Thursday, June 20, 2013

July 8, 1862---A "strong and frank letter."



JULY 8, 1862:           

 After dusk, President Lincoln arrives by steamer at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, to confer with General McClellan on the status and condition of the Army of the Potomac.  McClellan takes this opportunity to give Lincoln his “strong and frank letter” written the day before, wherein the General points out where Lincoln has gone wrong, and how the nation might be saved only by following a course of preserving the Union, conciliating the South, and ignoring the slave question.  The President reads the letter on the spot, thanks McClellan for his thoughts, and never mentions it to him again.


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