Part 76

A. LINCOLN.

OPINION ON HARBOR DEFENSE.

April 4, 1863.

On this general subject I respectfully refer Mr.------__ to the Secretaries of War and Navy for conference and consultation. I have a single idea of my own about harbor defense. It is a steam ram, built so as to sacrifice nearly all capacity for carrying to those of speed and strength, so as to be able to split any vessel having hollow enough in her to carry supplies for a voyage of any distance. Such ram, of course, could not herself carry supplies for a voyage of considerable distance, and her business would be to guard a particular harbor as a bulldog guards his master's door.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY POTOMAC, April 9, 1863.

HON. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY:

Richmond Whig of the 8th has no telegraphic despatches from Charleston, but has the following as editorial:

"All thoughts are now centred upon Charleston. Official intelligence was made public early yesterday morning that the enemy's iron-clad fleet had attempted to cross the bar and failed, but later in the day it was announced that the gunboats and transports had succeeded in crossing and were at anchor. Our iron-clads lay between the forts quietly awaiting the attack. Further intelligence is looked for with eager anxiety. The Yankees have made no secret of this vast preparation for an attack on Charleston, and we may well anticipate a desperate conflict. At last the hour of trial has come for Charleston, the hour of deliverance or destruction, for no one believes the other alternative, surrender, possible. The heart of the whole country yearns toward the beleaguered city with intense solicitude, yet with hopes amounting to confidence. Charleston knows what is expected of her, and which is due to her fame, and to the relation she sustains to the cause. The devoted, the heroic, the great-hearted Beauregard is there, and he, too, knows what is expected of him and will not disappoint that expectation. We predict a Saragossa defense, and that if Charleston is taken it will be only a heap of ruins."

The rebel pickets are reported as calling over to our pickets today that we had taken some rebel fort. This is not very intelligible, and I think is entirely unreliable.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO OFFICER IN COMMAND AT NASHVILLE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 11,1863.

OFFICER IN COMMAND at Nashville, Tenn: Is there a soldier by the name of John R. Minnick of Wynkoop's cavalry under sentence of death, by a court-martial or military commission, in Nashville? And if so what was his offense, and when is he to be executed?

A. LINCOLN.

If necessary let the execution be staid till I can be heard from again.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL HOOKER.

WASHINGTON D.C., April 12, 1863

MAJOR-GENERAL HOOKER:

Your letter by the hand of General Butterfield is received, and will be conformed to. The thing you dispense with would have been ready by mid-day to-morrow.

A. LINCOLN

TELEGRAM TO ADMIRAL S. P. DUPONT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, April 13, 1863

ADMIRAL DUPONT:

Hold your position inside the bar near Charleston; or, if you shall have left it, return to it, and hold it until further orders. Do not allow the enemy to erect new batteries or defenses on Morris Island. If he has begun it, drive him out. I do not herein order you to renew the general attack. That is to depend on your own discretion or a further order.

A. LINCOLN.