she
moved from the channel where she was with her bow above the
head of the long pier; till she struck the short one, swung around
under the bridge and there was crowded and destroyed.
"I shall try to prove that the average velocity of the current
through the draw with the boat in it should be five and a half
miles an hour ; that it is slowest at the head of the pier and swiftest
at the foot of the pier. Their lowest estimate in evidence is six
.miles an hour, their highest twelve miles. This was the testi
mony of men who had made no experiment, only conjecture. We
have adopted the most exact means. The water runs swiftest in
high water and we have taken the point of nine feet above low
water. The water when the Afton was lost was seven feet above
low water, or at least a foot lower than our time. Brayton and
his assistants timed the instrument. The best instruments known
in measuring currents. They timed them under various circum
stances and they found the current five miles an hour and no
more. They found that the water at the upper end ran slower
than five miles ; that below it was swifter than five miles, but that
the average was five miles. Shall men who have taken no care,
who conjecture, some of whom speak of twenty miles an hour, be
believed against those who have had such a favorable and well
improved opportunity? They should not even qualify the result.
Several men have given their opinion as to the distance of the
steamboat Carson and I suppose if one should go and measure
that distance you would believe him in preference to all of them.
" These measurements were made when the boat was not in the
draw. It has been ascertained what is the area of the cross sec
tion of this stream and the area of the face of the piers and the
engineers say that the piers being put there will increase the cur
rent proportionally as the space is decreased. So with the boat
in the draw. The depth of the channel was twenty-two feet, the
width one hundred and sixteen feet, multiply there and you have
the square feet across the water of the draw, viz. : 2,552 feet. The
Afton was 35 feet wide and drew 5 feet, making a fourteenth of
the sum. Now, one-fourteenth of five miles is five-fourteenths of
one mile — about one third of a mile — the increase of the current.
We will call the current five and a half miles per hour. The next
thing I will try to prove is that the plaintiff's ( ?) boat had power
to run six miles an hour in that current. It has been testified
that she was a strong, swift boat, able to run eight miles an hour

328 LIFE OF LINCOLN
up stream in a current of four miles an hour and fifteen miles down
stream. Strike the average and you will find what is her average —
about eleven and a half miles. Take the five and a half miles
which is the speed of the current in the draw and it leaves the
power of that boat in that draw at six miles an hour, 528 feet
per minute and 8 4-5 feet to the second.
"Next I propose to show that there are no cross currents. I
know their witnesses say that there are cross currents — that as
one witness says there were three cross currents and two eddies;
so far as mere statement without experiment and mingled with
mistakes can go they have proved. But can these men's testi
mony be compared with the nice, exact, thorough experiments of
our witnesses. Can you believe that these floats go across the
currents? It is inconceivable that they could not have discov
ered every possible current. How do boats find currents that
floats cannot discover? We assume the position then that those
cross currents are not there. My next proposition is that the Afton
passed between the S. B. Carson and the Iowa shore. That is un
disputed. " Next I shall show that she struck first the short pier, then the
long pier, then the short one again and there she stopped."
Mr. Lincoln then cited the testimony of eighteen witnesses on
this point.
" How did the boat strike when she went in ? Here is an end
less variety of opinion. But ten of them say what pier she struck;
three of them testify that she struck first the short, then the long
and then the short for the last time. None of the rest substan
tially contradict this. I assume that these men have got the
truth because I believe it an established fact. My next proposi
tion is that after she struck the short and long pier and before she
got back to the short pier the boat got right with her bow up. So
says the pilot Parker — ' that he got her through until her star
board wheel passed the short pier.' This would make her head about
even with the head of the long pier. He says her head was as high
or higher than the head of the long pier. Other witnesses confirmed
this one. The final stroke was in the splash door aft the wheel.
Witnesses differ but the majority say that she struck thus."
Court adjourned. 14th day, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1857.
Mr. A. Lincoln resumed. He said he should concluJe as soon as
possible. He said the colored map of the plaintiff which was
brought in during one stage of the trial showed itself that the
cross currents alleged did not exist. That the current as repre
sented would drive an ascending boat to the long pier but not
to the short pier, as they urge. He explained from a model of a
boat where the splash door is just behind the wheel. The boat
struck on the lower shoulder of the short pier as she swung around

APPENDIX 329
m the splash door, then as she went on around she struck the
point or end of the pier where she rested. " Her engineers," said
Mr. Lincoln, "say the starboard wheel then was rushing around
rapidly. Then the boat must have struck the upper point of the
pier so far back as not to disturb the wheel. It is forty feet
from the stern of the Afton to the splash door and thus it appears
that she had but forty feet to go to clear the pier. How was it
that the Afton with all her power flanked over from the channel
to the short pier without moving one foot ahead? Suppose she
was in the middle of the draw, her wheel would have been 31 feet
from the short pier. The reason she went over thus is her star
board wheel was not working. I shall try to establish the fact
that the wheel was not running and that after she struck she
went ahead strong on this same wheel. Upon the last point the
witnesses agree that the starboard wheel was running after she
struck and no witnesses say that it was running while she was
out in the draw flanking over."
Mr. Lincoln read from the testimonies of various witnesses to
prove that the starboard wheel was not working while the Afton
was out in the stream.
" Other witnesses show that the captain said something of the
machinery of the wheel and the inference is that he knew the
wheel was not working. The fact is undisputed that she did not
move one inch ahead while she was moving this 31 feet sideways.
There is evidence proving that the current there is only five miles
an hour and the only explanation is that her power was not all
used — that only one wheel was working. The pilot says he or
dered the engineers to back her up. The engineers differ from
him and said they kept one going ahead. The bow was so swung
that the current pressed it over; the pilot pressed the
stern over with the rudder though not so fast but that the bow
gained on it and only one wheel being in motion the boat nearly
stood still so far as motion up and down is concerned, and thus
she was thrown upon this pier. The Afton came into the draw
after she had just passed the Carson and as the Carson no doubt
kept the true course the Afton going around her got out of the
proper way, got across the current into the eddy which is west of
a straight line drawn down from the long pier, was compelled to
resort to these changes of wheels which she did not do with suffi
cient adroitness to save her. Was it not her own fault that she
entered wrong, so far wrong that she never got right? Is the de
fense to blame for that?
" For several days we were entertained with depositions about
boats ' smelling a bar.' Why did the Afton then after she had
come up smelling so close to the long pier sheer off so strangely
when she got to the center of the very nose she was smelling she
seemed suddenly to have lost her sense of smell and to have flanked
over to the short pier."
Mr. Lincoln said there was no practicability in the project of

330 LIFE OF LINCOLN
building a tunnel under the river, for there " is not a tunnel that
is a successful project in this world. A suspension bridge cannot
be built so high but that the chimneys of the boats will grow up
till they cannot pass. The steamboatmen will take pains to make
them grow. The cars of a railroad cannot without immense ex
pense rise high enough to get even with a suspension bridge or
go low enough to get through a tunnel; such expense is unrea
sonable. "The plaintiffs have to establish that the bridge is a material
obstruction and that they have managed their boat with reason
able care and skill As to the last point high winds have nothing
to do with it, for it was not a windy day. They must show due skill
and care. Difficulties going down stream will not do for they were
going up stream. Difficulties with barges in tow have nothing to
do with the accident, for they had no barge."
Mr. Lincoln said he had much more to say, many things he
could suggest to the jury, but he wished to close to save time.
Jesse K. Dubois. Bloomington, Dec. 21, 1857.
Dear Dubois : J. M. Douglas of the I. C. R. R. Co. is here and
will carry this letter. He says they have a large sum (near $90,000)
which they will pay into the treasury now, if they have an assur
ance that they shall not be sued before Jany. 1859 — otherwise not.
I really wish you could consent to this. Douglas says they can
not pay more and I believe him.
I do not write this as a lawyer seeking an advantage for a client ;
but only as a friend, only urging you to do what I think I would
do if I were in your situation. I mean this as private and confi
dential only, but I feel a good deal of anxiety about it.
Yours, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
Springfield, Jan. 19, 1858.
To Hon. Geo. T. Brown:
Send Jo. Gillespie up here at once. Don't fail. A. Lincoln.
(Copy of note, sent with telegram, from Brown to Gillespie.)
Dear Jo:
Have just rec'd this telegraph. I know nothing further. I send
a buggy for you. Brown.
(Copy of telegram sent from Abraham Lincoln, [Springfield] to
Joseph Gillespie, [Edwardsville] through George T. Brown,
[Alton].) (Original owned by Mrs. Josephine Gillespie Prickett.)

APPENDIX 331
Springfield, J&n. 19, 1858.
Hon. Joseph Gillespte:
My Dear Sir: This morning Col. McClernand showed me a
petition for a mandamus against the Secretary of State to compel
him to certify the apportionment act of last session; and he says
it will be presented to the court to-morrow morning. We shall be
allowed three or four days to get up a return; and I, for one, want
the benefit of consultation with you.
Please come right up. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine Gillespie Prickett of Ed-
wardsville, HI.)

Springfield, Feb. 7, 1858.
Hon. J. Gillespte:
My Dear Sir: Yesterday morning the court overruled the de
murrer to Hatch's return in the mandamus case. McClernand
was present; said nothing about pleading over; and so I suppose
the matter is ended. The court gave no reason for the decision;
but Peck tells me confidentially that they were unanimous in the
opinion that even if the Gov'r had signed the bill purposely, he had
the right to scratch his name off, so long as the bill remained in his
custody and control. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine Gillespie Prickett of Ed*
wardsville, HI.)

Mr. Edward G. Miner, Winchester, HI. SpRiNGFrELD, Feb. 19, 1858.
Edward G. Miner, Esq., —
My Dear Sir: Mr. G. A. Sutton is an applicant for superin
tendent of the addition to the Insane Asylum, and I understand it
partly depends on you whether he gets it.
Mr. Sutton is my fellow townsman and friend, and I therefore
wish to say for him that he is a man of sterling integrity and as a
master mechanic and builder not surpassed by any in our city, or
any I have known anywhere as far as I can judge.
I hope you will consider me as being really interested for Mr.
Sutton and not as writing merely to relieve myself of importunity.
Please show this to Col. William Ross and let him consider it
as much intended for him as for yourself.
Your friend as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Edward G. Miner, Jr., Rochester, N. Y.)

332 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Sydney Spring, Grayville, HL Springfield, June 19, 1858.
Sydney Spring, Esq.,
My Dear Sir: Your letter introducing Mr. Faree was duly
received. There was no opening to nominate him for Superin
tendent of Public Instruction, but through him, Egypt made a
most valuable contribution to the convention. I think it may
be fairly said that he came off the lion of the day — or rather of
the night. Can you not elect him to the Legislature? It seems
to me he would be hard to beat. What objection could be made
to him? What is your Senator Martin saying and doing? What
is Webb about?
Please write me. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by S. T. Spring, Grayville, HI.)
Springfield, July 16, 1858.
Hon. Joseph Gillespie:
My Dear Sir: I write this to say that from the specimens of
Douglas Democracy we occasionally see here from Madison, we
learn that they are making very confident calculation of beating
you, and your friends for the lower house, in that county. They
offer to bet upon it. Billings and Job, respectively, have been up
here, and were each, as I learn, talking largely about it. H they
do so, it can only be done by carrying the Fillmore men of 1856 very
differently from what they seem to going in the other party. Below
is the vote of 1856, in your district.
Counties. Buchanan. Fremont. Fillmore.
Bond  607 153 659
Madison  1451 1111 1658
Montgomery  992 162 686
3050 1426 3003
By this you will see, if you go through the calculation, that if
they get one-quarter of the Fillmore votes, and you three-quarters,
they will beat you 125 votes. If they get one-fifth, and you four-
fifths, you beat them 179. In Madison, alone, if our friends get
1000 of the Fillmore votes, and their opponents the remainder, 658,
we win by just two votes.
This shows the whole field, on the basis of the election of 1856.
Whether, since then, any Buchanan, or Fremonters, have shifted
.ground, and how the majority of new votes will go, you can judge
better than I.
Of course you, on the ground, can better determine your line of
tactics than any one off the ground ; but it behooves you to be wide
awake, and actively working.

APPENDIX 333
Don't neglect it; and write me at your first leisure.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
John Mathers, Jacksonville, HI. SpRiNGFrELD, July 20, 1858.
Jno. Mathers, Esq.
My Dear Sir: Your kind and interesting letter of the 19th
was duly received. Your suggestions as to placing one's self on the
offensive rather than the defensive are certainly correct. That is
a point which I shall not disregard. I spoke here on Saturday night.
The speech, not very well reported, appears in the State Journal
of this morning. You doubtless will see it; and I hope that you
will perceive in it, that I am already improving. I would mail
you a copy now, but have not one hand. I thank you for your
letter and shall be pleased to hear from you again.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by R. W. Mills, Virginia, HI.)
Springfield, July 25, 1858.
Hon. J. Gillespte :
My Dear Sm: Your doleful letter of the 18th, was received on
my return from Chicago last night. I do hope you are worse scared
than hurt, though you ought to know best. We must not lose the
district. We must make a job of it, and save it. Lay hold of the
proper agencies, and secure all the Americans you can, at once. I
do hope, on closer inspection, you will find they are not half gone.
Make a little test. Run down one of the poll-books of the Ed-
wardsville precinct, and take the first hundred known American
names. Then quietly ascertain how many of them are actually
going for Douglas. 1 think you will find less than fifty. But even
if you find fifty, make sure of the other fifty, — that is, make sure of
all you can, at all events. We will set other agencies to work
which shall compensate for the loss of a good many Americans.
Don't fail to check the stampede at once. Trumbull, I think, will
be with you before long.
There is much he cannot do, and some he can. I have reason
to hope there will be other help of an appropriate kind. Write me
again. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mrs. Josephine Gillespie Prickett of Ed
wards ville, HI.)
B. C. Cook. SpRiNGFrELD, Aug. 2, 1858.
Hon. B. C. Cook,
My Dear Sm: I have a letter from a very true friend and in-

334 LIFE OF LINCOLN
telligent man insisting that there is a plan on foot in La Salle
and Bureau to run Douglas republicans for Congress and for
the Legislature in those counties, if they can only get the en
couragement of our folks nominating pretty extreme abolitionists.
It is thought they will do nothing if our folks nominate men who
are not very obnoxious to the charge of abolitionism? Please
have your eye upon this.
Signs are looking pretty fair. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
Hon. J. M. Palmer. Springfield, Aug. 5, 1858.
Hon. J. M. Palmer,
Dear Sir: Since we parted last evening no new thought has
occurred to (me) on the subject of which we talked most yes
terday. I have concluded, however, to speak at your town on Tuesday,
August 31st, and have promised to have it so appear in the papers
of to-morrow. Judge Trumbull has not yet reached here.
Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by the Rev. Preston Wood, Springfield, HI.)
Springfield, Aug. 11, 1858.
Alexander Sympson, Esq. :
Dear Sm: Yours of the 6th received. If life and health con
tinue I shall pretty likely be at Augusta on the 25th.
Things look reasonably well. Will tell you more fully when I
see you. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by family of Alexander Sympson, Lewistown, HI.)
Dr. William Fithian, Danville, HI. Bloomington, Sept. 3, 1858.
Dear Doctor: Yours of the 1st was received this morning, as
also one from Mr Harmon, and one from Hiram Beckwith on the
same subject. You will see by the Journal that I have appointed
to speak at Danville on the 22nd of Sept., — the day after Douglas
speaks there. My recent experience shows that speaking at the
same place the next day after D. is the very thing, — it is, in fact,
a concluding speech on him. Please show this to Messrs. Harmon
and Beckwith; and tell them they must excuse me from writing
separate letters to them. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
P. S. — Give full notice to all surrounding country.
A. L.
(Original owned by Dr. P. H. Fithian, Springfield, HI.)

APPENDIX 335
BLANDiNSvrLLE, Oct. 26, 1858.
A. Sympson, Esq.:
Dear Sm: Since parting with you this morning I heard some
things which make me believe that Edmunds and Morrill will
spend this week among the National Democrats trying to induce
them to content themselves by voting for Jake Davis, and then to
vote for the Douglas candidates for Senator and Representative.
Have this headed off, if you can. Call Wagley's attention to it,
and have him and the National Democrat for Rep. to counteract
it as far as they can. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by family of Alexander Sympson, Lewistown, HI.)
Springfield, Dec. 8, 1858.
H. D. Sharpe, Esq. :
Dear Sm : Your very kind letter of Nov. 9th was duly received.
I do not know that you expected or desired an answer ; but glancing
over the contents of yours again, I am prompted to say that, while
I desired the result of the late canvass to have been different, I
still regard it as an exceeding small matter. I think we have fairly
entered upon a durable struggle as to whether this nation is to
ultimately become all slave or all free, and though I fall early in
the contest, it is nothing if I shall have contributed, in the least
degree, to the final rightful result. Respectfully yours, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by the family of H. D. Sharpe, Brooklyn,
N. Y.) Springfield, Dec. 12, 1858.
Alexander Sympson, Esq. :
My Dear Sm : I expect the result of the election went hard with
you. So it did with me, too, perhaps not quite so hard as you
may have supposed. I have an abiding faith that we shall beat
them in the long run. Step by step the objects of the leaders will
become too plain for the people to stand them. I write merely to
let you know that I am neither dead nor dying. Please give my
respects to your good family, and all inquiring friends.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by family of Alexander Sympson, Lewistown, HL)
A LEGAL OPINION BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The 11th Section of the Act of Congress, approved Feb. 11, 1805,
prescribing rules for the subdivision of Sections of land within

336 LIFE OF LINCOLN
the United States system of Surveys, standing unrepealed, in my
opinion, is binding on the respective purchasers of different parts
of the same section, and furnishes the true rule for Surveyors
in establishing lines between them — That law, being in force
at this time each became a purchaser, becomes a condition of the
purchase. And, by that law, I think the true rule for dividing into quarters,
any interior Section, or Sections, which is not fractional, is to run
straight lines through the Section from the opposite quarter sec
tion corners, fixing the point where such straight lines cross, or
intersect each other, as the middle or center of the Section.
Nearly, perhaps quite, all the original surveys are to some ex
tent, erroneous, and in some of the Sections, greatly so. In each
of the latter, it is obvious that a more equitable mode of division
than the above, might be adopted; but as error is infinitely various
perhaps no better single rules can be prescribed.
At all events I think the above has been prescribed by the com
petent authority. A. Lincoln.
Springfield, Jany. 6, 1859.
(Original owned by L. A. Enos, Springfield, HL)
Hawkins Taylor. Springfield, III., Sept. 6, 1859.
Hawkins Taylor, Esq.
My Dear Sir : Yours of the 3d is just received. There is some
mistake about my expected attendance of the U. S. Court in your
city on the 3d Tuesday of this month. I have had no thought of
being there. It is bad to be poor. I shall go to the wall for bread
and meat, if I neglect my business this year as well as last. It
would please me much to see the City, and good people, of Keokuk,
but for this year it is little less than an impossibility. I am con
stantly receiving invitations which I am compelled to decline. I
was pressingly urged to go to Minnesota; and I now have two
invitations to go to Ohio. These last are prompted by Douglas
going there; and I am really tempted to make a flying trip to
Columbus and Cincinnati.
I do hope you will have no serious trouble in Iowa. What thinks
Grimes about it? I have not known him to be mistaken about
an election in Iowa. Present my respects to Col. Carter, and any
other friends ; and believe me Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original in the Collection of Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by
the Hon. Chas. Aldrich, Des Moines, Iowa.) March 10, 1860.
As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I cannot enter
the ring on the money basis — first, because in the main it is

APPENDIX 337
wrong; and secondly, I have not and cannot get the money. I say
in the main the use of money is wrong; but for certain objects in
a political contest, the use of some, is both right, and indispensa
ble. With me, as with yourself, this long struggle has been one of
great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this — If you shall be
appointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred dollars
to bear the expenses of the trip.
Present my respects to Genl. Lane; and say to him, I shall be
pleased to hear from him at any time.
Your friend, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Extract from letter to Kansas delegate. Original in possession
of J. W. Weik, Greeneastle, Ind.)
Hawkins Taylor. SpRiNGFrELD, III., April 21, 1860.
Hawkins Taylor, Esq.
My Dear Sm: Yours of the 15th is just received. It surprises
me that you have written twice, without receiving an answer. I
have answered all I ever received from you; and certainly one
since my return from the East.
Opinions here, as to the prospect of Douglas being nominated,
are quite conflicting — some very confident he will, and others that
he will not be — I think his nomination possible; but that the
chances are against him.
I am glad there is a prospect of your party passing this way
to Chicago. Wishing to make your visit here as pleasant as we
can, we wish you to notify us as soon as possible, whether you
come this way, how many, and when you will arrive.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original in the Collection of Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by
the Hon. Chas. Aldrich, Des Moines, Iowa.'i
Hon. 0. B. Smith. Springfield, III., May 26, 1860.
Hon. C. B. Smith —
My Dear Sm : Yours of the 21st, was duly received ; but I have
found no time until now, to say a word in the way of answer. I
am, indeed, much indebted to Indiana; and, as my home friends
tell me, much to you personally. Your saying you no longer con
sider la. a doubtful state is very gratifying. The thing starts
well everywhere — too well, I almost fear, to last. But we are in,
and stick or go through, must be the word.
Let me hear from Indiana occasionally. Your friend, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Werter G. Betty, Norwood, Ohio.)
(22)

338 LIFE OF LINCOLN
SpRrNGFTELD, III., June 4, 1860.
Hon. George Ashmun :
My Dear Sm: It seems as if the question whether my first
name is "Abraham" or "Abram" will never be settled. It is
" Abraham," and if the letter of acceptance is not yet in print, you
may, if you think fit, have my signature thereto printed " Abraham
Lincoln." Exercise your judgment about this. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(From "Springfield, Mass., 1836.-1886," by Mason A. Green.)
W. B. Miner. Springfield, III., Aug. 11, 1860.
W. B. Miner, Esq.
Dear Sm : Yours of the 7th with newspaper slip attached is re
ceived; and for which I thank you. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by the Hon.
Charles Aldrich, curator, Des Moines, Iowa.)

Hon. John

Private
SPRINGFrELD, III. Aug. 31, 1860
Hon. John  >
My dear Sm : Yours of the 27th is duly received — It consists
almost exclusively of a historical detail of some local troubles,
among some of our friends in Pennsylvania; and I suppose its
object is to guard me against forming a prejudice against Mr. Mc-
C  . I have not heard near so much upon that subject as you
probably suppose; and I am slow to listen to criminations among
friends, and never expose their quarrels on either side — My sin
cere wish is that both sides will allow by-gones to be by-gones, and
look to the present and future only. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Chas. Roberts, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa.)
Hon. N. Sargent. SpRiNGFrELD, III., Sept. 20, 1860.
My Dear Sir: Your kind letter of the 16th was received yes
terday; have just time to acknowledge its receipt, and to say I
thank you for it; and that I shall be pleased to hear from you
again whenever it is convenient for you to write.
Yours very truly, A. LrNcour.
(Original owned by 0. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)

APPENDIX 339
Wm. Herndon.
Springfield, III., October 10, 1860.
Dear William : I cannot give you details, but it is entirely cer
tain that Pennsylvania and Indiana have gone Republican very
largely. Pennsylvania 25,000, and Indiana 5,000 to 10,000. Ohio
of course is safe. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(From Herndon's "Life of Lincoln." Permission of Jesse Weik.)
(Private and Confidential.)
Major David Hunter, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Springfield, Illinois, October 26, 1860.
Major David Hunter:
My Dear Sm: Your very kind letter of the 20th was duly re
ceived, for which please accept my thanks. I have another letter,
from a writer unknown to me, saying the officers of the army at
Fort Kearny have determined, in case of Republican success at the
approaching presidential election, to take themselves, and the arms
at that point, South, for the purpose of resistance to the govern
ment. While I think there are many chances to one that this is a
humbug, it occurs to me that any real movement of this sort in
the army would leak out and become known to you. In such case,
if it would not be unprofessional or dishonorable (of which you are
to be judge), I shall be much obliged if you will apprise me of it.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by War Records Commission.)
(Confidential.)
Major David Hunter. Springfield, Illinois, December 22, 1860.
Major David Hunter:
My Dear Sm: I am much obliged by the receipt of yours of
the 18th. The most we can do now is to watch events, and be as well
prepared as possible for any turn things may take. If the forts
fall, my judgment is that they are to be retaken. When I shall de
termine definitely my time of starting to Washington, I will notify
you. Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by War Records Commission.)
Hon. I. N. Morris, Quincy, HI.
Confidential. Springfteld, III., Dec. 24, 1860.
Hon. I. N. Morris,
My Dear Sm: Without supposing that you and I are any nearer

340 LIFE OF LINCOLN
together, politically than heretofore, allow me to tender you my
sincere thanks for your Union resolution, expressive of views
upon which we never were, and, I trust, never will be at variance.
Yours very truly, . A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Thomas L. Morris, Quincey, HL)

Hon. Postmaster-General, Washington, D. 0.
Executive Mansion, March 12, 1861.
Hon. Post-Master General,
My Dear Sm: I understand that the outgoing and incoming
Representatives for the Cleveland District, unite in recommending
Edwin Cowles for P. M. in that City; that Senator Wade has con
sidered the case and declines to interfere; and that no other M. C.
interferes. Under these circumstances, if correct, I think Mr.
Cowles better be appointed. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by the Hon.
Charles Aldrich, curator, Des Moines, Iowa.)

Executive Mansion, March 13, 1861.
Hon. P. M. G.
Dear Sm: The bearer of this, Mr. C. T. Hempstow, is a Vir
ginian who wishes to get, for his son, a small place in your Dept.
I think Virginia should be heard, in such cases. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by the Hon.
Charles Aldrich, curator, Des Moines, Iowa.)

