Mr. Lincoln's own son became a soldier after leaving college. The
letter his father wrote to General Grant in his behalf shows how
careful he was that neither his official position nor his desire
to give his boy the experience he wanted, should work the least
injustice to others:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 19th, 1865.
Lieutenant-General Grant:
Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President,
but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having
graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before
it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give
him a commission, to which those who have already served long are
better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without
embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your
military family with some nominal rank, I and not the public
furnishing the necessary means? If no, say so without the least
hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested that
you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself.
Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.
His interest did not cease with the life of a young soldier.
Among his most beautiful letters are those he wrote to sorrowing
parents who had lost their sons in battle; and when his personal
friend, young Ellsworth, one of the first and most gallant to
fall, was killed at Alexandria, the President directed that his
body be brought to the White House, where his funeral was held in
the great East Room.
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