[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO SECRETARY OF WAR EDWIN STANTON, ASKING STANTON TO FULFILL THE REQUEST OF LINCOLN'S ILLINOIS POLITICAL COLLEAGUE, MARTIN P. SWEET, THAT SWEET'S SECOND SON BE APPOINTED TO A PLACE IN THE REGIMENT WHERE HIS FIRST WAS KILLED].

Lincoln, Abraham:

Edité par Washington. January 6, 1862 [i.e. 1863].

A propos de cet article

A remarkably moving and poignant autograph letter, signed, from Abraham Lincoln as president, writing to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on behalf of his former Illinois Whig colleague, Martin P. Sweet, who seeks to have a second son appointed to the Union Army even after his first had fallen in battle. Lincoln and Sweet were political colleagues and friends, and the two shared the experience of losing sons at a young age. Not only had Sweet's son, Lieutenant John J. Sweet, died at the Battle of Gaines Mill on June 27, 1862, but Lincoln himself had lost two young sons, most recently his son, Willie, who died of typhoid fever in February 1862. Lincoln's brief letter to Stanton is fewer than one hundred words, and contains the terse and eloquent rhythms that would categorize many of his most famous utterances, including the Gettysburg Address later in 1863. The text, written on Executive Mansion stationery, reads in full: "Hon. Sec. of War; Sir, Martin P. Sweet, an Illinois friend of mine, had a son, a first Lieut. in the 5th Regular Cavalry, who was killed in the battle of Gaines' Mill. He now asks that another son brother to the deceased be appointed to the place or a place in the same regiment, in which the father says the officers tell him there are vacancies. The young man's name is 'Martin A. Sweet.' I shall be personally gratified if this can be done without difficulty. Yours truly, A. Lincoln." The president has dated his letter January 6, 1862, although based on the reference to the 5th Cavalry's role at Gaines' Mill in the summer of that year, we must attribute this to an early New Year's error and assume that the date would properly be January 6, 1863. Gaines' Mill took place on the third of the Seven Days Battles, and was a major tactical victory for the Confederacy despite heavy losses on both sides. The "vacancies" alluded to by Lincoln would not be surprising the 5th United States Cavalry suffered fifty-eight casualties in the fighting, including all but one of its officers. It is unclear if Sweet's second son, Martin Anthony, ever received his appointment, despite the heart-wrenching plea of his father and personal request of the President; in whatever case, he lived through the war before passing away at a relatively young age in 1889. A "Martin A. Sweet" is recorded in the 6th Michigan Cavalry, which was part of the Michigan Brigade and saw heavy action from Gettysburg through Appomattox. Martin Pierce Sweet (1806-64) was a native of New York who moved to Freeport, Illinois in 1840, becoming a prominent local figure in law and politics. He and his wife, Catherine Van Etten, had six children. Sweet's policies mirrored Lincoln's own early views, being firmly opposed to slavery through legislation, though not a radical abolitionist. Throughout the 1840s and 50s, Sweet and Lincoln were alternately comrades and opponents in the Illinois Whig party in 1849, for example, Lincoln backed Cyrus Edwards against Sweet for the appointment as General Land Commissioner, and in 1855 he and Lincoln were both considered as alternatives to Lyman Trumbull (who nonetheless took the seat in the Senate over both). In 1856, Sweet firmly backed Lincoln for vice president, though he was soundly defeated by Dayton. From then on, Sweet became an unofficial political adviser to the ascendant Lincoln perhaps his most enduring legacy in that role was when he met with Joseph Medill and others to strategize on Lincoln's behalf in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, one of which took place in Sweet's hometown of Freeport. Among their advice to Lincoln was that he should ask "a few ugly questions," including the famous prompt which resulted in Douglas' so-called Freeport Doctrine. Lincoln's ties to Sweet and the Douglas debates are made clear in a letter of September 16, 1858, in which the future president wrote to his Illinois friend to apologize for a potentially disparaging comment, fearing "that those villainous reporters Douglas has with.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: [AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO SECRETARY OF WAR EDWIN STANTON, ASKING STANTON TO FULFILL THE REQUEST OF LINCOLN'S ILLINOIS POLITICAL COLLEAGUE, MARTIN P. SWEET, THAT SWEET'S SECOND SON BE APPOINTED TO A PLACE IN THE REGIMENT WHERE HIS FIRST WAS KILLED].
• Éditeur: Washington. January 6, 1862 [i.e. 1863].
• Signé: Signé par l'auteur