TELEGRAM TO MRS. SPEED.
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 1862.
MRS. J. F. SPEED, Louisville, Ky.:
Mr. Holman will not be jostled from his place with my knowledge and consent.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 16, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Warrenton, Va.:
Is Albert Jones of Company K, Third Maryland Volunteers, to be shot on Friday next? If so please state to me the general features of the case.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHENCK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 17, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHENCK, Baltimore, Md.:
Major Haynor left here several days ago under a promise to put down in writing, in detail, the facts in relation to the misconduct of the people on the eastern shore of Virginia. He has not returned. Please send him over.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 17, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE,
Headquarters Army of Potomac:
Yours in relation to Albert Jones is received. I am appealed to in behalf of Richard M. Abrams of Company A, Sixth New Jersey Volunteers, by Governor Parker, Attorney-General Frelinghuysen, Governor Newell, Hon. Mr. Middleton, M. C., of the district, and the marshal who arrested him. I am also appealed to in behalf of Joseph S. Smith, of Company A, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, by Governor Parker, Attorney-General Frelinghuysen, and Hon. Marcus C. Ward. Please state the circumstances of their cases to me.
A. LINCOLN.
REQUEST TO SUGGEST NAME FOR A BABY
TELEGRAM TO C. M. SMITH.
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 18, 1863.
C.M. SMITH, Esq., Springfield, Ill.:
Why not name him for the general you fancy most? This is my suggestion.
A. LINCOLN
TELEGRAM TO MRS. ARMSTRONG.
WASHINGTON, September 18, 1863.
MRS. HANNAH ARMSTRONG, Petersburg, Ill.:
I have just ordered the discharge of your boy William, as you say, now at Louisville, Ky.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 19.1863.
HON. ANDREW JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR:–Herewith I send you a paper, substantially the same as the one drawn up by yourself and mentioned in your despatch, but slightly changed in two particulars: First, yours was so drawn as that I authorized you to carry into effect the fourth section, etc., whereas I so modify it as to authorize you to so act as to require the United States to carry into effect that section.
Secondly, you had a clause committing me in some sort to the State constitution of Tennessee, which I feared might embarrass you in making a new constitution, if you desire; so I dropped that clause.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
[Inclosure.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 19, 1863.
HON. ANDREW JOHNSON,
Military Governor of Tennessee:
In addition to the matters contained in the orders and instructions given you by the Secretary of War, you are hereby authorized to exercise such powers as may be necessary and proper to enable the loyal people of Tennessee to present such a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guaranty of the United States therefor, and to be protected under such State government by the United States against invasion and domestic violence, all according to the fourth Section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
MILITARY STRATEGY
TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON D.C.
September 19, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:
By General Meade’s despatch to you of yesterday it appears that he desires your views and those of the government as to whether he shall advance upon the enemy. I am not prepared to order, or even advise, an advance in this case, wherein I know so little of particulars, and wherein he, in the field, thinks the risk is so great and the promise of advantage so small.
And yet the case presents matter for very serious consideration in another aspect. These two armies confront each other across a small river, substantially midway between the two capitals, each defending its own capital, and menacing the other. General Meade estimates the enemy’s infantry in front of him at not less than 40,000. Suppose we add fifty per cent. to this for cavalry, artillery, and extra-duty men stretching as far as Richmond, making the whole force of the enemy 60,000.
General Meade, as shown by the returns, has with him, and between him and Washington, of the same classes, of well men, over 90,000. Neither can bring the whole of his men into a battle; but each can bring as large a percentage in as the other. For a battle, then, General Meade has three men to General Lee’s two. Yet, it having been determined that choosing ground and standing on the defensive gives so great advantage that the three cannot safely attack the two, the three are left simply standing on the defensive also.
If the enemy’s 60,000 are sufficient to keep our 90,000 away from Richmond, why, by the same rule, may not 40,000 of ours keep their 60,000 away from Washington, leaving us 50,000 to put to some other use? Having practically come to the mere defensive, it seems to be no economy at all to employ twice as many men for that object as are needed. With no object, certainly, to mislead myself, I can perceive no fault in this statement, unless we admit we are not the equal of the enemy, man for man. I hope you will consider it.
To avoid misunderstanding, let me say that to attempt to fight the enemy slowly back into his entrenchments at Richmond, and then to capture him, is an idea I have been trying to repudiate for quite a year.
My judgment is so clear against it that I would scarcely allow the attempt to be made if the general in command should desire to make it. My last attempt upon Richmond was to get McClellan, when he was nearer there than the enemy was, to run in ahead of him. Since then I have constantly desired the Army of the Potomac to make Lee’s army, and not Richmond, its objective point. If our army cannot fall upon the enemy and hurt him where he is, it is plain to me it can gain nothing by attempting to follow him over a succession of intrenched lines into a fortified city.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 20, 1863.
MRS. A. LINCOLN, New York:
I neither see nor hear anything of sickness here now, though there may be much without my knowing it. I wish you to stay or come just as is most agreeable to yourself.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C, September 21, 1863.
MRS. A. LINCOLN. Fifth Avenue Hotel. New York:
The air is so clear and cool and apparently healthy that I would be glad for you to come. Nothing very particular, but I would be glad to see you and Tad.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 21, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:
I think it very important for General Rosecrans to hold his position at or about Chattanooga, because if held from that place to Cleveland, both inclusive, it keeps all Tennessee clear of the enemy, and also breaks one of his most important railroad lines. To prevent these consequences is so vital to his cause that he cannot give up the effort to dislodge us from the position, thus bringing him to us and saving us the labor, expense, and hazard of going farther to find him, and also giving us the advantage of choosing our own ground and preparing it to fight him upon. The details must, of course, be left to General Rosecrans, while we must furnish him the means to the utmost of our ability. If you concur, I think he would better be informed that we are not pushing him beyond this position; and that, in fact, our judgment is rather against his going beyond it. If he can only maintain this position, without more, this rebellion can only eke out a short and feeble existence, as an animal sometimes may with a thorn in its vitals.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C., September 21, 1863.
