Annotation
[1] ALS, IHi. A note pencilled on the bottom of this letter by Lewis B. Parsons indicates that it was given to him by John Hay. The letter was apparently not sent to Stanton, but its text was incorporated in Lincoln's letter to Stanton, March 17, infra. In January, 1865, Colonel Parsons had superintended the transportation of the Twenty-third Army Corps (twenty thousand men, with animals and full equipment) from Mississippi to Washington.