Lincoln, Abraham, as Sixteenth President

Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln"), [Washington], 15 October 1862, comprising 8 lines on the verso of a sheet of blue-ruled paper (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 250 x 199 mm), being the integral blank of a letter from Major General George B. McClellan to President Lincoln, [Pleasant Valley, Maryland, 14 October 1862], with docketing from the Adjutant General's Office.

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Basler, 5:464

Autograph endorsement signed ("A. Lincoln"), [Washington], 15 October 1862, being 8 lines on the verso of a sheet of blue-ruled paper (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 250 x 199 mm), being the integral blank of a letter from Major General George B. McClellan to President Lincoln, [Pleasant Valley, Maryland, 14 October 1862], with docketing from the Adjutant General's Office.
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An enigmatic case of Lincoln assisting a father to have his son's Army assignment changed.

When the celebrated Fifth Avenue manuscript dealer Thomas F. Madigan featured this Lincoln endorsement in his 1929 Catalogue of Lincolniana, he described it as still conjunct with McClellan's letter, but at some point during the intervening four score years, the McClellan letter was detached and is now lost. And, according to Basler, "Lincoln's letter [which prompted McClellan's reply] has not been found and there is no further record of the case." So the circumstances of the present situation are impossible to surmise.

However, it appears that the father of Lt. John S. Knapp had appealed to the President to have his son reassigned to recruiting duty. Lincoln evidently directed the elder Knapp to take his request to General McClellan. McClellan met with Mr. Knapp as instructed by Lincoln, but advised his commader-in-chief that the matter would be better handled by the Adjutant General.

Lincoln therefore sent the present note, as well as his private secretary John Nicolay and Mr. Knapp, to Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas: "The within letter of Gen. McClellan is in answer to one from me in regard to Lieut. John S. Knapp of 17th regular Infantry, being detailed on recruiting service. Adjt. General, please fix it up. Mr. Nicolay goes to you with the father; and please hear them as to where the Lieut. is to go." The endorsement is docketed "order issued."