Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864].
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/lincoln7
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln7. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 21, 2025.

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To Andrew G. Curtin1Jump to section

His Excellency A. G. Curtin Executive Mansion,
Governor of Pennsylvania Washington, Dec. 9, 1863.

My dear Sir I have to urge my illness and the preparation of the Message in excuse for not having sooner transmitted you the inclosed from the Secretary of War and Provost Marshal-General in response to yours in relation to recruiting in Pennsylvania. Though not quite as you desire, I hope the grounds taken will be

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reasonably satisfactory to you. Allow me to exchange congratulations with you on the organization of the H.R. and especially on recent military events in Georgia & Tennessee. Yours very truly

A. LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1] ADfS, DLC-RTL. On November 24 Governor Curtin had written that it had become evident the draft could not be successful and had suggested a plan for raising volunteers through state authorities. Lincoln referred the letter to the War Department, and on December 1 James B. Fry returned it with a letter accepting Curtin's suggestions in part, which Lincoln enclosed to Curtin on December 9. Curtin's reply of December 10 was in part as follows: ``I would . . . observe that the delay of your reply to my letter (the cause of which I sincerely regret) has brought us so near to the 5th of January that I much fear that little can be done in raising volunteers if the new draft is to be then gone on with. . . .'' (OR, III, III, 1163-64).

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