To Simon Cameron1Jump to section
My dear Sir: The Postmaster-General and myself have special reasons for wishing to oblige Mr. Benj. F. Watson, of Lawrence,
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My dear Sir: The Postmaster-General and myself have special reasons for wishing to oblige Mr. Benj. F. Watson, of Lawrence,
Mass. He has been appointed an Assistant Paymaster or Paymaster of Volunteers, but he wishes the same post in the regular Army. If there is any vacancy, not committed to any other person, let Mr. Watson have it. If there be no such vacancy, oblige him, as far as you can, by sending him to service at the place which suits him best. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN
[1] Tracy, pp. 194-95. Benjamin F. Watson, appointed additional paymaster of Volunteers, September 5, 1861, had been postmaster at Lawrence, Massachusetts, under Pierce and Buchanan, but had been removed because it was understood by the Post Office Department that he had accepted a commission in the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, a three-months regiment. Upon being mustered out August 2, Watson learned of his removal and telegraphed Lincoln. According to Watson's account, Lincoln's reply of August 8 (presumably not extant), enclosing a memorandum from the postmaster general, explained as follows: ``If I signed a paper, in making a change in the office, it was among others, without my being conscious of this particular one. . . . I shall talk fully with the Postmaster-General on the subject when I next see him.'' (Benjamin F. Watson, ``Abraham Lincoln as Seen by a Life-Long Democrat, After Going through Baltimore,'' Abraham Lincoln Tributes . . . . introduction by The Rev. William Hayes Ward, D.D., New York, 1895, p. 139.)