Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863].
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/lincoln6
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln6. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 18, 2024.

Pages

To Edwin M. Stanton1Jump to section

I really think the within is worth considering.

June 28. 1863. A. LINCOLN

Annotation

[1] AES, NHi. LINCOLN's endorsement is written on a telegram from General Ambrose E. Burnside, June 27 (in reply to LINCOLN's telegram of June 27, supra) as follows:

``Your dispatch of this date is received. The enrolment of the free negroes properly belonging to the State will not yield one thousand men subject to draft. If draft is required in Kentucky the number required from this class

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will not be over three hundred (300) for this small number we will lose a much larger number of good white volunteers & give the secret enemies of the Government a weapon to use against it. If there was any principle of right involved in it I would say carry it out but the people are ready & willing to stand the draft if necessary from the white population There will not be half the trouble in the State of Kentucky there will be in Indiana Ohio & Illinois. The enrolment of these negroes is what the loyal people fear will do the harm We not only need all these for labor which we draft at our pleasure but we draft slaves for labor continually & if any of the free negroes wishes to join the colored Regiments now forming in this Dept they are at liberty to do so. I was just about issuing an order drafting all the free able bodied negroes in the State for labor on a military road. I sincerely hope the enrolment may be stopped. Kentucky is in good order now.''