General Morgan's command to Kentucky as a favor because they have marched
from Cumberland Gap. The precedent established by it would evidently break
up the whole army. Buell's old troops, now in pursuit of Bragg, have done
more hard marching recently; and, in fact, if you include marching and
fighting, there are scarcely any old troops east or west of the mountains
that have not done as hard service. I sincerely wish war was an easier
and pleasanter business than it is; but it does not admit of holidays.
On Morgan's command, where it is now sent, as I understand, depends the
question whether the enemy will get to the Ohio River in another place.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 8, 1862
MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:
I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and victories.
How does it all sum up? I especially regret the death of General
Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of General Oglesby,
who is an intimate personal friend.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. T. BOYLE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 11,1862. 4 P.M.
GENERAL BOYLE, Louisville, Kentucky:
Please send any news you have from General Buell to-day.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. T. BOYLE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 12, 1862. 4.10 P.M.
GENERAL BOYLE, Louisville, Kentucky:
We are anxious to hear from General Buell's army. We have heard nothing
since day before yesterday. Have you anything?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL CURTIS.
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 12, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL CURTIS, Saint Louis, Missouri:
Would the completion of the railroad some distance further in the
direction of Springfield, Mo., be of any military advantage to you? Please
answer.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 13, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR--You remember my speaking to you of what I called your
over-cautiousness. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you
cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be
at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim?
As I understand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot subsist
your army at Winchester unless the railroad from Harper's Ferry to that
point be put in working order. But the enemy does now subsist his army
at Winchester, at a distance nearly twice as great from railroad
transportation as you would have to do, without the railroad last named.
He now wagons from Culpepper Court-House, which is just about twice as far
as you would have to do from Harper's Ferry. He is certainly not more
than half as well provided with wagons as you are. I certainly should be
pleased for you to have the advantage of the railroad from Harper's Perry
to Winchester; but it wastes an the remainder of autumn to give it to you,
and, in fact, ignores the question of time, which cannot and must not be
ignored.
Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is "to operate
upon the enemy's communications as much as possible, without exposing your
own." You seem to act as if this applies against you, but cannot apply in
your favor. Change positions with the enemy, and think you not he would
break your communication with Richmond within the next twenty-four hours?
You dread his going into Pennsylvania. But if he does so in full force, he
gives up his communications to you absolutely, and you have nothing to do
but to follow and ruin him; if he does so with less than full force, fall
upon and beat what is left behind all the easier.
Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer to Richmond than the enemy
is, by the route that you can and he must take. Why can you not reach
there before him, unless you admit that he is more than your equal on a
march? His route is the arc of a circle, while yours is the chord. The
roads are as good on yours as on his.
You know I desired, but did not order, you to cross the Potomac below
instead of above the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. My idea was, that this
would at once menace the enemy's communications, which I would seize if
he would permit. If he should move northward, I would follow him
closely, holding his communications. If he should prevent our seizing his
communications, and move toward Richmond, I would press closely to him,
fight him if a favorable opportunity should present, and at least try to
beat him to Richmond on the inside track. I say "try;" if we never try,
we shall never succeed. If he makes a stand at Winchester, moving neither
north or south, I would fight him there, on the idea that if we cannot
beat him when he bears the wastage of coming to us, we never can when we
bear the wastage of going to him. This proposition is a simple truth,
and is too important to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming to us
he tenders us an advantage which we should not waive. We should not so
operate as to merely drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere or fail
finally, we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If we
cannot beat the enemy where he now is, we never can, he again being within
the entrenchments of Richmond.
[And, indeed, the enemy was let back into Richmond and it took another two
years and thousands of dead for McClelland cowardice--if that was all that
it was. I still suspect, and I think the evidence is overwhelming that he
was, either secretly a supporter of the South, or, what is more likely,
a politician readying for a different campaign: that of the Presidency of
the United States.]
Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside track, the
facility of supplying from the side away from the enemy is remarkable, as
it were, by the different spokes of a wheel extending from the hub toward
the rim, and this whether you move directly by the chord or on the inside
arc, hugging the Blue Ridge more closely. The chord line, as you see,
carries you by Aldie, Hay Market, and Fredericksburg; and you see how
turnpikes, railroads, and finally the Potomac, by Aquia Creek, meet you at
all points from WASHINGTON; the same, only the lines lengthened a little,
if you press closer to the Blue Ridge part of the way.
