A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO HORACE MAYNARD.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 13, 1864.

HON. HORACE MAYNARD, Nashville, Tenn.:

Your letter of [the] second received. Of course Governor Johnson will
proceed with reorganization as the exigencies of the case appear to him to
require. I do not apprehend he will think it necessary to deviate from my
views to any ruinous extent. On one hasty reading I see no such deviation
in his program, which you send.

A. LINCOLN.

TO W. M. FISHBACK.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, February 17, 1864.

WILLIAM M. FISHBACK, Little Rock, Arkansas:

When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas I did it in ignorance that
your convention was doing the same work. Since I learned the latter fact
I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to them. I have sent two
letters to General Steele, and three or four despatches to you and others,
saying that he, General Steele, must be master, but that it will probably
be best for him to merely help the convention on its own plan. Some single
mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything, and
General Steele, commanding the military and being on the ground, is the
best man to be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing me to
postpone the election to a later day than either that fixed by the
convention or by me. This discord must be silenced.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO GENERAL STEELE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 17, 1864.

MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Arkansas:

The day fixed by the convention for the election is probably the best,
but you on the ground, and in consultation with gentlemen there, are to
decide. I should have fixed no day for an election, presented no plan for
reconstruction, had I known the convention was doing the same things. It
is probably best that you merely assist the convention on their own
plan, as to election day and all other matters I have already written and
telegraphed this half a dozen times.

A. LINCOLN.

TELEGRAM TO A. ROBINSON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 18, 1864.

A. ROBINSON, Leroy, N. Y.:

The law only obliges us to keep accounts with States, or at most
Congressional Districts, and it would overwhelm us to attempt in counties,
cities and towns. Nevertheless we do what we can to oblige in particular
cases. In this view I send your dispatch to the Provost-Marshal General,
asking him to do the best he can