7. Let the forces late before Manassas, except the three months' men, be organized as rapidly as possible in their camps, here and about Arlington.

8. Let the three months' forces who decline to enter the longer service be discharged as rapidly as circumstances will permit.

9. Let the new volunteer forces be brought forward as fast as possible; and especially into the camps on the two sides of the river here.

July 27, 1861.

When the foregoing shall have been substantially attended to

1. Let Manassas Junction (or some point on one or the other of the railroads nearest it) and Strasburg be seized, and permanently held, with an open line from Washington to Manassas, and an open line from Harper's Ferry to Strasburg, the military men to find the way of doing these.

2. This done, a joint movement from Cairo on Memphis, and from Cincinnati on east Tennessee.

War Department, Washington, Aug. 15, 1861. Major-General Fremont, St. Louis:-Been answering your messages ever since day before yesterday. Do you receive the answers? The War Department has notified all the governors you designated to forward all available force, and so telegraphed you. Have you received these messages? Answer immediately.

A. LINCOLN.

HONORABLE SECRETARY OF WAR.

Executive Mansion, August 17, 1861.

My Dear Sir:-Unless there be reason to the contrary, not known to me, make out a commission for Simon (B.) Buckner, of Kentucky, as a brigadier-general of volunteers. It is to be put into the hands of General Anderson, and delivered to General Buckner or not, at the discretion of General Anderson. Of course it is to remain a secret unless and until the commission is delivered. A. LINCOLN.

Yours truly,

TO HIS EXCELLENCY, B. MAGOFFIN, GOVERNOR OF KEN

TUCKY.

Washington, D. C., August 24, 1861.

Sir: Your letter of the 19th inst., in which you urge the removal from the limits of Kentucky of the military force now organized and in camp within that state, is received. I may not possess full and precisely accurate knowledge upon the subject, but I believe it is true that there is a military force in camp within Kentucky, acting by authority of the United States, which force is not very large, and is not now being augmented.

I also believe that some arms have been furnished to this force by the United States.

I also believe this force consists exclusively of Kentuckians, having their camp in the immediate vicinity of their homes, and not assailing or menacing any of the good people of Kentucky. In all I have done in the premises, I have acted upon the urgent solicitation of many Kentuckians, and in accordance with all the Union-loving people of Kentucky.

While I have conversed on this subject with many of the eminent men of Kentucky, including a large majority of her members of Congress, I do not remember that any one of them, or any other person except your excellency and the bearers of your excellency's letter, has urged me to move the military force from Kentucky, or to disband it. One very worthy citizen of Kentucky did solicit me to have the augmenting of the force suspended for a time.

Taking all the means within my reach to form a judgment, I do not believe it is the popular wish of Kentucky that this force shall be removed beyond her limits; and, with this impression I must respectfully decline to remove it.

I most cordially sympathize with your Excellency in the wish to preserve the peace of my own native State of Kentucky. It is with regret I search for, and can not find, in your not very short letter, any declaration or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservation of the Federal Union.

Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

PRIVATE LETTER TO MAJ.-GEN. FREMONT, SEPT. 2, 1861. Two points in your proclamation of August 30th, give me some anxiety. First.-Should you shoot a man, according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best men in their hands, in retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order that you allow no man to be shot, under the proclamation, without first having my approbation and consent.

Second. I think there is a great danger that the

closing paragraph in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us-perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the Act of Congress entitled, "An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes," approved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure. I send it by special messenger in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you. Yours very truly,

To MRS. GENERAL FREMONT.

A. LINCOLN.

Washington, D. C., Sept. 12, 1861.

My Dear Madam:-Your two notes of to-day are before me. I answered the letter you bore me from General Fremont, on yesterday, and not hearing from you during the day, I sent the answer to him by mail. It is not exactly correct, as you say you were told by the elder Mr. Blair, to say that I had sent Postmaster-General Blair to St. Louis to examine into the department and report. Postmaster-General Blair did go with my approbation, to see and converse with General Fremont as a friend. I do not feel authorized to furnish you with copies of letters in my possession without the consent of the writers. No impression has been made upon my mind against the honor or integrity of General Fremont, and I now

enter my protest against being understood as acting in any hostility toward him.

Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN.

HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.

Executive Mansion, September 18, 1861.

My Dear Sir:-To guard against misunderstanding, I think fit to say that the joint expedition of the army and navy, agreed upon some time since, and in which General W. T. Sherman was and is to bear a conspicuous part, is in nowise to be abandoned, but must be ready to move by the first of, or very early in October. Let all preparations go forward accordingly. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

MAJOR-GENERAL FREMONT.

Washington, September 22, 1861.

Governor Morton telegraphs as follows: Colonel Lane, just arrived by special train, represents Owensborough, forty miles above Evansville, in possession of secessionists. Green river is navigable. Owensborough must be seized. We want a gun-boat sent up from Paducah for that purpose. Send up the gunboat if, in your discretion, you think it right. Perhaps you had better order those in charge of the Ohio river, to guard it vigilantly at all points.

HON. O. H. BROWNING.

A. LINCOLN.

Executive Mansion, Washington, Sept. 22, 1861. My Dear Sir:-Yours of the seventeenth is just received; and coming from you, I confess it astonishes That you should object to my adhering to a law,

me.