Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) to Charles H. Russell
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00635 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Place Written: Washington Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 May 1861 Pagination: 1 p. : envelope : free frank ; 20 x 13 cm. Order a Copy
Regarding raising 14 regiments, reinforcing Ft. Monroe. Marked "Private."
Notes: Not in Basler, who asumed that "Lincoln's letter to Charles H. Russell, May 17, 1861 [sic], is presumably not extant" (4: 376n). Fort Sumter had fallen on April 14. The nine Regiments were not bound to Fort Sumter, but to Fort Monroe in Virginia.
Private
Washington D.C.
May 16. 1861
C. H. Russell, Esq.
My dear Sir:
Learning today from Gov. Seward that the order you have for forwarding the fourteen Regiments has something in it for the governor to do in the case, I am alarmed lest a see-sawing commences, by which neither your troops nor the Governor's will get along in any reasonable time. Now, I want you to cut the Knots, and send them right along -- five Regiments here, and nine to Fort Sumpter [sic], just as understood when we parted.
Yours very truly
A. Lincoln
[Envelope:]
A. Lincoln
C. H. Russell
New York
[With a postmark stamp: Washington City. D.C. Free / May 17 1862]
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