David Hunter to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1860

    Source citation
    David Hunter to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1860, Fort Leavenworth, KS, Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html.
    Type
    Letter
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Transcribed by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College, Galesburg, IL
    Adapted by Don Sailer, Dickinson College
    The following transcript has been adapted from the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress.

    Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,

    Oct. 20th 1860.--

    Private and

    Confidential.

    Dear Sir: Your success and safety being identified with the great Republican cause, the cause of peace, union and conservatism; must be my apology for addressing you.--

    On a recent visit to the east, I met a lady of high character, who had been spending part of the summer among her friends and relatives in Virginia. She informed me that a number of young men in Virginia had bound themselves, by oaths the most solemn, to cause your assassination, should you be elected. Now Sir, you may laugh at this story, and really it does appear too absurd to repeat, but I beg you to recollect, that on "the institution" these good people are most certainly demented, and being crazy, they should be taken care of, to prevent their doing harm to themselves or others.-- Judicious, prompt and energetic action on the part of your Secretary of War, will no doubt secure your own safety, and the peace of the country,

    I have the honor to be,

    Very Sincerely,

    Your mo. ob.

    David Hunter,

    U. S. Army--

    P. S.

    I had the pleasure of meeting you in early days at Chicago, and again at the great Whig Convention at Springfield in 1840.

    How to Cite This Page: "David Hunter to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1860," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/25541.