The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete

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A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR MORTON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 1862.

GOVERNOR O. P. MORTON, Indianapolis, Indiana:

I have received your despatch in regard to recommendations of General
Wright. I have received no such despatch from him, at least not that
I can remember. I refer yours for General Halleck's consideration.
A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL KETCHUM.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 20, 1862.

GENERAL KETCHUM, Springfield, Illinois:

How many regiments are there in Illinois, ready for service but for
want of arms? How many arms have you there ready for distribution?

A. LINCOLN.




PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION,
SEPTEMBER 22, 1862.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim
and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted
for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation
between the United States and each of the States and the people
thereof in which States that relation is or may be suspended or
disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again
recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid
to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called,
the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United
States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or
thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of
slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to
colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this
continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the
governments existing there, will be continued.

That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves
within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do
no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any
efforts they may make for their actual freedom.


That the Executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in
which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion
against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people
thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the
Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections
wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have
participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the
people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An
act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862,
and which act is in the words and figure following:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the
following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for
the government of the Army of the United States and shall be obeyed
and observed as such.

"ART. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of
the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces
under their respective commands for the purpose of returning
fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any person,
to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer
who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this
article shall be dismissed from the service.

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect
from and after its passage."

Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to
suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved
July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures
following:


"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who
shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the
United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto,
escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the
army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them
and coming under the control of the Government of the United States,
and all slaves of such persons found on (or) being within any place
occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the
United States, shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever
free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.

"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State
shall be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his
liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless
the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the
person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be
due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United
States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort
thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of
the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to
decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or
labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the
claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and
sections above recited.

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the
United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the
rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation
between the United States and their respective States and people, if
that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated
for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of
slaves.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day of September,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and
of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.




PROCLAMATION SUSPENDING THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, SEPTEMBER 24,
1862.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A Proclamation

Whereas it has become necessary to call into service not only
volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft,
in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States,
and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary
processes of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and
comfort in various ways to the insurrection:

Now, therefore, be it ordered

First. That during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary
measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their
aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons
discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or
guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to rebels
against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to
martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by courts-martial or
military commissions.

Second. That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to
all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the
rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort camp, arsenal, military
prison or other place of confinement by any military authority or by
the sentence of any court-martial or military commission.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of WASHINGTON, this twenty-fourth day of September.
A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the
United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.




REPLY TO SERENADE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1862.

I appear before you to do little more than acknowledge the courtesy
you pay me, and to thank you for it. I have not been distinctly
informed why it is that on this occasion you appear to do me this
honor, though I suppose it is because of the proclamation. What I
did, I did after a very full deliberation, and under a very heavy and
solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have made
no mistake. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain what
I have done or said by any comment. It is now for the country and
the world to pass judgment and, maybe, take action upon it.

I will say no more upon this subject. In my position I am environed
with difficulties. Yet they are scarcely so great as the
difficulties of those who upon the battle-field are endeavoring to
purchase with their blood and their lives the future happiness and
prosperity of this country. Let us never forget them. On the
fourteenth and seventeenth days of this present month there have been
battles bravely, skillfully, and successfully fought. We do not yet
know the particulars. Let us be sure that, in giving praise to
certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I only ask you,
at the conclusion of these few remarks, to give three hearty cheers
for all good and brave officers and men who fought those successful
battles.




RECORD EXPLAINING THE DISMISSAL OF MAJOR JOHN J. KEY FROM THE
MILITARY SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,

September 26, 1862.

MAJOR JOHN J. KEY:

I am informed that, in answer to the question, "Why was not the rebel
army bagged immediately after the battle near Sharpsburg?" propounded
to you by Major Levi C. Turner, Judge Advocate, etc., you said:
"That is not the game. The object is, that neither army shall get
much advantage of the other; that both shall be kept in the field
till they are exhausted, when we will make a compromise and save
slavery."

I shall be very happy if you will, within twenty-four hours from the
receipt of this, prove to me by Major Turner that you did not, either
literally or in substance, make the answer stated.

[Above delivered to Major Key at 10.25 a.m. September 27th.]

