September 1, 1864
Mr. Lincoln, you promised victory over our enemies, but as the recent attack on our capital itself by General Early proves, isn’t it more accurate to say you cannot even protect us from assault in our own homes? Can you right now guarantee that we will not see another surprise attack on Washington?
Mr. President, we are now in the fourth year of what clearly has become a quagmire with no end in sight. Opposition to your conduct of the war is growing by the day. Do you attribute this present mess to your own failure to communicate?
Mr. Lincoln, will you please respond to charges that you used the attack on Fort Sumner as cover to wage a preplanned war to punish the South?
Mr. Lincoln, please. Almost every day now we hear of our soldiers being killed with little progress in either Virginia or Georgia. Can you tell us why General Sherman seems unwilling or unable to take Atlanta? And was it, in fact, a mistake to send General Sherman deep into the South, when the greater enemy, General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, are still undefeated in near sight of our capital? If we cannot pacify Virginia, why in God’s name are we in Georgia? Isn’t Sherman diverting attention from the real enemy near our capital?
Mr. President, when exactly was the last time you visited a war hospital and have you spent any time recently at any of our national cemeteries?
With all due respect, Mr. President, may I ask why and how after months of searching and constant patrols, no one can find, much less capture Nathan Bedford Forrest, who as a result has become a folk hero to millions?
Mr. President, why after years of occupation are there still killings and assassinations in Missouri and Kentucky? Were not these areas supposed to have been pacified long ago?
Mr. Lincoln, would you please respond to General McClellan’s charges at the recent Chicago convention that with the establishment of the Emancipation Proclamation you misled this nation in the reasons you gave for this war. Is it not true, Mr. President, that you assured Americans that you have started this war to preserve the Union and protect federal property in the South? Yet now you claim that in fact our sons are dying to free slaves and provide equality to the Negro? What was the real reason, Mr. Lincoln, that you cooked up this war and got us into this mess, and why did you not tell us the full story when the shooting started?
Mr. Lincoln, are you aware of a small cabal of abolitionists in your War Department who in secret planned this disaster to further their own hidden support for the Negro and hoodwinked you into starting this war of northern aggression?
Given the illustrious war record of General McClellan and your own murky past as a soldier, isn’t it wiser for the American people to turn over their armies to someone with some real experience with war?
Mr. President, Sir, do you not think it is high time now to apologize for this summer’s slaughter in Virginia, and the thousands of poor innocent boys who were butchered there due to the ignorance and incompetence of your generals, about whose shortcomings you most surely knew? Can we at least have from you an “I’m sorry” to all the kin of the poor dead?
Mr. Lincoln: We have now seen a long train of failure. And after the removal of Generals McDowell, Hooker, Pope, and a score of others, isn’t it clear that you have no clear idea how to defeat the enemy, much less the proper person to lead us out of this present and mostly unnecessary mess?
Isn’t it also true Mr. President, that in light of the recent draft riots and attrition in the field, we have too few troops at the front? Why are we not committing another 40,500 soldiers now to ensure that we never see again anything like these recent weeks of constant Confederate aggression?
Rumors are flying, Mr. President, of general unhappiness in your cabinet, and of statements by Mr. Stanton and others that you are simply not qualified either in temperament or character to finish the war—and especially that you were obsessed with freeing the slaves and starting this war when the southern states wished only to leave in peace and posed no direct threat to the security of the United States? Why is it, Mr. President, that so many of your ex-friends and subordinates now speak so poorly about you?
Now that this war clearly has failed to reunite the Union and that you, Sir, will not be reelected as President of the United States, can you at last admit where you were in error and to the mistakes that led us to our present defeat?
Mr. Lincoln, do you not think it was naïve to assume that Northerners could impose by force Yankee-style democracy and culture on the traditional society of the South? Isn’t this arrogance on our part to think we can force others to be like us?
What is it about you, Mr. Lincoln, that leads your opponents to such vitriol and invective, to such a degree that you appear as an ape in cartoons and a scoundrel and nave almost daily in public essays and opinion-pieces? And why do the Europeans especially seem to hate you, so much so that England threatens to intervene on the side of our enemies?
Now that it is clear that neither General Grant can take Richmond nor General Sherman Atlanta, have you thought of stopping the war and bringing our boys back home? When will you resign Mr. President?
Gentlemen of the Press. I have ordered General Sherman to take Atlanta. And when he succeeds, I think all your questions shall be answered.