Washington, March 30, 1861.
Dear Stuart :
Cousin Lizzie shows me your letter of the 27th. The question of
giving her the Springfield Post-office troubles me. You see I have
already appointed William Jayne a territorial governor and Judge
Trumbull's brother to a land-office — Will it do for me to go on and
justify the declaration that Trumbull and I have divided out all
the offices among our relatives? Dr. Wallace you know, is needy,
and looks to me ; and I personally owe him much. —
I see by the papers, a vote is to be taken as to the Post-office.
Could you not set up Lizzie and beat them all? She, being here,

APPENDIX 341
need know nothing of it, so therefore there would be no indelicacy
on her part.— - Yours, as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mr. Stuart Brown, Springfield, 111.)
The originals of the telegrams and letters which follow are in the
collection of telegrams sent by the War Department during the
Civil War, unless otherwise noted. A few of them appear in the
official War Records, but none of them are to be found in the Com
plete Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Nicolay and Hay, and
the most of them have never before been printed. The telegrams
have been compared with the originals by the Record and Pension
Office. Washington, May 22, 1861.
Governor E. D. Morgan, Albany, N. Y. :
I wish to see you face to face to clear these difficulties about for
warding troops from New York. A. Lincoln.
Washington, May 27, 1861.
Col. W. A. Bartlett, New York:
The Naval Brigade was to go to Fort Monroe without trouble to
the Government, and must so go or not at all. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion, June 13, 1861.
Hon. Secretary of War.
My Dear Sm: There is, it seems, a regiment in Massachusetts
commanded by Fletcher Webster, and which Hon. Daniel Web
ster's old friends very much wish to get into the service. If it
can be received with the approval of your Department and the
consent of the Governor of Massachusetts I shall indeed be much
gratified. Give Mr. Ashman a chance to explain fully.
Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series IJI.)
Executive Mansion, June 13, 1861.
Hon. Secretary of War.
My Dear Sm: I think it is entirely safe to accept a fifth regi
ment from Michigan, and with your approbation I should say a
regiment presented by Col. T. B. W. Stockton, ready for service

34i LIFE OF LINCOLN
within two weeks from now, will be received. Look at Colonel
Stockton's testimonials. Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series HI.)

Executive Mansion, June 17, 1861.
Hon. Secretary of War.
My Dear Sm : With your concurrence, and that of the Governor
of Indiana I am in favor of accepting into what we call the three
years' service any number not exceeding four additional regi
ments from that State. Probably they should come from the tri
angular region between the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, including
my own old boyhood home. Please see Hon. C. M. Allen, Speaker
of the Indiana House of Representatives, and unless you perceive
good reasons to the contrary, draw up an order for him according
to the above. Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series DX)

Executive Mansion, June 17, 1861.
Hon. Secretary of War.
My Dear Sm: With your concurrence, and that of the Gov
ernor of Ohio, I am in favor of receiving into what we call the
three years' service any number not exceeding six additional regi
ments from that State, unless you perceive good reasons to the
contrary. Please see Hon. John A. Gurley, who bears this, and
make an order corresponding with the above. Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, VoL I., Series ILL)

New York, June 17, 1861.
His Excellency the President.
Dear Sm: The Hon. Robert Dale Owen is authorized to pre
sent for your consideration our cavalry regiment being now raised
upon the border. It will be composed of the best material both
in men and horses. Mr. Owen will present to you the peculiar
claims and condition of the border, differing from the border of
any other State. I trust Your Excellency may find it consistent
with your views and the public interest to accept of this regiment.
Very respectfully,
O. P. Morton.

APPENDIX 343
(Indorsement.)
June 22, 1861.
If agreeable to the Secretary of War, I approve the receiving one
of the regiments already accepted from Indiana, organized and
equipped as a cavalry regiment. A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series HI.)
Executive Mansion, June 29, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Kentucky Delegation who are for the Union:
I somewhat wish to authorize my friend, Jesse Bayles, to raise
a Kentucky regiment, but I do not wish to do it without your con
sent. H you consent, please write so at the bottom of this.
Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
We consent. R. Mallory.
H. Grider.
G. W. Dunlap.
J. S. Jackson.
0. A. Wickliffe. August 5, 1861.
I repeat, I would like for Col. Bayles to raise a regiment of cav»
airy whenever the Union men of Kentucky desire or consent to it.
A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series IH.)
Secretary of .Interior, Washington, D. C.
Executive Mansion, July 6, 1861.
Hon. Seo. of Interior,
My Dear Sm: Please ask the Comr. of Indian Affairs, and of the
Gen'l Land Office to come with you, and see me at once. I want
the assistance of all of you in overhauling the list of appoint
ments a little before I send them to the Senate. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Werter G. Betty, Norwood, Ohio.)
Washington, D. 0., July 24, 1861.
The Governor of New Jersey.
Sm: Together with the regiments of three years' volunteers
which the Government already has in service in your State, enough
to make eight in all, if tendered in a reasonable time, will be
accepted, the new regiments to be taken as far as convenient, from

344 LIFE 0F LINCOLN
the three months' men and officers just discharged, and to be or
ganized, equipped, and sent forward as fast as single regiments
are ready, on the same terms as were those already in the service
from that State. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
(Indorsement.)
This order is entered in the War Department, and the Governor
of New Jersey is authorized to furnish the regiments with wagons
and horses. S. Cameron,
Secretary of War.
(From War Records, Vol. I., Series HL)

Hon. James Pollock. Washington, Aug. 15, 1861.
Hon. James Pollock,
My Dear Sm: You must make a job for the bearer of this —
make a job of it with the collector and have it done. You can do
it for me and you must. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Chas. Roberts, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa.)
Executive Mansion, October 4, 1861.
Honorable Secretary of State.
My Dear Sm: Please see Mr. Walker, well vouched as a Union
man and son-in-law of Governor Morehead, and pleading for his
release. I understand the Kentucky arrests were not made by spe
cial direction from here and I am willing if you are that any of
the parties may be released when James Guthrie and James Speed
think they should be. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. IL, Series HL)

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Dec. 31, 1861.
Major-General Hunter:
Dear Sm: Yours of the 23d is received, and I am constrained
to say it is difficult to answer so ugly a letter in good temper. I
am, as you intimate, losing much of the great confidence I placed
in you, not from any act or omission of yours touching the public
service, up to the time you were sent to Leavenworth, but from the
flood of grumbling despatches and letters I have seen from you
since. I knew you were being ordered to Leavenworth at the time
it was done ; and I aver that with as tender a regard for your honor

APPENDIX

345

and your sensibilities as I had for my own, it never occurred to
me that you were being "humiliated, insulted and disgraced;"
nor have I, up to this day, heard an intimation that you have been
wronged, coming from any one but yourself — No one has blamed
you for the retrograde movement from Springfield, nor for the in
formation you gave General Cameron; and this you could readily
understand, if it were not for your unwarranted assumption that
the ordering you to Leavenworth must necessarily have been done
as a punishment for some fault. I thought then, and think yet, the
position assigned to you is as responsible, and as honorable, as that
assigned to Buell — I know that General McClellan expected more
important results from it. My impression is that at the time you
were assigned to the new Western Department, it had not been
determined to replace General Sherman in Kentucky; but of this
I am not certain, because the idea that a command in Kentucky
was very desirable, and one in the farther West undesirable, had
never occurred to me — You constantly speak of being placed in
command of only 3,000 — Now tell me, is this not mere impatience ?
Have you not known all the while that you are to command four
or five times that many ?
I have been, and am sincerely your friend; and if, as such, I dare
to make a suggestion, I would say you are adopting the best possi
ble way to ruin yourself. " Act well your part, there all the honor
lies." He who does something at the head of one Regiment, will
eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hundred.
Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
On the outside of the envelope in which this letter was found,
General Hunter had written :
The President's reply to my " ugly letter." This lay on his table
a month after it was written, and when finally sent was by a special
conveyance, with the direction that it was only to be given to me
when I was in a good humor.
(Original owned by War Records Commission.)
Department of State, Washington,
January 20, 1862.
Major-General George B. McClellan, Commanding Armies of
the United States:
You or any officer you may designate will in your discretion sus
pend the writ of habeas corpus so far as may relate to Major Chase
lately of the Engineer Corps of the Army of the United States^
now alleged to be guilty of treasonable practices against this'
Government. Abraham Lincoln.
By the President,
William H. Seward.
(From War Records, Vol. II. , Serie» HI.)

346 LIFE OF LINCOLN Washington, April 3, 1862.
Major-General Halleck, Saint Louis, Mo. :
Your dispatch in regard to Colonel Barrett's regiment is re
ceived. Use your own judgment in the matter. A. Lincoln.
Please send above by order of the President. John Hay,
Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 9, 1862.
Major-General Halleck, Saint Louis, Mo.:
K the rigor of the confinement of Magoffin at Alton is endanger
ing his life, or materially impairing his health, I wish it mitigated
as far as it can be consistently with his safe detention. A. Lincoln.
Please send above by order of the President. John Hay.
Postmaster GeneraL Washington, D. 0.
Executive Mansion, Washington, April 24, 1862.
Hon. Postmaster General.
My Dear Sm: The Member of Congress from the District in
cluding Tiffin, O., calls on me about the Post-Master at that place.
I believe I turned over a despatch to you from some persons there,
asking a suspension, so as for them to be heard, or something of
the sort. If nothing, or nothing amounting to anything, has been
done, I think the suspension might now be suspended, and the
commission go forward. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by Hon. Chas.
Aldrich, curator, Des Moines, Iowa.) Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 29, 1862.
Major-General McClellan :
Would it derange or embarrass your operations if I were to
appoint Captain Charles Griffin, a brigadier-general of volun
teers? Please answer. A. Lincoln.
SPEECH TO THE 12TH INDIANA REGIMENT.
Soldiers of the Twelfth Indiana Regiment: It has not been
customary heretofore, nor will it be hereafter, for me to say some
thing to every regiment passing in review. It occurs too frequently
for me to have speeches ready on all occasions. As you have paid

APPENDIX 347
such a mark of respect to the Chief Magistrate, it appears that I
should say a word or two in reply.
Your Colonel has thought fit, on his own account and in your
name, to say that you are satisfied with the manner in which I
have performed my part in the difficulties which have surrounded
the nation. For your kind expressions I am extremely grateful,
but, on the other hand, I assure you that the nation is more in
debted to you, and such as you, than to me. It is upon the brave
hearts and strong arms of the people of the country that our re
liance has been placed in support of free government and free
institutions. For the part which you and the brave army of which you are
a part have, under Providence, performed in this great struggle,
I tender more thanks — greatest thanks that can be possibly due —
and especially to this regiment, which has been the subject of
good report. The thanks of the nation will follow you, and may
God's blessing rest upon you now and forever. I hope that upon
your return to your homes you will find your friends and loved
ones well and happy. I bid you farewell.
(From New York " Evening Post," May 15, 1862.)

(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, D. C, June 5, 1862 — 9 1-2 p. m.
Major-General Halleck:
I have received the following dispatch from General McClellan
which I transmit for your consideration. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 7, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Your dispatch about Chattanooga and Dalton was duly received
and sent to General Halleck. I have just received the following
answer from him. We have Fort Pillow, Randolph and Memphis.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 28, 1862.
Governor O. P. Morton, Indianapolis, Ind.:
Your dispatch of to-day is just received. I have no recollection
of either John R. Cravens, or Cyrus M. Allen, having been named
to me for appointment under the tax law. The latter particularly
has been my friend, and I am sorry to learn that he is not yours.
No appointment has been or will be made by me for the purpose
of stabbing you, A. Lincoln.

348 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington Citst, D. C, July 3, 1862.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe:
What news if any have you from General Burnside ?
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 28, 1862.
Governors of all Loyal States :
It would be of great service here for us to know, as fully as you
can tell, what progress is made and making in recruiting for old
regiments in your State. Also about what day the first regiment
can move with you, what the second, what the third and so on?
This information is important to us in making calculations. Please
give it as promptly and accurately as you can. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 12, 1862.
Governor Curtin, Harrisburg, Penn.:
It is very important for some regiments to arrive here at once.
What lack you from us? What can we do to expedite matters?
Answer. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 14, 1862.
Officer in charge of Confederate prisoners at Camp Chase, Ohio :
It is believed that a Dr. J. J. Williams is a prisoner in your
charge, and if so tell him his wife is here and allow him to tele
graph to her. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 15, 1862.
Hon. James Dixon, Hartford, Conn.:
Come here. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 15, 1862.
Officer having prisoners in charge at Camp Douglass, near Chi
cago, HL:
Is there a prisoner Dr. Joseph J. Williams ? and if so tell him his
sife is here and allow him to telegraph her. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 349
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 16, 1862.
Hon. Hiram Barney, New York:
Mrs. L. has $1,000 for the benefit of the hospitals and she will
be obliged, and send the pay if you will be so good as to select
and send her $200 worth of good lemons and $100 worth of good
oranges. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 18, 1862.
S. B. Moody, Springfield, HI.:
Which do you prefer commissary or quartermaster ? If appointed
it must be without conditions. A. Lincoln.
Operator please send above for President. John Hay.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 20, 1862.
Governor Andrew, Boston, Mass.:
Neither the Secretary of War nor I know anything except what
you tell us about the " published official document " you mention.
A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 21, 1862.
Mrs. Margaret Preston, Lexington, Ky.:
Your dispatch to Mrs. L. received yesterday. She is not well.
Owing to her early and strong friendship for you, I would gladly
oblige you, but I cannot absolutely do it. If General Boyle and
Hon. James Guthrie, one or both, in their discretion, see fit to
give you the passes, this is my authority to them for doing so.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 21, 1862.
GrLLET F. Watson, Williamsburg, Va.:
Your telegram in regard to the lunatic asylum has been re
ceived. It is certainly a case of difficulty, but if you cannot re
main, I cannot conceive who under my authority can. Remain as
long as you safely can, and provide as well as you can for the
poor inmates of the institution. A. Lincoln.

350 LIFE OF LINCOLN August 27, 1862—4.30 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Falmouth, Va.:
Do you hear anything from Pope ? A. Lincoln.
August 28, 1862—2.40 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Falmouth, Va.:
Any news from General Pope? A. Lincoln.
August 28, 1862—2.40 p. m.
Colonel Haupt, Alexandria, Va.:
Yours received. How do you learn that the rebel forces at
Manassas are large and commanded by several of their best gen
erals? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 29, 1862—2.30 p. m.
Major-General Burnside, Falmouth, Va.:
Any further news? Does Colonel Devin mean that sound of
firing was heard in direction of Warrenton as stated, or in direc
tion of Warrenton Junction? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 30, 1862—10.20 a. m.
Colonel Haupt, Alexandria, Va.:
What news? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
August 30, 1862—3.50 p. m.
Colonel Haupt, Alexandria, Va.:
Please send me the latest news. A. Lincoln.
August 30, 1862—8.35 p. m.
Major-General Banks, Manassas Junction, Va. :
Please tell me what news. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, September 17, 1862.
Governor O. P. Morton, Indianapolis, Ind. :
I have received your dispatch in regard to recommendations of
General Wright. I have received no such dispatch from him, at
least not that I can remember. I refer yours for General Hal
leck's consideration. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 35 r
Telegraph office please transmit as above and oblige the Presi
dent. John Hay.

Executive Mansion, Washington, September 18, 1862.
Honorable Secretary of War.
Sm : The attached paper is said to contain a list of civilians im
prisoned at Salisbury, N. C. Please preserve it.
Yours, truly, A. Lincoln.
(From War Records, Vol. IV., Series HI.)

_ Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 20, 1862.
General Ketohum, Springfield, HI.:
How many regiments are there in Hlinois, ready for service
but for the want of arms ? How many arms have you there ready
for distribution? A. Lincoln.

McClellan's Headquarters, October 3, 1862.
Major-General Halleck.
General Stuart, of the rebel army, has sent in a few of our
prisoners undar a flag of truce, paroled with terms to prevent
their fighting the Indians, and evidently seeking to commit us
to their right to parole our prisoners in that way. My inclina
tion is to send the prisoners back with a distinct notice that we
will recognize no paroles given to our prisoners by rebels as ex
tending beyond the prohibition against fighting them, yet I wish
your opinion upon it based both upon the general law and our
cartel. I wish to avoid violations of law and bad faith. Answer as
quickly as possible, as the thing if done at all should be done at
once. A. Lincoln, President.
(From War Records, Vol. IV., Series HI.)

Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 7, 1862.
Major-General McClellan, Headquarters 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.

352 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 9, 1862.
Morton McMichael, Office "North American," Philadelphia, Pa.:
The letter alluded to in your dispatch of yesterday has not been
received. A. Lincoln.
Operator please send above and oblige. A. L.
Washington, D. 0., October 12, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
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.
War Department,
Washington City, D. 0, October 16, 1862.
Governor Pierpoint, Wheeling, Va. :
Your dispatch of to-day received. I am very sorry to have of
fended you. I appointed the collector as I thought, on your writ
ten 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 Mansion,
Washington, October 21, 1862.
General Jameson, Upper Stillwater, Me.:
How is your health now ? Do you or not wish Lieut. R. P. Craw
ford to be restored to his office? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 23, 1862.
Hon. F. H. Pierpoint, Wheeling, Va.:
Your letter of the 17th just received. When you come to Wash
ington, I_ shall be pleased to show you the record upon which we
acted. Nevertheless answer this, distinctly saying you wish Ross
and Ritcher, or any other two you do really want and they shall be
appointed. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 23, 1862.
Ben. Field, Esq., Astor House:
Your letter of 20th received. Think your request cannot safely
be granted. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX.

353

Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 29, 1862.
Major-General McClellan:
Your dispatches 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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 30, 1862.
Governor Curtin, Harrisburg:
By some means I have not seen your dispatch of the 27th about
Order No. 154, till this moment. I now learn what I knew nothing
of before, that the history of the order is as follows, to-wit: Gen
eral 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 generals understood better than he.
I wish I could see Governor Curtin. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 5, 1862.
Hon. M. F. Odell, Brooklyn, N. Y.:
You are re-elected. I wish to see you at once. Will you come?
Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 7, 1862.
Col. W. W. Lowe, Fort Henry, Tenn..:
Yours of yesterday received. Governor Johnson, Mr. Ethridge
and others are looking after the very thing you telegraph about.
A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, D. C, November 14, 1862.
Hon. F. P. Blair, Jr., Saint Louis, Mo. :
Please telegraph me the result of the election in Missouri on
Congress and Legislature. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 17, 1862.
Robert A. Maxwell, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Your dispatch of to-day received. I do not at all understand it.
A. Lincoln.
(23)

354 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 26, 1862c
Hon. George Robertson, Lexington, Ky.:
I mail you a short letter to-day. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) Washington, November 30, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
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 con
sistent with the public service you will oblige me a good deal
by letting him have them. A. Lincoln.

Judge Advocate General, Washington, D. C.
Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 1, 1862.
Judge Advocate General.
Sm: 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 con
clude 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.
(Original in Archives of Treasury Dept. Loaned by M. E. Ailes,
Washington, D. C.) Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1862.
Hon. H. J. Raymond, Times Office, New York:
Yours of November 25, reached me only yesterday. Thank you for
it. I shall consider and remember your suggestions. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1862.
Hon. B. Gratz Brown, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Yours of the 3d received yesterday. Have already done what
I can in the premises. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

355

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 8, 1862.
Governor Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.:
Jesse H. Strickland is here asking authority to raise a regiment
of Tennesseeans. Would you advise that the authority be given
him? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, Dec. 10, 1862.
Hon. J. K. Dubois:
My Dear Sir : In the summer of 1859 when Mr. Freeman visited
Springfield, Hlinois, in relation to the McCallister & Stebbin's
bonds I promised him that, upon certain conditions, I would ask the
members of the Legislature to give him a full and fair hearing of
his case. I do not now remember, nor have I time to recall, exactly
what the conditions were, nor whether they were completely per
formed; but there can be, in no case, any harm in his having a full
and fair hearing, and I sincerely wish it may be given him.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago,
Hlinois.) Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
If my friend Dr. William Fithian, of Danville, HL, should call on
you, please give him such facilities as you consistently can about
recovering the remains of a step-son and matters connected there
with. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1862.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Please come to Washington so soon as you conveniently can.
A. Lincoln.
War Department.
John G. Nicolay, Headquarters:
What news have you? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 16, 1862.
Brig. Gen. H. H. Sibley, Saint Paul, Minn.:
As you suggest let the executions fixed for Friday the 19th in
stant, be postponed to, and be done on Friday the 26th instant.
A. Lincoln.

356 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Private.
Operator please send this very carefully and accurately.
A. L.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 16, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
N. W. Watkins, of Jackson, Mo., (who is half brother to Henry
Clay) writes me that a colonel of ours has driven him from his
home at Jackson. Will you please look into the case and restore
the old man to his home if the public interest will admit ?
A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington City, D. C, December 16, 1862.
Major-General Burnside, Falmouth:
Your dispatch about General Stahel is received. Please ascer
tain from General Sigel and his old corps whether Stahel or Schurz
is preferable and telegraph the result and I will act immediately.
After all I shall be governed by your preference. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
December 17, 1862.
Abraham 0. Corsey, of Seventh Hlinois Volunteers, Grand Junc
tion, Miss. :
Your dispatch of yesterday received. Not now. A'. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 17, 1862.
Major-General Curtis:
Could the civil authority be reintroduced into Missouri in lieu
of the military to any extent, with advantage and safety? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 17, 1862.
Major-General Burnside:
George Patten says he was a class-mate of yours and was in the
same regiment of artillery. Have you a place you would like to
put him in? and if so what is it? A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 357
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 18, 1862.
Governor Gamble, Saint Louis, Mo.:
It is represented to me that the enrolled militia alone would now
maintain law and order in all the counties of your State north
of the Missouri River. If so all other forces there might be re
moved south of the river, or out of the State. Please post your
self and give me your opinion upon the subject. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 19, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Hon.  Hall, M. C, here tells me, and Governor Gamble tel
egraphs me that quiet can be maintained in all the counties north
of the Missouri River by the enrolled militia. Confer with Gov
ernor Gamble and telegraph me. A. Lincoln.
Washington, December 21, 1862.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Continental Hotel:
Do not come on the night train. It is too cold. Come in the
morning. A. Lincoln.
Please send above and oblige the President. John Hay,
A. P. S.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 27, 1862.
Major-General Curtis, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Let the order in regard to Dr. McPheters' and family be sus
pended until you hear from me again. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
December 27, 1862.
His Excellency Governor Gamble:
I do not wish to leave the country north of the Missouri to the
care of the enrolled militia except upon the concurrent judgment
of yourself and General Curtis. His I have not yet obtained.
Confer with him, and I shall be glad to act when you and he agree.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 31, 1862.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va. :
I hear not a word about the Congressional election of which you
and I corresponded. Time nearly up. A. Lincoln

358 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Private. Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 31, 1862.
Hon. H. J. Raymond:
The proclamation cannot be telegraphed to you until during the
day to-morrow. Jno. G. Nicolay.

Private. Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 31, 1862.
Hon. Horace Greeley:
The proclamation cannot be telegraphed to you until during the
day to-morrow. Jno. G. Nicolay.

Caleb Russell.
Sallie A. Fenton. Executive Mansion, Washington, January 5, 1863.
My Good Friends:
The Honorable Senator Harlan has just placed in my hands
your letter of the 27th of December, which I have read with pleas
ure and gratitude.
It is most cheering and encouraging for me to know that in the
efforts which I have made and am making for the restoration of
a righteous peace to our country, I am upheld and sustained by the
good wishes and prayers of God's people. No one is more deeply
than myself aware that without His favor our highest wisdom is
but as foolishness and that our most strenuous efforts would avail
nothing in the shadow of His displeasure.
I am conscious of no desire for my country's welfare that is
not in consonance with His will, and of no plan upon which we may
not ask His blessing. It seems to me that if there be one sub
ject upon which all good men may unitedly agree, it is imploring
the gracious favor of the God of Nations upon the struggles our
people are making for the preservation of their precious birth
right of civil and religious liberty. Very truly your friend, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Mr. John Dugdale, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.)
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 7, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Do Richmond papers of 6th say nothing about Vicksburg or if
anything, what? A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 359
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 23, 1863.
General Burnside:
Will see you any moment when you come. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 28, 1863.
Major-General Butler, Lowell, Mass :
Please come here immediately. Telegraph me about what time
you will arrive. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, January 29, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Do Richmond papers have anything from Vicksburg? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, January 30, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va.:
What iron-clads if any have gone out of Hampton Roads within
the last two days ? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, January 31, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Corcoran's and Pryor's battle terminated. Have you any news
through Richmond papers or otherwise ? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, January 31, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
I do not take jurisdiction of the pass question. Exercise your
own discretion as to whether Judge Pettis shall have a pass.
A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 1, 1863.
Governor O. P. Morton, Indianapolis, Ind. :
I think it would not do for me to meet you at Harrisburg. It
would be known and would be misconstrued a thousand ways. Of
course if the whole truth could be told and accepted as truth, it
would do no harm, but that is impossible. A. Lincoln.

3<5o LIFE OF LINCOLN
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C., February 4, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
I hear of some difficulty in the streets of Baltimore yesterday.
What is the amount of it ? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 13, 1863.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa. :
General Clay is here and I suppose the matter we spoke of will
have to be definitely settled now. Please answer. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 19, 1863.
William H. Herndon, Springfield, HI. :
Would you accept a job of about a month's duration at Saint
Louis, $5 a day and mileage ? Answer. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 26, 1863.
Hon. J. K. Dubois, Springfield, HL :
General Rosecrans respectedly urges the appointment of William
P. Caslin as a brigadier-general. What say you now? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 27, 1863.
Alfred Russell, Charles Dickey, Detroit, Mich.:
The bill you mention in your dispatch of yesterday was ap
proved and signed on the 24th of this month. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 27, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
If it will be no detriment to the service I will be obliged for
Capt. Henry A. Marchant, of Company I, Twenty-third Pennsyl
vania Volunteers, to come here and remain four or five days.
A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 361
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, March 5, 1863.
Major-General Hooker, Commanding Army of the Potomac :
For business purposes I have extended the leave of absence of
Capt. Henry A. Marchant, Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers,
five days, hoping that it will not interfere with the public service.
Please notify the regiment to-day. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 9, 1863.
Governor David Tod, Columbus, Ohio:
I think your advice with that of others would be valuable in the
selection of provost-marshals for Ohio. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 13, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
General Stahel wishes to be assigned to General Heintzelman
and General Heintzelman also desires it. I would like to oblige
both if it would not injure the service in your army, or incommode
you. What say you? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 16, 1863.
Hon. J. O. Morton, Joliet, HI. :
William Chumasero is proposed for provost-marshal of your dis
trict. What think you of it ? I understand he is a good man.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 17, 1863.
Major-General Rosecrans, Murfreesborough, Term.:
Your telegram of yesterday just received. I write you more
fully than I could communicate by the wires. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 25, 1863.
Mr. Benjamct Gratz, Lexington, Ky. :
Show this to. whom it may concern as your authority for allowing
Mrs. Shelby to remain at your house, so long as you choose to be
responsible for what she may do. A., Lincoln.

