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Introduction

This letter is an example of how Lincoln, though without military experience, quietly learned enough on the job to achieve success as Commander-in-Chief. He has evidently been reading the intelligence reports very closely, piecing together disparate bits of information and trying to fathom their implications for military advantage.

Abraham Lincoln, autograph letter signed to Henry W. Halleck
Washington, D.C., 24 October 1863
AMs 1059/24

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