to frame an order for recruiting North Carolinians at Fort Hatteras. I
suggest it to be so framed as for us to accept a smaller force--even a
company--if we cannot get a regiment or more. What is necessary to now
say about officers you will judge. Governor Seward says he has a nephew
(Clarence A. Seward, I believe) who would be willing to go and play
colonel and assist in raising the force. Still it is to be considered
whether the North Carolinians will not prefer officers of their own. I
should expect they would.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO SECRETARY CAMERON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 18, 1861
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR. MY DEAR SIR:--To guard against misunderstanding,
I think fit to say that the joint expedition of the army and navy agreed
upon some time since, and in which General T. W. Sherman was and is to
bear a conspicuous part, is in no wise to be abandoned, but must be ready
to move by the 1st of, or very early in, October. Let all preparations go
forward accordingly.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL FREMONT,
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 12, 1861
MAJOR-GENERAL FREMONT:
Governor Morton telegraphs as follows: "Colonel Lane, just arrived by
special train, represents Owensborough, forty miles above Evansville, in
possession of secessionists. Green River is navigable. Owensborough must
be seized. We want a gunboat sent up from Paducah for that purpose." Send
up the gunboat if, in your discretion, you think it right. Perhaps you had
better order those in charge of the Ohio River to guard it vigilantly at
all points.
A. LINCOLN.
To O. H. BROWNING.
(Private and Confidential)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON SEPTEMBER 22, 1861
HON. O. H. BROWNING.
MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of the 17th is just received; and coming from you, I
confess it astonishes me. That you should object to my adhering to a law
which you had assisted in making and presenting to me less than a month
before is odd enough. But this is a very small part. General Fremont's
proclamation as to confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves
is purely political and not within the range of military law or necessity.
If a commanding general finds a necessity to seize the farm of a private
owner for a pasture, an encampment, or a fortification, he has the right
to do so, and to so hold it as long as the necessity lasts; and this is
within military law, because within military necessity. But to say the
farm shall no longer belong to the owner, or his heirs forever, and this
as well when the farm is not needed for military purposes as when it is,
is purely political, without the savor of military law about it. And the
same is true of slaves. If the general needs them, he can seize them
and use them; but when the need is past, it is not for him to fix their
permanent future condition. That must be settled according to laws made
by law-makers, and not by military proclamations. The proclamation in the
point in question is simply "dictatorship." It assumes that the general
may do anything he pleases confiscate the lands and free the slaves of
loyal people, as well as of disloyal ones. And going the whole figure,
I have no doubt, would be more popular with some thoughtless people than
that which has been done, But I cannot assume this reckless position, nor
allow others to assume it on my responsibility.
You speak of it as being the only means of saving the government. On
the contrary, it is itself the surrender of the government. Can it be
pretended that it is any longer the Government of the United States--any
government of constitution and laws wherein a general or a president may
make permanent rules of property by proclamation? I do not say Congress
might not with propriety pass a law on the point, just such as General
Fremont proclaimed.
I do not say I might not, as a member of Congress, vote for it. What I
object to is, that I, as President, shall expressly or impliedly seize and
exercise the permanent legislative functions of the government.
So much as to principle. Now as to policy. No doubt the thing was popular
in some quarters, and would have been more so if it had been a general
declaration of emancipation. The Kentucky Legislature would not budge till
that proclamation was modified; and General Anderson telegraphed me
that on the news of General Fremont having actually issued deeds of
manumission, a whole company of our volunteers threw down their arms and
disbanded. I was so assured as to think it probable that the very arms
we had furnished Kentucky would be turned against us. I think to lose
Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we
cannot hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland. These all against us,
and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent
to separation at once, including the surrender of this Capital. On the
contrary, if you will give up your restlessness for new positions, and
back me manfully on the grounds upon which you and other kind friends
gave me the election and have approved in my public documents, we shall
go through triumphantly. You must not understand I took my course on the
proclamation because of Kentucky. I took the same ground in a private
letter to General Fremont before I heard from Kentucky.
You think I am inconsistent because I did not also forbid General Fremont
to shoot men under the proclamation. I understand that part to be within
military law, but I also think, and so privately wrote General Fremont,
that it is impolitic in this, that our adversaries have the power, and
will certainly exercise it, to shoot as many of our men as we shoot of
theirs. I did not say this in the public letter, because it is a subject I
prefer not to discuss in the hearing of our enemies.
There has been no thought of removing General Fremont on any ground
connected with his proclamation, and if there has been any wish for his
removal on any ground, our mutual friend Sam. Glover can probably tell you
what it was. I hope no real necessity for it exists on any ground.
