SENATE CHAMBER, January 8, 1863.
[General BUTLER :]
DEAR GENERAL: Mr.
Stanton assured me last evening that had he known your real position with
regard to the proclamation he would have cut off his right hand before he would
have allowed anybody to take your place; that his fixed purpose was that on the
1st of January a general should be in command at New Orleans to whom the
proclamation would be a living letter, and that, in this respect, it was
natural, after the recent elections in Pennsylvania and New York, that he
should look to a Republican rather than to an old Democrat. I mention these
things frankly that you may see the precise motive of the recent change. I
afterward saw the President, who said that he hoped very soon to return you to
New Orleans. He added that he was anxious to keep you in the public service and
to gratify you, as you had deserved well of the country.
I do not know that
you will care to hear these things, but I trust that you will appreciate the
sympathy and friendly interest which dictate their communication.
Believe me, dear general, very faithfully,
yours,
CHARLES SUMNER.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
53 (Serial No. 111), p. 546
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