Lost and Found: a Letter From Lincoln
May 14 started out as a normal day of research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Then Civil War specialist Trevor Plante found a letter signed by one "A. Lincoln," uncovering a document that had been considered lost to history.
Sent July 7, 1863, Honest Abe urged Major Gen. Henry Halleck to talk Gen. George Meade into attacking Confederate troops who had just lost at Gettysburg and were cornered north of the Potomac. "Now if Gen. Meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the litteral or substantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over," Lincoln wrote. Meade never followed through; the rebels swam to safety and the war raged on for two more years.
The letter's contents have long been a part of war records thanks to Halleck telegramming it to Meade. But what other gems are hiding amid the 9 billion documents in the National Archives?