Your friend, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
MEMORANDUM FOR A PLAN OF CAMPAIGN
[OCTOBER 1?] 1861
On or about the 5th of October (the exact date to be determined hereafter)
I wish a movement made to seize and hold a point on the railroad
connecting Virginia and Tennessee near the mountain-pass called Cumberland
Gap. That point is now guarded against us by Zollicoffer, with 6000 or
8000 rebels at Barboursville Ky.,--say twenty-five miles from the Gap,
toward Lexington. We have a force of 5000 or 6000 under General Thomas,
at Camp Dick Robinson, about twenty-five miles from Lexington and
seventy-five from Zollicoffer's camp, On the road between the two. There
is not a railroad anywhere between Lexington and the point to be seized,
and along the whole length of which the Union sentiment among the people
largely predominates. We have military possession of the railroad from
Cincinnati to Lexington, and from Louisville to Lexington, and some
home guards, under General Crittenden, are on the latter line. We have
possession of the railroad from Louisville to Nashville, Tenn., so far
as Muldraugh's Hill, about forty miles, and the rebels have possession of
that road all south of there. At the Hill we have a force of 8000, under
General Sherman, and about an equal force of rebels is a very short
distance south, under General Buckner.
We have a large force at Paducah, and a smaller at Port Holt, both on the
Kentucky side, with some at Bird's Point, Cairo, Mound City, Evansville,
and New Albany, all on the other side, and all which, with the gunboats on
the river, are perhaps sufficient to guard the Ohio from Louisville to its
mouth.
About supplies of troops, my general idea is that all from Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, not now elsewhere, be
left to Fremont. All from Indiana and Michigan, not now elsewhere, be sent
to Anderson at Louisville. All from Ohio needed in western Virginia be
sent there, and any remainder be sent to Mitchell at Cincinnati, for
Anderson. All east of the mountains be appropriated to McClellan and to
the coast.
As to movements, my idea is that the one for the coast and that on
Cumberland Gap be simultaneous, and that in the meantime preparation,
vigilant watching, and the defensive only be acted upon; this, however,
not to apply to Fremont's operations in northern and middle Missouri. That
before these movements Thomas and Sherman shall respectively watch but
not attack Zollicoffer and Buckner. That when the coast and Gap movements
shall be ready Sherman is merely to stand fast, while all at Cincinnati
and all at Louisville, with all on the line, concentrate rapidly at
Lexington, and thence to Thomas's camp, joining him, and the whole thence
upon the Gap. It is for the military men to decide whether they can find a
pass through the mountains at or near the Gap which cannot be defended by
the enemy with a greatly inferior force, and what is to be done in regard
to this.
The coast and Gap movements made, Generals McClellan and Fremont, in
their respective departments, will avail themselves of any advantages the
diversions may present.
[He was entirely unable to get this started, Sherman would have taken
an active part if given him, the others were too busy getting lines of
communication guarded--and discovering many "critical" supply items that
had not been sent them. Also the commanding general did not like it. D.W.]
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, October 4, 1861
HONORABLE SECRETARY OF STATE.
DEAR SIR:--Please see Mr. Walker, well vouched as a Union man and
son-in-law of Governor Morehead, and pleading for his release. I
understand the Kentucky arrests were not made by special direction from
here, and I am willing if you are that any of the parties may be released
when James Guthrie and James Speed think they should be.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO THE VICEROY OF EGYPT.
WASHINGTON, October 11, 1861.
GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND:--I have received from Mr. Thayer, Consul-General
of the United States at Alexandria, a full account of the liberal,
enlightened, and energetic proceedings which, on his complaint, you have
adopted in bringing to speedy and condign punishment the parties, subjects
of your Highness in Upper Egypt, who were concerned in an act of criminal
persecution against Faris, an agent of certain Christian missionaries in
Upper Egypt. I pray your Highness to be assured that these proceedings,
at once so prompt and so just, will be regarded as a new and unmistakable
proof equally of your Highness's friendship for the United States and
of the firmness, integrity and wisdom, with which the government of your
Highness is conducted. Wishing you great prosperity and success, I am your
friend,
A. LINCOLN.
HIS HIGHNESS MOHAMMED SAID PACHA, Viceroy of Egypt and its Dependencies,
etc.
By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
ORDER AUTHORIZING SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.
October 14 1861
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT:
The military line of the United States for the suppression of the
insurrection may be extended so far as Bangor, in Maine. You and any
officer acting under your authority are hereby authorized to suspend the
writ of habeas corpus in any place between that place and the city of
Washington.
A. LINCOLN.
By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TO SECRETARY OF INTERIOR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, October 14, 1861
HON. SEC. OF INTERIOR.
DEAR SIR:--How is this? I supposed I was appointing for register of wills
a citizen of this District. Now the commission comes to me "Moses Kelly,
of New Hampshire." I do not like this.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TWO SONS WHO WANT TO WORK
TO MAJOR RAMSEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, October 17, 1861
MAJOR RAMSEY.
