The North was winning the war and Lincoln knew he played a strong hand. Hunter interjected: “Mr. President, if we understand you correctly, you think that we of the Confederacy have committed treason; that we are traitors to your government; that we have forfeited our rights, and are proper subjects for the hangman. Is that not about what your words imply?” Lincoln didn’t sugarcoat the truth. “Yes. You have stated the proposition better than I did. That is about the size of it.”
