Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Abraham Lincoln, July 7, 1862

Executive Office Iowa July 8 1862.
His Excellency the President

By reason of my absence from home the telegraphic dispatch of Gov. Morgan, requesting my signature to the letter of the governors of the loyal States to you, requesting you to call for three hundred thousand more volunteers, did not reach me until the 5th inst., too late to permit me to attach my name to the letter. But for this my name would have accompanied those of the governors of the other States, and I now assure you that the State of Iowa in the future as in the past, will be prompt and ready to do her duty to the country in the time of sore trial. Our harvest is just upon us, and we have now scarcely men enough to save our crops, but if need be our women can help harvest them. I am anxiously awaiting the requisition of the Secretary of War. I will be in Washington next week, when I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you.

Very respectfully
Your obt svt
SAMUEL. J. KIRKWOOD.

SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 215-6; This letter may be found among The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress.

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