362 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 25, 186*».
Major-General Rosecrans, Murfreesborough, Tenn.:
Your dispatches about General Davis and General Mitchell are
received. General Davis' case is not particular, being simply one
of a great many recommended and not nominated, because they
would transcend the number allowed by law. General Mitchell
nominated and rejected by the Senate and I do not think it proper
for me to re-nominate him without a change of circumstances such
as the performance of additional service, or an expressed change of
purpose on the part of at least some Senators who opposed him.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 3, 1863.
Governor A. G. Curtin, Harrisburg, Pa. :
After next Tuesday the President will be here. John G. Nicolay.
Colonel Sanford:
Please send above telegram. Yours, Jno. G. Nicolay.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 3, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
Our plan is to pass Saturday night on the boat, go over from
Acquia Creek to your camp Sunday morning, remain with you till
Tuesday morning and then return. Our party will probably not
exceed six persons of all sorts. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 11, 1863.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Is there a soldier by the name of John R. Minnick of Wynkoop's
cavalry under sentence of death, by a court martial or military
commission, in Nashville? And if so what was his offense, and
when is he to be executed? A. Lincoln.
If necessary let the execution be staid till I can be heard from
again. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 363
War Department,
Washington City, April 23, 1863.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Telegraph me the name of your candidate for West Point.
A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington City, April 23, 1863.
Hon. S. P. Chase, Philadelphia, Pa. :
Telegraph me the name of your candidate for West Point.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 29, 1863.
Hon. W. A. Newell, Allentown, N. J. :
I have some trouble about provost-marshal in your first dis
trict. Please procure Hon. Mr. Starr to come with you and sea
me, or come to an agreement with him and telegraph me the result.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 4, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
Our friend General Sigel claims that you owe him a letter. It
you so remember please write him at once. He is here. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 5, 1863.
Hon. 0. M. Hatch, Springfield, HI.:
Your dispatch of March 9th recommending provost-marshals,
reads 9th District Benj. F. Weist, Pittsfield, HI. Should it not
be Benj. F. Westlake? Answer. Jno. G. Nicolay.
War Department,
Washington City, May 11, 1863.
Major-General Dix:
Do the Richmond papers have anything about Grand Gulf or
Vicksburg? A. Lincoln.

364 LIFE OF LINCOLN
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, May 11, 1863.
Major-General Butterfield :
About what distance is it from the observatory we stopped at
last Thursday, to the line of enemies works you ranged the glass
upon for me? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 12, 1863.
Governor Seymour, Albany, N. Y.:
Dr. Swinburne and Mr. Gillett are here having been refused,
as they say, by the War Department, permission to go to the Army
of the Potomac. They now appeal to me saying you wish them
to go. I suppose they have been excluded by a rule which expe
rience has induced the department to deem proper, still they shall
have leave to go, if you say you desire it. Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 13, 1863.
Dr. A. G. Henry, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
Governor Chase's feelings were hurt by my action in his ab
sence. Smith is removed, but Governor Chase wishes to name his
successor, and asks a day or two to make the designation. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, May 16, 1863.
Hon. James Guthrie, Louisville, Ky.:
Your dispatch of to-day is received. I personally know nothing
of Colonel Churchill, but months ago and more than once he has
been represented to me as exerting a mischievous influence at
Saint Louis, for which reason I am unwilling to force his con
tinuance there against the judgment of our friends on the ground,
but if it will oblige you, he may come to, and remain at Louisville
upon taking the oath of allegiance, and your pledge for his good
behavior. A. Lincoln.
Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.
War Department, Washington City, May 16, 1863.
Hon. Secretary of War.
My Dear Sm : The commander of the Department at St. Louis
has ordered several persons south of our military lines, which order

APPENDIX

365

is not disapproved by me. Yet at the special request of Hon. James
Guthrie I have consented to one of the number, Samuel Churchill,
remaining at Louisville, Ky., upon condition of his taking the
oath of allegiance and Mr. Guthrie's word of honor for his good
behavior. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by 0. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
War Department,
Washington City, May 21, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
In the case of Thomas M. Campbell, convicted as a spy, let ex
ecution of the sentence be respited until further order from me,
he remaining in custody meanwhile. A. Lincoln.
Major-General Burnside:
Please acknowledge receipt of above telegram and time of de
livery. Tho. T. Eckert.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 22, 1863.
General Quincy A. Gilmore, New York City:
The President of the United States desires that you shall come
here to see him on your way to Kentucky. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, May 24, 1863—10.40 p. m.
Anson Stager, Cleveland, Ohio:
Late last night Fuller telegraphed you, as you say, that "the
stars and stripes float over Vicksburg and the victory is com
plete." Did he know what he said, or did he say it without know
ing it? Your dispatch of this afternoon throws doubt upon it.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 25, 1863.
Colonel Haggard, Nashville, Tenn.:
Your dispatch to Green Adams had just been shown to me. Gen
eral Rosecrans knows better than we can know here, who should
be in charge of the Fifth Cavalry. A. Lincoln.

366 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, May 26, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
Your dispatch about Campbell, Lyle and others received and
postponement ordered by you approved. I will consider and tele
graph you again in a few days. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 27, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
Let the execution of William B. Compton be respited or sus
pended till further order from me, holding him in safe custody
meanwhile. On receiving this notify me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 27, 1863.
Governor Buckingham, Hartford, Conn. :
The execution of Warren Whitemarch is hereby respited or sus
pended until further order from me, he to be held in safe custody
meanwhile. On receiving this notify me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 28, 1863.
Hon. Erastus Corning, Albany, N. Y.:
The letter of yourself and others dated the 19th and inclosing
the resolutions of a public meeting held at Albany on the 16th
was received night before last. I shall give the resolutions the
consideration you ask, and shall try to find time and make a re
spectful response. Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 1, 1863.
Colonel Ludlow, Fort Monroe:
Richardson and Brown, correspondents of the Tribune captured
at Vicksburg, are detained at Richmond. Please ascertain why
they are detained, and get them off if you can. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 2, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
It is said that Philip Margraf, in your army, is under sentence
to be shot on Friday the 5th instant as a deserter. If so please
send me up the record of his case at once. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 367
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 4, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
Let execution of sentences in the cases of Daily, Margraff and
Harrington, be respited till further order from me, they remain
ing in close custody meanwhile. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 4, 1863.
Major-General Butterfteld:
The news you send me from the Richmond Sentinel of the 3d
must be greatly if not wholly incorrect. The Thursday mentioned
was the 28th, and we have dispatches here directly from Vicksburg
of the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st, and while they speak of the siege
progressing, they speak of no assault or general fighting what
ever, and in fact they so speak as to almost exclude the idea that
there can have been any since Monday the 25th, which was not
very heavy. Neither do they mention any demand made by Grant
upon Pemberton for a surrender. They speak of our troops as
being in good health, condition and spirits. Some of them do say
that Banks has Port Hudson invested. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 5, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
Would you like to have Capt. Treadwell Moore, now in Cali
fornia, to report to you for duty? A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 6, 1863.
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Grimsley, Springfield, HL:
Is your John ready to enter the Naval school? If he is tele
graph me his full name. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 6, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe, Va.:
By noticing the news you send from the Richmond Dispatch
of this morning you will see one of the very latest dispatches says
they have nothing reliable from Vicksburg since Sunday. Now
we here have a dispatch from there of Sunday and others of almost
every day preceding since the investment, and while they show
the siege progressing they do not show any general fighting since
the 21st and 22d. We have nothing from Port Hudson later than
the 29th when things looked reasonably well for us. I have thought
this might be of some interest to you. A. Lincoln.

368 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 8, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Fort Monroe :
We have dispatches from Vicksburg of the 3d. Siege progress
ing. No general fighting recently. All well. Nothing new from
Port Hudson. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 8, 1863.
Major-General Drx, Fort Monroe:
The substance of the news sent of fight at Port Hudson on the
27th we have had here three or four days, and I supposed you
had it also, when I said this morning, " No news from Port Hud
son." We knew that General Sherman was wounded, but we
hoped not so dangerously as your dispatch represents. We still
have nothing of that Richmond newspaper story of Kirby Smith
crossing and of Banks losing an arm. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 9, 1863.
Hon. John P. Hale, Dover, N. H.:
I believe that it was upon your recommendation that B. B.
Bunker was appointed attorney for Nevada Territory. I am
pressed to remove him on the ground that he does not attend to
the office, nor in fact pass much time in the Territory. Do you
wish to say anything on the subject? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 9, 1863.
Mrs. Lincoln, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Think you had better put " Tad's " pistol away. I had an ugly
dream about him. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 9, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
I am told there are 50 incendiary shells here at the arsenal
made to fit the 100-pounder Parrott gun now with you. K this be
true would you like to have the shells sent to you? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
,r T „  Washington, June 11, 1863.
Mrs. Lincoln, Philadelphia:
Your three dispatches received. I am very well and am glad
to know that you and "Tad" are so. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 369
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 12, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
li you can show me a trial of the Incendiary shells on Saturday
night I will try to join you at 5 p. m. that day. Answer. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 13, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
I was coming down this afternoon, but if yov would prefer I
should not, I shall blame you if you do not tell me so. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. 0., June 14, 1863.
General Tyler, Martinsburg:
Is Molroy invested, so that he cannot fall back to Harper's
Ferry? A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 14, 1863.
General Tyler, Martinsburg:
If you are besieged how do you dispatch me? Why did you not
leave before being besieged? A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 14, 1863.
Major-General Kelley, Harper's Ferry:
Are the forces at Winchester and Martirisburg making any effort
to get to you! A. Lincoln.
War Department, June 15, 1863.
Mrs. Lincoln, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Tolerably well. Have not rode out much yet, but have at last
got new tires on the carriage wheels and perhaps shall ride out
soon. A- Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., June 16, 1863 — 5.35 p. m.
General Tyler, Harper's Ferry:
Please answer as soon as you can the following inquiries which
General Hooker makes. A. Lincoln.
(24)

37°

LIFE OF LINCOLN

War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 16, 1863.

Horrace Binney, Jr., Philadelphia:
I sent General Cadwallader some hours ago to the Secretary of
War, and general-in-chief with the question you ask. I have not
heard the result. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 16, 1863.
Frederick Kapp and Others, New York:
The Governor of New York promises to send us troops and if
he wishes the assistance of General Fremont and General Sigel,
one or both, he can have it. If he does not wish them it would but
breed confusion for us to set them to work independently of him.
A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 16, 1863.
General T. Francis Meagher, New York:
Your dispatch received. Shall be very glad for you to raise
3,000 Irish troops if done by the consent of, and in concert with
Governor Seymour. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C, June 16, 1863.
Mrs. Lincoln, Philadelphia:
It is a matter of choice with yourself whether you come home.
There is no reason why you should not, that did not exist when
you went away. As bearing on the question of your coming home,
I do not think the raid into Pennsylvania amounts to anything at
alL A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 16, 1863.
Col. William S. Bliss, New York Hotel :
Your dispatch asking whether I will accept "the Loyal Bri
gade of the North" is received. I never heard of that brigade
by name and do not know where it is, yet presuming it is in New
York, I say I will gladly accept it, if tendered by and with the
consent and approbation of the Governor of that State. Other
wise not. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 37 1
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 17, 1863.
Major-General Hooker:
Mr. Eckert, superintendent in the telegraph office, assures me
that he has sent, and will send you everything that comes to the
office. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 18, 1863.
Joshua Tevis, Esq., U. S. Attorney, Frankfort, Ky. :
A Mr. Buckner is here showing a record and asking to be dis
charged from a suit in San Francisco, as bail for one Thompson.
Unless the record shown me is defectively made out I think it
can be successfully defended against. Please examine the case
carefully, and if you shall be of opinion it cannot be sustained,
dismiss it and relieve me from all trouble about it. Please answer.
A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 18, 1863.
Governor D. Tod, Columbus, Ohio:
Yours received. I deeply regret that you were not renominated,
not that I have aught against Mr. Brough. On the contrary like
yourself, I say hurrah for him. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 18, 1863.
General A. Dingman, Belleville, C. W. :
Thanks for your offer of the Fifteenth Battalion. I do not
think Washington is in danger. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 21, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
I write you to-day in answer to your dispatch of yesterday. H
you cannot await the arrival by mail telegraph me again. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 23, 1863.
Major VanVltet, New York:
Have you any idea what the news is in the dispatch of General
Banks to General Halleck? A. Lincoln.

372 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department, June 24, 186b.
Major-General Couch, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Have you any reports of the enemy moving into Pennsylvania 4
And if any what? A. Lincoln.
Washington, June 24, 1863.
Major-General Dix, Yorktown, Va. :
We have a dispatch from General Grant of the 19th. Don't think
Kirby Smith took MiUiken's Bend since, allowing time -to get the
news to Joe Johnston and from him to Richmond. But it is not
absolutely impossible. Also have news from Banks to the 16th,
I think. He had not run away then, nor thought of it.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 25, 1863.
General Peck, Suffolk, Va.:
Colonel Derrom, of the Twenty-fifth New Jersey Volunteers,
now mustered out, says there is a man in your hands under con
viction for desertion, who formerly belonged to the above named
regiment, and whose name is Templeton, Isaac F. Templeton, I
believe. The colonel and others appeal to me for him. Please
telegraph to me what is the condition of the case, and if he has
not been executed send me the record of the trial and conviction.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 25, 1863.
Major-General Slocum, Leesburg, Va.:
Was William Gruvier, Company A, Forty-sixth Pennsylvania,
one of the men executed as a deserter last Friday ? A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Washington, June 26, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
What is the case of " William Waller," at Maysville, Ky. ?
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, June 27, 1863 — 8 a. m.
Major-General Hooker:
It did not come from the newspapers, nor did I believe it but
I wished to be entirely sure it was a falsehood. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

373

Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 28, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
There is nothing going on in Kentucky on the subject of which
you telegraph, except an enrollment. Before anything is done be
yond this, I will take care to understand the case better than I
now do. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, June 28, 1863.
Governor J. T. Boyle, Cincinnati, Ohio:
There is nothing going on in Kentucky on the subject of which
you telegraph, except an enrollment. Before anything is done
beyond this, I will take care to understand the case better than
I now do. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0, June 28, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
Every place in the Naval school subject to my appointment is
full and I have one unredeemed promise of more than half a year's
standing. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 30, 1863.
Governor Parker, Trenton, N. J.:
Your dispatch of yesterday received. I really think the alti
tude of the enemies army in Pennsylvania presents us the best
opportunity we have had since the war began. I think you will
not see the foe in New Jersey. I beg you to be assured that no
one out of my position can know so well as if he were in it, the
difficulties and involvments of replacing General McClellan in
command, and this aside from any imputations upon him. Please
accept my sincere thanks for what you have done and are doing
to get troops forward. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, June 30, 1863.
A. K. McClure, Philadelphia:
Do we gain anything by opening one leak to stop another? Do
we gain anything by quieting one clamor merely to open another,
and probably a larger one? A. Lincoln.

374 LIFE OF LINCOLN
(Cypher) Washington City, June 30, 1863—3.25 p. m.
Major-General Couch, Harrisburg, Pa.:
I judge by absence of news that the enemy is not crossing or
pressing up to the Susquehanna. Please tell me what you know
of his movements. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 3, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Cincinnati, Ohio:
Private Downey, of the Twentieth or Twenty-sixth Kentucky
Infantry, is said to have been sentenced to be shot for desertion
to-day. H so, respite the execution until I can see the record.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 3, 1863.
Robert T. Lincoln, Esq., Cambridge, Mass. :
Don't be uneasy. Your Mother very slightly hurt by her falL
A. L.
Please send at once.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 5, 1863.
Major-General French, Frederick Town, Md. :
I see your dispatch about destruction of pontoons. Cannot the
enemy ford the river ? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 7, 1863.
J. K. Dubois and Others, Springfield, HI. :
An appointment of Chesley at Danville had already been made
and gone forward for enrollment commissioner of Seventh Dis
trict when your dispatch arrived. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 8, 1863.
E. Delafield Smith, New York:
Your kind dispatch on behalf of self and friends is gratefully
received. Capture of Vicksburg confirmed by dispatch from Gen
eral Grant himself. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

375

War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 8, 1863.
Hon. F. F. Low, San Francisco, Cal.:
There is no doubt that General Meade, now commanding the
Army of the Potomac, beat Lee at Gettysburg, Pa., at the end
of a three days' battle, and that the latter is now crossing the
Potomac at Williamsport over the swollen stream and with poor
means of crossing, and closely pressed by Meade. We also have
dispatches rendering it entirely certain that Vicksburg surrendered
to General Grant on the glorious old 4th. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, D. C, July 9, 1863.
Hon. Leonard Swett, Hon. F. F. Low, San Francisco, Cal. :
Consult together and do not have a riot, or great difficulty about
delivering possession. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, July 11, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
How many rebel prisoners captured within Maryland and Penn
sylvania have reached Baltimore within this month of July ?
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 11, 1863.
R. T. Lincoln, New York, Fifth Avenue Hotel:
Come to Washington. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 12, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
You seem to misunderstand the nature of the objection to Gen
eral Tremble's going to Baltimore. His going there is opposed
to prevent his meeting his traitorous associates there. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 14, 1863.
Robert T. Lincoln, New York, Fifth Avenue Hotel :
Why do I hear no more of you? A. Lincoln.

376 LIFE OF LINCOLN
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, July 15, 1863.
Hon. L. Swett, San Francisco, Cal. :
Many persons are telegraphing me from California, begging me
for the peace of the State to suspend the military enforcement
of the writ of possession in the Almedan case, while you are the
single one who urges the contrary. You know I would like to
oblige you, but it seems to me my duty in this case is the other
way. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington City, July 15, 1863.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa. :
Your dispatch of yesterday received. Lee was already across
the river when you sent it. I would give much to be relieved of
the impression that Meade, Couch, Smith, and all since the battle
at Gettysburg, have striven only to get Lee over the river without
another fight. Please tell me, if you know, who was the one corps
commander who was for fighting in the council of war on Sunday
night. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863.
Robert A. Maxwell, 1032 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia:
Your dispatch of to-day is received, but 1 do not understand it.
A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, July 18, 1863.
Governor O. P. Morton, Indianapolis:
What do you remember about the case of John O. Brown, con
victed of mutinous conduct and sentenced to death? What do
you desire about it? A. Lincoln.
New York, July 28, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York:
Bob went to Fort Monroe and only got back to-day. Will start
to you at 11 a. m. to-morrow. All well. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 30. 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Please suspend execution of Peter Schalowsky, Company B, For
ty-fifth New York Regiment Volunteers, till further order and
send me record of his conviction. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

377

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 3, 1863.
Major-General Foster, (or whoever may be in command of the
military department with headquarters at Fort Monroe, Va. :)
H Dr. Wright on trial at Norfolk, has been or shall be convicted,
send me a transcript of his trial and conviction and do not let
execution be done upon him until my further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 4, 1863.
Hon. John A. Bingham, Cadiz, Ohio:
It is indispensable for us to have a judge at Key West as soon
as possible. Please inform me whether you will go.
¦ A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 5, 1863.
Cincinnati Gazette:
Please send me your present posting as to Kentucky election.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 15, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va.:
I think you are right in placing " little reliance in the report,"
still the question is so interesting that I would like to know if the
captain of the Hudson gave any particulars how he got his news
and the like. Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, August 17, 1863.
General W. K. Strong, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Please send me a transcript of the record in the case McQuin
and Bell, under sentence of death by a commission of which you
were the head. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, August 17, 1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.:
The appointment of Colonel Gillam to be a brigadier-general has
been ordered. A. Lincoln.

378 LIFE OF LINCOLN
(Private.)
Hon. James Conkling. War Department,
Washington City, D. C, August 17, 1863.
My Dear Conkling: I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a
letter instead. You are one of the best public readers. I have but
one suggestion — read it very slowly. And now God bless you, and
all good Union men. Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
(From Herndon's " Life of Lincoln." Permission of Jesse Weik.)
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 20, 1863.
Hon. James C. Conkling, Springfield, HI.:
Your letter of the 14th is received. I think I will go or send
a letter, probably the latter. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 20, 1863.
General A. J. Hamilton, (of Texas) New York:
Telegraph me the name of a boy or young man who you would
like to have appointed to West Point. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 21, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.:
At this late moment I am appealed to in behalf of William
Thompson of Company K, Third Maryland Volunteers, in Twelfth
Army Corps, said to be at Kelly's Ford, under sentence to be shot
to-day as a deserter. He is represented to me to be very young,
with symptoms of insanity. Please postpone the execution till
further order. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, August 22, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Please send me if you can a transcript of the record in the case
of McQuin and Bell, convicted of murder by a military commis
sion. I telegraphed General Strong for it, but he does not answer.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 24, 1863.
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Grimsley, Springfield, HI. :
I mail the papers to you to-day appointing Johnny to the Naval
school. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 379
War Department,
Washington, D. C, 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.
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.
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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 29, 1863.
Ben. Field, Esq., Syracuse, N. Y. :
I send you by mail to-day a copy of the Springfield letter.
A. 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 en
tirely-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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 31, 1863.
Hon. James C. Conkling, Springfield, HL:
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, &c," what fol
lows below my signature hereto. A. Lincoln.

380 LIFE OF 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 abo
litionism, or with Republican party politics, but who hold them
purely as military opinions. I submit these opinions as being en
titled to some weight against the objections, often urged, that
emancipation, and arming the blacks, are unwise as military meas
ures, and were not adopted as such in good faith."
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 31, 1863.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lauck, Munfordsville, Ky.:
Let the execution of Thomas E. Coleman and Charles Johns,
be suspended until further order from here. Acknowledge receipt
of this. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 31, 1863.
Col. A. G. Hobson, Bowling Green, Ky. :
I have telegraphed Lieutenant-Colonel Lauck, at Munfords
ville, to suspend the execution of Coleman and Johns until fur
ther order from here. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, August 31, 1863.
H. B. Wilson and Others, Camden N. J. :
Will grant you an interview on Wednesday or sooner. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 3, 1863.
Hon. James C. Conkling, Springfield, HI.:
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.
Washington, D. C, September 3, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, Vt. :
The Secretary of War tells me he has telegraphed General
Doubleday to await further orders. We are all well and have noth
ing new. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 381
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 5, 1863.
Hon. Joseph Segar, Fort Monroe, Va. :
I have just seen your dispatch to the Secretary of War, who is
absent, i also send a dispatch from Major Hayner of the 3d
showing that he had notice of my order, and stating that the peo
ple were jubilant over it, as a victory over the Government ex
torted by fear, and that he had already collected about 4,000 of
the money. If he has proceeded since I shall hold him accounta
ble for his contumacy. On the contrary no dollar shall be re
funded by my order until it shall appear that my act in the case
has been accepted in the right spirit. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 6, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore:
The Secretary of War is absent. Please direct or order that the
collection of the light house be suspended, and that the money
already collected be held, both till further order. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 6, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Manchester, Vt.:
All well and no news except that General Burnside has Knox
ville, Tenn. A. Lincoln.
Exequtive 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.
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.

38a

LIFE OF LINCOLN
Washington, D. C, September 11, 1863.

Vice President Hamlin, Bangor, Me.:
Your letter of August 22, to be presented by your son Cyrus is
on my table, but I have not seen him, or know of his being here
recently. A Lincoln.

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 Mon
day. It is also said his supposed desertion is comprised in an ab
sence commencing with his falling behind last winter, being cap
tured and paroled by the enemy, and then going home. 1£ this
be near the truth, please suspend the execution till further order
and send me the record of the trial A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 12, 1863.
General Geary, Kelly's Ford:
Please tell me what you know or believe as to the conduct and
disposition of E. Jacquelin Smith, residing near Salem on the
Manassas Gap Railroad. A. Lincoln.

Washington, D. C, September 12, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Warrenton, Va.:
The name is " Thomas Edds " not " Eddies " as in your dis
patch. 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
Burnsides' mud march last winter. H I get further information
I will telegraph again. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 13, 1863.
Hon. J. K. Dubois, Hon. O. M. Hatch:
What nation do you desire General Allen to be made quarter
master-general of? This nation already has a quartermaster*
general A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 383
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 13, 1863.
Dr. John P. Gray, Norfolk, Va.:
The names of those whose affidavits are left with me on the
question of Dr. Wright's sanity are as follows:
Mrs. Jane C. Bolsom, Mrs. M. E. Smiley, Moses Hudgin, J. D.
Ghislin, Jr., Felix Logue, Robert B. Tunstall, M. D., Mrs. Eliza
beth Rooks, Dr. E. D. Granier, Thomas K. Murray, William J.
Holmes, Miss Margaret E. Wigeon, Mrs. Emily S. Frost. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 13, 1863.
Dr. WnjJAM H. H Scott, Danville, El. :
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.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 15, 1863.
J. G. Blaine, Augusta, Me.:
Thanks both for the good news you send and for the sending
of it. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, September 16, 1863.
Mrs. J. F. Speed, Louisville, Ky.:
Mr. Holman will not be jostled from his place with my knowl
edge and consent. A. Lincoln.
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 fea
tures of the case. A. Lincoln.
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 mis
conduct of the people on the Eastern shore of Virginia. He has
not returned. Please send him over. A. Lincoln.

384 LIFE OF LINCOLN 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 Jer
sey Volunteers, by Governor Parker, Attorney-General Freeling-
hoysen, Governor Newell, Hon. Mr. Middleton, M. C, of the dis
trict 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 Freelinghoy-
sen, and Hon. Marcus C. Ward. Please state the circumstances of
their cases to me. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 18, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn. :
Dispatch 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-op
eration with, and not independently of the military authorities.
A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, September 18, 1863.
C. M. Smith, Esq., Springfield, HI.:
Why not name him for the general you fancy most ? This is mj
suggestion. A. Lincoln.
Washington, September 18, 1863.
Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, Petersburg, HL:
I have just ordered the discharge of your boy William as you
say, now at Louisville, Ky. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 19, 1863.
Hughey Gallagher, Philadelphia, Pa. :
I know nothing as to John Gallagher. The law does not require
this class of cases to come before me, and they do not come unless
brought by the friends of the condemned. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 385
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.