GENERAL BURNSIDE, Greenville, Tenn.:
If you are to do any good to Rosecrans it will not do to waste time with Jonesboro. It is already too late to do the most good that might have been done, but I hope it will still do some good. Please do not lose a moment.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE
WAR DEPARTMENT, September 21, 1863. 11 A.M.
GENERAL BURNSIDE, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Go to Rosecrans with your force without a moment’s delay.
A. LINCOLN,
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS
WASHINGTON, September 21, 1863. 12.55 PM.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga:
Be of good cheer. We have unabated confidence in you, and in your soldiers and officers. In the main you must be the judge as to what is to be done. If I were to suggest, I would say, save your army by taking strong positions until Burnside joins you, when, I hope, you can turn the tide. I think you had better send a courier to Burnside to hurry him up. We cannot reach him by telegraph. We suppose some force is going to you from Corinth, but for want of communication we do not know how they are getting along. We shall do our utmost to assist you. Send us your present positions.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
[Cipher.]
WAR DEPARTMENT, September 22, 1863.8.30 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
We have not a word here as to the whereabouts or condition of your army up to a later hour than sunset, Sunday, the 20th. Your despatches to me of 9 A.M., and to General Halleck of 2 P. M., yesterday, tell us nothing later on those points. Please relieve my anxiety as to the position and condition of your army up to the latest moment.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO O. M. HATCH AND J. K. DUBOIS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON.
September 22, 1863.
HON. O. M. HATCH, HON. J. K. DUBOIS,
Springfield, Ill.:
Your letter is just received. The particular form of my despatch was jocular, which I supposed you gentlemen knew me well enough to understand. General Allen is considered here as a very faithful and capable officer, and one who would be at least thought of for quartermaster-general if that office were vacant.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 22, 1863.
MRS. A. LINCOLN, Fifth Avenue House, New York:–Did you receive my despatch of yesterday? Mrs. Cuthbert did not correctly understand me. I directed her to tell you to use your own pleasure whether to stay or come, and I did not say it is sickly and that you should on no account come. So far as I see or know, it was never healthier, and I really wish to see you. Answer this on receipt.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WASHINGTON, September 23,1863. 9.13 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Tenn:
Below is Bragg’s despatch as found in the Richmond papers. You see he does not claim so many prisoners or captured guns as you were inclined to concede. He also confesses to heavy loss. An exchanged general of ours leaving Richmond yesterday says two of Longstreet’s divisions and his entire artillery and two of Pickett’s brigades and Wise’s legion have gone to Tennessee. He mentions no other.
“CHICAMAUGA RIVER, SEPTEMBER 20.
“GENERAL COOPER, Adjutant-General:
“After two days’ hard fighting we have driven the enemy, after a desperate resistance, from several positions, and now hold the field; but he still confronts us. The loses are heavy on both sides, especially in our officers………….. BRAXTON BRAGG
A. LINCOLN
PROCLAMATION OPENING THE PORT OF ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, SEPTEMBER 24, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, in my proclamation of the twenty-seventh of April, 1861, the ports of the States of Virginia and North Carolina were, for reasons therein set forth, placed under blockade; and whereas the port of Alexandria, Virginia, has since been blockaded, but as the blockade of said port may now be safely relaxed with advantage to the interests of commerce:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United Sates, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth section of the act of Congress, approved on the 13th of July, 1861, entitled “An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes,” do hereby declare that the blockade of the said port of Alexandria shall so far cease and determine, from and after this date, that commercial intercourse with said port, except as to persons, things, and information contraband of war, may from this date be carried on, subject to the laws of the United States, and to the limitations and in pursuance of the regulations which are prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury in his order which is appended to my proclamation of the 12th of May, 1862.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, September 24, 1863. 10 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Term.:
Last night we received the rebel accounts, through Richmond papers, of your late battle. They give Major-General Hood as mortally wounded, and Brigadiers Preston Smith, Wofford, Walthall, Helm of Kentucky, and DesMer killed, and Major-Generals Preston, Cleburne, and Gregg, and Brigadier-Generals Benning, Adams, Burm, Brown, and John [B. H.] Helm wounded. By confusion the two Helms may be the same man, and Bunn and Brown may be the same man. With Burnside, Sherman, and from elsewhere we shall get to you from forty to sixty thousand additional men.
A. LINCOLN
MRS. LINCOLN’S REBEL BROTHER-IN-LAW KILLED
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, SEPTEMBER 24, 1863
MRS. A. LINCOLN, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York:
We now have a tolerably accurate summing up of the late battle between Rosecrans and Braag. The result is that we are worsted, if at all, only in the fact that we, after the main fighting was over, yielded the ground, thus leaving considerable of our artillery and wounded to fall into the enemy’s hands., for which we got nothing in turn. We lost in general officers one killed and three or four wounded, all brigadiers, while, according to the rebel accounts which we have, they lost six killed and eight wounded: of the killed one major-general and five brigadiers including your brother-in-law, Helm; and of the wounded three major-generals and five brigadiers. This list may be reduced two in number by corrections of confusion in names. At 11.40 A.M. yesterday General Rosecrans telegraphed from Chattanooga: “We hold this point, and I cannot be dislodged except by very superior numbers and after a great battle.” A despatch leaving there after night yesterday says, “No fight to-day.”
