October 24, 1862
A clearly perturbed President Lincoln writes General McCellan: “I have just read your despatch about sore tongued and fatigued [sic] horses. Will you pardon me for asking w hat the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?”
More sympathetically, President Lincoln writes a reference for his White House valet: “The bearer of this, William Johnson (colored), came with me from Illinois; and is a worthy man, as I believe.” Johnson would continue in Lincoln’s service for more than another year. After accompanying President Lincoln to Gettysburg in November 1863, both Lincoln and Johnson would come down with a form of smallpox. Lincoln would recover. Johnson would not and Lincoln would see to closing Johnson’s financial affairs and his burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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