The gaps through the Blue Ridge I understand to be about the following
distances from Harper's Ferry, to wit: Vestal's, 5 miles; Gregory's, 13;
Snicker's, 18; Ashby's, 28; Manassas, 38; Chester, 45; and Thornton's,
53. I should think it preferable to take the route nearest the enemy,
disabling him to make an important move without your knowledge, and
compelling him to keep his forces together for dread of you. The gaps
would enable you to attack if you should wish. For a great part of the
way you would be practically between the enemy and both WASHINGTON and
Richmond, enabling us to spare you the greatest number of troops from
here. When at length running for Richmond ahead of him enables him to
move this way, if he does so, turn and attack him in rear. But I think he
should be engaged long before such a point is reached. It is all easy
if our troops march as well as the enemy, and it is unmanly to say they
cannot do it. This letter is in no sense an order.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR PIERPOINT.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., October 16, 1862.
GOVERNOR PIERPOINT, Wheeling, Virginia:
Your despatch of to-day received. I am very sorry to have offended you. I
appointed the collector, as I thought, on your written recommendation, and
the assessor also with your testimony of worthiness, although I know you
preferred a different man. I will examine to-morrow whether I am mistaken
in this.
A. LINCOLN.
EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING A PROVISIONAL COURT IN LOUISIANA.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY,
October 20, 1862.
The insurrection which has for some time prevailed in several of the
States of this Union, including Louisiana, having temporarily subverted
and swept away the civil institutions of that State, including the
judiciary and the judicial authorities of the Union, so that it has
become necessary to hold the State in military Occupation, and it being
indispensably necessary that there shall be some judicial tribunal
existing there capable of administering justice, I have therefore thought
it proper to appoint, and I do hereby constitute, a provisional court,
which shall be a court of record, for the State of Louisiana; and I do
hereby appoint Charles A Peabody, of New York, to be a provisional judge
to hold said court, with authority to hear, try, and determine all
causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and
admiralty, and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as belong
to the district and circuit courts of the United States, conforming his
proceedings so far as possible to the course of proceedings and practice
which has been customary in the courts of the United States and Louisiana,
his judgment to be final and conclusive. And I do hereby authorize and
empower the said judge to make and establish such rules and regulations
as may be necessary for the exercise of his jurisdiction, and empower the
said judge to appoint a prosecuting attorney, marshal, and clerk of the
said court, who shall perform the functions of attorney, marshal, and
clerk according to such proceedings and practice as before mentioned and
such rules and regulations as may be made and established by said judge.
These appointments are to continue during the pleasure of the President,
not extending beyond the military occupation of the city of New Orleans
or the restoration of the civil authority in that city and in the State of
Louisiana. These officers shall be paid, out of the contingent fund of the
War Department, compensation as follows:
The judge at the rate of $3500 per annum; the prosecuting attorney,
including the fees, at the rate of $3000 per annum; the marshal, including
the fees, at the rate of $3000 per annum; and the clerk, including the
fees, at the rate of $2500 per annum; such compensations to be certified
by the Secretary of War. A copy of this order, certified by the Secretary
of War and delivered to such judge, shall be deemed and held to be a
sufficient commission.
A. LINCOLN,
President of the United States.
TO GENERAL U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
October 21, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT:
The bearer of this, Thomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee, goes to that
State seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to avoid the
unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace again upon the
old terms, under the Constitution of the United States, to manifest
such desire by elections of members to the Congress of the United States
particularly, and perhaps a Legislature, State officers, and a United
States senator friendly to their object.
I shall be glad for you and each of you to aid him, and all others acting
for this object, as much as possible. In all available ways give the
people a show to express their wishes at these elections.
Follow law, and forms of law, as far as convenient, but at all events get
the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how
such action will connect with and affect the proclamation of September
22. Of course the men elected should be gentlemen of character, willing
to swear support to the Constitution as of old, and known to be above
reasonable suspicion of duplicity.
Yours very respectfully,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL JAMESON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 21, 1862.
GENERAL JAMESON, Upper Stillwater, Me.:
How is your health now? Do you or not wish Lieut. R. P. Crawford to be
restored to his office?
A. LINCOLN.
GENERAL McCLELLAN'S TIRED HORSES
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, October 24 [25?], 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
I have just read your despatch about sore-tongued and fatigued horses.
Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since
the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, October 26, 1862. 11.30am
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
Yours, in reply to mine about horses, received. Of course you know the
facts better than I; still two considerations remain: Stuart's cavalry
outmarched ours, having certainly done more marked service on the
Peninsula and everywhere since. Secondly, will not a movement of our army
be a relief to the cavalry, compelling the enemy to concentrate instead
of foraging in squads everywhere? But I am so rejoiced to learn from
your despatch to General Halleck that you begin crossing the river this
morning.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL DIX.
(Private and confidential.)
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON October 26, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL Dix, Fort Monroe, Virginia:
Your despatch to Mr. Stanton, of which the enclosed is a copy, has been
handed me by him. It would be dangerous for me now to begin construing and
making specific applications of the proclamation.
It is obvious to all that I therein intended to give time and opportunity.
Also, it is seen I left myself at liberty to exempt parts of States.
Without saying more, I shall be very glad if any Congressional district
will, in good faith, do as your despatch contemplates.
Could you give me the facts which prompted you to telegraph?
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 27, 1862, 12.10
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
Yours of yesterday received. Most certainly I intend no injustice to any,
and if I have done any I deeply regret it. To be told, after more than
five weeks' total inaction of the army, and during which period we have
sent to the army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in the
whole to 7918, that the cavalry horses were too much fatigued to move,
presents a very cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for the future,
and it may have forced something of impatience in my despatch. If not
recruited and rested then, when could they ever be? I suppose the river is
rising, and I am glad to believe you are crossing.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 27, 1862. 3.25pm
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
Your despatch of 3 P.M. to-day, in regard to filling up old regiments with
drafted men, is received, and the request therein shall be complied with
as far as practicable.
And now I ask a distinct answer to the question, Is it your purpose not
to go into action again until the men now being drafted in the States are
incorporated into the old regiments?
A. LINCOLN
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 29, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
Your despatches of night before last, yesterday, and last night all
received. I am much pleased with the movement of the army. When you get
entirely across the river let me know. What do you know of the enemy?
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR CURTIN.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 30, 1862.
GOVERNOR CURTIN, Harrisburg:
By some means I have not seen your despatch of the 27th about order No.154
until this moment. I now learn, what I knew nothing of before, that the
history of the order is as follows:
When General McClellan telegraphed asking General Halleck to have the
order made, General Halleck went to the Secretary of War with it, stating
his approval of the plan. The Secretary assented and General Halleck wrote
the order. It was a military question, which the Secretary supposed the
General understood better than he.
I wish I could see Governor Curtin.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 31, 1862.
GOV. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn., via Louisville, Ky.:
Yours of the 29th received. I shall take it to General Halleck, but I
already know it will be inconvenient to take General Morgan's command from
where it now is. I am glad to hear you speak hopefully of Tennessee. I
sincerely hope Rosecrans may find it possible to do something for her.
David Nelson, son of the M. C. of your State, regrets his father's final
defection, and asks me for a situation. Do you know him? Could he be of
service to you or to Tennessee in any capacity in which I could send him?
A. LINCOLN.
MEMORANDUM.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 1, 1862.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Captain Derrickson, with his company, has been for
some time keeping guard at my residence, now at the Soldiers' Retreat. He
and his company are very agreeable to me, and while it is deemed proper
for any guard to remain, none would be more satisfactory than Captain
Derrickson and his company.
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER RELIEVING GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN
AND MAKING OTHER CHANGES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, November 5, 1862.
By direction of the President, it is ordered that Major-General McClellan
be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and that
Major-General Burnside take the command of that army. Also that
Major-General Hunter take command of the corps in said army which is now
commanded by General Burnside. That Major-General Fitz. John Porter be
relieved from command of the corps he now commands in said army, and that
Major-General Hooker take command of said corps.
The general-in-chief is authorized, in [his] discretion, to issue an order
substantially as the above forthwith, or so soon as he may deem proper.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO M. F. ODELL.
EXECUTIVE MANSION WASHINGTON, November 5, 1862.
HON. M. F. ODELL, Brooklyn, New York:
You are re-elected. I wish to see you at once will you come? Please
answer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO COLONEL LOWE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 7,1862.
COL. W. W. LOWE, Fort Henry, Tennessee:
Yours of yesterday received. Governor Johnson, Mr. Ethridge, and others
are looking after the very thing you telegraphed about.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. POPE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 10, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL POPE, St. Paul, Minnesota:
Your despatch giving the names of 300 Indians condemned to death is
received. Please forward as soon as possible the full and complete record
of their convictions; and if the record does not fully indicate the more
guilty and influential of the culprits, please have a careful statement
made on these points and forwarded to me. Send all by mail.
