I have just been waited on by a large committee who present a
petition signed by twenty-three senators and eighty-four
representatives asking me to restore General Hamilton to his
division. I wish to do this, and yet I do not wish to be understood
as rebuking you. Please answer at once.

A. LINCOLN.




TELEGRAM TO GENERAL G. B. McCLELLAN.

WASHINGTON CITY, May 22, 1862.

MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:

Your long despatch of yesterday just received. You will have just
such control of General McDowell and his forces as you therein
indicate. McDowell can reach you by land sooner than he could get
aboard of boats, if the boats were ready at Fredericksburg, unless
his march shall be resisted, in which case the force resisting him
will certainly not be confronting you at Richmond. By land he can
reach you in five days after starting, whereas by water he would not
reach you in two weeks, judging by past experience. Franklin's
single division did not reach you in ten days after I ordered it.

A. LINCOLN,
President United States.