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To Henry W. Halleck1Jump to section
Major Gen. Halleck Washington City, D.C.
Corinth, Miss--- July 6th. 1862
My dear Sir: This introduces, Gov. William Sprague, of RhodeIsland. He is now Governor for the third time, and Senator elect of the U.S.
I know the object of his visit to you. He has my cheerful consent to go, but not my direction. He wishes to get you and part of your force, one or both, to come here. You already know I should be exceedingly glad of this if, in your judgment, it could be, without endangering positions and operations in the South-West; and I now repeat what I have more than once said by Telegraph, ``Do not come, or send a man, if, in your judgment, it will endanger any point you deem important to hold, or endangers, or delays the Chattanooga expedition.['']
Still, please give my friend, Gov. Sprague, a full and fair hearing. Yours very truly A. LINCOLN.
Annotation
[1] ALS, owned by Crown Prince Olaf of Norway. Spraque wrote Lincoln on July 5, ``The critical condition of the republic emboldens me. It is in far greater jeopardy than at any previous time. . . . Nothing can save us but the immediate transfer of Halleck and 50 000 men. He will consent to this if he comes with them. . . . This can be done in a week or 10 days with proper energy. I volunteer to go to Halleck [to] explain to him our critical position, or I shall go to the Army of the Potomac and share its fortunes. . . . New recruits are worthless now. . . . Hallecks army will unravel the snarl. . . .'' (DLC-RTL). Halleck telegraphed Lincoln on July 10, ``Gov Sprague is here. If I were to go to Washington I could advise but one thing---to place all the forces in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington under one head and hold that head responsible for the result.'' (Ibid.).