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ought to be withdrawn; but, although he more than once advised its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,
November 2, 1863.
JAMES H. HACKETT.
MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of October 22d is received, as also was, in due
course, that of October 3d. I look forward with pleasure to the
fulfillment of the promise made in the former to visit Washington the
following winter and to "call."
Give yourself no uneasiness on the subject mentioned in that
of the 22d. My note to you I certainly did not expect to see in
print, yet I have not been much shocked by the newspaper comments
upon it.
Those comments constitute a fair specimen of what has occurred
to me through life. I have endured a great deal of ridicule, without
much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness not quite
free from ridicule. I am used to it.
TELEGRAM TO W. H. SEWARD.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 3, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
Samuel Wellers, private in Company B, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania
Volunteers, writes that he is to be shot for desertion on the 6th
instant. His 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, November 9, 1863.4 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL BURNSIDE, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Have seen dispatch from General Grant about your loss at Rogersville.
Per contra, about the same time, Averell and Duffle got considerable
advantage of the enemy at and about Lewisburg, Virginia: and on
Saturday, the seventh, Meade drove the enemy from Rappahannock
Station and Kelly's Ford, capturing eight battle-flags, four guns,
and over 1800 prisoners, with very little loss to himself. Let me
hear from you.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. G. MEADE.
WASHINGTON, November 9, 1863 7.30 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE:
I have seen your dispatches about operations on the Rappahannock on
Saturday, and I wish to say, "Well done!" Do the 1500 prisoners
reported by General Sedgwick include the 400 taken by General French,
or do the Whole amount to 1900?
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING THE EXPORT OF TOBACCO PURCHASED BY FOREIGN NATIONS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 10, 1863.
In consideration of the peculiar circumstances and pursuant to the
comity deemed to be due to friendly powers, any tobacco in the United
States belonging to the government either of France, Austria, or any
other state with which this country is at peace, and which tobacco
was purchased and paid for by such government prior to the 4th day of
March, 1861, may be exported from any port of the United States under
the supervision and upon the responsibility of naval officers of such
governments and in conformity to such regulations as may be presented
by the Secretary of State of the United States, and not otherwise.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., November 10, 1863.
GENERAL SCHOFIELD, 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 legislature.
All such are radical and administration men. The election of two
Senators from this place on Thursday will probably turn upon this
thing." what does this mean? Of course members of the legislation
must be allowed to attend its sessions. But how is there a session
before the recent election returns are in? And how is it to be at
"this place"--and that is Saint Louis? Please inform me.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C.,November 11, 1863.
GENERAL SCHOFIELD, Saint Louis, Mo.:
I believe the Secretary of War has telegraphed you about members of
the legislation. At all events, allow those in the service to attend
the session, and we can afterward decide whether they can stay
through the entire session.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO HIRAM BARNEY.
[Cipher.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., November 11, 1863.
HON. HIRAM BARNEY, New York;
I would like an interview with you. Can you not come?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO J. MILDERBORGER.
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.
TELEGRAM to E. H. AND E. JAMESON.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., November 13, 1863.
E. H. and E. JAMESON, Jefferson City, Mo.:
Yours saying Brown and Henderson are elected Senators is received. I
understand this is one and one. If so it is knocking heads together
to some
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, November 14, 1863. 12.15 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Cincinnati, Ohio:
I have received and considered your dispatch of yesterday. Of the
reports you mention, I have not the means of seeing any except your
own. Besides this, the publication might be improper in view of the
court of inquiry which has been ordered. With every disposition, not
merely to do justice, but to oblige you, I feel constrained to say I
think the publications better not be made now.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BURNSIDE.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY, November 16, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL BURNSIDE, Knoxville, Tenn.:
What is the news?
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY CHASE
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 17, 1863.
HON. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
MY DEAR SIR:--I expected to see you here at Cabinet meeting, and to
say something about going to Gettysburg. There will be a train to
take and return us. The time for starting is not yet fixed, but when
it shall be I will notify you.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG
NOVEMBER 19, 1863.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--
we can not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add
or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we
say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us
the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather
for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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.
TELEGRAM TO E. P. EVANS.
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.
TO SECRETARY SEWARD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., November 23, 1863.
MY DEAR SIR:--Two despatches since I saw you; one not quite so late
on firing as we had before, but giving the points that Burnside
thinks he can hold the place, that he is not closely invested, and
that he forages across the river. The other brings the firing up to
11 A.M. yesterday, being twenty-three hours later than we had before.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT.
WASHINGTON, November 25, 1863. 8.40 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL U.S. GRANT:
Your despatches as to fighting on Monday and Tuesday are here. Well
done! Many thanks to all. Remember Burnside.
A. LINCOLN.
TO C. P. KIRKLAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 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.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF UNION SUCCESS IN EAST TENNESSEE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
December 7, 1863.
Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is
retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it
probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from
that important position; and esteeming this to be of high national
consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this
information, assemble at their places of worship, and render special
homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this great advancement of
the national cause.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION OF AMNESTY AND RECONSTRUCTION
DECEMBER 8, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas in and by the Constitution of the United States it is
provided that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and
pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of
impeachment;" and,
Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of
several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons
have committed and are now guilty of treason against the United
States; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been
enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of
property and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions
therein stated, and also declaring that the President was thereby
authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to
persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any
State or part thereof pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at
such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the
public welfare; and
Whereas the Congressional declaration for limited and conditional
pardon accords with well-established judicial exposition of the
pardoning power; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the
United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in
regard to the liberation of slaves; and
Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said
rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States and to
reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective
States:
Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly
or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as
hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them
and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except
as to slaves and in property cases where rights of third parties
shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person
shall take and subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain
said oath inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent
preservation and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:
I, ________, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I
will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States
thereunder; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully
support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion
with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed,
modified, or held void by Congress or by decision of the Supreme
Court; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support
all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion
having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or
declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God."
The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions
are all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or
agents of the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left
judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all
who are or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-
called Confederate Government above the rank of colonel in the army
or of lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the United States
Congress to aid the rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the
Army or Navy of the United States and afterwards aided the rebellion;
and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or
white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners
of war, and which persons may have been found in the United States
service as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in
any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North
Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of
the votes cast in such State at the Presidential election of the year
A.D. 1860, each having taken oath aforesaid, and not having since
violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the
State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and
excluding all others, shall reestablish a State government which
shall be republican and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall
be recognized as the true government of the State, and the State
shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision
which declares that "the United States shall guarantee to every State
in this Union a republican form of government and shall protect each
of them against invasion, and, on application of the legislature, or
the EXECUTIVE (when the legislature can not be convened), against
domestic violence."
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision
which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the
freed people of such State which shall recognize and declare their
permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be
consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as
a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by
the National EXECUTIVE.
And it is suggested as not improper that in constructing a loyal
State government in any State the name of the State, the boundary,
the subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws as
before the rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications
made necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such
others, if any, not contravening said co and which may be deemed
expedient by those framing the new State government.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this
proclamation, so far as it relates to State governments, has no
reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the
while been maintained. And for the same reason it may be proper to
further say that whether members sent to Congress from any State
shall be admitted to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with
the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the EXECUTIVE. And,
still further, that this proclamation is intended to present the
people of the States wherein the national authority has been
suspended and loyal State governments have been subverted a mode in
and by which the national authority and loyal State governments may
be re-established within said States or in any of them; and while the
mode presented is the best the EXECUTIVE can suggest, with his
present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible
mode would be acceptable.
Given under my hand at the city of WASHINGTON, the 8th day of
December, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
DECEMBER 8, 1863.
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES:--Another year of health, and of sufficiently
abundant harvests, has passed. For these, and especially for the
improved condition cf our national affairs, our renewed and
profoundest gratitude to God is due.
We remain in peace and friendship with foreign powers.
The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United States to involve us
in foreign wars, to aid an inexcusable insurrection, have been
unavailing. Her Britannic Majesty's government, as was justly
expected, have exercised their authority to prevent the departure of
new hostile expeditions from British ports. The Emperor of France
has, by a like proceeding, promptly vindicated the neutrality which
he proclaimed at the beginning of the contest. Questions of great
intricacy and importance have arisen out of the blockade, and other
belligerent operations, between the Government and several of the
maritime powers, but they have been discussed, and, as far as was
possible, accommodated, in a spirit of frankness, justice, and mutual
good-will. It is especially gratifying that our prize courts, by the
impartiality of their adjudications, have commanded the respect and
confidence of maritime powers.
The supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain
for the suppression of the African slave-trade, made on the 17th day
of February last, has been duly ratified and carried into execution.
It is believed that, so far as American ports and American citizens
are concerned, that inhuman and odious traffic has been brought to an
end.
I shall submit, for the consideration of the Senate, a convention for
the adjustment of possessory claims in Washington Territory, arising
out of the treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, between the United
States and Great Britain, and which have been the source of some
disquiet among the citizens of that now rapidly improving part of the
country.
A novel and important question, involving the extent of the maritime
jurisdiction of Spain in the waters which surround the island of
Cuba, has been debated without reaching an agreement, and it is
proposed, in an amicable spirit, to refer it to the arbitrament of a
friendly power. A convention for that purpose will be submitted to
the Senate.
I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of the Senate, to
concur with the interested commercial powers in an arrangement for
the liquidation of the Scheldt dues upon the principles which have
been heretofore adopted in regard to the imposts upon navigation in
the waters of Denmark.
The long-pending controversy between this government and that of
Chile touching the seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilean officers,
of a large amount in treasure belonging to citizens of the United
States has been brought to a close by the award of His Majesty the
King of the Belgians, to whose arbitration the question was referred
by the parties. The subject was thoroughly and patiently examined by
that justly respected magistrate, and although the sum awarded to the
claimants may not have been as large as they expected there is no
reason to distrust the wisdom of His Majesty's decision. That
decision was promptly complied with by Chile when intelligence in
regard to it reached that country.
The joint commission under the act of the last session of carrying
into effect the convention with Peru on the subject of claims has
been organized at Lima, and is engaged in the business intrusted to
it.
Difficulties concerning interoceanic transit through Nicaragua are in
course of amicable adjustment.
In conformity with principles set forth in my last annual message, I
have received a representative from the United States of Colombia,
and have accredited a minister to that Republic.
Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon
my attention the uncertain state of international questions touching
the rights of foreigners in this country and of United States
citizens abroad. In regard to some governments these rights are at
least partially defined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it
expressly stipulated that in the event of civil war a foreigner
residing in this country within the lines of the insurgents is to be
exempted from the rule which classes him as a belligerent, in whose
behalf the government of his country can not expect any privileges or
immunities distinct from that character. I regret to say, however,
that such claims have been put forward, and in some instances in
behalf of foreigners who have lived in the United States the greater
part of their lives.
There is reason to believe that many persons born in foreign
countries who have declared their intention to become citizens, or
who have been fully naturalized have evaded the military duty
required of them by denying the fact and thereby throwing upon the
Government the burden of proof. It has been found difficult or
impracticable to obtain this proof. from the want of guides to the
proper sources of information. These might be supplied by requiring
clerks of courts where declarations of intention may be made or
naturalizations effected to send periodically lists of the names of
the persons naturalized or declaring their intention to become
citizens to the Secretary of the Interior, in whose Department those
names might be arranged and printed for general information.
There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become
citizens of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties
imposed by the laws of their native countries, to which on becoming
naturalized here they at once repair, and though never returning to
the United States they still claim the interposition of this
government as citizens. Many altercations and great prejudices have
heretofore arisen out of this abuse. It is therefore submitted to
your serious consideration. It might be advisable to fix a limit
beyond which no citizen of the United States residing abroad may
claim the interposition of his government.
The right of suffrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens
under pretenses of naturalization, which they have disavowed when
drafted into the military service. I submit the expediency of such
an amendment of the law as will make the fact of voting an estoppe
against any plea of exemption from military service or other civil
obligation on the ground of alienage.
In common with other Western powers, our relations with Japan have
been brought into serious jeopardy through the perverse opposition of
the hereditary aristocracy of the Empire to the enlightened and
liberal policy of the Tycoon, designed to bring the country into the
society of nations. It is hoped, although not with entire
confidence, that these difficulties may be peacefully overcome. I
ask your attention to the claim of the minister residing there for
the damages he sustained in the destruction by fire of the residence
of the legation at Yedo.
Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Emperor of Russia,
which, it is believed, will result in effecting a continuous line of
telegraph through that Empire from our Pacific coast.
I recommend to your favorable consideration the subject of an
international telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean, and also of a
telegraph between this capital and the national forts along the
Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. Such communications,
established with any reasonable outlay, would be economical as well
as effective aids to the diplomatic, military, and naval service.
The consular system of the United States, under the enactments of the
last Congress, begins to be self-sustaining, and there is reason to
hope that it may become entirely so with the increase of trade which
will ensue whenever peace is restored. Our ministers abroad have
been faithful in defending American rights. In protecting commercial
interests our consuls have necessarily had to encounter increased
labors and responsibilities growing out of the war. These they have
for the most part met and discharged with zeal and efficiency. This
acknowledgment justly includes those consuls who, residing in
Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and other Oriental countries,
are charged with complex functions and extraordinary powers.
The condition of the several organized Territories is generally
satisfactory, although Indian disturbances in New Mexico have not
been entirely suppressed. The mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada,
Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona are proving far richer than has been
heretofore understood. I lay before you a communication on this
subject from the Governor of New Mexico. I again submit to your
consideration the expediency of establishing a system for the
encouragement of immigration. Although this source of national
wealth and strength is again flowing with greater freedom than for
several years before the insurrection occurred, there is still a
great deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially
in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the
precious metals. While the demand for labor is much increased here,
tens of thousands of persons, destitute of remunerative occupation,
are thronging our foreign consulates and offering to emigrate to the
United States if essential, but very cheap, assistance can be
afforded them. It is easy to see that under the sharp discipline of
civil war the nation is beginning a new life. This noble effort
demands the aid and ought to receive the attention and support of the
Government.
Injuries unforeseen by the Government and unintended may in some
cases have been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign
countries, both at sea and on land, by persons in the service of the
United States. As this government expects redress from other powers
when similar injuries are inflicted by persons in their service upon
citizens of the United States, we must be prepared to do justice to
foreigners. If the existing judicial tribunals are inadequate to
this purpose, a special court may be authorized, with power to hear
and decide such claims of the character referred to as may have
arisen under treaties and the public law. Conventions for adjusting
the claims by joint commission have been proposed to some
governments, but no definitive answer to the proposition has yet been
received from any.
In the course of the session I shall probably have occasion to
request you to provide indemnification to claimants where decrees of
restitution have been rendered and damages awarded by admiralty
courts, and in other cases where this government may be acknowledged
to be liable in principle and where the amount of that liability has
been ascertained by an informal arbitration.
The proper officers of the Treasury have deemed themselves required
by the law of the United States upon the subject to demand a tax upon
the incomes of foreign consuls in this country. While such a demand
may not in strictness be in derogation of public law, or perhaps of
any existing treaty between the United States and a foreign country,
the expediency of so far modifying the act as to exempt from tax the
income of such consuls as are not citizens of the United States,
derived from the emoluments of their office or from property not
situated in the United States, is submitted to your serious
consideration. I make this suggestion upon the ground that a comity
which ought to be reciprocated exempts our consuls in all other
countries from taxation to the extent thus indicated. The United
States, I think, ought not to be exceptionally illiberal to
international trade and commerce.
The operations of the Treasury during the last year have been
successfully conducted. The enactment by Congress of a national
banking law has proved a valuable support of the public credit, and
the general legislation in relation to loans has fully answered the
expectations of its favorers. Some amendments may be required to
perfect existing laws, but no change in their principles or general
scope is believed to be needed.
Since these measures have been in operation all demands on the
Treasury, including the pay of the Army and Navy, have been promptly
met and fully satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is
believed, were ever more amply provided and more liberally and
punctually paid, and it may be added that by no people were the
burdens incident to a great war ever more cheerfully borne.
The receipts during the year from all sources, including loans and
balance in the Treasury at its commencement, were $901,125,674.86,
and the aggregate disbursements $895,796,630.65, leaving a balance on
the 1st of July, 1863, of $5,329,044.21. Of the receipts there were
derived from customs $69,059,642.40, from internal revenue
$37,640,787.95, from direct tax $1,485,103.61, from lands
$167,617.17, from miscellaneous sources $3,046,615.35, and from loans
$776,682,361.57, making the aggregate $901,125,674.86. Of the
disbursements there were for the civil service $23,253,922.08, for
pensions and Indians $4,216,520.79, for interest on public debt
$24,729,846.51, for the War Department $599,298,600.83, for the Navy
Department $63,211,105.27, for payment of funded and temporary debt
$181,086,635.07,making the aggregate $895,796,630.65 and leaving the
balance of $5,329,044.21. But the payment of funded and temporary
debt, having been made from moneys borrowed during the year, must be
regarded as merely nominal payments and the moneys borrowed to make
them as merely nominal receipts, and their amount, $181,086,635.07,
should therefore be deducted both from receipts and disbursements.
This being done there remains as actual receipts $720,039,039.79 and
the actual disbursements $714,709,995.58, leaving the balance as
already stated.
The actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter and the
estimated receipts and disbursements for the remaining three-quarters
of the current fiscal year (1864) will be shown in detail by the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to which I invite your
attention. It is sufficient to say here that it is not believed
that actual results will exhibit a state of the finances less
favorable to the country than the estimates of that officer
heretofore submitted while it is confidently expected that at the
close of the year both disbursements and debt will be found very
considerably less than has been anticipated.
The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest.
It consists of:
1.The military operations of the year, detailed in the report of the
General in Chief.
2.The organization of colored persons into the war service.
3.The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the letter of General
Hitchcock.
4.The operations under the act for enrolling and calling out the
national forces, detailed in the report of the Provost Marshal
General.
5.The organization of the invalid corps, and
6.The operation of the several departments of the Quartermaster-
General, Commissary-General, Paymaster-General, Chief of Engineers,
Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon-General.
It has appeared impossible to make a valuable summary of this report,
except such as would be too extended for this place, and hence I
content myself by asking your careful attention to the report itself.
The duties devolving on the naval branch of the service during the
year and throughout the whole of this unhappy contest have been
discharged with fidelity and eminent success. The extensive blockade
has been constantly increasing in efficiency as the Navy has
expanded, yet on so long a line it has so far been impossible to
entirely suppress illicit trade. From returns received at the Navy
Department it appears that more than 1,000 vessels have been captured
since the blockade was instituted? and that the value of prizes
already sent in for adjudication amounts to over $13,000,000.
The naval force of the United States consists at this time of five
hundred and eighty-eight vessels completed and in the course of
completion, and of these seventy-five are ironclad or armored
steamers. The events of the war give an increased interest and
importance to the Navy which will probably extend beyond the war
itself.
The armored vessels in our Navy completed and in service, or which
are under contract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed
in number those of any other power; but while these may be relied
upon for harbor defense and coast service, others of greater strength
and capacity will be necessary for cruising purposes and to maintain
our rightful position on the ocean.
The change that has taken place in naval vessels and naval warfare
since the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships of war
demands either a corresponding change in some of our existing navy
yards or the establishment of new ones for the construction and
necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable
embarrassment, delay, and public injury have been experienced from
the want of such governmental establishments. The necessity of such
a navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable place upon the Atlantic
seaboard has on repeated occasions been brought to the attention of
Congress by the Navy Department, and is again presented in the report
of the Secretary which accompanies this communication. I think it my
duty to invite your special attention to this subject, and also to
that of establishing a yard and depot for naval purposes upon one of
the Western rivers. A naval force has been created on those interior
waters, and under many disadvantages, within little more than two
years, exceeding in numbers the whole naval force of the country at
the commencement of the present Administration. Satisfactory and
important as have been the performances of the heroic men of the Navy
at this interesting period, they are scarcely more wonderful than the
success of our mechanics and artisans in the production of war
vessels, which has created a new form of naval power.
Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our
resources of iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel
in the immediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close
proximity to navigable waters. Without the advantage of public
works, the resources of the nation have been developed and its power
displayed in the construction of a Navy of such magnitude, which has
at the very period of its creation rendered signal service to the
Union.
The increase of the number of seamen in the public service from 7,500
men in the spring of 1861 to about 34,000 at the present time has
been accomplished without special legislation or extraordinary
bounties to promote that increase. It has been found, however, that
the operation of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army
recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the naval service, and
will, if not corrected, be likely to impair its efficiency by
detaching seamen from their proper vocation and inducing them to
enter the Army. I therefore respectfully suggest that Congress
might aid both the army and naval services by a definite provision on
this subject which would at the same time be equitable to the
communities more especially interested.
I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of
the Navy in regard to the policy of fostering and training seamen and
also the education of officers and engineers for the naval service.
The Naval Academy is rendering signal service in preparing midshipmen
for the highly responsible duties which in after life they will be
required to perform. In order that the country should not be
deprived of the proper quota of educated officers, for which legal
provision has been made at the naval school, the vacancies caused by
the neglect or omission to make nominations from the States in
insurrection have been filled by the Secretary of the Navy. The
school is now more full and complete than at any former period, and
in every respect entitled to the favorable consideration of Congress.
During the past fiscal year the financial condition of the Post-
Office Department has been one of increasing prosperity, and I am
gratified in being able to state that the actual postal revenue has
nearly equaled the entire expenditures, the latter amounting to
$11,314,206.84 and the former to $11,163,789.59, leaving a deficiency
of but $150,417.25. In 1860, the year immediately preceding the
rebellion, the deficiency amounted to $5,656,705.49, the postal
receipts of that year being $2,645,722.19 less that those of 1863.
The decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of transportation has
been only about twenty-five per cent, but the annual expenditure on
account of the same has been reduced thirty-five per cent. It is
manifest, therefore, that the Post-Office Department may become self-
sustaining in a few years, even with the restoration of the whole
service.
The international conference of postal delegates from the principal
countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion
of the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last and
concluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The principles
established by the conference as best adapted to facilitate postal
intercourse between nations and as the basis of future postal
conventions inaugurate a general system of uniform international
charges at reduced rates of postage, and can not fail to produce
beneficial results.
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is
herewith laid before you, for useful and varied information in
relation to the public lands, Indian affairs, patents, pensions, and
other matters of public concern pertaining to his Department.
The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first
quarter of the present fiscal years was 3,841,549 acres, of which
161,911 acres were sold for cash, 1,456,514 acres were taken up under
the homestead law, and the residue disposed of under laws granting
lands for military bounties, for railroad and other purposes. It
also appears that the sale of the public lands is largely on the
increase.
It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen
that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring
interest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the
public lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from
the sale of them. This opinion has had a controlling influence in
shaping legislation upon the subject of our national domain. I may
cite as evidence of this the liberal measures adopted in reference to
actual settlers; the grant to the States of the overflowed lands
within their limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered
fit for cultivation; the grants to railway companies of alternate
sections of land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which
when completed will so largely multiply the facilities for reaching
our distant possessions. This policy has received its most signal
and beneficent illustration in the recent enactment granting
homesteads to actual settlers. Since the 1st day of January last the
before-mentioned quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken
up under its provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish
gratifying evidence of increasing settlement upon the public lands,
notwithstanding the great struggle in which the energies of the
nation have been engaged, and which has required so large a
withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits. I
cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Interior suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those
engaged in the military and naval service of the United States. I
doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will,
without essentially changing the general features of the system,
secure to the greatest practicable extent its benefits to those who
have left their homes in the defense of the country in this arduous
crisis.
I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary as to the
propriety of raising by appropriate legislation a revenue from the
mineral lands of the United States.
The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain
Indian tribes have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have
been negotiated, which will in due time be submitted for the
constitutional action of the Senate. They contain stipulations for
extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large and
valuable tracts of lands. It is hoped that the effect of these
treaties will result in the establishment of permanent friendly
relations with such of these tribes as have been brought into
frequent and bloody collision with our outlying settlements and
emigrants. Sound policy and our imperative duty to these wards of
the Government demand our anxious and constant attention to their
material well-being, to their progress in the arts of civilization,
and, above all, to that moral training which under the blessing of
Divine Providence will confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying
influences, the hopes and consolations, of the Christian faith.
I suggested in my last annual message the propriety of remodeling our
Indian system. Subsequent events have satisfied me of its necessity.
The details set forth in the report of the Secretary evince the
urgent need for immediate legislative action.
I commend the benevolent institutions established or patronized by
the Government in this District to your generous and fostering care.
The attention of Congress during the last session was engaged to some
extent with a proposition for enlarging the water communication
between the Mississippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which
proposition, however, failed for the time. Since then, upon a call
of the greatest respectability, a convention has been held at Chicago
upon the same subject, a summary of whose views is contained in a
memorial addressed to the President and Congress, and which I now
have the honor to lay before you. That this interest is one which
ere long will force its own way I do not entertain a doubt, while it
is submitted entirely to your wisdom as to what can be done now.
Augmented interest is given to this subject by the actual
commencement of work upon the Pacific Railroad, under auspices so
favorable to rapid progress and completion. The enlarged navigation
becomes a palpable need to the great road.
I transmit the second annual report of the Commissioner of the
Department of Agriculture, asking your attention to the developments
in that vital interest of the nation.
When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted nearly
twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on both land and
sea, with varying results; the rebellion had been pressed back into
reduced limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home
and abroad, was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popular
elections then just past indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while,
amid much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from
Europe were uttered in accents of pity that we are too blind to
surrender a hopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a
few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, and
we were threatened with such additions from the same quarter as would
sweep our trade from the sea and raise our blockade. We had failed
to elicit from European governments anything hopeful upon this
subject. The preliminary emancipation proclamation, issued in
September, was running its assigned period to the beginning of the
new year. A month later the final proclamation came, including the
announcement that colored men of suitable condition would be received
into the war service. The policy of emancipation and of employing
black soldiers gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and
fear and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. According to our
political system, as a matter of civil administration, the General
Government had no lawful power to effect emancipation in any State,
and for a long time it had been hoped that the rebellion could be
suppressed without resorting to it as a military measure. It was all
the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and
that if it should the crisis of the contest would then be presented.
It came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and
doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to
take another review. The rebel borders are pressed still farther
back, and by the complete opening of the Mississippi the country
dominated by the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no
practical communication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have
been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential
citizens in each, owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the
beginning of the rebellion, now declare openly for emancipation in
their respective States. Of those States not included in the
emancipation proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which
three years ago would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of
slavery into new Territories, dispute now only as to the best mode of
removing it within their own limits.
Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the rebellion full
100,000 are now in the United States military service, about one-half
of which number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving the
double advantage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause and
supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many
white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as
good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection or tendency to
violence or cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and
arming the blacks. These measures have been much discussed in
foreign countries, and, contemporary with such discussion, the tone
of public sentiment there is much improved. At home the same
measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticized, and
denounced, and the annual elections following are highly encouraging
to those whose official duty it is to bear the country through this
great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which
threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past.
Looking now to the present and future, and with reference to a
resumption of the national authority within the States wherein that
authority has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a
proclamation, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. On
examination of this proclamation it will appear, as is believed, that
nothing will be attempted beyond what is amply justified by the
Constitution. True, the form of an oath is given, but no man is
coerced to take it. The man is promised a pardon only in case he
voluntarily takes the oath. The Constitution authorizes the
Executive to grant or withhold the pardon at his own absolute
discretion, and this includes the power to grant on terms, as is
fully established by judicial and other authorities.
It is also proffered that if in any of the States named a State
government shall be in the mode prescribed set up, such government
shall be recognized and guaranteed by the United States, and that
under it the State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be
protected against invasion and domestic violence. The constitutional
obligation of the United States to guarantee to every State in the
Union a republican form of government and to protect the State in the
cases stated is explicit and full. But why tender the benefits of
this provision only to a State government set up in this particular
way? This section of the Constitution contemplates a case wherein the
element within a State favorable to republican government in the
Union may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile element external
to or even within the State, and such are precisely the cases with
which we are now dealing.
An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State government,
constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the very element
against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply
absurd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing
elements, so as to build only from the sound; and that test is a
sufficiently liberal one which accepts as sound whoever will make a
sworn recantation of his former unsoundness.
But if it be proper to require as a test of admission to the
political body an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the
United States and to the Union under it, why also to the laws and
proclamations in regard to slavery? Those laws and proclamations were
enacted and put forth for the purpose of aiding in the suppression of
the rebellion. To give them their fullest effect there had to be a
pledge for their maintenance. In my judgment, they have aided and
will further aid the cause for which they were intended. To now
abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, but
would also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faith. I may add
at this point that while I remain in my present position I shall not
attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall
I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that
proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress. For these and other
reasons it is thought best that support of these measures shall be
included in the oath, and it is believed the Executive may lawfully
claim it in return for pardon and restoration of forfeited rights,
which he has clear constitutional power to withhold altogether or
grant upon the terms which he shall deem wisest for the public
interest. It should be observed also that this part of the oath is
subject to the modifying and abrogating power of legislation and
supreme judicial decision.
The proposed acquiescence of the National Executive in any reasonable
temporary State arrangement for the freed people is made with the
view of possibly modifying the confusion and destitution which must
at best attend all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout
whole States. It is hoped that the already deeply afflicted people
in those States may be somewhat more ready to give up the cause of
their affliction if to this extent this vital matter be left to
themselves, while no power of the National Executive to prevent an
abuse is abridged by the proposition.
The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the political
framework of the States on what is called reconstruction is made in
the hope that it may do good without danger of harm. It will save
labor and avoid great confusion.
But why any proclamation now upon this subject? This question is
beset with the conflicting views that the step might be delayed too
long or be taken too soon. In some States the elements for
resumption seem ready for action, but remain inactive apparently for
want of a rallying point--a plan of action. Why shall A adopt the
plan of B rather than B that of A? And if A and B should agree, how
can they know but that the General Government here will reject their
plan? By the proclamation a plan is presented which may be accepted
by them as a rallying point, and which they are assured in advance
will not be rejected here. This may bring them to act sooner than
they otherwise would.
The objections to a premature presentation of a plan by the National
Executive consist in the danger of committals on points which could
be more safely left to further developments. Care has been taken to
so shape the document as to avoid embarrassments from this source.
Saying that on certain terms certain classes will be pardoned with
rights restored, it is not said that other classes or other terms
will never be included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted
if presented in a specified way, it is not said it will never be
accepted in any other way.
The movements by State action for emancipation in several of the
States not included in the emancipation proclamation are matters of
profound gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I
have heretofore so earnestly urged upon this subject my general views
and feelings remain unchanged and I trust that Congress will omit no
fair opportunity of aiding these important steps to a great
consummation.
In the midst of other cares, however important we must not lose sight
of the fact that the war power is still our main reliance. To that
power alone ( we look yet for a time to give confidence to the people
in the contested regions that the insurgent power will not again
overrun them. Until that confidence shall be established little can
be done anywhere what is called reconstruction. Hence our chiefest
care must still be directed to the Army and Navy who have thus far
borne their harder part so nobly and well; and it may be esteemed
fortunate that giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable
arms we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander
to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom more than to others the
world must stand indebted for the home of freedom disenthralled,
regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON D. C., December 8, 1863.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Captain John Rogers United States Navy, receive a vote of thanks
from Congress for the eminent skill and gallantry exhibited by him in
the engagement with the rebel armed ironclad steamer Fingal, alias
Atlanta, whilst in command of the United States ironclad steamer
Weehawken, which led to her capture on the 17th June, 1863, and also
for the zeal, bravery, and general good conduct shown by this officer
on many occasions.
This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the aforesaid act, which is in
the following words, viz:
That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with
the enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO THE SENATE.
WASHINGTON, D. C., December 8, 1863.
TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:
Congress, on my recommendation, passed a resolution, approved 7th
February, 1863, tendering its thanks to Commander D. D. Porter "for
the bravery and skill displayed in the attack on the post of Arkansas
on the 10th January, 1863," and in consideration of those services,
together with his efficient labors and vigilance subsequently
displayed in thwarting the efforts of the rebels to obstruct the
Mississippi and its tributaries and the important part rendered by
the squadron under his command, which led to the surrender of
Vicksburg.
I do therefore, in conformity to the seventh section of the act
approved 16th July, 1862, nominate Commander D. D. Porter to be a
rear-admiral in the Navy on the active list from the 4th July, 1863,
to fill an existing vacancy.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 8, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:
Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now
secure, I wish to tender you, and all under your command, my more
than thanks, my profoundest gratitude, for the skill, courage, and
perseverance with which you and they, over so great difficulties,
have effected that important object. God bless you all!
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 9, 1863
HIS EXCELLENCY A. G. CURTIN,
Governor of Pennsylvania.
DEAR SIR:--I have to urge my illness, and the preparation of the
message, in excuse for not having sooner transmitted you the inclosed
from the Secretary of War and Provost Marshal General in response to
yours in relation to recruiting in Pennsylvania. Though not quite
as you desire, I hope the grounds taken will be reasonably
satisfactory to you. Allow me to exchange congratulations with you
on the organization of the House of Representatives, and especially
on recent military events in Georgia and Tennessee.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., December 10, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Please suspend execution in any and all sentences of death in your
department until further order.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 11, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of the Potomac:
Lieut. Col. James B. Knox, Tenth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves,
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.
TO JUDGE HOFFMAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
December 15, 1863.
HON. OGDEN HOFFMAN, U. S. District Judge, San Francisco, Cal.:
The oath in the proclamation of December 8 is intended for those who
may voluntarily take it, and not for those who may be constrained to
take it in order to escape actual imprisonment or punishment. It is
intended that the latter class shall abide the granting or
withholding of the pardoning power in the ordinary way.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MARY GONYEAG.
