To Montgomery Blair1Jump to section
Sir: Washington, July 24, 1863.
Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to you in two cases of Post-Masterships sought for widows whose husbands have fallen in the battles of this war. These cases occurring on the same day, brought me to reflect more attentively than I had before done, as to what is fairly due from us here, in the dispensing of patronage, towards the men who, by fighting our battles, bear the chief burthen of saving our country. My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifications being equal, they have the better right; and this is especially applicable to the disabled soldier, and the deceased soldier's family. Your Obt. Servt. A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ADfS, DLC-RTL. This letter is misdated July 27, 1863, in Hertz, II, 902. The endorsements to which Lincoln refers have not been located, but one of them was certainly concerned with the appointment of the widow of Lieutenant Colonel Melancthon Smith, Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, killed at Vicksburg. Smith's position as postmaster at Rockford, Illinois, had been filled during his absence by Mrs. Smith as acting deputy postmaster. The New York Tribune and other papers on July 29, 1863, carried the story of Mrs. Smith's appointment, together with the text of Lincoln's letter to Blair of July 24.