Approved March 3, 1863.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, Oct. 29, 1863.
His Excellency H. Hamlin, Vice-President.
My dear Sir: The above act of Congress was
passed, as I suppose, to exclude improper appli-
cants from seats in the House of Representatives,
and there is danger now that it will be used to
exclude proper ones. The attempt will be made,
if at all, upon the members of those States whose
delegations are entirety, or by a majority, Union
men, and of which your State is one.
I suppose your members already have the usual
certificates — which let them bring on. I suggest
that for greater caution, yourself, the two sena-
tors, Messrs. Fessenden and Morrill, and the
Governor consider this matter, and that the Gov-
ernor make out an additional certificate, or set
of certificates, in the form on the other half of
88 LETTERS
this sheet, and still another, if on studying the
law you gentlemen shall be able to frame one
which will give additional security ; and bring the
whole with you, to be used if found necessary.
Let it all be done quietly. The members of Con-
gress themselves need not know of it.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Hancock, Winfield S.
[ Telegram. ]
Washington, D. C, March 22, 1865.
Major-General Hancock,
Winchester, Virginia:
Seeing your despatch about General Crook,
and fearing that through misapprehension some-
thing unpleasant may occur, I send you below
two despatches of General Grant, which I sup-
pose will fully explain General Crook's move-
ments.
A. Lincoln.
Hardin, John J.
Springfield, May nth, 1843.
Friend Hardin:
Butler informs me that he received a letter
from you, in which you expressed some doubt
whether the whigs of Sangamon will support you
cordially — You may, at once, dismiss all fears
on that subject — We have already resolved to
make a particular effort to give you the very
largest majority possible in our county — From
this, no whig of the county dissents — We have
many objects for doing it. We make it a matter
of honor and pride to do it ; we do it, because we
HARDIN, JOHN /. 89
love the whig cause; we do it, because we like
you personally; and last, we wish to convince
you, that we do not bear that hatred to Morgan
county, that you people have so long seemed to
imagine. You will see by the journal of this
week, that we propose, upon pain of losing a
Barbecue, to give you twice as great a majority
in this county as you shall receive in your own.
I got up the proposal.
Who of the five appointed, is to write the Dis-
trict address? I did the labor of writing one
address this year; and got thunder for my re-
ward. Nothing new here.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
P. S. — I wish you would measure one of the
largest of those swords, we took to Alton, and
write me the length of it, from tip of the point
to tip of the hilt, in feet and inches. I have a
dispute about the length.
A. L.
Springfield, May 21, 1844.
Dear Hardin :
Knowing that you have correspondents en-
ough, I have forborne to trouble you heretofore ;
and I now only do so, to get you to set a matter
right which has got wrong with one of our best
friends. It is old uncle Thomas Campbell of
Spring Creek — (Berlin P. O.). He has received
several documents from you, and he says they
are old newspapers and documents, having no
sort of interest in them. He is, therefore, get-
ting a strong impression that you treat him with
disrespect. This, I know, is a mistaken im-
pression; and you must correct it. The way, I
9 o LETTERS
leave to yourself. Robert W. Canfield, says h<
would like to have a document or two from you
The Locos here are in considerable troubl<
about Van Buren's letter on Texas, and the Vir
ginia electors. They are growing sick of th<
Tariff question ; and consequently are much con
founded at V. B.'s cutting them off from the nev
Texas question. Nearly half the leaders swea:
they won't stand it. Of those are Ford, T
Campbell, Ewing, Calhoun and others. The]
don't exactly say they won't vote for V. B., bu
they say he will not be the candidate, and tha
they are for Texas anyhow. As ever yours,
A. Lincoln.
To General John J. Hardin.
Springfield, January 19, 1845.
Dear General :
I do not wish to join in your proposal of
new plan for the selection of a whig candidat
for Congress, because —
1st. I am entirely satisfied with the old sys|
tern under which you and Baker were successivel
nominated and elected to Congress ; and becaus
the Whigs of the District are well acquainte
with the system, and so far as I know or believ
are well satisfied with it. If the old system t
thought to be vague, as to all the delegates (
the county voting the same way; or as to ii
structions to them as to whom they are to vo:
for; or as to filling vacancies, — I am willing 1
join in a provision to make these matters certai: j
2nd. As to your proposals that a poll shall t
opened in every precinct, and that the who
shall take place on the same day, I do not pe
sonally object. They seem to me to be not w
HARDIN, JOHN J. 91
air; and I forbear to join in proposing them,
â–ºnly because I choose to leave the decision in
:ach county to the Whigs of the county, to be
nade as their own judgment and convenience
nay dictate.