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.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING DISCRIMINATING DUTIES,
DECEMBER 16, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost' and to
equalize the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is
provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President
of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no
discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in
the ports of the said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States or upon the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported in the same from the United States or from any
foreign country, the President is thereby authorized to issue his
proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be
suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the said
foreign nation and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported
into the United States in the same from the said foreign nation or
from any other foreign country, the said suspension to take effect
from the time of such notification being given to the President of
the United States and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption
of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States and their
cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no longer; and
Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me through
an official communication of Senor Don Luis Molina, Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Nicaragua, under date of the 28th of November, 1863, that no other or
higher duties of tonnage and impost have been imposed or levied since
the second day of August, 1838, in the ports of Nicaragua, upon
vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, and upon
the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from
the United States, and ,from any foreign country whatever, than are
levied on Nicaraguan ships and their cargoes in the same ports under
like circumstances:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several
acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of Nicaragua, and the produce, manufactures, and
the merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the
dominions of Nicaragua, and from any other foreign country whatever;
the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned, and
to continue thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the
vessels of the United States, and the produce, manufactures, and
merchandise imported into the dominions of Nicaragua in the same, as
aforesaid, shall be continued on the part of the government of
Nicaragua.
Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the sixteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three, and the eighty-eighth of the Independence of the United
States.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
DECEMBER 17, 1863.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES:
Herewith I lay before you a letter addressed to myself by a committee
of gentlemen representing the freedmen's aid societies in Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. The subject of the letter, as
indicated above, is one of great magnitude and importance, and one
which these gentlemen, of known ability and high character, seem to
have considered with great attention and care. Not having the time
to form a mature judgment of my own as to whether the plan they
suggest is the best, I submit the whole subject to Congress, deeming
that their attention thereto is almost imperatively demanded.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL HURLBUT.
[Cipher.]
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, December 19, 1863.
GENERAL GRANT, Chattanooga, Tennessee:
The Indiana delegation in Congress, or at least a large part of them,
are very anxious that General Milroy shall enter active service
again, and I share in this feeling. He is not a difficult man to
satisfy, sincerity and courage being his strong traits. Believing in
our cause, and wanting to fight for it, is the whole matter with him.
Could you, without embarrassment, assign him a place, if directed to
report to you?
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., December 21, 1863.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.
MY DEAR SIR:--Sending a note to the Secretary of the Navy, as I
promised, he called over and said that the strikes in the ship-yards
had thrown the completion of vessels back so much that he thought
General Gilimore's proposition entirely proper. He only wishes (and
in which I concur) that General Gillmore will courteously confer
with, and explain to, Admiral Dahlgren.
In regard to the Western matter, I believe the program will have to
stand substantially as I first put it. Henderson, and especially
Brown, believe that the social influence of St. Louis would
inevitably tell injuriously upon General Pope in the particular
difficulty existing there, and I think there is some force in that
view.
As to retaining General Schofield temporarily, if this should be
done, I believe I should scarcely be able to get his nomination
through the Senate. Send me over his nomination, which, however, I
am not quite ready to send to the Senate.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO O. D. FILLEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 22, 1863.
O. D. FILLEY, ST. Louis, Missouri:
I have just looked over a petition signed by some three dozen
citizens of St. Louis, and three accompanying letters, one by
yourself, one by a Mr. Nathan Ranney, and one by a Mr. John D.
Coalter, the whole relating to the Rev. Dr. McPheeters. The
petition prays, in the name of justice and mercy, that I will restore
Dr. McPheeters to all his ecclesiastical rights. This gives no
intimation as to what ecclesiastical rights are withheld.
Your letter states that Provost-Marshal Dick, about a year ago,
ordered the arrest of Dr. McPheeters, pastor of the Vine Street
Church, prohibited him from officiating, and placed the management of
the affairs of the church out of the control of its chosen trustees;
and near the close you state that a certain course "would insure his
release." Mr. Ranney's letter says: "Dr. Samuel S. McPheeters is
enjoying all the rights of a civilian, but cannot preach the
Gospel!!!!" Mr. Coalter, in his letter, asks: "Is it not a strange
illustration of the condition of things, that the question of who
shall be allowed to preach in a church in St. Louis shall be decided
by the President of the United States?"
Now, all this sounds very strangely; and, withal, a little as if you
gentlemen making the application do not understand the case alike;
one affirming that the doctor is enjoying all the rights of a
civilian, and another pointing out to me what will secure his
release! On the second day of January last, I wrote to General Curtis
in relation to Mr. Dick's order upon Dr. McPheeters; and, as I
suppose the doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, I only
quote that part of my letter which relates to the church. It is as
follows: "But I must add that the United States Government must not,
as by this order, undertake to run the churches. When an individual,
in a church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest,
he must be checked; but the churches, as such, must take care of
themselves. It will not do for the United States to appoint
trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches."
This letter going to General Curtis, then in command there, I
supposed, of course, it was obeyed, especially as I heard no further
complaint from Dr. McPheeters or his friends for nearly an entire
year. I have never interfered, nor thought of interfering, as to who
shall or shall not preach in any church; nor have I knowingly or
believingly tolerated any one else to so interfere by my authority.
If any one is so interfering by color of my authority, I would like
to have it specifically made known to me. If, after all, what is
now sought is to have me put Dr. McPheeters back over the heads of a
majority of his own congregation, that, too, will be declined. I
will not have control of any church on any side.
Yours respectfully,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MILITARY COMMANDER AT POINT LOOKOUT.
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 Illinois, please send him
to me by an officer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MILITARY COMMANDER AT POINT LOOKOUT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., December 24, 1863.
MILITARY COMMANDER, Point Lookout, Md.:
If you send Linder to me as directed a day or two ago, also send
Edwin C. Claybrook, of Ninth Virginia rebel cavalry.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO U. F. LINDER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON D. C., December 26, 1863.
HON. U. F. LINDER, Chicago, Ill.:
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.
TO GENERAL N. P. BANKS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 29, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL BANKS:
Yours of the sixteenth is received, and I send you, as covering the
ground of it, a copy of my answer to yours of the sixth, it being
possible the original may not reach you. I intend you to be master
in every controversy made with you.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
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 duty and re-enlists for three years or during the war.
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, December 31, 1863.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.
SIR:--Please fix up the department to which Curtis is to go, without
waiting to wind up the Missouri matter. Lane is very anxious to have
Fort Smith in it, and I am willing, unless there be decided military
reasons to the contrary, in which case of course, I am not for it.
It will oblige me to have the Curtis department fixed at once.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
1864
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SULLIVAN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., January 1, 1864. 3.30pm
GENERAL SULLIVAN, Harper's Ferry:
Have you anything new from Winchester, Martinsburg or thereabouts?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR PIERPOINT.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 2, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER.
SIR:--The Secretary of War and myself have concluded to discharge of
the prisoners at Point Lookout the following classes: First, those
who will take the oath prescribed in the proclamation of December 8,
and issued by the consent of General Marston, will enlist in our
service. Second, those who will take the oath and be discharged and
whose homes lie safely within our military lines.
I send by Mr. Hay this letter and a blank-book and some other blanks,
the way of using which I propose for him to explain verbally better
than I can in writing.
Yours, very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 5, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE:
If not inconsistent with the service, please allow General William
Harrow as long a leave of absence as the rules permit with the
understanding that I may lengthen it if I see fit. He is an
acquaintance and friend of mine, and his family matters very urgently
require his presence.
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
JANUARY 5, 1864.
GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
By a joint resolution of your honorable bodies approved December 23,
1863, the paying of bounties to veteran volunteers, as now practiced
by the War Department, is, to the extent of three hundred dollars in
each case, prohibited after this 5th day of the present month. I
transmit for your consideration a communication from the Secretary of
War, accompanied by one from the Provost-Marshal General to him, both
relating to the subject above mentioned. I earnestly recommend that
the law be so modified as to allow bounties to be paid as they now
are, at least until the ensuing 1st day of February.
I am not without anxiety lest I appear to be importunate in thus
recalling your attention to a subject upon which you have so recently
acted, and nothing but a deep conviction that the public interest
demands it could induce me to incur the hazard of being misunderstood
on this point. The Executive approval was given by me to the
resolution mentioned, and it is now by a closer attention and a
fuller knowledge of facts that I feel constrained to recommend a
reconsideration of the subject.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 6, 1864. 2 P.M.
GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE, Frankfort, Kentucky:
Yours of yesterday received. Nothing is known here about General
Foster's order, of which you complain, beyond the fair presumption
that it comes from General Grant, and that it has an object which, if
you understood, you would be loath to frustrate. True, these troops
are, in strict law, only to be removed by my order; but General
Grant's judgment would be the highest incentive to me to make such
order. Nor can I understand how doing so is bad faith and dishonor,
nor yet how it so exposes Kentucky to ruin. Military men here do not
perceive how it exposes Kentucky, and I am sure Grant would not
permit it if it so appeared to him.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL Q. A. GILLMORE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL GILLMORE:
I understand an effort is being made by some worthy gentlemen to
reconstruct a legal State government in Florida. Florida is in your
Department, and it is not unlikely you may be there in person. I
have given Mr. Hay a commission of major, and sent him to you, with
some blank-books and other blanks, to aid in the reconstruction. He
will explain as to the manner of using the blanks, and also my
general views on the subject. It is desirable for all to co-operate,
but if irreconcilable differences of opinion shall arise, you are
master. I wish the thing done in the most speedy way, so that when
done it be within the range of the late proclamation on the subject.
The detail labor will, of course, have to be done by others; but I
will be greatly obliged if you will give it such general supervision
as you can find consistent with your more strictly military duties.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR BROUGH.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 15, 1864.
GOVERNOR BROUGH, Columbus, Ohio:
If 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.
TO CROSBY AND NICHOLS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 16, 1864.
MESSRS. CROSBY AND NICHOLS.
GENTLEMEN : The number for this month and year of the North American
Review was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of
course I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for
this, I venture to hope that the article entitled The President's
Policy" will be of value to the country. I fear I am not worthy of
all which is therein kindly said of me personally.
The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 252, I
could wish to be not exactly what it is. In what is there expressed,
the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a
theory that secession could absolve States or people from their
obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural
address; and it was because of my belief in the continuation of those
obligations that I was puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal
rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of
treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call
attention to this point.
Yours respectfully,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL P. STEELE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 20, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE:
Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election
may be held in that State, at which to elect a Governor; that it be
assumed at that election, and thenceforward, that the constitution
and laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in full force,
except that the constitution is so modified as to declare that there
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the
punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted; that the General Assembly may make such provisions for the
freed people as shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom,
and provide for their education, and which may yet be construed as a
temporary arrangement suitable to their condition as a laboring,
landless, and homeless class; that said election shall be held on the
28th of March, 1864, at all the usual places of the State, or all
such as voters may attend for that purpose, that the voters attending
at eight o'clock in the morning of said day may choose judges and
clerks of election for such purpose; that all persons qualified by
said constitution and laws, and taking the oath presented in the
President's proclamation of December 8, 1863, either before or at the
election, and none others, may be voters; that each set of judges and
clerks may make returns directly to you on or before the __th day of
_____next; that in all other respects said election may be conducted
according to said constitution and laws: that on receipt of said
returns, when five thousand four hundred and six votes shall have
been cast, you can receive said votes, and ascertain all who shall
thereby appear to have been elected; that on the ___th day of
_______next, all persons so appearing to have been elected, who shall
appear before you at Little Rock, and take the oath, to be by you
severally administered, to support the Constitution of the United
States and said modified Constitution of the State of Arkansas, may
be declared by you qualified and empowered to enter immediately upon
the duties of the offices to which they shall have been respectively
elected.
You will please order an election to take place on the 28th of March,
1864, and returns to be made in fifteen days thereafter.
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, JANUARY 20, 1864
GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In accordance with a letter addressed by the Secretary of State, with
my approval, to the Hon. Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana, that patriotic
and distinguished gentleman repaired to Europe and attended the
International Agricultural Exhibition, held at Hamburg last year, and
has since his return made a report to me, which, it is believed, can
not fail to be of general interest, and especially so to the
agricultural community. I transmit for your consideration copies of
the letters and report. While it appears by the letter that no
reimbursement of expenses or compensation was promised him, I submit
whether reasonable allowance should not be made him for them.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ORDER APPROVING TRADE REGULATIONS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 26, 1864.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States having seen and
considered the additional regulations of trade prescribed by the
Secretary of the Treasury, and numbered LI, LII, LIII, LIV, LV, and
LVI, do hereby approve the same; and I further declare and order that
all property brought in for sale, in good faith, and actually sold in
pursuance of said Regulations LII, LIII, LIV, LV, and LVI,
after the same shall have taken effect and come in force as provided
in Regulation LVI, shall be exempt from confiscation or forfeiture to
the United States.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL FOSTER.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., January 27, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL FOSTER, Knoxville, Tenn.:
Is a supposed correspondence between General Longstreet and yourself
about the amnesty proclamation, which is now in the newspapers,
genuine?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO E. STANLEY.
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 doubting that he is a
patriot, I should be glad for him to be with his old acquaintances
south of Virginia, but I am unable to suggest anything definite upon
the subject.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, January 28, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:
Some citizens of Missouri, vicinity of Kansas City, are apprehensive
that there is special danger of renewed troubles in that
neighborhood, and thence on the route toward New Mexico. I am not
impressed that the danger is very great or imminent, but I will thank
you to give Generals Rosecrans and Curtis, respectively, such orders
as may turn their attention thereto and prevent as far as possible
the apprehended disturbance.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SICKLES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 29, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SICKLES, New York:
Could you, without it being inconvenient or disagreeable to yourself,
immediately take a trip to Arkansas for me?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 31, 1864.
GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE, Frankfort, Ky.:
General Boyle's resignation is accepted, so that your Excellency can
give him the appointment proposed.
A. LINCOLN.
COLONIZATION EXPERIMENT
ORDER TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
February 1, 1864
HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
SIR:-You are directed to have a transport (either a steam or sailing
vessel, as may be deemed proper by the Quartermaster-General) sent to
the colored colony established by the United States at the island of
Vache, on the coast of San Domingo, to bring back to this country
such of the colonists there as desire to return. You will have the
transport furnished with suitable supplies for that purpose, and
detail an officer of the Quartermaster's Department, who, under
special instructions to be given, shall have charge of the business.
The colonists will be brought to Washington, unless otherwise
hereafter directed, and be employed and provided for at the camps for
colored persons around that city. Those only will be brought from
the island who desire to return, and their effects will be brought
with them.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ORDER FOR A DRAFT OF FIVE HUNDRED
THOUSAND MEN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
February 1, 1864.
Ordered, That a draft of five hundred thousand (500,000) men, to
serve for three years or during the war, be made on the tenth (10th)
day of March next, for the military service of the United States,
crediting and deducting therefrom so many as may have been enlisted
or drafted into the service prior to the first (1st) day of March,
and not before credited.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR YATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 3, 1864.
GOVERNOR YATES, Springfield, Ill.:
The United States Government lot in Springfield can be used for a
soldiers' home, with the understanding that the Government does not
incur any expense
in the case.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR MURPHY.
WASHINGTON, February 6, 1864.
GOVERNOR J. MURPHY:
My order to General Steele about an election was made in ignorance of
the action your convention had taken or would take. A subsequent
letter directs General Steele to aid you on your own plan, and not to
thwart or hinder you. Show this to him.
A. LINCOLN.
THE STORY OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
TOLD BY THE PRESIDENT,
TO THE ARTIST F. B. CARPENTER,
FEBRUARY 6, 1864.
It had got to be," said Mr. Lincoln, "midsummer, 1862. Things had
gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end
of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we
had about played our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose
the game. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation
policy; and without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the
Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the proclamation, and,
after much anxious thought, called a Cabinet meeting upon the
subject. This was the last of July or the first part of the month of
August, 1862. [The exact date was July 22, 1862.] . . . All
were present excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General, who was
absent at the opening of the discussion, but came in subsequently. I
said to the Cabinet 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. Mr. Lovejoy was in error
when he informed you that it excited no comment excepting on the part
of Secretary Seward. Various suggestions were offered. Secretary
Chase wished the language stronger in reference to the arming of the
blacks.
"Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the policy on the ground
that it would cost the administration the fall elections. Nothing,
however, was offered that I had not already fully anticipated and
settled in my mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. He said in
substance, 'Mr. President, I approve 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, instead
of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government.' His
idea," said the President, "was that it would be considered our last
shriek on the retreat. [This was his precise expression.] 'Now,'
continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir,
that you postpone 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.' "Mr. Lincoln
continued "The 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
thought 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 watching the process of events. Well, the next news
we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than
ever. Finally came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined
to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the
advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home
[three miles out of Washington]. Here I finished writing the second
draft of the preliminary proclamation; came up on Saturday; called
the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published on the
following Monday."
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SEDGWICK.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 11, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SEDGWICK, Army of Potomac:
Unless there be some strong reason to the contrary, please send
General Kilpatrick to us here, for two or three days.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO HORACE MAYNARD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 13, 1864.
HON. HORACE MAYNARD, Nashville, Tenn.:
Your letter of [the] second received. Of course Governor Johnson
will proceed with reorganization as the exigencies of the case appear
to him to require. I do not apprehend he will think it necessary to
deviate from my views to any ruinous extent. On one hasty reading I
see no such deviation in his program, which you send.
A. LINCOLN.
TO W. M. FISHBACK.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1864.
WILLIAM M. FISHBACK, Little Rock, Arkansas:
When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas I did it in ignorance
that your convention was doing the same work. Since I learned the
latter fact I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to them.
I have sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four
despatches to you and others, saying that he, General Steele, must be
master, but that it will probably be best for him to merely help the
convention on its own plan. Some single mind must be master, else
there will be no agreement in anything, and General Steele,
commanding the military and being on the ground, is the best man to
be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing me to postpone
the election to a later day than either that fixed by the convention
or by me. This discord must be silenced.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL STEELE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 17, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Arkansas:
The day fixed by the convention for the election is probably the
best, but you on the ground, and in consultation with gentlemen
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.
TELEGRAM TO A. ROBINSON.
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 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.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING BLOCKADE,
FEBRUARY 18, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
A Proclamation.
Whereas, by my proclamation of the nineteenth of April, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one, the ports of the States of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Texas were, for reasons therein set forth, placed under blockade; and
whereas, the port of Brownsville, in the district of Brazos Santiago,
in the State of Texas, 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 States, 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 Brownsville shall so far cease and determine from
and after this date, that commercial intercourse with said port,
except as to persons, things, and information hereinafter specified,
may, from this date, be carried on, subject to the laws of the United
States, to the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury, and, until the rebellion shall have been suppressed, to
such orders as may be promulgated by the general commanding the
department, or by an officer duly authorized by him and commanding at
said port. This proclamation does not authorize or allow the
shipment or conveyance of persons in, or intending to enter, the
service of the insurgents, or of things or information intended for
their use, or for their aid or comfort, nor, except upon the
permission of the Secretary of War, or of some officer duly
authorized by him, of the following prohibited articles, namely:
cannon, mortars, firearms, pistols, bombs, grenades, powder,
saltpeter, sulphur, balls, bullets, pikes, swords, boarding-caps
(always excepting the quantity of the said articles which may be
necessary for the defense of the ship and those who compose the
crew), saddles, bridles, cartridge-bag material, percussion and other
caps, clothing adapted for uniforms; sail-cloth of all kinds, hemp
and cordage, intoxicating drinks other than beer and light native
wines.
To vessels clearing from foreign ports and destined to the port of
Brownsville, opened by this proclamation, licenses will be granted by
consuls of the United States upon satisfactory evidence that the
vessel so licensed will convey no persons, property, or information
excepted or prohibited above, either to or from the said port; which
licenses shall be exhibited to the collector of said port immediately
on arrival, and, if required, to any officer in charge of the
blockade, and on leaving said port every vessel will be required to
have a clearance from the collector of the customs, according to law,
showing no violation of the conditions of the license. Any violations
of said conditions will involve the forfeiture and condemnation of
the vessel and cargo, and the exclusion of all parties concerned from
any further privilege of entering the United States during the war
for any purpose whatever.
In all respects, except as herein specified, the existing blockade
remains in full force and effect as hitherto established and
maintained, nor is it relaxed by this proclamation except in regard
to the port to which relaxation is or has been expressly applied.
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 eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United
States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO COMMANDER BLAKE.
EXECUTIVE, MANSION, February 19, 1864.
COMMANDER GEORGE S. BLAKE,
Commandant Naval Academy, Newport, R. I.:
I desire the case of Midshipman C. Lyon re-examined and if not
clearly inconsistent I shall be much obliged to have the
recommendation changed.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM FROM WARREN JORDAN.
NASHVILLE, February 20, 1864.
HON. W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D.C.:
In county and State elections, must citizens of Tennessee take the
oath prescribed by Governor Johnson, or will the President's oath of
amnesty entitle them to vote? I have been appointed to hold the March
election in Cheatham County, and wish to act understandingly.
WARREN JORDAN.
WASHINGTON, February 20, 1864.
WARREN JORDAN, NASHVILLE:
In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan;
otherwise you will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his
plan.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.
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 omission that
it was not done before. The other questions in your despatch I am not
yet prepared to answer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL STEELE.
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 i4th of March as they agreed.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL F. STEELE.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, February 25, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Arkansas:
General Sickles is not going to Arkansas. He probably will make a
tour down the Mississippi and home by the gulf and ocean, but he will
not meddle in your affairs.
At one time I did intend to have him call on you and explain more
fully than I could do by letter or telegraph, so as to avoid a
difficulty coming of my having made a plan here, while the convention
made one there, for reorganizing Arkansas; but even his doing that
has been given up for more than two weeks. Please show this to
Governor Murphy to save me telegraphing him.
A. LINCOLN.
DESERTERS DEATH SENTENCES REMITTED
GENERAL ORDERS, NO.76.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, February 26, 1864.
Sentence of Deserters.
The President directs that the sentences of all deserters who have
been condemned by court-martial to death, and that have not been
otherwise acted upon by him, be mitigated to imprisonment during the
war at the Dry Tortugas, Florida, where they will be sent under
suitable guards by orders from army commanders.
The commanding generals, who have power to act on proceedings of
courts-martial in such cases, are authorized in special cases to
restore to duty deserters under sentence, when in their judgment the
service will be thereby benefited.
Copies of all orders issued under the foregoing instructions will be
immediately forwarded to the Adjutant-General and to the Judge-
Advocate General.
By order of the Secretary of War:
B. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General
FEMALE SPY
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
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. Bulky. Of course detain her, if the evidence of her being a spy
is strong against her.
A. LINCOLN.
TO W. JAYNE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 26, 1864.
HON. W. JAYNE.
DEAR SIR--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.
TO E. H. EAST.
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1864.
HON. E. H: EAST, Secretary of State, Nashville, Tennessee
Your telegram of the twenty-sixth instant asking for a copy of my
despatch to Warren Jordan, Esq., at Nashville Press office, has just
been referred to me by Governor Johnson. In my reply to Mr. Jordan,
which was brief and hurried, I intended to say that in the county and
State elections of Tennessee, the oath prescribed in the proclamation
of Governor Johnson on the twenty-sixth of January, 1864, ordering an
election in Tennessee on the first Saturday in March next, is
entirely satisfactory to me as a test of loyalty of all persons
proposing or offering to vote in said elections; and coming from him
would better be observed and followed. There is no conflict between
the oath of amnesty in my proclamation of eighth December, 1863, and
that prescribed by Governor Johnson in his proclamation of the
twenty-sixth ultimo.
No person who has taken the oath of amnesty of eighth December, 1863,
and obtained a pardon thereby, and who intends to observe the same in
good faith, should have any objection to taking that prescribed by
Governor Johnson as a test of loyalty.
I have seen and examined Governor Johnson's proclamation, and am
entirely satisfied with his plan, which is to restore the State
government and place it under the control of citizens truly loyal to
the Government of the United States.
A. LINCOLN.
Please send above to Governor Johnson.
A. L.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1864
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.
SIR:--You ask some instructions from me in relation to the Report of
Special Commission constituted by an order of the War Department,
dated December 5, 1863, "to revise the enrolment and quotas of the
City and State of New York, and report whether there be any, and
what, errors or irregularities therein, and what corrections, if any,
should be made."
In the correspondence between the Governor of New York and myself
last summer, I understood him to complain that the enrolments in
several of the districts of that State had been neither accurately
nor honestly made; and in view of this, I, for the draft then
immediately ensuing, ordered an arbitrary reduction of the quotas in
several of the districts wherein they seemed too large, and said:
"After this drawing, these four districts, and also the seventeenth
and twenty-ninth, shall be carefully re-enrolled, and, if you please,
agents of yours may witness every step of the process." In a
subsequent letter I believe some additional districts were put into
the list of those to be re-enrolled. My idea was to do the work over
according to the law, in presence of the complaining party, and
thereby to correct anything which might be found amiss. The
commission, whose work I am considering, seem to have proceeded upon
a totally different idea. Not going forth to find men at all, they
have proceeded altogether upon paper examinations and mental
processes. One of their conclusions, as I understand, is that, as
the law stands, and attempting to follow it, the enrolling officers
could not have made the enrolments much more accurately than they
did. The report on this point might be useful to Congress. The
commission conclude that the quotas for the draft should be based
upon entire population, and they proceed upon this basis to give a
table for the State of New York, in which some districts are reduced
and some increased. For the now ensuing draft, let the quotas stand
as made by the enrolling officers, in the districts wherein this
table requires them to be increased; and let them be reduced
according to the table in the others: this to be no precedent for
subsequent action. But, as I think this report may, on full
consideration, be shown to have much that is valuable in it, I
suggest that such consideration be given it, and that it be
especially considered whether its suggestions can be conformed to
without an alteration of the law.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL THOMAS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, February 28, 1864.
GENERAL L. THOMAS, Louisville, Kentucky:
I see your despatch of yesterday to the Secretary of War.
I wish you would go to the Mississippi River at once, and take hold
of and be master in the contraband and leasing business. You
understand it better than any other man does. Mr. Miller's system
doubtless is well intended, but from what I hear I fear that, if
persisted in, it would fall dead within its own entangling details.
Go there and be the judge. A Mr. Lewis will probably follow you with
something from me on this subject, but do not wait for him. Nor is
this to induce you to violate or neglect any military order from the
General-in-Chief or Secretary of War.
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY CHASE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 29, 1864.
HON. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
MY DEAR SIR:--I would have taken time to answer yours of the 22d
inst. sooner, only that I did not suppose any evil could result from
the delay, especially as, by a note, I promptly acknowledged the
receipt of yours, and promised a fuller answer. Now, on
consideration I find there is really very little to say. 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 several weeks. I
have known just as little a these things as my friends have allowed
me to know. They bring the documents 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.
I fully concur with you that neither of us can justly be held
responsible for what our respective friends may do without our
instigation or countenance and I assure you, as you have assured me,
that no assault has been made upon you by my instigation, or with my
countenance.
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.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL THOMAS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, March 1,1864.
GENERAL L. THOMAS:
This introduces Mr. Lewis, mentioned in my despatch sent you at
Louisville some days ago. I have but little personal acquaintance
with him; but he has the confidence of several members of Congress
here who seem to know him well. He hopes to be useful, without
charge to the government, in facilitating the introduction of the
free-labor system on the Mississippi plantations. He is acquainted
with, and has access to, many of the planters who wish to adopt the
system. He will show you two letters of mine on this subject, one
somewhat General, and the other relating to named persons; they are
not different in principle. He will also show you some suggestions
coming from some of the planters themselves. I desire that all I
promise in these letters, so far as practicable, may be in good faith
carried out, and that suggestions from the planters may be heard and
adopted, so far as they may not contravene the principles stated, nor
justice, nor fairness, to laborers. I do not herein intend to
overrule your own mature judgment on any point.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL STEELE.
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 William M.
Randolph also received. Let him take the oath of December 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 4,1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Admiral Dahlgren 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.
ORDER IN REGARD TO THE EXPORTATION OF TOBACCO BELONGING TO THE FRENCH
GOVERNMENT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 7, 1864.
Whereas, by an Executive order of the 10th of November last
permission was given to export certain tobacco belonging to the
French government from insurgent territory, which tobacco was
supposed to have been purchased and paid for prior to the 4th day of
March, 1861; but whereas it was subsequently ascertained that a part
at least of the said tobacco had been purchased subsequently to that
date, which fact made it necessary to suspend the carrying into
effect of the said order; but whereas, pursuant to mutual
explanations, a satisfactory understanding upon the subject has now
been reached, it is directed that the order aforesaid may be carried
into effect, it being understood that the quantity of French tobacco
so to be exported shall not exceed seven thousand hogsheads, and that
it is the same tobacco respecting the exportation of which
application Was originally made by the French government.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO UNITED STATES MARSHAL, LOUISVILLE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 7, 1864.
U.S. MARSHAL, Louisville, Ky.:
Until further order suspend sale of property and further proceedings
in cases of the United States against Dr. John B. English, and S. S.
English, qt 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
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 9, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of Potomac:
New York City votes ninety-five hundred majority for allowing
soldiers to vote, and the rest of the State nearly all on the same
side. Tell the soldiers.
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO SENATE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 9, 1864.
TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant,
respecting the points of commencement of the Union Pacific Railroad,
on the one hundredth degree of west longitude, and of the branch
road, from the western boundary of Iowa to the said one hundredth
degree of longitude, I transmit the accompanying report from the
Secretary of the Interior, containing the information called for.
I deem it proper to add that on the 17th day of November last an
Executive order was made upon this subject and delivered to the vice-
president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which fixed the
point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa from which the
company should construct their branch road to the one hundredth
degree of west longitude, and declared it to be within the limits of
the township in Iowa opposite the town of Omaha, in Nebraska. Since
then the company has represented to me that upon actual surveys made
it has determined upon the precise point of departure of their said
branch road from the Missouri River, and located the same as
described in the accompanying report of the Secretary of the
Interior, which point is within the limits designated in the order of
November last; and inasmuch as that order is not of record in any of
the Executive Departments, and the company having desired a more
definite one, I have made the order of which a copy is herewith, and
caused the same to be filed in the Department of the Interior.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ADDRESS TO GENERAL GRANT,
MARCH 9, 1864.
GENERAL GRANT:--The expression of the nation's approbation of what
you have already done, and its reliance on you for what remains to do
in the existing great struggle, is now presented with this commission
constituting you Lieutenant-General of the Army of the United States.
With this high honor, devolves on you an additional responsibility.
As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it win sustain you.
I scarcely need add, that with what I here speak for the country,
goes my own hearty personal concurrence.
GENERAL GRANT'S REPLY.
Mr. PRESIDENT:--I accept this commission, with gratitude for the high
honor conferred.
With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields
for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to
disappoint your expectations.
I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me,
and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies; and
above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations
and men.
ORDER ASSIGNING U. S. GRANT TO THE COMMAND OF
THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 10, 1864.
Under the authority of an act of Congress to revive the grade of
lieutenant-General in the United States Army, approved February 29,
1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United States Army, is
assigned to the command of the Armies of the United States.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR MURPHY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 12, 1864.
GOVERNOR MURPHY, Little Rock, Arkansas:
I am not appointing officers for Arkansas now, and I will try to
remember your request. Do your. best to get out the largest vote
possible, and of course as much of it as possible on the right side.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL HAHN.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 13, 1864
HON. MICHAEL HAHN.
MY DEAR SIR:--I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history
as the first free-state governor of Louisiana. Now, you are about to
have a convention, which among other things will probably define the
elective franchise. I barely suggest for your private consideration,
whether some of the colored people may not be let in,--as, for
instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought
gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying
time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of
freedom. But this is only a suggestion,--not to the public, but to
you alone.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
CALL FOR TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, MARCH 14, 1864.
In order to supply the force required to be drafted for the Navy and
to provide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in
addition to the five hundred thousand men called for February 1,
1864, a call is hereby made and a draft ordered for two hundred
thousand men for the military service (Army, Navy, and Marine Corps)
of the United States.
The proportional quotas for the different wards, towns, townships,
precincts, or election districts, or counties, will be made known
through the Provost Marshal-General's Bureau, and account will be
taken of the credits and deficiencies on former quotas.
The 15th day of April, 1864, is designated as the time up to which
the numbers required from each ward of a city, town, etc., may be
raised by voluntary enlistment, and drafts will be made in each ward
of a city, town, etc., which shall not have filled the quota assigned
to it within the time designated for the number required to fill said
quotas. The drafts will be commenced as soon after the 15th of April
as practicable.
The Government bounties as now paid continue until April I, 1864, at
which time the additional bounties cease. On and after that date
one hundred dollars bounty only will be paid, as provided by the act
approved July 22, 1861.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 15, 1864
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, Nashville, Tenn.:
General McPherson having been assigned to the command of a
department, could not General Frank Blair, without difficulty or
detriment to the service, be assigned to command the Corps he
commanded a while last autumn?
A. LINCOLN.
PASS FOR GENERAL D. E. SICKLES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 15, 1864.
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Major-General Sickles is making a tour for me from here by way of
Cairo, New Orleans, and returning by the gulf, and ocean, and all
land and naval officers and, employees are directed to furnish
reasonable transportation and other reasonable facilities to himself
and personal staff not inconsistent with the public service.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ORDER TO GOVERNOR HAHN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 15, 1864.
HIS EXCELLENCY MICHAEL HAHN, Governor of Louisiana
Until further order, you are hereby invested with the powers
exercised hitherto by the military governor of Louisiana.
Yours truly,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
REMARKS AT A FAIR IN THE PATENT OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, MARCH 16, 1864.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
I appear to say but a word. This extraordinary war in which we are
engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people but the most heavily
upon the soldier. For it has been said, "All that a man hath will he
give for his life;" and while all contribute of their substance, the
soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his
country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier.
In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested
themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and among
these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these
fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And
the chief agents of these fairs are the women of America.
I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy: I have never
studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say, that
if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of
the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it
would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will
close by saying, God bless the women of America.
REPLY TO A COMMITTEE FROM
THE WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK,
MARCH 21, 1864.
GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE:
The honorary membership in your association, as generously tendered,
is gratefully accepted.
You comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing rebellion
means more and tends to do more than the perpetuation of African
slavery--that it is, in fact, a war upon the rights of all working
people. Partly to show that this view has not escaped my attention,
and partly that I cannot better express myself, I read a passage from
the message to Congress in December, 1861:
"It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular government,
the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in
the most grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as
in the General tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find
the abridgment of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to
the people of all right to participate in the selection of public
officers, except the legislature, boldly advocated, with labored
argument to prove that large control of the people in government is
the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes
hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my
present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising
a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.
