TO LESLIE COMBS (INDIRECTLY)
Near Chattanooga, Nov. 6, 1863.
Geo. D. Prentice, Editor of the Louisville Journal:
In your paper of November 3d I see a letter signed by
Mr. Leslie Combs, in which the following allusion is made
to me: “Our children have fought in every battlefield,
and never one fled as Carl Schurz and his gang of
freedom-shriekers did at Chancellorsville.” I am not in the habit
of replying to calumny and abuse springing from the
impure inspirations of party spirit; but General Leslie
Combs being a man of note, I deem it proper to avail
myself of this opportunity to stop a slander which political
enemies seem bent upon sustaining by frequent repetition.
I wish therefore to say, that in asserting that “Carl
not surprise me. Occasionally letters of a ‘private and personal’ nature would pass between President Lincoln and myself which did not go on the official files. President Lincoln, judging this one to be of such a character, probably withheld it for that reason. I do not remember whether it was answered by him in writing, and I have no means of ascertaining it because all my correspondence of the war period perished in a railroad fire. [See post, p. 375.]
“I do not know how this letter got into the hands of a third person. It occurs to me that Mr. Lincoln may have given it as a memento to General Stahel when that officer, as he probably did, called upon the President to offer his thanks for the promotion. This, however, is only a random guess.
“But, if you will pardon the question, is this letter, which certainly does not throw any light upon anything connected with the operations of the army, a proper document to be published in the Rebellion Record? To me it would seem quite doubtful, and this doubt I respectfully submit.
“Very sincerely yours,
“C. Schurz.”
“Hotel Arlington, 18-20 West 25 Street,
“New York, May 26, 1912.
“Frederic Bancroft, Esq.,
“My dear Sir: . . . Mr. Schurz's surmise that the letter was given to
me by the President is correct, but I wonder why Mr. Schurz, with whom
I had several war-time talks at various times, never made any reference
to this matter. . . . Sincerely yours,
“Julius Stahel.”
