To John F. Lee1Jump to section
Would it be proper for me to order a Court Martial, as within requested. A. LINCOLN
Feb. 1. 1862.
Annotation
[1] AES, DLC-RTL. Lincoln's endorsement is written on a letter from Jackson Grimshaw, January 31, 1862, asking the president to order a court of inquiry into the official conduct of Captain Reuben B. Hatch, quartermaster at Cairo, Illinois. Lee's reply, written below Lincoln's endorsement, recommended that Lincoln not interpose, since ``. . . Genl. Grant has authority to appoint a court. He can do so more conveniently than higher authority, because on the spot. . . .'' Lee forwarded to Lincoln a communication from Montgomery C. Meigs, February 3, 1862, which explained that Hatch's trial on a charge of fraud and speculation had been delayed by Grant because ``there are other matters alleged which he [Grant] thinks should be investigated. . . . He thinks. . . great frauds will be developed. . . I fear that such a court would be long employed and that the services of the officers upon it could be ill spared. . . .'' Hatch was released from arrest in April, and the War Claim Commission, investigating Hatch's claims in July, allowed them, ``the investigation not having established anything of fraud or corruption in them.'' (Washington Evening Star, August 6, 1862).