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL McCALLUM.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 25, 1863.
GENERAL McCALLUM, Alexandria, Va.:
I have sent to General Meade, by telegraph, to suspend the execution of Daniel Sullivan of Company F, Thirteenth Massachusetts, which was to be to-day, but understanding there is an interruption on the line, may I beg you to send this to him by the quickest mode in your power?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
September 25, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
Owing to the press in behalf of Daniel Sullivan, Company E, Thirteenth Massachusetts, and the doubt; though small, which you express of his guilty intention, I have concluded to say let his execution be suspended till further order, and copy of record sent me.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 25, 1863.
MY DEAR GENERAL ROSECRANS:
We are sending you two small corps, one under General Howard and one under General Slocum, and the whole under General Hooker.
Unfortunately the relations between Generals Hooker and Slocum are not such as to promise good, if their present relative positions remain. Therefore, let me beg–almost enjoin upon you–that on their reaching you, you will make a transposition by which General Slocum with his Corps, may pass from under the command of General Hooker, and General Hooker, in turn receive some other equal force. It is important for this to be done, though we could not well arrange it here. Please do it.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, September 28, 1863. 8 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga., Tenn.:
You can perhaps communicate with General Burnside more rapidly by sending telegrams directly to him at Knoxville. Think of it. I send a like despatch to him.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C, September 30, 1863.
GENERAL SCHOFIELD, Saint Louis, Mo.:
Following despatch just received:
“Union Men Driven out of Missouri.”
“Leavenworth, September 29, I863.
“Governor Gamble having authorized Colonel Moss, of Liberty, Missouri, to arm the men in Platte and Clinton Counties, he has armed mostly the returned rebel soldiers and men wider bonds. Moss’s men are now driving the Union men out of Missouri. Over one hundred families crossed the river to-day. Many of the wives of our Union soldiers have been compelled to leave. Four or five Union men have been murdered by Colonel Moss’s men.”
Please look to this and, if true, in main or part, put a stop to it.
A. LINCOLN
TELEGRAM TO F. S. CORKRAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 30, 1863.
HON. FRANCIS S. CORKRAN, Baltimore, Md.: MRS. L. is now at home and would be pleased to see you any time. If the grape time has not passed away, she would be pleased to join in the enterprise you mention.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL TYLER
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 1863.
GENERAL TYLER, Baltimore:
Take care of colored troops in your charge, but do nothing further about that branch of affairs until further orders. Particularly do nothing about General Vickers of Kent County.
A. LINCOLN.
Send a copy to Colonel Birney.
A. L.
TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
OCTOBER 1, 1863
GENERAL JOHN M. SCHOFIELD:
There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the General Government now in Missouri, and if any shall reappear, your duty in regard to it will be too plain to require any special instruction. Still, the condition of things, both there and elsewhere, is such as to render it indispensable to maintain, for a time, the United States military establishment in that State, as well as to rely upon it for a fair contribution of support to that establishment generally. Your immediate duty in regard to Missouri now is to advance the efficiency of that establishment, and to so use it, as far as practicable, to compel the excited people there to let one another alone.
Under your recent order, which I have approved, you will only arrest individuals, and suppress assemblies or newspapers, when they may be working palpable injury to the military in your charge; and in no other case will you interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or allow it to be interfered with violently by others. In this you have a discretion to exercise with great caution, calmness, and forbearance.
With the matter of removing the inhabitants of certain counties en masse, and of removing certain individuals from time to time, who are supposed to be mischievous, I am not now interfering, but am leaving to your own discretion.
Nor am I interfering with what may still seem to you to be necessary restrictions upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, however, to enjoin upon you the following: Allow no part of the military under your command to be engaged in either returning fugitive slaves or in forcing or enticing slaves from their homes; and, so far as practicable, enforce the same forbearance upon the people.
Report to me your opinion upon the availability for good of the enrolled militia of the State. Allow no one to enlist colored troops, except upon orders from you, or from here through you.
Allow no one to assume the functions of confiscating property, under the law of Congress, or otherwise, except upon orders from here.
At elections see that those, and only those, are allowed to vote who are entitled to do so by the laws of Missouri, including as of those laws the restrictions laid by the Missouri convention upon those who may have participated in the rebellion.
So far as practicable, you will, by means of your military force, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers, and all who are known to harbor, aid, or abet them. But in like manner you will repress assumptions of unauthorized individuals to perform the same service, because under pretense of doing this they become marauders and murderers themselves.
To now restore peace, let the military obey orders, and those not of the military leave each other alone, thus not breaking the peace themselves.
In giving the above directions, it is not intended to restrain you in other expedient and necessary matters not falling within their range.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL S. M. SCHOFIELD.
WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 2, 1863
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHOFIELD:
I have just seen your despatch to Halleck about Major-General Blunt. If possible, you better allow me to get through with a certain matter here, before adding to the difficulties of it. Meantime supply me the particulars of Major-General Blunt’s case.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO COLONEL BIRNEY.
[Cipher.]
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 3, 1863.
COLONEL BIRNEY, Baltimore, Md.:
Please give me, as near as you can, the number of slaves you have recruited in Maryland. Of course the number is not to include the free colored.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION FOR THANKSGIVING, OCTOBER 3, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign states; peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry, to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship: The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of, iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be reverently, solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. M. SCHOFIELD.