"It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a General argument should
be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point,
with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask
a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal
footing, if not above labor, in the structure of government. It is
assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that
nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the
use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered
whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce
them to work by their own consent or buy them, and drive them to it
without their consent. Having proceeded so it is naturally concluded
that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call slaves.
And, further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer, is
fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation
between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as
a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer.
Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are
groundless.
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the
fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first
existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the
higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of
protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and
probably always will be, a relation between capital and labor,
producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole
labor of a community exists within that relation. A few men own
capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their
capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority
belong to neither class--neither work for others, nor have others
working for them. In most of the Southern States, a majority of the
whole people, of all colors, are neither slaves nor masters; while in
the Northern, a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men
with their families, wives, sons, and daughters--work for themselves,
on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole
product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one
hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not
forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own
labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands, and
also buy or hire others to labor for them, but this is only a mixed
and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the
existence of this mixed class.
Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such
thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for
life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years
back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent penniless
beginner in the world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with
which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own
account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to
help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system which
opens the way to all--gives hope to all, and consequent energy and
progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are
more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty--none
less inclined to touch or take aught which they have not honestly
earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power they
already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to
close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new
disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be
lost."
The views then expressed remain unchanged, nor have I much to add.
None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the
working people. Let them beware of prejudices, working division and
hostility among themselves. The most notable feature of a
disturbance in your city last summer was the hanging of some working
people by other working people. It should never be so. The
strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation,
should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and
tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon property,
or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor; property
is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be
rich shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just
encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is
houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor
diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that
his own shall be safe from violence when built.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
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 Illinois
Volunteers, now in Libby Prison, and I shall be glad if you can
effect it.
A. LINCOLN.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL C. SCHURZ.
( Private.)
WASHINGTON, March 13, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHURZ.
MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of February 29 reached me only four days ago; but
the delay was of little consequence, because I found, on feeling
around, I could not invite you here without a difficulty which at
least would be unpleasant, and perhaps would be detrimental to the
public service. Allow me to suggest that if you wish to remain in
the military service, it is very dangerous for you to get temporarily
out of it; because, with a major-general once out, it is next to
impossible for even the President to get him in again. With my
appreciation of your ability and correct principle, of course I would
be very glad to have your service for the country in the approaching
political canvass; but I fear we cannot properly have it without
separating you from the military.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION ABOUT AMNESTY,
MARCH 26, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, it has become necessary to define the cases in which
insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of the Proclamation of
the President of the United States, which was made on the 8th day of
December, 1863, and the manner in which they shall proceed to avail
themselves of these benefits; and whereas the objects of that
Proclamation were to suppress the insurrection and to restore the
authority of the United States; and whereas the amnesty therein
proposed by the President was offered with reference to these objects
alone:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do hereby proclaim and declare that the said Proclamation does not
apply to the cases of persons who, at the time when they seek to
obtain the benefits thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed,
are in military, naval, or civil confinement or custody, or under
bonds, or on parole of the civil, military, or naval authorities, or
agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or persons detained
for offences of any kind, either before or after conviction; and that
on the contrary it does apply only to those persons who, being yet at
large, and free from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall
voluntarily come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of
restoring peace, and establishing the national authority.
Persons excluded from the amnesty offered in the said Proclamation
may apply to the President for clemency, like all other offenders,
and their application will receive due consideration.
I do further declare and proclaim that the oath presented in the
aforesaid proclamation of the 8th of December, 1863, may be taken and
subscribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or
naval, in the service of the United States, or any civil or military
officer of a State or Territory not in insurrection, who, by the laws
thereof, may be qualified for administering oaths.
All officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized to give
certificates thereof to the persons respectively by whom they are
made, and such officers are hereby required to transmit the original
records of such oaths, at as early a day as may be convenient, to the
Department of State, where they will be deposited, and remain in the
archives of the Government.
The Secretary of State will keep a registry thereof, and will, on
application, in proper cases, issue certificates of such records in
the customary form of official certificates.
In testimony 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.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 28, 1864.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.
MY DEAR SIR:--The Governor of Kentucky is here, and desires to have
the following points definitely fixed:
First. That the quotas of troops furnished, and to be furnished, by
Kentucky may be adjusted upon the basis as actually reduced by able-
bodied men of hers having gone into the rebel service; and that she
be required to furnish no more than her just quotas upon fair
adjustment upon such basis.
Second. To whatever extent the enlistment and drafting, one or both,
of colored troops may be found necessary within the State, it may be
conducted within the law of Congress; and, so far as practicable,
free from collateral embarrassments, disorders, and provocations.
I think these requests of the Governor are reasonable; and I shall be
obliged if you will give him a full hearing, and do the best you can
to effect these objects.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL G. G. MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 29, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE.
MY DEAR SIR:--Your letter to Colonel Townsend, inclosing a slip from
the "Herald," and asking a court of inquiry, has been laid before me
by the Secretary of War, with the request that I would consider it.
It is quite natural that you should feel some sensibility on the
subject; yet I am not impressed, nor do I think the country is
impressed, with the belief that your honor demands, or the public
interest demands, such an inquiry. The country knows that at all
events you have done good service; and I believe it agrees with me
that it is much better for you to be engaged in trying to do more,
than to be diverted, as you necessarily would be, by a court of
inquiry.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 29,1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, Army of the Potomac:
Captain Kinney, of whom I spoke to you as desiring to go on your
staff, is now in your camp, in company with Mrs. Senator Dixon. Mrs.
Grant and I, and some others, agreed last night that I should, by
this despatch, kindly call your attention to Captain Kinney.
A. LINCOLN.
TO A. G. HODGES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864.
A. G. HODGES, ESQ., Frankfort, Kentucky:
MY DEAR SIR:--You ask me to put in writing the substance of what I
verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette
and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:
"I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is
wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I
have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an
unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.
It was in the oath I took that I would to the best of my ability
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my
view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in
using the power. I understood, too, that in ordinary civil
administration this oath even forbade me to practically indulge my
primary abstract judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had
publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver
that, to this day, I have done no official act in mere deference to
my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. I did understand,
however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the best of my
ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every
indispensable means, that government, that nation, of which that
Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation
and yet preserve the Constitution? By General law, life and limb must
be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but
a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures,
otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming
indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution, through the
preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground,
and now avow it. I could not feel that to the best of my ability I
had even tried to preserve the Constitution, if, to save slavery, or
any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country,
and Constitution, altogether. When, early in the war, General
Fremont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did
not then think it an indispensable necessity. When, a little later,
General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the
blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable
necessity. When, still later, General Hunter attempted military
emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the
indispensable necessity had come. When, in March, and May, and July,
1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border States to
favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable
necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come,
unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition, and I
was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either
surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying
strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In
choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss, but of this I was
not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss
by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment,
none in our white military force, no loss by it any how, or anywhere.
On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite one hundred and thirty
thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts,
about which, as facts, there can be no caviling. We have the men;
and we could not have had them without the measure.
"And now let any Union man who complains of the measure test himself
by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by
force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred
and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where
they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his
case so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth."
I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling
this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to
have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have
controlled me. Now, 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
new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO MRS. HORACE MANN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
April 5, 1864.
MRS HORACE MANN:
MADAM:--The petition of persons under eighteen, praying that I would
free all slave children, and the heading of which petition it appears
you wrote, was handed me a few days since by Senator Sumner. Please
tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so
full of just and generous sympathy, and that, while I have not the
power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has,
and that, as it seems, he wills to do it.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 12, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
I am pressed to get from Libby, by special exchange, Jacob C.
Hagenbuek, first lieutenant, Company H, Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania
Volunteers. Please do it if you can without detriment or
embarrassment.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 17, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of the 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.
LECTURE ON LIBERTY
ADDRESS AT SANITARY FAIR IN BALTIMORE,
APRIL 18, 1864.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we
cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many
people assembled here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the
Union, it occurs at once that three years ago the same soldiers could
not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till now
is both great and gratifying. Blessings on the brave men who have
wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for
it!
But Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore. The
change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. When the
war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it
would last till now. Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere
to-day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be
much affected by the war. But here we are; the war has not ended,
and slavery has been much affected how much needs not now to be
recounted. So true is it that man proposes and God disposes.
But we can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it;
and seeing it, in this case, we feel more hopeful and confident for
the future.
The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and
the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all
declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean
the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to
do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while
with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please
with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two,
not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name,
liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the
respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names--
liberty and tyranny.
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the
sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces
him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the
sheep was a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not
agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same
difference prevails to-day among us human creatures, even in the
North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold
the process by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke
of bondage hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by
others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the
people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty, and
thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf's dictionary
has been repudiated.
It is not very becoming for one in my position to make speeches at
length; but there is another subject upon which I feel that I ought
to say a word. A painful rumor, true, I fear, has reached us, of the
massacre, by the rebel forces at Fort Pillow, in the west end of
Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, of some three hundred colored
soldiers and white officers [I believe it latter turned out to be
500], who had just been overpowered by their assailants [numbering
5000]. There seems to be some anxiety in the public mind whether the
Government is doing its duty to the colored soldier, and to the
service, at this point. At the beginning of the war, and for some
time, the use of colored troops was not contemplated; and how the
change of purpose was wrought I will not now take time to explain.
Upon a clear conviction of duty I resolved to turn that element of
strength to account; and I am responsible for it to the American
people, to the Christian world, to history, and in my final account
to God. Having determined to use the negro as a soldier, there is no
way but to give him all the protection given to any other soldier.
The difficulty is not in stating the principle, but in practically
applying it. It is a mistake to suppose the Government is
indifferent to this matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard
to it. We do not to-day know that a colored soldier, or white
officer commanding colored soldiers, has been massacred by the rebels
when made a prisoner. We fear it, we believe it, I may say,--but we
do not know it. To take the life of one of their prisoners on the
assumption that they murder ours, when it is short of certainty that
they do murder ours, might be too serious, too cruel, a mistake. We
are having the Fort Pillow affair thoroughly investigated; and such
investigation will probably show conclusively how the truth is. If
after all that has been said it shall turn out that there has been no
massacre at Fort Pillow, it will be almost safe to say there has been
none, and will be none, elsewhere. If there has been the massacre of
three hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, it will
be conclusively proved; and being so proved, the retribution shall as
surely come. It will be matter of grave consideration in what exact
course to apply the retribution; but in the supposed case it must
come.
[There was a massacre of a black company and their officers at Fort
Pillow--they were prisoners who later on, the day of their capture,
were ordered executed. The black soldiers were tied alive to
individual planks--then man and plank were cobbled up like cord wood
and burned. The white officers were shot. D.W.]
TO CALVIN TRUESDALE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 20, 1864.
CALVIN TRUESDALE, ESQ., Postmaster, Rock Island, Ill.:
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.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER COMMANDING AT FORT WARREN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 20, 1864.
OFFICER IN MILITARY COMMAND,
Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Mass.:
If there is a man by the name of Charles Carpenter, under sentence 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.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER COMMANDING AT FORT WARREN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 21,1864.
OFFICER IN 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 never existed.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL DIX.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 21, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL Dix, New York:
Yesterday I was induced to telegraph the officer in military command
at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, suspending the
execution of Charles Carpenter, to be executed tomorrow for
desertion. Just now, on reaching your order in the case, I
telegraphed the same officer withdrawing the suspension, and leave
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
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.
INDORSEMENT ON OFFER OF TROOPS, APRIL 23, 1864.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
1. The Governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin
offer to the President infantry troops for the approaching campaign
as follows: Ohio, thirty thousand; Indiana, twenty thousand;
Illinois, twenty thousand; Iowa, ten thousand; Wisconsin, five
thousand.
2. The term of service to be one hundred days, reckoned from the date
of muster into the service of the United States, unless sooner
discharged.
3. The troops to be mustered into the service of the United States by
regiments, when the regiments are filled up, according to
regulations, to the minimum strength--the regiments to be organized
according to the regulations of the War Department. The whole number
to be furnished within twenty days from date of notice of the
acceptance of this proposition.
4. The troops to be clothed, armed, equipped, subsisted; transported,
and paid as other United States infantry volunteers, and to serve in
fortifications,--or wherever their services may be required, within
or without their respective States.
5. No bounty to be paid the troops, nor the service charged or
credited on any draft.
6. The draft for three years' service to go on in any State or
district where the quota is not filled up; but if any officer or
soldier in this special service should be drafted, he shall be
credited for the service rendered.
JOHN BROUGH, Governor of Ohio.
O. P. MORTON, Governor of Indiana.
RICHARD PATES, Governor of Illinois.
WILLIAM M. STONE, Governor of Iowa.
JAMES T. LEWIS, Governor of Wisconsin
(Indorsement.)
April 23, 1864.
The foregoing proposition of the governors is accepted, and the
Secretary of War is directed to carry it into execution.
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 23, 1864.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR:
MY DEAR SIR:--According to our understanding with Major-General Frank
P. Blair at the time he took his seat in Congress last winter, he now
asks to withdraw his resignation as Major-General, then tendered, and
be sent to the field. Let this be done. Let the order sending him
be such as shown me to-day by the Adjutant-General, only dropping
from it the names of Maguire and Tompkins.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO JOHN WILLIAMS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, April 25, 1864.
JOHN WILLIAMS, Springfield, Ill.:
Yours of the 15th is just received. Thanks for your kind
remembrance. 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL THOMAS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., April 26, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS, Chattanooga, Term.:
Suspend execution of death sentence of young Perry, of Wisconsin,
condemned for sleeping on his post, till further orders, and forward
record for examination.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR MURPHY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 27, 1864.
GOVERNOR MURPHY, Little Rock, Arkansas:
I am much gratified to learn that you got out so large a vote, so
nearly all the right way, at the late election; and not less so that
your State government including the legislature, is organized and in
good working order. Whatever I can I will do to protect you;
meanwhile you must do your utmost to protect yourselves. Present my
greeting to all.
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, APRIL 28, 1864.
TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
I have the honor to transmit herewith an address to the President of
the United States, and through him to both Houses of Congress, on the
condition and wants of the people of east Tennessee, and asking their
attention to the necessity of some action on the part of the
Government for their relief, and which address is presented by a
committee of an organization called "The East Tennessee Relief
Association."
Deeply commiserating the condition of these most loyal and suffering
people, I am unprepared to make any specific recommendation for their
relief. The military is doing and will continue to do the best for
them within its power. Their address represents that the
construction of direct railroad communication between Knoxville and
Cincinnati by way of central Kentucky would be of great consequence
in the present emergency. It may be remembered that in the annual
message of December, 1861, such railroad construction was
recommended. I now add that, with the hearty concurrence of
Congress, I would yet be pleased to construct a road, both for the
relief of these people and for its continuing military importance.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
APRIL 28, 1864.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In obedience to the resolution of your honorable body, a copy of
which is herewith returned, I have the honor to make the following
brief statement, which is believed to contain the information sought:
Prior to and at the meeting of the present Congress, Robert C.
Schenck, of Ohio, and Frank P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, members elect
thereto, by and with the consent of the Senate held commissions from
the Executive as major-generals in the volunteer army. General
Schenck tendered the resignation of his said commission, and took his
seat in the House of Representatives, at the assembling thereof, upon
the distinct verbal understanding with the Secretary of War and the
Executive that he might, at any time during the session, at his own
pleasure, withdraw said resignation and return to the field.
General Blair was, by temporary assignment of General Sherman, in
command of a corps through the battles in front of Chattanooga, and
in the march to the relief of Knoxville, which occurred in the latter
days of November and early days of December last, and of course was
not present at the assembling of Congress. When he subsequently
arrived here, he sought, and was allowed by the Secretary of War and
the Executive, the same conditions and promise as allowed and made to
General Schenck.
General Schenck has not applied to withdraw his resignation; but when
General Grant was made Lieutenant-General, producing some change of
commanders, General Blair sought to be assigned to the command of a
corps. This was made known to Generals Grant and Sherman, and
assented to by them, and the particular corps for him designated.
This was all arranged and understood, as now remembered, so much as a
month ago; but the formal withdrawal of General Blair's resignation,
and making the order assigning him to the command of the corps, were
not consummated at the War Department until last week, perhaps on the
23d of April instant. As a summary of the whole, it may be stated
that General Blair holds no military commission or appointment other
than as herein stated, and that it is believed he is now acting as
major-General upon the assumed validity of the commission herein
stated, in connection with the facts herein stated, and not
otherwise. There are some letters, notes, telegrams, orders,
entries, and perhaps other documents in connection with this subject,
which it is believed would throw no additional light upon it, but
which will be cheerfully furnished if desired.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, April 30, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Not expecting to see you before the spring campaign opens, I wish to
express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up
to this time, so far as I understand it.
The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You
are vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to
obtrude any restraints or constraints upon you. While I am very
anxious that any great disaster or capture of our men in great number
shall be avoided, I know that these points are less likely to escape
your attention than they would be mine. If there be anything wanting
which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it.
And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 2, 1864.
TO THE HONORABLE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In compliance with the request contained in your resolution of the
29th ultimo, a copy of which resolution is herewith returned, I have
the honor to transmit the following:
[Correspondence and orders relating to the resignation and
reinstatement of Major-General Frank P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri.]
The foregoing constitutes all sought by the resolution so far as is
remembered or has been found upon diligent search.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 4, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
I have an imploring appeal in behalf of the citizens who say your
Order No.8 will compel them to go north of Nashville. This is in no
sense an order, nor is it even a request that you will do anything
which in the least shall be a drawback upon your military operations,
but anything you can do consistently with those operations for those
suffering people I shall be glad of.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 5, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Commanding, 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.
TO MRS. S. B. McCONKEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May 9, 1864.
MRS. SARAH B. McCONKEY, 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 anxious 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 you will join me in the hope for their further success;
while yourself, and other good mothers, wives, sisters, and
daughters, do all you and they can, to relieve and comfort the
gallant soldiers who compose them.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
RECOMMENDATION OF THANKSGIVING.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May 9, 1864
TO THE FRIENDS OF UNION AND LIBERTY:
Enough is known of army operations, within the last five days, to
claim our special gratitude to God. While what remains undone
demands our most sincere prayers to and reliance upon Him (without
whom all effort is vain), I recommend that all patriots at their
homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be,
unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
MAY 9, 1864.
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of
this call, though I apprehend it is owing more to the good news
received to-day from the Army, than to a desire to see me. I am
indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with
the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed
them, and especially to our Maker. Our commanders are following up
their victories resolutely and successfully. I think, without
knowing the particulars of the plans of General Grant, that what has
been accomplished is of more importance than at first appears. I
believe, I know (and am especially grateful to know) that General
Grant has not been jostled in his purposes, that he has made all his
points, and to-day he is on his line as he purposed before he moved
his armies. I will volunteer to say that I am very glad at what has
happened, but there is a great deal still to be done. While we are
grateful to all the brave men and officers for the events of the past
few days, we should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty God, who
gives us victory.
There is enough yet before us requiring all loyal men and patriots to
perform their share of the labor and follow the example of the modest
General at the head of our armies, and sink all personal
consideration for the sake of the country. I commend you to keep
yourselves in the same tranquil mood that is characteristic of that
brave and loyal man. I have said more than I expected when I came
before you. Repeating my thanks for this call, I bid you good-bye.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL LEW WALLACE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL WALLACE, Baltimore:
Please tell me what is the trouble with Dr. Hawks. Also please ask
Bishop Whittington to give me his view of the case.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 11, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, St. Louis, Missouri:
Complaints are coming to me of disturbances in Canoll, Platte, and
Buchanan counties. Please ascertain the truth, correct what is
found wrong, and telegraph me.
A. LINCOLN.
TO P. B. LOOMIS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May 12, 1864
F. B. LOOMIS, ESQ.
MY DEAR SIR:--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
communication of the 28th April, in which you offer to replace the
present garrison at Port Trumbull with volunteers, which you propose
to raise at your own expense. While it seems inexpedient at this
time to accept this proposition on account of the special duties now
devolving upon the garrison mentioned, I cannot
pass unnoticed such a meritorious instance of individual patriotism.
Permit me, for the Government, to express my cordial thanks to you
for this generous and public-spirited offer, which is worthy of note
among the many called forth in these times of national trial.
I am very truly, your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A METHODIST DELEGATION, MAY 14, 1864.
GENTLEMEN:-In response to your address, allow me to attest the
accuracy of its historical statements, indorse the sentiments it
expresses, and thank you in the nation's name for the sure promise it
gives. Nobly sustained, as the Government has been, by all the
churches, I would utter nothing which might in the least appear
invidious against any. Yet without this, it may fairly be said, that
the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is by
its greatest numbers the most important of all. It is no fault in
others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field,
more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to Heaven than--any
other. God bless the Methodist Church Bless all the churches; and
blessed be God, who in this our great trial giveth us the churches.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR YATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 18, 1864.
His EXCELLENCY RICHARD YATES, Springfield, Ill.:
If any such proclamation has appeared, it is a forgery.
A. LINCOLN.
ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF IRRESPONSIBLE NEWSPAPER
REPORTERS AND EDITORS
ORDER TO GENERAL J. A. DIX.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May 18, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN A. DIX,
Commanding at New York:
Whereas there has been wickedly and traitorously printed and
published this morning in the New York World and New York Journal of
Commerce, newspapers printed and published in the city of New York, a
false and spurious proclamation purporting to be signed by the
President and to be countersigned by the Secretary of State, which
publication is of a treasonable nature, designed to give aid and
comfort to the enemies of the United States and to the rebels now at
war against the Government and their aiders and abettors, you are
therefore hereby commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison in any
fort or military prison in your command, the editors, proprietors,
and publishers of the aforesaid newspapers, and all such persons as,
after public notice has been given of the falsehood of said
publication, print and publish the same with intent to give aid and
comfort to the enemy; and you will hold the persons so arrested in
close custody until they can be brought to trial before a military
commission for their offense. You will also take possession by
military force of the printing establishments of the New York World
and Journal of Commerce, and hold the same until further orders, and
prohibit any further publication therefrom.
A. LINCOLN.
[On the morning of May 18, 3864, a forged proclamation was published
in the World, and Journal of Commerce, of New York. The proclamation
named a day for fasting and prayer, called for 400,000 fresh troops,
and purposed to raise by an "immediate and peremptory draft,"
whatever quotas were not furnished on the day specified. D.W.]
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL B. P. BUTLER.
(Cipher.)
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 18, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Bermuda Hundred, Va.:
Until receiving your dispatch of yesterday, the idea of commissions
in the volunteers expiring at the end of three years had not occurred
to me. I think no trouble will come of it; and, at all events, I
shall take care of it so far as in me lies. As to the major-
generalships in the regular army, I think I shall not dispose of
another, at least until the combined operations now in progress,
under direction of General Grant, and within which yourself and
command are included, shall be terminated.
Meanwhile, on behalf of yourself, officers, and men, please accept my
hearty thanks for what you and they have so far done.
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING THE EXEMPTION OF
AMERICAN CONSULS FROM MILITARY SERVICE,
MAY 19, 1864.
It is officially announced by the State Department that citizens of
the United States holding commissions and recognized as Consuls of
foreign powers, are not by law exempt from military service if
drafted:
Therefore the mere enrolment of a citizen holding a foreign consulate
will not be held to vacate his commission, but if he shall be drafted
his exequatur will be revoked unless he shall have previously
resigned in order that another Consul may be received.
An exequatur bearing date the 3d day of May, 1858, having been issued
to Charles Hunt, a citizen of the United States, recognizing him as a
Consul of Belgium for St. Louis, Missouri, and declaring him free to
exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are
allowed to the Consuls of the most favored nations in the United
States, and the said Hunt having sought to screen himself from his
military duty to his country, in consequence of thus being invested
with the consular functions of a foreign power in the United States,
it is deemed advisable that the said Charles Hunt should no longer be
permitted to continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and
privileges.
These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said
Hunt as Consul of Belgium, for St. Louis, Missouri, and will not
permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers or
privileges allowed to consuls of that nation, and that I do hereby
wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given, and do
declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day
forward.
In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent,
and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto
affixed................
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR MORTON AND OTHERS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 21, 1864
GOVERNOR O. P. MORTON:
The getting forward of hundred-day troops to sustain General
Sherman's lengthening lines promises much good. Please put your best
efforts into the work.
A. LINCOLN.
Same to Governor Yates, Springfield, Illinois; Governor Stone,
Davenport, Iowa; Governor Lewis, Madison, Wisconsin.
TELEGRAM TO CHRISTIANA A. SACK.
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 despatch signed with a name I never heard before.
General Wallace may give you a pass to see him if he chooses.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR BROUGH.
WASHINGTON CITY, May 24, 1864.
GOVERNOR BROUGH, Columbus, Ohio:
Yours to Secretary of War [received] asking for something cheering.
We have nothing bad from anywhere. I have just seen a despatch of
Grant, of 11 P.M., May 23, on the North Anna and partly across it,
which ends as follows: "Everything looks exceedingly favorable for
us." We have nothing later from him.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
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 him if you say so,
otherwise not.
A. LINCOLN.
["No job to big or too small" for this president--not even a request
from a Rag Picker. D.W.]
MEMORANDUM CONCERNING THE TRANSPORTATION OF
THE NEW YORK NAVAL BRIGADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May 26, 1864.
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am again pressed with the claim of Mr. Marshall O. Roberts, for
transportation of what was called the Naval Brigade from New York to
Fortress Monroe. This force was a special organization got up by one
Bartlett, in pretended pursuance of written authority from me, but in
fact, pursuing the authority in scarcely anything whatever. The
credit given him by Mr. Roberts, was given in the teeth of the
express declaration that the Government would not be responsible for
the class of expenses to which it belonged. After all some part of
the transportation became useful to the Government, and equitably
should be paid for; but I have neither time nor means to ascertain
this equitable amount, or any appropriation to pay it with if
ascertained. If the Quartermaster at New York can ascertain what
would compensate for so much of the transportation as did result
usefully to the Government, it might be a step towards reaching
justice. I write this from memory, but I believe it is substantially
correct.
A. LINCOLN.
TO P. A. CONKLING AND OTHERS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, June 3, 1864.
HON. F. A. CONKLING AND OTHERS.
GENTLEMEN:--Your letter, inviting me to be present at a mass meeting
of loyal citizens, to be held at New York on the 4th instant, for the
purpose of expressing gratitude to Lieutenant-General Grant for his
signal services, was received yesterday. It is impossible for me to
attend. I approve, nevertheless, of whatever may tend to strengthen
and sustain General Grant and the noble armies now under his
direction. My previous high estimate of General Grant has been
maintained and heightened by what has occurred in the remarkable
campaign he is now conducting, while the magnitude and difficulty of
the task before him does not prove less than I expected. He and his
brave soldiers are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust
that at your meeting you will so shape your good words that they may
turn to men and guns, moving to his and their support.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT ON A LETTER TOUCHING THE
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION.
JUNE 5, 1864.
(Indorsement.)
Swett is unquestionably all right. Mr. Holt is a good man, but I had
not heard or thought of him for Vice-President. Wish not to
interfere about Vice-President. Cannot interfere about platform.
Convention must judge for itself.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL MEADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, June 6, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Army of the Potomac:
Private James McCarthy, of the One-hundred and fortieth New York
Volunteers, is here under sentence to the Dry Tortugas for 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WASHINGTON, June 8, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, St. Louis, Missouri:
Yours of to-day received. I am unable to conceive how a message can
be less safe by the express than by a staff-officer. If you send a
verbal message, the messenger is one additional person let into the
secret.
A. LINCOLN
REPLY TO THE COMMITTEE NOTIFYING PRESIDENT LINCOLN OF HIS
RENOMINATION,
JUNE 9, 1864.
Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE:
I will neither conceal my gratification nor restrain the expression
of my gratitude that the Union people, through their convention, in
their continued effort to save and advance the nation, have deemed me
not unworthy to remain in my present position. I know no reason to
doubt that I shall accept the nomination tendered; and yet perhaps I
should not declare definitely before reading and considering what is
called the platform. I will say now, however, I approve the
declaration in favor of so amending the Constitution as to prohibit
slavery throughout the nation. When the people in revolt, with a
hundred days of explicit notice that they could within those days
resume their allegiance without the overthrow of their institution,
and that they could not so resume it afterward, elected to stand out,
such amendment of the Constitution as now proposed became a fitting
and necessary conclusion to the final success of the Union cause.
Such alone can meet and cover all cavils. Now the unconditional
Union men, North and South, perceive its importance and embrace it.
In the joint names of Liberty and Union, let us labor to give it
legal form and practical effect.
PLATFORM OF THE UNION NATIONAL CONVENTION
HELD IN BALTIMORE, MD., JUNE 7 AND 8, 1864.
1. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen
to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union and
the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United
States; and that, laying aside all differences of political opinion,
we pledge ourselves, as Union men, animated by a common sentiment and
aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the
Government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging
against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their
crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it.
2. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the Government of
the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer them any
terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an unconditional
surrender of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to
the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that we call upon
the Government to maintain this position, and to prosecute the war
with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the
rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the
heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to
their Country and its free institutions.
3. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the
strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be, always and
everywhere, hostile to the principles of republican government,
justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete
extirpation from the soil of the republic; 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 or the jurisdiction of the United States.
4. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the
soldiers and sailors of the Army and Navy, who have periled their
lives in defense of their country and in vindication of the honor of
its flag; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of
their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision
for those of their survivors who have received disabling and
honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the memories
of those who have fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and
everlasting remembrance.
5. Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the
unselfish patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity to the Constitution
and the principles of American liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln
has discharged under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty the
great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential office; that we
approve and indorse as demanded by the emergency and essential to the
preservation of the nation, and as within the provisions of the
Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend
the nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve,
especially, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment as
Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery; and that we have
full confidence in his determination to carry these and all other
constitutional measures essential to the salvation of the country
into full and complete effect.
6. Resolved, That we deem it essential to the General welfare that
harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we regard as
worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who
cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and
which should characterize the administration of the Government.
7. Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its
armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection
of the laws of war, and that any violation of these laws, or of the
usages of civilized nations in time of war, by the rebels now in
arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress.
8. Resolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has added
so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of
power to this nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations,
should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.
9. Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the
railroad to the Pacific coast.
10. Resolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemption of
the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we
recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public
expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation: and that it
is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and promote
the use of the national currency.
11. Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Government
that the people of the United States can never regard with
indifference the attempt of any European power to overthrow by force
or to supplant by fraud the institutions of any republican government
on the Western Continent, and that they will view with extreme
jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence of their own
country, the efforts of any such power to obtain new footholds for
monarchical governments, sustained by foreign military force, in near
proximity to the United States.
REPLY TO A DELEGATION FROM THE NATIONAL UNION LEAGUE,
JUNE 9, 1864.
GENTLEMEN--I can only say in response to the remarks of your
chairman, that I am very grateful for the renewed confidence which
has been accorded to me, both by the convention and by the National
League. I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there
is in this, yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small
portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment to me.
The convention and the nation, I am assured, are alike animated by a
higher view of the interests of the country, for the present and the
great future, and the part I am entitled to appropriate as a
compliment is only that part which I may lay hold of as being the
opinion of the convention and of the League, that I am not entirely
unworthy to be intrusted with the place I have occupied for the last
three years. I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude
that I am the best man in the country; but I am reminded in this
connection of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a
companion once that "it was not best to swap horses when crossing a
stream."
REPLY TO A DELEGATION FROM OHIO,
JUNE 9, 1864.
GENTLEMEN:--I am very much obliged to you for this compliment. I
have just been saying, and will repeat it, that the hardest of all
speeches I have to answer is a serenade. I never know what to say on
these occasions. I suppose that you have done me this kindness in
connection with the action of the Baltimore convention, which has
recently taken place, and with which, of course, I am very well
satisfied. What we want still more than Baltimore conventions, or
Presidential elections, is success under General Grant. I propose
that you constantly bear in mind that the support you owe to the
brave officers and soldiers in the field is of the very first
importance, and we should therefore bend all our energies to that
point. Now without detaining you any longer, I propose that you help
me to close up what I am now saying with three rousing cheers for
General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command.
ADDRESS TO THE ENVOY FROM
THE HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS,
JUNE 11, 1864.
SIR:--In every light in which the State of the Hawaiian Islands can
be contemplated, it is an object of profound interest for the United
States. Virtually it was once a colony. It is now a near and
intimate neighbor. It is a haven of shelter and refreshment for our
merchants, fishermen, seamen, and other citizens, when on their
lawful occasions they are navigating the eastern seas and oceans.
Its people are free, and its laws, language, and religion are largely
the fruit of our own teaching and example. The distinguished part
which you, Mr. Minister, have acted in the history of that
interesting country, is well known here. It gives me pleasure to
assure you of my sincere desire to do what I can to render now your
sojourn in the United States agreeable to yourself, satisfactory to
your sovereign, and beneficial to the Hawaiian people.
REMARKS TO AN OHIO REGIMENT,
JUNE 11, 1864.
Soldiers! I understand you have just come from Ohio; come to help us
in this the nation's day of trial, and also of its hopes. I thank
you for your promptness in responding to the call for troops. Your
services were never needed more than now. I know not where you are
going. You may stay here and take the places of those who will be
sent to the front, or you may go there yourselves. Wherever you go I
know you will do your best. Again I thank you. Good-by.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL L. THOMAS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, June 13, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS, Louisville, Kentucky:
Complaint is made to me that in the vicinity of Henderson, our
militia is seizing negroes and carrying them off without their own
consent, and according to no rules whatever, except those of absolute
violence. I wish you would look into this and inform me, and see
that the making soldiers of negroes is done according to the rules
you are acting upon, so that unnecessary provocation and irritation
be avoided.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO THOMAS WEBSTER.
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 13, 1864.
THOMAS WEBSTER, Philadelphia:
Will try to leave here Wednesday afternoon, say at 4 P.M., remain
till Thursday afternoon and then return. This subject to events.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, June 15, 1864. 7 A.M.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT,
Headquarters Army of the Potomac:
I have just received your dispatch of 1 P.M. yesterday. I begin to
see it: you will succeed. God bless you all.
A. LINCOLN.
ADDRESS AT A SANITARY FAIR IN PHILADELPHIA,
JUNE 16, 1864.
