Of the millions of pages of history written about the Civil War, my focus lately has been a three page letter written in Lincoln’s handwriting. It is the famous letter President Lincoln wrote on August 22, 1862 to Horace Greeley, editor of the New-York Tribune. Words from this letter are etched in history:
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.
Lincoln historian, Phillip Shaw Paludan wrote in The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln:
If there is one document that is more often quoted than any other in the argument, debate, or conversation about Lincoln — it is the letter that Lincoln wrote on August 22, 1862 to Horace Greeley.
It was on Friday, August 22nd, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln finished writing his now famous letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New-York Tribune.
President Lincoln decided not to send the letter to Greeley. Instead, he had the letter delivered to James C. Welling, editor of the National Intelligencer, a rival newspaper to publish the following day.
Looking at the original letter, you see that one sentence has a line through it, as though Lincoln changed his mind and crossed the words out.
President Lincoln’s secretary, John Nicolay shared the backstory about this revision in Princeton College Bulletin, 1895:
On August 22, 1862, the associate editor of the National Intelligencer, James Clarke Welling did what few young editors would have ventured upon.
He wanted to make a change to Lincoln’s text so he immediately carried the manuscript back to the President and suggested its omission. President Lincoln good-naturedly complied.
On Saturday August 23, 1862, Horace Greeley read the famous Greeley Letter, a reply to his editorial, Prayer of Twenty Millions, in a letter addressed to him from President Lincoln within the pages of another newspaper, the National Intelligencer.
The Greeley Letter, I believe, is a masterpiece – an American history treasure. It is inspiring beyond words, three quintessential pages of history.
I’m not alone. My great grandfather, James C. Welling, to whom Lincoln gave the letter, certainly believed it was an American treasure. He kept the Greeley letter his entire life.
And after his death our family fulfilled his wishes to find a permanent home for the famous Greeley Letter. We chose not to sell it to a private collector but place the masterpiece where the greatest number of people would see it, and accessible to the public, in perpetuity. What better place for the Greeley Letter, our masterpiece, than the oldest public art museum in the country, the Wadsworth Atheneum.
Knowing the Greeley Letter is safely preserved, within a safe, in a vault at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, I continue with our family’s wish—- that the greatest number of people could see the masterpiece, so that’s why I began an initiative during the Covid pandemic to create Archival Prints of the famous Greeley Letter.
Today, I am proud to announce my 2021 launch of my website: TheGreeleyLetter.com and a limited series of archival prints for sale. I personally printed, packaged and will ship Greeley Letter prints to you.
Archival prints of President Lincoln’s original 3-page letter to Horace Greeley written on August 22, 1862.
THE GREELEY LETTER archival prints beautifully presented within an elegant linen bound tri-folio and embossed cover with words from the letter “I would save the Union” followed by Lincoln’s famous signature.
Special thanks for the efforts of talented graphic designers, Rumora Studios and team Portfolio Box, Warren, RI for design and production, and for the love, support and encouragement from my family and brother, James C. Welling (yes, another one). A list of print specs and packaging materials are included with each Greeley Letter archival print.
The Greeley Letter, is a masterpiece – an American history treasure. It is inspiring beyond words, three quintessential pages of history.
To order go to: http://thegreeleyletter.com
LOST + FOUND HISTORY 