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Yours to Gov. Chase in behalf of John A. Welch is before me. Can there be a worse case than to desert and write letters persu[a]ding
others to desert? I can-not interpose without a better showing than you make. When did he desert? When did he write the letters? A. LINCOLN.
[1] ALS, RPB. See Lincoln's telegram to the officer in command at Covington, Kentucky, December 10, infra. E. P. Evans has not been identified, and his communication to Chase has not been located.