Here is a cheeky letter just received.
MY DEAR SIR:
Gen'l Wool has resigned. Gen'l Frémont must. Gen'l Scott has retired.
I have an ambition, and I trust a laudable one, to be
Major-General of the United States Army.
Has anybody done more to deserve it? No one will do more.
May I rely upon you, as you may have confidence in me, to take this matter into
consideration?
I will not disgrace the position. I may fail in its duties.
Truly
yrs.,
BENJ.
F. BUTLER.
The President.
P. S. — I have made the same suggestion to others of my
friends.
SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and
Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 51; Tyler Dennett, Lincoln and
the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay, p. 33-4; Jessie Ames Marshall,
Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler
During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p.
274.
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