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Abraham Lincoln: The President writes to the Army of the Potomac after the Union Defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg....
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Description
"...you possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government."
Abraham Lincoln: The President writes to the Army of the Potomac
after the Union Defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Lincoln, Abraham. Historic autograph manuscript signed
("Abraham Lincoln") as President, To the Army of the
Potomac, Washington, 22 December 1862, 1 page, Quarto,
reinforced at the folds on the verso with archival and cloth tape,
on Executive Mansion stationery.In the Union's darkest hour following the crushing defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Abraham Lincoln writes the Army of the Potomac to honor the brave men who fought and died in battle and remind the Northern public of the great cause for which they fought, foreshadowing the themes of his Gettysburg Address he would deliver eleven months later.
"...you possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government."
Lincoln writes, in full:
"To the Army of the Potomac:
I have just read your Commanding General's preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than an accident. The courage with which you, in an open field, maintained the contest against an entrenched foe, and the consummate skill and success with which you crossed and re-crossed the river, in face of the enemy, show that you possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and sympathizing with the severely wounded, I congratulate you that the number of both is comparatively so small.
I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks of the nation.
Abraham Lincoln"
Lincoln wrote this message to the Army of the Potomac one week following the devastating defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg (11-15 December 1862), after which a political firestorm erupted. In the interim, before penning this address, Lincoln underwent "the greatest challenge thus far to [his] leadership." (McPherson, Tried by War, 145). A group of Republican senators seized the defeat as an opportunity to force Lincoln to fire Secretary of State William Seward, an option encouraged behind the scenes by Seward's rival, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. In the minds of the disgruntled Senators, Seward was the "evil genius" dispensing bad advice to Lincoln, thereby undermining the Union cause. Lincoln knew the disgruntled lawmakers wanted more than just Seward's head. They wanted to strip control of the war out of the White House, perhaps even force him to resign the presidency. "What do these men want?" Lincoln told a sympathetic Senator Browning. "They wish to get rid of me, and I am sometimes half disposed to gratify them." Lincoln went on to say that this revolt within his own party caused him more distress "than... any event in my life... We are now on the brink of destruction... If there is a worse place than hell, I am in it."
Lincoln met with the Senators on 18 December and asked them to come back the next day for more discussions. When they arrived, they were met with one of Lincoln's masterful political performances. The whole Cabinet, except Seward, was present, and Lincoln told the Senators that Seward was a valuable member of the Cabinet and asked each Cabinet officer in turn to verbally affirm this. Chase was smoked out. He had to either bring opposition to Seward (and Lincoln) out into the open, or lose face among his Senatorial co-conspirators. He caved and endorsed Seward. The Senators departed with a powerful lesson, one they had to learn repeatedly: Lincoln could not be steamrolled.
Within this political, military and emotional context, Lincoln picked up his pen one week following the Battle of Fredericksburg. The message was intended as much for Capitol Hill as for the Army of the Potomac. He wanted to show that the Army, President and the people were united behind "the cause of the country and of popular government." And, as a morale booster, it did wonders. The address was issued in pamphlet form and published in the newspapers. The Army of the Potomac fought on with great offensive spirit, and they had their revenge. When Robert E. Lee made his own stupendous blunder by sending his troops against the heavily fortified Union center at Gettysburg on the afternoon of 3 July 1863, he could hear over the heads of his battered, retreating troops, a fervid chant sounding from one end of the Union line to the other: "Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!"
The two great themes of the Gettysburg Address are prominent here: to honor "the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here," and to remind the Northern public of the great cause for which they fought. - "the cause of the country and of popular government." Eleven months later at Gettysburg, Lincoln rephrased it in his stirring peroration: "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought 11-15 December 1862 between the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee. Burnside, who replaced McClellan as commander on 7 November, told Lincoln he intended to attack Lee on the Fredericksburg-Richmond railroad line by crossing the Rappahannock River. The river was wide and the bridges had been destroyed, but Burnside would use floating pontoon bridges to move his army quickly across river and surprise Lee. The soldiers arrived weeks before the pontoon bridges arrived due to bureaucratic delays, and the Confederates rushed their army to Fredericksburg and dug in on the hills overlooking Fredericksburg, awaiting the Union soldiers to cross. On 11 December, the Union began to assemble the pontoon bridges, and they came under heavy fire from the Confederates. The brave soldiers and engineers eventually completed the bridge, and the following day the Union Army crossed the bridge and entered the city of Fredericksburg. On 13 December, Burnside thought he would surprise the Confederates by attacking them head on at their entrenched defenders. The frontal attack turned out to be a dire miscalculation, and the Union soldiers were mowed down by Confederate fire. On 15 December, Burnside was forced to withdraw his troops. The battle was a major defeat for the Union Army. Although the Union vastly outnumbered the Confederates (120,000 Union men to 85,000 Confederates), they suffered over twice as many casualties (12,653 to 5,377). The battle signaled the low point of the war for the Union, and President Lincoln came under strong attacks from both politicians and the press. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited the White House after a trip to the battlefield and told the President, "It was not a battle, it was a butchery." Curtin reported that Lincoln was "heart-broken at the recital, and soon reached a state of nervous excitement bordering on insanity." Burnside was relieved of command a month later.
A monumentally important and eloquent address penned by Lincoln during the Union's darkest days of the Civil War. The importance of this document cannot be overstated.
Previously sold at Parke Bernet Auctions in 1964 for $16,000, and Sotheby's Auction in 1988 realizing $215,000.
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2022 February 12 - 13 Lincoln and His Times Americana & Political Signature® Auction #6251 (go to Auction Home page)
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