I suppose that this toast is intended to open the way for me to say
something. War at the best is terrible, and this of ours in its
magnitude and duration is one of the most terrible the world has ever
known. It has deranged business totally in many places, and perhaps
in all. It has destroyed property, destroyed life, and ruined homes.
It has produced a national debt and a degree of taxation
unprecedented in the history of this country. It has caused mourning
among us until the heavens may almost be said to be hung in black.
And yet it continues. It has had accompaniments not before known in
the history of the world. I mean the Sanitary and Christian
Commissions, with their labors for the relief of the soldiers, and
the Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, understood better by those who
hear me than by myself, and these fairs, first begun at Chicago and
next held in Boston, Cincinnati, and other cities. The motive and
object that lie at the bottom of them are worthy of the most that we
can do for the soldier who goes to fight the battles of his country.
>From the fair and tender hand of women is much, very much, done for
the soldier, continually reminding him of the care and thought for
him at home. The knowledge that he is not forgotten is grateful to
his heart. Another view of these institutions is worthy of thought.
They are voluntary contributions, giving proof that the national
resources are not at all exhausted, and that the national patriotism
will sustain us through all. It is a pertinent question, When is
this war to end? I do not wish to name the day when it will end, lest
the end should not come at the given time. We accepted this war, and
did not begin it. We accepted it for an object, and when that object
is accomplished the war will end, and I hope to God that it will
never end until that object is accomplished. We are going through
with our task, so far as I am concerned, if it takes us three years
longer. I have not been in the habit of making predictions, but I am
almost tempted now to hazard one. I will. It is, that Grant is this
evening in a position, with Meade and Hancock, of Pennsylvania,
whence he can never be dislodged by the enemy until Richmond is
taken. If I shall discover that General Grant may be greatly
facilitated in the capture of Richmond by rapidly pouring to him a
large number of armed men at the briefest notice, will you go? Will
you march on with him? [Cries of "Yes, yes."] Then I shall call upon
you when it is necessary.
TO ATTORNEY-GENERAL BATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, Jun. 24, 1864
HONORABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.
SIR:--By authority of the Constitution, and moved thereto by the
fourth section of the act of Congress, entitled "An act making
appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending the
thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and for other
purposes, approved June is, 1864," I require your opinion in writing
as to what pay, bounty, and clothing are allowed by law to persons of
color who were free on the nineteenth day of April, 1861, and who
have been enlisted and mustered into the military service of the
United States between the month of December, 1862, and the sixteenth
of June, 1864.
Please answer as you would do, on my requirement, if the act of June
15, 1864, had not been passed, and I will so use your opinion as to
satisfy that act.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, June 24, 1864.
MES. A. LINCOLN, Boston, Massachusetts:
All well and very warm. Tad and I have been to General Grant's army.
Returned yesterday safe and sound.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.
WASHINGTON, June 24, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, St. Louis, Missouri:
Complaint is made to me that General Brown does not do his best to
suppress bushwhackers. Please ascertain and report to me.
A. LINCOLN.
LETTER ACCEPTING THE NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, June 27, 1864.
HON. WILLIAM DENNISON AND OTHERS,
a Committee of the Union National Convention.
GENTLEMEN:--Your letter of the 14th inst.., formally notifying me
that I have been nominated by the convention you represent for the
Presidency of the United States for four years from the 4th of March
next, has been received. The nomination is gratefully accepted, as
the resolutions of the convention, called the platform, are heartily
approved.
While the resolution in regard to the supplanting of republican
government upon the Western Continent is fully concurred in, there
might be misunderstanding were I not to say that the position of the
Government in relation to the action of France in Mexico, as assumed
through the State Department and indorsed by the convention among the
measures and acts of the Executive, will be faithfully maintained so
long as the state of facts shall leave that position pertinent and
applicable.
I am especially gratified that the soldier and seaman were not
forgotten by the convention, as they forever must and will be
remembered by the grateful country for whose salvation they devote
their lives.
Thanking you for the kind and complimentary terms in which you have
communicated the nomination and other proceedings of the convention,
I subscribe myself,
Your obedient servant,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL P. STEELE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, June 29, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE:
I understand that Congress declines to admit to seats the persons
sent as Senators and Representatives from Arkansas. These persons
apprehend that, in consequence, you may not support the new State
government there as you otherwise would. My wish is that you give
that government and the people there the same support and protection
that you would if the members had been admitted, because in no event,
nor in any view of the case, can this do any harm, while it will be
the best you can do toward suppressing the rebellion.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, June 29, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-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.
TELEGRAM TO DAVID TOD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., June 30, 1864.
HON. DAVID TOD, Youngstown, Ohio:
I have nominated you to be Secretary of the Treasury, in place of
Governor Chase, who has resigned. Please come without a moment's
delay.
A. LINCOLN.
TO J. L. SCRIPPS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, July 4, 1864.
To JOHN L. SCRIPPS, E5Q.
DEAR SIR:--Complaint is made to me that you are using your official
power to defeat Mr. Arnold's nomination to Congress. I am well
satisfied with Mr. Arnold as a member of Congress, and I do not know
that the man who might supplant him would be as satisfactory; but the
correct principle, I think, is that all our friends should have
absolute freedom of choice among our friends. My wish, therefore, is
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. This is precisely the rule I inculcated
and adhered to on my part, when a certain other nomination, now
recently made, was being canvassed for.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO J. W. GARRETT.
WASHINGTON, July 5, 1864.
J. W. GARRETT, President [B. & 0. R. R.], Camden Station:
You say telegraphic communication is re-established with Sandy Hook.
Well, what does Sandy Hook say about operations of enemy and of Sigel
during to-day?
A. LINCOLN.
FROM SECRETARY STANTON TO GOVERNOR SEYMOUR.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, July 5, 1864.
HIS EXCELLENCY HORATIO SEYMOUR,
Governor of New York, Albany:
The President directs me to inform you that a rebel force, variously
estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand men, have invaded the
State of Maryland, and have taken Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry, and
are threatening other points; that the public safety requires him to
call upon the State executives for a militia force to repel this
invasion. He therefore directs me to call on you for a militia force
of twelve thousand men from your State to serve not more than one
hundred days, and to request that you will with the utmost despatch
forward the troops to Washington by rail or steamboat as may be most
expeditious.
Please favor me with an answer at your earliest convenience.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
PROCLAMATION
SUSPENDING THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS,
JULY 5, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, by a proclamation which was issued on the 15th day of April,
1861, the President of the United States announced and declared that
the laws of the United States had been for some time past, and then
were, opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in certain States
therein mentioned, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by
the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the power vested in
the marshals by law; and
Whereas, immediately after the issuing of the said proclamation the
land and naval forces of the United States were put into activity to
suppress the said insurrections and rebellion; and
Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an act approved on the
third day of March, 1863, did enact that during the said rebellion
the President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the
public safety may require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United
States, or any part thereof; and
Whereas, the said insurrection and rebellion still continue,
endangering the existence of the Constitution and Government of the
United States; and
Whereas, the military forces of the United States are now actively
engaged in suppressing the said insurrection and rebellion in various
parts of the States where the said rebellion has been successful in
obstructing the laws and public authorities, especially in the States
of Virginia and Georgia; and
Whereas, on the fifteenth day of September last, the President of the
United States duly issued his proclamation, wherein he declared that
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended
throughout the United States, in Cases whereby the authority of the
President of the United States, the military, naval, and civil
officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under
their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies,
or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen
enrolled or drafted, or mustered, or enlisted in, or belonging to the
land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom,
or otherwise amenable to military law, or the rules and articles of
war, or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military and
naval service by authority of the President of the United States, or
for resisting a draft, or for any other offence against the military
or naval service; and
Whereas, many citizens of the State of Kentucky have joined the
forces of the insurgents, who have on several occasions entered the
said State of Kentucky in large force and not without aid and comfort
furnished by disaffected and disloyal citizens of the United States
residing therein, have not only greatly disturbed the public peace
but have overborne the civil authorities and made flagrant civil war,
destroying property and life in various parts of the State; and
Whereas, it has been made known to the President of the United
States, by the officers commanding the National armies, that
combinations have been formed in the said State of Kentucky, with a
purpose of inciting the rebel forces to renew the said operations of
civil war within the said State, and thereby to embarrass the United
States armies now operating in the said States of Virginia and
Georgia, and even to endanger their safety.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws,
do hereby declare that in my judgment the public safety especially
requires that the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus so proclaimed in the said proclamation of the 15th of
September, 1863, be made effectual and be duly enforced in and
throughout the said State of Kentucky, and that martial law be for
the present declared therein. I do therefore hereby require of the
military officers of the said State that the privilege of the habeas
corpus be effectually suspended within the said State, according to
the aforesaid proclamation, and that martial law be established
therein to take effect from the date of this proclamation, the said
suspension and establishment of martial law to continue until this
proclamation shall be revoked or modified, but not beyond the period
when the said rebellion shall have been suppressed or come to an end.
And I do hereby require and command, as well as military officers,
all civil officers and authorities existing or found within the said
State of Kentucky, to take notice of this proclamation and to give
full effect to the same. The martial laws herein proclaimed and the
things in that respect herein ordered will not be deemed or taken to
interfere with the holding of lawful elections, or with the
proceedings of the constitutional Legislature of Kentucky, or with
the administration of justice in the courts of law existing therein
between citizens of the United States in suits or proceedings which
do not affect the military operations or the constituted authorities
of the government of the United States.
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 5th day of July, in the year of
our Lord 1864, and of the independence of the United States the
eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
PROCLAMATION FOR A DAY OF PRAYER, JULY 7, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the Senate and House of Representatives at their last
session adopted a concurrent resolution, which was approved on the
second day of July instant, and which `was in the words following,
namely:
That the President of the United States be requested to appoint a day
of humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States, that he
request his constitutional advisers at the head of the Executive
Departments to unite with him, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, at
the City of Washington, and the members of Congress, and all
magistrates, all civil, military, and naval officers, all soldiers,
sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abiding people, to
convene at their usual places of worship, or wherever they may be, to
confess and to repent of their manifold sins, to implore the
compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that, if consistent with
His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed, and the
supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the United States may be
established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as the Supreme
Ruler of the world, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to
be destroyed by the hostility or connivance of other nations, or by
obstinate adhesion to our own counsels which may be in conflict with
His eternal, purposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of
the nation to know and do His will, humbly believing that it is in
accordance with His will that our place should be maintained as a
united people among the family of nations; to implore Him to grant to
our armed defenders, and the masses of the people, that courage,
power of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure that result;
to implore Him in His infinite goodness to soften the hearts,
enlighten the minds, and quicken the conscience of those in
rebellion, that they may lay down their arms, and speedily return to
their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly
destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity
and fraternity may be restored, and peace established throughout all
our borders.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the `United States,
cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States, in the
penitential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid
resolutions, and heartily approving of the devotional design and
purpose thereof, do hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next
to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of
national humiliation and prayer.
I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive
Departments of this Government, together with all legislators, all
judges and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority in
the land, whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers,
seamen, and marines in the national service, and all other loyal and
law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble in their
preferred places of public worship on that day, and there to render
to the Almighty and merciful Ruler of the Universe, such homage and
such confessions, and to offer to Him such supplications as the
Congress of the United States have, in their aforesaid resolution, so
solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently recommended.
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 seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States
the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING A BILL "TO GUARANTEE TO CERTAIN STATES, WHOSE
GOVERNMENTS HAVE BEEN USURPED OR OVERTHROWN, A REPUBLICAN FORM OF
GOVERNMENT," AND CONCERNING RECONSTRUCTION,
JULY 8, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
A Proclamation.
Whereas at the late session Congress passed a bill "to guarantee to
certain states whose governments have been usurped or overthrown a
republican form of government," a copy of which is hereunto annexed;
and
Whereas, the said bill was presented to the President of the United
States for his approval less than one hour before the sine die
adjournment of said session, and was not signed by him; and
Whereas the said bill contains, among other things, a plan for
restoring the States in rebellion to their proper practical relation
in the Union, which plan expresses the sense of Congress upon that
subject, and which plan it is now thought fit to lay before the
people for their consideration:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do proclaim, declare, and make known that while I am (as I was in
December last, when, by proclamation, I propounded a plan for
restoration) unprepared by a formal approval of this bill to be
inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration, and while I
am also unprepared to declare that the free State constitutions and
governments already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana
shall be set aside and held for naught, thereby repelling and
discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to
further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in Congress
to abolish slavery in States, but am at the same time sincerely
hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment abolishing
slavery throughout the nation may be adopted, nevertheless I am fully
satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the bill as
one very proper plan for the loyal people of any State choosing to
adopt it, and that I am and at all times shall be prepared to give
the Executive aid and assistance to any such people so soon as the
military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed
in any such States and the people thereof shall have sufficiently
returned to their obedience to the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, in which cases militia-governors will be appointed
with directions to proceed according to the bill.
In testimony 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.
TO HORACE GREELEY.
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
July 9, 1864
HON. HORACE GREELEY.
DEAR SIR:--Your letter of the 7th, with inclosures, received.
If you can find any person, anywhere, professing to have any
proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing, for peace, embracing the
restoration of the Union and abandonment 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 to meet him. The same if there be two or
more persons.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO J. W. GARRETT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 9, 1864
J. W. GARRETT, Camden Station:
What have you heard about a battle at Monocacy to-day? We have
nothing about it here except what you say.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM FROM GENERAL HALLECK
TO GENERAL WALLACE.
WASHINGTON, July 9, 1864. 11.57 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL L. WALLACE, Commanding Middle Department:
I am directed by the President to say that you will rally your forces
and make every possible effort to retard the enemy's march on
Baltimore.
H. W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
TELEGRAM TO T. SWAN AND OTHERS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 10, 1864. 9.20 A.M.
THOMAS SWAN AND OTHERS, Baltimore, Maryland:
Yours of last night received. I have not a single soldier but whom
is being disposed by the military for the best protection of all. By
latest accounts the enemy is moving on Washington. They cannot fly
to either place. Let us be vigilant, but keep cool. I hope neither
Baltimore nor Washington will be sacked.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON CITY, July TO, 1864.2 P.M.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Your dispatch to General Halleck, referring to what I may think in
the present emergency, is shown me. General Halleck says we have
absolutely no force here fit to go to the field. He thinks that with
the hundred-day men and invalids we have here we can defend
Washington, and, scarcely, Baltimore. Besides these there are about
eight thousand, not very reliable, under Howe, at Harper's Ferry with
Hunter approaching that point very slowly, with what number I suppose
you know better than I. Wallace, with some odds and ends, and part of
what came up with Ricketts, was so badly beaten yesterday at
Monocacy, that what is left can attempt no more than to defend
Baltimore. What we shall get in from Pennsylvania and New York will
scarcely be worth counting, I fear. Now, what I think is, that you
should provide to retain your hold where you are, certainly, and
bring the rest with you personally, and make a vigorous effort to
destroy the enemy's forces in this vicinity. I think there is really
a fair chance to do this, if the movement is prompt. This is what I
think upon your suggestion, and is not an order.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, July 11, 1864. 8 A.M.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Yours of 10.30 P.M. yesterday received, and very satisfactory. The
enemy will learn of Wright's arrival, and then the difficulty will be
to unite Wright and Hunter south of the enemy before he will recross
the Potomac. Some firing between Rockville and here now.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 12, 1864. 11.30 AM.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Vague rumors have been reaching us for two or three days that
Longstreet's corps is also on its way [to] this vicinity. Look out
for its absence from your front.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM AND LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 12, 1864.
HON. HORACE GREELEY, New York:
I suppose you received my letter of the 9th. I have just received
yours of the 13th, and am disappointed by it. I was not expecting
you to send me a letter, but to bring me a man, or men. Mr. Hay goes
to you with my answer to yours of the 13th.
A. LINCOLN.
[Carried by Major John Hay.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, JULY 15, 1864.
HON. HORACE GREELEY.
MY DEAR SIR:-Yours of the 13th is just received, and I am
disappointed that you have not already reached here with those
commissioners, if they would consent to come on being shown my letter
to you of the 9th instant. Show that and this to them, and if they
will come on the terms stated in the former, bring them. I not only
intend a sincere effort for peace, but I intend that you shall be a
personal witness that it is made.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
SAFE CONDUCT FOR CLEMENT C. CLAY AND OTHERS,
JULY 16, 1864.
The President of the United States directs that the four persons
whose names follow, to wit, HON. Clement C. Clay, HON. Jacob
Thompson, Professor James P. Holcombe, George N. Sanders, shall have
safe conduct to the city of Washington in company with the HON.
HORACE GREELEY, and shall be exempt from arrest or annoyance of any
kind from any officer of the United States during their journey to
the said city of Washington.
By order of the President:
JOHN HAY, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
[WASHINGTON] July 17. 1864. 11.25 A.M.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
In your dispatch of yesterday to General Sherman, I find the
following, to wit:
"I shall make a desperate effort to get a position here, which will
hold the enemy without the necessity of so many men."
Pressed as we are by lapse of time I am glad to hear you say this;
and yet I do hope you may find a way that the effort shall not be
desperate in the sense of great loss of life.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL D. HUNTER
WASHINGTON JULY 17, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL HUNTER, Harper's Ferry, West Va.
Yours of this morning received. You misconceive. The order you
complain of was only nominally mine, and was framed by those who
really made it with no thought of making you a scapegoat. It seemed
to be General Grant's wish that the forces under General Wright and
those under you should join and drive at the enemy under General
Wright. Wright had the larger part of the force, but you had the
rank. It was thought that you would prefer Crook's commanding your
part to your serving in person under Wright. That is all of it.
General Grant wishes you to remain in command of the department, and
I do not wish to order otherwise.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864. 11.25 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Chattahoochee River, Georgia:
I have seen your despatches objecting to agents of Northern States
opening recruiting stations near your camps. An act of Congress
authorizes this, giving the appointment of agents to the States, and
not to the Executive Government. It is not for the War Department,
or myself, to restrain or modify the law, in its execution, further
than actual necessity may require. To be candid, I was for the
passage of the law, not apprehending at the time that it would
produce such inconvenience to the armies in the field as you now
cause me to fear. Many of the States were very anxious for it, and I
hoped that, with their State bounties, and active exertions, they
would get out substantial additions to our colored forces, which,
unlike white recruits, help us where they come from, as well as where
they go to. I still hope advantage from the law; and being a law, it
must be treated as such by all of us. We here will do what we
consistently can to save you from difficulties arising out of it.
May I ask, therefore, that you will give your hearty co-operation.
A. LINCOLN.
ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING TERMS OF PEACE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.
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 considered 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.
PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS,
JULY 18, 1864,
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further to
regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national
forces and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of
the United States may, "at his discretion, at any time hereafter,
call for any number of men, as volunteers for the respective terms of
one, two, and three years for military service," and "that in case
the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city,
precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided,
shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call,
then the
President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such
quota or any part thereof which may be unfilled;" and
Whereas the new enrolment heretofore ordered is so far completed as
that the aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in operation
for recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the
field, for garrisons, and such military operations as may be required
for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the
authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do issue this my last call for five hundred thousand volunteers for
the military service: Provided, nevertheless, That this call shall
be reduced by all credits which may be established under section
eight of the aforesaid act on account of persons who have entered the
naval service during the present rebellion and by credits for men
furnished to the military service in excess of calls heretofore made.
Volunteers will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three
years, as they may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty provided
by the law for the period of services for which they enlist.
And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that immediately after the
5th day of September, 1864, being fifty days from the date of this
call, a draft for troops to serve for one year shall be had in every
town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or
county not so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned
to it under this call or any part thereof which may be unfilled by
volunteers on the said 5th day of September, 1864.
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 i8th day of July, A.D. 1864, and
of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 20, 1864. 4.30 p.m.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Yours of yesterday, about a call for three hundred thousand, is
received. I suppose you had not seen the call for five hundred
thousand, made the day before, and which, I suppose, covers the case.
Always glad to have your suggestions.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO J. L. WRIGHT.
WAR DEPARTMENT, JULY. 20, 1864.
J. L. WRIGHT, Indianapolis, Ind.:
All a mistake. Mr. Stanton has not resigned.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL D. HUNTER.
(Cipher.)
WAR DEPARTMENT, JULY 23, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL HUNTER, Harper's Ferry, West Va.
Are you able to take care of the enemy, when he turns back upon you,
as he probably will on finding that Wright has left?
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR CURTIN, ENCLOSING A LETTER TO WILLIAM O. SNIDER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, July 25, 1864.
GOVERNOR CURTIN:
Herewith is the manuscript letter for the gentleman who sent me a
cane through your hands. For my life I cannot make out his name; and
therefore I cut it from his letter and pasted it on, as you see. I
suppose [sic] will remember who he is, and I will thank you to
forward him the letter. He dates his letter at Philadelphia.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, ,July 25, 1864.
WILLIAM O. SNIDER:
The cane you did me the honor to present through Governor Curtin was
duly placed in my hand by him. Please accept my thanks; and, at the
same time, pardon me for not having sooner found time to tender them.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
FROM JOHN HAY TO J. C. WELLING.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON.
July 25, 1864.
J. C. WELLING, ESQ.
SIR:--According to the request contained in your note, I have placed
Mr. Gibson's letter of resignation in the hands of the President. He
has read the letter, and says he accepts the resignation, as he will
be glad to do with any other, which may be tendered, as this is, for
the purpose of taking an attitude of hostility against him.
He says he was not aware that he was so much indebted to Mr. Gibson
for having accepted the office at first, not remembering that he ever
pressed him to do so, or that he gave it otherwise than as was usual,
upon request made on behalf of Mr. Gibson.
He thanks Mr. Gibson for his acknowledgment that he has been treated
with personal kindness and consideration, and says he knows of but
two small drawbacks upon Mr. Gibson's right to still receive such
treatment, one of which is that he never could learn of his giving
much attention to the duties of his office, and the other is this
studied attempt of Mr. Gibson's to stab him.
I am very truly,
Your obedient servant,
JOHN HAY.
TO COLONEL, FIRST N. Y. VETERAN CAVALRY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, JULY 25, 1864.
Thomas Connor, a private in the First Veteran New York Cavalry, is
now imprisoned at hard labor for desertion. If the Colonel of said
Regiment will say in writing on this sheets that he is willing to
receive him back to the Regiment, I will pardon, and send him.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, July 26, 1864. 2.30 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, near Atlanta:
I have just seen yours complaining of the appointment of Hovey and
Osterhaus. The point you make is unquestionably a good one, and yet
please hear a word from us. My recollection is that both General
Grant and yourself recommended both H [ovey] and O [sterhaus] for
promotion, and these, with other strong recommendations, drew
committals from us which we could neither honorably or safely
disregard. We blamed H [ovey] for coming away in the manner in which
he did, but he knew he had apparent reason to feel disappointed and
mortified, and we felt it was not best to crush one who certainly had
been a good soldier. As to [Osterhaus], we did not know of his
leaving at the time we made the appointment, and do not now know the
terms on which he left. Not to have appointed him, as the case
appeared to us at the time, would have been almost, if not quite, a
violation of our word. The word was given on what we thought was
high merit and somewhat on his nationality. I beg you to believe we
do not act in a spirit of disregarding merit. We expect to await
your programme for further changes and promotions in your army. My
profoundest thanks to you and your whole army for the present
campaign so far.
A. LINCOLN.
FROM SECRETARY STANTON TO GENERAL HALLECK.
WASHINGTON CITY,
July 27, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK,
Chief of Staff of the Army:
GENERAL:--Lieutenant-General Grant having signified that, owing to
the difficulties and delay of communication between his headquarters
and Washington, it is necessary that in the present emergency
military orders must be issued directly from Washington, the
President directs me to instruct you that all the military operations
for the defense of the Middle Department, the Department of the
Susquehanna, the Department of Washington, and the Department of West
Virginia, and all the forces in those departments, are placed under
your general command, and that you will be expected to take all
military measures necessary for defense against any attack of the
enemy and for his capture and destruction. You will issue from time
to time such orders to the commanders of the respective departments
and to the military authorities therein as may be proper.
Your obedient servant,
EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, July 27, 1864.
GOVERNOR JOHNSON, Nashville, Tennessee:
Yours in relation to General A. C. Gillam just received. Will look
after the matter to-day.
I also received yours about General Carl Schurz. I appreciate him
certainly, as highly as you do; but you can never know until you have
the trial, how difficult it is to find a place for an officer of so
high rank when there is no place seeking him.
A. LINCOLN.
TO Mrs. ANNE WILLIAMSON,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
July 29, 1864.
Mrs. ANNE WILLIAMSON.
MADAM:--The plaid you send me is just now placed in my hands. I
thank you for that pretty and useful present, but still more for
those good wishes for myself and our country, which prompted you to
present it.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT, AUGUST 3, 1864.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY, August 2, 1864.
MR. PRESIDENT:--This note will introduce to you Mr. Schley of
Baltimore, who desires to appeal to you for the revocation of an
order of General Hunter, removing some persons, citizens of
Frederick, beyond his lines, and imprisoning others. This Department
has no information of the reasons or proofs on which General Hunter
acts, and I do not therefore feel at liberty to suspend or interfere
with his action except under your direction.
Yours truly,
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
[Indorsement.)
August 3, 1864.
The Secretary of War will suspend the order of General Hunter
mentioned within, until further order and direct him to send to the
Department a brief report of what is known against each one proposed
to be dealt with.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U, S. GRANT.
(Cipher.)
WASHINGTON, D. C.. August 3, 1864
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
I have seen your despatch in which you say, "I want Sheridan put in
command of all the troops in the field, with instructions to put
himself south of the enemy, and follow him to the death. Wherever
the enemy goes, let our troops go also."
This, I think, is exactly right as to how our forces should move; but
please look over the despatches you may have received from here, ever
since you made that order, and discover, if you can, that there is
any idea in the head of any one here of "putting our army south of
the enemy," or of following him to the "death," in any direction. I
repeat to you, it will neither be done nor attempted, unless you
watch it every day and hour, and force it.
A. LINCOLN.
[Here the President was mistaken in thinking that Sherman and Grant
had the same inability of most of his previous general officers. No
one needed to watch Grant or Sherman, they only needed to get out of
their way. D.W.]
TELEGRAM TO HORACE GREELEY.
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.
TELEGRAM TO HORACE GREELEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, August 8, 1864
HON. HORACE GREELEY, New York:
I telegraphed you Saturday. Did you receive the despatch? Please
answer.
A. LINCOLN.
ON DISLOYAL FAMILY MEMBER
TO GENERAL S. O. BURBRIDGE.
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
August 8, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL BURBRIDGE, Lexington, Ky.:
Last December Mrs. Emily T. Helm, half-sister of Mrs. Lincoln, and
widow of the rebel general, Ben Hardin Helm, stopped here on her way
from Georgia to Kentucky, and I gave her a paper, as I remember, to
protect her against the mere fact of her being General Helm's widow.
I hear a rumor to-day that you recently sought to arrest her, but
were prevented by her presenting the paper from me. I do not intend
to protect her against the consequences of disloyal words or acts,
spoken or done by her since her return to Kentucky, and if the paper
given her by me can be construed to give her protection for such
words and acts, it is hereby revoked pro tanto. Deal with her for
current conduct just as you would with any other.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., August 14, 1864. 1.30 P.M.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
The Secretary of War and I concur that you had better confer with
General Lee, and stipulate for a mutual discontinuance of house-
burning and other destruction of private property. The time and
manner of conference and particulars of stipulation we leave, on our
part, to your convenience and judgment.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., August 15,1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, near Atlanta, Ga.:
If the Government should purchase, on its own account, cotton
northward of you, and on the line of your communications, would it be
an inconvenience to you, or detriment to the military service, for it
to come to the north on the railroad?
A. LINCOLN.
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN T. MILLS,
AUGUST [15?], 1864.
Mr. President," said Governor Randall, "why can't you seek seclusion,
and play hermit for a fortnight? It would reinvigorate you."
"Ah," said the President, "two or three weeks would do me no good. I
cannot fly from my thoughts--my solicitude for this great country
follows me wherever I go. I do not think it is personal vanity or
ambition, though I am not free from these infirmities, but I cannot
but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in
November. There is no program offered by any wing of the Democratic
party but that must result in the permanent destruction of the Union.
"But, Mr. President, General McClellan is in favor of crushing out
this rebellion by force. He will be the Chicago candidate."
"Sir, the slightest knowledge of arithmetic will prove to any man
that the rebel armies cannot be destroyed by Democratic strategy. It
would sacrifice all the white men of the North to do it. There are
now in the service of the United States nearly one hundred and fifty
thousand able-bodied colored men, most of them under arms, defending
and acquiring Union territory. The Democratic strategy demands that
these forces be disbanded, and that the masters be conciliated by
restoring them to slavery. The black men who now assist Union
prisoners to escape are to be converted into our enemies, in the vain
hope of gaining the good-will of their masters. We shall have to
fight two nations instead of one.
"You cannot conciliate the South if you guarantee to them ultimate
success; and the experience of the present war proves their success
is inevitable if you fling the compulsory labor of millions of black
men into their side of the scale. Will you give our enemies such
military advantages as insure success, and then depend on coaxing,
flattery, and concession to get them back into the Union? Abandon all
the posts now garrisoned by black men, take one hundred and fifty
thousand men from our side and put them in the battle-field or corn-
field against us, and we would be compelled to abandon the war in
three weeks.
"We have to hold territory in inclement and sickly places; where are
the Democrats to do this? It was a free fight, and the field was open
to the war Democrats to put down this rebellion by fighting against
both master and slave, long before the present policy was
inaugurated.
"There have been men base enough to propose to me to return to
slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win
the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should
deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will
keep my faith with friend and foe. My enemies pretend I am now
carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long as I
am President, it shall be carried on for the sole purpose of
restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion
without the use of the emancipation policy, and every other policy
calculated to weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebellion.
"Freedom has given us one hundred and fifty thousand men, raised on
Southern soil. It will give us more yet. Just so much it has
subtracted from the enemy, and, instead of alienating the South,
there are now evidences of a fraternal feeling growing up between our
men and the rank and file of the rebel soldiers. Let my enemies
prove to the country that the destruction of slavery is not necessary
to a restoration of the Union. I will abide the issue."
ENDORSEMENT OF APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT,
AUGUST 15, 1864.
I am always for the man who wishes to work; and I shall be glad for
this man to get suitable employment at Cavalry Depot, or elsewhere
A. LINCOLN.
TO H. J. RAYMOND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, August 15, 1864
HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND.
MY DEAR SIR:--I have proposed to Mr. Greeley that the Niagara
correspondence be published, suppressing only the parts of his
letters over which the red pencil is drawn in the copy which I
herewith send. He declines giving his consent to the publication of
his letters unless these parts be published with the rest. I have
concluded that it is better for me to submit, for the time, to the
consequences of the false position in which I consider he has placed
me, than to subject the country to the consequences of publishing
these discouraging and injurious parts. I send you this, and the
accompanying copy, not for publication, but merely to explain to you,
and that you may preserve them until their proper time shall come.
Yours truly,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, August 17, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break your
hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog
grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS,
AUGUST 18, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas the act of Congress of the 28th of September, 1850, entitled
"An act to create additional collection districts in the State of
California, and to change the existing districts therein, and to
modify the existing collection districts in the United States,"
extends to merchandise warehoused under bond the privilege of being
exported to the British North American provinces adjoining the United
States, in the manner prescribed in the act of Congress of the 3d of
March, 1845, which designates certain frontier ports through which
merchandise may be exported, and further provides "that such other
ports, situated on the frontiers of the United States adjoining the
British North American provinces, as may hereafter be found
expedient, may have extended to them the like privileges, on the
recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, and proclamation
duly made by the President of the United States, specially
designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges are to be
extended."
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of
the Treasury, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of
Newport, in the State of Vermont, is and shall be entitled to all the
privileges in regard to the exportation of merchandise in bond to the
British North American provinces adjoining the United States, which
are extended to the ports enumerated in the seventh section of the
act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1845, aforesaid, from and after
the date of this proclamation.
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 eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United
States of America, the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
INDORSEMENT CONCERNING AN EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS, AUGUST 18, 1864.
If General Hitchcock can effect a special exchange of Thomas D.
Armesy, now under conviction as a spy, or something of the sort, and
in prison at for Major Nathan Goff, made a prisoner of war, and now
in prison at Richmond, let it be done.
A. LINCOLN.
ADDRESS TO THE 164TH OHIO REGIMENT,
AUGUST 18, 1864.
SOLDIERS:--You are about to return to your homes and your friends,
after having, as I learn, performed in camp a comparatively short
term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and
to all who have come forward at the call of their country. I wish it
might be more generally and universally understood what the country
is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free government,
where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In
this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human
right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved
in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in
this struggle, the question whether your children and my children
shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. I say this, in order to
impress upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that no small
matter should divert us from our great purpose.
There may be some inequalities in the practical application of our
system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion
to the value of his property; but if we should wait, before
collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact
proportion with every other man, we should never collect any tax at
all. There may be mistakes made sometimes; and things may be done
wrong, while the officers of the Government do all they can to
prevent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citizens of this great
Republic, not to let your minds be carried off from the great work we
have before us. This struggle is too large for you to be diverted
from it by any small matter. When you return to your homes, rise up
to the height of a generation of men worthy of a free government, and
we will carry out the great work we have commenced. I return to you
my sincere thanks, soldiers, for the honor you have done me this
afternoon.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., 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.
ADDRESS TO THE 166TH OHIO REGIMENT,
AUGUST 22, 1864.
SOLDIERS--I suppose you are going home to see your families and
friends. For the services you have done in this great struggle in
which we are engaged, I present you sincere thanks for myself and the
country.
I almost always feel inclined, when I say anything to soldiers, to
impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of success
in this contest. It is not merely for the day, but for all time to
come, that we should perpetuate for our children's children that
great and free government which we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg
you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I
happen, temporarily, to occupy this big White House. I am a living
witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my
father's child has. It is in order that each one of you may have,
through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field,
and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence;
that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life with all
its desirable human aspirations--it is for this that the struggle
should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthrights--not only
for one, but for two or three years, if necessary. The nation is
worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.
