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.
MRS. 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,
A. 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, ESQ.
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.
A. 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.
A. 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..............
A. 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.: