Details
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President. Autograph endorsement signed ("A.Lincoln") as President, to SECRETARY OF WAR EDWIN M. STANTON, [Washington, D.C.], 2 November 1863. 8 lines, plus signature and dateline, written on the verso of an autograph letter signed of J.B. Stonehouse, Adjutant General, to Col. Tompkins, Albany, New York, 22 October 1863, verso discreetly silked, minor soiling.
An intriguing piece of political manoeuvering, relating to the raising of troops from New York state. In the wake of the New York city draft riots three months earlier, Governor Horatio Seymour, a Democrat elected on an anti-Lincoln platform, apparently hoped to avoid raising more troops in New York by sending Tompkins' letter to an adjutant in Albany. He replied to Tompkins by explaining that "...it is as present undecided whether any more regimental authorizations will be granted [by the Governor of New York]..." When the letter reached Lincoln, he tactically forced Governor Seymour to accede. He writes, "If the Secretary of War, and the Governor of New York [Horatio Seymour] approve, I am for Col[onel] Tompkins, raising a thousand men in any way he chooses..." Not in Basler, and apparently unpublished.
Tactfully overriding Governor Seymour, Lincoln specifies the number of new soldiers to be raised. Seymour had no choice but to concede, and in an autograph endorsement below Lincoln's writes: "If the consent of the Secretary of War is obtained, I shall not withold my approval..."
An intriguing piece of political manoeuvering, relating to the raising of troops from New York state. In the wake of the New York city draft riots three months earlier, Governor Horatio Seymour, a Democrat elected on an anti-Lincoln platform, apparently hoped to avoid raising more troops in New York by sending Tompkins' letter to an adjutant in Albany. He replied to Tompkins by explaining that "...it is as present undecided whether any more regimental authorizations will be granted [by the Governor of New York]..." When the letter reached Lincoln, he tactically forced Governor Seymour to accede. He writes, "If the Secretary of War, and the Governor of New York [Horatio Seymour] approve, I am for Col[onel] Tompkins, raising a thousand men in any way he chooses..." Not in Basler, and apparently unpublished.
Tactfully overriding Governor Seymour, Lincoln specifies the number of new soldiers to be raised. Seymour had no choice but to concede, and in an autograph endorsement below Lincoln's writes: "If the consent of the Secretary of War is obtained, I shall not withold my approval..."