Annotation
[1] ALS, RPB. Rosecrans telegraphed Lincoln at 1:15 P.M., ``The Rev. Dr Jaques Col of Seventy third (73) Illinois, a man of high character & great influence in the Methodist Church has proposed a mission to the South which in my judgment is worthy of being laid before you. Will you authorize me to send him to Washington for that purpose.'' (DLC-RTL).
On May 19, Colonel James F. Jaquess, a Methodist minister of Quincy, Illinois, wrote General James A. Garfield, proposing to go into Confederate territory to seek out members of the Methodist Church and others opposed to war and to effect terms for their return to allegiance which would be acceptable to the government. On May 23, Jaquess wrote Lincoln, assuring the president that his proposed mission could not fail. Both letters were carried to Washington by James R. Gilmore, who enclosed them with his own letter of May 27, requesting an interview on the proposed mission and other matters in Tennessee (DLC-Nicolay Papers). See further Lincoln's letter to Rosecrans, May 28, infra.