Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Abraham Lincoln to Hannibal Hamlin, September 28, 1862

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 28, 1862.

HON. HANNIBAL HAMLIN:

My dear Sir,—Your kind letter of the 25th is just received. It is known to some that while I hope some from the proclamation, my expectations are not as sanguine as those of some friends. The time for its effect Southward has not come; but Northward the effect should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and while commendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks have declined, and troops come forward more slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is not very satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the end of the six days than we had at the beginning, — the attrition among the old outnumbering the addition by the new. The North responds to the proclamation sufficiently in breath, but breath alone kills no rebels.

I wish I could write more cheerfully; nor do I thank you the less for the kindness of your letter.

Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN

SOURCE: Charles Eugene Hamlin, The Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 440

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