MEMORANDUM.
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 inauguration; as he will have secured
his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it
afterward.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, August 26, 1864.
GOVERNOR JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.:
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.
TELEGRAM TO B. H. BREWSTER.
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.
ORDER CONCERNING COTTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, August 31, 1864.
Any person or persons engaged in bringing out cotton, in strict
conformity with authority given by W. P. Fessenden, Secretary of the
United States Treasury, must not be hindered by the War, Navy, or any
other Department of the Government, or any person engaged under any
of said Departments.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO COLONEL HUIDEKOPER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
SEPTEMBER 1, 1864
COLONEL H. C. HUIDEKOPER, Meadville, Penn.
SIR: It is represented to me that there are at Rock Island,
Illinois, as rebel prisoners of war, many persons of Northern and
foreign birth who are unwilling to be exchanged and sent South, but
who wish to take the oath of allegiance and enter the military
service of the Union. Colonel Huidekoper, on behalf of the people of
some parts of Pennsylvania, wishes to pay the bounties the Government
would have to pay to proper persons of this class, have them enter
the service of the United States, and be credited to the localities
furnishing the bounty money. He will therefore proceed to Rock
Island, ascertain the names of such persons (not including any who
have attractions Southward), and telegraph them to the Provost-
Marshal-General here, whereupon direction will be given to discharge
the persons named upon their taking the oath of allegiance; and then
upon the official evidence being furnished that they shall have been
duly received and mustered into the service of the United States,
their number will be credited as may be directed by Colonel
Huidekoper.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY,
September 3, 1864.
The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to
the operations of the United States fleet and army in the harbor of
Mobile, and the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort
Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General
Sherman, in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the
city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgment to the Supreme Being
in whose hands are the destinies of nations. It is therefore
requested that on next Sunday, in all places of worship in the United
States, thanksgivings be offered to Him for His mercy in preserve our
national existence against the insurgent rebels who have been waging
a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its
overthrow, and also that prayer be made for Divine protection to our
brave soldiers and their leaders in the field who have so often and
so gallantly periled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for
blessings and comfort from the Father of mercies to the sick,
wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who
have fallen in the service of their country, and that He will
continue to uphold the Government of the United States against all
the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ORDERS OF GRATITUDE AND REJOICING.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
September 3, 1864.
The national thanks are tendered by the President to Admiral Farragut
and Major-General Canby, for the skill and harmony with which the
recent operations in Mobile Harbor and against Fort Powell, Fort
Gaines, and Fort Morgan were planned and carried into execution.
Also to Admiral Farragut and Major-General Granger, under whose
immediate command they were conducted, and to the gallant commanders
on sea and land, and to the sailors and soldiers engaged in the
operations, for their energy and courage, which, under the blessing
of Providence, have been crowned with brilliant success, and have won
for them the applause and thanks of the nation.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
September 3, 1864.
The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General
William T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his
command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and
perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which under Divine
power resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta. The marches,
battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized
this campaign must render it famous in the annals of war, and have
entitled those who have participated therein to the applause and
thanks of the nation.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
September 3, 1864.
Ordered: First, That on Monday, the fifth day of September,
commencing at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be given a
salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy-yard, at
Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or on the day after
the receipt of this order, at each arsenal and navy-yard in the
United States, for the recent brilliant achievements of the fleet and
land forces of the United States in the harbor of Mobile, and in the
reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. The
Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy will issue the
necessary directions in their respective departments for the
execution of this order.
Second, That on Wednesday, the 7th of September, commencing at the
hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be fired a salute of one
hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Newport (Ky.), and St. Louis,
and New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola, Hilton Head, and Newbern, the
day after the receipt of this order, for the brilliant achievements
of the army under command of Major-General Sherman, in the State of
Georgia, and for the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will
issue directions for the execution of this order.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President Of the United States.
TO MRS. GURNEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 4, 1864.
ELIZA P. GURNEY.
MY ESTEEMED FRIEND:--I have not forgotten probably never shall forget
the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on
a Sabbath forenoon two years ago--nor has your kind letter, written
nearly a year later, even been for gotten. In all, it has been your
purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the
good Christian people of the country for their constant prayer and
consolations; and to no one of them, more than to yourself. The
purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we
erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We
hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this;
but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet
acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein. Mean while we
must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so
working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He
intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no
mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.
Your people--the Friends--have had, and are having, a very great
trial. On principle, and faith, opposed to both war and oppression,
they can only practically oppose oppression by war. For those
appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do,
the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the
law. That you believe this I doubt not, and believing it, I shall
still receive, for our country and myself your earnest prayers to our
Father in Heaven.
Your sincere friend,
A. LINCOLN.
REPLY TO A COMMITTEE OF COLORED PEOPLE FROM BALTIMORE WHO PRESENTED
HIM WITH A BIBLE,
SEPTEMBER 7, 1864.
I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been a
sentiment with me, that all mankind should be free. So far as I have
been able, so far as came within my sphere, I have always acted as I
believed was just and right, and done all I could for the good of
mankind. I have, in letters sent forth from this office, expressed
myself better than I can now.
In regard to the great Book, I have only to say it is the best gift
which God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour of
the world is communicated to us through this book. But for that
Book, we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable
to man are contained in it. I return you sincere thanks for this
very elegant copy of this great Book of God which you present.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR PICKERING.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 8, 1864:
GOVERNOR PICKERING, Olympia, W. T.:
Your patriotic despatch of yesterday received and will be published.
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER OF THANKS TO HUNDRED-DAY TROOPS FROM OHIO.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON CITY, September 10, 1864.
The term of one hundred days for which the National Guard of Ohio
volunteered having expired, the President directs an official
acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic and valuable services
during the recent campaigns. The term of service of their enlistment
was short, but distinguished by memorable events. In the Valley of
the Shenandoah, on the Peninsula, in the operations on the James
River, around Petersburg and Richmond, in the battle of Monocacy, and
in the intrenchments of Washington, and in other important service,
the National Guard of Ohio performed with alacrity the duty of
patriotic volunteers, for which they are entitled to and are hereby
tendered, through the Governor of their State, the national thanks.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 12, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Sheridan and Early are facing each other at a dead-lock. Could we
not pick up a regiment here and there, to the number of say ten
thousand men, and quietly but suddenly concentrate them at Sheridan's
camp and enable him to make a strike?
This is but a suggestion.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO JAMES G. BLAINE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 13, 1864.
HON. J. G. BLAINE, Augusta, Me.:
On behalf of the Union, thanks to Maine. Thanks to you personally
for sending the news.
A. LINCOLN.
P. S.--Send same to L. B. Smith and M. A. Blanchard, Portland, Me.
A. L.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SLOUGH.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 17,1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Atlanta, Georgia:
I feel great interest in the subjects of your despatch mentioning
corn and sorghum, and the contemplated visit to you.
A. LINCOLN, President of the United States.
TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 19, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN:
The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of October, and the
loss of it to the friends of the Government would go far towards
losing the whole Union cause. The bad effect upon the November
election, and especially the giving the State government to those who
will oppose the war in every possible way, are too much to risk if it
can be avoided. The draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong
tendency to lose us the State. Indiana is the only important State
voting in October whose soldiers cannot vote in the field. Anything
you can safely do to let her soldiers or any part of them go home and
vote at the State election will be greatly in point. They need not
remain for the Presidential election, but may return to you at once.
This is in no sense an order, but is merely intended to impress you
with the importance to the Army itself of your doing all you safely
can, yourself being the judge of what you can safely do.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT CONCERNING AN EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS, SEPTEMBER 1864.
The writer of this, who appeals for his brother, is our minister to
Ecuador, and whom, if at all compatible, I would like to have obliged
by a special exchange of his brother.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL P. SHERIDAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 20, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERIDAN, Winchester, Va.:
Have just heard of your great victory. God bless you all, officers
and men. Strongly inclined to come up and See you.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL HITCHCOCK,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 21, 1864.
GENERAL HITCHCOCK:
Please see the bearer, Mr. Broadwell, on a question about a mutual
supplying of clothes to prisoners.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 22, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
I send this as an explanation to you, and to do justice to the
Secretary of War. I was induced, upon pressing application, to
authorize the agents of one of the districts of Pennsylvania to
recruit in one of the prison depots in Illinois; and the thing went
so far before it came to the knowledge of the Secretary that, in my
judgment, it could not be abandoned without greater evil than would
follow its going through. I did not know at the time that you had
protested against that class of thing being done; and I now say that
while this particular job must be completed, no other of the sort
will be authorized, without an understanding with you, if at all.
The Secretary of War is wholly free of any part in this blunder.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO POSTMASTER-GENERAL BLAIR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 23, 1864.
HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
MY DEAR SIR:--You have generously said to me, more than once, that
whenever your resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my
disposal. The time has come. You very well know that this proceeds
from no dissatisfaction of mine with you personally or officially.
Your uniform kindness has been unsurpassed by that of any other
friend, and while it is true that the war does not so greatly add to
the difficulties of your department as to those of some others, it is
yet much to say, as I most truly can, that in the three years and a
half during which you have administered the General Post-Office, I
remember no single complaint against you in connection therewith.
Yours, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING THE PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS IN INSURRECTIONARY STATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 24, 1864.
I. Congress having authorized the purchase for the United States of
the products of States declared in insurrection, and the Secretary of
the Treasury having designated New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville,
Pensacola, Port Royal, Beaufort (North Carolina), and Norfolk, as
places of purchase, and, with my approval, appointed agents and made
regulations under which said products may be purchased, therefore:
II. All persons except such as may be in the civil, military, or
naval service of the government, having in their possession any
products of States or parts of States declared in insurrection, which
said agents are authorized to purchase; and all persons owning or
controlling such products therein are authorized to convey such
products to either of the places which have been hereby or may
hereafter be designated as places of purchase, and such products so
destined shall not be liable to detention, seizure, or forfeiture
while in transitu, or in store waiting transportation.
III. Any person having the certificate of a purchasing agent, as
prescribed by Treasury Regulation VIII, is authorized to pass with
the necessary means of transportation to the points named in said
certificate, and to return therefrom with the products required for
the fulfilment of the stipulations set forth in said certificate.
IV. Any person having sold and delivered to a purchasing agent any
products of an insurrectionary State in accordance with the
regulations in relation thereto, and having in his possession a
certificate setting forth the fact of such purchase and sale; the
character and quantity of products, and the aggregate amount paid
therefor, as prescribed by Regulation I, shall be permitted by the
military authority commanding at the place of sale to purchase from
any authorized dealer at such place merchandise and other articles
not contraband of war nor prohibited by order of the War Department,
nor coin, bullion, or foreign exchange, to an amount not exceeding in
value one-third of the aggregate value of the products sold by him as
certified by the agents purchasing, and the merchandise and other
articles so purchased may be transported by the same route, and to
the same place, from and by which the products sold and delivered
reached the purchasing agent, as set forth in the certificate, and
such merchandise and other articles shall have safe conduct, and
shall not be subject to detention, seizure, or forfeiture while being
transported to the places and by the routes set forth in the said
certificate.
V. Generals commanding military districts, and commandants of
military posts and detachments, and officers commanding fleets,
flotillas, and gunboats, will give safe conduct to persons and
products, merchandise, and other articles duly authorized as
aforesaid, and not contraband of war, or prohibited by order of the
War Department, or of the order of such generals commanding, or other
duly authorized military or naval officer, made in pursuance hereof,
and all persons hindering or preventing such safe conduct of persons
or property will, be deemed guilty of a military offense and punished
accordingly.
VI. Any person transporting or attempting to transport any
merchandise or other articles except in pursuance of regulations of
the Secretary of the Treasury, dated July 29, 1864, or in pursuance
of this order, or transporting or attempting to transport any
merchandise or other articles contraband of war or forbidden by any
order of the War Department, will be deemed guilty of a military
offense and punished accordingly; and all products of insurrectionary
States found in transitu to any other person or than a purchasing
agent and a designated of purchase shall be seized and forfeited to
the States, except such as may be moving to a loyal state under duly
authorized permits of a proper officer of the Treasury Department, as
prescribed by Regulation XXXVIII, concerning commercial intercourse,
dated July 29, 1864, or such as may have been found abandoned, or
have been captured and are moving in pursuance of the act of March
12, 1864.
VII. No military or naval officer of the United States, or person in
the military or naval service, nor any civil officer, except such as
are appointed for that purpose, shall engage in trade or traffic in
the products of the insurrectionary States, or furnish transportation
therefor under pain of being deemed guilty of unlawful trading with
the enemy and punished accordingly.
VIII. The Secretary of War will make such general orders or
regulations as will insure the proper observance and execution of,,
this order, and the Secretary of the Navy will give instructions to
officers commanding fleets, flotillas, and gunboats in conformity
therewith.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 27, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN, Atlanta, Georgia:
You say Jefferson Davis is on a visit to Hood. I judge that Brown
and Stephens are the objects of his visit.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 29,1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
I hope it will have no constraint on you, nor do harm any way, for me
to say I am a little afraid lest Lee sends reinforcements to Early,
and thus enables him to turn upon Sheridan.
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT.
September 29, 1864.
I think the bearer of this, Second Lieutenant Albee, deserves a
hearing. Will the Secretary of War please accord it to him?
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER RETURNING THANKS TO THE VOLUNTEERS FOR ONE HUNDRED DAYS FROM
THE STATES OF INDIANA, ILLINOIS, IOWA, AND WISCONSIN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, October 1, 1864.
The term of one hundred days for which volunteers from the States of
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin volunteered, under the call of
their respective governors, in the months of May and June, to aid in
the campaign of General Sherman, having expired; the President
directs an official acknowledgment to be made of their patriotic
service. It was their good fortune to render efficient service in the
brilliant operations in the Southwest and to contribute to the
victories of the national arms over the rebel forces in Georgia under
command of Johnston and Hood. On all occasions and in every service
to which they were assigned their duty as patriotic volunteers was
performed with alacrity and courage, for which they are entitled to
and are hereby tendered the national thanks through the governors of
their respective States.
The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to
the governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin and to cause
a certificate of their honorable service to be delivered to the
officers and soldiers of the States above named who recently served
in the military force of the United States as volunteers for one
hundred days.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 5, 1864
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
I inclose you a copy of a correspondence in regard to a contemplated
exchange of naval prisoners through your lines, and not very distant
from your headquarters. It only came to the knowledge of the War
Department and of myself yesterday, and it gives us some uneasiness.
I therefore send it to you with the statement that, as the numbers to
be exchanged under it are small, and so much has already been done to
effect the exchange, I hope you may find it consistent to let it go
forward under the general supervision of General Butler, and
particularly in reference to the points he holds vital in exchanges.
Still, you are at liberty to arrest the whole operation if in your
judgment the public good requires it
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
INDORSEMENT ON A MEMORANDUM BY GENERAL McDOWELL,
OCTOBER 7, 1864
I well remember the meetings herein narrated. See nothing for me to
object to in the narrative as being made by General McDowell, except
the phrase attributed to me "of the Jacobinism of Congress,"
[This memorandum describes the private discussions that preceded the
transfer of McClellan's army from the Potomac, where it had
confronted the Confederates at Manassas. See H. J. Raymond: Life of
Lincoln, p. 772]
which phrase I do not remember using literally or in substance, and
which I wish not to be published in any event.
A. LINCOLN.
TO H. W. HOFFMAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, October 10, 1864.
HON. HENRY W. HOFFMAN.
MY DEAR SIR:--A convention of Maryland has framed a new constitution
for the State; a public meeting is called for this evening at
Baltimore to aid in securing its ratification by the people, and you
ask a word from me for the occasion. I presume the only feature of
the instrument about which there is serious controversy is that which
provides for the extinction of slavery. It needs not to be a secret
and I presume it is no secret, that I wish success to this provision.
I desire it on every consideration. I wish all men to be free. I
wish the material prosperity of the already free, which I feel sure
the extinction of slavery would bring. I wish to see in process of
disappearing that only thing which ever could bring this nation to
civil war. I attempt no argument. Argument upon the question is
already exhausted by the abler, better informed, and more immediately
interested sons of Maryland herself. I only add that I shall be
gratified exceedingly if the good people of the State shall, by their
votes, ratify the new constitution.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.
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.
TELEGRAM TO ROBERT T. LINCOLN, Cambridge, Mass.:
Your letter makes us a little uneasy about your health. Telegraph us
how you are. If you think it would help you, make us a visit.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 12, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Secretary of War not being in, I answer yours about election.
Pennsylvania very close, and still in doubt on home vote. Ohio
largely for us, with all the members of Congress but two or three.
Indiana largely for us,--Governor, it is said, by fifteen thousand,
and eight of the eleven members of Congress. Send us what you may
know of your army vote.
A. LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
OCTOBER 19, 1864.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I am notified that this is a compliment
paid me by the loyal Marylanders resident in this District. I infer
that the adoption of the new constitution for the State furnishes the
occasion, and that in your view the extirpation of slavery
constitutes the chief merit of the new constitution. Most heartily
do I congratulate you, and Maryland, and the nation, and the world,
upon this event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner,
which, I am sure, would have saved the nation more money than would
have met all the private loss incident to the measure; but it has
come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully realize all
their anticipations of good from it, and that its opponents may by
its effects be agreeably and profitably disappointed.
A word upon another subject. Something said by the Secretary of
State in his recent speech at Auburn, has been construed by some into
a threat, that if I shall be beaten at the election, I will, between
then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to
ruin the Government.
Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not
sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular
individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if their nominee
shall be elected he will at once seize control of the Government. I
hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness
on either point. I am struggling to maintain the Government, not to
overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from
overthrowing it. I therefore say, that if I live, I shall remain
President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be
constitutionally elected, in November, shall be duly installed as
President on the 4th of March, and in the interval I shall do my
utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall
start with the best possible chance of saving the ship. This is due
to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their
will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If
they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the
loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or
the right to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do
as they please with their own. I believe, however, they are still
resolved to preserve their country and their liberties; and in this,
in office or out of it, I am resolved to stand by them. I may add,
that in this purpose to save the country and its liberties, no
classes of people seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the
field and the sailors afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it?
Who should quail while they do not? God bless the soldiers and
seamen, with all their brave commanders.
PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING, OCTOBER 20, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another
year, defending us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs
from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal
victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also
pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their
homes as our soldiers in their camps, and our sailors on the rivers
and seas, with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free
population by emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to
us new: sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our working-
men in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover,
he has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds arid hearts with
fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of
civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a
nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us
reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our
dangers and afflictions.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as
a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens,
wherever they may be then, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to
Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And
I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that
occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from
thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the
great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings of
peace, union, and harmony throughout the, land which it has pleased
him to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and for our posterity
throughout all generations.
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 twentieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of
the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM To J. G. NICOLAY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 21, 1864. 9.45 P.M.
J. G. NICOLAY, Saint Louis, Missouri:
While Curtis is fighting Price, have you any idea where the force
under Rosecrans is, or what it is
doing?
A. LINCOLN.
TO WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL AND OTHERS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
October 22, 1864.
MESSRS WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL, THOMAS A. R. NELSON, JAMES T. P. CARTER,
JOHN WILLIAMS, A. BLIZZARD, HENRY COOPER, BAILLIE PEYTON, JOHN
LELLYET, EMERSON ETHERIDGE, and JOHN D. PERRYMAN.
GENTLEMEN:--On the 15th day of this month, as I remember, a printed
paper manuscript, with a few manuscript interlineations, called a
protest, with your names appended thereto, and accompanied by another
printed paper, purporting to be a proclamation by Andrew Johnson,
Military Governor of Tennessee, and also a manuscript paper,
purporting to be extracts from the Code of Tennessee, were laid
before me.
The protest, proclamation, and extracts are respectively as follows:
[The protest is here recited, and also the proclamation of Governor
Johnson, dated September 30, to which it refers, together with a list
of the counties in East, Middle, and West Tennessee; also extracts
from the Code of Tennessee in relation to electors of President and
Vice-President, qualifications of voters for members of the General
Assembly, places of holding elections, and officers of popular
elections.]
At the time these papers were presented, as before stated, I had
never seen either of them, nor heard of the subject to which they
related, except in a general way one day previously.
Up to the present moment, nothing whatever upon the subject has
passed between Governor Johnson, or any one else, connected with the
proclamation, and myself.
Since receiving the papers, as stated, I have given the subject such
brief consideration as I have been able to do, in the midst of so
many pressing public duties.
My conclusion is, that I can have nothing to do with the matter,
either to sustain the plan as the convention and Governor Johnson
have initiated it, or to revoke or modify it as you demand.
By the Constitution and laws, the President is charged with no duty
in the presidential election in any State, nor do I in this case
perceive any military reason for his interference in the matter.
The movement set on foot by the convention and Governor Johnson does
not, as seems to be assumed by you, emanate from the National
Executive.
In no proper sense can it be considered other than an independent
movement of, at least, a portion of the loyal people of Tennessee.
I do not perceive in the plan any menace, or violence, or coercion
towards any one.
Governor Johnson, like any other loyal citizen of Tennessee, has the
right to favor any political plan he chooses, and, as military
governor, it is his duty to keep peace among and for the loyal people
of the State.
I cannot discern that by this plan he purposes any more. But you
object to the plan.
Leaving it alone will be your perfect security against it. It is not
proposed to force you into it. Do as you please, on your own
account, peaceably and loyally, and Governor Johnson will not molest
you, but will protect you against violence as far as in his power.
I presume that the conducting of a presidential election in Tennessee
in strict accordance with the old Code of the State, is not now a
possibility.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that if any election shall be held
and any votes shall be cast in the State of Tennessee for President
and Vice-President of the United States, it will belong, not to the
military agents, nor yet to the Executive Department, but exclusively
to another department of the Government, to determine whether they
are entitled to be counted in conformity with the Constitution and
laws of the United States.
Except it be to give protection against violence, I decline to
interfere in any way with any presidential election.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 22, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL SHERIDAN:
With great pleasure I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of
the nation, and my own personal admiration and gratitude, for the
month's operations in the Shenandoah Valley; and especially for the
splendid work of October 19, 1864.
Your obedient servant,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. H. THOMAS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 23, 1864 5 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS, Nashville, Tennessee:
I have received information to-day, having great appearance of
authenticity, that there is to be a rebel raid into Western Kentucky;
that it is to consist of four thousand infantry and three thousand
cavalry, and is to start from Corinth, Mississippi, On the fourth day
of November.
A. LINCOLN, President.
Send copy to General Washburn at Memphis.
A. L.
TELEGRAM TO T. T. DAVIS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C., 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.
PROCLAMATION ADMITTING NEVADA INTO THE UNION
OCTOBER 31, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation
Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an act, which was
approved on the 21st day of March last, entitled "An act to enable
the people of Nevada to form a constitution and State government, and
for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing
with the original States;" and,
Whereas the said constitution and State government have been formed,
pursuant to the conditions prescribed by the fifth section of the act
of Congress aforesaid, and the certificate required by the said act
and also a copy of the constitution and ordinances have been
submitted to the President of the United States:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, in accordance with the duty imposed upon me by the act
of Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare and proclaim that the said
State of Nevada is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with
the original States.
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 BURBRIDGE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 4, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL BURBRIDGE, 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.
TELEGRAM TO NAVAL OFFICER AT MOBILE BAY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 6, 1864. 9 P.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL CANBY, New Orleans, La.:
Please forward with all possible despatch to the naval officer
commanding at Mobile Bay the following order.
A. LINCOLN.
(Inclosure.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 6, 1864.
NAVAL OFFICER IN COMMAND AT MOBILE BAY
Do not on any account, or on any showing of authority whatever, from
whomsoever purporting to come, allow the blockade to be violated.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SAILORS' FAIR, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., November 8, 1864.
TO THE MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE SAILORS' FAIR,
Boston, Massachusetts
Allow me to wish you a great success. With the old fame of the Navy
made brighter in the present war you cannot fail. I name none lest I
wrong others by omission. To all, from rear-admiral to honest Jack,
I tender the nation's admiration and gratitude.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO A. H. RICE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, November 8, 1864.
HON. A. H. RICE, Boston, Massachusetts:
Yours received. I have no other notice that the ox is mine. If it be
really so, I present it to the Sailors' Fair as a contribution.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY SEWARD.
WASHINGTON, November 8, 1864.
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Auburn, New York:
News from Grant, Sherman, Thomas and Rosecrans satisfactory, but not
important. Pirate Florida captured by the Wachusett October 7, on
the coast of Brazil. The information is certain.
A. LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
NOVEMBER 9, 1864.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:--Even before I had been informed by you
that this compliment was paid me by loyal citizens of Pennsylvania,
friendly to me, I had inferred that you were of that portion of my
countrymen who think that the best interests of the nation are to be
subserved by the support of the present administration. I do not
pretend to say that you, who think so, embrace all the patriotism and
loyalty of the country, but I do believe, and I trust without
personal interest, that the welfare of the country does require that
such support and indorsement should be given.
I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work, if it
be as you assume, and as now seems probable, will be to the lasting
advantage, if not to the very salvation, of the country. I cannot
at this hour say what has been the result of the election. But,
whatever it may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion: that all
who have labored to-day in behalf of the Union have wrought for the
best interests of the country and the world; not only for the
present, but for all future ages.
I am thankful to God for this approval of the people; but, while
deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my
heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do
not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure
to me to triumph over any one, but I give thanks to the Almighty for
this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government
and the rights of humanity.
TELEGRAM TO H. W. HOFFMAN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C. November 10, 1864.
H. HOFFMAN, Baltimore, Md.:
The Maryland soldiers in the Army of the Potomac cast a total vote of
fourteen hundred and twenty-eight, out of which we get eleven hundred
and sixty majority. This is directly from General Meade and General
Grant.
A. LINCOLN.
ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
NOVEMBER 10, 1864.
It has long been a grave question 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 government to a 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 election could force us to forego or postpone a national
election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined
us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically
applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case
must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In
any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we
will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as
good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy
to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.
But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife,
has done good, too. It has demonstrated that a people's government
can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war.
Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a
possibility. It shows, also, how sound and strong we still are. It
shows that even among the candidates of the same party, he who is
most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive
most of the people's votes. It shows, also, to the extent yet known,
that we have more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is
good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better
than gold.
But the rebellion continues, and, now that the election is over, may
not all have a common interest to reunite in a common effort to save
our common country? For my own part, I have striven and shall strive
to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been
here, I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While
I am duly sensible to the high compliment of a re-election, and duly
grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God, for having directed my
countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for their good, it adds
nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed by
the result.
May I ask those who have not differed with me to join with me in this
same spirit towards those who have? And now, let me close by asking
three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen, and their
gallant and skillful commanders.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL S. O. BURBRIDGE.
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 10, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL BURBRIDGE, Lexington, Ky.:
I have just received a telegram from Governor Bramlette saying:
"General John B. Houston, a loyal man and prominent citizen, was
arrested, and yesterday, started off by General Burbridge, to be sent
beyond our lines by way of Catlettsburg, for no other offense than
opposition to your re-election," and I have answered him as follows
below, of which please take notice and report to me.
A. LINCOLN.
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 10, 1864.
GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE, Frankfort, Ky.:
Yours of yesterday received. I can scarcely believe that General
John B. Houston has been arrested "for no other offense than
opposition to my re-election;" for, if that had been deemed
sufficient cause of arrest, I should have heard of more than one
arrest in Kentucky on election day. If, however, General Houston has
been arrested for no other cause than opposition to my re-election,
General Burbridge will discharge him at once, I sending him a copy of
this as an order to that effect.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL S. A. HURLBUT.
(Private.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 14, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL HURLBUT:
Few things since I have been here have impressed me more painfully
than what, for four or five months past, has appeared a bitter
military opposition to the new State government of Louisiana. I
still indulged some hope that I was mistaken in the fact; but copies
of a correspondence on the subject between General Canby and
yourself, and shown me to-day, dispel that hope. A very fair
proportion of the people of Louisiana have inaugurated a new State
government, making an excellent new constitution--better for the poor
black man than we have in Illinois. This was 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, applicable 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 standpoints of the parties, was perfectly consistent and
logical. Every Unionist ought to wish the new government to succeed;
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.
Of course, in the condition of things at New Orleans, the military
must not be thwarted by the civil authority; but when the
Constitutional Convention, for what it deems a breach of privilege,
arrests an editor in no way connected with the military, the military
necessity for insulting the convention and forcibly discharging the
editor is difficult to perceive. Neither is the military necessity
for protecting the people against paying large salaries fixed by a
legislature of their own choosing very apparent. Equally difficult
to perceive is the military necessity for forcibly interposing to
prevent a bank from loaning its own money to the State. These
things, if they have occurred, are, at the best, no better than
gratuitous hostility. I wish I could hope that they may be shown not
to have occurred. To make assurance against misunderstanding, I
repeat that in the existing condition of things in Louisiana, the
military must not be thwarted by the civil authority; and I add that
on points of difference the commanding general must be judge and
master. But I also add that in the exercise of this judgment and
control, a purpose, obvious, and scarcely unavowed, to transcend all
military necessity, in order to crush out the civil government, will
not be overlooked.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
REPLY TO MARYLAND UNION COMMITTEE,
NOVEMBER 17, 1864.
The President, in reply, said that he had to confess he had been duly
notified of the intention to make this friendly call some days ago,
and in this he had had a fair opportunity afforded to be ready with a
set speech; but he had not prepared one, being too busy for that
purpose. He would say, however, that he was gratified with the
result of the presidential election. He had kept as near as he could
to the exercise of his best judgment for the interest of the whole
country, and to have the seal of approbation stamped on the course he
had pursued was exceedingly grateful to his feelings. He thought he
could say, in as large a sense as any other man, that his pleasure
consisted in belief that the policy he had pursued was the best, if
not the only one, for the safety of the country.
He had said before, and now repeated, that he indulged in no feeling
of triumph over any man who thought or acted differently from
himself. He had no such feeling toward any living man. When he
thought of Maryland, in particular, he was of the opinion that she
had more than double her share in what had occurred in the recent
elections. The adoption of a free-State constitution was a greater
thing than the part taken by the people of the State in the
presidential election. He would any day have stipulated to lose
Maryland in the presidential election to save it by the adoption of a
free-State constitution, because the presidential election comes
every four years, while that is a thing which, being done, cannot be
undone. He therefore thought that in that they had a victory for
the right worth a great deal more than their part in the presidential
election, though of the latter he thought highly. He had once before
said, but would say again, that those who have differed with us and
opposed us will see that the result of the presidential election is
better for their own good than if they had been successful.
Thanking the committee for their compliment, he brought his brief
speech to a close.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING BLOCKADE,
NOVEMBER 19, 1864
BF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas by my proclamation of the 19th of April, 1861, it was
declared that the ports of certain States, including those of
Norfolk, in the State of Virginia, Fernandina and Pensacola, in the
State of Florida, were, for reasons therein set forth, intended to be
placed under blockade; and:
Whereas the said ports were subsequently blockaded accordingly, but
having for some time past been in the military possession of the
United States, it is deeemd advisable that they should be opened to
domestic and foreign commerce:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, 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 ports of Norfolk, Fernandina, and Pensacola shall so far
cease and determine, from and after the first day of December next,
that commercial intercourse with those ports, except as to persons,
things, and information contraband of war, may, from that time, be
carried on, subject to the laws of the United States, to the
limitations and in pursuance of the regulations which may be
prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and to such military and
naval regulations as are now in force, or may hereafter be found
necessary.
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 nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United
States the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
FIVE-STAR MOTHER
TO MRS. BIXBY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 21, 1864.
MRS. BIXBY, Boston, Massachusetts.
DEAR MADAM:--I have been shown in the files of the War Department a
statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the
mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But
I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be
found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that
our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and
leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the
solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice
upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO J. PHILLIPS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 21, 1864.
DEACON JOHN PHILLIPS.
MY DEAR SIR:--I have heard of the incident at the polls in your town,
in which you acted so honorable a part, and I take the liberty of
writing to you to express my personal gratitude for the compliment
paid me by the suffrage of a citizen so venerable.
The example of such devotion to civic duties in one whose days have
already been extended an average lifetime beyond the Psalmist's
limit, cannot but be valuable and fruitful. It is not for myself
only, but for the country which you have in your sphere served so
long and so well, that I thank you.
Your friend and servant,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE.
WASHINGTON, D. C. NOVEMBER 22, 1864.
GOVERNOR BRAMLETTE, Frankfort, Ky.:
Yours of to-day received. It seems that Lieutenant-Governor Jacobs
and Colonel Wolford are stationary now. General Sudarth and Mr.
Hodges are here, and the Secretary of War and myself are trying to
devise means of pacification and harmony for Kentucky, which we hope
to effect soon, now that the passion-exciting subject of the election
is past.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN,
WASHINGTON, D.C., NOVEMBER 25, 1864
GOVERNOR CURTIN, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania;
I have no knowledge, information, or belief, that three States--or
any States, offer to resume allegiance.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON D.C., NOV. 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.
MEMORANDUM,
DECEMBER 3, 1864.
On Thursday of last week, two ladies from Tennessee came before the
President, asking the release of their husbands held as prisoners of
war at Johnson's Island. They were put off until Friday, when they
came again, and were again put off until Saturday. At each of the
interviews one of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious
man, and on Saturday the President ordered the release of the
prisoners, when he said to this lady: "You say your husband is a
religious man; tell him when you meet him, that I say I am not much
of a judge of religion, but that, in my opinion, the religion that
sets men to rebel and fight against their own government, because, as
they think, that government does not sufficiently help some men to
eat their bread in the sweat of other men's faces, is not the sort of
religion upon which people can get to heaven."
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING THE STEAMER "FUNAYMA SOLACE."
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 3, 1864.
A war steamer, called the Funayma Solace, having been built in this
country, for the Japanese government and at the instance of that
government, it is deemed to comport with the public interest, in view
of the unsettled condition of the relations of the United States with
that Empire, that the steamer should not be allowed to proceed to
Japan. If, however, the Secretary of the Navy should ascertain that
the steamer is adapted to our service, he is authorized to purchase
her, but the purchase money will be held in trust toward satisfying
any valid claims which may be presented by the Japanese on account of
the construction of the steamer and the failure to deliver the same,
as above set forth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY, December 5, 1864
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: `
In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Captain John A. Winslow, United States Navy, receive a vote of
thanks from Congress for the skill and gallantry exhibited by him in
the brilliant action whilst in command of the United States steamer
Keaysarge, which led to the total destruction of the piratical craft
Alabama, on the 19th of June, 1864., a vessel superior in tonnage,
superior in number of guns, and superior in number of crew.