A. LINCOLN.
TO COMMODORE FARRAGUT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 11, 1862.
COMMODORE FARRAGUT:
DEAR SIR:--This will introduce Major-General Banks. He is in command of
a considerable land force for operating in the South, and I shall be glad
for you to co-Operate with him and give him such assistance as you can
consistently with your orders from the Navy Department.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN.
ORDER CONCERNING BLOCKADE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 12, 1862.
Ordered, First: that clearances issued by the Treasury Department for
vessels or merchandise bound for the port of Norfolk, for the military
necessities of the department, certified by the military commandant at
Fort Monroe, shall be allowed to enter said port.
Second: that vessels and domestic produce from Norfolk, permitted by
the military commandant at Fort Monroe for the military purposes of his
command, shall on his permit be allowed to pass from said port to their
destination in any port not blockaded by the United States.
A. LINCOLN
ORDER CONCERNING THE CONFISCATION ACT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, November 13, 1862.
Ordered, by the President of the United States, That the Attorney-General
be charged with the superintendence and direction of all proceedings to be
had under the act of Congress of the 17th of July, 1862, entitled "An act
to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," in so far
as may concern the seizure, prosecution, and condemnation of the estate,
property, and effects of rebels and traitors, as mentioned and provided
for in the fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of the said act of Congress.
And the Attorney-General is authorized and required to give to the
attorneys and marshals of the United States such instructions and
directions as he may find needful and convenient touching all such
seizures, prosecutions, and condemnations, and, moreover, to authorize all
such attorneys and marshals, whenever there may be reasonable ground to
fear any forcible resistance to them in the discharge of their respective
duties in this behalf, to call upon any military officer in command of
the forces of the United States to give to them such aid, protection,
and support as may be necessary to enable them safely and efficiently to
discharge their respective duties; and all such commanding officers are
required promptly to obey such call, and to render the necessary service
as far as may be in their power consistently with their other duties.
A. LINCOLN.
By the President: EDWARD BATES, Attorney-General
TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
WAR DEPARTMENT, November 14, 1862.
GOV. ANDREW JOHNSON, Nashville, Tennessee:
Your despatch of the 4th, about returning troops from western Virginia to
Tennessee, is just received, and I have been to General Halleck with it.
He says an order has already been made by which those troops have already
moved, or soon will move, to Tennessee.
A. LINCOLN.
GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY
IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 15, 1862.
The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and
enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in
the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of
the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and
sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people,
and a due regard for the divine will demand that Sunday labor in the army
and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.
The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer nor
the cause they defend be imperilled by the profanation of the day or name
of the Most High. "At this time of public distress," adopting the words of
Washington in 1776, "men may find enough to do in the service of God and
their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality."
The first general order issued by the Father of his Country after the
Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our institutions
were founded and should ever be defended:
"The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to
live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights
and liberties of his country."
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BLAIR
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 17,1862.
HON. F. P. BLAIR:
Your brother says you are solicitous to be ordered to join General
McLernand. I suppose you are ordered to Helena; this means that you are
to form part of McLernand's expedition as it moves down the river; and
General McLernand is so informed. I will see General Halleck as to whether
the additional force you mention can go with you.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL J. A. DIX.
WASHINGTON, D. C., November 18, 1861.
MAJOR-GENERAL Dix, Fort Monroe:
Please give me your best opinion as to the number of the enemy now at
Richmond and also at Petersburg.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GOVERNOR SHEPLEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 21, 1862.
HON. G. F. SHEPLEY.
DEAR SIR:--Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that
Federal officers not citizens of Louisiana may be set up as candidates for
Congress in that State. In my view there could be no possible object in
such an election. We do not particularly need members of Congress from
there to enable us to get along with legislation here. What we do want is
the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing
to be members of Congress and to swear support to the Constitution, and
that other respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and
send them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as representatives,
elected, as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at the point of
the bayonet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and were I a member of
Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a seat.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN,
ORDER PROHIBITING THE EXPORT OF ARMS AND MUNITIONS OF WAR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 21, 1862.
Ordered, That no arms, ammunition, or munitions of war be cleared or
allowed to be exported from the United States until further orders. That
any clearance for arms, ammunition, or munitions of war issued heretofore
by the Treasury Department be vacated, if the articles have not passed
without the United States, and the articles stopped. That the Secretary
of War hold possession of the arms, etc., recently seized by his order at
Rouse's Point, bound for Canada.
A. LINCOLN.