Letter to James C. Conkling
08/25/1863
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
It winds the whole thing up.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of...
of your military necessities you must judge and execute, but please do so in the spirit and with the purpose above indic...
He thought this measure was a very fitting if not an indispensable adjunct to the winding up of the great difficulty.