To John G. Nicolay1Jump to section
J. G. Nicolay War Department, Washington, D.C.,
St. Louis, Mo. Oct. 21. 9/45 PM 1864.
While Curtis is fighting Price have you any idea where the force under Rosecrans is? or what it is doing? A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ALS, DNA WR RG 107, Presidential Telegrams, I, 208. No reply from Nicolay has been found. General Curtis telegraphed Halleck from ``Near Independence, Mo.'' on October 21: ``I have been fighting Price three hours on the Little Blue with my cavalry. We have a strong position fifteen miles in the rear, where I intend to make a stand. . . .'' (OR, I, XLI, IV, 163). On the same day Rosecrans was on the road to Lexington, Missouri, ``Camp near Davis' Creek'' (ibid., p. 158). Nicolay had written Lincoln an eleven-page letter reporting on Missouri affairs, from Springfield, Illinois, October 18, which would indicate that he had already left St. Louis and hence probably never received Lincoln's telegram (DLC-RTL).