MY DEAR SIR:--The lady bearer of this says she has two sons who want to
work. Set them at it if possible. Wanting to work is so rare a want that
it should be encouraged.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL THOMAS W. SHERMAN.
WASHINGTON, October 18, 1861.
GENERAL THOMAS SHERMAN, Annapolis, Md.:
Your despatch of yesterday received and shown to General McClellan. I have
promised him not to direct his army here without his consent. I do not
think I shall come to Annapolis.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL CURTIS, WITH INCLOSURES.
WASHINGTON, October 24, 1861
BRIGADIER-GENERAL S. R. CURTIS.
MY DEAR SIR:--Herewith is a document--half letter, half order--which,
wishing you to see, but not to make public, I send unsealed. Please
read it and then inclose it to the officer who may be in command of the
Department of the West at the time it reaches him. I cannot now know
whether Fremont or Hunter will then be in command.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
WASHINGTON, October 24, 1861
BRIGADIER-GENERAL S. R. CURTIS.
DEAR SIR:--On receipt of this, with the accompanying inclosures, you will
take safe, certain, and suitable measures to have the inclosure addressed
to Major-General Fremont delivered to him with all reasonable despatch,
subject to these conditions only: that if, when General Fremont shall be
reached by the messenger--yourself or any one sent by you--he shall then
have, in personal command, fought and won a battle, or shall then be
actually in a battle, or shall then be in the immediate presence of the
enemy in expectation of a battle, it is not to be delivered, but held
for further orders. After, and not till after, the delivery to General
Fremont, let the inclosure addressed to General Hunter be delivered to
him.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
(General Orders No. 18.) HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
WASHINGTON, October 24, 1861
Major-General Fremont, of the United States Army, the present commander
of the Western Department of the same, will, on the receipt of this order,
call Major-General Hunter, of the United States Volunteers, to relieve him
temporarily in that command, when he (Major-General Fremont) will report
to general headquarters by letter for further orders.
WINFIELD SCOTT. By command: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General.
WASHINGTON, October 24, 1861
TO THE COMMANDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE WEST.
SIR:--The command of the Department of the West having devolved upon you,
I propose to offer you a few suggestions. Knowing how hazardous it is
to bind down a distant commander in the field to specific lines and
operations, as so much always depends on a knowledge of localities and
passing events, it is intended, therefore, to leave a considerable margin
for the exercise of your judgment and discretion.
The main rebel army (Price's) west of the Mississippi is believed to have
passed Dade County in full retreat upon northwestern Arkansas, leaving
Missouri almost freed from the enemy, excepting in the southeast of the
State. Assuming this basis of fact, it seems desirable, as you are not
likely to overtake Price, and are in danger of making too long a line from
your own base of supplies and reinforcements, that you should give up the
pursuit, halt your main army, divide it into two corps of observation, one
occupying Sedalia and the other Rolla, the present termini of railroads;
then recruit the condition of both corps by re-establishing and improving
their discipline and instructions, perfecting their clothing and
equipments, and providing less uncomfortable quarters. Of course, both
railroads must be guarded and kept open, judiciously employing just so
much force as is necessary for this. From these two points, Sedalia and
Rolla, and especially in judicious cooperation with Lane on the Kansas
border, it would be so easy to concentrate and repel any army of the enemy
returning on Missouri from the southwest, that it is not probable any such
attempt will be made before or during the approaching cold weather. Before
spring the people of Missouri will probably be in no favorable mood
to renew for next year the troubles which have so much afflicted and
impoverished them during this. If you adopt this line of policy, and if,
as I anticipate, you will see no enemy in great force approaching, you
will have a surplus of force which you can withdraw from these points and
direct to others as may be needed, the railroads furnishing ready means
of reinforcing these main points if occasion requires. Doubtless local
uprisings will for a time continue to occur, but these can be met by
detachments and local forces of our own, and will ere long tire out of
themselves.
While, as stated in the beginning of the letter, a large discretion must
be and is left with yourself, I feel sure that an indefinite pursuit of
Price or an attempt by this long and circuitous route to reach Memphis
will be exhaustive beyond endurance, and will end in the loss of the whole
force engaged in it.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER RETIRING GENERAL SCOTT AND APPOINTING
GENERAL McCLELLAN HIS SUCCESSOR. (General Orders, No.94.)
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE
WASHINGTON, November 1, 1861
The following order from the President of the United States, announcing
the retirement from active command of the honored veteran Lieutenant
general Winfield Scott, will be read by the army with profound regret:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON.
