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Home , Gideon Welles, Orville Hickman Browning, Radical Republicans

Abraham Lincoln papers

1 From Britton A. Hill to , October 3, 1864

1 Britton A. Hill practiced law in Washington with after the latter had been unseated in the Senate in 1863 by a Democratic General Assembly.

Confidential

Washington Oct 3d, 1864

Mr President;

2 It gives me great pleasure to state, that Mr Browning has been misrepresented as to his speech 3 4 in Quincy— “He merely said, that if Genl. Fremont or Genl McClellan were elected he would not commit suicide; but would endeavor to support the govt faithfully, as he had done under your 5 administration”. He has spoken always in favor of yr administration & reelection.

2 Orville H. Browning

3 At the end of May 1864 a convention primarily composed of and German-Americans met at and nominated General John C. Fremont for the presidency. Fremont withdrew from the campaign in September.

4 General George B. McClellan was the 1864 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

5 Republicans were eager to obtain Browning's endorsement, but his support for Lincoln's reelection was lukewarm at best. In an October 3, 1864 letter to William D. Henderson, Browning stated his desire to see the rebellion crushed, however he refused to endorse either Lincoln or McClellan. While Browning admired McClellan's patriotism, he could not support the platform of the party that had nominated him. This refusal to support the so-called “peace plank” of the Democratic platform was the closest Browning came to an endorsement of Lincoln. Browning's letter to Henderson was published in the newspapers and Republican wags spun it as an endorsement. For the text of Browning's letter, see the October 11, 1864 issue of the Quincy (Illinois) Daily Whig & Republican.

Abraham Lincoln papers http://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3693300 6 I go home to day to St Louis, to see what I can do for the country there— Please send Seigel there for many reasons— Genl Halleck is wrong about this— I know the people well— We want Seigel to raise troops—

6 Franz Sigel

Commodore has a great multitude of friends in the City of , and a great crowd of admirers every where: If you thot it proper to set aside the sentence of the Court Martial, dismissing him from the service, and restore him to his rank as an Admiral, it would have a capital 7 effect in New York City & in Pennsylvania.

7 In 1864 Charles Wilkes was court martialed and found guilty of insubordination for releasing correspondence with Navy Secretary Welles to the press. Wilkes was given a reprimand and suspended from the service for three years. Orville H. Browning (Wilkes' defense counsel) and lobbied Lincoln to reduce the sentence. In December 1864 Lincoln decided to remit the remainder of Wilkes's suspension, much to the chagrin of Secretary Welles. See Collected Works, VII, 342-343, VIII, 182; and Howard K. Beale ed. Diary of (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1960), Volume 2, 203.

Excuse me for making these suggestions; but your success is so essential to the safety of the country at this crisis, that I feel anxious for every advantage, that is just & proper

I am

Very Respy

Your obt servt

Britton A. Hill

Abraham Lincoln papers http://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3693300