18 May 1862

Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Rev. Herman Dyer

Secretary of War Stanton writes to his friend Reverend Dyer about Union strategy in Peninsula Campaign, responding to criticism in the press. He expresses condemnation of General McClellan. Stanton insists that Lincoln agrees with him concerning the defense of Washington. He also expresses his thoughts about his position: "I knew that everything I cherish and hold dear would be sacrificed by accepting this office. But I thought I might help to save the country and for that I am willing to perish." Written on four folios.

GLC07102

10 March 1862

Cameron, Simon, 1799-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edwin M. Stanton

Discussing Mary Todd Lincoln's influence in military matters. Says that others have "asserted that Mrs Lincoln was one of the parties whose influence had operated on me." Also praises some of Stanton's early changes in dispositions of troops. Marked "Private."

GLC07091

24 May 1861

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Ezekiel D. Dyer for fraud].

Countersigned by Secretary of State William H. Seward. Dyer was convicted in December, 1859, and sentenced to the jail at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He remained in prison after completing his sentence because he was unable to pay his fine. He was pardoned at the request of Massachusetts politicians, Senator Henry Wilson, and representatives Alexander H. Rice, Charles R. Train, and H. L. Dawes. B. F. Hallett also requested Dyer's pardon.

GLC07314

11 April 1862

Meigs, Montgomery C. (Montgomery Cunningham), 1816-1892

Letter signed

Title: to C. L. Pascal

Written by Brigadier General Meigs as Quartermaster General of the Army. References Pascal's letter of 6 April 1862 that enclosed illustrations of his plan for sinking the CSS "Merrimac." Says they have been referred to the Secretary of the Navy. Written on letterhead of the Quartermaster General's Office. File includes a small (5.1 x 4.1 cm.) engraving of Meigs's head.

GLC07363

28 September 1863

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Abraham Lincoln re: relieving Hooker of Duty

"The request was possibly attributable to Gen. Hooker's persuasion that he could not rely on cordial cooperation from General Halleck...You will readily understand what distrust this conflict of orders might give rise to."

GLC07711

7 October 1861

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel P. Chase

Writes of his intentions to appoint Marvin J. Green, a clerk under Secretary of the Treasury Chase, to the Commissary of General John J. Peck. Requests that Chase appoint a Mr. Hawley to replace Green.

GLC06414

1 July 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Printed document signed

Title: [Commission of Henry Hunt as Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Artillery Regiment]

Countersigned by Edwin McMasters Stanton, Secretary of War, and Edward Davis Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General. Official seal has been ripped and is partially missing. Partially printed on vellum. Contains an image of an eagle, a knight's helmet, and several United States flags.

GLC06415.01

February 2, 1865

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to [Josiah G. Holland]

Chief Justice Chase, former Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln, recalls that Lincoln's first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet on 22 September [1862] was preceded by his reading aloud a chapter from Artemus Ward. Writes that he is inclined to have Lincoln's remarks sent to to the recipient, "Nothing prevents save some doubt whether it can be properly done even in confidence. They do honor to him as a man, a patriot & a statesman - great honor." Letter is only addressed to "dear sir." Recipient inferred.

GLC06647

23 June 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edwin McMasters Stanton

President Lincoln states that Judge William Darrah Kelley, a United States Representative from Pennsylvania, is attempting to raise African American regiments in Philadelphia. Informs Stanton, Secretary of War, that Milton [M. Herpert?] is a friend of Kelley and a Private in the 112th Regiment from Pennsylvania. States that Herpert wishes to serve as lieutenant of one of the African American regiments. Reports that if Kelley agrees of Herpert's appointment as lieutenant, Lincoln also approves. States that Herpert needs Stanton's approval to carry a letter to Kelley discussing this…

GLC06678

10 December 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edwin M. Stanton

Lincoln writes to Secretary of War Stanton concerning the promotion of Colonel Charles H. Tompkins to Brigadier General. The Rhode Island Delegation and General Horatio G. Wright called upon Lincoln to make the appointment, and brought a favorable recommendation from General John Sedgwick. He asks that the promotion be made unless Stanton has a valid objection.

GLC06679

24 November 1864

Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818-1882

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mrs. Judge White

Discusses some confusion over Nathaniel Banks getting a cabinet post. States that President Lincoln said William Seward and Thurlow Weed never mentioned the subject. She remarks, "This all appears, as a strange dream, and if the information did not come from so eminently truthful a source, it could not be credited." Reports that Banks is to return immediately to the Department of the Gulf in New Orleans and that there is no chance of him getting a cabinet post. Remarks that they could have saved themselves much anxiety had they known this a few days ago. Written on mourning stationery for…

GLC06681

8 January 1862

Ericsson, John, 1803-1889

Letter signed

Title: to editor of the New York World

Wants to correct an "erroneous impression" from an article in his newspaper on his superintending of construction of an ironclad ship (the USS "Monitor") on behalf of Bushnell & Co. Says he is in fact making the ship "to my own plans approved by a special board of naval officers" under an agreement with the Secretary of the Navy dated 4 October 1861. Says he has been joined by "a few loyal and spirited citizens" who think "an impregnable floating battery will prove an important auxiliary at the present crisis."

GLC06639

25 August 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: [Lincoln endorsement on Edwin M. Stanton letter to Lincoln]

Stanton asks Lincoln to provide a citation to an Act of Congress that excluded improper applicants from seats in House of Representatives which Lincoln has mentioned to him previously. Lincoln's note on the verso gives the citation for the act and states he got the information from John Armor Bingham, a Representative from Ohio. The act referred to was "An Act to regulate the Duties of the Clerk of the House of Representatives in preparing for the Organization of the House," approved 3 March 1863. On War Department stationary.

