DISRESPECT, DISLOYALTY, AND CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER: EXCEPTIONAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN WHILE PRESIDENT CONCERNING THE TRIAL OF A KENTUCKY OFFICER, ONE DAY BEFORE LINCOLN’S SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS IN KENTUCKY

LINCOLN, Abraham. Autograph letter signed. Washington, D.C., July 4, 1864. One octavo sheet (8 by 10 inches), folded, writing on recto only. Handsomely floated and framed with portrait, entire piece measures 20 by 18 inches.

Autograph letter signed by Abraham Lincoln on the matter of a controversial Union colonel dismissed and arrested for his denunciation of Lincoln. The letter reads: “July 4, 1864. Senator Powell, Sir, The Sec. of War informs me that Col. Woolford will be put on trial this week & just as early in the week as the case can be prepared. Very Respectfully, A. Lincoln.” The letter was written only one day before Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus in Kentucky as part of an effort to prevent Kentucky from joining the Confederacy.

Lincoln wrote this letter to Senator Lazarus W. Powell of Kentucky, regarding Colonel Frank Woolford (usually spelled “Wolford”). A Union soldier in the First Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, on March 10, 1864, Wolford denounced Lincoln as a tyrant and a traitor at a ceremony honoring himself for his heroic actions on the battlefield. Wolford was particularly angered at Lincoln’s acceptance of African-Americans in the Union ranks. Tensions were particularly high in the border state of Kentucky, a slave state which maintained an officially neutral status during the Civil War, and such activities were frequently met with suppression and arrest, as happened to Wolford several days later. He was “dishonorably dismissed from the service of the United States for violation of the Fifth of the Rules and Articles of War, in using disrespectful words against the President of the United States, for disloyalty, and for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” The Chicago Tribune condemned Wolford in an editorial: “Let Mr. Wolford, and all his kith and kin in politics, remember that the God-fearing black, who, with musket in hand steps forward at the call of the country, is tenfold more the brother and fellow citizen of the true patriot, than the wretches who to spite the negro would ruin the country.” However, General Grant reinstated Wolford to his rank and position in April. Wolford then continued his anti-Lincoln activities, traveling throughout Kentucky condemning Lincoln and supporting McClellan in the 1964 presidential election. Consequently, Wolford was re-arrested on June 27, 1864, and taken to Washington, where he was put up in a hotel rather than being imprisoned. Lincoln requested a meeting with Wolford, and the two men, along with Senator Powell, met shortly thereafter. Senator Powell was himself an outspoken Lincoln critic who had been censured for it by the U.S. Senate and the Kentucky General Assembly, and the implication of this letter is that he was taking a great interest in Wolford’s situation and treatment. Powell had been particularly vocal in his opposition to Lincoln’s desire to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus in 1861. Indeed, the day after Lincoln wrote this letter, he proclaimed the suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus indefinitely in Kentucky, and the establishment of martial law, in an effort to prevent Kentucky from joining the Confederacy. On July 7, 1864, Wolford gave his word as a gentleman and an officer to return to Louisville and avoid all public speaking until the trial discussed in this letter. Lincoln subsequently sent him a letter on July 17, requesting he sign the following statement and thereby have his charges dismissed: “I hereby pledge my honor that I will neither do or say anything which will directly or indirectly tend to hinder, delay, or embarrass the employment and use of colored persons, as soldiers, seamen, or otherwise, in the suppression of the rebellion, so long as the U.S. government chooses to so employ and use them.” Wolford refused, on the grounds that he had done nothing wrong and his rights were being violated. He went back to speaking against Lincoln and in support of McClellan, but his trial never took place, as fear of Kentucky seceding faded; he enjoyed a successful career as a Kentucky politician and lawyer from 1865 until 1887. The controversial Powell found himself shut out of Kentucky politics after the Union’s victory in 1865, and he died in 1867.

Expert tape repair to verso only of folds. Light toning to paper. An exceptional letter, written entirely by Abraham Lincoln on the final Independence Day of his life.