3rd. As to your proposed stipulation that all
he candidates shall remain in their own coun-
ies, and restrain their friends in the same — it
eems to me that on reflection you will see, the
act of your having been in Congress has, in vari-
ous ways, so spread your name in the District,
s to give you a decided advantage in such a
tipulation. I appreciate your desire to keep
own excitement ; and I promise you "keep cool"
nder all circumstances.
4th. I have already said I am satisfied with
he old system under which such good men have
riumphed, and that I desire no departure from
:s principles. But if there must be a departure
rom it, I shall insist upon a more accurate and
ust apportionment of delegates, or representa-
ive votes, to the constituent body, than exists by
le old ; and which you propose to retain in your
ew plan.
[Here Mr. Lincoln gives statistics showing discrepan-
es of old apportionment.]
And so on in a less degree the matter runs
irough all the counties, being not only wrong
1 principle, but the advantage of it being all
lanifestly in your favor with one slight excep-
on, in the comparison of two counties not here
lentioned.
Again, if we take the whig votes of the coun-
es as shown by the late Presidential election as
basis, the thing is still worse.
92 LETTERS
[Illustrated by statistics.]
It seems to me most obvious that the old sys-
tem needs adjustment in nothing so much as in
this; and still, by your proposal, no notice is
taken of it. I have always been in the habit of
acceding to almost any proposal that a friend
would make, and I am truly sorry that I cannot
in this. I perhaps ought to mention that some
friends at different places are endeavoring to
secure the honor of the sitting of the conven-
tion at their towns respectively, and I fear that
they would not feel much complimented if we
shall make a bargain that it should sit nowhere.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
[See also Berdan, James; Boal, Robert; and James,
B. R]
(Copied from the Sangamon Journal for Feb. 26, 1846.)
Harney, W. S.
Washington, D. C, May 27, 1861.
Brigadier-General W. S. Harney,
Commanding Department of the West, St. Louis, Mo.
Sir : The President observes with concern that, not-
withstanding the pledge of the State authorities to
cooperate in preserving peace in Missouri, loyal citizens
in great numbers continue to be driven from their homes.
It is immaterial whether these outrages continue from
inability or indisposition on the part of the State au-
thorities to prevent them. It is enough that they con-
tinue to devolve on you the duty of putting a stop to
them summarily by the force under your command, to
be aided by such troops as you may require from Kansas,
Iowa, and Illinois. The professions of loyalty to the
Union by the State authorities of Missouri are not to be
relied upon. They have already falsified their professions
too often, and are too far committed to secession to be
entitled to your confidence, and you can only be sure of
their desisting from their wicked purposes when it is
HARVEY, J. E. 93
out of their power to prosecute them. You will there-
fore be unceasingly watchful of their movements, and
not permit the clamors of their partisans and opponents
of the wise measures already taken to prevent you from
checking every movement against the government, how-
ever disguised under the pretended State authority. The
authority of the United States is paramount, and when-
ever it is apparent that a movement, whether by color of
State authority or not, is hostile, you will not hesitate
to put it down.
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
L. Thomas, Adjutant-General.
Harvey, J. E.
[Private.]
Springfield, 111., September 2J, i860.
My dear Sir : Yesterday I was gratified by the
receipt of yours of the 22d. There is no reality
in that suspicion about Judge Kelly.* Neither
he nor any other man has obtained or sought
such a relation with me.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Private and confidential.]
October 2, i860.
My dear Sir : To comply with your request to
furnish extracts from my tariff speeches is
simply impossible, because none of those
speeches were published. It was not fashionable
here in those days to report one's public
speeches. In 1844 I was on tne Clay electoral
ticket in this State (i. e. Illinois) and, to the best
of my ability, sustained, together, the tariff of
* Judge W. D. Kelley of Pennsylvania, is referred to. Says
Francis D. Tandy, " It is supposed that this letter refers to a re-
port of hi9 seeking a second place on the ticket of i860."
94 LETTERS
1842 and the tariff plank of the Clay platform.