GLC06553

13 June 1861

Wadsworth, James S., 1807-1864

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: [Endorsement of the creation of Berdan's sharpshooters]

Wadsworth endorses s clerical copy of a letter from Major General Nathaniel P. Banks to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, with his own approval of the establishment of "Berdan's Sharpshooters." Banks recommends that "the Rifle shooters what Mr. Berdan proposes to organize" be made part of the military, and Wadsworth adds, "I entirely concur in the above - especially in view of the mode of warfare adopted by the rebels."

GLC06585

circa 1864

Scrapbook

Title: [Union autograph and sentiment album]

Includes thirty-five autographed quotations and sentiments, and ten signatures. This collection was possibly prepared for sale by the United States Sanitary Commission at the April 1864 Metropolitan Fair, held in New York City. The sentiments and autographs are written on separate pieces of paper inlaid into the album. Includes signatures and quotations contributed by John Pierpont, J. G. Holland, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Fred A, [Coggins?], Richard Henry Dana, Alfred Billings Street, Thaddeus Stevens, William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Horace Greeley, John B. [Gerysh?], John G…

GLC06620

circa 19 September 1880-1883

Hunt, Henry Jackson, 1819-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to W. Kalenski

Signed "HJH." Date range inferred from Hunt's location. Mentions [Kalenski's?] application for the Ordnance Department. Finds fault with the conclusions, not the facts, of an article on the Peninsula campaign. Defends McClellan's strategy in that campaign, and suggests there was a plot in Washington against the general: "What a misfortune for the cabal in Washn. that McC did not lose the battle of Antietam! They could have shot him then for his audacity in assuming the command of an army usurping the powers of the president and fighting in disobedience of his instructions. But alas! he won…

GLC05561

circa December 1, 1862

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document

Title: Annual message of the President [incomplete]

Gideon Welles's copy of proof sheets of Lincoln's message to Congress, lacking the final page and accompanied by the Government Printing Office pamphlet printing of the message (see GLC05505.02). WIth correction in pencil on page one. Tied at top with green ribbon.

GLC05505.01

29 September 1862

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph note signed

Title: to Edwin M. Stanton

A two-page petition regarding churches in Port Royal, S.C., occupies recto and verso of first leaf. Lincoln's note appears on verso of second leaf. Lincoln writes about the danger of conflict among different religious denominations in their ministry to the colored people in Port-Royal. He suggests that the churches not have interference from others, hoping that "a real Christian charity and forbearance on the part of all" will eliminate the discord. One colored bust engraving of Lincoln included. Basler, Roy P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University…

GLC05508.008

8 December 1863

Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Minister of Peru

Cautions the government of Peru not to return to Monarchy.

GLC05327

January 22, 1863

Faxon, William, 1822-1883

Autograph letter signed

Title: to A. A. Harwood

Written by Chief Clerk Faxon to Commodore Harwood. Tells Harwood that the "'Monitor' was launched January 30th, 1862 - Contest with the 'Merrimac,' March 9th - Foundered on the night of 30th Decr. 1862." (The "Merrimac" sank on 11 May 1862; the "Monitor" was lost at sea on 30 December of that year.) Says Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and his wife will be pleased (he does not specify why) "for there is no vessel he speaks of with such affection as the 'Monitor.'" Says he received a telegram from Admiral Lee that one of the ironclads [possibly the Weehauken] is now entering Hampton Roads…

GLC05331.03

11 May 1865

Halleck, H.W. (Henry Wager), 1815-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Marsena R. Patrick

Halleck writes as Union Major General Commanding to Brigadier General Patrick. "The Secty of War wishes proof of the fact ... that Libby Prison was mined at about the time of [General Hugh J.] Kilpatrick's raid for the purpose of blowing up our prisoners." 1 full length seated black and white engraving of Halleck included.

GLC05457

21 November 1862- 2 December 1862

Smith, Gustavus Woodson, 1821-1896

Letterbook

Title: [Nine letters (from letterbook) written by General Gustavus Woodson Smith]

Written while Smith was commander of defenses at Richmond (expanded to become the Department of Virginia and North Carolina). Contains a dispatch from Smith to the officer in command of Fredericksburg, Virginia dated 21 November 1862, stating that the Mayor of Fredericksburg telegraphed Smith the news that Fredericksburg is to be shelled the following day. Smith asks if he should send cars for the removal of women and children. Contains a letter from Smith to General William H. C. Whiting at Wilmington, North Carolina (21 November), assuring Whiting that everything practicable will be done…

GLC05469

3 May 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Letter signed

Title: to John P. Usher

Discussing the Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee, President Lincoln informs Usher, Secretary of the Interior, "it is now quite certain that a large number of our colored soldiers, with their white officers, were, by the rebel force, massacred after they had surrendered ... " Requests Usher's counsel regarding the government's course of action following the Fort Pillow events. The letter was also sent to the rest of the cabinet, including Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (see GLC07698). Signed by Lincoln. Written on Executive Mansion stationery.

GLC05620

8 July 1864

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William T. Coggeshall

Explains his resignation as Secretary of the Treasury in President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. States of himself "No man has labored more earnestly than I have to promote the welfare of the country, and I cannot see on looking back how I would have done better than I have." Laments that he did not have the support of Congress or the President. States of Lincoln, "He choose not to have any such explanation but accepted my resignation." Says that he might join his daughters in Rhode Island or go back to Ohio. Gives Coggeshall permission to publish his letters to him.

GLC05639

January 18, 1864

Dana, Charles Anderson, 1819-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to B. H. Peterson

Dana, the Assistant Secretary of War, officially informs Major Peterson of the current policy regarding prisoner of war exchanges. States that no rebel prisoners will be given parole, as per the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. On War Department letterhead.

GLC05670