WASHINGTON D.C., OCTOBER 4, 1863
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHOFIELD, St. Louis, Mo.:
I think you will not have just cause to complain of my action.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 4, 1863. 11.30 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
Yours of yesterday received. If we can hold Chattanooga and East Tennessee, I think the rebellion must dwindle and die. I think you and Burnside can do this, and hence doing so is your main object. Of course to greatly damage or destroy the enemy in your front would be a greater object, because it would include the former and more, but it is not so certainly within your power. I understand the main body of the enemy is very near you, so near that you could “board at home,” so to speak, and menace or attack him any day. Would not the doing of this be your best mode of counteracting his raid on your communications? But this is not an order. I intend doing something like what you suggest whenever the case shall appear ripe enough to have it accepted in the true understanding rather than as a confession of weakness and fear.
A. LINCOLN.
TO C. D. DRAKE AND OTHERS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 5, 1863.
HON. CHARLES D. DRAKE AND OTHERS, Committee.
GENTLEMEN:-Your original address, presented on the 30th ult., and the four supplementary ones presented on the 3d inst., have been carefully considered. I hope you will regard the other duties claiming my attention, together with the great length and importance of these documents, as constituting a sufficient apology for not having responded sooner.
These papers, framed for a common object, consist of the things demanded and the reasons for demanding them.
The things demanded are
First. That General Schofield shall be relieved, and General Butler be appointed as Commander of the Military Department of Missouri.
Second. That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be broken up, and national forces he substituted for it; and
Third. That at elections persons may not be allowed to vote who are not entitled by law to do so.
Among the reasons given, enough of suffering and wrong to Union men is certainly, and I suppose truly, stated. Yet the whole case, as presented, fails to convince me that General Schofield, or the enrolled militia, is responsible for that suffering and wrong. The whole can be explained on a more charitable, and, as I think, a more rational hypothesis.
We are in a civil war. In such cases there always is a main question, but in this case that question is a perplexing compound– Union and slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it. Thus, those who are for the Union with, but not without slavery; those for it without, but not with; those for it with or without, but prefer it with; and those for it with or without, but prefer it without.
Among these, again, is a subdivision of those who are for gradual, but not for immediate, and those who are for immediate, but not for gradual extinction of slavery.
It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet, all being for the Union, by reason of these differences each will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. At once, sincerity is questioned, and motives are assailed. Actual war coining, blood grows hot and blood is spilled. Thought is forced from old channels into confusion. Deception breeds and thrives. Confidence dies, and universal suspicion reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his neighbor, lest he be killed by him. Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may be among honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes abroad, and every dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. Strong measures deemed indispensable, but harsh at best, such men make worse by maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and murders for self, proceed under any cloak that will best serve for the occasion.
These causes amply account for what has occurred in Missouri, without ascribing it to the weakness or wickedness of any general. The newspaper files, those chroniclers of current events, will show that the evils now complained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater force opposed to them, they also had greater force with which to meet it. When the organized rebel army left the State, the main Federal force had to go also, leaving the department commander at home relatively no stronger than before. Without disparaging any, I affirm with confidence that no commander of that department has, in proportion to his means, done better than General Schofield.
The first specific charge against General Schofield is, that the enrolled militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not been placed under the command of General Curtis. The fact is, I believe, true; but you do not point out, nor can I conceive, how that did, or could, injure loyal men or the Union cause.
You charge that, General Curtis being superseded by General Schofield, Franklin A. Dick was superseded by James O. Broadhead as Provost-Marshal General. No very specific showing is made as to how this did or could injure the Union cause. It recalls, however, the condition of things, as presented to me, which led to a change of commander of that department.
To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches, seizures, permits, and passes, had been introduced, I think, by General Fremont. When General Halleck came, he found and continued the system, and added an order, applicable to some parts of the State, to levy and collect contributions from noted rebels, to compensate losses and relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. The action of General Fremont and General Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system which General Curtis found in full operation when he took command of the department. That there was a necessity for something of the sort was clear; but that it could only be justified by stern necessity, and that it was liable to great abuse in administration, was equally clear. Agents to execute it, contrary to the great prayer, were led into temptation. Some might, while others would not, resist that temptation. It was not possible to hold any to a very strict accountability; and those yielding to the temptation would sell permits and passes to those who would pay most and most readily for them, and would seize property and collect levies in the aptest way to fill their own pockets. Money being the object, the man having money, whether loyal or disloyal, would be a victim. This practice doubtless existed to some extent, and it was, a real additional evil that it could be, and was, plausibly charged to exist in greater extent than it did.
When General Curtis took command of the department, Mr. Dick, against whom I never knew anything to allege, had general charge of this system. A controversy in regard to it rapidly grew into almost unmanageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the evils of the system, while the other ignored the evils and magnified the necessity; and each bitterly assailed the other. I could not fail to see that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as the professed Union men there distinctly took sides in two opposing political parties. I exhausted my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in efforts to convince both that the evils they charged on each other were inherent in the case, and could not be cured by giving either party a victory over the other.
Plainly, the irritating system was not to be perpetual; and it was plausibly urged that it could be modified at once with advantage. The case could scarcely be worse, and whether it could be made better could only be determined by a trial. In this view, and not to ban or brand General Curtis, or to give a victory to any party, I made the change of commander for the department. I now learn that soon after this change Mr. Dick was removed, and that Mr. Broadhead, a gentleman of no less good character, was put in the place. The mere fact of this change is more distinctly complained of than is any conduct of the new officer, or other consequence of the change.
I gave the new commander no instructions as to the administration of the system mentioned, beyond what is contained in the private letter afterwards surreptitiously published, in which I directed him to act solely for the public good, and independently of both parties. Neither any thing you have presented me, nor anything I have otherwise learned, has convinced me that he has been unfaithful to this charge.
Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing General Schofield; and the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of that imbecility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to prove the proposition. That massacre is only an example of what Grierson, John Morgan, and many others might have repeatedly done on their respective raids, had they chosen to incur the personal hazard, and possessed the fiendish hearts to do it.
The charge is made that General Schofield, on purpose to protect the Lawrence murderers, would not allow them to be pursued into Missouri. While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those murderers, I am well satisfied that the preventing of the threatened remedial raid into Missouri was the only way to avoid an indiscriminate massacre there, including probably more innocent than guilty. Instead of condemning, I therefore approve what I understand General Schofield did in that respect.
The charges that General Schofield has purposely withheld protection from loyal people and purposely facilitated the objects of the disloyal are altogether beyond my power of belief. I do not arraign the veracity of gentlemen as to the facts complained of, but I do more than question the judgment which would infer that those facts occurred in accordance with the purposes of General Schofield.
With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield. In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command. In order to meet some existing evils I have addressed a letter of instructions to General Schofield, a copy of which I enclose to you.
As to the enrolled militia, I shall endeavor to ascertain better than I now know what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your proposal to substitute national forces for the enrolled militia implies that in your judgment the latter is doing something which needs to be done; and if so, the proposition to throw that force away and to supply its place by bringing other forces from the field where they are urgently needed seems to me very extraordinary. Whence shall they come? Shall they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans? Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings as when, in June last, the local force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing Vicksburg and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this all wrong? Should the enrolled militia then have been broken up and General Herron kept from Grant to police Missouri? So far from finding cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general force in Missouri and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of the enrolled militia of Missouri. I may add that, the force being under the national military control, it is also within the proclamation in regard to the habeas corpus.
I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and have, as you see, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the political differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it all. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The Radicals and Conservatives each agree with me in some things and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things, for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise; and I do not question their right. I too shall do what seems to be my duty. I hold whoever commands in Missouri or elsewhere responsible to me and not to either Radicals or Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all, but at last I must, within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
APPROVAL OF THE DECISION OF THE COURT IN THE CASE OF DR. DAVID M. WRIGHT.
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, October 8, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL J. G. FOSTER, Commanding Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Fort Monroe, Va.
SIR:–The proceedings of the military commission instituted for the trial of David Wright, of Norfolk, in Special Orders Nos. 195, 196, and 197, of 1863, from headquarters Department of Virginia, have been submitted to the President of the United States. The following are his remarks on the case:
Upon the presentation of the record in this case and the examination thereof, aided by the report thereon of the Judge-Advocate-General, and on full hearing of counsel for the accused, being specified that no proper question remained open except as to the sanity of the accused, I caused a very full examination to be made on that question, upon a great amount of evidence, including all effort by the counsel for accused, by an expert of high reputation in that professional department, who thereon reports to me, as his opinion, that the accused, Dr. David M. Wright, was not insane prior to or on the 11th day of July, 1863, the date of the homicide of Lieutenant Sanborn; that he has not been insane since, and is not insane now (Oct. 7, 1863). I therefore approve the finding and sentence of the military commission, and direct that the major-general in command of the department including the place of trial, and wherein the convict is now in custody, appoint a time and place and carry such sentence into execution.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 8, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
I am appealed to in behalf of August Blittersdorf, at Mitchell’s Station, Va., to be shot to-morrow as a deserter. I am unwilling for any boy under eighteen to be shot, and his father affirms that he is yet under sixteen. Please answer. His regiment or company not given me.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 8, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
The boy telegraphs from Mitchell’s Station, Va. The father thinks he is in the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The father signs the name “Blittersdorf.” I can tell no more.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 12, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
The father and mother of John Murphy, of the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, have filed their own affidavits that he was born June 22, 1846, and also the affidavits of three other persons who all swear that they remembered the circumstances of his birth and that it was in the year 1846, though they do not remember the particular day. I therefore, on account of his tender age, have concluded to pardon him, and to leave it to yourself whether to discharge him or continue him in the service.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO W. S. ROSECRANS.
[Cipher.]
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 12, 1863.8.35 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Term.:
As I understand, Burnside is menaced from the west, and so cannot go to you without surrendering East Tennessee. I now think the enemy will not attack Chattanooga, and I think you will have to look out for his making a concentrated drive at Burnside. You and Burnside now have him by the throat, and he must break your hold or perish I therefore think you better try to hold the road up to Kingston, leaving Burnside to what is above there. Sherman is coming to you, though gaps in the telegraph prevent our knowing how far he is advanced. He and Hooker will so support you on the west and northwest as to enable you to look east and northeast. This is not an order. General Halleck will give his views.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. G. MEADE.
WASHINGTON, October 12, 1863. 9 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE:
What news this morning? A despatch from Rosecrans, leaving him at 7.30 P.M. yesterday, says:
“Rebel rumors that head of Ewell’s column reached Dalton yesterday.”
I send this for what it is worth.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO WAYNE McVEIGH.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 13, 1863.
McVEIGH, Philadelphia:
The enemy some days ago made a movement, apparently to turn General Meade’s right. This led to a maneuvering of the two armies and to pretty heavy skirmishing on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We have frequent despatches from General Meade and up to 10 o’clock last night nothing had happened giving either side any marked advantage. Our army reported to be in excellent condition. The telegraph is open to General Meade’s camp this morning, but we have not troubled him for a despatch.
A. LINCOLN.
TO THURLOW WEED.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 14, 1863.
HON. THURLOW WEED.
DEAR SIR:–I have been brought to fear recently that somehow, by commission or omission, I have caused you some degree of pain. I have never entertained an unkind feeling or a disparaging thought toward you; and if I have said or done anything which has been construed into such unkindness or disparagement, it has been misconstrued. I am sure if we could meet we would not part with any unpleasant impression On either side.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO L. B. TODD.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
October 15, 1863.