November 1, 1861
On the 1st day of November, A.D. 1861, upon his own application to the
President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott
is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed, upon the list of retired
officers of the army of the United States, without reduction in his
current pay, subsistence, or allowances.
The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General
Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the
President and a unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's
sympathy in his personal affliction and their profound sense of the
important public services rendered by him to his country during his long
and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully distinguished
his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the flag when
assailed by parricidal rebellion.
A. LINCOLN
The President is pleased to direct that Major general George B. McClellan
assume the command of the army of the United States. The headquarters of
the army will be established in the city of Washington. All communications
intended for the commanding general will hereafter be addressed direct
to the adjutant-general. The duplicate returns, orders, and other papers
heretofore sent to the assistant adjutant-general, headquarters of the
army, will be discontinued.
By order of the Secretary of War: L. THOMAS, Adjutant General.
ORDER APPROVING THE PLAN OF GOVERNOR GAMBLE OF MISSOURI.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 5, 1861.
The Governor of the State of Missouri, acting under the direction of the
convention of that State, proposes to the Government of the United States
that he will raise a military force to serve within the State as State
militia during the war there, to cooperate with the troops in the
service of the United States in repelling the invasion of the State and
suppressing rebellion therein; the said State militia to be embodied
and to be held in the camp and in the field, drilled, disciplined, and
governed according to the Army Regulations and subject to the Articles of
War; the said State militia not to be ordered out of the State except for
the immediate defense of the State of Missouri, but to co-operate with the
troops in the service of the United States in military operations within
the State or necessary to its defense, and when officers of the State
militia act with officers in the service of the United States of the same
grade the officers of the United States service shall command the combined
force; the State militia to be armed, equipped, clothed, subsisted,
transported, and paid by the United States during such time as they shall
be actually engaged as an embodied military force in service in accordance
with regulations of the United States Army or general orders as issued
from time to time.
In order that the Treasury of the United States may not be burdened with
the pay of unnecessary officers, the governor proposes that, although
the State law requires him to appoint upon the general staff an
adjutant-general, a commissary-general, an inspector-general, a
quartermaster-general, a paymaster-general, and a surgeon-general, each
with the rank of colonel of cavalry, yet he proposes that the
Government of the United States pay only the adjutant-general, the
quartermaster-general, and inspector-general, their services being
necessary in the relations which would exist between the State militia and
the United States. The governor further proposes that while he is
allowed by the State law to appoint aides-de-camp to the governor at his
discretion, with the rank of colonel, three only shall be reported to the
United States for payment. He also proposes that the State militia
shall be commanded by a single major-general and by such number of
brigadier-generals as shall allow one for a brigade of not less than four
regiments, and that no greater number of staff officers shall be appointed
for regimental, brigade, and division duties than as provided for in the
act of Congress of the 22d July, 1861; and that, whatever be the rank of
such officers as fixed by the law of the State, the compensation that they
shall receive from the United States shall only be that which belongs to
the rank given by said act of Congress to officers in the United States
service performing the same duties.
The field officers of a regiment in the State militia are one colonel, one
lieutenant-colonel, and one major, and the company officers are a captain,
a first lieutenant, and a second lieutenant. The governor proposes that,
as the money to be disbursed is the money of the United States, such staff
officers in the service of the United States as may be necessary to act
as disbursing officers for the State militia shall be assigned by the War
Department for that duty; or, if such cannot be spared from their present
duty, he will appoint such persons disbursing officers for the State
militia as the President of the United States may designate. Such
regulations as may be required, in the judgment of the President, to
insure regularity of returns and to protect the United States from any
fraudulent practices shall be observed and obeyed by all in office in the
State militia.
The above propositions are accepted on the part of the United States, and
the Secretary of War is directed to make the necessary orders upon the
Ordnance, Quartermaster's, Commissary, Pay, and Medical departments
to carry this agreement into effect. He will cause the necessary
staff officers in the United States service to be detailed for duty in
connection with the Missouri State militia, and will order them to make
the necessary provision in their respective offices for fulfilling this
agreement. All requisitions upon the different officers of the United
States under this agreement to be made in substance in the same mode for
the Missouri State militia as similar requisitions are made for troops in
the service of the United States; and the Secretary of War will cause
any additional regulations that may be necessary to insure regularity
and economy in carrying this agreement into effect to be adopted and
communicated to the Governor of Missouri for the government of the
Missouri State militia.
[Indorsement.]
November 6, 1861.
This plan approved, with the modification that the governor stipulates
that when he commissions a major-general of militia it shall be the same
person at the time in command of the United States Department of the
West; and in case the United States shall change such commander of the
department, he (the governor) will revoke the State commission given to
the person relieved and give one to the person substituted to the United
States command of said department.
A. LINCOLN.
REPLY TO THE MINISTER FROM SWEDEN.
November 8, 1861.