This could be proven by hundreds — perhaps
thousands — of living witnesses ; still it is not in
print, except by inference. The Whig papers
of those years all show that I was upon the
electoral ticket ; even though I made speeches,
among other things about the tariff, but they do
not show what I said about it. The papers show
that I was one of a committee which reported,
among others, a resolution in these words :
"That we are in favor of an adequate revenue
on duties from imports so levied as to afford
ample protection to American industry."
But, after all, was it really any more than the
tariff plank of our present platform? And does
not my acceptance pledge me to that? And am
I at liberty to do more, if I were inclined ?
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
Hatch, O. M.
[See Dubois, Jesse K.. Sept. 13, 1863.]
Hawkes, Charles K.
[See Chase, Salmon P., Jan. 28, 1864; and Wright,
C J.]
Hay, John.
On June 5, 1864, J. G. Nicolay, the President's private
secretary, wrote from Baltimore, where he was attend-
ing the National Union [Republican] Convention, to
Major John Hay, assistant private secretary to the
President, a letter relating to a conversation he had
had with B. C. Cook, the head of the Illinois delegates.
Cook was "suspicious that Swett may be untrue to
Lincoln. One of the straws which led him to this be-
HAY CRAFT, SAMUEL 95
lief is that Swett has telegraphed here urging the
Illinois delegation to go for Holt for Vice-President.
I told Cook," says Nicolay, "that I thought Lincoln
would not wish even to indicate a preference for Vice-
President, as the rival candidates were all friendly to
him. . . . Cook wants to know confidentially whether
Swett is all right ; whether in urging Holt for Vice-
President he reflects the President's wishes ; whether the
President has any preference ; either personally or on
the score of policy, or whether he wishes not even to
interfere by a confidential indication."
Upon this letter the President wrote the following
indorsement :
"Swett is unquestionably all right. Mr. Holt
is a good man, but I had not heard or thought of
him for Vice-President. Wish not to interfere
about Vice-President. Cannot interfere about
platform. Convention must judge for itself."
Haycraft, Samuel.
Springfield, Illinois, May 28, i860.
Dear Sir : Your recent letter, without date, is
received. Also the copy of your speech on the
contemplated Daniel Boone Monument, which I
have not yet had time to read. In the main you
are right about my history. My father was
Thomas Lincoln, and Mrs. Sally Johnston was
his second wife. You are mistaken about my
mother. Her maiden name was Nancy Hanks.
I was not born at Elizabethtown, but my
mother's first child, a daughter, two years older
than myself, and now long since deceased, was.
I was born February 12, 1809, near where Hog-
ginsville (Hodgensville) now is, then in Hardin
County. I do not think I ever saw you, though
I very well know who you are — so well that I
recognized your handwriting, on opening your
9 6 LETTERS
letter, before I saw the signature. My recol-
lection is that Ben Helm was first clerk, that you
succeeded him, that Jack Thomas and William
Farleigh graduated in the same office, and that
your handwritings were all very similar. Am I
right?
My father has been dead near ten years ; but
my step-mother (Mrs. Johnston) is still living.
I am really very glad of your letter, and shall
be pleased to receive another at any time.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
[Private.]
Springfield, Illinois, June 4, i860.
Dear Sir : Your second letter, dated May 31st,
is received. You suggest that a visit to the
place of my nativity might be pleasant to me.
Indeed it would. But would it be safe ? Would
not the people lynch me?
The place on Knob Creek, mentioned by Mr.
Read, I remember very well ; but I was not born
there. As my parents have told me, I was born
on Nolin, very much nearer Hodgens Mill than
the Knob Creek place is. My earliest recollection,
however, is of the Knob Creek place. Like you,
I belonged to the Whig party from its origin to
its close. I never belonged to the American
party organization ; nor ever to a party called a
Union party, though I hope I neither am nor
ever have been, less devoted to the Union than
yourself or any other patriotic man.
It may not be altogether without interest to
let you know that my wife is a daughter of the
late Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Ky., and that
a half-sister of hers is the wife of Ben Hardin
HAY CRAFT, SAMUEL 97
Helm, born and raised at your town, but resid-
ing at Louisville now, as I believe.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, Illinois, August 16, i860.
My dear Sir : A correspondent of the New
York Herald, who was here a week ago, writing
to that paper, represents me as saying I had
been invited to visit Kentucky, but that I sus-
pected it was a trap to inveigle me into Kentucky
in order to do violence to me.
