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Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) to Benjamin F. Butler re: "free black labor" in occupied Louisiana

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01570 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Place Written: Washington Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 November 1862 Pagination: 1 p. 26 x 20 cm Order a Copy

Seeking details about free black labor in Union-occupied Louisiana

Basler, Roy P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). Vol. V 1861 - 1862,
p. 487 - 488.

Washington, Nov. 6, 1862
Major General Butler:
My dear Sir
This morning the Secretary of the Treasury [struck: showed] [inserted: read to] me a letter of yours to him. He read to me, at the same time, one from Mr. Dennison (I think) at New Orleans - I was much interested by the information in one of them that some of the planers were making arrangements with their negroes to pay them wages. Please write me to what extent, so far as you know, this is being done. Also what, if anything, is being done by Mr. Bouligny, or others, about electing members of Congress - I am anxious to hear on both these points.
Yours truly
A. Lincoln

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