L. B. TODD, Lexington, Ky.:
I send the following pass to your care.
A. LINCOLN.
AID TO MRS. HELM, MRS. LINCOLN’S SISTER
WASHINGTON, D. C.. October 15, 1863.
To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Allow MRS. Robert S. Todd, widow, to go south and bring her daughter, MRS. General B. Hardin Helm, with her children, north to Kentucky.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL FOSTER.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 15, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL FOSTER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Postpone the execution of Dr. Wright to Friday the 23d instant (October). This is intended for his preparation and is final.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 15, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
On the 4th instant you telegraphed me that Private Daniel Hanson, of Ninety-seventh New York Volunteers, had not yet been tried. When he shall be, please notify me of the result, with a brief statement of his case, if he be convicted. Gustave Blittersdorf, who you say is enlisted in the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers as William Fox, is proven to me to be only fifteen years old last January. I pardon him, and you will discharge him or put him in the ranks at your discretion. Mathias Brown, of Nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, is proven to me to be eighteen last May, and his friends say he is convicted on an enlistment and for a desertion both before that time. If this last be true he is pardoned, to be kept or discharged as you please. If not true suspend his execution and report the facts of his case. Did you receive my despatch of 12th pardoning John Murphy?
A. LINCOLN.
[The Lincoln papers during this time have a suspended execution on almost every other page, I have omitted most of these D.W.]
TELEGRAM TO T. W. SWEENEY.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 16, 1863.
THOMAS W. SWEENEY, Continental, Philadelphia:
Tad is teasing me to have you forward his pistol to him.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO T. C. DURANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 16, 1863.
T. C. DURANT, New York:
I remember receiving nothing from you of the 10th, and I do not comprehend your despatch of to-day. In fact I do not remember, if I ever knew, who you are, and I have very little conception as to what you are telegraphing about.
A. LINCOLN.
COMMENT ON A NOTE.
NEW YORK, October 15, 1863.
DEAR SIR: On the point of leaving I am told, by a gentleman to whose statements I attach credit, that the opposition policy for the Presidential campaign will be to “abstain from voting.” J.
[Comment.]
More likely to abstain from stopping, once they get at it, until they shall have voted several times each.
October 16.
A. L.
TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 16, 1863.
MAJOR GENERAL HALLECK:
I do not believe Lee can have over 60,000 effective men.
Longstreet’s corps would not be sent away to bring an equal force back upon the same road; and there is no other direction for them to have come from.
Doubtless, in making the present movement, Lee gathered in all available scraps, and added them to Hill’s and Ewell’s corps; but that is all, and he made the movement in the belief that four corps had left General Meade; and General Meade’s apparently avoiding a collision with him has confirmed him in that belief. If General Meade can now attack him on a field no worse than equal for us, and will do so now with all the skill and courage which he, his officers, and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds, and the blame may be mine if he fails.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
CALL FOR 300,000 VOLUNTEERS,
OCTOBER 17, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas the term of service of a part of the Volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or during the war, not, however, exceeding three years:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon the governors of the different States to raise, and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States, the quotas of three hundred thousand men.
I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the governors of States by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal-General’s office, by special letters.
I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited and deducted from the quotas established for the next draft.
I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made in said State, or in the districts of said State, for their due proportion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence on the 5th day of January, 1864.
And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall interfere with existing orders, or with those which may be issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in progress, or where it has not yet been commenced.
The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal-General’s office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or drafting; and the recruiting will be conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or may be issued by that department.
In issuing this proclamation, I address myself not only to the governors of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, willing, and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a view to reinforce our victorious army now in the field, and bring our needful military operations to a prosperous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil war.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed…………………
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL FOSTER.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 17, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL FOSTER, Port Monroe, Va.:
It would be useless for Mrs. Dr. Wright to come here. The subject is a very painful one, but the case is settled.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO W. B. THOMAS
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.
TELEGRAM TO J. WILLIAMS AND N. G. TAYLOR.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 17, 1863.
JOHN WILLIAMS AND N G. TAYLOR, Knoxville, Tenn.:
You do not estimate the holding of East Tennessee more highly than I do. There is no absolute purpose of withdrawing our forces from it, and only a contingent one to withdraw them temporarily for the purpose of not losing the position permanently. I am in great hope of not finding it necessary to withdraw them at all, particularly if you raise new troops rapidly for us there.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO T. C. DURANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY, 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 19, 1863.9. A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Chattanooga, Tenn:
There has been no battle recently at Bull Run. I suppose what you have heard a rumor of was not a general battle, but an “affair” at Bristow Station on the railroad, a few miles beyond Manassas Junction toward the Rappahannock, on Wednesday, the 14th. It began by an attack of the enemy upon General Warren, and ended in the enemy being repulsed with a loss of four cannon and from four to seven hundred prisoners.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL R. C. SCHENCK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 21, 1863.2.45
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHENCK, Baltimore, Md.:
A delegation is here saying that our armed colored troops are at many, if not all, the landings on the Patuxent River, and by their presence with arms in their hands are frightening quiet people and producing great confusion. Have they been sent there by any order, and if so, for what reason?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL R. C. SCHENCK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 22, 1863.1.30 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHENCK, Baltimore, Md.:
Please come over here. The fact of one of our officers being killed on the Patuxent is a specimen of what I would avoid. It seems to me we could send white men to recruit better than to send negroes and thus inaugurate homicides on punctilio.
Please come over.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 24, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:
Taking all our information together, I think it probable that Ewell’s corps has started for East Tennessee by way of Abingdon, marching last Monday, say from Meade’s front directly to the railroad at Charlottesville.
