{"id":1082,"date":"2013-06-29T13:06:03","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T13:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2016-06-19T20:06:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T20:06:56","slug":"letter-to-andrew-johnson-september-11-1863","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-andrew-johnson-september-11-1863\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Andrew Johnson (September 11, 1863)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributing Editors for this page include Brendan Birth<\/em><\/p>\n

Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n

#119<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n

Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n

“All Tennessee is now clear of armed insurrectionists. You need not to be reminded that it is the nick of time for re-inaugerating a loyal State government. Not a moment should be lost.”<\/a><\/p>\n

On This Date<\/span><\/h3>\n

HD Daily Report, September 11, 1863<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lincoln Log, September 11, 1863<\/a><\/p>\n

Custom Map<\/h3>\n

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How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n

“Soon after his appointment by Lincoln as Tennessee’s governor, Johnson had allowed an election to go on as scheduled in Nashville for circuit court judge. \u00a0There were two candidates: Unionist M. M. Brien and secessionist Turner S. Foster. \u00a0Johnson was certain that citizens voting in secret and not intimidated by disunionists would put the loyal man on the bench. \u00a0When Foster won by a large margin, Johnson was furious, vowing that there would be no more elections to fill local offices. \u00a0Judge Foster was arrested, charged with treason, and confined in the penitentiary. \u00a0A year later Abraham Lincoln gave the governor a few pointers on ‘reinaugurating a loyal State government.’ advice that by now Johnson no longer needed. \u00a0‘Let the reconstruction be the work of such men only as can be trusted for the Union,’ wrote Lincoln. \u00a0‘Exclude all others.’ \u00a0Both men well understood that if free elections were permitted, the people would again choose to be free of the United States.”<\/p>\n

\u2013Walter Brian Cisco,\u00a0War Crimes Against Southern Civilians\u00a0<\/em>(Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2007), 46<\/a><\/p>\n

“During the early months of 1863, federal forces expanded their grip on central Tennessee, but the eastern section of the state\u2014and Johnson’s hometown\u2014remained in Confederate control. \u00a0On June 1 Governor Harris, whose state government in rebellion had been driven from one town to another, attempted to nominate candidates for the Confederate congress. \u00a0The convention met, only to be disrupted by the advance of federal forces. \u00a0For Johnson, political matters went much better. \u00a0A Unionist convention meeting in Nashville on July 1 passed a resolution approving Lincoln’s appointment of Johnson as military governor and praised the latter’s administration. \u00a0The delegates also voided all actions of the Harris convention. \u00a0Unionists asked Johnson to issue writs of election for the first week of August, but he declined, preferring to wait until guerrillas had been driven from east Tennessee so the entire state could participate in an election. \u00a0In mid-August Major General Ambrose E. Burnside marched his army from Kentucky into east Tennessee. \u00a0Simultaneously, Rosecrans advanced on General Braxton Bragg at Chattanooga, forcing the latter to draw reserves from Burnside’s line of march. \u00a0On September 2, 1863, Burnside occupied Knoxville, and on the 9th, Rosecrans forced Bragg out of Chattanooga and into northern Georgia. \u00a0In east Tennessee the mountaineers gave three cheers for the Union and three more for Andy Johnson. \u00a0For them, the day of reconciliation had come. \u00a0Lincoln reacted quickly to the good news and on September 11 telegraphed Johnson. . .”<\/p>\n

\u2013Chester G. Hearn,\u00a0The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson\u00a0<\/em>(Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000), 28<\/a><\/p>\n

Close Readings<\/h3>\n