Thursday, May 7, 2020

John G. Nicolay to John Hay, August 25, 1864

Washington, 25 August 1864

Hell is to pay.  The N. Y. politicians have got a stampede on that is about to swamp everything.  Raymond and the National Committee are here today.  R. Thinks a commission to Richmond is about the only salt to save us—while the Tycoon sees and says it would be utter ruination.  The matter is now undergoing consultation.  Weak-kneed d----d fools like Chas Sumner are in the movement for a new candidate—to supplant the Tycoon.  Everything is darkness and doubt and discouragement.  Our men see giants in the airy and unsubstantial shadows of the opposition, and are about to surrender without a fight.

I think that today and here is the turning point in our crisis.  If the President can infect R. and his committee with some of his own patience and pluck we are saved.  If our friends will only rub their eyes and shake themselves, and become convinced that they themselves are not dead we shall win the fight overwhelmingly.

SOURCE: Michael Burlingame, Editor, With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and other Writings of John G. Nicolay 1860-1865, p. 152

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