This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the aforesaid act, which is in
the following words, viz:
That any line officer of the navy or marine corps may be advanced one
grade, if, upon recommendation by the President by name he receives
the thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict
with the enemy, or far extraordinary heroism in the line of his
profession.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY, December 5, 1864.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially recommend
that Lieutenant William B. Gushing, United States Navy, receive a
vote of thanks from Congress for his important, gallant, and perilous
achievement in destroying the rebel ironclad steamer Albemarle on the
night of the 27th of October, i86q., at Plymouth, N. C.
The destruction of so formidable a vessel, which had resisted the
continued attacks of a number of our vessels on former occasions, is
an important event touching our future naval and military operations,
and would reflect honor on any officer, and redounds to the credit of
this young officer and the few brave comrades who assisted in this
successful and daring undertaking.
This recommendation is specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the Aforesaid act, which is in
the following words, namely:
That any line officer of the navy or marine corps may be advanced one
grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he receives the
thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with
the enemy, or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his
profession.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
DECEMBER 6, 1864.
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES:
Again the blessings of health and abundant harvests claim our
profoundest gratitude to Almighty God.
The condition of our foreign affairs is reasonably satisfactory.
Mexico continues to be a theater of civil war. While our political
relations with that country have undergone no change, we have at the
same time strictly maintained neutrality between the belligerents.
At the request of the States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, a competent
engineer has been authorized to make a survey of the river San Juan
and the port of San Juan. It is a source of much satisfaction that
the difficulties which for a moment excited some political
apprehensions and caused a closing of the interoceanic transit route
have been amicably adjusted, and that there is a good prospect that
the route will soon be reopened with an increase of capacity and
adaptation. We could not exaggerate either the commercial or the
political importance of that great improvement.
It would be doing injustice to an important South American State not
to acknowledge the directness, frankness, and cordiality with which
the United States of Colombia have entered into intimate relations
with this government. A claims convention has been constituted to
complete the unfinished work of the one which closed its session in
1861.
The new liberal constitution of Venezuela having gone into effect
with the universal acquiescence of the people, the government under
it has been recognized and diplomatic intercourse with it has opened
in a cordial and friendly spirit. The long-deferred Aves Island
claim has been satisfactorily paid and discharged.
Mutual payments have been made of the claims awarded by the late
joint commission for the settlement of claims between the United
States and Peru. An earnest and cordial friendship continues to
exist between the two countries, and such efforts as were in my power
have been used to remove misunderstanding, and avert a threatened war
between Peru and Spain.
Our relations are of the most friendly nature with Chile, the
Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, San Salvador, and
Haiti.
During the past year no differences of any kind have arisen with any
of these republics, and on the other hand, their sympathies with the
United States are constantly expressed with cordiality and
earnestness.
The claim arising from the seizure of the cargo of the brig
Macedonian in 1821 has been paid in full by the Government of Chile.
Civil war continues in the Spanish part of San Domingo, apparently
without prospect of an early close.
Official correspondence has been freely opened with Liberia, and it
gives us a pleasing view of social and political progress in that
republic. It may be expected to derive new vigor from American
influence improved by the rapid disappearance of slavery in the
United States.
I solicit your authority to furnish to the republic a gunboat, at
moderate cost, to be reimbursed to the United States by instalments.
Such a vessel is needed for the safety of that state against the
native African races, and in Liberian hands it would be more
effective in arresting the African slave-trade than a squadron in our
own hands. The possession of the least organized naval force would
stimulate a generous ambition in the republic, and the confidence
which we should manifest by furnishing it would win forbearance and
favor toward the colony from all civilized nations.
The proposed overland telegraph between America and Europe, by the
way of Bering Straits and Asiatic Russia, which was sanctioned by
Congress at the last session, has been undertaken, under very
favorable circumstances, by an association of American citizens, with
the cordial good-will and support as well of this Government as of
those of Great Britain and Russia. Assurances have been received
from most of the South American States of their high appreciation of
the enterprise and their readiness to co-operate in constructing
lines tributary to that world-encircling communication. I learn with
much satisfaction that the noble design of a telegraphic
communication between the eastern coast of America and Great Britain
has been renewed, with full expectation of its early accomplishment.
Thus it is hoped that with the return of domestic peace the country
will be able to resume with energy and advantage its former high
career of commerce and civilization.
Our very popular and estimable representative in Egypt died in April
last. An unpleasant altercation which arose between the temporary
incumbent of the office and the Government of the Pasha resulted in a
suspension of intercourse. The evil was promptly corrected on the
arrival of the successor in the consulate, and our relations with
Egypt, as well as our relations with the Barbary Powers) are entirely
satisfactory.
The rebellion which has so long been flagrant in China has at last
been suppressed, with the co-operating good offices of this
Government and of the other Western commercial States. The judicial
consular establishment there has become very difficult and onerous,
and it will need legislative revision to adapt it to the extension of
our commerce and to the more intimate intercourse which has been
instituted with the Government and people of that vast Empire. China
seems to be accepting with hearty good-will the conventional laws
which regulate commercial and social intercourse among the Western
nations.
Owing to the peculiar situation of Japan and the anomalous form of
its Government, the action of that empire in performing treaty
stipulations is inconstant and capricious. Nevertheless, good
progress has been effected by the Western powers, moving with
enlightened concert. Our own pecuniary claims have been allowed or
put in course of settlement, and the inland sea has been reopened to
commerce. There is reason also to believe that these proceedings
have increased rather than diminished the friendship of Japan toward
the United States.
The ports of Norfolk, Fernandina, and Pensacola have been opened by
proclamation. It is hoped that foreign merchants will now consider
whether it is not safer and more profitable to themselves, as well as
just to the United States, to resort to these and other open ports
than it is to pursue, through many hazards and at vast cost, a
contraband trade with other ports which are closed, if not by actual
military occupation, at least by a lawful and effective blockade.
For myself, I have no doubt of the power and duty of the Executive,
under the law of nations, to exclude enemies of the human race from
an asylum in the United States. If Congress should think that
proceedings in such cases lack the authority of law, or ought to be
further regulated by it, I recommend that provision be made for
effectually preventing foreign slave traders from acquiring domicile
and facilities for their criminal occupation in our country.
It is possible that if it were a new and open question the maritime
powers, with the lights they now enjoy, would not concede the
privileges of a naval belligerent to the insurgents of the United
States, destitute, as they are, and always have been, equally of
ships of war and of ports and harbors. Disloyal emissaries have been
neither assiduous nor more successful during the last year than they
were before that time in their efforts, under favor of that
privilege, to embroil our country in foreign wars. The desire and
determination of the governments of the maritime states to defeat
that design are believed to be as sincere as and can not be more
earnest than our own. Nevertheless, unforeseen political
difficulties have arisen, especially in Brazilian and British ports
and on the northern boundary of the United States, which have
required, and are likely to continue to require, the practice of
constant vigilance and a just and conciliatory spirit on the part of
the United States, as well as of the nations concerned and their
governments.
Commissioners have been appointed under the treaty with Great Britain
on the adjustment of the claims of the Hudson Bay and Puget Sound
Agricultural Companies, in Oregon, and are now proceeding to the
execution of the trust assigned to them.
In view of the insecurity of life and property in the region adjacent
to the Canadian border, by reason of recent assaults and depredations
committed by inimical and desperate persons who are harbored there,
it has been thought proper to give notice that after the expiration
of six months, the period conditionally stipulated in the existing
arrangement with Great Britain, the United States must hold
themselves at liberty to increase their naval armament upon the Lakes
if they shall find that proceeding necessary. The condition of the
border will necessarily come into consideration in connection with
the question of continuing or modifying the rights of transit from
Canada through the United States, as well as the regulation of
imposts, which were temporarily established by the reciprocity treaty
of the 5th June, 1854.
I desire, however, to be understood while making this statement that
the colonial authorities of Canada are not deemed to be intentionally
unjust or unfriendly toward the United States, but, on the contrary,
there is every reason to expect that, with the approval of the
Imperial Government, they will take the necessary measures to prevent
new incursions across the border.
The act passed at the last session for the encouragement of
immigration has so far as was possible been put into operation. It
seems to need amendment which will enable the officers of the
Government to prevent the practice of frauds against the immigrants
while on their way and on their arrival in the ports, so as to secure
them here a free choice of avocations and places of settlement. A
liberal disposition toward this great national policy is manifested
by most of the European States, and ought to be reciprocated on our
part by giving the immigrants effective national protection. I
regard our immigrants as one of the principal replenishing streams
which are appointed by Providence to repair the ravages of internal
war and its wastes of national strength and health. All that is
necessary is to secure the flow of that stream in its present
fullness, and to that end the Government must in every way make it
manifest that it neither needs nor designs to impose involuntary
military service upon those who come from other lands to cast their
lot in our country. The financial affairs of the Government have
been successfully administered during the last year. The legislation
of the last session of Congress has beneficially affected the
revenues, although sufficient time has not yet elapsed to experience
the full effect of several of the provisions of the acts of Congress
imposing increased taxation.
The receipts during the year from all sources, upon the basis of
warrants signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, including loans and
the balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July, 1863, were
$1,394,
196,007.62, and the aggregate disbursements, upon the same basis,
were $1,298,056,101.89, leaving a balance in the Treasury, as shown
by warrants, of $96,739,905.73.
Deduct from these amounts the amount of the principal of the public
debt redeemed and the amount of issues in substitution therefor, and
the actual cash operations of the Treasury were: receipts,
$884,076,646.57; disbursements, $865,234,087.86; which leaves a cash
balance in the Treasury of $18,842,558.71.
Of the receipts there were derived from customs $102,316,152.99,
from lands $588,333.29, from direct taxes $475,648.96, from
internal revenue $109,741,134.10, from miscellaneous sources
$47,511,448.10, and from loans applied to actual expenditures,
including former balance, $623,443,929.13.
There were disbursed for the civil service $27,505,599.46, for
pensions and Indians $7,517,930.97, for the War Department
$690,791,842.97, for the Navy Department $85,733,292.77, for interest
on the public debt $53,685,421.69, making an aggregate of
$865,234,087.86, and leaving a balance in the Treasury of
$18,842,558.71, as before stated.
For the actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter and
the estimated receipts and disbursements for the three remaining
quarters of the current fiscal year, and the general operations of
the Treasury in detail, I refer you to the report of the Secretary of
the Treasury. I concur with him in the opinion that the proportion
of moneys required to meet the expenses consequent upon the war
derived from taxation should be still further increased; and I
earnestly invite your attention to this subject to the end that there
be such additional legislation as shall be required to meet the just
expectations of the Secretary.
The public debt on the first day of July last, as appears by the
books of the Treasury, amounted to $1,740,690,489.49. Probably,
should the war continue for another year, that amount may be
increased by not far from $500,000,000. Held, as it is, for the most
part by our own people, it has become a substantial branch of
national, though private, property. For obvious reasons the more
nearly this property can be distributed among all the people the
better. To favor such general distribution, greater inducements to
become owners might, perhaps, with good effect and without injury be
presented to persons of limited means. With this view I suggest
whether it might not be both competent and expedient for Congress to
provide that a limited amount of some future issue of public
securities might be held by any bona fide purchaser exempt from
taxation and from seizure for debt, under such restrictions and
limitations as might be necessary to guard against abuse of so
important a privilege. This would enable every prudent person to set
aside a small annuity against a possible day of want.
Privileges like these would render the possession of such securities
to the amount limited most desirable to every person of small means
who might be able to save enough for the purpose. The great
advantage of citizens being creditors as well as debtors with
relation to the public debt is obvious. Men readily perceive that
they can not be much oppressed by a debt which they owe to
themselves.
The public debt on the first day of July last, although somewhat
exceeding the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury made to
Congress at the commencement of the last session, falls short of the
estimate of that officer made in the preceding December as to its
probable amount at the beginning of this year by the sum of
$3,995,097.31. This fact exhibits a satisfactory condition and
conduct of the operations of the Treasury.
The national banking system is proving to be acceptable to
capitalists and to the people. On the twenty-fifth day of November
five hundred and eighty-four national banks had been organized, a
considerable number of which were conversions from State banks.
Changes from State systems to the national system are rapidly taking
place, and it is hoped that very soon there will be in the United
States no banks of issue not authorized by Congress and no bank-note
circulation not secured by the Government. That the Government and
the people will derive great benefit from this change in the banking
systems of the country can hardly be questioned. The national system
will create a reliable and permanent influence in support of the
national credit and protect the people against losses in the use of
paper money. Whether or not any further legislation is advisable for
the suppression of State-bank issues, it will be for Congress to
determine. It seems quite clear that the Treasury can not be
satisfactorily conducted unless the Government can exercise a
restraining power over the bank-note circulation of the country.
The report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents
will detail the campaigns of the armies in the field since the date
of the last annual message, and also the operations of the several
administrative bureaus of the War Department during the last year.
It will also specify the measures deemed essential for the national
defense and to keep up and supply the requisite military force.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents a comprehensive and
satisfactory exhibit of the affairs of that Department and of the
naval service. It is a subject of congratulation and laudable pride
to our countrymen that a Navy of such vast proportions has been
organized in so brief a period and conducted with so much efficiency
and success.
The general exhibit of the Navy, including vessels under construction
on the first of December, 1864, shows a total of 671 vessels,
carrying 4610 guns, and of 510,396 tons, being an actual increase
during the year, over and above all losses by shipwreck or in battle,
of 83 vessels, 167 guns, and 42,427 tons.
The total number of men at this time in the naval service, including
officers, is about 51,000.
There have been captured by the Navy during the year 324 vessels, and
the whole number of naval captures since hostilities commenced is
1379, of which 267 are steamers.
The gross proceeds arising from the sale of condemned prize property
thus far reported amount to $14,369,250.51. A large amount of such
proceeds is still under adjudication and yet to be reported.
The total expenditure of the Navy Department of every description,
including the cost of the immense squadrons that have been called
into existence from the fourth of March, 1861, to the first of
November, 1864, is $238,647,262.35.
Your favorable consideration is invited to the various
recommendations of the Secretary of the Navy, especially in regard to
a navy-yard and suitable establishment for the construction and
repair of iron vessels and the machinery and armature for our ships,
to which reference was made in my last annual message.
Your attention is also invited to the views expressed in the report
in relation to the legislation of Congress at its last session in
respect to prize on our inland waters.
I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary as to the
propriety of creating the new rank of vice-admiral in our naval
service.
Your attention is invited to the report of the Postmaster-General for
a detailed account of the operations and financial condition of the
Post-Office Department.
The postal revenues for the year ending June 30, 1864, amounted to
$12,438,253.78, and the expenditures to $12,644,786.20, the excess of
expenditures over receipts being $206,532.42.
The views presented by the Postmaster-General on the subject of
special grants by the Government in aid of the establishment of new
lines of ocean mail steamships and the policy he recommends for the
development of increased commercial intercourse with adjacent and
neighboring countries should receive the careful consideration of
Congress.
It is of noteworthy interest that the steady expansion of population,
improvement, and governmental institutions over the new and
unoccupied portions of our country have scarcely been checked, much
less impeded or destroyed, by our great civil war, which at first
glance would seem to have absorbed almost the entire energies of the
nation.
The organization and admission of the State of Nevada has been
completed in conformity with law, and thus our excellent system is
firmly established in the mountains, which once seemed a barren and
uninhabitable waste between the Atlantic States and those which have
grown up on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
The Territories of the Union are generally in a condition of
prosperity and rapid growth. Idaho and Montana, by reason of their
great distance and the interruption of communication with them by
Indian hostilities, have been only partially organized; but it is
understood that these difficulties are about to disappear, which will
permit their governments, like those of the others, to go into speedy
and full operation.
As intimately connected with and promotive of this material growth of
the nation, I ask the attention of Congress to the valuable
information and important recommendations relating to the public
lands, Indian affairs, the Pacific Railroad, and mineral discoveries
contained in the report of the Secretary of the Interior which is
herewith transmitted, and which report also embraces the subjects of
patents, pensions, and other topics of public interest pertaining to
his Department.
The quantity of public land disposed of during the five quarters
ending on the thirtieth of September last was 4,221,342 acres, of
which 1,538,614 acres were entered under the homestead law. The
remainder was located with military land warrants, agricultural scrip
certified to States for railroads, and sold for cash. The cash
received from sales and location fees was $1,019,446.
The income from sales during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864,
was $678,007.21, against $136,077.95 received during the preceding
year. The aggregate number of acres surveyed during the year has
been equal to the quantity disposed of, and there is open to
settlement about 133,000,000 acres of surveyed land.
The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific
States by railways and telegraph lines has been entered upon with a
vigor that gives assurance of success, notwithstanding the
embarrassments arising from the prevailing high prices of materials
and labor. The route of the main line of the road has been
definitely located for one hundred miles westward from the initial
point at Omaha City, Nebraska, and a preliminary location of the
Pacific Railroad of California has been made from Sacramento eastward
to the great bend of the Truckee River in Nevada.
Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar mines have been
added to the many heretofore known, and the country occupied by the
Sierra Nevada and Rocky mountains and the subordinate ranges now
teems with enterprising labor, which is richly remunerative. It is
believed that the produce of the mines of precious metals in that
region has during the year reached, if not exceeded, $100,000,000 in
value.
It was recommended in my last annual message that our Indian system
be remodeled. Congress at its last session, acting upon the
recommendation, did provide for reorganizing the system in
California, and it is believed that under the present organization
the management of the Indians there will be attended with reasonable
success. Much yet remains to be done to provide for the proper
government of the Indians in other parts of the country, to render it
secure for the advancing settler, and to provide for the welfare of
the Indian. The Secretary reiterates his recommendations, and to
them the attention of Congress is invited.
The liberal provisions made by Congress for paying pensions to
invalid soldiers and sailors of the Republic and to the widows,
orphans, and dependent mothers of those who have fallen in battle or
died of disease contracted or of wounds received in the service of
their country have been diligently administered. There have been
added to the pension rolls during the year ending the 3oth day of
June last the names of 16,770 invalid soldiers and of 271 disabled
seamen, making the present number of army invalid pensioners 22,767
and of navy invalid pensioners 712.
Of widows, orphans, and mothers 22,198 have been placed on the army
pension rolls and 248 on the navy rolls. The present number of army
pensioners of this class is 25,433 and of navy pensioners 793. At
the beginning of the year the number of Revolutionary pensioners was
1430. Only twelve of them were soldiers, of whom seven have since
died. The remainder are those who under the law receive pensions
because of relationship to Revolutionary soldiers. During the year
ending the thirtieth of June, 1864, $4,504,616.92 have been paid to
pensioners of all classes.
I cheerfully commend to your continued patronage the benevolent
institutions of the District of Columbia which have hitherto been
established or fostered by Congress, and respectfully refer for
information concerning them and in relation to the Washington
Aqueduct, the Capitol, and other matters of local interest to the
report of the Secretary.
The Agricultural Department, under the supervision of its present
energetic and faithful head, is rapidly commending itself to the
great and vital interest it was created to advance. It is peculiarly
the people's department, in which they feel more directly concerned
than in any other. I commend it to the continued attention and
fostering care of Congress.
The war continues. Since the last annual message all the important
lines and positions then occupied by our forces have been maintained
and our arms have steadily advanced, thus liberating the regions left
in rear, so that Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of other
States have again produced reasonably fair crops.
The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is
General Sherman's attempted march of three hundred miles directly
through the insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of
our relative strength that our General-in-Chief should feel able to
confront and hold in check every active force of the enemy, and yet
to detach a well-appointed large army to move on such an expedition.
The result not yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is not
here indulged.
Important movements have also occurred during the year to the effect
of molding society for durability in the Union. Although short of
complete success, it is much in the right direction that twelve
thousand citizens in each of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana
have organized loyal State governments, with free constitutions, and
are earnestly struggling to maintain and administer them. The
movements in the same direction more extensive though less definite
in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, should not be overlooked. But
Maryland presents the example of complete success. Maryland is
secure to liberty and union for all the future. The genius of
rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul spirit
being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her no
more.
At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the
Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed
the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in
the House of Representatives. Although the present is the same
Congress and nearly the same members, and without questioning the
wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to
recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the
present session. Of course the abstract question is not changed; but
an intervening election shows almost certainly that the next Congress
will pass the measure if this does not. Hence there is only a
question of time as to 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 element 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 deference 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 most clearly declared in favor of such Constitutional
amendment.
The most reliable indication of public purpose in this country is
derived through our popular elections. Judging by the recent canvass
and its result, the purpose of the people within the loyal States to
maintain the integrity of the Union was never more firm nor more
nearly unanimous than now. The extraordinary calmness and good order
with which the millions of voters met and mingled at the polls give
strong assurance of this. Not only all those who supported the Union
ticket, so called, but a great majority of the opposing party also
may be fairly claimed to entertain and to be actuated by the same
purpose. It is an unanswerable argument to this effect that no
candidate for any office whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek
votes on the avowal that he was for giving up the Union. There have
been much impugning of motives and much heated controversy as to the
proper means and best mode of advancing the Union cause, but on the
distinct issue of Union or no Union the politicians have shown their
instinctive knowledge that there is no diversity among the people.
In affording the people the fair opportunity of showing one to
another and to the world this firmness and unanimity of purpose, the
election has been of vast value to the national cause.
The election has exhibited another fact not less valuable to be
known--the fact that we do not approach exhaustion in the most
important branch of national resources, that of living men. While it
is melancholy to reflect that the war has 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, to wit, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and
Wisconsin, 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 1860, thus swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773 and the net
increase during the three years and a half of war to 145,551. A
table is appended showing particulars. To this again should be added
the number of all soldiers in the field from Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, and California, who
by the laws of those States could not vote away from their homes, and
which number can not 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 sentence recognizes the concern of a guerilla
war after the main war finished.]This as to men. Material resources
are now more complete and abundant than ever.
The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe,
inexhaustible. The public purpose to re-establish and maintain the
national authority is unchanged, and, as we believe, unchangeable.
The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On careful
consideration of all the evidence accessible it seems to me that no
attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in any
good. He would accept nothing short of severance of the Union,
precisely what we will not and can not 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 ourselves. He can
not voluntarily reaccept 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.
What is true, however, of him who heads the insurgent cause is not
necessarily true of those who follow. Although he can not reaccept
the Union, they can. Some of them, we know, already desire peace and
reunion. The number of such may increase. They can at any moment
have peace simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the
national authority under the Constitution. After so much the
Government could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The
loyal people would not sustain or allow it. If questions should
remain, we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation,
conference, courts, and votes, operating only in Constitutional and
lawful channels. Some certain, and other possible, questions are and
would be beyond the Executive power to adjust; as, for instance, the
admission of members into Congress and whatever might require the
appropriation of money. The Executive power itself would be greatly
diminished by the cessation of actual war. Pardons and remissions of
forfeitures, however, would still be within Executive control. In
what spirit and temper this control would be exercised can be fairly
judged of by the past.
A year ago general pardon and amnesty, upon specified terms, were
offered to all except certain designated classes, and it was at the
same time made known that the excepted classes were still within
contemplation of special clemency. During the year many availed
themselves of the general provision, and many more would, only that
the signs of bad faith in some led to such precautionary measures as
rendered the practical process less easy and certain. During the
same time also special pardons have been granted to individuals of
the excepted classes, and no voluntary application has been denied.
Thus practically the door has been for a full year open to all except
such as were not in condition to make free choice; that is, such as
were in custody or under constraint. It is still so open to all.
But the time may come, probably will come, when public duty shall
demand that it be closed and that in lieu more rigorous measures than
heretofore shall be adopted.
In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national
authority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable
condition to ending the war on the part of the Government, I retract
nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made
a year ago, that "while I remain in my present position I shall not
attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall
I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that
proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress." If the people
should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-
enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to
perform it.
In stating a single condition of peace I mean simply to say that the
war will cease on the part of the Government whenever it shall have
ceased on the part of those who began it.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
DECEMBER 6, 1864.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I believe I shall never be old enough
to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk about. I
have no good news to tell you, and yet I have no bad news to tell.
We have talked of elections until there is nothing more to say about
them. The most interesting news now we have is from Sherman. We all
know where he went in at, but I can't tell where he will come out at.
I will now close by proposing three cheers for General Sherman and
his army.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR HALL.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 7, 1864.
GOVERNOR HALL, Jefferson City, 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 United States service. Please inquire into
the matter and correct anything you may find amiss if in your power.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO COLONEL FASLEIGH.
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.
ORDER APPOINTING COMMISSIONERS TO INVESTIGATE THE MILITARY DIVISION
WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 10, 1864.
ORDERED, First, that Major-General William P. Smith and the Hon.
Henry Stanbery be, and they are hereby, appointed special
commissioners to investigate and report, for the information of the
President; upon the civil and military administration in the military
division bordering upon and west of the Mississippi, under such
instructions as shall be issued by authority of the President and the
War Department.
Second, said commissioners shall have power to examine witnesses upon
oath, and to take such proofs orally or in writing, upon the subject-
matters of investigation as they may deem expedient, and return the
same together with their report.
Third, all officers and persons in the military, naval and revenue
services, or in any branch of the public service under the authority
of the United States Government, are required, upon subpoena issued
by direction of the said commissioners, to appear before them at such
time and place as may be designated in said subpoena and to give
testimony on oath touching such matters as may be inquired of by the
commissioners, and to produce such books, papers, writings, and
documents as they may be notified or required to produce by the
commissioners, and as may be in their possession.
Fourth, said special commissioners shall also investigate and report
upon any other matters that may hereafter be directed by the
Secretary of War, and shall with all convenient dispatch make report
to him in writing of their investigation, and shall also from time to
time make special reports to the Secretary of War upon such matters
as they may deem of importance to the public interests.
Fifth, the Secretary of War shall assign to the said commissioners
such aid and assistance as may be required for the performance of
their duties, and make such just and reasonable allowances and
compensation for the said commissioners and for the persons employed
by them as he may deem proper.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G, H. THOMAS.
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 16, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS, Nashville, Tennessee:
Please accept for yourself, officers, and men, the nation's thanks
for your good work of yesterday. You made a magnificent beginning; a
grand consummation is within your easy reach. Do not let it slip.
A. LINCOLN,
ORIGIN OF THE "GREENBACK" CURRENCY
TO COLONEL B. D. TAYLOR
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December [16 ?], 1864.
DEAR COLONEL DICK:--I have long determined to make public the origin
of the greenback and tell the world that it is Dick Taylor's
creation. You had always been friendly to me, and when troublous
times fell on us, and my shoulders, though broad and willing, were
weak, and myself surrounded by such circumstances and such people
that I knew not whom to trust, then I said in my extremity: "I will
send for Colonel Taylor; he will know what to do." I think it was in
January, 1862, on or about the 16th, that I did so. You came, and I
said to you:
"What can we do?" Said you, "Why, issue Treasury notes bearing no
interest, printed on the best banking paper. Issue enough to pay off
the Army expenses and declare it legal tender."
Chase thought it a hazardous thing, but we finally accomplished it,
and gave the people of this Republic the greatest blessing they ever
had-their own paper to pay their own debts.
It is due to you, the father of the present greenback, that the
people should know it, and I take great pleasure in making it known.
How many times have I laughed at you telling me plainly that I was
too lazy to be anything but a lawyer.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER IN COMMAND AT CHATTANOOGA.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 16, 1864
OFFICER IN COMMAND at Chattanooga, Tenn.:
It is said that Harry Walters, a private in the Anderson cavalry, 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 imprisoned.
A. LINCOLN.
CALL FOR 300,000 VOLUNTEERS, DECEMBER 19, 1864.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
A Proclamation
Whereas, by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further
to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the
national forces, and for other purposes," it is provided that the
President of the United States may, "at his discretion, at any time
hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers for the
respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service,"
and "that in case the quota or any part thereof of any town,
township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any
country not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of
fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately
order a draft for one year to fill such quota or any part thereof
which may be unfilled;" and
Whereas, by the credits allowed in accordance with the act of
Congress on the call for 500,000 men, made July 18, 1864, the number
of men to be obtained under that call was reduced to 280,000; and
Whereas, the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered
it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops
under said call; and
Whereas, from the foregoing causes but 240,000 men have been put into
the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps under the said call of July 18,
1864, leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty
thousand (260,000):
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency and to provide
for casualties in the military and naval service of the United
States, do issue this my call for three hundred thousand (300,000)
volunteers to serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the
States, districts, and subdistricts under this call will be assigned
by the War Department through the bureau of the Provost-Marshal
General of the United States, and "in case the quota or any part
thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election
district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled"
before the fifteenth of February, 1865, then a draft shall be made to
fill such quota or any part thereof under this call which may be
unfilled on said fifteenth day of February, 1865.
In testimony 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.
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA
TO GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
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 advantages; 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
opposing 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 of
officers and men.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER IN COMMAND AT LEXINGTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, December 27, 1864.
OFFICER IN COMMAND at Lexington, Ky.:
If within your power send me the particulars of the causes for which
Lieutenant-Governor Jacob was arrested and sent away.
A. LINCOLN.
TO J. MACLEAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 27, 1864.
Dr. JOHN MACLEAN:
MY DEAR SIR:--I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your
note of the twentieth of December, conveying the announcement that
the Trustees of the College of New Jersey had conferred upon me the
degree of Doctor of Laws.
The assurance conveyed by this high compliment, that the course of
the Government which I represent, has received the approval of a body
of gentlemen of such character and intelligence, in this time of
public trial, is most grateful to me.
Thoughtful men must feel that the fate of civilization upon this
continent is involved in the issue of our contest. Among the most
gratifying proofs of this conviction is the hearty devotion
everywhere exhibited by our schools and colleges to the national
cause.
I am most thankful if my labors have seemed to conduct to the
preservation of those institutions, under which alone we can expect
good government and in its train sound learning, and the progress of
the liberal arts.
I am, sir, very truly, your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER IN COMMAND AT NASHVILLE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, December 28, 1864.
OFFICER IN COMMAND at Nashville, Tenn.:
Suspend execution of James R. Mallory, for six weeks from Friday the
thirtieth of this month, which time I have given his friends to make
proof, if they can, upon certain points.
A. LINCOLN,
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., December 28, 1864. 5.30 p.m.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
If there be no objection, please tell me what you now understand of
the Wilmington expedition, present and prospective.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
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 Chapin's Farm,
Va.; under the assumed name of William Stanley, 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.
TELEGRAM TO COLONEL WARNER.
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. If this be true, telegraph me to that effect at once.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO J. WILLIAMS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 4, 1865.
JOHN WILLIAMS, Springfield, Ill.:
Let Trumbo's substitute be regularly mustered in, send me the
evidence that it is done and I will then discharge Trumbo.
A. LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WASHINGTON, January 5, 1865.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES:
I herewith return to your honorable body, in which it originated, a
"joint resolution to correct certain clerical errors in the internal
revenue act," without my approval.
My reason for so doing is that I am informed that this joint
resolution was prepared during the last moments of the last session
of Congress for the purpose of correcting certain errors of reference
in the internal revenue act, which were discovered on an examination
of an official copy procured from the State Department a few hours
only before the adjournment. It passed the House and went to the
Senate, where a vote was taken upon it, but by some accident it was
not presented to the President of the Senate for his signature.
Since the adjournment of the last session of Congress, other errors
of a kind similar to those which this resolution was designed to
correct, have been discovered in the law, and it is now thought most
expedient to include all the necessary corrections in one act or
resolution.
The attention of the proper committee of the House has, I am
informed, been already directed to the preparation of a bill for this
purpose.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 5, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Richard T. Jacob, Lieutenant-Governor of Kentucky, is at the
Spotswood House, in Richmond, under an order of General Burbridge not
to return to Kentucky. Please communicate leave to him to pass our
lines, and come to me here at Washington.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 6, 1865, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point:
If 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.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS,
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1865.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I transmit to Congress a
copy of two treaties between the United States and Belgium, for the
extinguishment of the Scheldt dues, etc., concluded on the twentieth
of May, 1863, and twentieth of July, 1863, respectively, the
ratifications of which were exchanged at Brussels on the twenty-
fourth of June last; and I recommend an appropriation to carry into
effect the provisions thereof relative to the payment of the
proportion of the United States toward the capitalization of the said
dues.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO SCHUYLER COLFAX.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1865.
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SIR:--I transmit herewith the letter of the Secretary of War, with
accompanying report of the Adjutant-General, in reply to the
resolution of the House of Representatives, dated December 7, 1864,
requesting me "to communicate to the House the report made by Col.
Thomas M. Key of an interview between himself and General Howell Cobb
on the fourteenth [15th] day of June, 1862, on the banks of the
Chickahominy, on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war."
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING COMMERCE,
JANUARY 10, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas the act of Congress of the twenty-eighth of September, 1850,
entitled "An act to create additional collection districts in the
State of California, and to change the existing districts therein,
and to modify the existing collection districts in the United
States," extends to merchandise warehoused under bond the privilege
of being exported to the British North American provinces adjoining
the United States, in the manner prescribed in the act of Congress of
the third of March, 1845, which designates certain frontier ports
through which merchandise may be exported, and further provides "that
such other ports situated on the frontiers of the United States,
adjoining the British North American provinces, as may hereafter be
found expedient, may have extended to them the like privileges on the
recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, and proclamation
duly made by the President of the United States, specially
designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges are to be
extended;"
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of
America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of
the Treasury, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of St.
Albans, in the State of Vermont, is, and shall be, entitled to all
the privileges in regard to the exportation of merchandise in bond to
the British North American provinces adjoining the United States,
which are extended to the ports enumerated in the seventh section of
the act of Congress of the third of March, 1845, aforesaid, from and
after the date of this proclamation.