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.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., September 21, 1863.
Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va.:
I would be glad to have your opinion whether it would be good
policy to refund the money collected from the people of East
Virginia, as indemnity for the light house depredation. I believe
you once gave me your opinion on the point, but I am not entirely
sure. Please answer. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 21, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of John H. Williams, Company D,
Fourth Regiment Maryland Volunteers, First Corps, who is said
to be under sentence of death, to be executed on the 25th for de
sertion. The appeal is made on the ground of unsoundness of
mind. Please give me briefly the facts and your views. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 22, 1863.
Military Officer in Command, Cumberland, Md.:
It is represented to me that one Dennis McCarty, is at Cumber
land under sentence of death, but that the time is not yet fixed
for his execution. Please answer telling me whether this state
ment is correct, and also if an order shall come to you for his exe
cution, notify me of it at once by teleeraph. A. Lincoln.
(25)

3§6 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 22, 1863.
Hon O. M. Hatch, Hon. J. K. Dubois, Springfield, HL :
Your letter is just received. The particular form of my dispatch
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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 22, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Fifth Avenue House, New York:
Did you receive my dispatch 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. An
swer this on receipt. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 23, 1883.
Thomas Davies, Indianapolis, Ind.:
Forward your petition and record of trial immediately. There
is time for them to reach before the 1st of next month. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 24, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in favor of a private (name not remembered)
in Company D, First Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, in Sixth
Corps, who is said to be under sentence to be shot to-morrow.
Please give me briefly the facts of the case, including his age and
your opinion on it. A. Lincoln.
P. S. — Also give me a like statement in the case of Daniel Sul
livan, of Thirteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, First
Army Corps. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 25t 1863.
General McCallum, Alexandria, Va. :
I have sent to General Meade, by telegraph, to suspend the exe
cution of Daniel Sullivan of Company E, Thirteenth Massachu-

APPENDIX ^7
setts, which was to be to-day, but understanding there is an inter
ruption on the line, may I beg you to send this to him by the quick
est mode in your power ? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 25, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
Please send Major Hayner over now. A. Lincoln.
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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 26, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of Adam Wolf, private in Company
H, Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment. Please answer as you
have done in other cases. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 29, 1863.
Officer in Command at Indianapolis, Ind. :
Please suspend execution of Adam Davies till further order from
me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 30, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Following dispatch just received:
Union Men Driven Out of Missouri.
Leavenworth, September 29. — Governor Gamble having author
ized Colonel Moss, of Liberty, Mo., to arm the men in Platte and
Clinton Counties, he has armed mostly the returned rebel sol
diers and men under bonds. Moss' men are now driving the Union

388 LIFE OF LINCOLN
men out of Missouri. Over one hundred families crossed the rivei
to-day. Many of the wives of our Union soldiers have been conv
polled to leave. Four or five Union men have been murdered by
Colonel Moss' men.
Please look to this and if true, in whole or part put a stop to it.
A. Lincoln.
Francis S. Corkran, Baltimore, Md.
Executive Mansion, Washington, Sept. 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.
(Original owned by Clarence G. Corkran, Lutherville, Md.)

Executive Mansion,
Washington City, D. C, October 1, 1863.
Governor Bradford, Baltimore, Md.:
Please be here in person at 12 m. Saturday to fix up definitely
in writing the matter about which Mr. Johnson and Governor
Hicks brings a communication from you. A. Lincoln.
Please repeat to Annapolis. A. L.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 1, 1863.
General Tyler, Baltimore:
Take care of colored troops in your charge, but do nothing fur
ther about that branch of affairs until further orders. Particu
larly do nothing about General Vickers of Kent County. A. Lincoln.
Send a copy to Colonel Birney. A. L.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 1, 1863 — 4.20 p. m,
Thomas A. Scott, Louisville, Ky.:
Tell me how things have advanced so far as you know. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

389

Executive Mansion,
October 1, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Let respite of ten days be granted to Herman Barber, alias E. W.
Von Heinecke, sentenced to be shot to-morrow for desertion.A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Send by telegraph at once.
(Cypher) 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 in
clude the free colored. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. 0, October 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Have you a man in jeopardy as a deserter by the name William
T. Evers, private in Company D, Brooklyn Fourteenth State Mil
itia, or Eighty-fourth Volunteers? If you have please send me
the facts and conditions of his case. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 4, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of Daniel Hanson, of Ninety-seventh
New York, said to be under sentence of death for desertion. Please
inform me as usual. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 5, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Yesterday I inquired of you about Daniel Hanson, private in
Ninety-seventh New York, said to be under sentence of death for
desertion. I fear you did not receive the dispatch. Please answer.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 7, 1863.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Term:
What news have you from Rosecrans' army, or in that direction
beyond Nashville? A. Lincoln-

390 LIFE OF LINCOLN 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.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 8, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of John Murphy, to be shot to
morrow. His mother says he is but seventeen. Please answer.
A. Lincoln.

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 Vol
unteers. The father signs the name "Blittersdorf." I can tell
no more. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 11, 1863 — 9.50 a. m.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
How is it now? A. Lincoln.
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 affi
davits that he was born June 22, 1846, and also the affidavits of
three other persons who all swear that they remembered the cir
cumstances 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.

APPENDIX 391
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 manceuvering of the two
armies and to pretty heavy skirmishing on Saturday, Sunday and
Monday. We have frequent dispatches from General Meade, and
up to 10 o'clock last night nothing had happened giving either
side any marked advantage. Our army reported to be in excellent
condition. The telegraph is open to General Meade's camp this
morning, but we have not troubled him for a dispatch. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 13, 1863.
Hon. J. K. Moorehead, Pittsburg, Pa.:
Not unless you think it necessary. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 14, 1863—3.35.
Wayne McVeigh, Philadelphia:
How does it stand now? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C.
Governor Curtin, Harrisburg, Pa.:
How does it stand ? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington City, October 15, 1863.
Hon. James W. Grimes, Burlington, Iowa:
Thanks for your Iowa election news. I suppose you know that
Pennsylvania and Ohio are all right. Governor Morton telegraphs
that county elections in Indiana have gone largely in the same
direction. , A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 15, 1863.
Maj. Herman Keitez, Cumberland, Md. :
Suspend execution of Dennis McCarty till further order from
here. If McCarty has been removed send this to the officer where
he is. A. Lincoln.

392 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 15, 1863.
L. B. Todd, Lexington, Ky.:
I send the following pass to your care. A. Lincoln.
" Washington, D. C, October 15, 1863.
To whom it may concern :
Allow Mrs. Robert S. Todd, widow, to go South and bring her
daughter Mrs. General B. Hardin Helm, with her children north
to Kentucky. A. Lincoln.
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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 15, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomae :
On the 4th instant you telegraphed me that Private Daniel Han
son, 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 Blit
tersdorf, whom you say is enlisted in the One hundred and nine
teenth 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 discre
tion. 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 dispatch of 12th pardoning
John Murphy? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 16, 1863.
Hon. S. P. Chase, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio:
If Judge Lawrence cannot go to Key West at once, I shall have
to appoint another. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

393

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.
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 dispatch of to-day. In fact I do not remem
ber, if I ever knew who you are, and I have very little concep
tion as to what you are telegraphing about. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 16, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Have you in custody for desertion a man by the name of Jacob
Schwarz, a Swiss ? If so please send a short statement of his case.
Neither his company, regiment or corps is given me. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 17, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Knoxville, Tenn.:
I am greatly interested to know how many new troops of all
sorts you have raised in Tennessee. Please inform me. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 17, 1863.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa.:
I forgot to notify you that your dispatch of day before yesterday
was duly received, and immediately attended to in the best way
we could think of. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 17, 1863.
Major-General Slocum, Stevenson, Ala.:
Please have a medical examination made of William Brown,
private in Company 0, Fifth Connecticut Volunteers, and report
the result to me. A. Lincoln.

394 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 17, 1863.
Hon. William B. Thomas, Philadelphia, Pa.:
I am grateful for your offer of 100,000 men, but as at present
advised I do not consider that Washington is in danger, or that
there is any emergency requiring 60 or 90 days men. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 17, 1863.
Major-General Foster, Fort Monroe, Va. :
It would be useless for Mrs. Dr. Wright to come here. The sub
ject is a very painful one, but the case is settled. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington City, D. C, October 18, 1863.
T. C. Durant, New York :
As I do with others, so I will try to see you when you come.
A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 20, 1863.
Col. Donn Putt, Baltimoiv, Md. :
If the young men seem to know anything of importance, send
them over. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 20, 1863.
Major-General Burnside,
Brig. Gen. J. T. Boyle, Louisville, Ky.:
Let execution of sentence of Lee W. Long be suspended until
further order. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 22, 1863.
Military Commander, Evansville, Ind. :
A certain Major Long, I believe Lee W. Long, is by sentence of
court-martial, or military commission, to be executed soon On the
30th instant, I think at Evansville. I have directed execution of
the sentence to be suspended till further order. Please act accord
ingly. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 395
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 25, 1863.
General J. T. Boyle, Louisville, Ky. :
Let the order suspending the execution of Long apply also to the
case of Woolf oik. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 28, 1863.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Term.:
H not too inconvenient, please come at once and have a personal
conversation with me. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 29, 1863.
T. J. Carter, New York:
I made your appointment yesterday, and the Secretary of the
Interior undertook to send it to you. I suppose it will reach you
to-day. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 29, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac :
I see in a newspaper that you have recently approved sentences
of death for desertion of Thomas Sands, James Haley, H. H. Wil
liams, Mathias Brown, alias Albert Brown, H. C. Beardsley, and
George F. Perkins. Several of these are persons in behalf of whom
appeals have been made to me. Please send me a short statement
of each one of the cases, stating the age of each, so far as you can.
A. Lincoln.

Hon James W. Grimes.
Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, Oct. 29, 1863.
Hon. James W. Grimes.
My Dear Sm: The above act of congress was passed, as I sup
pose, for the purpose of shutting out improper applicants for seats
in the House of Representatives; and I fear there is some danger
that it will be used to shut out proper ones. Iowa, having an en
tire Union delegation, will be one of the States the attempt will
be made, if upon any. The Governor doubtless has made out the
certificates, and they are already in the hands of the members. I
suggest that they come on with them; but that, for greater caution,

396 LIFE OF LINCOLN
you, and perhaps Mr. Harlan with you, consult with the Governor,
and have an additional set made out according to the form on
the other half of this sheet; and still another set, if you can, by
studying the law, think of a form that in your judgment, promises
additional security, and quietly bring the whole on with you, to
be used in case of necessity. Let what you do be kept still.
Yours truly,A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Hist. Dept. of Iowa. Loaned by Charles
Aldrich, Des Moines, Iowa.)
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. 0, October 30, 1863..
Hon. F. F. Lowe, San Francisco, Cal. :
Below is an act of Congress, passed last session, intended to ex
clude applicants not entitled to seats, but which there is reason to
fear, will be used to exclude some who are entitled. Please get with
the Governor and one or two other discreet friends, study the act
carefully, and make certificates in two or three forms, according to
your best judgment, and have them sent to me, so as to multiply the
chances of the delegation getting their seats. Let it be done with
out publicity. Below is a form which may answer for one. If you
could procure the same to be done for the Oregon member it might
be well. A. Lincoln.
Act to regulate the duties of the clerk of the House of Repre
sentatives in preparing for the Organization of the House.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, before the
first meeting of the next Congress, and of every subsequent Con
gress, the Clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives
shall make a roll of the representatives elect and place thereon the
names of all persons, and of such persons only, whose credentials
show that they were regularly elected in accordance with the laws
of their States respectively, or the law of the United States.
Approved March 3, 1863. By His Excellency 
Governor of the State of California.
I,  Governor of the State of California, do hereby
certify and make known that the following persons, namely :
Names. Districts.
have been regularly elected members of the House of Representa
tives of the United States for the Thirty-eighth Congress, and for

APPENDIX

397

the districts above mentioned, in accordance with the laws of the
said State and of the United States, and that they only have been
so elected.
IN TESTIMONY THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the  seal of the said State to be affixed.

Secretary of State. Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 30, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac :
Much obliged for the information about deserters contained in
your dispatch of yesterday, while I have to beg your pardon for
troubling you in regard to some of them, when, as it appears by
yours, I had the means of answering my own questions. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 31, 1863.
Hon. Abram Wakeman, New York:
Hanscom's dispatch just received. Have made careful inquiry
as to the truth of assertions you refer to and find them unfounded.
The provost-marshal-general has issued no proclamation at all. He
has in no form announced anything recently in regard to troops in
New York, except in his letter to Governor Seymour of October 21,
which has been published in the newspapers of that State.
John Hay.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 31, 1863-
Saint Nicholas Hotel Office, New York:
Not knowing whether Colonel Parsons could be spared from duty
elsewhere to come to Washington, I referred Governor Yates's dis
patch to the Secretary of War, who I presume still holds it under
advisement. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 31, 1863.
L. B. Todd, Lexington, Ky. :
I sent the pass by telegraph more than ten days ago. Did you
not receive it? A. Lincoln*

398 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C., November 1, 1863.
J. B. Sheppard, Harper's Ferry, Md. :
Yours of this morning received, and the Secretary of War is at
tending to your request. A. Lincoln.
.. War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 1, 1863.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Auburn, N. Y.:
No important news. Details of Hooker's night fight do great
credit to his command, and particularly to the Eleventh Corps
and Geary's part of the Twelfth. No discredit on any. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington City, November 3, 1863.
Abram Requa, New York:
I know nothing whatever of Lieutenant Lobring, about whose
case you telegraph. A Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, November 3, 1863.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Auburn, N. Y.:
Nothing new. Dispatches up to 12 last night from Chattanooga
show all quiet and doing well. How is your son ? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Samuel Wellers, private in Company B, Forty-ninth Pennsyl
vania Volunteers, writes that he is to be shot for desertion on the
6th instant. His own story is rather a bad one, and yet he tells it
so frankly, that I am somewhat interested in him. Has he been
a good soldier except the desertion ? About how old is he ?
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 5, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Please suspend the execution of Samuel Wellers, Forty-ninth
Pennsylvania Volunteers, until further orders. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 399
Executive Mansion,
Washington City, November 8, 1863.
William B. Astor, Robert B. Rosevelt, New York:
I shall be happy to give the interview to the committee as you
request. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 9, 1863.
Major Mulford, Fort Monroe :
Let Mrs. Clark go with Mrs. Todd. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 10, 1863.
General SchofdjXd, Saint Louis, Mo. :
I see a dispatch here from Saint Louis, which is a little difficult
for me to understand. It says " General Schofield has refused
leave of absence to members in military service to attend the leg
islature. All such are radical and administration men. The elec
tion of two Senators from this place on Thursday will probably
turn upon this thing." What does this mean ? Of course members
of the legislation must be allowed to attend its sessions. But
how is there a session before the recent election returns are in?
And how is it to be at "this place" — and that is Saint Louis?
Please inform me. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 11, 1863.
General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
I believe the Secretary of War has telegraphed you about mem
bers of the legislation. At all events, allow those in the service
to attend the session, and we can afterward decide whether they
can stay through the entire session. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 11, 1863.
Hon. Hiram Barney, New York:
I would like an interview with you. Can you not come ?
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 11, 1863.
John Milderborger, Peru, Ind.:
I cannot comprehend the object of your dispatch. I do not often
decline seeing people who call upon me, and probably will see you if
you calL A. Lincoln.

400 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 12, 1863.
General Vaughan, or officer in command, Lexington, Mo. :
Let execution of William H. Ogden be suspended until further
order from me. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 13, 1863.
E. H. & E. Jameson, Jefferson City, Mo.:
Yours saying Brown and Henderson are elected senators is re
ceived. I understand this is one and one. If so it is knocking
heads together to some purpose. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, November 16, 1863.
Major-General Burnsdje, Knoxville, Tenn.:
What is the news? A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Schenck, Baltimore, Md.:
It is my wish that neither Maynadier, nor Gordon be executed
without my further order. Please act upon this. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
If there is a man by the name of King under sentence to be
shot, please suspend execution till further order, and send record.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 20, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
An intelligent woman in deep distress, called this morning, saying
her husband, a lieutenant in the Army of Potomac, was to be shot
next Monday for desertion, and putting a letter in my hand, upon
which I relied for particulars, she left without mentioning a name
or other particular by which to identify the case. On opening
the letter I found it equally vague, having nothing to identify
by, except her own signature, which seems to be " Mrs. Anna S.
King." I could not again find her. If you have a case which you
shall think is probably the one intended, please apply my dispatch
of this morning to it. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 401
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, November 23, 1863.
E. P. Evans, West Union, Adams County, Ohio:
Yours to Governor Chase in behalf of John A. Welch is before
me. Can there be a worse case than to desert and with letters
persuading others to desert? I cannot interpose without a better
showing than you make. When did he desert? When did he
write the letters? A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 23, 1863.
Hon. Green Clay Smith, Covington, Ky.:
I am told that John A. Welch is under sentence as a deserter to
be shot at Covington on the 11th of December. Please bring a copy
of the record and other facts of his case with you when you come.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 24, 1863.
Military Officer in Command, Cincinnati, Ohio :
Please suspend execution of sentence against E. A. Smith, until
further order, meantime send me a copy of record of his trial.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, November 25, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Commanding Army of the Potomac:
Suspend execution in case of Adolphus Morse, Seventy-sixth
New Ycrk, deserter, and send record to me. A. Lincoln.
November 25, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
The sentence in the case of Privt. Moses Giles, Company B,
Seventh Maine Volunteers, is suspended until further orders.
A. Lincoln.
December 2, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
The sentence in the case of Privt. H. Morris Husband, Ninety-
ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, (now of Third Army Corps First
Division) is suspended until further orders. Let the record Ire
forwarded to me. A. Lincoln.
(26)

4Q2 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Please suspend execution of Frederick Foster until the record
can be examined. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Governor Seymour especially asks that Isaac C. White sentenced
to death for desertion be reprieved. I wish this done. A Lincoln.
Major-General Meade:
The sentences in the cases of Brice Birdsill, private Company
B, One hundred and twenty-fourth New York Volunteers, and
Frederick Foster, of Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, are
suspended until further orders. Let the records be forwarded at
once. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 3, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Please suspend execution in case of William A. Gammon,
Seventh Maine, and send record to me. A. Lincoln.
Send by telegraph and oblige, yours very truly,
John Hay-
Major-General Meade:
The sentences in the cases of Private John L. Keatly, and James
Halter, Company I, Second Delaware Volunteers, are suspended
until further orders. Let the records be at once forwarded. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 4, 1863 — 9 1-2 a, m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Metropolitan, New York:
All going welL A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 5, 1863 — 10 a. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
All doing well. A.. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

403

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 6, 1863.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
All doing welL A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1863 — 10.20 a. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
All doing well. Tad confidently expects you to-night. When
will you come? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1863 — 7 p. m.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
Tad has received his book. The carriage shall be ready at 6
p. m. to-morrow. A. Lincoln.
Charles P. Kirkland, New York.
Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 7, 1863.
Charles P. Kirkland, Esq., New York.
I have just received and have read your published letter to the
Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis. Under the circumstances I may not be
the most competent judge, but it appears to me to be a paper of
great ability, and for the country's sake more than for my own I
thank you for it. Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Miss Julia Kirkland, Utica, N. Y.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 9, 1863.
Judge Advocate-General:
Colonel: The President desires me to request that you will
order the execution of these men to be suspended until the records
can be examined, using the President's signature to your dispatch.
Yours truly, John Hay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 10, 1863.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Please suspend execution in any and all sentences of death
in your department until further orders. A. Lincoln.

404 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 10, 1863.
Officer in Military Command, Covington, Ky. :
Let the execution of John A. Welch, under sentence to be shot
for desertion to-morrow, be suspended until further order from here.
A. Lincoln.

December 11, 1863.
Brigadier-General Lockwood, Baltimore, Md.:
The sentences in the cases of Privates William Irons, Company
D, and Jesse Lewis, Company E, Fifth Maryland Volunteers, or
dered to be carried into execution to-day, is hereby suspended until
further orders. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 11, 1863.
General J. M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Please come to see me at once. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 11, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac:
Lieut. Col. James B. Knox, Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Re
serves, offers his resignation under circumstances inducing me to
wish to accept it. But I prefer to know your pleasure upon the
subject. Please answer. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 12, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Please suspend execution of sentence in case of William F. Good
win, Company B, Seventeenth Infantry, and forward the record
for my examination. A. Lincoln.

(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 13, 1863.
General J. M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:
On the 11th I telegraphed asking you to come here and see me.
Did you receive the dispatch? A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 405
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1863.
Major-General Meadb:
Please suspend execution in case of William Gibson, Fourth
Maine Regiment until further order and send record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1863.
Major-General Meade:
Please suspend execution of Lewis Beers, Fourteenth U. S. In
fantry, and of William J. Hazlett, One hundred and nineteenth
Pennsylvania Volunteers and send record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 15, 1863.
Mother Mary Gonyeag, Superior, Academy of Visitation, Keokuk,
Iowa:
The President has no authority as to whether you may raffle for
the benevolent object you mention. If there is no objection in the
Iowa laws, there is none here. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 17, 1863.
Major-General Hurlbut, Memphis, Tenn.:
I understand you have under sentence of death, a tall old man,
by the name of Henry F. Luckett. I personally knew him, and
did not think him a bad man. Please do not let him be executed
unless upon further order from me, and in the meantime send me a
transcript of the record. A. Lincoln.
 Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 21, 1863.
Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va. :
Please come up and see me to-day. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 21, 1863.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
It is said that William H. Blake is under sentence of death at
Fort Magruder, in your department. Do not let him be executed
without further order from me, and in the meantime have the
record sent me. He is said to belong to the First or Second Perm'
sylvania Artillery. A. Lincoln.

406 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 22, 1863.
Military Commander, Point Lookout, Md. :
If you have a prisoner by the name Linder — Daniel Linder, I
think, and certainly the son of U. F. Linder, of Hlinois, please
send him to me by an officer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 24, 1863.
Military Commander, Point Lookout, Md. :
If you send Linder to me as directed a day or two ago, also
send Edwin 0. Claybrook, of Ninth Virginia rebel cavalry.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 26, 1863.
Hon. H. F. Linder, Chicago, HL:
Your son Dan has just left me with my order to the Secretary of
War, to administer to him the oath of allegiance, discharge him
and send him to you. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 26, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Providence, R. I.:
Yours in relation to Privates Eaton and Burrows, of the Sixth
New Hampshire, is received. When you reach here about New
Year, call on me and we will fix it up, or I will do it sooner if you
say so. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 26, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac :
If Christopher Delker, of the Sixty-first Pennsylvania Volun
teers, is under sentence of death, do not execute him till further
order. Whenever it shall be quite convenient I shall be glad to
have a conference with you about this class of cases. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 29, 1863.
Major-General Burnside, Providence, R. I.:
You may telegraph Eaton and Burrows that these cases will be
disposed of according to your request when you come to Wash-
ingtoiv A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 407
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 29, 1863.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of Joseph Richardson of Forty-ninth
Pennsylvania, and Moses Chadbourne, (in some New Hampshire
Regiment) said to be under sentence for desertion. As in other
cases do not let them be executed until further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 30, 1863.
General Boyle, Louisville, Ky.:
It is said that Corporal Robert L. Crowell, of Company E, Twen
tieth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, is under sentence to be shot
on the 8th of January at Louisville. Do not let the sentence be
executed until further order from me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 30, 1863.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Jacob Bowers is fully pardoned for past offence, upon condition
that he returns to duly and re-enlists for three years or during
the war. A Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 1, 1864 — 3.30 p. m.
General Sullivan, Harper's Ferry:
Have you anything new from Winchester, Martinsburg or there
abouts! A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 2, 1864.
Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va. :
Please call and see me to-day if not too inconvenient. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 3, 1864.
Major-General Hurlbut, Memphis, Tenn.:
Suspend execution of sentence of Privt. Peter Fingle of Four
teenth Iowa Volunteers, and forward record of trial for examina
tion. A Lincoln.

408 fclFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 3, 1864.
Major-General Meade:
Suspend the execution of Prvt. Joseph Richardson, Forty-ninth
Pennsylvania Volunteers, who is sentenced to be shot to-morrow,
and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 5, 1864.
Mrs. Lincoln, Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa.:
All very well A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 5, 1864.
General Boyle, Camp Nelson, Ky.:
Execution in the cases of Burrow and Eaton is suspended, as
stated by General Burnside. Let this be taken as an order to that
effect. I do not remember receiving any appeal in behalf of God
dard, Crowell, Prickett, or Smith, and yet I may have sent a
dispatch in regard to some of them. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 5, 1864.
Major-General Meade:
If not inconsistent with the service, please allow General Wil
liam Harrow as long a leave of absence as the rules permit with the
understanding that I may lengthen it if I see fit. He is an acquaint
ance and friend of mine, and his family matters very urgently
require his presence. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 6, 1864.
General Boyle, Camp Nelson, Ky. :
Let execution in the cases of Goddard, Crowell, Prickett, and
Smith, mentioned by you be suspended till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 7, 1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Philadelphia, Pa. :
We are all well and have not been otherwise. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

409

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 7, 1864.
Officer in Command, Covington, Ky. :
The death sentence of Henry Andrews is commuted to impris
onment at hard labor during the remainder of the war.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 9, 1864.
Hon. Simon Cameron, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Your two letters one of the 6th and the other of. the 7th hoth
received. A Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington,. January 11, 1864.
R. T. Lincoln, Cambridge, Mass.:
I send you draft to-day. How are you now? Answer by tele
graph at once. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 12, 1864.
Governor 0. P. Morton, Indianapolis, Ind.:
I have telegraphed to Chattanooga suspending execution of Wil
liam Jeffries until further order from me. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 12, 1864.
Major-General Grant or Major-General Thomas, Chattanooga,
Tenn.:
Let execution of the death sentence upon William Jeffries, of
Company A, Sixth Indiana Volunteers, be suspended until further
order from here. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 13, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fortress Monroe, Va.:
Let Wilson B. Kevas, Third Pennsylvania Artillery, be respited
until further orders. A. Lincoln.

410

LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 14, 1864.

Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac:
Suspend execution of the death sentence in the case of Allen G.
Maxson, corporal in Company D, in First Michigan Volunteers,
until further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 15, 1864.
Governor Brough, Columbus, Ohio :
H Private William G. Toles, of Fifty-ninth Ohio Volunteers,
returns to his regiment and faithfully serves out his term, he is
fully pardoned for all military offenses prior to this. A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 16, 1864.
General Sullivan, Harper's Ferry:
Please state to me the reasons of the arrest of Capt. William
Firey, of Major Coles' battalion, at Charlestown. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 16, 1864.
Major-General. Meade or Major-General Sedgwick, Army of the
Potomac :
Suspend execution of death sentence of Joseph W. Clifton, of
Sixth New Jersey Volunteers, until further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 19, 1864.
Col. John Clark, Third Regiment of Pennsylvania Reserves, Al
exandria, Va. :
Where is John Wilson, under sentence of desertion, of whom you
wrote Hon. Mr. Thayer yesterday? A. Lincoln
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 19, 1864.
R. T. Lincoln, Cambridge, Mass.:
There is a good deal of small-pox here. Your friends mus*
judge for themselves whether they ought to cony* or not.
A Lincoln.

APPENDIX 4II
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 20, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe:
Please suspend executions until further order, in the cases of
Private Henry Wooding, of Company C, Eighth Connecticut Vol
unteers, and Private Albert A. Lacy, of Company H, Fourth Rhode
Island Volunteers. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 20, 1864.
Major-General Butler:
H Henry C. Fuller, of Company C, One hundred and eighteenth
New York Volunteers, under sentence of death for desertion, has
not been executed, suspend his execution until further order.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 20, 1864.
Major-General Sedgwick, Army of the Potomac:
Please suspend execution of John Wilson, of Seventy-first Penn
sylvania, under sentence for desertion, till further order. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 20, 1864.
Major-General Sedgwick:
Suspend execution till further order in case of Private James
Lane, Company B, Seventy-first New York Volunteers. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 22, 1864.
Military Commander, Fort Independence :
Suspend until further order execution of Charles R. Belts, of
Twelfth Massachusetts, and send me the record of his trial.
A. Lincoln.