Mr. Lincoln, you promised victory over our enemies, but as the recent attack on our capital itself by General Early proves, isn’t it more accurate to say you cannot even protect us from assault in our own homes? Can you right now guarantee that we will not see another surprise attack on Washington?
Mr. President, we are now in the fourth year of what clearly has become a quagmire with no end in sight. Opposition to your conduct of the war is growing by the day. Do you attribute this present mess to your own failure to communicate?
Mr. Lincoln, will you please respond to charges that you used the attack on Fort Sumner as cover to wage a preplanned war to punish the South?
Mr. Lincoln, please. Almost every day now we hear of our soldiers being killed with little progress in either Virginia or Georgia. Can you tell us why General Sherman seems unwilling or unable to take Atlanta? And was it, in fact, a mistake to send General Sherman deep into the South, when the greater enemy, General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, are still undefeated in near sight of our capital? If we cannot pacify Virginia, why in God’s name are we in Georgia? Isn’t Sherman diverting attention from the real enemy near our capital?
Mr. President, when exactly was the last time you visited a war hospital and have you spent any time recently at any of our national cemeteries?
With all due respect, Mr. President, may I ask why and how after months of searching and constant patrols, no one can find, much less capture Nathan Bedford Forrest, who as a result has become a folk hero to millions?
Mr. President, why after years of occupation are there still killings and assassinations in Missouri and Kentucky? Were not these areas supposed to have been pacified long ago?
Mr. Lincoln, would you please respond to General McClellan’s charges at the recent Chicago convention that with the establishment of the Emancipation Proclamation you misled this nation in the reasons you gave for this war. Is it not true, Mr. President, that you assured Americans that you have started this war to preserve the Union and protect federal property in the South? Yet now you claim that in fact our sons are dying to free slaves and provide equality to the Negro? What was the real reason, Mr. Lincoln, that you cooked up this war and got us into this mess, and why did you not tell us the full story when the shooting started?
Mr. Lincoln, are you aware of a small cabal of abolitionists in your War Department who in secret planned this disaster to further their own hidden support for the Negro and hoodwinked you into starting this war of northern aggression?
Given the illustrious war record of General McClellan and your own murky past as a soldier, isn’t it wiser for the American people to turn over their armies to someone with some real experience with war?
Mr. President, Sir, do you not think it is high time now to apologize for this summer’s slaughter in Virginia, and the thousands of poor innocent boys who were butchered there due to the ignorance and incompetence of your generals, about whose shortcomings you most surely knew? Can we at least have from you an “I’m sorry” to all the kin of the poor dead?
Mr. Lincoln: We have now seen a long train of failure. And after the removal of Generals McDowell, Hooker, Pope, and a score of others, isn’t it clear that you have no clear idea how to defeat the enemy, much less the proper person to lead us out of this present and mostly unnecessary mess?
Isn’t it also true Mr. President, that in light of the recent draft riots and attrition in the field, we have too few troops at the front? Why are we not committing another 40,500 soldiers now to ensure that we never see again anything like these recent weeks of constant Confederate aggression?
Rumors are flying, Mr. President, of general unhappiness in your cabinet, and of statements by Mr. Stanton and others that you are simply not qualified either in temperament or character to finish the war—and especially that you were obsessed with freeing the slaves and starting this war when the southern states wished only to leave in peace and posed no direct threat to the security of the United States? Why is it, Mr. President, that so many of your ex-friends and subordinates now speak so poorly about you?
Now that this war clearly has failed to reunite the Union and that you, Sir, will not be reelected as President of the United States, can you at last admit where you were in error and to the mistakes that led us to our present defeat?
Mr. Lincoln, do you not think it was naïve to assume that Northerners could impose by force Yankee-style democracy and culture on the traditional society of the South? Isn’t this arrogance on our part to think we can force others to be like us?
What is it about you, Mr. Lincoln, that leads your opponents to such vitriol and invective, to such a degree that you appear as an ape in cartoons and a scoundrel and nave almost daily in public essays and opinion-pieces? And why do the Europeans especially seem to hate you, so much so that England threatens to intervene on the side of our enemies?
Now that it is clear that neither General Grant can take Richmond nor General Sherman Atlanta, have you thought of stopping the war and bringing our boys back home? When will you resign Mr. President?
Gentlemen of the Press. I have ordered General Sherman to take Atlanta. And when he succeeds, I think all your questions shall be answered.
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