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To James G. Bennett1Jump to section
Mr. James Gorden Bennett Washington, D.C.
My dear Sir Sept. 28. 1861
Last evening Mr. Wickoff solicited me for a pass, or permission to a gentleman whose name I forget, to accompany one of our vessels down the Potomac to-day, as a reporter of the Herald, saying the Sec. of the Navy had refused, while he had given the privilege to reporters of other papers. It was too late at night for me to see the Secretary, and I had to decline giving the permission, because he the Sec, might have a sufficient reason unknown to me. I write this to assure you that the administration will not discriminate against the Herald, especially while it sustains us so generously, and the cause of the country so ably as it has been doing.
Your Obt. Servt. A. Lincoln
Annotation
[1] ALS-F, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Press, February 12, 1927. This letter is misdated September 22, 1861, in Hertz, II, 842. Bennett replied October 22, 1861, regretting that ``Mr. Wikoff gave you any trouble. . . . Before that application by Mr. W, but unknown to him the Secretary of the Navy had very kindly facilitated [?] another of my correspondents all that was required. . . . '' (DLC-RTL). Henry Wikoff, author, adventurer, and sometime British agent was correspondent for the New York Herald.