This is wholly a mistake. I said no such
thing. I do not remember, but possibly I did
mention my correspondence with you. But very
certainly I was not guilty of stating, or insinuat-
ing, a suspicion of any intended violence, decep-
tion or other wrong, against me, by you or any
other Kentuckian. Thinking the Herald cor-
respondence might fall under your eye, I think it
due to myself to enter my protest against the
correctness of this part of it. I scarcely think
the correspondent was malicious, but rather that
he misunderstood what was said.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, Illinois, August 23, i860.
My dear Sir: Yours of the 19th just received.
I now fear I may have given you some uneasi-
ness in my last letter. I did not mean to intimate
that I had, to any extent, been involved or em-
barrassed by you ; nor yet to draw from you
anything to relieve myself from difficulty. My
only object was to assure you that I had not,
as represented by the Herald correspondent,
98 LETTERS
charged you with an attempt to inveigle me into
Kentucky to do me violence. I believe no such
thing of you or of Kentuckians generally ; and I
dislike to be represented to them as slandering
them in that way.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
. [Private and confidential.]
Springfield, Illinois, November, 13, i860.
Hon. Samuel Haycraft.
My dear Sir : Yours of the 9th is just received.
I can only answer briefly. Rest fully assured
that the good people of the South who will put
themselves in the same temper and mood toward
me which you do, will find no cause to complain
of me.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
Hayes, J. S.
[See Sherman, F. C]
[Amnesty.]
Helm, Mrs. Emily T.
[Aug. 8, 1864. See Burbridge, S. G.]
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1863.
Mrs. Emily T. Helm, not being excepted from
the benefits of the proclamation by the President
of the United States issued on the eighth day of
December, 1863, and having on this day taken
and subscribed the oath according to said proc-
HENDERSON, T. I. 99
lamation, she is fully relieved of all penalties
and forfeitures, and remitted to all her rights —
all according to said proclamation, and not other-
wise; and, in regard to said restored rights of
person and property, she is to be protected and
afforded facilities as a loyal person.
Abraham Lincoln.
P. S. Mrs. Helm claims to own some cotton
at Jackson, Mississippi, and also some in
Georgia; and I shall be glad, upon either place
being brought within our lines, for her to be
afforded the proper facilities to show her owner-
ship, and take her property.
A. Lincoln.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 14, 1863.
Whom it may concern : It is my wish that
Mrs. Emily T. Helm (widow of the late General
B. H. Helm, who fell in the Confederate serv-
ice), now returning to Kentucky, may have
protection of person and property, except as to
slaves, of which I say nothing.
A. Lincoln.
Henderson, T. J.
Springfield, November 2J, 1854.
T. J. Henderson, Esq.
My dear Sir : It has come round that a Whig
may, by possibility, be elected to the United
States Senate; and I want the chance of being
the man. You are a member of the legislature,
and have a vote to give. Think it over, and see
whether you can do better than go for me.
IOO
LETTERS
Write me at all events, and let this be confi-
dential.
Your truly,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, December 15, 1854.
Hon. T. J. Henderson.
Dear Sir: Yours of the nth was received last
night, and for which I thank you. Of course, I
prefer myself to all others ; yet it is neither in
my heart nor my conscience to say I am any bet-
ter man than Mr. Williams. We shall have a
terrible struggle with our adversaries. They
are desperate, and bent on desperate deeds. I
accidentally learned of one of the leaders here
writing to a member south of here, in about the
following language :
We are beaten. They have a clear majority of at
least nine on joint ballot. They outnumber us^ but
we must outmanage them. Douglas must be sustained.
We must elect the Speaker ; and we must elect a Ne-
braska United States senator, or elect none at all.
Similar letters, no doubt, are written to every
Nebraska member. Be considering how we can
best meet, and foil, and beat them.
I send you by this mail a copy of my Peoria
speech. You may have seen it before, or you
may not think it worth seeing now. Do not
speak of the Nebraska letter mentioned above ; I
do not wish it to become public that I receive
such information.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
HENRY, A. G. 101
Henry, A. G.
[Aug. 5, 1873. See Bennett, John.]
[Fragments of letter.}
Springfield, Illinois, November 19, 1858.