412 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 23, 1864.
Maj. Gen. C. C. Washburne, Care of C. & G. Woodman, No. 33
Pine street, New York City :
Your brother wishes you to visit Washington, and this is your
authority to do so. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 25, 1864
Major-General Meade:
Suspend execution of sentence Samuel Tyler, of Company G,
Third Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, in First Brigade, First
Division, Sixth Corps, and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 25, 1864
Major-General Meade:
Suspend execution of death sentence of Robert Gill, ordered to be
shot on the 29th instant, and forward record for examination. A Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 26, 1864
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe:
Some days ago a dispatch was sent to stay execution of James
C. Grattan, and perhaps some others, which has not been answered.
Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 26, 1864.
Major-General Sedgwick:
Your letter of January 22, received. Suspend execution of sen
tence in all the capital cases mentioned in General Orders No. 1
and 2, where it has not already been done. I recapitulate the
whole list of capital cases mentioned in said orders including those
cases in which execution has been heretofore, as well as those on
which it is now suspended.
Private John Wilson, Company D, Seventy-first Pennsylvania;
Private James Lane, Company B, Seventy-first New York; Pri-

APPENDIX

413

vate Joseph W. Clifton, Company F, Sixth New Jersey; Private
Ira Smith, Company I, Eleventh New Jersey; Private Allen G.
Maxson, Company D, First Michigan; Private John Keatly, Com
pany I, Second Delaware; Private Daniel P. Byrnes, Company A,
Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania; Private Samuel Tyler, Company G,
Third New Jersey; Private Robert Gill, Company D, Sixth New
York Cavalry.
Forward the records in these cases for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 27, 1864
Major-General Foster, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Is a supposed correspondence between General Longstreet ana
yourself about the amnesty proclamation, which is now in the
newspapers genuine? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 28, 1864.
To the Commanding Officer at Fort Preble, Portland, Me. :
Suspend the execution of death sentence of Charles Caple, until
further orders, and forward record for examination. A Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. I infer from the letter on which
the reprieve is granted that Fort Preble is in Maine, but do not
certainly know. Please inquire of Colonel Hardee. As the execu
tion was set for to-morrow, it is important that the dispatch should
go at once. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 28, 1864.
Commanding Officer, Fort Mifflin:
Suspend execution of death sentence of Bernard Develin, Com
pany E, Eighty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, until further orders,
and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.

4 14 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 28, 1864
Hon. Edward Stanley, San Francisco, Cal. ;
Yours of yesterday received. We have rumors similar to the
dispatch received by you, but nothing very definite from North
Carolina. Knowing Mr. Stanley to be an able man, and not doubt
ing that he is a patriot, I should be glad for him to be with his
old acquaintances south of Virginia, but I am unable to suggest
anything definite upon the subject A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 29, 1864
Major-Geneeal Sickles, New York :
Could you, without it being inconvenient or disagreeable to
yourself, immediately take a trip to Arkansas for me ? A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C., January 29, 1864
Major-General Sedgwick, Army of Potomac :
Suspend execution of George Sowers, Company E, Fourth Ohio
Volunteers, and send record A Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, January 31, 1864.
Governor Bramlette, Frankfort, Ky. j
General Boyle's resignation is accepted, so that your Excel
lency can give him the appointment proposed. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 1, 1864
Major-General Drx, New York :
Suspend execution of death sentence of Frank W. Parker, of
one of the Maine regiments, sentenced to be shot for desertion
on the 5th instant, and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert :
Please send above dispatch Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.

APPENDIX 415
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 3, 1864.
Governor Yates, Springfield, HI.:
The U. S. Government lot in Springfield can be used for a sol
diers' home, with the understanding that the Government does
not incur any expense in the case. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 6, 1864.
Commanding Officer at Sandusky, Ohio :
Suspend the execution of death sentence of George Samuel
Goodrich, Jr., One hundred and twenty-second Regiment New
York Volunteers, and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 8, 1864.
Commanding Officer, Portland, Me., care of Israel Washburne, Jr.:
Suspend execution of death sentence of James Taylor until fur
ther orders, and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 8, 1864.
Major-General Sedgwick:
Suspend execution of death sentence of James Taylor until fur
ther orders and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay, Private Secretary.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 10, 1864
Governor Brough, Columbus, Ohio :
Robert Johnson, mentioned by you, is hereby fully pardoned
for any supposed desertion up to date. A. Lincoln.

416 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 10, 1864
Major-General Sickles, New York:
Please come on at your earliest convenience, prepared to mak«
the contemplated trip for me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 11, 1864.
Major-General Sedgwick, Army of Potomac:
Unless there be strong reason to the contrary, please send Gen
eral Kilpatrick to us here, for two or three days. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 12, 1864.
Military Commander, Boston, Mass. :
If there is anywhere in your command a man by the name of
James Taylor under sentence of death for desertion, suspenc ex
ecution till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 12, 1864.
Major-General Dix, New York:
If there is anywhere in your command a man by the name of
James Taylor under sentence of death for desertion, suspend exe
cution till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 17, 1864.
Major-General Steele, Little Rock, Ark.:
The day fixed by the convention for the election is probably
the best, but you on the ground, and in consultation with gen
tlemen there, are to decide. I should have fixed no day for an
election, presented no plan for reconstruction, had I known the
convention was doing the same things. It is probably best that
you merely assist the convention on their own plan, as to election
day and all other matters. I have already written and telegraphed
this half a dozen times. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 18, 1864.
A. Robinson, Leroy, N. Y.:
The law only obliges us to keep accounts with States, or at most,
Congressional Districts, and it would overwhelm us to attempt

APPENDIX 417
in counties, cities and towns. Nevertheless we do what we can
to oblige in particular cases. In this view I send your dispatch
to the provost-marshal general, asking him to do the best he can
for you. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
February 19, 1864
Commander George S. Blake, Commandant Naval Academy, New
port, R. L:
I desire the case of Midshipman 0. Lyon re-examined and if not
clearly inconsistent I shall be much obliged to have the recom
mendation changed. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 22, 1864.
His Excellency Governor Brough, Columbus, Ohio :
As you request Clinton Fulton charged as a deserter is pardoned.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 22, 1864.
Major-General Steele, Little Rock, Ark.:
Yours of yesterday received. Your conference with citizens
approved. Let the election be on the 14th of March as they agreed.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 22, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Colonel Sanderson will be ordered to you to-day, a mere omis
sion that it was not done before. The other questions in your dis
patch I am not yet prepared to answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 25, 1864
Commanding Officer, Johnson's Island :
Suspend execution of death sentence of John Marrs until fur*
ther orders and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert :
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
(87) Private Secretary.

418 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 26, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
I cannot remember at whose request it was that I gave the pass
to Mrs. Bulkly. Of course detain her, if the evidence of her being
a spy is strong against her. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 26, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe:
1£ it has not already been done, suspend execution of death sen
tence of William K. Stearns, Tenth New Hampshire Volunteers,
until further orders and forward record. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
W. -Jayne. Executive Mansion, Washington, February 26, 1864.
Hon. W. Jayne.
Dear Sm: I dislike to make changes in office so long as they
can be avoided. It multiplies my embarrassments immensely. I
dislike two appointments when one will do. Send me the name
of some man not the present marshal, and I will nominate him to
be Provost Marshal for Dakota. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Dr. William Jayne, Springfield, HL)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 27, 1864.
Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, Department of Cumberland:
Suspend execution of death sentence of F. W. Lauf erseick, first
corporal, Company D, One hundred and sixth Regiment Ohio Vol
unteers, until further orders, and forward record for examination.
A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 29, 1864.
Major-General Dix, New York:
Do you advise that John McKee, now in military confinement
at Fort Lafayette, be turned over to the civil authorities ?
A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 419
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 2, 1864.
Officer in Command, Knoxville, Tenn. :
Allow Mrs. Anne Maria Rumsey, with her six daughters to go
to her father, Judge Breck, at Richmond, Ky. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 2, 1864.
Judge D. Breck, Richmond, Ky.:
I have directed the officer at Knoxville to allow Mrs. Rumsey
to come to you. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 2, 1864.
Major-General Meade:
Suspend execution of the death sentence of James Whelan, One
hundred and sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, until further
orders and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, March 3, 1864.
Major-General Steele, Little Rock, Ark. :
Yours including address to people of Arkansas is received. I
approve the address and thank you for it. Yours in relation to
Willard M. Randolph also received. Let him take the oath of De
cember 8, and go to work for the new constitution, and on your
notifying me of it, I will immediately issue the special pardon for
him. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 4, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Admiral Dahlgreen is here, and of course is very anxious about
his son. Please send me at once all you know or can learn of his
fate. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 7, 1864
U. S. Marshal, Louisville, Ky. :
Until further order suspend sale of property and further pro
ceedings in cases of the United States against Dr. John B. English,

420

LIFE OF LINCOLN

and S. S. English, et al. sureties for John L. Hill. Also same
against same sureties for Thomas A. Ireland. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 9, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
What are the facts about the imprisonment of Joseph A. Bilisoly!
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 9, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
New York City votes 9,500 majority for allowing soldiers to vote,
and the rest of the State nearly all on the same side. Tell the
soldiers. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 14, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
First lieutenant and adjutant of Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers,
Edward P. Brooks, is a prisoner of war at Richmond, and if you
can without difficulty, effect a special exchange for him, I shall be
obliged. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, March 17, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Suspend execution of death sentence of John F. Abshier, citizen,
until further orders. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 22, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Hon. W. R. Morrison says he has requested you by letter to
effect a special exchange of Lieut. Col. A. F. Rogers, of Eightieth
niinois Volunteers, now in Libby Prison, and I shall be glad if you
can effect it. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 42I
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 22, 1864.
Governor Evans, Denver, Col. Ter. :
Colorado Enabling Act was signed yesterday by the President.
Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 23, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Please suspend execution of Alanson Orton, under sentence for
desertion, until further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 24, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Please, if you can, effect special exchanges for J. F. Robinson,
first lieutenant, Company E, Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania Volun
teers, and C. L. Edmunds, first lieutenant, Company D, Sixty-
seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
March 24, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Do not change your purpose to send Private Orton, of Twelftk
U. S. Infantry, to the Dry Tortugas. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., March 30, 1864.
Hon. R. M. Corwtne, New York:
It does not occur to me that you can present the Smith case any
better than you have done. Of this, however, you must judge for
yourself. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 5, 1864.
His Excellency John Brough, Columbus, Ohio:
The President has ordered the pardon of the soldiers of the
Twelfth Ohio, in accordance with your request. John Hay.
(This letter does appear in the Life by J. G. Nicolay and John
Hay.) (Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 6, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fortress Monroe, Va.:
The President directs me to acknowledge receipt of your dis-

422 LIFE OF LINCOLN
patch of this morning and to say that you will submit by letter
or telegram to the Secretary of War the points in relation to the
exchange of prisoners wherein you wish instructions, and that it is
not necessary for you to visit Washington for the purpose indi
cated. John Hay,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 9, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac:
Suspend execution of Private William Collins, Company B,
Sixty-ninth New York Volunteers, Irish Brigade, and class him
with other suspended cases. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, April 11, 1864—6.15 p. m.
Hon. W. H. Seward, Astor House, New York:
Nothing of importance since you left. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, April 12, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va.:
I am pressed to get from Libby, by special exchange, Jacob C.
Hagenbuck, first lieutenant, Company H, Sixty-seventh Pennsyl
vania Volunteers. Please do it if you can without detriment or
embarrassment. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 17, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac :
Private William Collins of Company B, of the Sixty-ninth New
York Volunteers, has been convicted of desertion, and execution
suspended as in numerous other cases. Now Captain O'Neill,
commanding the regiment, and nearly all its other regimental and
company officers, petition for his full pardon and restoration to his
company. Is there any good objection? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 18, 1864
Col. Paul Frank, of New York Fifty-second, Army of Potomac:
Is there or has there been a man in your regiment by the name of
Cornelius Garoin? And if so, answer me as far as you know where
he now is. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

42 3

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 20, 1864.
Calvin Truesdale, Esq., Postmaster, Rock Island, HI. :
Thomas J. Pickett, late agent of the Quartermaster's Department
for the island of Rock Island, has been removed or suspended from
that position on a charge of having sold timber and stone from the
island for his private benefit. Mr. Pickett is an old acquaintance
and friend of mine, and I will thank you, if you will, to set a day
or days and place on and at which to take testimony on the point.
Notify Mr. Pickett and one J. B. Danforth (who as I understand
makes the charge) to be present with their witnesses. Take the
testimony in writing offered by both sides, and report it in full to
me. Please do this for me. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(From Herndon's " Life of Lincoln." Permission of Jesse Weik.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 20, 1864.
Officer in Military Command, at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor,
Mass. :
If there is a man by the name of Charles Carpenter, under sen
tence of death for desertion, at Fort Warren, suspend execution
until further order and send the record of his trial. If sentenced
for any other offence, telegraph what it is, and when he is to be
executed. Answer at all events. A. Lincoln.
Executke Mansion,
Washington, April 21, 1864.
Officer in Military Command, at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor,
Mass. :
The order I sent yesterday in regard to Charles Carpenter is
hereby withdrawn, and you are to act as if it had never existed.
A. Lincoln.
ExECUTr/E Mansion,
Washington, D. C, April 21, 1864.
Major-General Dix, New York:
Yesterday I was induced to telegraph the officer in military com
mand at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Mass., suspending the
execution of Charles Carpenter, to be executed to-morrow for de
sertion. Just now on reading your order in the case, I telegraphed
the same officer withdrawing the suspension, and leaving the case
entirely with you. The man's friends are pressing me, but I refer
them to you, intending to take no further action myself. A. Lincoln.

424 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, April 22, 1864
Brigadier-General Brayman, Commanding Cairo:
What day did General Corse part with General Banks? A Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. 0., April 22, 1864
A. G. Hodges, Esq., Frankfort, Ky.:
Did you receive my letter ? A Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 23, 1864
Major-General Butler, Fort Monroe, Va. :
Senator Ten Eyck is very anxious to have a special exchange
of Capt. Frank J. McLean, of Ninth Tennessee Cavalry now, or
lately at Johnson's Island, for Capt. T. Ten Eyck, Eighteenth
U. S. Infantry, and now at Richmond. I would like to have it
done. Can it be? A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington City, April 25, 1864.
John Wdlliams, Springfield, HI.:
Yours of the 15th is just received. Thanks for your kind re
membrance. I would accept your offer at once, were it not that
I fear there might be some impropriety in it, though I do not
see that there would. I will think of it a while. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington City, April 25, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac :
A Mr. Corby brought you a note from me at the foot of a peti
tion I believe, in the case of Dawson, to be executed to-day. The
record has been examined here, and it shows too strong a case
for a pardon or commutation, unless there is something in the poor
man's favor outside of the record, which you on the ground may
know, but I do not. My note to you only means that if you know
of any such thing rendering a suspension of the execution proper,
on your own judgment, you are at liberty to suspend it. Otherwise
I do not interfere. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

425

Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 26, 1864
Major-General Thomas, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
Suspend execution of death sentence of young Perry from Wis
consin, condemned for sleeping on his post, until further orders,
and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 27, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac :
John J. Stefke, Company I, First New Jersey Cavalry, having
a substitute, is ordered to be discharged. Please have him sent
here to Washington. A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, April 27, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Your dispatch about Private Peter Gilner received. Dispose of
him precisely as you would under the recent order, if he were
under sentence of death for desertion, and execution suspended
by me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 28, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
If Private George W. Sloan, of the Seventy-second Pennsyl
vania Volunteers, is under sentence of death for desertion, suspend
execution till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 29, 1864.
General Brayman, Cairo, HI.:
I am appealed to in behalf of O. Kellogg, and J. W. Pryor, bojb.
in prison at Cairo. Please telegraph me what are the charges and
summary of evidence against them. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 30, 1864.
Officer in Command, at Little Rock, Ark.:
Please send me the record of trial for desertion of Thadeus A.
Kinsloe, of Company D, Seventh Missouri Volunteer Cavalry.
A. Lincoln.

426 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 5, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Commanding, &c, Saint Louis, Mo.:
The President directs me to inquire whether a day has yet been
fixed for the execution of citizen Robert Louden, and if so what
day? John Hay,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.
Executive Mansion, Washington, May 9, 1864.
Mrs. Sarah B. Meconkey, West Chester, Pa.
Madam : Our mutual friend, Judge Lewis tells me you do me the
honor to inquire for my personal welfare. I have been very anx
ious for some days in regard to our armies in the field, but am
considerably cheered, just now, by favorable news from them. I
am sure that you will join me in the hope for their further suc
cess; while yourself, and other good mothers, wives, sisters, and
daughters, do all you and they can, to relieve and comfort the gal
lant soldiers who compose them. Yours truly, A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by Columbia University Library.)
War Department,
Washington, D. C, May 10, 1864.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore:
Please tell me what is the trouble with Dr. Hawks. Also pleass
ask Bishop Whittington to give me his view of the case. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 14, 1864.
Officer in Military Command at Fort Monroe, Va. :
U Thomas Dorerty, or Welsh, is to be executed to-day and it is
not already done, suspend it till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 17, 1864.
Officer in Command at Fort Monroe, Va. :
H there is a man by the name of William H. H. Cummings, of
Company H, Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, within
your command under sentence of death for desertion, suspend
execution till further order. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

427

Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 18, 1864
His Excellency Richard Yates, Springfield, HL:
If any such proclamation has appeared, it is a forgery. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, May 19, 1864.
Hon. Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Term.:
Yours of the 17th was received yesterday. Will write you on
the subject within a day or two. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 20, 1864
Felix Sohmeddtng, Saint Louis, Mo.:
The pleasure of attending your fair is not within my power.
A Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington City, May 21, 1864
Mr. Stansbury, U. S. Sanitary Commission:
Principal Musician John A. Burke, Fourteenth U. S. Infantry,
has permission to accompany Capt. W. R. Smedburg, Fourteenth
Infantry (wounded) to New York. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, May 21, 1864
Christiana A. Sack, Baltimore, Md. :
I cannot postpone the execution of a convicted spy on a mere
telegraphic dispatch signed with a name I never heard before.
General Wallace may give you a pass to see him if he chooses.
A. Lincoln

War Department, May 23, 1864
To the Commanding Officer at Fort Monroe:
Is a man named Henry Sack to be executed to-morrow at noon!
H so, when was he condemned and for what offense ? A. Lincoln.

428 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, May 24, 1864.
To the Commanding Officer at Fort Monroe, Va. :
Let the execution of Henry Sack be suspended. I have com
muted his sentence to imprisonment during the war. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send this at once. Yours,
John Hay,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-GeneraL
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 25, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of Potomac:
Mr. J. C. Swift wishes a pass from me to follow your army to
pick up rags and cast off clothing. I will give it to bi-m if you
say so, otherwise not. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 30, 1864
Colonel Dutton, Old Point Comfort, Va.:
Colonel Dutton is permitted to come from Fort Monroe to Wash
ington. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 31, 1864.
Major-General Hurlbut, Belvidere, HI. :
You are hereby authorized to visit Washington and Baltimore,
A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 4, 1864.
Major-General Dix, New York:
Please inform me whether Charles H. Scott, of Eighth U. S. In
fantry, is under sentence of death in your department? and if so
when to be executed and what are the features of the case ?
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 6, 1864
Major-General Meade, Army of the Potomac:
Private James McCarthy, of lie One hundred and fortieth New
York Volunteers, is here under sentence to the Dry Tortugas foi

APPENDIX 429
an attempt to desert. His friends appeal to me and if his colonel
and you consent, I will send him to his regiment. Please answer.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, June 7, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis, Mo.:
When your communication shall be ready send it by express.
There will be no danger of its miscarriage. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 13, 1864.
Thomas Webster, Philadelphia:
Will try to leave here Wednesday afternoon, say at 4 p. m. re
main till Thursday afternoon and then return. This subject to
events. A. Lincoln.
Washington, June 18, 1864.
0. A. Walborn, Post Master Philadelphia :
Please come and see me in the next day or two. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, June 19, 1864.
Mrs. A. Lincoln, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York:
Tad arrived safely and all well. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. C, June 27, 1864.
Colonel Basoom, Assistant Adjutant-General, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Please suspend sale of the property of Rogers & Co., until fur
ther order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 28, 1864.
Officer in Command at Fort Monroe, Va. :
Is there a man by the name of Amos Tenney in your command,
under sentence for desertion ? and if so suspend execution and send
me the record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 29, 1864.
Lteutenant-General Grant, City Point: /
Dr. Worster wishes to visit you with a view of getting your
permission to introduce into the army "Harmon's Sandal Sock."
Shall I give him a pass for that object? A. Lincoln.

430 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, July 9, 1864
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis, Mo.:
When did the Secretary of War telegraph you to release Dr,
Barrett ? H it is an old thing let it stand till you hear further.
A. Lincoln.
War Department, July 20, 1864
J. L. Wright, Indianapolis, Ind. :
All a mistake. Mr. Stanton has not resigned. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, July 27, 1864
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va.:
Please have a surgeon's examination of Cornelius Lee Comygas,
in Company A, One hundred and eighty-third Volunteers, made
on the questions of general health and sanity. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, July 28, 1864
Hon. J. W. Forney, Philadelphia, Penn.:
I wish yourself and M. McMichael would see me here to-morrow,
or early in the day Saturday. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, July 30, 1864
Major-General Hunter, Harper's Ferry, Va.:
What news this morning? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 30, 1864.
Hon. M. Odell, Brooklyn:
Please find Colonel Fowler, of Fourteenth Volunteers, and have
him telegraph, if he will, a recommendation for Clemens J. Myers,
for a clerkship. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 1, 1864.
Governor E. D. Morgan, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. :
Please come here at once. I wish to see yon. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 43I
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 5, 1864
Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va.:
General Butler telegraphs me that Judge Snead is at liberty.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 6, 1864.
Col. S. M. Bowman, Baltimore, Md.:
If convenient come and see me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 6, 1864.
Hon. Anson Miller, Rockford, HI.:
H you will go and live in New Mexico I will appoint you a
judge there. Answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 6, 1864.
Hon. Horace Greeley, New York:
Yours to Major Hay about publication of our correspondence
received. With the suppression of a few passages in your letters
in regard to which I think you and I would not disagree, I should
be glad of the publication. Please come over and see me.
A. Lincoln.
(This letter does appear in the Life by John G. Nicolay and
John Hay.) Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 8, 1864.
Hon. Horace Greeley, New York:
I telegraphed you Saturday. Did you receive the dispatch?
Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 8, 1864.
Hon. I. N. Arnold, Chicago:
I send you by mail to-day the appointir.ent of Colonel Mulligan,
to be a brevet brigadier-general. A. Lincoln.
ENDORSEMENT OF APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT.
August 15, 1864.
"I am always for the man who wishes to work; and I shall be

432 LIFE OF LINCOLN
glad for this man to get suitable employment at Cavalry Depot,
or elsewhere. A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther, Chicago, HI.)
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 18, 1864
Governor Andrew Johnson, Nashville, Tenn. :
The officer whose duty it would be to execute John S. Young,
upon a sentence of death for murder, &c, is hereby ordered to sus
pend such execution until further order from me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 18, 1864.
George W. Bridges, Colonel Tenth Tennessee Volunteers, Nash
ville, Tenn.:
H Governor Andrew Johnson thinks execution of sentence in
case of William R. Bridges should be further suspended, and will
request it, the President will order it. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 20, 1864
Commanding Officer at Nashville, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of death sentence of Patrick Jones, Company
F, Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry, until further orders and forward
record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. 0., August 20, 1864.
Major-General Butler, Bermuda Hundred, Va. :
Please allow Judge Snead to go to his family on Eastern Shore,
or give me some good reason why not. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
August 21, 1864—3 p. m.
Colonel Chtpman, Harper's Ferry, Va.:
What news now? A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 433
War Department,
Washington City, August 24, 1864.
Mrs. Mary McCook Baldwin, Nashville, Tenn. :
This is an order to the officer having in charge to execute the
death sentence upon John S. Young, to suspend the same until
further order. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 26, 1864
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Term.:
Thanks to General Gillam for making the news and also to you
for sending it. Does Joe Heiskell's " walking to meet us " mean
any more than that " Joe " was scared and wanted to save his skin?
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, August 28, 1864.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore, Md. :
The punishment of the four men under sentence of death to
be executed to-morrow at Baltimore, is commuted in each case to
confinement in the Penitentiary at hard labor during the war.
You will act accordingly. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, August 30, 1864
Hon. B. H. Brewster, Astor House, New York:
Your letter of yesterday received. Thank you for it. Please have
no fears. A. Lincoln.
Washington, D. 0., September 5, 1864
Hon. Henry J. Raymond, New York:
Have written about Indiana matters. Attend to it to-morrow.
E. B. Washburne.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 7, 1864.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.:
This is an order to whatever officer may have the matter in
charge, that the execution of Thomas R. Bridges be respited to
Friday, September 30, 1864. A. Lincoln,
(28)

434 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 7, 1864.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Term.:
This is an order to whatever officer may have the matter in
charge that the execution of Jesse T. Broadway and Jordon Mose-
ley, is respited to Friday September 30, 1864. ' A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 8, 1864
Governor Smith, Providence, R. I.:
Yours of yesterday about Edward Conley received. Don't re
member receiving anything else from you on the subject. Please
telegraph me at once the grounds on which you request his pun
ishment to be commuted. A Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 8, 1864.
Governor Pickering, Olympia, W. T. :
Your patriotic dispatch of yesterday received and will be pub-
Mshed. A. Lincoln.

War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 8, 1864
General Slough, Alexandria, Va.:
Edward Conley's execution is respited to one week from to
morrow. Act accordingly. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, September 9, 1864.
Isaao M. Schemerhorn, Buffalo, N. Y. :
Yours of to-day received. I do not think the letter you mention
has reached me. I have no recollection of it. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0, September 11, 1864
Mrs. A. Lincoln, New York:
All well. What day will you be home? Four days ago sent
dispatch to Manchester. Vt., for you. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 435
War Department,
Washington, D. 0, September 13, 1864.
Hon. J. G. Blaine, Augusta, Me.:
On behalf of the Union, thanks to Maine. Thanks to you per
sonally for sending the news. A. Lincoln.
P. S. — Send same to L. B. Smith and M. A. Blanchard, Port
land, Me. A. L.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 13, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis:
Postpone the execution of S. H. Anderson for two weeks. Hear
what his friends can say in mitigation and report to me.
A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 13, 1864.
Major-vJeneral Rosecrans, Saint Louis:
Postpone the execution of Joseph Johnson for two weeks. Ex
amine the case and report. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 15, 1864.
Major H. H. Heath, Baltimore, Md. :
You are hereby authorized to visit Washington. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 16, 1864.
General Slough, Alexandria, Va.:
On the 14th I commuted the sentence of Conley, but fearing
you may not have received notice I send this. Do not execute him.
A. Lincoln.

