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

Annotation

[1]   ALS, DLC-Schurz Papers. On November 20, Schurz replied to Lincoln's communication of November 10, supra, in part as follows:

``I fear you entertain too favorable a view of the causes of our defeat in the elections. . . .

``Whatever proportion of Republicans may have entered the army---if the administration had succeeded in preserving its hold upon the masses, your majorities would . . . have put the majorities of 1860 into the shade. . . . But the general confidence and enthusiasm yielded to general disappointment, and . . . too many Republicans . . . either voted against you or withheld their votes. I know this to be a fact. . . . That some of our newspapers disparaged and vilified the administration may be true. . . . But however that may be, I ask you . . . what power would there have been in newspaper-talk . . . had the administration been able to set up against it the evidence of great successes? . . .

``I am far from presuming to blame you for having placed old democrats into high military positions. . . . But it was unfortunate that you sustained them . . . after they had been found failing;---failing not only in a political but also in a military sense. Was I really wrong in saying that the principal management of the war had been in the hands of your opponents? Or will perhaps anybody assert, that such men as McClellan and Buell and Halleck have the least sympathy with you or your views and principles?---or that their efficiency as military leaders has offered a compensation for their deficiency of sympathy, since the first has in 18 months succeeded in effecting literally nothing except the consumption of our resources with the largest and best appointed army this country ever saw;---since the second by his criminal tardiness and laxity endangered even

the safety of Cincinnati; and since the appearance of the third on the battlefield of Shiloh served suddenly to arrest the operations of our victorious troops. . . . Has it not been publicly stated in the newspapers and apparently proved as a fact, that from the commencement of the war the enemy has [been] continually supplied with information by some of the confidential subordinates of so important an officer as Adjutant General Thomas?. . . . I am far from being inclined to impeach the loyalty and good faith of any man; but the coincidence of circumstances is such, that if the case were placed before a popular jury, I would find it much easier to act on the prosecution than on the defence. . . . You say that our Republican generals did no better. . . . I ask . . . what Republican General has ever had a fair chance . . .?

``No, sir, let us indulge in no delusions as to the true causes of our defeat in the elections. . . . The people had sown confidence and reaped disaster and disappointment. They wanted a change, and . . . they sought it in the wrong direction. I entreat you, do not attribute to small incidents . . . what is a great historical event. It is best that you . . . should see the fact in its true light and appreciate its significance: the result of the elections was a most serious and severe reproof administered to the administration. . . .'' (DLC-RTL).

Upon receipt of Lincoln's answer Schurz wrote on December 2 asking for a private and confidential interview (DLC-Nicolay Papers).

[2]   Edward D. Baker, killed at Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861; Nathaniel Lyon, killed at Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861; Henry Bohlen, killed at Freeman's Ford, August 22, 1862; Israel B. Richardson, died November 3, 1862, of wounds received September 17, 1862, at Antietam; Philip Kearney, killed September 1, 1862, at Chantilly; Isaac I. Stevens, also killed September 1, 1862, at Chantilly; Jesse L. Reno, killed September 14, 1862, at South Mountain; Joseph K. F. Mansfield, died September 18, 1862, of wounds received September 17 at Antietam.