t letter, which perhaps shows my
position as distinctly as any new one I could write. I will thank you not
to make it public until General Fremont shall have had time to receive the
original.

Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

TO GENERAL SCOTT

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 1861.

DEAR SIR:--Since conversing with you I have concluded to request you
to frame an order for recruiting North Carolinians at Fort Hatteras. I
suggest it to be so framed as for us to accept a smaller force--even a
company--if we cannot get a regiment or more. What is necessary to now
say about officers you will judge. Governor Seward says he has a nephew
(Clarence A. Seward, I believe) who would be willing to go and play
colonel and assist in raising the force. Still it is to be considered
whether the North Carolinians will not prefer officers of their own. I
should expect they would.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TO SECRETARY CAMERON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 18, 1861

HON. SECRETARY OF WAR. MY DEAR SIR:--To guard against misunderstanding,
I think fit to say that the joint expedition of the army and navy agreed
upon some time since, and in which General T. W. Sherman was and is to
bear a conspicuous part, is in no wise to be abandoned, but must be ready
to move by the 1st of, or very early in, October. Let all preparations go
forward accordingly.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TO GENERAL FREMONT,

WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 12, 1861

MAJOR-GENERAL FREMONT:

Governor Morton telegraphs as follows: "Colonel Lane, just arrived by
special train, represents Owensborough, forty miles above Evansville, in
possession of secessionists. Green River is navigable. Owensborough must
be seized. We want a gunboat sent up from Paducah for that purpose." Send
up the gunboat if, in your discretion, you think it right. Perhaps you had
better order those in charge of the Ohio River to guard it vigilantly at
all points.

A. LINCOLN.

To O. H. BROWNING.

(Private and Confidential)

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON SEPTEMBER 22, 1861

HON. O. H. BROWNING.

MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of the 17th is just received; and coming from you, I
confess it astonishes me. That you should object to my adhering to a law
which you had assisted in making and presenting to me less than a month
before is odd enough. But this is a very small part. General Fremont's
proclamation as to confiscation of property and the liberation o