Abraham Lincoln

Letter to General Grant (Jan. 19, 1865)

Posted on November 22, 2015 Updated on May 2, 2018

Executive Mansion, Washington,
Jan. 19, 1865.

Lieut. General Grant:
  Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission, to which those who have already served long, are better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your Military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public, furnishing his necessary means? If no, say so without the least hesitation, because I am as anxious, and as deeply interested, that you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself.
Yours truly
A. Lincoln

–Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 8.

Lincoln’s Handwriting1