Chapter 10

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.

A. 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.

A. 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 18th day of July, A.D. 1864, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

A. 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.

PRESENTATION OF A CANE

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, Sheridan, and Grant had the same inability of most of his previous general officers. No one needed to watch Grant or Sherman or Sheridan, 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.