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 tenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred-and sixty-five, and of
the independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL B. F. BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 10, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
No principal report of yours on the Wilmington expedition has ever
reached the War Department, as I am informed there. A preliminary
report did reach here, but was returned to General Grant at his
request. Of course, leave to publish cannot be given without
inspection of the paper, and not then if it should be deemed to be
detrimental to the public service.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL B. F. BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort Monroe, Va.:
Yours asking leave to come to Washington is received. You have been
summoned by the Committee on the Conduct of the War to attend here,
which, of course, you will do.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 15, 1865.
GOVERNOR JOHNSON, Nashville, Tennessee:
Yours announcing ordinance of emancipation received. Thanks to the
convention and to you. When do you expect to be here? Would be glad
to have your suggestion as to supplying your place of military
governor.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. M. DODGE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 15, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL DODGE, St. Louis, Missouri:
It is represented to me that there is so much irregular violence in
northern Missouri as to be driving away the people and almost
depopulating it. Please gather information, and consider whether an
appeal to the people there to go to their homes and let one another
alone recognizing as a full right of protection for each that he lets
others alone, and banning only him who refuses to let others alone
may not enable you to withdraw the troops, their presence itself
[being] a cause of irritation and constant apprehension, and thus
restore peace and quiet, and returning prosperity. Please consider
this and telegraph or write me.
A. LINCOLN.
FIRST OVERTURES FOR SURRENDER FROM DAVIS
TO P. P. BLAIR, SR.
WASHINGTON, January 18, 1865.
F. P. BLAIR, ESQ.
SIR:-You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the twelfth
instant, you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and
shall continue, ready to receive any agent 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.
Yours, etc.,
A. LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 19, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but
only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having
graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it
ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a
commission, to which those who have already served long are better
entitled and better qualified to hold. Could he, without
embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your
military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public,
furnishing his necessary means? If no, say so without the least
hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested that you
shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL DODGE.
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 the execution till further order.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ORD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 19, 1864
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 different.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. M. DODGE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 24, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL DODGE, St. Louis, Mo.:
It is said an old lady in Clay County, Missouri, by name Mrs.
Winifred B. Price, is about being sent South. If she is not
misbehaving let her remain.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 2¢, 1865.
HON. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tennessee:
Several members of the Cabinet, with myself, considered the question,
to-day, as to the time of your coming on here. While we fully
appreciate your wish to remain in Tennessee until her State
government shall be completely reinaugurated, it is our unanimous
conclusion that it is unsafe for you to not be here on the 4th of
March. Be sure to reach here by that time.
A. LINCOLN.
REPLY TO A COMMITTEE, JANUARY 24, 1865.
REVEREND SIR, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
I accept with emotions of profoundest gratitude, the beautiful gift
you have been pleased to present to me. You will, of course, expect
that I acknowledge it. So much has been said about Gettysburg and so
well, that for me to attempt to say more may perhaps only serve to
weaken the force of that which has already been said. A most
graceful and eloquent tribute was paid to the patriotism and self-
denying labors of the American ladies, on the occasion of the
consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, by our
illustrious friend, Edward Everett, now, alas! departed from earth.
His life was a truly great one, and I think the greatest part of it
was that which crowned its closing years, I wish you to read, if you
have not already done so, the eloquent and truthful words which he
then spoke of the women of America. Truly, the services they have
rendered to the defenders of our country in this perilous time, and
are yet rendering, can never be estimated as they ought to be. For
your kind wishes to me personally, I beg leave to render you likewise
my sincerest thanks. I assure you they are reciprocated. And now,
gentlemen and ladies, may God bless you all.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 25, 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 circumstances.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL GRANT.
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.
EARLY CONSULTATIONS WITH REBELS
INSTRUCTIONS TO MAJOR ECKERT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1865.
MAJOR T. T. ECKERT.
SIR:-You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and on
reaching General Ord will deliver him the letter addressed to him by
the Secretary of War. Then, by General Ord's assistance procure an
interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of
them, deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter is
written. Note on the copy which you retain the time of delivery and
to whom delivered. Receive their answer in writing, waiting a
reasonable time for it, and which, if it contain their decision to
come through without further condition, will be your warrant to ask
General Ord to pass them through as directed in the letter of the
Secretary of War to him. If by their answer they decline to come, or
propose other terms, do not have them pass through. And this being
your whole duty, return and report to me.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM FROM SECRETARY OF WAR TO GENERAL ORD.
(Cipher.)
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.
INDORSEMENT ON A LETTER FROM J. M. ASHLEY.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
January 31, 1865.
DEAR SIR:--The report is in circulation in the House that Peace
Commissioners are on their way or in the city, and is being used
against us. If it is true, I fear we shall lose the bill. Please
authorize me to contradict it, if it is not true.
Respectfully,
J. M. ASHLEY.
To the President.
(Indorsement.)
So far as I know there are no Peace Commissioners in the city or
likely to be in it.
A. LINCOLN.
January 31, 1865
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, January 31, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
A messenger is coming to you on the business contained in your
despatch. Detain the gentlemen in comfortable quarters until he
arrives, and then act upon the message he brings, as far as
applicable, it having been made up to pass through General Ord's
hands, and when the gentlemen were supposed to be beyond our lines.
A. LINCOLN.
INSTRUCTIONS TO SECRETARY SEWARD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
January 31, 1865.
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, there to meet and
informally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, on
the basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., of January 18, 1865, a
copy of which you have. You will make known to them that three
things are indispensable to wit:
1. The restoration of the national authority throughout 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 Government.
You will inform them that all propositions of theirs, not
inconsistent with the above, will be considered and passed upon in a
spirit of sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to
say and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely
consummate anything.
Yours, etc.,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
PASSAGE THROUGH CONGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT FOR THE
ABOLISHING OF SLAVERY
RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, JANUARY 31, 1865.
He supposed the passage through Congress of the Constitutional
amendment for the abolishing of slavery throughout the United States
was the occasion to which he was indebted for the honor of this call.
The occasion was one of congratulation to the country, and to the
whole world. But there is a task yet before us--to go forward and
consummate by the votes of the States that which Congress so nobly
began yesterday. He had the honor to inform those present that
Illinois had already done the work. Maryland was about half through,
but he felt proud that Illinois was a little ahead.
He thought this 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 attain this end, it was
necessary that the original disturbing cause should, if possible, be
rooted out. He thought all would bear him witness that he had never
shirked 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 consummated. A question might
be raised whether the proclamation was legally valid. It might be
added, that it only aided those who came into our lines, and that it
was inoperative as to those who did not give themselves up; or that
it would have no effect upon the children of the slaves born
hereafter; in fact, it would be urged that it did not meet the evil.
But this amendment is a king's cure for all evils. It winds the
whole thing up. He would repeat, that it was the fitting if not the
indispensable adjunct to the consummation 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, February 1, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point:
Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your
military movements or plans.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MAJOR ECKERT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 1, 1865.
MAJOR T. T. ECKERT,
Care of General Grant, City Point, Va.:
Call at Fortress Monroe, and put yourself under direction of Mr.
Seward, whom you will find there.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 2, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Say to the gentlemen I will meet them personally at Fortress Monroe
as soon as I can get there.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY SEWARD,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 2, 1865.
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Fortress Monroe, Va.
Induced by a despatch of General Grant, I join you at Fort Monroe, as
soon as I can come.
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER TO MAKE CORRECTIONS IN THE DRAFT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON CITY, February 6, 1865
Whereas complaints are made in some localities respecting the
assignments of quotas and credits allowed for the pending call of
troops to fill up the armies: Now, in order to determine all
controversies in respect thereto, and to avoid any delay in filling
up the armies, it is ordered, That the Attorney-General, Brigadier-
General Richard Delafield, and Colonel C. W. Foster, be, and they are
hereby constituted, a board to examine into the proper quotas and
credits of. the respective States and districts under the call of
December 19, 1864, with directions, if any errors be found therein,
to make such corrections as the law and facts may require, and report
their determination to the Provost-Marshal-General. The
determination of said board to be final and conclusive, and the draft
to be made in conformity therewith.
2. The Provost-Marshal-General is ordered to make the draft in the
respective districts as speedily as the same can be done after the
fifteenth of this month.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 6, 1865.
PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL:
These gentlemen distinctly say to me this morning that what they want
is the means from your office of showing their people that the quota
assigned to them is right. They think it will take but little time-
two hours, they say. Please give there double the time and every
facility you can.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
February 6, 1865.
The Provost-Marshal brings this letter back to me and says he cannot
give the facility required without detriment to the service, and
thereupon he is excused from doing it.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GLENN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 7, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GLENN,
Commanding Post at Henderson, Ky.:
Complaint is made to me that you are forcing negroes into the
military service, and even torturing them--riding them on rails and
the like to extort their consent. I hope this may be a mistake. The
like must not be done by you, or any one under you. You must not
force negroes any more than white men. Answer me on this.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR SMITH.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, February 8, 1865.
HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SMITH, of Vermont:
Complaint is made to me, by Vermont, that the assignment of her quota
for the draft on the pending call is intrinsically unjust, and also
in bad faith of the Government's promise to fairly allow credits for
men previously furnished. To illustrate, a supposed case is stated
as follows:
Vermont and New Hampshire must between them furnish six thousand men
on the pending call; and being equal, each must furnish as many as
the other in the long run. But the Government finds that on former
calls Vermont furnished a surplus of five hundred, and New Hampshire
a surplus, of fifteen hundred. These two surpluses making two
thousand and added to the six thousand, making eight thousand to be
furnished by the two States, or four thousand each less, by fair
credits. Then subtract Vermont's surplus of five hundred from her
four thousand, leaves three thousand five hundred as her quota on the
pending call; and likewise subtract New Hampshire's surplus of
fifteen hundred from her four thousand, leaves two thousand five
hundred as her quota on the pending call. These three thousand five
hundred and two thousand five hundred make precisely six thousand,
which the supposed case requires from the two States, and it is just
equal for Vermont to furnish one thousand more now than New
Hampshire, because New Hampshire has heretofore furnished one
thousand more than Vermont, which equalizes the burdens of the two in
the long run. And this result, so far from being bad faith to
Vermont, is indispensable to keeping good faith with New Hampshire.
By no other result can the six thousand men be obtained from the two
States, and, at the same time deal justly and keep faith with both,
and we do but confuse ourselves in questioning the process by which
the right result is reached. The supposed case is perfect as an
illustration.
The pending call is not for three hundred thousand men subject to
fair credits, but is for three hundred thousand remaining after all
fair credits have been deducted, and it is impossible to concede what
Vermont asks without coming out short of three hundred thousand men,
or making other localities pay for the partiality shown her.
This upon the case stated. If there be different reasons for making
an allowance to Vermont, let them be presented and considered.
Yours truly,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
February 8, 1865.
TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES:
The joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution declaring certain
States not entitled to representation in the electoral college" has
been signed by the Executive in deference to the view of Congress
implied in its passage and presentation to him. In his own view,
however, the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth
article of the Constitution, have complete power to exclude from
counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal, and it is
not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a
veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the
matter. He disclaims all right of the Executive to interfere in any
way in the matter of canvassing or counting electoral votes, and he
also disclaims that by signing said resolution he has expressed any
opinion on the recitals of the preamble or any judgment of his own
upon the subject of the resolution.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 8, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point. Va.:
I am called on by the House of Representatives to give an account of
my interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, and it is
very desirable to me to put your despatch of February 1, to the
Secretary of War, in which, among other things, you say: "I fear now
their going back without any expression from any one in authority
will have a bad influence." I think the despatch does you credit,
while I do not see that it can embarrass you. May I use it?
A. LINCOLN.
REPLY TO A COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS, REPORTING
THE RESULT OF THE ELECTORAL COUNT,
FEBRUARY 9, 1865.
With deep gratitude to my countrymen for this mark of their
confidence; with a distrust of my own ability to perform the duty
required under the most favorable circumstances, and now rendered
doubly difficult by existing national perils; yet with a firm
reliance on the strength of our free government, and the eventual
loyalty of the people to the just principles upon which it is
founded, and above all with an unshaken faith in the Supreme Ruler of
nations, I accept this trust. Be pleased to signify this to the
respective Houses of Congress.
CHRONOLOGIC REVIEW OF PEACE PROPOSALS
MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
February 10, 1865
TO THE HONORABLE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In response to your resolution of the eighth instant, requesting
information in relation to a conference recently held in Hampton
Roads, I have the honor to state that on the day of the date I gave
Francis P. Blair, Sr., a card, written on as follows, to wit:
December 28, 1864.
Allow the bearer, F. P. Blair, Sr., to pass our lines, go South, and
return.
A. LINCOLN.
That at the time I was informed that Mr. Blair sought the card as a
means of getting to Richmond, Va., but he was given no authority to
speak or act for the Government, nor was I informed of anything he
would say or do on his own account or otherwise. Afterwards Mr.
Blair told me that he had been to Richmond and had seen Mr. Jefferson
Davis; and he (Mr. B.) at the same time left with me a manuscript
letter, as follows, to wit:
RICHMOND, VA., January 12, 1865.
F. P. BLAIR, ESQ.
SIR: I have deemed it proper, and probably desirable to you, to give
you in this for in the substance of remarks made by me, to be
repeated by you to President Lincoln, etc., etc.
I have no disposition to find obstacles in forms, and am willing, now
as heretofore, to enter into negotiations for the restoration of
peace, and am ready to send a commission whenever I have reason to
suppose it will be received, or to receive a commission if the United
States Government shall choose to send one. That notwithstanding the
rejection of our former offers, I would, if you could promise that a
commissioner, minister, or other agent would be received, appoint one
immediately, and renew the effort to enter into conference with a
view to secure peace to the two countries.
Yours, etc.,
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Afterwards, and with the view that it should be shown to Mr. Davis, I
wrote and delivered to Mr. Blair a letter, as follows, to wit:
WASHINGTON, January 18, 1865.
P. P. BLAIR, ESQ.
SIR:--Your having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the twelfth
instant, you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and
shall continue ready to receive any agent 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.
Yours, etc.,
A. LINCOLN.
Afterwards Mr. Blair dictated for and authorized me to make an entry
on the back of my retained copy of the letter last above recited,
which entry is as follows:
January 28, 1865
To-day Mr. Blair tells me that on the twenty-first instant he
delivered to Mr. Davis the original of which the within is a copy,
and left it with him; that at the time of delivering it Mr. Davis
read it over twice in Mr. Blair's presence, at the close of which he
(Mr. Blair) remarked that the part about our one common country"
related to the part of Mr. Davis' letter about "the two countries,"
to which Mr. Davis replied that he so understood it.
A. LINCOLN.
Afterwards the Secretary of War placed in my hands the following
telegram, indorsed by him, as appears:
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH WAR DEPARTMENT.
The following telegram received at Washington January 29, 1865, from
headquarters Army of James,
6.30P.M., January 29, 1865:
"HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War:
"The following despatch just received from Major-General Parke, who
refers it to me for my action. I refer it to you in Lieutenant-
General Grant's absence:
"E. O. C. ORD, Major-General, Commanding.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF POTOMAC,
January 29, 1863. 4P.M.
'MAJOR-GENERAL E. O. C. ORD,
'Headquarters Army of James:
'The following despatch is forwarded to you for your action. Since I
have no knowledge of General Grant's having had any understanding of
this kind, I refer the matter to you as the ranking officer present
in the two armies.
'JNO. G. PARKE, Major-General, Commanding.'
'FROM HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY Cos, 29th.
'MAJOR-GENERAL JNO. G. PARKE, 'Headquarters Army of Potomac:
'Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell desire to
cross my lines, in accordance with an understanding claimed to exist
with Lieutenant-General Grant, on their way to Washington as peace
commissioners. Shall they be admitted? They desire an early answer,
to come through immediately. Would like to reach City Point tonight
if they can. If they can not do this, they would like to come
through at 10 A.M. to-morrow morning.
'O. B. WILCOX,
'Major-General, Commanding Ninth Corps.'
"January 29, 8.30 P.M.
"Respectfully referred to the President for such instructions as he
may be pleased to give.
"EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War."
It appears that about the time of placing the foregoing telegram in
my hands the Secretary of War dispatched General Ord as follows, to
wit:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY, January 29, 1865. 10 P.M.
(Sent at 2 A.M., 30th.)
MAJOR-GENERAL ORD.
SIR:--This Department has no knowledge of any understanding by
General Grant to allow any person to come within his lines as
commissioner of any sort. You will therefore allow no one to come
into your lines under such character or profession until you receive
the President's instructions, to whom your telegraph will be
submitted for his directions.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
Afterwards, by my direction, the Secretary of War telegraphed General
Ord as follows, to wit:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 30. 10.30 A.M.
MAJOR-GENERAL E. O. C. ORD,
Headquarters Army of the James.
SIR:--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.
Afterwards I prepared and put into the hands of Major Thomas T.
Eckert the following instructions and message:
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
MAJOR T. T. ECKERT. WASHINGTON, January 30, 1865
SIR:--You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and
on reaching General Ord will deliver him the letter addressed to him
by the Secretary of War; then, by General Ord's assistance, procure
an interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of
them. Deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter is
written. Note on the copy which you retain the time of delivery and
to whom delivered. Receive their answer in writing, waiting a
reasonable time for it, and which, if it contain their decision to
come through without further condition, will be your warrant to ask
General Ord to pass them through, as directed in the letter of the
Secretary of War to him. If by their answer they decline to come, or
propose other terms, do not have them pass through. And this being
your whole duty, return and report to me.
A. LINCOLN.
CITY POINT, VA.. February 1, 1865.
MESSRS. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, J. A. CAMPBELL AND
R. M. T. HUNTER.
GENTLEMEN :--I am instructed by the President of the United States to
place this paper in your hands, with the information that if you pass
through the United States military lines it will be understood that
you do so for the purpose of an informal conference on the basis of
the letter a copy of which is on the reverse side of this sheet, and
that if you choose to pass on such understanding, and so notify me in
writing, I will procure the commanding general to pass you through
the lines and to Fortress Monroe under such military precautions as
he may deem prudent, and at which place you will be met in due time
by some person or persons for the purpose of such informal
conference; and, further, that you shall have protection, safe
conduct, and safe return in all events.
THOMAS T. ECKERT,
Major and Aide-de-Camp.
WASHINGTON, January 18, 1865.
F. P. BLAIR, ESQ.
SIR:--Your having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the twelfth
instant, you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and
shall continue ready to receive any agent 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.
Yours, etc., A. LINCOLN.
Afterwards, but before Major Eckert had departed, the following
dispatch was received from General Grant:
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
WAR DEPARTMENT.
The following telegram received at Washington January 3J, 1865, from
City Point, Va., 10.30 A.M., January 30, 1865:
"His EXCELLENCY ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President of the United States:
"The following communication was received here last evening:
'PETERSBURG, VA., January 30, 1865.
'LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U.S. GRANT,
Commanding Armies United States.
'SIR: We desire to pass your lines under safe conduct, and to proceed
to Washington to hold a conference with President Lincoln upon the
subject of the existing war, and with a view of ascertaining upon
what terms it may be terminated, in pursuance of the course indicated
by him in his letter to Mr. Blair of January 18, 1865, of which we
presume you have a copy; and if not, we wish to see you in person, if
convenient, and to confer with you upon the subject.
'Very respectfully, yours,
'ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
'J. A. CAMPBELL.
'R. M. T. HUNTER.'
"I have sent directions to receive these gentlemen, and expect to
have them at my quarters this evening, awaiting your instructions.
U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General, Commanding
Armies United States."
This, it will be perceived, transferred General Ord's agency in the
matter to General Grant. I resolved, however, to send Major Eckert
forward with his message, and accordingly telegraphed General Grant
as follows, to wit:
EXECUTIVE MANSION
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1865
(Sent at 1.30 P.M.)
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
A messenger is coming to you on the business contained in your
despatch. Detain the gentlemen in comfortable quarters until he
arrives, and then act upon the message he brings as far as
applicable, it having been made up to pass through General Ord's
hands, and when the gentlemen were supposed to be beyond our lines.
A. LINCOLN.
When Major Eckert departed, he bore with him a letter of the
Secretary of War to General Grant, as follows, to wit:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 30, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, Commanding, etc.
GENERAL:--The President desires that you will please procure for the
bearer, Major Thomas T. Eckert, an interview with Messrs. Stephens,
Hunter, and Campbell, and if on his return to you he requests it pass
them through our lines to Fortress Monroe by such route and under
such military precautions as you may deem prudent, giving them
protection and comfortable quarters while there, and that you let
none of this have any effect upon your movements or plans.
By order of the President:
EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
Supposing the proper point to be then reached, I dispatched the
Secretary of State with the following instructions, Major Eckert,
however, going ahead of him:
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, January 31, 1865.
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State:
You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Va., there to meet and
informally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell on the
basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., of January 18, 1865, a copy
of which you have.
You will make known to them that three things are indispensable, to
Wit:
1. The restoration of the national authority throughout 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 Government.
You will inform them that all propositions of theirs not inconsistent
with the above will be considered and passed upon in a spirit of
sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to say and
report it to me.
You will not assume to definitely consummate anything.
Yours, etc.,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
On the day of its date the following telegram was sent to General
Grant:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 1,1865
(Sent at 9.30 A.M.)
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your
military movements or plans.
A. LINCOLN.
Afterwards the following despatch was received from General Grant:
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH
WAR DEPARTMENT.
The following telegram received at Washington, 2.30 P.M., February 1,
1865, from City Point, Va., February 1, 12.30 PM., 1865:
"His EXCELLENCY A. LINCOLN, President United States:
Your despatch received. There will be no armistice in consequence of
the presence of Mr. Stephens and others within our lines. The troops
are kept in readiness to move at the shortest notice if occasion
should justify it.
U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General."
To notify Major Eckert that the Secretary of State would be at
Fortress Monroe, and to put them in communication, the following
despatch was sent:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 1, 1865.
MAJOR T. T. ECKERT,
Care of General Grant, City Point, Va.:
Call at Fortress Monroe and put yourself under direction of Mr. S.,
whom you will find there.
A. LINCOLN.
On the morning of the 2d instant the following telegrams were
received by me respectively from the Secretary of State and Major
Eckert:
FORT MONROE, VA.,
February 1,1865. 11.30 PM.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
Arrived at 10 this evening. Richmond party not here. I remain here.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
CITY POINT, VA.,
February 1, 1865. 10 P.M.
HIS EXCELLENCY A. LINCOLN, President of the United States:
I have the honor to report the delivery of your communication and my
letter at 4.15 this afternoon, to which I received a reply at 6 P.M.,
but not satisfactory.
At 8 P.M. the following note, addressed to General Grant, was
received:
CITY POINT, VA.,
February 1, 1865
"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT.
"SIR:-We desire to go to Washington City to confer informally with
the President personally in reference to the matters mentioned in his
letter to Mr. Blair of the 18th January ultimo, without any personal
compromise on any question in the letter. We have the permission to
do so from the authorities in Richmond.
Very respectfully yours,
ALEX. H. STEPHENS
R. M. T. HUNTER.
J. A. CAMPBELL."
At 9.30 P.M. I notified them that they could not proceed further
unless they complied with the terms expressed in my letter. The
point of meeting designated in the above note would not, in my
opinion, be insisted upon. Think Fort Monroe would be acceptable.
Having complied with my instructions, I will return to Washington to-
morrow unless otherwise ordered.
THOS. T. ECKERT, Major, etc.
On reading this despatch of Major Eckert I was about to recall him
and the Secretary of State, when the following telegram of General
Grant to the Secretary of War was shown me:
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
WAR DEPARTMENT.
The following telegram received at Washington
4.35A.M., February 2, 1865, from City Point, Va., February 1, 10.30
P.M., 1865:
"HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War:
"Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written
instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, I will state
confidentially, but not officially to become a matter of record, that
I am convinced upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter
that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to restore
peace and union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express even
views of my own or to account for my reticency. This has placed me
in an awkward position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them
in the first instance. I fear now their going back without any
expression from anyone in authority will have a bad influence. At
the same time, I recognize the difficulties in the way of receiving
these informal commissioners at this time, and do not know what to
recommend. I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln can not have an
interview with the two named in this despatch, if not all three now
within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the President's
instructions contemplated to secure their safe conduct if they had
used the same language to Major Eckert.
"U.S. GRANT
"Lieutenant-General,"
This despatch of General Grant changed my purpose, and accordingly I
telegraphed him and the Secretary of State, respectively, as follows:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 2, 1865. (Sent at 9 A.M.)
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
Say to the gentlemen I will meet them personally at Fortress Monroe
as soon as I can get there.
A. LINCOLN.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 2, 1865. (Sent at 9 A.M.)
HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Fortress Monroe, Va.:
Induced by a despatch from General Grant, I join you at Fort Monroe
as soon as I can come.
A. LINCOLN.
Before starting, the following despatch was shown me. I proceeded,
nevertheless:
OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,
WAR DEPARTMENT.
The following telegram received at Washington, February 2, 1865, from
City Point, Va., 9 A.M., February2, 1865:
"HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Fort Monroe:
"The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms, and will leave
for Fort Monroe at 9.30 A.M.
"U. S. GRANT, "Lieutenant-General."
(Copy to HON. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington.)
On the night of the 2nd I reached Hampton Roads, found the Secretary
of State and Major Eckert on a steamer anchored offshore, and learned
of them that the Richmond gentlemen were on another steamer also
anchored offshore, in the Roads, and that the Secretary of State had
not yet seen or communicated with them. I ascertained that Major
Eckert had literally complied with his instructions, and I saw for
the first time the answer of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which in
his despatch to me of the 1st he characterizes as "not satisfactory."
That answer is as follows, to wit:
CITY POINT, VA., February 1, 1865.
THOMAS T. ECKERT, Major and Aid-de-Camp.
MAJOR:-Your note, delivered by yourself this day, has been
considered. In reply we have to say that we were furnished with a
copy of the letter of President Lincoln to Francis P. Blair, Esq., of
the 18th of January ultimo, another copy of which is appended to your
note. Our instructions are contained in a letter of which the
following is a copy:
RICHMOND, January 28, 1865.
In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing
is a copy, you are to proceed to Washington City for informal
conference with him upon the issues involved in the existing war, and
for the purpose of securing peace to the two countries.
"With great respect, your obedient servant,
"JEFFERSON DAVIS."
The substantial object to be obtained by the informal conference is
to ascertain upon what terms the existing war can be terminated
honorably.
Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President
Lincoln and ourselves at Washington City, but with this explanation
we are ready to meet any person or persons that President Lincoln may
appoint at such place as he may designate.
Our earnest desire is that a just and honorable peace may be agreed
upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which
may possibly lead to the attainment of that end.
Very respectfully, yours,
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.
R. M. T. HUNTER.
JOHN A. CAMPBELL.
A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant,
has already been given in Major Eckert's despatch of the 1st instant.
I also here saw, for the first time, the following note, addressed by
the Richmond gentlemen to Major Eckert:
CITY POINT, VA., February 2, 1865.
THOMAS T. ECKERT, Major and Aid-de-Camp.
MAJOR:--In reply to your verbal statement that your instructions did
not allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport could be
given to us, we say that we are willing to proceed to Fortress Monroe
and there to have an informal conference with any person or persons
that President Lincoln may appoint on the basis of his letter to
Francis P. Blair of the 18th of January ultimo, or upon any other
terms or conditions that he may hereafter propose not inconsistent
with the essential principles of self-government and popular rights,
upon which our institutions are founded.
It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of
ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just
and honorable peace can be established without the further effusion
of blood, and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a
result.
We think it better to add that in accepting your passport we are not
to be understood as committing ourselves to anything but to carry to
this informal conference the views and feelings above expressed.
Very respectfully, yours, etc.,
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS,
J. A. CAMPBELL,
R. M. T. HUNTER.
Note.-The above communication was delivered to me at Fort Monroe at
4.30 P.M. February 2 by Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of General
Grant's staff.
THOMAS T. ECKERT
Major and Aid-de-Camp.
On the morning of the third the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens,
Hunter, and Campbell, came aboard of our steamer and had an interview
with the Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration.
No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made
or mentioned; no other person was present; no papers were exchanged
or produced; and it was in advance agreed that the conversation was
to be informal and verbal merely. On our part the whole substance of
the instructions to the Secretary of State hereinbefore recited was
stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent
therewith; while by the other party it was not said that in any event
or on any condition they ever would consent to reunion, and yet they
equally omitted to declare that they never would consent. They
seemed to desire a postponement of that question and the adoption of
some other course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue,
might or might not lead to reunion, but which course we thought would
amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference ended without
result.
The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought
is respectfully submitted.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
MESSAGE TO THE SENATE.
WASHINGTON, February 10, 1865
To THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the eighth instant,
requesting information concerning recent conversations or
communications with insurgents, under executive sanction, I transmit
a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was
referred.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TO THE PRESIDENT:
The Secretary of State, to whom was referred a resolution of the
Senate of the 8th instant, requesting "the President of the United
States, if, in his opinion, not incompatible with the public
interests, to furnish to the Senate any information in his possession
concerning recent conversations or communications with certain
rebels," said to have taken place under executive sanction, including
communications with the rebel Jefferson Davis, and any correspondence
relating thereto," has the honor to report that the Senate may
properly be referred to a special message of the President bearing
upon the subject of the resolution, and transmitted to the House this
day. Appended to this report is a copy of an instruction which has
been addressed to Charles Francis Adams, Esq., envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London, and
which is the only correspondence found in this department touching
the subject referred to in the resolution.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, February 10, 1865.
MR. SEWARD TO MR. ADAMS.
(Extract.)
No. 1258.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, February 7,1865
On the morning of the 3d, the President, attended by the Secretary,
received Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell on board the United
States steam transport River Queen in Hampton Roads. The conference
was altogether informal. There was no attendance of secretaries,
clerks, or other witnesses. Nothing was written or read. The
conversation, although earnest and free, was calm, and courteous, and
kind on both sides. The Richmond party approached the discussion
rather indirectly, and at no time did they either make categorical
demands, or tender formal stipulations or absolute refusals.
Nevertheless, during the conference, which lasted four hours, the
several points at issue between the Government and the insurgents
were distinctly raised, and discussed fully, intelligently, and in an
amicable spirit. What the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor
was a postponement of the question of separation, upon which the war
is waged, and a mutual direction of efforts of the Government, as
well as those of the insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme
for a season during which passions might be expected to subside, and
the armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the people
of both sections resumed. It was suggested by them that through such
postponement we might now have immediate peace, with some not very
certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of political
relations between this Government and the States, section, or people
now engaged in conflict with it.
This suggestion, though deliberately considered, was nevertheless
regarded by the President as one of armistice or truce, and he
announced that we can agree to no cessation or suspension of
hostilities, except on the basis of the disbandment of the insurgent
forces, and the restoration of the national authority throughout all
the States in the Union. Collaterally, and in subordination to the
proposition which was thus announced, the antislavery policy of the
United States was reviewed in all its bearings, and the President
announced that he must not be expected to depart from the positions
he had heretofore assumed in his proclamation of emancipation and
other documents, as these positions were reiterated in his last
annual message. It was further declared by the President that the
complete restoration of the national authority was an indispensable
condition of any assent on our part to whatever form of peace might
be proposed. The President assured the other party that, while he
must adhere to these positions, he would be prepared, so far as power
is lodged with the Executive, to exercise liberality. His power,
however, is limited by the Constitution; and when peace should be
made, Congress must necessarily act in regard to appropriations of
money and to the admission of representatives from the
insurrectionary States. The Richmond party were then informed that
Congress had, on the 31st ultimo, adopted by a constitutional
majority a joint resolution submitting to the several States the
proposition to abolish slavery throughout the Union, and that there
is every reason to expect that it will be soon accepted by three
fourths of the States, so as to become a part of the national organic
law.
The conference came to an end by mutual acquiescence, without
producing an agreement of views upon the several matters discussed,
or any of them. Nevertheless, it is perhaps of some importance that
we have been able to submit our opinions and views directly to
prominent insurgents, and to hear them in answer in a courteous and
not unfriendly manner.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
TO ADMIRAL DAVID D. PORTER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
February 10, 1865
REAR-ADMIRAL DAVID D. PORTER,
Commanding North Atlantic Squadron, Hampton Roads, Va.
SIR:--It is made my agreeable duty to enclose herewith the joint
resolution approved 24th January, 1865, tendering the thanks of
Congress to yourself, the officers and men under your command for
their gallantry and good conduct in the capture of Fort Fisher, and
through you to all who participated in that brilliant and decisive
victory under your command.
Very respectfully,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL S. POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 12, 1865
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri:
I understand that provost-marshals in different parts of Missouri are
assuming to decide that the conditions of bonds are forfeited, and
therefore are seizing and selling property to pay damages. This, if
true, is both outrageous and ridiculous. Do not allow it. The
courts, and not provost-marshals, are to decide such questions unless
when military necessity makes an exception. Also excuse John Eaton,
of Clay County, and Wesley Martin, of Platte, from being sent South,
and let them go East if anywhere.
A. LINCOLN
TO THE COMMANDING OFFICERS IN WEST TENNESSEE
WASHINGTON,
February 13, 1865.
TO THE MILITARY OFFICERS COMMANDING IN WEST
TENNESSEE:
While I cannot order as within requested, allow me to say that it is
my wish for you to relieve the people from all burdens, harassments,
and oppressions, so far as is possible consistently with your
military necessities; that the object of the war being to restore and
maintain the blessings of peace and good government, I desire you to
help, and not hinder, every advance in that direction.
Of your military necessities you must judge and execute, but please
do so in the spirit and with the purpose above indicated.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 14, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri:
Yours of yesterday about provost-marshal system received. As part of
the same subject, let me say I am now pressed in regard to a pending
assessment in St. Louis County. Please examine and satisfy yourself
whether this assessment should proceed or be abandoned; and if you
decide that it is to proceed, please examine as to the propriety of
its application to a gentleman by the name of Charles McLaran.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON February 15, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri:
Please ascertain whether General Fisk's administration is as good as
it might be, and answer me.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION CONVENING THE SENATE IN EXTRA SESSION,
FEBRUARY 17, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation
Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the
Senate should be convened at twelve o'clock on the fourth of March
next to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it
on the part of the Executive;
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
have considered it to be my duty to issue this, my proclamation,
declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the
United States to convene for the transaction of business at the
Capitol, in the city of Washington, on the fourth day of March next,
at twelve o'clock at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that
time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required
to take notice.
