Thursday, February 15, 2018

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Edwin M. Stanton, September 13, 1864 – 10:30 a.m.

CITY POINT, VA., September 13, 1864 — 10.30 a.m.
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War, Washington:

My dispatch to you on the subject of enforcing the draft was suggested by reading Secretary Seward's Auburn speech, where he intimates that volunteers were coming in so rapidly that there would be no necessity for a draft, and your dispatch stating that volunteers were coming in at the rate of 5,000 per day. We ought to have the whole number of men called for by the President in the shortest possible time. A draft is soon over, and ceases to hurt after it is made. The agony of suspense is worse upon the public than the measure itself. Prompt action in filling our armies will have more effect upon the enemy than a victory over them. They profess to believe, and make their men believe, there is such a party North in favor of recognizing Southern independence that the draft cannot be enforced. Let them be undeceived. Deserters come into our lines daily, who tell us that the men are nearly universally tired of war, and that desertions would be much more frequent but they believe peace will be negotiated after the fall elections. The enforcement of the draft and prompt filling up of our armies will save the shedding of blood to an immense degree.

U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 42, Part 2 (Serial No. 88), p. 804

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