Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) (1822-1885) to Abraham Lincoln
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05485.03 Author/Creator: Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) (1822-1885) Place Written: Vicksburg, Mississippi Type: Manuscript letter Date: 11 June 1863 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 26.8 x 21.7 cm. Order a Copy
True copy of a letter from General Grant to President Lincoln, written one week after the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi to Grant. Grant encloses a report (not included) created by General John Eaton discussing African Americans within his department. States after discovering "that negroes were crossing into our lines in great numbers, and receiving kind or abusive treatment, according to the peculiar views of the troops they first came in contact with, and not being able to give that personal attention to their care and [use], the matter demanded, I determined to appoint a General Superintendent over the whole subject and give him such assistants as the duties assigned him might require. Mr Eaton was selected for this position." Reports that Eaton's "labors in his undertaking have been unremitting and skilful, and I fear, in many instances, very trying. That he has been of very great service to the blacks in having them provided for, when otherwise they would have been neglected, and to the Government in finding employment for the negro... " Sends the report to Lincoln's notice, especially the part on "government of the contrabands," noting that a department commander is not competent to make such decisions. Copied by S. H. Clark, 64th United States Colored Infantry, Assistant to the Superintendent of Freedmen (Eaton). Docketed in pencil.
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