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at
Washington...............
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO OFFICER IN COMMAND AT HARPER'S FERRY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 17, 1865
OFFICER IN COMMAND AT HARPER'S FERRY:
Chaplain Fitzgibbon yesterday sent me a despatch invoking Clemency
for Jackson, Stewart, and Randall, who are to be shot to-day. The
despatch 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
m their cases until further orders and forward records of trials for
examination.
A. LINCOLN
MAJOR ECKERT:
Please send above telegram
JNO. G. NICOLAY.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 24, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Virginia:
I am in a little perplexity. I was induced to authorize a gentleman
to bring Roger A. Pryor here with a view of effecting an exchange of
him; but since then I have seen a despatch of yours showing that you
specially object to his exchange. Meantime he has reached here and
reported to me. It is an ungracious thing for me to send him back to
prison, and yet inadmissible for him to remain here long. Cannot
you help me out with it? I can conceive that there may be difference
to you in days, and I can keep him a few days to accommodate on that
point. I have not heard of my son's reaching you.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL POPE.
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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, February 25, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Virginia:
General Sheridan's despatch to you, of to-day, in which he says he
"will be off on Monday," and that he "will leave behind about two
thousand men," causes the Secretary of War and myself considerable
anxiety. Have you well considered whether you do not again leave
open the Shenandoah Valley entrance to Maryland and Pennsylvania, or,
at least, to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 27, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Virginia:
Subsequent reflection, conference with General Halleck, your
despatch, and one from General Sheridan, have relieved my anxiety;
and so I beg that you will dismiss any concern you may have on my
account, in the matter of my last despatch.
A. LINCOLN.
TO T. W. CONWAY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 1, 1865.
MR. THOMAS W. CONWAY,
General Superintendent Freedmen,
Department of the Gulf.
SIR:--Your statement to Major-General Hurlbut of the condition of the
freedmen of your department, and of your success in the work of their
moral and physical elevation, has reached me and given me much
pleasure.
That we shall be entirely successful in our efforts I firmly believe.
The blessing of God and the efforts of good and faithful men will
bring us an earlier and happier consummation than the most sanguine
friends of the freedmen could reasonably expect.
Yours,
A. LINCOLN,
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 2, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
You have not sent contents of Richmond papers for Tuesday or
Wednesday. Did you not receive them? If not, does it indicate
anything?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM FROM SECRETARY STANTON
TO GENERAL GRANT.
WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865. 12 PM.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no
conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of
General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely military matter. He
instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer
upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in
his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or
conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military
advantages.
EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS,
MARCH 4, 1865.
FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN :--At this second appearing to take the oath of the
presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address
than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of
a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the
expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been
constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest
which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the
nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our
arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the
public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and
encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in
regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts
were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it,
all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being
delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union
without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it
without war seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by
negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make
war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept
war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One eighth of the whole population was colored slaves, not
distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern
part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful
interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the
war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the
object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war,
while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the
territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war
the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even
before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier
triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the
same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against
the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a
just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other
men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The
prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been
answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the
world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come,
but woe to that man by whom the offense 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 believers 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 bondsman'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 thousand 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 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 cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves and with all nations.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL JOHN POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 7, 1865
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri:
Please state briefly, by telegraph, what you concluded about the
assessments in St. Louis County. Early in the war one Samuel B.
Churchill was sent from St. Louis to Louisville, where I have quite
satisfactory evidence that he has not misbehaved. Still I am told
his property at St. Louis is subjected to the assessment, which I
think it ought not to be. Still I wish to know what you think.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 8, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va:
Your two despatches to the Secretary of War, one relating to supplies
for the enemy going by the Blackwater, and the other to General
Singleton and Judge Hughes, have been laid before me by him. As to
Singleton and Hughes, I think they are not in Richmond by any
authority, unless it be from you. I remember nothing from me which
could aid them in getting there, except a letter to you, as follows,
to wit:
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON CITY, February 7, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.:
General Singleton, who bears you this, claims that he already has
arrangements made, if you consent, to bring a large amount of
Southern produce through your lines. For its bearing on our
finances, I would be glad for this to be done, if it can be, without
injuriously disturbing your military operations, or supplying the
enemy. I wish you to be judge and master on these points. Please
see and hear him fully, and decide whether anything, and, if
anything, what, can be done in the premises.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
I believe I gave Hughes a card putting him with Singleton on the same
letter. However this may be, I now authorize you to get Singleton
and Hughes away from Richmond, if you choose, and can. I also
authorize you, by an order, or in what form you choose, to suspend
all operations on the Treasury trade permits, in all places
southeastward of the Alleghenies. If you make such order, notify me
of it, giving a copy, so that I can give corresponding direction to
the Navy.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION OFFERING PARDON TO DESERTERS,
MARCH 11, 1865
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
A Proclamation
Whereas, the twenty-first section of the act of Congress, approved on
the 3d instant, entitled "An Act to amend the several acts heretofore
passed to provide for the enrolling and calling out the national
forces and for other purposes," requires that in addition to the
other lawful penalties of the crime of desertion from the military or
naval service, all persons who have deserted the military or naval
service of the United States who shall not return to said service or
report themselves to a provost-marshal within sixty days after the
proclamation hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed and taken to have
voluntarily relinquished and forfeited their citizenship and their
right to become citizens, and such deserters shall be forever
incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United
States, or of exercising any rights of citizens thereof; and all
persons who shall hereafter desert the military or naval service, and
all persons who, being duly enrolled, shall depart the jurisdiction
of the district in which they are enrolled, or go beyond the limits
of the United States with intent to avoid any draft into the military
or naval service duly ordered, shall be liable to the penalties of
this section; and the President is hereby authorized and required
forthwith, on the passage of this act, to issue his proclamation
setting forth the provisions of this section, in which proclamation
the President is requested to notify all deserters returning within
sixty days as aforesaid that they shall be pardoned on condition of
returning to their regiments and companies, or to such other
organizations as they may be assigned to, until they shall have
served for a period of time equal to their original term of
enlistment:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do issue this my proclamation as required by said act,
ordering and requiring all deserters to return to their proper posts;
and I do hereby notify them that all deserters who shall within sixty
days from the date of this proclamation, viz., on or before the 10th
day of May, 1865, return to service or report themselves to a
provost-marshal, shall be pardoned on condition that they return to
their regiments or companies or to such other organization as they
may be assigned to, and serve the remainder of their original terms
of enlistment, and in addition thereto a period equal to the time
lost by desertion.
In testimony 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 H. T. BLOW.
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.
LETTER TO THURLOW WEED,
MARCH 15, 1865.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.
DEAR Mr. WEED:
Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours on my little
notification speech and on the recent inaugural address. I expect
the latter to wear as well as perhaps better than--anything I have
produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not
flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose
between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is
to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which
I thought needed to be told, and, as whatever of humiliation there is
in it falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford
for me to tell it.
Truly yours,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO COLONEL ROUGH AND OTHERS.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 17, 1865.
COL. R. M. ROUGH AND OTHERS, Chicago, Ill.:
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 individual
enterprise; and it caused so much difficulty in so many ways that I
promised to never undertake another.
A. LINCOLN.
ADDRESS TO AN INDIANA REGIMENT,
MARCH 17, 1865.
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--It will be but a very few words that I shall
undertake to say. I was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and
lived in Illinois; and now I am here, where it is my business to care
equally for the good people of all the States. I am glad to see an
Indiana regiment on this day able to present the captured flag to the
Governor of Indiana. I am not disposed, in saying this, to make a
distinction between the States, for all have done equally well.
There are but few views or aspects of this great war upon which I
have not said or written something whereby my own opinions might be
known. But there is one--the recent attempt of our erring brethren,
as they are sometimes called, to employ the negro to fight for them.
I have neither written nor made a speech on that subject, because
that was their business, not mine, and if I had a wish on the
subject, I had not the power to introduce it, or make it effective.
The great question with them was whether the negro, being put into
the army, will fight for them. I do not know, and therefore cannot
decide. They ought to know better than me. I have in my lifetime
heard many arguments why the negroes ought to be slaves; but if they
fight for those who would keep them in slavery, it will be a better
argument than any I have yet heard. He who will fight for that,
ought to be a slave. They have concluded, at last, to take one out
of four of the slaves and put them in the army, and that one out of
the four who will fight to keep the others in slavery, ought to be a
slave himself, unless he is killed in a fight. While I have often
said that all men ought to be free, yet would I allow those colored
persons to be slaves who want to be, and next to them those white
people who argue in favor of making other people slaves. I am in
favor of giving an appointment to such white men to try it on for
these slaves. I will say one thing in regard to the negroes being
employed to fight for them. I do know he cannot fight and stay at
home and make bread too. And as one is about as important as the
other to them, I don't care which they do. I am rather in favor of
having them try them as soldiers. They lack one vote of doing that,
and I wish I could send my vote over the river so that I might cast
it in favor of allowing the negro to fight. But they cannot fight
and work both. We must now see the bottom of the enemy's resources.
They will stand out as long as they can, and if the negro will fight
for them they must allow him to fight. They have drawn upon their
last branch of resources, and we can now see the bottom. I am glad
to see the end so near at hand. I have said now more than I
intended, and will therefore bid you good-by.
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING INDIANS,
MARCH 17, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas reliable information has been received that hostile Indians,
within the limits of the United States, have been furnished with arms
and munitions of war by persons dwelling in conterminous foreign
territory, and are thereby enabled to prosecute their savage warfare
upon the exposed and sparse settlements of the frontier;
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all
persons detected in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and
tried by court-martial at the nearest military post, and if
convicted, shall receive the punishment due to their deserts.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, arid caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed...................
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
ORDER ANNULLING THE SENTENCE AGAINST
BENJAMIN G. SMITH AND FRANKLIN W. SMITH,
MARCH 18, 1865.
I am unwilling for the sentence to stand, and be executed, to any
extent in this case. In the absence of a more adequate motive than
the evidence discloses, I am wholly unable to believe in the
existence of criminal or fraudulent intent on the part of men of such
well established good character. If the evidence went as far to
establish a guilty profit of one or two hundred thousand dollars, as
it does of one or two hundred dollars, the case would, on the
question of guilt, bear a far different aspect. That on this
contract, involving some twelve hundred thousand dollars, the
contractors would plan, and attempt to execute a fraud which, at the
most, could profit them only one or two hundred, or even one thousand
dollars, is to my mind beyond the power of rational belief. That
they did not, in such a case, make far greater gains, proves that
they did not, with guilty or fraudulent intent, make at all. The
judgment and sentence are disapproved, and declared null, and the
defendants are fully discharged.
A. LINCOLN
March 18, 1865.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 19, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Louis, Missouri:
Understanding that the plan of action for Missouri contained in your
letter to the Governor of that State, and your other letter to me, is
concurred in by the Governor, it is approved by me, and you will be
sustained in proceeding upon it.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ORD.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, May [March] 20, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL 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.
TELEGRAM TO JUDGE SCATES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 21, 1865.
HON. WALTER B. SCATES, Centralia, Illinois:
If you choose to go to New Mexico and reside, I will appoint you
chief justice there. What say you? Please answer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 22, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL HANCOCK, Winchester, Va.:
Seeing your despatch about General Crook, and fearing that through
misapprehension something unpleasant may occur, I send you below two
despatches of General Grant, which I suppose will fully explain
General Crook's movements.
A. LINCOLN.
ANOTHER FEMALE SPY
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL DODGE.
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.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 25, 1865. 8.30 A.M.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D. C.:
Arrived here all safe about 9 P.M. yesterday. No war news. General
Grant does not seem to know very much about Yeatman, but thinks very
well of him so far as he does know.
I like Mr. Whiting very much, and hence would wish him to remain or
resign as best suits himself. Hearing this much from me, do as you
think best in the matter. General Lee has sent the Russell letter
back, concluding, as I understand from Grant, that their dignity does
not admit of their receiving the document from us. Robert just now
tells me there was a little rumpus up the line this morning, ending
about where it began.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
(Cipher.)
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--1600.
A. LINCOLN
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
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.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 27, 1865.3.35 P.M.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D.C.:
Yours inclosing Fort Sumter order received. I think of but one
suggestion. I feel quite confident that Sumter fell on the 13th, and
not on the 14th of April, as you have it. It fell on Saturday, the
13th; the first call for troops on our part was got up on Sunday, the
14th, and given date and issued on Monday, the 15th. Look up the old
almanac and other data, and see if I am not right.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 28, 1865. 12 M.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D.C.:
After your explanation, I think it is little or no difference whether
the Fort Sumter ceremony takes place on the 13th or 14th.
General Sherman tells me he is well acquainted with James Yeatman,
and that he thinks him almost the best man in the country for
anything he will undertake.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
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 present movement.
He has now been out since yesterday morning and although he has not
been diverted 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 without 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 morning it was found that very little had been
done.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA1 March 31, 1865.3 P.M.
SECRETARY STANTON:
At 12.30 P.M. to-day General Grant telegraphed me as follows:
"There has been much hard fighting this morning. The enemy drove our
left from near Dabney's house back well toward the Boydton plank
road. We are now about to take the offensive at that point, and I
hope will more than recover the lost ground."
Later he telegraphed again as follows:
"Our troops, after being driven back to the Boydton plank road,
turned and drove the enemy in turn, and took the White Oak road,
which we now have. This gives us the ground occupied by the enemy
this morning. I will send you a rebel flag captured by our troops in
driving the enemy back. There have been four flags captured to-day."
Judging by the two points from which General Grant telegraphs, I
infer that he moved his headquarters about one mile since he sent the
first of the two despatches.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
CITY POINT, April 1, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Yours to Colonel Bowers about the Secretary of War is shown to me.
He is not here, nor have I any notice that he is coming. I presume
the mistake comes of the fact that the Secretary of State was here.
He started back to Washington this morning. I have your two
despatches of this morning, and am anxious to hear from Sheridan.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, April 1, 1865. 12.50 P.M.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D.C.:
I have had two despatches from General Grant since my last to you,
but they contain little additional, except that Sheridan also had
pretty hot work yesterday, that infantry was sent to his support
during the night, and that he (Grant) has not since heard from
Sheridan.
Mrs. Lincoln has started home, and I will thank you to see that our
coachman is at the Arsenal wharf at eight o'clock to-morrow morning,
there to wait until she arrives.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY SEWARD.
CITY POINT, VA., April, 1865. 5.30 ?.M.
HON. W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Fort Monroe:
Despatch just received, showing that Sheridan, aided by Warren, had,
at 2 P.M., pushed the enemy back, so as to retake the Five Forks and
bring his own headquarters up to J. Boisseau's. The Five Forks were
barricaded by the enemy and carried by Devin's division of cavalry.
This part of the enemy seem 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
CITY POINT, April 1, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Yours showing Sheridan's success of to-day is just received and
highly appreciated. Having no great deal to do here, I am still
sending the substance of your despatches to the Secretary of War.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
CITY POINT, VA., April 2, 1865. 8.30 A.M. (Received 9 A.M.)
MRS. A. LINCOLN, Executive Mansion:
Last night General Grant telegraphed that General Sheridan with his
cavalry and the Fifth Corps had captured three brigades of infantry,
a train of wagons, and several batteries, prisoners amounting to
several thousand. This morning General Grant having ordered an
attack along the whole line telegraphs as follows.
Robert yesterday wrote a little cheerful note to Captain Penrose,
which is all he has heard of him since you left.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAMS TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, April 2, 1865. 8.30 A.M.
HON. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
Last night General Grant telegraphed that General Sheridan, with his
cavalry and the Fifth Corps, had captured three brigades of infantry,
a train of wagons, and several batteries; the prisoners amounting to
several thousand.
This morning General Grant, having ordered an attack along the whole
line, telegraphs as follows:
"Both Wright and Parke got through the enemy's lines. The battle now
rages furiously. General Sheridan, with his cavalry, the Fifth
corps, and Miles's Division of the Second Corps, which was sent to
him this morning, is now sweeping down from the west.
"All now looks highly favorable. General Ord is engaged, but I have
not yet heard the result in his front."
A. LINCOLN.
CITY POINT, April 1. 11.00 A.M.
Despatches are frequently coming in. All is going on finely.
Generals Parke, Wright, and Ord's lines are extending from the
Appomattox to Hatcher's Run. They have all broken through the
enemy's intrenched lines, taking some forts, guns, and prisoners.
Sheridan, with his own cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and part of the
Second, is coming in from the west on the enemy's flank. Wright is
already tearing up the Southside Railroad.
A. LINCOLN
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, April 2. 2 P.M.
At 10.45 A.M. General Grant telegraphs as follows:
"Everything has been carried from the left of the Ninth Corps. The
Sixth Corps alone captured more than three thousand prisoners. The
Second and Twenty-fourth Corps captured forts, guns, and prisoners
from the enemy, but I cannot tell the numbers. We are now closing
around the works of the line immediately enveloping Petersburg. All
looks remarkably well. I have not yet heard from Sheridan. His
headquarters have been moved up to Banks's house, near the Boydton
road, about three miles southwest of Petersburg."
A. LINCOLN.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, April 2. 8.30 P.M.
At 4.30 P.M. to-day General Grant telegraphs as follows:
"We are now up and have a continuous line of troops, and in a few
hours will be intrenched from the Appomattox below Petersburg to the
river above. The whole captures since the army started out will not
amount to less than twelve thousand men, and probably fifty pieces of
artillery. I do not know the number of men and guns accurately,
however. A portion of Foster's Division, Twenty Fourth Corps, made a
most gallant charge this afternoon, and captured a very important
fort from the enemy, with its entire garrison. All seems well with
us, and everything is quiet just now."
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO MRS. LINCOLN.
CITY POINT, VA., April 1, 1865.
MRS. LINCOLN:
At 4.30 P.M. to-day General Grant telegraphs that he has Petersburg
completely enveloped from river below to river above, and has
captured, since he started last Wednesday, about twelve thousand
prisoners and fifty 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.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
CITY POINT, April 2, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:
Allow me to tender to you and all with you the nation's grateful
thanks for this additional and magnificent success. At your kind
suggestion I think I will meet you to-morrow.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, April 3, 1865.8.30 A.M.
HON. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
This morning Lieutenant-General Grant reports Petersburg evacuated,
and he is confident that Richmond also is. He is pushing forward to
cut off, if possible, the retreating rebel army.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VA., April 3, 1865. 5 P.M.
HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
Yours received. Thanks for your caution, but I have already been to
Petersburg. Staid 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.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VA., April 4, 1865
(Received 8.45 A.M.)
HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
General Weitzel telegraphs from Richmond that of railroad stock he
found there twenty-eight locomotives, forty-four passenger and
baggage cars, and one hundred and six freight cars. At 3.30 this
evening General Grant, from Sutherland's Station, ten miles from
Petersburg toward Burkevllle, telegraphs as follows:
General Sheridan picked up twelve hundred prisoners to-day, and from
three hundred to five hundred 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,
caissons, ambulances, etc."
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY SEWARD.
CITY POINT, APRIL 5, 1865.
(Received 11.55 PM.)
HON. SECRETARY OF STATE:
Yours of to-day received. I think there is no probability of my
remaining here more than two days longer. If that is too long come
down. I passed last night at Richmond and have just returned.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
CITY POINT, April 6, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, in the Field:
Secretary Seward was thrown from his carriage yesterday and seriously
injured. This, with other matters, will take me to Washington soon.
I was at Richmond yesterday and the day before, when and where Judge
Campbell, who was with Messrs. Hunter and Stephens in February,
called on me, and made such representations as induced me to put in
his hands an informal paper, repeating the propositions in my letter
of instructions to Mr. Seward, which you remember, and adding that if
the war be now further persisted in by the rebels, confiscated
property shall at the least bear the additional cost, and that
confiscation shall be remitted to the people of any State which will
now promptly and in good faith withdraw its troops and other support
from resistance to the Government.
Judge Campbell thought it not impossible that the rebel legislature
of Virginia would do the latter if permitted; and accordingly I
addressed a private letter to General Weitzel, with permission to
Judge Campbell to see it, telling him (General Weitzel) that if they
attempt this, to permit and protect them, unless they attempt
something hostile to the United States, in which case to give them
notice and time to leave, and to arrest any remaining after such
time.
I do not think it very probable that anything win come of this, but I
have thought best to notify you so that if you should see signs you
may understand them.
>From your recent despatches it seems that you are pretty effectually
withdrawing the Virginia troops from opposition to the Government.
Nothing that I have done, or probably shall do, is to delay, hinder,
or interfere with your work.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. WEITZEL.
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES
CITY POINT, April 6, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL WEITZEL, Richmond, Va.:
It has been intimated to me that the gentlemen who have acted as the
legislature of Virginia in support of the rebellion may now desire to
assemble at Richmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia
troops and other support from resistance to the General Government.
If they attempt it, give them permission and protection, until, if at
all, they attempt some action hostile to the United States, in which
case you will notify them, give them reasonable time to leave) and at
the end of which time arrest any who remain. Allow Judge Campbell to
see this, but do not make it public.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO SECRETARY STANTON.
CITY POINT, VA., April 7, 1865
(Received 10.30 AM.)
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 connection 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 Custis Lee, several thousand prisoners, fourteen
pieces of artillery with caissons and a large number of wagons. If
the thing is pressed I think Lee will surrender.
P. H. SHERIDAN,
Major-General, Commanding."
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES 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 surrender."
Let the thing be pressed.
A. LINCOLN.
NOTE ON A CARD TO SECRETARY STANTON.
April 10, 1865.
Tad wants some flags--can he be accommodated?
A. LINCOLN.
RESPONSE TO A CALL,
APRIL 10, 1865
If the company had assembled by appointment, some mistake had crept
in their understanding. He had appeared before a larger audience
than this one to-day, and he would repeat what he then said, namely,
he supposed owing to the great, good news, there would be some
demonstration. He would prefer to-morrow evening, when he should be
quite willing, and he hoped ready, to say something. He desired to
be particular, because every thing he said got into print. Occupying
the position he did, a mistake would produce harm, and therefore he
wanted to be careful not to make a mistake.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. H. GORDON.
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 Baler, J. M. Renshaw, and others are restrained of
their liberty. Do this promptly and fully.
A. LINCOLN.
PROCLAMATION CLOSING CERTAIN PORTS,
APRIL 11, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas by my proclamations of the 19th and 27th days of April, A.D.
1861, the ports of the United States in the States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas were declared to be subject to blockade; but
Whereas the said blockade has, in consequence of actual military
occupation by this Government, since been conditionally set aside or
relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria, in the
State of Virginia; Beaufort, in the State of North Carolina; Port
Royal, in the State of South Carolina; Pensacola and Fernandina, in
the State of Florida; and New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana; and
Whereas by the fourth 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," the
President, for the reasons therein set forth, is authorized to close
certain ports of entry:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln. President of the
United States, do hereby proclaim that the ports of Richmond,
Tappahannock, Cherrystone, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia; of
Camden (Elizabeth City), Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, Newbern,
Ocracoke, and Wilmington in North Carolina; of Charleston,
Georgetown, and Beaufort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, St. Marys,
and Brunswick (Darien), in Georgia; of Mobile, in Alabama; of Pearl
River (Shieldsboro), Natchez and Vicksburg, in Mississippi; of St.
Augustine, Key West, St. Marks (Port Leon), St. Johns (Jacksonville),
and Apalachicola, in Florida; of Teche (Franklin), in Louisiana; of
Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago (Point Isabel), and
Brownsville, in Texas, are hereby closed, and all right of
importation, warehousing, and other privileges shall, in respect to
the ports aforesaid, cease until they shall have again been opened by
order of the President; and if while said parts are so closed any
ship or vessel from beyond the United States or having on board any
articles subject to duties shall attempt to enter any such port, the
same, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall
be forfeited to the United States.
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 eleventh day of April, A.D.,
1865, and of the independence of the United States of America, the
eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
PROCLAMATION OPENING THE PORT OF KEY WEST,
APRIL 11, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas by my proclamation of this date the port of Key West, in the
State of Florida, was inadvertently included among those which are
not open to commerce:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States, do hereby declare and make known that the said port of
Key West is and shall remain open to foreign and domestic commerce
upon the same conditions by which that commerce has there hitherto
been governed.
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 eleventh day of April, A.D.
1865, and of the independence of the United States of America the
eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
PROCLAMATION CLAIMING EQUALITY OF RIGHTS
WITH ALL MARITIME NATIONS,
APRIL 11, 1865.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A Proclamation.
Whereas for some time past vessels of war of the United States have
been refused in certain foreign ports, privileges and immunities to
which they were entitled by treaty, public law, or the community of
nations, at the same time that vessels of war of the country wherein
the said privileges and immunities have been withheld have enjoyed
them fully and uninterruptedly in ports of the United States, which
condition of things has not always been forcibly resisted by the
United States, although, on the other hand, they have not at any time
failed to protest against and declare their dissatisfaction with the
same. In the view of the United States, no condition any longer
exists which can be claimed to justify the denial to them by any one
of such nations of customary naval rights as has heretofore been so
unnecessarily persisted in.......
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
do hereby make known that if, after a reasonable time shall have
elapsed for intelligence of this proclamation to have reached any
foreign country in whose ports the said privileges and immunities
shall have been refused as aforesaid, they shall continue to be so
refused, then and thenceforth the same privileges and immunities
shall be refused to the vessels of war of that country in the ports
of the United States, and this refusal shall continue until war
vessels of the United States shall have been placed upon an entire
equality in the foreign ports aforesaid with similar vessels of other
countries. The United States, whatever claim or pretense may have
existed heretofore, are now, at least, entitled to claim and concede
an entire and friendly equality of rights and hospitalities with all
maritime nations.
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.
LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS,
APRIL 11, 1865
FELLOW-CITIZENS--We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness
of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the
surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous
and speedy peace, whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In
the midst of this, however, He from whom blessings flow must not be
forgotten.
A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be
duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the
cause of rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parceled
out with others. I myself was near the front, and had the pleasure
of transmitting much of the good news to you. But no part of the
honor for plan or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skillful
officers, and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready,
but was not in reach to take active part. By these recent successes,
the reinauguration of the national authority--reconstruction which
has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more
closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty.
Unlike a case of war between independent nations, there is no
authorized organ for us to treat with--no one man has authority to
give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply must begin with
and mould from disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a
small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ
among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and measure of
reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the
reports of attacks upon myself, Wishing not to be provoked by that to
which I cannot properly offer an answer. In spite of this
precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured
for some supposed agency in setting up and seeking to sustain the new
State government of Louisiana. In this I have done just so much and
no more than the public knows. In the Annual Message of December,
1863, and the accompanying proclamation, I presented a plan of
reconstruction, as the phrase goes, which I promised, if adopted by
any State, would be acceptable to and sustained by the Executive
Government of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the
only plan that might possibly be acceptable, and I also distinctly
protested that the Executive claimed no right to say when or whether
members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States.
This plan was in advance submitted to the then Cabinet, and approved
by every member of it. One of them suggested that I should then and
in that connection apply the Emancipation Proclamation to the
theretofore excepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana; that I should
drop the suggestion about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I
should omit the protest against my own power in regard to the
admission of members of Congress. But even he approved every part
and parcel of the plan which has since been employed or touched by
the action of Louisiana. The new constitution of Louisiana,
declaring emancipation for the whole State, practically applies the
proclamation to the part previously excepted. It does not adopt
apprenticeship for freed people, and is silent, as it could not well
be otherwise, about the admission of members to Congress. So that,
as it applied to Louisiana, every member of the Cabinet fully
approved the plan. The message went to Congress, and I received many
commendations of the plan, written and verbal, and not a single
objection to it from any professed emancipationist came to my
knowledge until after the news reached Washington that the people of
Louisiana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about July,
1862, I had corresponded with different persons supposed to be
interested in seeking a reconstruction of a State government for
Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned,
reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote me that he was confident
that the people, with his military co-operation, would reconstruct
substantially on that plan. I wrote to him and some of them to try
it. They tried it, and the result is known. Such has been my only
agency in getting up the Louisiana government. As to sustaining it
my promise is out, as before stated. But, as bad promises are better
broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise and break it,
whenever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the
public interest; but I have not yet been so convinced. I have been
shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, in which
the writer expresses regret that my mind has not seemed to be
definitely fixed upon the question whether the seceded States, so
called, are in the Union or out of it. It would perhaps add
astonishment to his regret were he to learn that since I have found
professed Union men endeavoring to answer that question, I have
purposely forborne any public expression upon it. As appears to me,
that question has not been nor yet is a practically material one, and
that any discussion of it, while it thus remains practically
immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of
dividing our friends. As yet, whatever it may become, that question
is bad as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all--a
merely pernicious abstraction. We all agree 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 their proper
practical relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but in
fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether
those States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding
themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether
they had been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to
restore 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. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which
the Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if
it contained fifty thousand, or thirty thousand, or even twenty
thousand, instead of twelve thousand, as it does. It is also
unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to
the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on
the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.
Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it
stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, Will it be
wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and
disperse? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation
with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State
government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore Slave State
of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the
rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a
State government, adopted a Free State constitution, giving the
benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering
the Legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the colored
man. This Legislature has already voted to ratify the Constitutional
Amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout
the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed
to the Union and to perpetuate freedom in the State--committed to the
very things, and nearly all things, the nation wants--and they ask
the nation's recognition and its assistance to make good this
committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to
disorganize and disperse them. We, in fact, say to the white man:
You are worthless or worse; we will neither help you nor be helped by
you. To the blacks we say: This cup of liberty which these, your
old masters, held to your lips, we will dash from you, and leave you
to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in
some vague and undefined when, where, and how. If this course,
discouraging and paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to
bring Louisiana into proper practical relations with the Union, I
have so far been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we
recognize and sustain the new government of Louisiana, the converse
of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts and nerve the arms
of twelve thousand to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and
proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow it, and
ripen it to a complete success. The colored man, too, in seeing all
united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, and daring to
the same end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he
not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps towards it,
than by running backward over them? Concede that the new government
of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl,
we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing
it. Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor
of the proposed amendment to the National Constitution. To meet
this proposition, it has been argued that no more than three fourths
of those States which have not attempted secession are necessary to
validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against this,
further than to say that such a ratification would be questionable,
and sure to be persistently questioned, while a ratification by three
fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable.
I repeat the question, Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical
relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new
State government? What has been said of Louisiana will apply to
other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State,
and such important and sudden changes occur in the same State, and
withal so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive
and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and
collaterals. Such exclusive and inflexible plan would surely become
a new entanglement. Important principles may and must be inflexible.
In the present situation as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to
make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am
considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfied that action
will be proper.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. WEITZEL.
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 12, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL WEITZEL, Richmond, Va.:
I have seen your despatch to Colonel Hardie about the matter of
prayers. I do not remember hearing prayers spoken of while I was in
Richmond; but I have no doubt you have acted in what appeared to you
to be the spirit and temper manifested by me while there. Is there
any sign of the rebel legislature coming together on the
understanding of my letter to you? If there is any such sign, inform
me what it is; if there is no such sign, you may withdraw the offer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. WEITZEL.
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 1865.
MAJOR-GENERAL WEITZEL, Richmond, Va.:
I have just seen Judge Campbell's letter to you of the 7th. He
assumes, as appears to me, that I have called the insurgent
legislature of Virginia together, as the rightful legislature of the
State, to settle all differences with the United States. I have done
no such thing. I spoke of them, not as a legislature, but as "the
gentlemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of
the rebellion." I did this on purpose to exclude the assumption that
I was recognizing them as a rightful body. I deal with them as men
having power de facto to do a specific thing, to wit: "To withdraw
the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the General
Government," for which, in the paper handed Judge Campbell, I
promised a specific equivalent, to wit: a remission to the people of
the State, except in certain cases, of the confiscation of their
property. I meant this, and no more. Inasmuch, however, as Judge
Campbell misconstrues this, and is still pressing for an armistice,
contrary to the explicit statement of the paper I gave him, and
particularly as General Grant has since captured the Virginia troops,
so that giving a consideration for their withdrawal is no longer
applicable, let my letter to you and the paper to Judge Campbell both
be withdrawn, or countermanded, and he be notified of it. Do not now
allow them to assemble, but if any have come, allow them safe return
to their homes.
A. LINCOLN.
INTERVIEW WITH SCHUYLER COLFAX ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 14, 1865.
Mr. Colfax, I want you to take a message from me to the miners whom
you visit. I have very large ideas of the mineral wealth of our
nation. I believe it practically inexhaustible. It abounds all over
the Western country, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and its
development has scarcely commenced. During the war, when we were
adding a couple of millions of dollars every day to our national
debt, I did not care about encouraging the increase in the volume of
our precious metals. We had the country to save first. But now that
the rebellion is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly the amount of
our national debt, the more gold and silver we mine, we make the
payment of that debt so much the easier. Now," said he, speaking
with more emphasis, "I am going to encourage that in every possible
way. We shall have hundreds of thousands of disbanded soldiers, and
many have feared that their return home in such great numbers might
paralyze industry, by furnishing, suddenly, a greater supply of labor
than there will be demand for. I am going to try to attract them to
the hidden wealth of our mountain ranges, where there is room enough
for all. Immigration, which even the war has not stopped, will land
upon our shores hundreds of thousands more per year from overcrowded
Europe. I intend to point them to the gold and silver that wait for
them in the West. Tell the miners for me, that I shall promote their
interests to the utmost of my ability; because their prosperity is
the prosperity of the nation; and," said he, his eye kindling with
enthusiasm, "we shall prove, in a very few years, that we are indeed
the treasury of the world."
TO GENERAL VAN ALLEN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
April 14, 1865
GENERAL VAN ALLEN:
I intend to adopt the advice of my friends and use due precaution....
I thank you for the assurance you give me that I shall be
supported by conservative men like yourself, in the efforts I may
make to restore the Union, so as to make it, to use your language, a
Union of hearts and hands as well as of States.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
LINCOLN'S LAST WRITTEN WORDS
Allow Mr. Ashmer and friend to come in at 9 A.M. to-morrow.
A. LINCOLN.
April 14, 1865