The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln — Volume 6: 1862-1863

This volume captures Lincoln at the height of the Civil War, his pen moving across the page as the nation's fate hangs in the balance. Here are the words themselves: urgent telegrams to generals about troop positions, measured messages to Congress advocating for naval heroes like Farragut, the careful diplomacy of wartime governance. The year 1862 brings the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. By 1863, the Union has turned the tide at Gettysburg and Lincoln stands ready to rededicate a nation to the proposition that all men are created equal. These documents reveal a president grappling with military defeat and victory, emancipation and resistance, the impossible weight of command. For anyone who wants to hear Lincoln think aloud, not through biographers' lenses but in his own hand, this volume is indispensable.