hot into the city of Charleston.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO J. C. CONKLING.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,

August 31, 1863.

HON. JAMES C. CONKLING, Springfield, Ill.:

In my letter of the 26th insert between the sentence ending "since the
issue of the Emancipation Proclamation as before" and the next, commencing
"You say you will not fight, etc.," what follows below my signature
hereto.

A. LINCOLN.

"I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of
the commanders of our armies in the field, who have given us our most
important successes, believe the emancipation policy and the use of
colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion,
and that at least one of those important successes could not have been
achieved when it was, but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the
commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity
with what is called abolitionism, or with Republican party politics, but
who hold them purely as military opinions. I submit these opinions as
being entitled to some weight against the objections, often urged, that
emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures and
were not adopted as such in good faith."

TO GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, August 31, 1863.

MY DEAR GENERAL ROSECRANS:

Yours of the 22d was received yesterday. When I wrote you before, I did
not intend, nor do I now, to engage in an argument with you on military
questions. You had informed me you were impressed through General Halleck
that I was dissatisfied with you, and I could not bluntly deny that I was
without unjustly implicating him. I therefore concluded to tell you the
plain truth, being satisfied the matter would thus appear much smaller
than it would if seen by mere glimpses. I repeat that my appreciation of
you has not abated. I can never forget whilst I remember anything, that
about the end of last year and the beginning of this, you gave us a
hard-earned victory, which, had there been a defeat instead, the nation
could hardly have lived over. Neither can I forget the check you so
opportunely gave to a dangerous sentiment which was spreading in the
North.

Yours, as ever,

A. LINCOLN

TO GENERAL H. W. HALLECK.

August 31, 1863

It is not improbable that retaliation for the recent great outrage
at Lawrence, in Kansas, may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the
Missouri b