First, the object of Lee’s recent movement against Meade; his destruction of the Alexandria and Orange Railroad, and subsequent withdrawal without more motive, not otherwise apparent, would be explained by this hypothesis.
Secondly, the direct statement of Sharpe’s men that Ewell has gone to Tennessee.
Thirdly, the Irishman’s [Northern Spy in Richmond] statement that he has not gone through Richmond, and his further statement of an appeal made to the people at Richmond to go and protect their salt, which could only refer to the works near Abingdon.
Fourthly, Graham’s statement from Martinsburg that Imboden is in retreat for Harrisonburg. This last matches with the idea that Lee has retained his cavalry, sending Imboden and perhaps other scraps to join Ewell. Upon this probability what is to be done?
If you have a plan matured, I have nothing to say. If you have not, then I suggest that, with all possible expedition, the Army of the Potomac get ready to attack Lee, and that in the meantime a raid shall, at all hazards, break the railroad at or near Lynchburg.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO E. B. WASHBURNE.
(Private and Confidential.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 26, 1863.
HON. E. B. WASHBURNE.
MY DEAR SIR:–Yours of the 12th has been in my hands several days. Inclosed I send the leave of absence for your brother, in as good form as I think I can safely put it. Without knowing whether he would accept it. I have tendered the collectorship at Portland, Maine, to your other brother, the governor.
Thanks to both you and our friend Campbell for your kind words and intentions. A second term would be a great honor and a great labor, which, together, perhaps I would not decline if tendered.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY CHASE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 26, 1863.
HON. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
MY DEAR SIR:–The writer of the accompanying letter is one of Mrs. Lincoln’s numerous cousins. He is a grandson of “Milliken’s Bend,” near Vicksburg–that is, a grandson of the man who gave name to Milliken’s Bend. His father was a brother to MRS. Lincoln’s mother. I know not a thing about his loyalty beyond what he says. Supposing he is loyal, can any of his requests be granted, and if any, which of them?
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
VOLUME 7
OPINION ON THE LOSS OF
GENERAL R. H. MILROY’S DIVISION.
October 27, 1863.
In June last a division was substantially lost at or near Winchester, Va. At the time, it was under General Milroy as immediate commander in the field, General Schenck as department commander at Baltimore, and General Halleck as general-in-chief at Washington.
General Milroy, as immediate commander, was put in arrest, and subsequently a court of inquiry examined chiefly with reference to disobedience of orders, and reported the evidence.
The foregoing is a synoptical statement of the evidence, together with the judge-advocate-general’s conclusions. The disaster, when it came, was a surprise to all. It was very well known to Generals Shenck and Milroy for some time before, that General Halleck thought the division was in great danger of a surprise at Winchester; that it was of no service commensurate with the risk it incurred, and that it ought to be withdrawn; but, although he more than once advised its withdrawal, he never positively ordered it. General Schenck, on the contrary, believed the service of the force at Winchester was worth the hazard, and so did not positively order its withdrawal until it was so late that the enemy cut the wire and prevented the order reaching General Milroy.
General Milroy seems to have concurred with General Schenck in the opinion that the force should be kept at Winchester at least until the approach of danger, but he disobeyed no order upon the subject.
Some question can be made whether some of General Halleck’s dispatches to General Schenk should not have been construed to be orders to withdraw the force, and obeyed accordingly; but no such question can be made against General Milroy. In fact, the last order he received was to be prepared to withdraw, but not to actually withdraw until further order, which further order never reached him.
Serious blame is not necessarily due to any serious disaster, and I cannot say that in this case any of the officers are deserving of serious blame. No court-martial is deemed necessary or proper in the case.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.
Private and confidential
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, October 28, 1863.
GENERAL JOHN M. SCHOFIELD:
There have recently reached the War Department, and thence been laid before me, from Missouri, three communications, all similar in import and identical in object. One of them, addressed to nobody, and without place or date, but having the signature of (apparently) the writer, is a letter of eight closely written foolscap pages. The other two are written by a different person, at St. Joseph, Mo., and of the dates, respectively, October 12 and 13, 1863, and each inclosing a large number of affidavits. The general statements of the whole are that the Federal and State authorities are arming the disloyal and disarming the loyal, and that the latter will all be killed or driven out of the State unless there shall be a change. In particular, no loyal man who has been disarmed is named, but the affidavits show by name forty-two persons as disloyal who have been armed. They are as follows: [The names are omitted.]
A majority of these are shown to have been in the rebel service. I believe it could be shown that the government here has deliberately armed more than ten times as many captured at Gettysburg, to say nothing of similar operations in East Tennessee. These papers contain altogether thirty–one manuscript pages, and one newspaper in extenso, and yet I do not find it anywhere charged in them that any loyal man has been harmed by reason of being disarmed, or that any disloyal one has harmed anybody by reason of being armed by the Federal or State Government. Of course, I have not had time to carefully examine all; but I have had most of them examined and briefed by others, and the result is as stated. The remarkable fact that the actual evil is yet only anticipated–inferred–induces me to suppose I understand the case; but I do not state my impression, because I might be mistaken, and because your duty and mine is plain in any event. The locality of nearly all this seems to be St. Joseph and Buchanan County. I wish you to give special attention to this region, particularly on election day. Prevent violence from whatever quarter, and see that the soldiers themselves do no wrong.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
[Cipher.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 28, 1863.
HON. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: If not too inconvenient, please come at once and have a personal conversation with me.
A. LINCOLN.
TO VICE-PRESIDENT HAMLIN.
