Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862].
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/lincoln5
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5 [Oct. 24, 1861-Dec. 12, 1862]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln5. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 4, 2024.

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To John A. Dix1Jump to section

``Private & confidential''
Major General Dix Executive Mansion,
Fort-Monroe, Va. Washington, Oct. 26. 1862.

Your despatch to Mr. Stanton, of which the inclosed is a copy has been handed me by him. It would be dangerous for me now to begin construing, and making specific applications of, the Proclamation. It is obvious to all that I therein intended to give time, and opportunity. Also it is seen I left my self at liberty to exempt parts of states. Without saying more, I shall be very glad if any Congressional

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District will, in good faith, do as your despatch contemplates.

Could you not give me the facts which prompted you to telegraph? Yours very truly A. LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1] ALS, IHi. The copy of Dix's telegram to Stanton of October 23, 1862, reads as follows: ``Will a congress District being in an Insurgent State and represented on the 1st. of January next in the congress of the United States by a member chosen at an election wherein a majority of the qualified Voters of the District shall have participated be considered not in rebellion & exempt from the penalty announced in the Presidents Proclamation of the 22nd. of September?''(lbid.). Dix replied to Lincoln's letter on October 28, ``I have just received your private and confidential letter of the 26th inst. My despatch to the Secretary of War was dictated by an earnest desire, not without hope, to induce the people of the Congress District, of which Norfolk is a part, to return to their allegiance and send a loyal member to the House . . . I am about to call on them, through their Military Governor, to take the oath of allegiance, and I wish to give them the assurance, if I can, that, by complying with the conditions of your Proclamation of the 22nd of Sept. they will avoid the penalties of disloyalty . . . .''(DLC-RTL).

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