Lincoln the pimp was providing permits for other money-grubbing pimps to trade Yankee meat for Confederate cotton. Passes such as the following for a relative:
LINKLincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7.
Endorsement Concerning William F. Shriver [1]
May 15. 1864
Indorsed
The writer of this is personally unknown to me, though married to a young relative of mine. I shall be obliged if he be allowed what he requests so far as the rules and exigencies of the public service will permit.
A. LINCOLN
The Confederate army was desperate for food. Using passes issued by Lincoln the pimp, money-grubbing pimps were provisioning the Confederate army. General Grant made explicitly clear what he thought about the United States Government provisioning the enemy army.
LINKO.R. Series I, vol 46, Part 2, Page 445
CITY POINT, VA., February 7, 1865-10 a.m.
Honorable E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:
A. M. Laws is here with a steamer partially loaded with sugar and coffee, and a permit from the Treasury Department to go through into Virginia and North Carolina, and to bring out 10,000 bales of cotton. I have positively refused to adopt this mode of feeding the Southern army unless it is the direct order of the President. It is a humiliating fact that speculators have represented the location of cotton at different points in the South, and obtained permits to bring it out, covering more than the entire amount of the staple in all the cotton-growing States. I take this to be so from statements contained in a letter recently received from General Canby. It is for our interest now to stop all supplies going into the South between Charleston and the James River. Cotton only comes out on private accounts, except in payment for absolute necessities for the support of the war.
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
One must remember that Lincoln was a consumate fence sitter, and was notorious for telling different things to different people at different times. While on the surface damning in some respects, there were always more matters being on the table, and there is most likely no way that we will find out what all was going on here.
Several other issues were continual matters of concern attended to at all times. One was the return of wonunded and disabled prisoners of war. Another was the return of Americans of African heritage when they had been captured by the south. On all of these matters Lincoln had to cut deals with the devil one way or the other, and no matter what he did he couldn't please everyone.
Grant had sound reason for advocating the starving of the south, as it increased the rate of desertion in Lee's army which by this time was becoming epidemic. On the other hand, Lincoln was looking to the end of the war and didn't want more blood on his hands than necessary. Another serious point to consider was that any cotton taken from the south could by used by the government to finance the war, and that funding was required to finish the war. Certianly the north could have finished the war without southern cotton, but it sure was nice to trade the relatively cheaper goods for cotton which at that point was quite valuable. There is no question but that Lincoln had very strong sympathies for southerners in general, in part because most of his relatives were southerners. One common complaint about the White House in the war years was that it was constantly occupied by Confederates, all of whom were Lincoln's relatives. Lincoln's attitude though had extensive common support. It was difficult to hold too much hostility to those who fought simply because they were told to, and because they were too uneducated to know any better. Such was the typical southern soldier.