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 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 Congress, the clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives shall make a roll of the Representatives elect, and place thereon the names of all persons, and of such persons only, whose credentials show that they were regularly elected in accordance with the laws of their States respectively, or the laws of the United States.
Approved March 3, 1863.
TO J. W. GRIMES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 29, 1863.
HON. JAMES W. GRIMES.
MY DEAR SIR :–The above act of Congress was passed, as I suppose, for the purpose of shutting out improper applicants for seats in the House of Representatives; and I fear there is some danger that it will be used to shut out proper ones. Iowa, having an entire Union delegation, will be one of the States the attempt will be made, if upon any. The Governor doubtless has made out the certificates, and they are already in the hands of the members. I suggest that they come on with them; but that, for greater caution, you, and perhaps Mr. Harlan with you, consult with the Governor, and have an additional set made out according to the form on the other half of this sheet; and still another set, if you can, by studying the law, think of a form that in your judgment, promises 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.
TELEGRAM TO P. F. LOWE.
[Cipher.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., October 30, 1863.
HON. F. F. LOWE, San Francisco, Cal.:
Below is an act of Congress, passed last session, intended to exclude applicants not entitled to seats, but which, there is reason to fear, will be used to exclude some who are entitled. Please get with the Governor and one or two other discreet friends, study the act carefully, and make certificates m two or three forms, according to your best judgement, and have them sent to me, so as to multiply the chances of the delegation getting their seats. Let it be done without 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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.
MEMORANDUM.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, October 31, 1863.
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. It has not been announced or decided in any form by the Provost-Marshal-General, or any one else in authority of the Government, that every citizen who has paid his three hundred dollars commutation is liable to be immediately drafted again, or that towns that have just raised the money to pay their quotas will have again to be subject to similar taxation or suffer the operations of the new conscription, nor it is probable that the like of them ever will be announced or decided.
TELEGRAM TO W. H. SEWARD.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., November 1, 1863.
HON. W. H. SEWARD, Auburn, N.Y.:
No important news. Details of Hooker’s night fight do great credit to his command, and particularly to the Eleventh Corps and Geary’s part of the Twelfth. No discredit on any.
A. LINCOLN.
TO POSTMASTER-GENERAL BLAIR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 2, 1863.
HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
MY DEAR SIR:–Some days ago I understood you to say that your brother, General Frank Blair, desires to be guided by my wishes as to whether he will occupy his seat in Congress or remain in the field. My wish, then, is compounded of what I believe will be best for the country; and it is that he will come here, put his military commission in my hands, take his seat, go into caucus with our friends, abide the nominations, help elect the nominees, and thus aid to organize a House of Representatives which will really support the Government in the war. If the result shall be the election of himself as Speaker, let him serve in that position. If not, let him retake his commission and return to the army for the benefit of the country.
This will heal a dangerous schism for him. It will relieve him from a dangerous position or a misunderstanding, as I think he is in danger of being permanently separated from those with whom only he can ever have a real sympathy–the sincere opponents of slavery.
It will be a mistake if he shall allow the provocations offered him by insincere time-servers to drive him from the house of his own building. He is young yet. He has abundant talents–quite enough to occupy all his time without devoting any to temper.
He is rising in military skill and usefulness. His recent appointment to the command of a corps, by one so competent to judge as General Sherman, proves this. In that line he can serve both the country and himself more profitably than he could as a member of Congress upon the floor.
The foregoing is what I would say if Frank Blair was my brother instead of yours.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR BRADFORD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 2, 1863.
His EXCELLENCY A. W. BRADFORD, Governor of Maryland.
SIR:–Yours of the 31st ult. was received yesterday about noon, and since then I have been giving most earnest attention to the subject- matter of it. At my call General Schenck has attended, and he assures me it is almost certain that violence will be used at some of the voting places on election day unless prevented by his provost- guards. He says that at some of those places Union voters will not attend at all, or run a ticket, unless they have some assurance of protection. This makes the Missouri case, of my action in regard to which you express your approval.
The remaining point of your letter is a protest against any person offering to vote being put to any test not found in the laws of Maryland. This brings us to a difference between Missouri and Maryland. With the same reason in both States, Missouri has, by law, provided a test for the voter with reference to the present rebellion, while Maryland has not. For example, General Trimble, captured fighting us at Gettysburg, is, without recanting his treason, a legal voter by the laws of Maryland. Even General Schenck’s order admits him to vote, if he recants upon oath. I think that is cheap enough. My order in Missouri, which you approve, and General Scherick’s order here, reach precisely the same end. Bach assures the right of voting to all loyal men, and whether a man is loyal, each allows that man to fix by his own oath. Your suggestion that nearly all the candidates are loyal, I do not think quite meets the case. In this struggle for the nation’s life, I cannot so confidently rely on those whose elections may have depended upon disloyal votes. Such men, when elected, may prove true; but such votes are given them in the expectation that they will prove false.
Nor do I think that to keep the peace at the polls, and to prevent the persistently disloyal from voting, constitutes just cause of offense to Maryland. I think she has her own example for it. If I mistake not, it is precisely what General Dix did when your Excellency was elected Governor.
I revoke the first of the three propositions in General Schenek’s General Order No. 53; not that it is wrong in principle, but because the military, being of necessity exclusive judges as to who shall be arrested, the provision is too liable to abuse. For the revoked part I substitute the following:
That, all provost-marshals and other military officers do prevent all disturbance and violence at or about the polls, whether offered by such persons as above described, or by any other person or persons whomsoever.
The other two propositions of the order I allow to stand. General Schenek is fully determined, and has my strict orders besides, that all loyal men may vote, and vote for whom they please.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
TO J. H. HACKETT
[Private.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,