436 LIFE OF LINCOLN War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 16, 1864
Hon. William Sprague, Providence, R. I. :
I commuted the sentence of Conley two days ago. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 16, 1864
Major-General Sigel, Bethlehem, Pa.:
You are authorized to visit Washington on receipt of this.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
September 20, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Headquarters Army Potomac:
H you have not executed the sentence in the "ase of Private
Peter Gilner, Company F, Sixty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers,
let it be suspended until further orders. Report to me.
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., September 24, 1864
Frank W. Bollard, New York:
I shall be happy to receive the deputation you mention. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 25, 1864.
George H. Bragonier, Commanding at Cumberland, Md. :
Postpone the execution of Private Joseph Provost, until Friday
the 30th instant. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 25, 1864.
H. W. Hoffman, Baltimore, Md.:
Please come over and see me to-morrow, or as soon as convenient.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 27, 1864.
Governor Johnson, Nashville, Tenn.:
I am appealed to in behalf of Robert Bridges, who it is said
is to be executed next Friday. Please satisfy yourself, and give
me your opinion as to what ought be done. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

437

War Department,
Washington, D. C, September 28, 1864
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Execution of Jesse A. Broadway is hereby respited to Friday
the 14th day of October next. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 29, 1864
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Let the execution of Robert T. Bridges be suspended until fur
ther order from me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 30, 1864
Major-General Butler, Bermuda Hundred, Va.:
Is there a man in your department by the name of James Hal-
lion, under sentence, and if so what is the sentence, and for what?
A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 1, 1864.
Officer in Command at Fort Monroe, Va. :
Is there a man by the name James Hallion (I think) under
sentence? And what is his offense? What the sentence, and
when to be executed? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., October 5, 1864.
Officer in Command, at Nashville, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of Thomas K Miller until further order from
me. A. Lincoln
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 10, 1864 — 5 p. m.
Governor Curtin, Harrisburg, Pa.:
Yours of to-day just this moment received, and the Secretary
having left it is impossible for me to answer to-day. I have not
received your letter from Erie. ' A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 11, 1864.
General S. Cameron, Philadelphia, Pa.:
A-m leaving office to go home. How does it stand now?
A Lincoln.

438 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
October 12, 1864.
Major-General Meade, Headquarters Army of the Potomac:
The President directs suspension of execution in case of Albert
G. Lawrence, Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, until his fur
ther order. John Hay,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-General
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 13, 1864.
Hon. G. S. Orth, Lafayette, Ind.:
I now incline to defer the appointment of judge until the meet
ing of Congress. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 13, 1864
Commandant at Nashville, Tenn.:
The sentence of Jesse Broadway has been commuted by the
President to imprisonment at hard labor for three years.
John Hay,
Major and Assistant Adjutant-GeneraL
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 15, 1864.
Hon. H. W. Hoffman, Baltimore, Md. :
Come over to-night and see me. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 16, 1864.
Hon. J. K. Moorehead, Pittsburg, Pa.:
I do not remember about the Peter Gilner case, and must look
it up before I can answer. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, October 22, 1864.
William Price, District Attorney, Baltimore, Md.:
Yours received. Will see you any time when you present your
self. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, October 25, 1864.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of Young C. Edmonson, until further order
from here. Answer if you receive this. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 439
Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 25, 1864.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson, of Third Maryland Battalion,
near Petersburg, Va. :
Please inform me what is the condition of, and what is being
done with Lieut. Charles Saumenig, in your command. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 30, 1864.
Hon. A. K. McClure, Harrisburg, Pa.:
I would like to hear from you. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. 0, October 31, 1864.
Hon. Thomas T. Davis, Syracuse, N. Y.:
I have ordered that Milton D. Norton be discharged on taking
the oath. Please notify his mother. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 1, 1864.
Major-General Dix, New York:
Please suspend execution of Private P. Carroll until further
order. Acknowledge receipt. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 1, 1864.
Hon. A. Hobbs, Malone, N. Y.:
Where is Nathan Wilcox, of whom you telegraph, to be found?
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 2, 1864.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point:
Suspend until further order the execution of Nathan Wilcox of
Twenty -second Massachusetts Regiment Fifth Corps, said to be
at Repair Depot. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 2, 1864.
Hon. H. J. Raymond and General W. K. Strong, New York :
Telegraphed General Dix last night to suspend execution of P.
Carroll, and have his answer that the order is received by him.
A Lincoln.

44° LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 3, 1864
Officer in Command at Lexington, Ky.:
Suspend execution of Vance Mason until further order. Ac«
knowledge receipt. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 3, 1864.
Major-General Meade:
Suspend execution of Samuel J. Smith, and George Brown,
alias George Rock, until further order and send record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 4, 1864
Major-General Burbrtoge, Lexington, Ky.:
Suspend execution of all the deserters ordered to be executed
on Sunday at Louisville, until further order, and send me the
records in the cases. Acknowledge receipt. A Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 5, 1864.
Officer in Command at Chattanooga, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of Robert W. Reed until further order and
send record. Answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 5, 1864
Hon. W. H. Seward, Auburn, N. Y. :
No news of consequence this morning. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. 0., November 10, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Suspend execution of Major Wolf until further order and mean
while report to me on the case. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 10, 1864.
H. W. Hoffman, Baltimore, Md. :
The Maryland soldiers in the Army of the Potomac cast a
total vote of 1428, out of which we get 1160 majority. This is
directly from General Meade and General Grant. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 44I
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 15, 1864.
Major-General Thomas, Nashville, Tenn.:
How much force and artillery had Gillem? A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, November 15, 1864.
W. H. Purnell, Baltimore, Md.:
I shall be happy to receive the committee on Thursday morning
(17th) as you propose. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 19, 1864.
Officer in Command at Davenport, Iowa:
Let the Indian "Big Eagle" be discharged. I ordered this
some time ago. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, November 24, 1864.
Hon. Henry M. Rice, Saint Paul, Minn.:
Have suspended execution of deserters named in your dispatch
until further orders from here. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington City, November 24, 1864.
Officer in Command at Fort Snelling, Minn. :
Suspend execution of Patrick Kelly, John Lennor, Joel H.
Eastwood, Thomas J. Murray, and Hoffman until further order
from here. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 26, 1864
Major-General Rosecrans:
Please telegraph me briefly on what charge and evidence Mrs.
Anna B. Martin has been sent to the Penitentiary at Alton.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 5, 1864.
Major-General Thomas, Nashville, Tenn. :
Let execution in the case of Oliver B. Wheeler, sergeant in the
Sixth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, under sentence of death

442 LIFE OF LINCOLN
for desertion, at Chattanooga, on the 15th instant, be suspended
until further order, and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please forward the above. Jno. G. Nicolay.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 7, 1864.
Governor Hall, Jefferson Oity, Mo.:
Complaint is made to me of the doings of a man at HannibaL
Mo., by the name of Haywood, who, as I am told has charge of
some militia force, and is not in the U. S. service. Please inquire
into the matter and correct anything you may find amiss if in
your power. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, December 8, 1864.
Colonel Fasleigh, Louisville, Ky.:
I am appealed to in behalf of a man by the name of Frank
Fairbairns, said to have been for a long time, and still in prison,
without any definite ground stated. How is it? A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
December 8, 1864.
Major-General Rosecrans, Commanding, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Let execution in case of John Berry and James Berry be sus
pended until further order. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Will you please hurry off the above? To-morrow is the day of
execution. John Hay,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1864.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va. :
Please have execution of John McNulty, alias Joseph Riley
Company E, Sixth New Hampshire Volunteers, suspended and
record sent to me. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX

443

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 16, 1864.
Officer in Command at Chattanooga, Tenn. :
It is said that Harry Walters, a private in the Anderson cav
alry, is now and for a long time has been in prison at Chattanooga.
Please report to me what is his condition, and for what he is im
prisoned. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 20, 1864.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore, Md.:
Suspend execution of James P. Boilean until further order from
here. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 22, 1864.
Officer in Command at Saint Joseph, Mo. :
Postpone the execution of Higswell, Holland, and Way, for
twenty days. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 22, 1864.
Officer in Command at Indianapolis, Ind. :
Postpone the execution of John Doyle Lennan, alias Thomas
Doyle, for ten days. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 28, 1864.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of James R. Mallory, for six weeks from Fri
day the 30th of this month, which time I have given his friends
to make proof, if they can, upon certain points. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 29, 1864.
Major-General Butler:
There is a man in Company I, Eleventh Connecticut Volunteers,
First Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-fourth Army Corps, at
ChapTi's Farm, Va., under tbe assumed name of William Stanley,

444 LIFE OF LINCOLN
but whose real name is Frank R. Judd, and who is under arrest,
and probably about to be tried for desertion. He is the son of our
present minister to Prussia, who is a close personal friend of
Senator Trumbull and myself. We are not willing for the boy
to be shot, but we think it as well that his trial go regularly on,
suspending execution until further order from me and reporting
to me. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 29, 1864.
Officer in Command at Louisville, Ky. :
Suspend execution of death sentence of George S. Owen, until
further orders, and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Yours, Jno. G. Nicolay.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 30, 1864
Colonel Warner, Indianapolis, Ind.:
It is said that you were on the court martial that tried John
Lennon, and that you are disposed to advise his being pardoned
and sent to his regiment, li this be true, telegraph me to that
effect at once. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 31, 1864.
Col. A. J. Warner, Indianapolis, Ind.:
Suspend execution of John Lennon until further order from
me and in the meantime send me the record of his trial.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 4, 1865.
John Williams, Springfield, 111.:
Let Trumbo's substitute be regularly mustered in, send ms
the evidence that it is done and I will then discharge Trumbo.
A Lincoln.

APPENDIX

445

Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 6, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point:
H there is a man at City Point by the name of Waterman
Thornton who is in trouble about desertion, please have his case
briefly stated to me and do not let him be executed meantime.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 9C 1865.
Officer in Command at Saint Joseph, Mo. :
Postpone the execution of the death sentence of Holland, High-
smith, and Utz, ten days longer unless you receive orders from me
to the contrary. A Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 11, 1865.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Postpone the execution of S. W. Elliott, and C. E. Peacher, until
the 3rd day of February, 1865. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 12, 1865.
Officer in Command at Lexington, Ky. :
Suspend execution of sentence of death in case of Solomon
Spiegel, Ninth Michigan Cavalry, until further orders and for
ward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 12, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va.:
If Henry Stork of Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry, has been con
victed of desertion, and is not yet executed, please stay till further
order and send record. A. Lincoln.

446 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 19, 1865.
Major-General Dodge, Saint Louis, Mo.:
If Mrs. Beattie, alias Mrs. Wolff, shall be sentenced to death,
notify me, and postpone execution till further order. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 19, 1865.
Major-General Ord:
You have a man in arrest for desertion passing by the name of
Stanley. William Stanley, I think, but whose real name is dif
ferent. He is the son of so close a friend of mine that I must
not let him be executed. Please let me know what is his present
and prospective condition. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 20, 1865.
Major-General Dix, New York:
Let W. N. Bilbo be discharged on his parole. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 20, 1865.
Lteutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va.:
H Thomas Samplogh, of the First Delaware Regiment has been
sentenced to death, and is not yet executed, suspend and report the
case to me. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 21, 1865.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore, Md. :
Two weeks or ten days ago, as I remember, I gave direction for
Levin L. Waters to be either tried at once or discharged. If he
has not been tried, nor a trial of him progressing in good faith
discharge him at once. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 22, 1865.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore, Md.:
The case of Waters being as you state it, in your dispatch of to
day, of course the trial will proceed. A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 447
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 23, 1865.
W. O. Bartlett, Esq., New York:
Please come and see me at once. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 24, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point:
If Newell W. Root, of First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, is
Under sentence of death please telegraph me briefly the circum
stances. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 25, 1865.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Do not allow  Elliott, under sentence of death to be exe
cuted without further order from me, and if an exchange of him
for Capt. S. T. Harris, now a prisoner, supposed to be at Columbia,
S. C, can be effected, let it be done. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va. :
Having received the report in the case of Newell W. Root, I do
not interfere further in the case. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 26, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant:
Suspend execution of death sentence of William H. Jeffs, Com
pany B, Fifty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteers, until further or
ders, and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 26, 1865.
Lteuten ant-General Grant:
Suspend execution of Hamel Shaffer ordered to be shot at City
Point to-morrow, until further orders and forward record of trial
for examination. A. Lincoln.

448 LIFE OF LINCOLN
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 27, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant:
Stay execution in case of Barney Roorke, Fifteenth New York
Engineers, until record can be examined here. A. Lincoln.
Send above dispatch and oblige. John Hay,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 27, 1865.
To the Commanding Officer at Nashville, Tenn. :
Let execution in case of Cornelius E. Peacher, be stayed until
further orders. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 28, 1865.
Major-General Ord, Army of the James:
Give me a brief report in case of Charles Love, Seventh New
Hampshire, tried for desertion, and transmit record for my ex
amination. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 30, 1865.
Major-General Ord, Headquarters Army of the James :
By direction of the President you are instructed to inform the
three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, that
a messenger will be dispatched to them at or near where they
now are, without unnecessary delay. Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War.
(This letter does appear in the Life by J. G. Nicolay and John
Hay.) War Department,
Washington, D. C, January 31, 1865.
Major-General Wallace, Baltimore, Md.:
Suspend sending off of Charles E. Waters, until further order
and send record if it has not already been sen* A. Lincoln.

APPENDIX 449
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 31, 1865.
Major-General Wallace. Baltimore, Md. :
Your second dispatch in regard to Waters is received. The
President's dispatch of this morning did not refer to Levin T*
Waters, but to a man who it was represented had been convicted
by a military commission of unlawful trade with the rebels or
something of that kind, and was to be sent this morning to the
Albany Penitentiary. His iime was given as Charles E. Waters.
If such prisoner is on his way North let him be brought back and
held as directed in the President's dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 31, 1865.
Officer in Command at Philadelphia, Pa. :
Suspend execution of death sentence of John Murphy, ordered
for February 10, 1865, at Fort Mifflin, until further orders and for
ward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please forward above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 1, 1865.
General Shepley, Norfolk, Va.:
It is said that Henry W. Young, private in Sixty-third New
York Volunteers, Company E, is in arrest for desertion. If he
shall be tried and sentenced to any punishment, do not let sentence
be executed until further order from me, meantime send me
record of the trial. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 2, 1865.
Officer in Command at Frankfort, Ky. :
Suspend execution of death sentence of W. E. Walker until
further orders, and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.,
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
(28)

450 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 4, 1865.
Officer in Command at Nashville, Tenn. :
Suspend execution of death sentence of James R. Mallory, until
further orders. A. Lincoln.
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, February 6, 1865.
Frederick Hassaurek, Cincinnati, Ohio:
A dispatch from General Grant says " Lieutenant Markbeit has
been released from prison and is now on his way North." A. Lincoln.
To Ldj:utenant-General Grant, Headquarters Armies of the
United States :
Suspend execution in case of Simon J. Schaffer, Fifteenth New
York Engineers, until further orders, and send me the record.
A. Lincoln.
Send above. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 7, 1865.
Officer in Command at Davenport, Iowa:
Suspend execution of death sentence of John Davis, alias John
Lewis, until further orders and forward record of trial for exam
ination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 8, 1865.
Mark Hoyt, Esq., 28 Spruce Street, New York:
The President has received your dispatch asking an interview
He cannot appoint any specific day or hour, but your delegation
may come at their own convenience and he will see them as soon
as he possibly can after their arrival. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.

APPENDIX 45 1
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 9, 1865.
Major-General Cadwallader, Philadelphia:
Please suspend execution in case of Thomas Adams, One hun
dred and eighty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and send record
to me. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 9, 1865.
Commanding-General Sixth Army Corps :
Suspend the execution of the sentence of Private James L.
Hycks, Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, until further
orders. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
The President requests that you will send the above. The man
was to have been executed on 10th instant.
Ed. D. Neill,
Secretary to President, United States, &c.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 9, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant:
Suspend execution of death sentence of Hugh F. Riley, Eleventh
Massachusetts Volunteers, now in front of Petersburg, until fur
ther orders, and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 9, 1865.
His Excellency John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts,
Boston, Mass. :
The President has to-day sent a dispatch ordering that the exe
cution of Hugh F. Riley, Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers, be
suspended until further orders and the record forwarded for ex
amination. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.

452 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 11, 1865.
Major-General Ord, Army of James:
Suspend execution of sentence in case of Maj. T. C. Jameson
and send me the record. A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 11, 1865.
Col. P. B. Hawkins, Frankfort, Ky. :
General Burbridge may discharge W. E. Waller, if he thinks fit.
A. Lincoln.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 12, 1865.
Major-General Hooker, Cincinnati, Ohio:
Is it Lieut. Samuel B. Davis whose death sentence is com
muted? If not done, let it be done. Is there not an associate of
his also in trouble ? Please answer. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 13, 1865.
Major-General Sheridan:
Suspend execution of sentence in case of James Lynch, aliai
Hennessy, until further orders and send record to me. Please ac
knowledge receipt of this. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 14, 1865.
To the Commanding Officer, Davenport, Iowa:
Suspend execution of death sentence of John C. Brown, alias
William A. Craven, and of John Ble, alias Cohoe, until further
orders and send records for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above dispatch. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary,.

APPENDIX 453
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 14, 1865.
Major-General Sheridan:
Suspend execution of death sentence of James Brown, fixed for
the 17th instant at Harper's Ferry, until further orders, and for
ward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Washington, February 15, 1865.
Major-General Sheridan:
Suspend execution in case of Luther T. Palmer, Fifth New
York Artillery, for fourteen days and send record to me for ex
amination. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 15, 1865.
Major-General Sheridan:
Suspend execution of death sentence of William Randall, at
Harper's Ferry, of Fifth New York Heavy Artillery, until further
orders and forward record of trial for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 16, 1865.
Lieuten ant-General Grant :
Suspend execution of death sentence of George W. Brown, Com
pany A, Fifteenth New York Engineers, now at City Point, until
further orders and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 16, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant :
Suspend execution of death sentence of Charles Love, Seventh
New Hampshire Volunteers, at City Point, until further orders and
forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolas

454 LIFE OF LINCOLN Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 17, 1868
Officer in Command at Davenport, Iowa :
Suspend execution of death sentence of William A. Craven, for
four weeks and forward record for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 17, 1865.
Officer in Command at Harper's Ferry :
Chaplain Fitzgibbon yesterday sent me a dispatch invoking
clemency for Jackson, Stewart and Randall, who are to be shot
to-day. The dispatch is so vague that there is no means here of
ascertaining whether or not the execution of sentence of one or
more of them may not already have been ordered. If not suspend
execution of sentence in their cases until further orders and for
ward records of trials for examination. A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 20, 1865.
Officer in Command at Davenport, Iowa:
Suspend execution of Henry Cole, alias Henry Coho, until fur
ther order and send record. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 22, 1865.
Officer in Command at Lexington, Ky. :
Send forthwith record of the trial of 0. K. Johnson. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 23, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant :
Suspend execution of death sentence of George A. Maynard
Company A, Forty-sixth New York Veteran Volunteers, until
further orders and forward record for examination.
,, -r, A. Lincoln.
Major Eckert:
Please send the above telegram. Jno. G. Nicolay,
Private Secretary.

APPENDIX 455
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 24, 1865.
Major-General Pope, Saint Louis, Mo. :
Please inquire and report to me whether there is any propriety
of longer keeping in Gratiott Street Prison a man said to be
there by the name of Riley Whiting. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 28, 1865.
Commanding Officer, Harper's Ferry, Va. :
Let the sentence in case of Luther T. Palmer be suspended till
further order. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) War Department,
Washington, D. C, March 6, 1865-
Hon. David Tod, Cleveland, Ohio:
I have yours about Grannis, and am compelled to say there is A
complication in the way. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, March 9, 1865.
W. 0. Bartlett, Philadelphia (probably at Continental) :
It will soon be too late if you are not here. A. Lincoln.
Washington, March 13, 1865.
Hon. Henry T. Blow, Saint Louis, Mo.:
A Miss E. Snodgrass, who was banished from Saint Louis in
May, 1863, wishes to take the oath and return home. What say
you? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 16, 1865.
Major-General Ord:
Suspend execution of Lieut. Henry A. Meek, of First U. S. Col
ored Cavalry, until further order from here. Answer. A. Lincoln.
War Department,
Washington, D. C, March 17, 1865.
Col. R. M. Hough and Others, Chicago, HI. :
Yours received. The best I can do with it is to refer it to the
War Department. The Rock Island case referred to, was my

456 LIFE OF LINCOLN
individual enterprise, and it caused so much difficulty in so many
ways that I promised to never undertake another. A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May [March] 20, 1865,
Major-Geneual Ord, Army of the James:
Is it true that George W. Lane is detained at Norfolk without
any charge against him? And if so why is it done? A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 23, 1865.
General Dodge, Commanding, &c, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Allow Mrs. R. S. Ewell the benefit of my amnesty proclamation
on her taking the oath. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) Headquarters Army of the Potomac,
March 25, 1865. (Received 5 p. m.)
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
I am here within five miles of the scene of this morning's action.
I have nothing to add to what General Meade reports except that
I have seen the prisoners myself and they look like there might
be the number he states — 1,600. A. Lincoln.
City Point, Va., March 26, 1865. (Received 11.30 a. m.)
Hon. Secretary of War:
I approve your Fort Sumter programme. Grant don't seem to
know Yeatman very well, but thinks very well of him so far as
he knows. Thinks it probable that Y. is here now, for the place.
I told you this yesterday as well as that you should do as you
think best about Mr. Whiting's resignation, but I suppose you
did not receive the dispatch. I am on the boat and have no later
war news than went to you last night. A. Lincoln.
City Point, Va., March 30, 1865—7.30 p. m.
(Received 8.30 p. m.)
Hon. Secretary of War:
I begin to feel that I ought to be at home and yet I dislike
to leave without seeing nearer to the end of General Grant's pres
ent movement. He has now been out since yesterday morning
and although he has not been divested from his programme no
considerable effort has yet been produced so far as we know here.
Last night at 10.15 p. m. when it was dark as a rainy night with-

APPENDIX 457
out a moon could be, a furious cannonade soon joined in by a
heavy musketry fire opened near Petersburg and lasted about two
hours. The sound was very distinct here as also were the flashes
of the guns up the clouds. It seemed to me a great battle, but
the older hands here scarcely noticed it and sure enough this morn
ing it was found that very little had been done. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) City Point, Va., April 1, 1865—5.30 p. m.
(Received 8.30 p. m.)
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
Dispatch just received showing that Sheridan, aided by War
ren had at 2 p. m. pushed the enemy back so as to retake the five
forks and bring his own headquarters up to I. Boisseans. The
five forks were barricaded by the enemy and carried by Diven's
division of cavalry. This part of the enemy seems to now be
trying to work along the White Oak road to join the main force
in front of Grant, while Sheridan and Warren are pressing them
as closely as possible. A. Lincoln.
City Point, Va., April 2, 1865.
Mrs. Lincoln:
At 4.30 p. m. to-day General Grant telegraphs that he has Peters
burg completely enveloped from river below to river above, and
has captured since he started last Wednesday, about 12,000 pris
oners and 50 guns. He suggests that I shall go out and see him in
the morning, which I think I will do. Tad and I are both well,
and will be glad to see you and your party here at the time you
name. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) City Point, Va., April 3, 1865—5 p. m.
(Received 7 p. m.)
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War :
Yours received. Thanks for your caution, but I have already
been to Petersburg, stayed with General Grant an hour and a half
and returned here. It is certain now that Richmond is in our
hands, and I think I will go there to-morrow. I will take care of
myself. A. Lincoln.
(Cypher) City Point, Va., April 4, 1865 — 8 a. m.
(Received 8.45 a. m.)
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War :
General Weitzel telegraphs from Richmond that of railroad
stock he found there, 28 locomotives, 44 passenger and baggage
cars, and 106 freight cars. At 3.30 this evening General Grant from
Southerland Station, 10 miles from Petersburg toward Burkes*
ville telegraphs as follows :

458 LIFE OF LINCOLN
"General Sheridan picked up 1,200 prisoners to-day and from
300 to 500 more have been gathered by other troops. The majority
of the arms that were left in the hands of the remnant of Lee's
army are now scattered between Richmond and where his troops
are. The country is also full of stragglers, the line of retreat
marked with artillery, ammunition burned or charred wagons, cais
sons, ambulances, &c." A Lincoln.
City Point, Va., April 5, 1865. (Received 11 : 55 p. m.)
Hon. Secretary of State:
Yours of to-day received. I think there is no probability of
my remaining here more than two days longer. H that is too long
come down. I passed last night at Richmond and have just re
turned. A. Lincoln.
City Point, Va., April 7, 1865—8.35 a. m.
(Received 10.30 a. m.)
Hon. Secretary of War:
At 11.15 p. m. yesterday at Burkesville Station, General Grant
sends me the following from General Sheridan: " April 6—11.15 p. m.
"Lieutenant-General Grant:
" I have the honor to report that the enemy made a stand at the
intersection of the Burks Station road with the road upon which
they were retreating. I attacked them with two divisions of the
Sixth Army Corps and routed them handsomely, making a connec
tion with the cavalry I am still pressing on with both cavalry and
infantry. Up to the present time we have captured Generals Ewell,
Kershaw, Button, Corse, DeBare, and Custus Lee, several thou
sand prisoners, 14 pieces of artillery with caissons and a large
number of wagons, li the thing is pressed I think Lee will sur
render. " P. H. Sheridan,
" Major-General, Commanding." A. Lincoln.
City Point, April 7, 1865—9 a. m.
(Received 10:30 a. m.)
Hon. Secretary of War:
The following further just received: "Burkesville, Va.
"A. Lincoln:
"The following telegrams respectfully forwarded for your in
formation: "H. S. Grant,
" Lieutenant-General."

