He forecast that the first mission of this sudden new army “will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union,” though he added that “utmost care” would be taken “to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.” With that second reference to property, Lincoln sought to signal his continued commitment to protect slavery where it already existed, in the persistent hope that the border states and the upper South might still remain in the Union.
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