December 27, 1863
Accompanied by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, President Lincoln travelled by boat to visit General William H. Marston and a camp where Confederate prisoners were encamped.
Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner writes Orestes A. Brownson: “The Presdt’s recent message & Proclamation has 2 points that are important & will be memorable.
(1) He makes Emancipation the corner-stone of reconstruction.
(2) He treats the rebel states as now ‘subverted’ & as practically out of the Union, & provides for their reconstruction out of the Union before they shall be recd. How this differs from what is called ‘the territorial theory’ I am at a loss to perceive, except that it is less plain & positive.
In short the Presdt’s theory is identical with ours, although he adopts a different nomenclature. But my single object is to settle the question permanently by the obliteration of Slavery, & I am ready to accept any system which promises this result.”
William “Billy the Barber” Florville writes President Lincoln from to express gratitude for the emancipation of his fellow blacks: “The Shackels have fallen, and Bondmen have become freeman to Some extent already under your Proclamation. And I hope ere long, it may be universal in all the Slave States.”
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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