I understand you have under sentence of death, a tall old man, by the name of Henry F. Luckett.  I personally knew him, and did not think him a bad man.  Please do not let him be executed unless upon further order from me, and in the meantime send me a transcript of the record.

A. Lincoln.

Telegram to general U.S.  Grant. 
War department, Washington, December 19, 1863.

General grant, Chattanooga, Tennessee: 

The Indiana delegation in Congress, or at least a large part of them, are very anxious that General Milroy shall enter active service again, and I share in this feeling.  He is not a difficult man to satisfy, sincerity and courage being his strong traits.  Believing in our cause, and wanting to fight for it, is the whole matter with him.  Could you, without embarrassment, assign him a place, if directed to report to you?

A. Lincoln.

To Secretary Stanton. 
(Private.)
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C., December 21, 1863.

Hon.  Secretary of war.

My Dear sir:—­Sending a note to the Secretary of the Navy, as I promised, he called over and said that the strikes in the ship-yards had thrown the completion of vessels back so much that he thought General Gilimore’s proposition entirely proper.  He only wishes (and in which I concur) that General Gillmore will courteously confer with, and explain to, Admiral Dahlgren.

In regard to the Western matter, I believe the program will have to stand substantially as I first put it.  Henderson, and especially Brown, believe that the social influence of St. Louis would inevitably tell injuriously upon General Pope in the particular difficulty existing there, and I think there is some force in that view.

As to retaining General Schofield temporarily, if this should be done, I believe I should scarcely be able to get his nomination through the Senate.  Send me over his nomination, which, however, I am not quite ready to send to the Senate.

Yours as ever,

A. Lincoln.

TO O. D. FILLEY.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 22, 1863.

O. D. Filley, st. Louis, Missouri: 

I have just looked over a petition signed by some three dozen citizens of St. Louis, and three accompanying letters, one by yourself, one by a Mr. Nathan Ranney, and one by a Mr. John D. Coalter, the whole relating to the Rev. Dr. McPheeters.  The petition prays, in the name of justice and mercy, that I will restore Dr. McPheeters to all his ecclesiastical rights.  This gives no intimation as to what ecclesiastical rights are withheld.