Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861].
Author: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication: New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; 1953.
Rights/Permissions: The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 8, 2025.

Pages

To Francis P. Blair, Sr.1Jump to section

Confidential
Hon. F. P. Blair, Ser. Springfield, Ills.
My dear Sir Dec. 21. 1860

Yours giving an account of an interview with Gen. Scott, is received, and for which I thank you. According to my present view, if the forts shall be given up before the inaugeration, the General must retake them afterwards. Yours truly A. LINCOLN

Annotation

[1] ALS, owned by Blair Lee, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Blair wrote on December 18 of his interview with James H. Van Alen of New York, who was on his way to Springfield with a letter from General Winfield Scott to Lincoln. Blair thought Lincoln might assure the country through Scott that he meant to defend the country against conspirators. The letter which Van Alen carried to Lincoln was probably the copy of Scott to President Buchanan, December 15,

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endorsed by Scott with a note supplying what he omitted to say ``this morning at the interview with . . . the President. . . . '' The gist of this was that President Jackson had caused reinforcements to be sent to Fort Moultrie and Charleston Harbor, and had remarked that he was not making war on South Carolina, but that if South Carolina attacked, she would be warring on the United States (DLC-RTL).