APPENDIX 459
" Second Army Corps, April 6—7.30 P- m.
"Maj.-Gen. A. S. Webb:
" Our last fight just before dark at Sailor's Creek gave us 2
guns, 3 flags, considerable numbers of prisoners, 200 wagons, 70
ambulances with mules and horses to about one-half the wagons
and ambulances. There are between 30 and 50 wagons in addition
abandoned and destroyed along the road, some battery wagons,
forages, and limbers. I have already reported to you the capture
of 1 gun, 2 flags and some prisoners, and the fact that the road for
over 2 miles is strewed with tents, baggage, cooking utensils, some
ammunition, some material of all kinds, the wagons across the
approach to the bridges it will take some time to clear it. The
enemy is in position on the heights beyond with artillery. The
bridge partially destroyed and the approaches on other side are
of soft bottom land. We cannot advance to-morrow in the same
manner we have to-day. As soon as I get my troops up a little,
we are considerably mixed, I might push a column down the road
and deploy it but it is evident that I cannot follow rapidly during
the night. "A A. Humphreys, " Major-General." A. Lincoln.
Head Quarters Armd2S of the United States,
City Point, April 7, 11 a. m., 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant :
Gen. Sheridan says " If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will
lurrender." Let the thing be pressed. A. Lincoln.
(Original owned by C. F. Gunther of Chicago, HI.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 11, 1865.
Brig. Gen. G. H. Gordon, Norfolk, Va.:
Send to me at once a full statement as to the cause or causes
for which, and by authority of what tribunal, George W. Lane,
Charles Whitlock, Ezra Baker, J. M. Renshaw, and others are
restrained of their liberty. Do this promptly and fully. A Lincoln.

INDEX

INDEX

A Ashmun, George, i, 349, 359 ; 11, 43,
236.
Abraham Lincoln, Ode for the Burial Atkinson, Gen., i, 75, 81-84.
of, ii, 257. Atwood, of Philadelphia, i, 373.
"Abraham, Father," ii, 169.
Adams, Mr., ii, 25.
Adams, Gen. James, i, 155-157. B
Adams, John Quincy, i, 207.
Address to Border States representa- Bad Ax, battle of, i, 90.
tives, ii, 111. Bailhache, Wm. H., Major, i, 403.
Address, first inaugural, ii, 6-12. Baker, Edward D., Col., i, 133, 158,
— opinions of the press, ii, 12, 13. 166.
— second inaugural, ii, 221, 222. — nominated for Congress against Lin-
Administration, embarrassment of, ii, coin, i, 194, 195, 202, 203, 212, 398;
44. ii, 70, 71.
— military policy, ii, 53, 70, 93, 95, Baker, Senator, of Oregon, ii, 5.
101, 194. Ball's Bluff, battle of, ii, 70, 71.
Akers, Peter, Rev. Dr., sermon of, i, Baltimore, plot in, i, 419.
237. Bancroft, Frederick, i, 392.
Allen, Dr. John, i, 9. Banks, Gen., i, 347 ; ii, 58, 71.
Anderson, Robert, Gen., i, 80, 86, 90, Banks, of Massachusetts, i, 347, 403.
387. Baptist Licking Locust Ass., j, 35.
— in command of Fort Sumter, ii, Bartlett, D. W., i, 370.
14, 15. Bateman, Newton, Dr., i, 361.
— heroic defence, ii, 33, 230. Bates, Edward, i, 347, 398, 402, 424.
Anti-slavery agitation, i, 35. Beatty, George, i, 321.
Arms, i, 388, ii, 44. Beckwith, H. W., Judge, i, 251.
Armstrong, jack, i, 63, 64, 107, 270. — " Personal Recollections of Lin-
Armstrong murder, i, 270-273. coin," i, 252, 308.
Armstrong, Hannah, i, 107, 270, 271, Beecher, Henry Ward, Rev., i, 304,
273. 322; ii, 230.
Armstrong, William. (See Armstrong Bell, Mr. , i, 380, 386.
murder case.) Bennett, John, i, 137, 193, 204.
Army of the Cumberland, ii, 145. Benton, Thomas H., i, 207.
Army of Northeastern Virginia, ii, 55. Berry, Lucy (Shipley), Mrs., aunt of
Army, increase of, ii, 43. Nancy Hanks, i, 8.
Army of the Potomac, ii, 69. Berry, Mr., of Boston, i, 373.
— inaction of, ii, 71, 86, 105, 127, Berry and Lincoln, store of, i, 9, 92.
*33. 139. 140. 145. 150, 160, 162. — tavern license, i, 94-96, 104, 108.
Army of Virginia, ii, 129. Berry, Richard, i, 8, 10.
Arnold, Isaac, ii, 46, m, 231. Berry, Wm. F., i, 92.
Arsenal, supplies of, ii, 44. Birney, James G., i, 200.
Ashburn resolution, i, 214. Bissell, Wm. H., Gen., i, 291.

464

INDEX

Black Hawk. (See Black Hawk War.)
Black Hawk War, i, 73-87.
— prominent Americans engaged in,
i, 90, 114, 211.
Blaine, James G., Secretary, ii, 168.
Blair, Francis P., i, 292, 349, 359 ; ii,
88.
¦ — acts as peacemaker, ii, 209-210,
359-
Blair, Frank P., of Chicago, ii, 88.
Blair, Montgomery, Postmaster-Gen
eral, i, 424, 425 ; ii, 20, 61, 64, 65,
97-
Blanchard, John, i, 208.
Blodgett, judge, i, 276, 277.
Blondin, story of, ii, 92.
Boal, Robert, Dr., i, 203.
Bond, Ben., i, 166.
Boone, Nathan, Col., i, 90.
Booth, Junius Brutus, ii, 248.
Booth, John Wilkes, ii, 199.
¦ — assassinates Lincoln, 238-240.
Boutwell, George S., Gov., i, 349, 359,
360.
Bowles, Samuel, i, 349, 359, 370.
Bragg, Braxton, Gen., ii, 182, 183.
Brayman, Mason, Gen., i, 255, 259,
327.
Breckenridge, Gov., i, 380, 386.
Breese, Sidney, Hon., i, 90.
Bright, John, ii, 46.
Broadwell, Judge, i, 177.
Brokaw, Abraham, i, story of Lincoln's
fees, 267, 268.
Bromley, Isaac H., Mr., i, 343, 349.
Brooks, Noah, i, 404 ; ii, 138.
Brown, Gratz, i, 349 ; ii, 174.
Brown, of Philadelphia, i, 373.
Brown, Mrs., Dr., i, 176.
— describes Lincoln's wedding, i, igo.
Browning, O. H., Hon., i, 133, 158,
229 ; ii, g, 66.
Browning, O. H., Mrs., i, 149, 150.
Brumfield, Nancy (Lincoln), Mrs., i,
6.
Brumfield, William, i, 6.
Bryant, John, i, 86, 144, 146.
Bryant, William Cullen, i, 80, 86, 90,
327-
— editorial on Lincoln, i, 365, 370,
380 ; ii, 178, 257.
Buchanan, James T., President, i, 207,
300-303, 407, 423.
— escorts Lincoln to Capitol, ii, 2, 4,
5. 15. 16.
Buell, Gen., ii, 84, 143, 162.

Bull Run, battle of, ii, 55, 56, 59, 60
79. !50.
Burner, Daniel Green, i, 108.
Burner, Isaac, i, no.
Burnside, Ambrose, Gen., return of,
ii, 57-
— relieves McClellan, ii, 133.
— movements of, ii, 134, 135, 170, 181,
182.
Busey, S. C, Dr., personal reminis
cences and recollections, i, 208-210.
Butler, Gen., ii, 58, 249.
Butler, William, i, 91, 148, 180, 186,
187.
Butterfield, Justin, Gen., i, 230, 231 ;
ii, 138.

Cabinet, selecting the, i, 3907-403, 423-
425 ; ii, 18-22, 53, 70.
Calhoun, John, i, gg, 122, isg, 197.
Campaign of i860, delegation of, i,
359-
— nomination an accomplished fact, i,
361.
— demonstrations, i, 364.
— opinions of the press, i, 365.
— rail fence, i, 366.
— Seward's ratification, i, 366-368.
— speeches, i, 369.
— tracts, i, 369.
— clubs, i, 370.
— songs, i, 371.
— mass meetings, i, 372.
Cameron, Rev. John, i, 107.
Cameron, John, i, 60.
Cameron, Simon, Secretary, i, 342,
344. 347. 4°o, 425 ; ii, 43.
— unfitness, ii, 76, 77.
— relieved, ii, 78, 142.
Cameron, Polly, Mrs., i, 107.
Campbell, John A., ii, 210.
Campbell, Thomas, i, 196, 197,
Canby, Gen., ii, 219.
Canfield, Robert W., i, 197.
Capitol, the, ii, 2.
Carman, Walter, i, 53, 54.
Carpenter, Mr., ii, 116.
Carr, Clark E., Col., ii, 3.
Carr, Wm. W., Lieut., i, 198.
Carter, David K., i, 359.
Cartwright, Peter, i, 206, 273, 274
Casparis, James, i, 216.
Cass, Gen., i, 218, 219.

INDEX

4^5

Cemetery, Oakland, grave of Abraham
Lincoln, ii, 260.
Chandler, A. B., ii, 105, 140, 141, 153.
Chandler, Zachariah, Senator, i, 292 ;
". 35. 52, g4-
Chase, Salmon P., Secretary, i, 335,
344. 347, 355. 399. 400, 425. 426 ;
ii, 50, 75. 120.
— rival of Lincoln, ii, 189-191.
Chicago, mourning in, ii, 258.
Chicago, rise of, i, 114.
— audacity of, i, 342.
Civil War, ii, 146, 157, 164, 168, 170.
Chittenden, E. L., ii, 249.
Clarke, Enos, ii, 175.
Clary's Grove Boys, i, 63, 89, 92, 272.
Clay, Cassius M., i, 349, 369, 370; ii,
37-
Clay, Henry, i, ig7, 201, 216, 380.
Clover, Judge, ii, 65.
Coffin, C. C, ii, 70.
Colfax, Schuyler, i, 425 ; ii, 233, 236.
Collamer, of Vermont, i, 347.
Compositors receive news of Lincoln's
death, ii, 245, 246.
Conant, A. J., i, g3, 373.
Confederacy, Southern, ii, 19, 36.
Conference, Hampton Roads, ii, 212.
Congress stands by Lincoln, ii, 59.
Conkling, James C., Hon., i, 357.
Conkling, Roscoe, ii, 171.
Cooper Institute, Sumner's speech at,
i, 369.
Cooper Union speech, i, 326-330, 383.
Convention, Bloomington, i, 2g2-3O0.
Convention, Chicago, i, 340.
— formally opened, i, 342.
— nominates Lincoln, i, 347-356.
— delegates to, i, 343-345 ; ii, 26.
Convention, Decatur, i, 33g, 340.
Convention, Editorial, i, 289-292.
Convention, National Democratic, i,
362.
Convention, Pekin, i, 195-197.
Convention, Republican. (See Chicago
Convention.)
Convention, Springfield, i, 316.
Convention, Union, ii, 193.
Conway, Moncure, ii, 88.
Corwin, Thomas, i, 34g.
Couch, Gen., ii, 142.
Crafton, Greek, i, 273, 274.
Crawford, Josiah, i, igg.
Crawford, Mrs., i, 25.
Crotty, William, Mrs., i, 320.
Crume, Mary (Lincoln) Mrs., i, 6.

Crume, Ralph, i, 6.
Cullom, Robert M., i, 133.
Cullom, Shelby M., Senator, i, 133.
Cullom, Gen., ii, 154.
Curtis, Gen., ii, 66.
Curtis, Geo. Wm., i, 349.
Custom House, New York, meeting
in, ii, 249.

Dana, Charles A., Assistant Secretary,
ii, 81, 144.
Davis, . David, Judge, partiality for
' Lincoln, i, 244-246, 267, 268, 2g6,
345-
— sees New Jersey delegation, i, 350,
351, 381 ; ii, 76, 254.
Davis, Jefferson, i, go, 208, 382 ; ii,
39. 172, 174. 183, 210, 22g, 230.
Davis, J. McCann, i, 8.
Dawes, Senator, ii, 56.
Dawson John, i, 130.
Dayton, of New Jersey, i, 347.
Debates, Freeport, i, 363.
Debates, Lincoln-Douglas, i, 281, 303,
307-322, 326.
Defeat, Stillman's, i, 7g.
Democrats, organization of, i, 126.
Department of the West, ii, 61.
Derickson, D. V., Capt., ii, 154-156.
Dickerson, E. N., i, 261, 262.
Dickinson, Daniel L., ii, 249.
Dickey, Judge T. Lyle, story of Lin
coln, i, 287, 288.
Diller, Roland, i, 236.
District of Columbia, slavery in, i, 228.
Dix, Gen., ii, 167.
Dixon, John, i, 83.
Dodge, Henry, Gov., i, 83, go.
Dodd, Ira Seymour, ii, 137.
Dougherty, E. C, i, 28g.
Douglass, Fred., i, 320.
Douglas, Stephen A., i, 114, 126, 133,
153.
— phenomenal record, i, 159.
— campaign of 1837-1840, i, 159, 163.
— character, i, 160, 172, 173, 207, 267.
— serious struggles, i, 280, 281, 284,
306, 335, 336.
— doctrine, i, 363, 378, 380, 382, 385,
386, 391, 393, 414.
— holds Lincoln's hat, ii, 5.
— offers aid to Lincoln, ii, 35.
Douglas, Wm. A., i, 372.

466

INDEX

Draft bill, il, 147.
Drake, C. D., ii, 175.
Draper, A. G., Prof., ii, 245.
Dream, President's, ii, 233, 234.
Dresser, Nathan, i, 204.
Drummond, Josiah, i, 345.
Dubois, Jesse K., i, 113, 137, 158.
Dubois, Lincoln, i, 410.
" Duff Green's Row," i, 208.
Duncan, Gov., i, 113.
Durley, Madison, i, 200.
Durley, Williamson, i, 200.
Durrett, R. T., i, 4, 6.
Discontent, Northern, ii, 53.
E
Early, Capt. Jacob M., 1, 86, 87.
Eaton, John, Gen., ii, 67, 68, igg.
Eckert, Maj., ii, 134, 153, 165.
Edwards, Cyrus, i, 229-231.
Edwards, Benj. T., Judge, i, 178.
Edwards, B. T., Mrs., i, 178.
Edwards, Ninian W., i, 130, 158, 172,
177, 178.
Edwards, Ninian W., Mrs., i, 172, 176,
191.
Election, tables of, i, 362-364.
Elkins, Wm. F., i, 130.
Ellsworth, Colonel of Zouaves, i, 371 ;
ii, 53-
Emancipation, ii, 95, 96.
Emancipation, message on, compen
sated, ii, 97.
Emancipation, compensated, ii, 96,
in.
Emancipation Proclamation, ii, 1 16-
126, 163, 171, 212.
Emancipation Society, ii, 99.
Embree, Elisha, i, 208.
Emerson, Ralph, i, 264-266.
Emerson, Ralph W., i, 224.
Escort, President's funeral, ii, 253,
254-
Evans, E. P., ii, 167.
Evarts, Wm. M., i, 349, 353, 359.
Everett, Edward, ii, 35.
Ewing, Wm. D., Hon.,i, 90, 113, 133,
139. 158, 198.

Farragut, Admiral, ii, 198, 202, 256.
Farrar, B. G., Gen., ii, 63.
Faxon, Charles, i, 289.

Fell, Jesse W„ i, 334, 345.
Ferguson, John, i, no.
Fessenden, William P., ii, 249.
Field, David Dudley, i, 327.
Ficklin, O. B., Hon., i, 320.
Fillmore, Millard, i, 225, 301.
Filson, John, i, 4.
Fletcher, Job, i, 130.
Ford, A. N., i, 289.
Ford's theatre, ii, 242.
— party at, ii, 235-237.
Ford, Theodore, i, 113.
Fort Pickens, ii, 16, 17, 19, 28, 3t.
Forts Henry and Donelson, capture of,
ii, 143-
Fort Moultrie, ii, 14, 15.
Fort Sumter, i, 80, 387 ; ii, 14-17, 19,
28, 29, 31, 33, 100, 230.
Fox, Capt., ii, 134.
Francis, Simeon, i, 184, 185.
Free soil, i, 218, 219.
Freedmen, march of, ii, 257.
Fremont, John C, Gen., i, 301 ; ii,
58, 60.
— appointment of, ii, 61.
— charges against, ii, 61, 65.
— relieved of command, ii, 66-69, I28>
, 133. 174, 193-
Fremont, Jessie Benton, Mrs., ii, 62,
65.
Fremont and Dayton, i, 300.
Friend, Dennis, commonly called
Hanks. (See Hanks, Dennis.)
Frontier store, i, 62.
Frye, Gen., ii, 148.
Funeral journey. President's, ii, 254-
260.

Gamble, Gov., ii, 174.
Garfield, Gen., ii, 249.
Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, i, 224, 304 ; ii,
230.
Gentry, Mr., i, 39.
Gentryville, Ind., boyhood home of
Lincoln, i, 18.
Giddings, G. H., i, 208, 224, 292, 349.
— letter to Lincoln, i, 368.
— describes cabinet meeting, ii, 20-22.
Gillespie, Judge, i, 205, 230, 405, 406,
409.
Gilmer, John A., i, 393, 402.
Gilmore, James R. (Edmund Kirke),
" Personal Recollections of Abraham
Lincoln," ii, 171, 172.

INDEX

467

Goggin of Virginia, i, 382.
Gollaher, Austin, i, 14, 15.
Graham, Christopher Columbus, Dr., i,
10, 14, 35-
Graham, Mentor, i, 61, 66, 100, 117.
Grant, Mrs., ii, 235, 236.
Grant, Ulysses S., Gen., in the West,
ii, 143, 144.
— appointed Lieutenant-General, ii,
145, 170.
— mentioned for Presidency, ii, 186-
l8g.
— attacks Petersburg, ii, ig4, igg, 208,
225.
— final movements, ii, 227, 233, 235,
236.
Greeley, Horace, i, 2g2, 303, 304, 307,
315, 327. 344. 347. 349. 352. 354.
369, 37o.
— editorials, i, 3g5, 3g8, 418 ; ii, 117,
118, ng.
— opposes Lincoln, ii, 171, 172, 195-
198.
Green, Bowling, " Squire," i, no, in.
Greene, friend of Lincoln, i, 66, 67,
75. 76.
Grigsby, Aaron, i, 27.
Grigsby, Nat., i, 43.
Grigsby, Sarah Lincoln, Mrs., i, 13,
27-
Grimes, Senator, ii, 246, 247.
Grosscup, Peter Stenger, Hon., ii, 113.
Grow, G. A., Hon., ii, 21, 42, £.8.
Gurley, Dr., pastor of Lincoln, ii, 244,
249. 252. 253. H
Hale, Edward Everett, Rev., ii, 97.
Hale, J. T., Hon., i, 3g2.
Hall, Levi, i, 47, 4g.
Halleck, H. W., Gen., ii, 84.
— appointed General-in-Chief, ii, 128,
130, 134, 135, I3g, 140, 143. 144.
154-
Hallucination, i, 404.
Halstead, Murat, i, 349, 352.
Hamlin, Hannibal, Vice-President,
meeting with Lincoln, i, 378, 397,
398.
— loyalty to Lincoln, ii, 189.
Hanks, Benjamin, i, 7.
Hanks, Dennis, i, 14, 22, 33.
Hanks, John, i, 58, 65.
Hanks, Joseph, i, 7, 8.

Hanks, Joseph, brother of Nancy, 1,
7, 232.
Hanks, Nancy. (See Nancy [Hanks]
Lincoln, Mrs.)
Hanks, Nancy (Shipley), Mrs., i, 7.
Hanks, William, i, 7.
Hardie, Col., ii, 153.
Hardin, John J., Col., i, 114, 158,
166, 180, 189, ig4-ig7, 202-206, 212.
Harding, Col., ii, 64.
Harding, George, relates meeting of
Lincoln and Stanton, i, 260-264.
Harlan, James, Hon., i, 423-425; ii, 4,
11, 103, ig8, 232.
Harris, Lieut., i, 83, 84.
Harris, Ira, Senator, ii, 236, 237.
Harris, Miss, ii, 237.
Harrison, Peachy, i, 273-275.
Harrison, Wm. Henry, Gen., i, 163,
165, 166.
Hawley, Joseph, i, 34g.
Hay; John, ii, 40.
Hazel, Caleb, i, 16.
Head, Jesse, Rev., marries Thomas
Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, i, 10, 35.
Helm, Mrs., i, 179.
Henderson, T. J., Gen., i, 165.
Henderson, John B., secures pardons
from Lincoln, ii, 223-225.
Henderson, Wm. H., i, 166.
Henry, A. G., Dr., i, 180, 323.
Henry, Gen., i, 81-84.
Herndon, Arthur, i, 130.
Herndon Brothers, i, 92.
Herndon, James, i, g2.
Herndon, Rowan, i, g2, 106.
Herndon, Wm. H., i, 2g, 33, 40, 44,
57, 58, 62, 105, 106, 174-177. I79»
ig2, 214, 23g, 24g, 25g, 26g, 2g5,
304, 40g.
Herndon and Weik, i, 250.
Hicks, of New York, i, 373.
Hill and McNeill, i, 91.
Hill, John, i, 255.
Hill, Samuel, i, 106, 117; ii, 90.
Hingham, Mass., arrival of Lincoln
family in, i, 1.
Hitchcock, Caroline Hanks, Mrs.,
compiler of genealogy of Hanks
family in America, i, 7.
Hitt, Robert L., Hon., i, 277, 315.
322.
Hoar, Gen., i, 224.
Hogan, John, Rev., i, 166.
Hooker, Joseph, Gen., relieves Burn
side, ii, 135.

468

INDEX

Hooker, Joseph, receipt of President's
letter, ii, 136-139, 162, 170.
Howells, W. D., i, 370.
Hospitals, ii, 157-161.
Houston, Sam, Gov., ii, 20-23.
Hoyt, Col., i, 353.
Hunter, David, Gen., i, 379, 396; ii,
64, 67, 68, 102, 254.
Hunter, R. M. T., ii, 210, 211.
Hurl burt, Gen., ii, 218, 219.
Hyer, Tom, i, 343, 344.

lies, Capt., " Footsteps and Wander
ings," i, 80-84, 86.
Illinois, Convention system of, i, I, 93.
Illinois, Eighth Judicial Circuit of, i,
242-245.
— Ninth General Assembly of, 111-
114, 124-126.
— Tenth General Assembly of, i, 127,
132, 142-145. 147. 159-
— State taxes, i, 185.
— Address to the people of, i, 193.
Inauguration Ball, i, 209.
Internal improvements, public utility
of, i, 67-72,

J
Jackson, Andrew, Gen., i, 396; ii, 12.
James, B. F., i, 202.
Jayne, Julia, Miss, i, 185, 186, 191.
Jefferson, Joseph, Autobiography of, i,
248, 249.
Jefferson, Thomas, i, 35, 325, 380, 414.
Johnson, Andrew, i, 208.
Johnson Reverdy, i, 261, 262.
Johnson, ex-Governor, ii, 176.
Johnston, Albert Sidney, i, 90.
Johnston, Gen., ii, 208, 226.
Johnston, John, half brother of Lin
coln, i, 21, 233, 238.
Johnston, A. E. H., Maj., ii, 130.
Johnston, Matilda, i, 21.
Johnston, Sally Bush. (See Lincoln,
Sally [Bush], Mrs.)
Johnston, Sarah, i, 21.
Jones, of Gentryville, i, 34.
Jones, J. Russell, ii, 187-189.
Jones, Wm., Capt., i, 48.
Jones, of Cincinnati, i, 373, 374.
Judd, Norman B., i, 275, 277, 278,
316. 3*4. 339. 345-

Judd, Norman B., nominates Lincoln,
i, 354, 418, 420, 422.
Judd, Norman B., Mrs., i, 277, 278.
Julian, George W., i, 398 ; ii, 5, 94.
K
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 1, 280-284.
Keene, Laura, ii, 235, 236.
Kellogg's Grove, skirmish of, i, 87.
Kellogg, Wm., i, 391.
Kelley, William D., Judge, i, 345, 359.
Kelso, Jack, i, 93, 107, no.
Kidd, T. W. I., i, 251, 252.
King, Preston, i, 2g2, 349.
Knox, Joseph B., i, 277.

Lamar, John, Capt., i, 32.
Lamon, Marshal, ii, 254.
Lamon, Ward, i, 251, 268, 269, 419;
ii. 254-
Lane, Henry S., i, 346, 352.
Lane, Senator, ii, 37, 173.
Law, martial, established, ii, 243.
Lawrence, Geo., i, 412.
Lecbmpton Constitution, i, 303.
Lee, Gen., ii, 120, 131, 134, 140-142,
193, 208, 229.
Leighton, George, Col., ii, 63, 65.
Levering, Mrs., i, 178.
Levis, Edward, i, 188, 189.
Libby Prison, ii, 229.
Liberty Men, i, 200-20Z
Lieber, Francis, ii, 13.
Lincoln, Abraham, of Berks Co., i, 2.
Lincoln, Abraham, cousin of the Presi
dent, i, 232.
Lincoln, Abraham, son of John, i, 3.
Lincoln, Abraham, of Rockingham
Co., Va., i, 8.
Lincoln, Abraham, President, birth,
Feb. 12, 1S09, i, 14.
— early childhood, i, 14-17.
— boyhood in Indiana, i, 18-27.
— life on the farm, i, 21.
— desultory education, i, 2g-34.
— effect of tragedies, i, 27, 28.
— backwoods orator, i, 36.
— first dollar, i, 38.
— on Ohio and Mississippi rivers, i,
37-40.
— impression on others, 1, 40-44.
— clearness in argument, i, 43, 44.

