Abraham Lincoln papers From Thomas Worcester to Abraham Lincoln, May 16, 1864 Dear Sir, It is a constant subject of thankfulness with me, that you are where you are. And it is my belief that the Divine Providence is using your honesty, kindness, patience and intelligence as means of carrying us through our present troubles. 1 I see that you hesitate with regard to retaliation, and I am glad of it. Your feelings of kindness and regard to justice do not allow you to take the severe course, which is most obvious. Now I feel great confidence that you will be led to the best conclusions; but while you are hesitating, I am tempted to offer a suggestion. 1 This is a reference to the Fort Pillow massacre that occurred on April 12 when black soldiers attempted to surrender and were given no quarter. Lincoln carefully considered an appropriate response to this outrage. On May 3, he convened a meeting of the cabinet and requested each member to submit a written opinion that recommended a course of action to take in response to the massacre. At a cabinet meeting on May 6, each member read his opinion on the case and after receiving this advice, Lincoln began to draft a set of instructions for Secretary of War Stanton to implement. Apparently Lincoln became distracted by other matters, such as Grant's campaign against Lee and these instructions were neither completed nor submitted to the War Department. For the written opinions of the cabinet, see Edward Bates to Lincoln, May 4, 1864; William H. Seward to Lincoln, May 5, 1864; Edwin M. Stanton to Lincoln, May 5, 1864; Gideon Welles to Lincoln, May 5, 1864; Montgomery Blair to Lincoln, May 6, 1864; Salmon P. Chase to Lincoln, May 6, 1864; and John P. Usher to Lincoln, May 6, 1864. For Lincoln's unfinished instructions to Stanton, see Collected Works, VII, 345-46. It seems to me that until the Confederate Government requires its army to conform to the laws of civilized warfare in relation to our negro soldiers, our Government ought not to be very strict in requiring our negro soldiers to be very conform to those laws in relation to the Confederate Army. Your's very respectfully and sincerely, Thomas Worcester Abraham Lincoln papers http://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3311500 Boston May 16/64 Abraham Lincoln papers http://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.3311500.