Dr. A. G. Henry.
My dear sir :
You doubtless have seen ere this the result of
the election here. Of course I wished, but I did
not much expect, a better result. The popular
vote of the State is with us ; so that the seat in the
whole canvass. On the contrary, John and
George Weber, and several such old Democrats,
were furiously for me. As a general rule, out
of Sangamon as well as in it, much of the plain
old Democracy is with us, while nearly all the
old exclusive silk-stocking Whiggery is against
us. I don't mean nearly all the Old Whig party,
but nearly all of the nice exclusive sort. And
why not? There has been nothing in politics
since the Revolution so congenial to their nature
as the present position of the great Democratic
party.
I am glad I made the late race. It gave me
a hearing on the great and durable question of
the age, which I could have had in no other way ;
and though I now sink out of view, and shall be
forgotten, I believe I have made some marks
which will tell for the cause of civil liberty long
after I am gone. Mary joins me in sending our
best wishes to Mrs. Henry and others of your
family.
102 LETTERS
Springfield, Illinois, July 4, i860.
My dear Doctor : Your very agreeable letter
of May 15th was received three days ago. We
are just now receiving the first sprinkling of
your Oregon election returns — not enough, I
think, to indicate the result. We should be
too happy if both Logan and Baker should
triumph.
Long before this you have learned who was
nominated at Chicago. We know not what a
day may bring forth, but to-day it looks as if the
Chicago ticket will be elected. I think the
chances were more than equal that we could
have beaten the Democracy united. Divided as
it is, its chance appears indeed very slim. But
great is Democracy in resources ; and it may yet
give its fortunes a turn. It is under great
temptation to do something; but what can it do
which was not thought of, and found impracti-
cable, at Charleston and Baltimore? The signs
now are that Douglas and Breckinridge will each
have a ticket in every State. They are driven
to this to keep up their bombastic claims of
nationality, and to avoid the charge of section-
alism which they have so much lavished upon
us.
It is an amusing fact, after all Douglas has
said about nationality and sectionalism, that I
had more votes from the southern section at
Chicago than he had at Baltimore ! In fact,
there was more of the southern section repre-
sented at Chicago than in the Douglas rump con-
cern at Baltimore !
Our boy, in his tenth year (the baby when you
left), has just had a hard and tedious spell of
scarlet fever, and he is not yet beyond all danger.
HENRY, A. G. 103
I have a headache and sore throat upon me now,
inducing me to suspect that I have an inferior
type of the same thing.
Our eldest boy, Bob, has been away from us
nearly a year at school, and will enter Harvard
University this month. He promises very well,
considering we never controlled him much.
Write again when you receive this. Mary joins
in sending our kindest regards to Mrs. H., your-
self, and all the family.
Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
Springfield, Illinois, September 22, i860.
Dear Doctor: Yours of July 18th was received
some time ago. When you wrote you had not
learned the result of the Democratic conventions
at Charleston and Baltimore. With the two
tickets in the field I should think it possible for
our friends to carry Oregon. But the general re-
sult, I think, does not depend upon Oregon. No
one this side of the mountains pretends that any
ticket can be elected by the people, unless it be
ours. Hence great efforts to combine against
us are being made, which, however, as yet have
not had much success. Besides what we see in
the newspapers, I have a good deal of private
correspondence ; and without giving details, I will
only say it all looks very favorable to our suc-
cess.
Make my best respects to Mrs. Henry and the
rest of your family.
Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln.
io 4 LETTERS
Executive Mansion,
Washington, May 13, 1863.
Dr. A. G. Henry,
Metropolitan Hotel, New York:
Governor Chase's feelings were hurt by my ac-
tion in his absence. Smith is removed, but Gov-
ernor Chase wishes to name his successor, and
asks a day or two to make the designation.
A. Lincoln.
Henry, Alexander.
[Telegram.]
War Department, Washington, D. C,
September 12, 1862.
Hon. Alexander Henry, Philadelphia :
Yours of to-day received. General Halleck
has made the best provision he can for generals
in Pennsylvania. Please do not be offended when
I assure you that in my confident belief Philadel-
phia is in no danger. Governor Curtin has just
telegraphed me:
I have advices that Jackson is crossing the Potomac
at Williamsport, and probably the whole rebel army will
be drawn from Maryland.
At all events, Philadelphia is more than 150