INDEX

469

Lincoln, Abraham, leaves Indiana,
1830, for Decatur.Ill., i, 45-4g.
— first monument, i, 46.
— strength and appearance, i, 49-51.
— rail splitting, i, 49, 51.
— flat boating, i, 51-56.
— sees slavery, i, 57, 58, 200, 222.
— in New Salem, 1831-32, i, 59-67.
— authority, i, 64.
— speech to beat, i, 65.
— honesty, i, 65.
— grammar, i, 66.
— "practicing polemics," i, 66.
— studying men, i, 66.
— candidate for General Assembly of
the State, March, 1832, i, 67-72.
— piloting the " Talisman," i, 72.
— Capt. of Sangamon Company, i, 75-
77-
— Black Hawk War, i, 78-87.
— disbanded at Whitewater, Wis. , i,
87, 88.
— candidate for State Assembly, i, 89-
91.
— storekeeper in New Salem, i, gi-g6.
— reading, 93-94.
— postmaster in New Salem, i, g6-g8.
— message on compensated emanci
pation, ii, g6-gS, 100, 101.
— summer of 1833, i, g8.
— surveying, i, gg-101.
— appalling debt, i, 104, 105.
— relations with community, i, 106.
— elected to Illinois legislature, 1834,
i, 108, log.
— studying law, i, log, no.
— in Ninth Assembly, i, 111-115.
— meeting with Stephen A. Douglas,
i, 114.
— love for Ann Rutledge, i, 116-121.
— intellectual equipment at twenty-six,
i, 121-123.
— first experience as legislator, i, 124-
126.
— campaign for Tenth Assembly,
1836, i, 127-129.
¦ — reelected, i, 130.
— admitted to bar at Springfield, i,
132.
— work in Tenth Assembly, i, 132-144.
— social life in Vandalia, i, 145, 146.
— Major Stuart's partner, i, 147.
— removes to Springfield, i, 147.
— Mary Owens, i, 149-153.
— controversy with Gen. Adams, i,
155-157-

Lincoln, Abraham, clever strategist, 1,
157. 158.
— meeting with Douglas, i, 159.
— campaign against Douglas, 1837-.
1840, i, 159-163.
— campaign of 1840, i, 160-169.
— monster political meetings, i, 165.
— social life in Springfield, i, 170-172.
— engagement to Mary Todd, i, 172,
I73-.
— breaking of engagement to Mary
Todd, i, 174-181.
— friendship with Speed, i, 181-184.
— encounter with Shields, i, 184-190.
— marries Mary Todd, i, 190, 191.
— candidate for Congress, 1842, 1,
Ig2-ig4.
— supports Baker and Hardin, i, 194-
197.
— Pekin convention, r843, 1, 195-197.
— campaign work, i, 197-199.
— fears Hardin's reelection, i, 202-206.
— elected to Congress, August, 1846,
i, 206.-
— in Washington, 1847, i, 207-212.
— Spot Resolutions, i, 212-215.
— forms "Young Indian" club, 1,
216.
— speaks for Taylor, i, 216, 220.
— slavery question, i, 220-224.
— at Niagara, i, 225, 226.
— an inventor, i, 227.
— bill to abolish slavery in District of
Columbia, i, 228.
— end of congressional career, 1849,
i, 2gg.
— refutes Edwards accusation, 1, 230,
231.
— declines governorship of Oregon, i,
232.
— assists relatives, i, 232-234.
— with children, i, 235-237 ; ii, 87, 88.
— religion, i, 237, 238.
— devotion to study, 238-240.
— abandons politics for law, i, 241.
— on the Eighth Circuit, i, 242-247.
— humor and helpfulness, i, 246, 247.
— conduct of cases, i, 247-256.
— telling stories, i, 253-256.
— place in legal circle, i, 257.
— defence of slave girl, i, 257, 258.
— case of Illinois Central Railroad, i,
258, 259.
— meets Stanton, i, 260-264.
— McCormick case, i, 260-266.
— fees, i, 267-270.

47o

INDEX

Lincoln, Abraham, Armstrong murder
case, i, 270-273.
— Harrison murder case, i, 273-275.
— Rock Island Bridge case, i, 275-
278.
— Missouri Compromise, i, 279-299.
— campaign under Fremont and Day
ton, i, 300.
— proposed as candidate for Vice-
Presidency, June 17, i, 300.
— Lincoln-Douglas debates, i, 302-
326.
— speeches in New England, i, 330-
332.
— a national figure, i, 332, 333.
— autobiography, i, 338.
— the rail candidate, i, 340, 353.
— Cooper Institute speech, i, 326, 330,
341-
— newspaper support, i, 33g, 341.
— compromise candidate, i, 347.
— nomination for President, i860, i,
350-358.
— campaign, i860, i, 359-372.
— letter of acceptance, i, 361.
— visitors, i, 373-375.
— policy of silence, i, 376-378.
— certainty of election, i, 378-384.
— election day, i, 384-386.
— votes for, i, 386.
— President elect, i, 387.
— news of disruption, i, 387-389.
— replies to appeals, i, 390-395.
— cabinet, i, 398-403, 423-426.
— simple propositions, 1, 2, 3, 4, i,
396. 397-
— prepares inaugural address, i, 403.
— events preceding inauguration, i,
404-410.
— journey to Washington, i, 411-423.
— first inauguration, ii, 1-13.
— decides fate of Fort Sumter, ii, 14—
ig.
— prevents accessions to the Confeder
acy, ii, ig-22.
— besieged by office-seekers, ii, 23-
26.
— Seward's attitude to, ii, 26-30.
— reply to Seward, ii, 30-32.
— preparing for Civil War, ii, 33-45.
— conditions in the White House, ii,
45-48.
— relation to the common soldier, ii,
49. 50.
— impresses others, ii, 51, 52.
— how to use the army, ii, 52-55.

Lincoln, Abraham, battle of Bull Run,
ii. 55-57-
— gives McClellan command, ii, 5g.
— "Memoranda of Military Policy
Suggested by Bull Run Defeat,"
. ». 57, 58.
— improves morale of officers and men,
ii, 60.
— trouble with Fremont, ii, 61-66.
— disappointment in McClellan, ii, 6g,
70.
— receives news of Col. Baker's death,
ii, 70, 71.
— Trent affair, ii, 72-75.
— rights of neutrals, ii, 72-75.
— trouble in official family, ii, 76-78.
— appoints Stanton, ii, 78-80.
— first encounter with Stanton, 1865,
«, 79-
— defends McClellan, ii, 81, 83.
— memorandum of military policy, ii,
83.
— military authority, ii, 84, 85.
— war order, first special, ii, 86.
— bitter private sorrow, ii, 87-89.
— seeks religious help, ii, 89-92.
— receives committees, ii, 93.
— issues war orders, ii, 94.
— denounced, ii, 95.
— plans Compensated Emancipation,
ii, 96-101.
— revokes Hunter's order, ii, 102.
— offers to resign, ii, 103, 104.
— in the War Department, ii, 105-
107.
— difficulties with McClellan, ii, 107-
110, 128-133.
— address to Border State representa
tives, ii, 111-113.
— seeks a General, ii, 127.
— appoints Halleck, ii, 128.
— appoints Burnside, ii, 133-135.
— appoints Hooker, ii, 135-137.
— reviews army, ii, 137, 138.
— receives war news, ii, 138, 142.
— notices Grant, ii, 143, 144.
— interview with Leonard Swett, 11,
113-115.
— Emancipation Proclamation, ii, 116-
126.
— appoints Grant Lieutenant-General,
ii, 145-
— filling the ranks, ii, 146-149.
— personal friend of soldiers, ii, 1 50-
157.
— in the hospitals, ii, 159-161. ,,

INDEX

471

Lincoln, Abraham, sorrow in punish
ing deserters, ii, 161-169.
— suspends executions, ii, 164-168.
— in 1863, ii, 170.
— opposed by radicals, ii, 171, 180.
— substantial results of policy, ii, 171.
— conducts Vallandigham case, ii,
180-186.
— finds out Grant's feelings, ii, 187-
189, 199, 200.
— ignores Chase's electioneering, ii,
190.
— renominated, ii, igl-ig4.
— visits Grant, ii, ig4.
— calls for more volunteers, ii, ig5.
— meets Greeley's criticism, ii, ig6-
198.
— alarmed by discontent, ii, igg.
— duty if defeated, ii, 201, 202.
— reelection, ii, 204.
— reflections on the election, ii, 205-
207.
— letters to Sherman, ii, 209.
— replies to Jefferson Davis, ii, 210.
— meets Confederate envoys, ii, 211.
— view of Emancipation Proclamation,
ii, 212-216.
— reconstruction, ii, 2i7-2ig.
— a mighty problem, ii, 220, 221.
— explains Emancipation Proclama
tion, ii, 222.
— second inaugural, ii, 222, 223.
— pardons prisoners of war, 223-225.
— at City Point, ii, 225, 227.
— enters Richmond, 227, 228.
— orders draft suspended, ii, 22g.
— change in appearance, ii, 232.
— feelings at the end of the war, ii,
231.
— the 14th of April, ii, 232-237.
— "the President is shot," ii, 238-
242.
— death of, ii, 243, 244.
— mourning for, ii, 245-251.
— - funeral of, ii, 250-260.
— grave of, ii, 260.
¦ -. tributes to, ii, 261.
— the real, ii, 261, 262.
Lincoln and Herndon, i, 241, 267, 315.
Lincoln, Daniel, i, 1.
Lincoln, Enoch, i, 2.
Lincoln family, i, 1.
Lincoln, George, of Brooklyn, i, 375.
Lincoln, Jacob, i, 3.
Lincoln, John, called "Virginia John, "
i, 2.

Lincoln, Josiah, 1, 6.
Lincoln and Lamon, 1, 251.
Lincoln, Levi, i, 1.
Lincoln, Levi, jr., i, 2.
Lincoln, Mary (Shipley), Mrs., 1, 8.
Lincoln, Mary Todd, Mrs., family of,
i, 172.
— engagement to Lincoln, i, 173.
— engagement broken, i, 174-179, 181,
184, 185.
— marries Lincoln, i, 190, 191, 366;
ii, 37, 231, 236, 237, 252.
Lincoln, Mordecai, i, 2.
Lincoln, Mordecai, second, i, 2.
Lincoln, Mordecai, grandson of John,
i, 5, 6.
Lincoln, Mordecai, brother of Thomas,
i, 8, 232.
Lincoln, Mordecai, cousin of the Presi
dent, i, 232.
Lincoln, Mordecai, uncle of the Presi
dent, i, 232.
Lincoln, Nancy, called Sarah, i, 14.
Lincoln, Nancy (Hanks), Mrs., mother
of the President, i, 7, 8, 19, 20, 22,
27, 35, 220.
Lincolns of Hingham, i, 366.
Lincoln, Robert, son of the President,
i, 330 ; ii, 233, 242.
Lincoln, Sally Bush, Mrs., marries
Thomas Lincoln, i, 21.
— relation with stepson, i, 32.
— her character of Lincoln, i, 44.
— death, i, i6g.
— visited by Lincoln, i, 408.
Lincoln, Samuel, of Hingham, 1, I,
217.
Lincoln, Sarah, sister of the President.
(See Grigsby, Sarah [Lincoln], Mrs.)
Lincoln, Tad (Thomas), son of the
President, i, 236 ; ii, 87, 88, 157,
252.
Lincoln, Thomas, i, I.
Lincoln, Thomas, father of the Presi
dent, i, 6.
— marriage with Nancy Hanks, i, 7,
8-10.
— position in Hardin Co. , 1, 13.
— birth of son Abraham, i, 14.
— emigrates to Indiana, i, 18.
— marries Mrs. Sally Bush Johnston,
i, 21, 25, 35.
— leaves Indiana for Illinois, i, 45, 47,
65.
— poor livelihood, i, 147, 220.
— illness, i, 238.

472

INDEX

Lincoln, Willie, son of the President,
ii, 87.
— death of, ii, 8g, 253.
Linder, Gen., " Reminiscences" of,
i, I, 40, 136, 254.
Logan, John, Judge, i, 91, 133, 252,
274, 337. 345, 354-
Logan, Stephen T., i, 89, 113.
Longfellow, Henry W., i, 224.
" Long Nine," the, i, 130, 153.
" Lost Speech," i, 296.
Lott, Elijah, i, 189.
Louisiana Purchase, i, 279.
Lovejoy, Elijah, anti-slavery editor, i,
143, 221.
Lovejoy, Owen, i, 322 ; ii, in.
Lowell, James Russell, ii, 65, 224, 231.
Lundy, Benjamin, editor of the
" Genius," i, 35.
Lutes, William, i, 25.
Lyon, Gen., ii, 63.
Lynching prevented, ii, 247, 248.

M
Manny, John T. (See McCormick
case.)
Marshall, Humphrey, ii, 22.
Mason and Slidell, capture of, ii, 72,
73-
— surrender of, ii, 74.
McClellan, George B., Gen., story cur
rent of, i, 259.
— takes command of army, ii, 59.
— preparing for the field, ii, 69, 70,
71, 80-85.
— campaign of 1862, ii, 107-110, 120.
— failure, ii, 127-133.
— removed, ii, 133, 161, 202, 204.
" McCleUan's Own Story," i, 260.
McClure, A. K., Col., i, 349, 398 ; ii,
140, 141.
McClernand, John A., i, 133, 274, 34g ;
ii, 139-
McCormick, Andrew, i, 130.
McCormick case, i, 260-266, 278.
McCormick, Cyrus H. (See McCor
mick case.)
Mcllvaine, A. R., i, 208.
McDowell, Gen., ii, 56, 108.
McKenny, T. I., Gen., ii, 66.
McLean, of Pennsylvania, i, 347, 352,
354-
McNeill, John, i, 117-119,

McPherson, ii, 170.-'
McRae, of North Carolina, i, 382,
Meade, Gen., ii, 140-142, 165, 166,
168.
Medill, Joseph A., Hon., i, 295, 316,
322.
— " Reminiscences," i, 339, 347, 349.
— takes message to President, ii, 148,
149.
Merryman, E. H., i, 186, 187-189.
Militia, call for, ii, 34.
Mexican War, i, 212-215, 219, 291,
320.
Missouri Compromise, i, 35, 257, 279-
299-
Mill, John Stuart, ii, 75.
Morgan, E. D., Gov., i, 292.
Morris, i, 204.
Morrison, Don, i, 229, 231.
Morton, Oliver P., i, 292.
Moultrie, Fort, ii, 14, 15.

N
Neapope, i, 74.
New Salem, map of, 1, 9.
New Salem, scene of Lincoln's mer.
cantile career, i, 5g, 60.
Nicolay, Jno. G., i, 176 ; ii, 1, 37.
Nicolay and Hay, " Abraham Lincoln,
A History," i, 225, 3go, 3g2, 3g3,
410 ; ii, 11, 31, 84, 85, 116, 142, 177.
Norton, Charles, ii, 231.
Norton, Miss, ii, 65.
New York City, in mourning, ii, 270,
— meeting at Custom House, ii, 249.
— Lincoln's funeral in, ii, 255-257.

Ode for the Burial of Abraham Lin<
coin, ii, 257.
Officee, H. H., ii, 151.
Office seekers, ii, 23-25.
Offut, Denton, i, 51, 59-65, 72.
Oglesby, Richard J., i, 290, 322 340,
345 ; «, 235.
Oldroyd, O. F., i, 345.
Onstott, Henry, i, no.
Order, first special war, ii, 86.
Ordinance of 1787, i, 33, 34, 278.
Osborne, Charles, i, 35.
Owens, Mary, i, 133, 149-152, 173.

INDEX

473

Palfrey, 1, 224.
Palmer, John M., i, 292, 322, 337,
340, 345, 35°, 357-
Pardons, ii, 223.
Parrott, John H., i, 10.
Parker, Theodore, i, 303, 304.
Patterson, Gen., ii, 58.
Peck, Ebenezer, i, 126, 159.
Perry, of South Carolina, i, 382.
Petersburg, 111., laid out by Lincoln,
i, 101.
Pettis, S. Newton, Judge, i, 352. 354.
Phillips, Wendell, i, 224, 304.
Piatt, i, 374.
Pierce, Franklin W., i, 306.
Pickett, Thomas J., i, 289.
Pinkerton, Allan, i, 418.
Pitcher, John, Judge, i, 34.
Plot in Baltimore, i, 4lg.
Pollock, James, i, 208.
Pomeroy, Senator, ii, Igo, 191.
Pope, John, Gen., ii, 128-130.
Poore, Ben : Perley, i, 211 ; ii, 47.
Potts, Mr., ii, 152.
Porter, Admiral, ii, 226, 228.
Preetorius, Emil, Dr., ii, 61, 173.
Prescott, C. J., i, 397.
Press, i, 365, 366.
Prickett, Josephine Gillespie, Mrs.
i, 405-
Proclamation, Emancipation, ii, 116-
126, 163, 171, 212.

Radford, Reuben, i, 91, 92.
Radicals, Missouri, ii, 172.
Rails, i, 49, 98, gg, 366.
Ralston, Virgil Y., i, 28g.
Randall, Gov., ii, 42.
Rathbone, H. R., Major, ii, 236, 237.
— with Lincoln's assassin, ii, 239, 240.
Ray, Charles H., i, 290.
Raymond, editor, i, 370 ; ii, 202.
Reconstruction, ii, 217, 234, 252.
Reeder, Andrew H., i, 349.
Republican party in Illinois, formation
of, i, 289.
Resources, national, ii, 206-208.
Reynolds, i, 21, 75, 79, 80.
Repeal of the Missouri Compromise,
i, 279-
Richardson, Col., ii, 68.

Richmond, condition of, il, 228.
Riney, Zachariah, i, 16.
" River Queen," steamer, ii, 211.
Robbins, Z. S., ii, 123.
Rodney, Miss., i, 191.
Rock Island Bridge case, i, 275-278.
Roll, John, Mr., i, 53.
Rosecrans, W. S., Gen., ii, 135, 171,
172.
Rosewater, Mr., ii, 134.
Ross, Thomas, i, 411.
Ruggles, J. M., Hon., i, 132, 195.
Russell, W. H., ii, 17.
Rutledge, Ann, i, 9, 1 16-120, 121.

Sangamon, navigation of, 1, 68.
" San Jacinto," warship, ii, 72.
Schneider, George, i, 290, 340.
Schofield, Gen., ii, 173, 179.
School, Old Carter, i, 199.
Scott, Dred, i, 302, 303, 307.
Scott, Gen., i, 82, 90, 396, 408, 419,
420 ; ii, 3, 4, 16, 17-19, 3°, 39. 54i
56, 81, 127, 128, 256.
Scott, Judge, i, 166-168, 253, 254, 293.
Schurz, Carl, i, 349, 359, 369, 380,
399 ; ii, 98-100.
Scripps, John L., i, 29, 322.
Seamon, John, i, 53, 54.
Secession, question of, ii, 8.
Selby, Paul, i, 284, 289, 290, 292.
Seward, Frederick, i, 419, 420 j ii, 74,
125.
— stabbed, ii, 242.
Seward, Wm. H., Secretary, i, 224,
3°3. 304. 335, 339. 343. 344. 350,
352-355. 357. 3^9, 37o, 374, 380,
381, 392, 399, 400, 402, 407, 420,
424-426; ii, 1, 6, 9, n, 19, 22, 31.
— ambition, ii, 26-28.
— some thoughts for the President's
consideration, ii, 29, 30.
— begins to understand Lincoln, ii,
32, 56, 74, 76, 97. 99. "3. 125.
189, 210, 211.
— stabbed, ii, 242.
Seward, Mrs., ii, 28, 32.
Shaw, B. F., i, 290.
Sherman, Gen., ii, 49, 51, 60, 170,
ig8, 202, 208, 226, 233.
Shields, James, i, 22, I5g, 172.
— encounter with Lincoln, i, 184-190.

474

INDEX

Shipley, Lucy. (See Berry, Lucy TShip-
ley], Mrs.)
Shipley, Mary. (See Lincoln, Mary
[Shipley], Mrs.)
Shipley, Nancy. (See Hanks, Nancy
[Shipley], Mrs.)
Shipley, Rachel, Mrs., 1, 8.
Shipley, Robert, i, 8.
Short, James, i, 105, 106.
Simpson, Bishop, ii, 252.
— President's funeral oration, ii, 260.
"Silver Grays," ii, 39.
Simmons, Pollard, i, gg.
Sixth Massachusetts, attacked by mob
in Baltimore, ii, 37, 38.
Slavery prohibited, ii, 215.
Small, Col., ii, 43.
Smith, Caleb B., Secretary, i, 354,
402, 424, 425 ; ii, ig.
Smith, Leslie, i, 166.
Southern Confederacy, founding of the,
i, 388 ; ii, g5, 104.
South, threats of, i, 379-387.
Speech, Lost, i, 2g6-2gg.
Speed, Joshua, i, 128, I2g, 147, 174,
175, I7g, 181-183, 190, 229; ii, 97.
Spot Resolutions, i, 212-214.
Spriggs, Mrs., i, 208, 223.
Springfield, condition of, i, 148.
— mass meeting in, i, 372.
— election in, i, 384.
— President's body brought back to,
ii, 260.
Stanton, Edwin M., Secretary, in con
nection with McCormick case, i, 260-
266.
— appointment of, ii, 79-81, 106, 107,
130, 134, 148, 163.
— impressions of Lincoln, ii, 234, 243,
244, 257.
Star of the West, ii, 15.
Stedman, E. C, i, 371.
Stevens, Thaddeus, i, 349, 353, 369.
Stillman, Major, i, 78, 79.
Stone, Daniel, i, 130.
Stone, Gen., i, 4ig, 420; ii, 71.
Strohn, John, i, 208.
Stuart and Lincoln, i, 158.
Stuart, John, Mrs., statementof, 1,177.
Stuart, John T., Major, i, go; log,
122, 158, 150, 181.
Sturgis, Gen., ii, 68.
Sumner, Charles, Secretary, i, 224, 301,
303, 304, 36g.
— belief in Lincoln, ii, 73, g7, 171,
229, 232.

Sunderland, Byron, ii, 123.
Swan, A. W., ii, 151.
Sweeny, William, i, 3g8.
Swett, Leonard, i, 337, 344, 345, 347<
350, 353, 354, 357, 381 ; ". 66, 113,
115, 116, 178, 200-203.

Taney, Chief Justice, 1, 306 ; ii, 12.
" Talisman," steamer, i, 70, 72.
Taylor, Bayard, ii, 3g.
Taylor, Dick, Col., i, 157.
Taylor, Zachary, Gen., i, 7g, 81, 82,
go, 209, 218, 229 ; ii, 13.
Texas, annexation of, i, 200.
Texas, conflict in, ii, 20, 21,
Thayer, Eli, i, 3g2.
Thomas, William, i, I5g.
Thornton, H. W., Hon., i, 179, 180.
Tilton, Theodore, ii, 230.
Todd, Robert S., i, 172.
Tompkins, Patrick, i, 208.
Toombs, i, 216.
Tracts, campaign, i, 369, 370.
Trent, Alexander, i, 104.
Trent, William, i, I04.
Trent, packet ship, ii, 72, 76.
Troops, call for, ii, 42, no, 146, 195.
Troops, federal, ii, 53.
Troops, review of, ii, 137, 138.
Trumbull, Lyman, Judge, i, 322.
Tuck, Amos, i, 359, 402.
Turnham, David, Mr., i, 133.
Twiggs, Gen., ii, 121.
U
Usher, Secretary, ii, 244.
Usrey, W. J., i, 290.

Van Bergen, Mr., i, 105.
Van Buren, Martin, i, 197, 218.
Vallandigham case, ii, 180-186,203.
Vanuxem and Potter, i, 250.
" Virginia John." (See Lincolnjohn.)
Virginia, secession of, ii, 36.
Voorhees, ii, 203. W
Wade, of Ohio, i, 347.
Wallace, Mrs., i, 178, 179.

INDEX

475

War, brutality of, ii, lg5.
— early days of, ii, 158.
¦ — end of, ii, 230.
War of 1812, soldiers of, ii, 39.
War records, ii, 43.
Ward, Artemus, ii, 120.
War orders, general, ii, 94.
Washburn, i, 2og, 230.
Washburne, E. B., Hon. i, 315, 364,
372, 392. 396, 423 5 ", 203.
Washington, D. C.,in 1848, i, 207-211.
— slave market in, i, 228.
— alarming condition of, ii, 36~3g.
— arrival of troops, ii, 40.
— a hospital, ii, 157, 158.
Watkins, Thomas, i, 101, 104.
Watson, P. H. (See McCormick case.)
Webster, Daniel, i, 166, 207 ; ii, 43.
Webster, Fletcher, i, 166.
Weed, Thurlow, i, 225, 349, 355, 378,
381, 3g2, 3g5, 398, 3gg, 402; ii, 25,
21.
Weik, Jesse, i, 30.
Weir, Mr., i, 130.
Weldon, Lawrence, Judge, i, 247 ; ii,
237, 23g.
Welles, Gideon, Secretary, i, 34g, 35g,
403, 424 ; ii, 27, 113.
Wentworth, " Long John," i, 336.
Wharton, O. P., i, 2go.
White Cloud, i, 74.

White, Horace, 1, 349.
White House, arrangement of, ii, 46.
Whitesides, Gen., i, 186, 187.
Whitney, H. C, i, 239, 242.
— reports Lincoln's lost speech, i, 296-
299-
Whiting, Maj.-Gen., ii, 184.
Whitney, Walter, i, 412.
Whittier, John G., i, 224, 370.
Wide Awakes. (See campaign i860.)
Wigwam. (See Chicago convention.)
Wilkes, Capt., ii, 72, 74.
Wilson, R. L., i, 130.
Wilson, Henry, ii, 171.
Wilson, William B., ii, 48.
Willard, Henry, i, 349.
Willis, N. P., impression of the Presi
dent, ii, 51.
Wilmot, David, i, 292, 349, 398.
Wilmot proviso, i, 222.
Winters, Wm. Hoffman, librarian, 1,33,
Winthrop, Robert C, i, 207, 212.
Wood, Fernando, i, 396.
Wright, Dr. J. J., i, 17.
Wright, of Mobile, i, 373.

Yates, Richard, i, 280.
Yaneey, William L., i, 379,

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finds the Napoleonic age vividly reconstructed before him.
" It is perhaps one of the most accurate descriptions of Napoleon
ever written, yet its style is bright and the thread of the narrative so well
maintained that it is most entertaining reading.
" The illustrations, drawn from the collection of Napoleon engravings
made by the late Hon. G. G. Hubbard, and now owned by the Con
gressional Library, and supplemented by pictures from the best French
collections, are of special value." — Philadelphia Public Ledger.
"One should be thankful for this volume by Miss Tarbell, which
is the most readable and authentic of all Napoleon biographies." —
Pittsburg Gazette.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publisher! 64-66 Fifth Avenue New Tork

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
The Tariff in Our Times
A Study of Fifty Years' Experience with the Doctrines of
Protection i2tno, $1.50
" There is scarcely a great event or a public man of importance in the period
covered that does not figure directly or indirectly in this story. The result is a
narrative full of dramatic situations, big movements, strenuous fighting, and fine
characters." — Philadelphia North A merican.
" An interesting and exhaustive treatise on the subject of tariff and tariff
making." — American Banker.
". . . No single volume has brought out the facts and interests connected with
tariff and tariff tinkering as does this book in which the story is told in narrative
form." — Boston Transcript.
" Miss Tarbell has written a book of high value and great timeliness, in her
history of the tariff. . . . Every thoughtful student of the subject should read
Miss Tarbell's book, whether he believes in tariff for revenue only, high protec
tion, or free trade." — Wall Street Journal.
He Knew Lincoln
Uniform with the author's " Father Abraham." Fourth
editions illustrated with colored frontispiece by Blendon
Campbell and illustrations by Fay Hambedge Cloth, i2tno, $.60
" Told so delicately, humanly, reverently, that one is better for the hearing.
One laughs and cries at the sheer touch of nature." — New York Times.
Madame Roland
Portrait frontispiece, cloth, i2mo, $1.50
An intimate biographical study, largely derived from hitherto unpublished
sources, of one of the most interesting women of the French Revolution.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publisher! 64-66 Fifth Avenue Hew York