At about 11 o'clock A.M., September 27, 1862, Major Key and Major
Turner appeared before me. Major Turner says:

"As I remember it, the conversation was: 'Why did we not bag them
after the battle of Sharpsburg?' Major Key's reply was: 'That was
not the game; that we should tire the rebels out and ourselves; that
that was the only way the Union could be preserved, we come together
fraternally, and slavery be saved.'"

On cross-examination, Major Turner says he has frequently heard Major
Key converse in regard to the present troubles, and never heard him
utter a sentiment unfavorable to the maintenance of the Union. He
has never uttered anything which he, Major T., would call disloyalty.
The particular conversation detailed was a private one.

[Indorsement on the above.]

In my view, it is wholly inadmissible for any gentleman holding a
military commission from the United States to utter such sentiments
as Major Key is within proved to have done. Therefore, let Major
John J. Key be forthwith dismissed from the military service of the
United States.

A. LINCOLN.




TO HANNIBAL HAMLIN.
(Strictly private.)

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
September 28, 1862.

HON. HANNIBAL HAMLIN.

MY DEAR SIR: Your kind letter of the 25th is just received. It is
known to some that, while I hope something from the proclamation, my
expectations are not as sanguine as are those of some friends. The
time for its effect southward has not come; but northward the effect
should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and, while commendation
in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all that a vain man
could wish, the stocks have declined, and troops come forward more
slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is not very
satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the end of the
six days than we had at the beginning--the attrition among the old
outnumbering the addition by the new. The North responds to the
proclamation sufficiently in breath; but breath alone kills no
rebels.

I wish I could write more cheerfully; nor do I thank you the less for
the kindness of your letter.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.




TO GENERAL HALLECK.

McCLELLAN'S HEADQUARTERS, October 3, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK:

General Stuart, of the rebel army, has sent in a few of our prisoners
under a flag of truce, paroled with terms to prevent their fighting
the Indians, and evidently seeking to commit us to their right to
parole prisoners in that way. My inclination is to send the
prisoners back with a definite notice that we will recognize no
paroles given to our prisoners by the rebels as extending beyond a
prohibition against fighting them, though I wish your opinion upon
it, based both upon the general law and our cartel. I wish to avoid
violations of the law and bad faith. Answer as quickly as possible,
as the thing, if done at all, should be done at once.

A. LINCOLN, President




REMARKS TO THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC AT
FREDERICK, MARYLAND, OCTOBER, 4, 1862.

I am surrounded by soldiers and a little farther off by the citizens
of this good City of Frederick. Nevertheless I can only say, as I
did five minutes ago, it is not proper for me to make speeches in my
present position. I return thanks to our soldiers for the good
services they have rendered, the energy they have shown, the
hardships they have endured, and the blood they have shed for this
Union of ours; and I also return thanks, not only to the soldiers,
but to the good citizens of Frederick, and to the good men, women,
and children in this land of ours, for their devotion to this
glorious cause; and I say this with no malice in my heart towards
those who have done otherwise. May our children and children's
children, for a thousand generations, continue to enjoy the benefits
conferred upon us by a united country, and have cause yet to rejoice
under these glorious institutions, bequeathed to us by WASHINGTON and
his compeers. Now, my friends, soldiers and citizens, I can only say
once more-farewell.




TELEGRAM FROM GENERAL HALLECK

TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.,
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

I am instructed to telegraph you as follows: The President directs
that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him
south. Your army must move now, while the roads are good. If you
cross the river between the enemy and Washington, and cover the
latter by your operation, you can be reinforced by thirty thousand
men. If you move up the valley of the Shenandoah, not more than
twelve or fifteen thousand can be sent you. The President advises
the interior line between Washington and the enemy, but does not
order it. He is very desirous that your army move as soon as
possible. You will immediately report what line you adopt, and when
you intend to cross the river; also to what point the reinforcements
are to be sent. It is necessary that the plan of your operations be
positively determined on, before orders are given for building
bridges and repairing railroads. I am directed to add that the
Secretary of War and the General-in-chief fully concur with the
President in these directions.

H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL McCLELLAN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 7, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN, Hdqs. Army of the Potomac:

You wish to see your family and I wish to oblige you. It might be
left to your own discretion; certainly so, if Mrs. M. could meet you
here at Washington.

A. LINCOLN.




TO T. H. CLAY.

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 8, 1862.

THOMAS H. CLAY, Cincinnati, Ohio:

You cannot have reflected seriously when you ask that I shall order
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: