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 3, 2024.

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To James G. Bennett1Jump to section

Private
James G. Bennett, Esq Executive Mansion
Dear Sir: May 21, 1862.

Thanking you again for the able support given by you, through the Herald, to what I think the true cause of the country, and also for your kind expressions towards me personally, I wish to correct an erroneous impression of yours in regard to the Secretary of War. He mixes no politics whatever with his duties; knew nothing of Gen. Hunter's proclamation; and he and I alone got up the counter-proclamation. I wish this to go no further than to you, while I do wish to assure you it is true. Yours truly

A. LINCOLN

Annotation

[1] ALS-P, ISLA. In a highly uninformed editorial entitled ``President Lincoln and His Happy Cabinet,'' the New York Herald of May 18, 1862, speculated on the possibility that divisions in the cabinet over Hunter's proclamation might necessitate some changes in its personnel. Seward and Chase were dismissed as

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possibilities because they ``have given up the nigger business,'' Welles also, because he wanted only to be allowed ``to doze in peace,'' but Stanton seemed a likely prospect: ``Who, then, remains? Only Secretary Stanton, to whom both Seward and Chase have thrown their dirty linen---the newspapers and the niggers---and who has since been kept at the wash-tub, splashing and scolding in a style more ridiculous than imposing. We do not think Stanton will go. Much as he may admire Hunter's proclamation, he will not risk his office by opposing the President's wishes. . . .'' Bennett replied to Lincoln's letter on June 6, 1862, that he had availed himself ``at the earliest moment of the hints you gave me relative to the Secretary of war a gentleman and a patriot of whom I have a high opinion. . . . In order to. . . aid and assist you. . . I have a great mind to pay you a short visit. . . .'' (DLC-RTL).