May 28, 1863
President Lincoln writes General William S. Rosecrans, the Union commander in Tennessee after a discussion with J.R. Gilmore: “I would not push you to any rashness; but I am very anxious that you do your utmost, short of rashness, to keep Bragg from getting off to help Johnston against Grant.” President Lincoln also writes General Rosecrans rejected the proposed peace commission of Army chaplain James Jaquess: “I have but a slight personal acquaintance with Col. Jaquess, though I know him very well by character. Such a mission as he proposes I think promises good, if it were free from difficulties, which I fear it can not be. First, he can not go with any government authority whatever. This is absolute and imperative. Secondly, if he goes without authority, he takes a great deal of personal risk—he may be condemned, and executed as a spy. If, for any reason, you think fit to give Col. Jaquess a Furlough, and any authority from me, for that object, is necessary, you hereby have it for any length of time you see fit.”
President Lincoln sends a brief response to a letter sent by Albany Congressman Erastus Corning and other Democratic leaders objected to the arrest and banishment of former Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham earlier in the month: “The letter of yourself & others dated the 19th. and inclosing the resolutions of a public meeting held at Albany on the 16th. was received night before last. I shall give the resolutions the consideration you ask, and shall try to find time, and make a respectful response.” President Lincoln is preparing a major response to their criticisms.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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