Endorsement on Letter of James R. Gilmore to Zebulon B. Vance1Jump to section
This letter has been written in my presence, has been read by me, and has my entire approval. A. L.
Annotation
[1] James R. Gilmore, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (1898), p. 216. This endorsement is misdated 1864 in Lapsley (VI, 358). Although Gilmore does not give the exact date, preceding and succeeding dates in his narrative indicate mid- -July, 1863. According to Gilmore, Lincoln endorsed the following letter immediately after reading it:
``My dear Sir:---My former business partner, Mr. Frederic Kidder, of Boston, has forwarded to me a letter he has recently received from his brother, Edward Kidder, of Wilmington, in which he (Edward Kidder) says that he has had an interview with you in which you expressed an anxiety for any peace compatible with honor; that you regard slavery as already dead, and the establishment of the Confederacy as hopeless; and that you should exert all your influence to bring about any reunion that would admit the South on terms of perfect equality with the North.
``On receipt of this letter I lost no time in laying it before the President of the United States, who expressed great gratification at hearing such sentiments from you, one of the most influential and honored of the Southern governors, and he desires me to say that he fully shares your anxiety for the restoration of