Annotation
[1] AD, DLC-Nicolay Papers. On August 15, General Stephen A. Hurlbut wrote Lincoln enclosing a letter of his to S. B. Walker, August 10, 1863, in which he gave his personal views concerning the conditions under which Mississippi could return to the Union. Hurlbut designated the letter as a communication to be presented before a reconstruction meeting in Mississippi and expressed the hope that it would meet Lincoln's approval. His comment on the relation of former masters and slaves is as follows: ``So far . . . as the U.States are concerned the relation of master and slave does not exist in Mississippi. . . . and soon the banks of the Great River will bristle with the bayonets of colored Regiments taken from the former slaves of the soil.
``Let this war continue six months and a very heavy proportion of the able