This is a letter of Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto of Illinois, dated February 9, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He mustered in as a 2nd Lieutenant and was later promoted to Captain of Company K serving until the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto expresses his support for the Emancipation Proclamation as a measure that will hinder the South's war effort. He encloses resolutions his unit promoted in support of the proclamation (not included). (See page one. For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, see 1118508 and 1118454. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter from Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto in Illinois, dated July 7, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to Captain of Company K and served to the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto describes how his thinking changed on emancipation during the course of the war. While maintaining a conservative view on race, Barto fully supported the Emancipation Proclamation. (See pages 2-3. For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, see 1118508 and 1118456. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of Private Jasper N. Barney of Mound City, Illinois to his brother-in-law Captain John C. Dinsmore, dated October 24, 1862. Barney was in the U.S. Army, a member of the 16th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Dinsmore served in the U.S. Army, Captain of Company E, 99th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He resigned his commission in 1864. In the letter Barney challenges Dinsmore on his views regarding the Emancipation Proclamation. In his unit Barney has found many supporters of the proclamation and he supports the administration's policy along with the proposal to colonize ex-slaves. (See pages two and three. For more from the John C. Dinsmore Papers please see 1118458 and 1118455. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of Captain John C. Dinsmore to his wife, Jane Dinsmore, of Pike County, Illinois, dated circa September 1862. Dinsmore served in the U.S. Army, Captain of Company E, 99th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He resigned his commission in 1864. In the letter Dinsmore relates how a friend reacted to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation and how, in spite of his own views on racial equality, he supported the proclamation as a war measure. (For more from the John C. Dinsmore Papers please see 1118457 and 1118455. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter from Captain John C. Dinsmore at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to his wife, Jane Dinsmore of Pike County, Illinois, dated June 8, 1863. Dinsmore served in the U.S. Army, Captain of Company E, 99th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He resigned his commission in 1864. In this letter Dinsmore explains to his wife that his regiment is very unhappy with the administration's war policy and those who voice opposition are considered "copperheads" by a small number of those in favor of the administration's decisions. (See page two. For more from the John C. Dinsmore Papers please see 1118458 and 1118457. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter from First Assistant Surgeon Humphrey Hood at Fort Pickering, Memphis, to his wife, Matilda Hood, at Litchfield, Illinois, dated January 6, 1863. At the time Hood served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 117th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He later became Senior Surgeon of the Third U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery and Surgeon-in-Chief on the staff of General John E. Smith, District of the West. The letter highlights Hood's feelings about the Emancipation Proclamation. Declaring himself neutral on the subject of slavery and war policy, Hood was generally supportive of the measure. (See bottom of page three to top of page four. For more from the Humphrey Hood Papers please see 1118516 and 1118453. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter from First Assistant Surgeon Humphrey Hood at Fort Pickering, Memphis, to his wife, Matilda Hood, at Litchfield, Illinois, dated January 17, 1863. At the time Hood served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 117th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He later became Senior Surgeon of the Third U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery and Surgeon-in-Chief on the staff of General John E. Smith, District of the West. The letter highlights Hood's feelings about the Emancipation Proclamation. He indicates that if the North would stand united with the President's war policy, including emancipation, then the war would end faster. (See middle of page one. For more from the Humphrey Hood Papers please see 1118516 and 1118452. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of First Lieutenant Amos W. Hostetter at Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Owen P. and Hannah Miles in Illinois, dated January 29, 1863. Hostetter was in the U.S. Army, a member of the 34th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to the rank of captain and died in 1864. The letter conveys Hostetter's views on slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the administration's war policy. He forcefully presents a case for supporting the president's proclamation on pages one through three. (Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter from Private Thomas F. Miller of St. Louis to B. W. Newton, dated January 21, 1863. Miller served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 29th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He deserted service in April 1863. In the letter Miller focuses on the Emancipation Proclamation and the government's war policy. He did not believe that President Abraham Lincoln wished to free the slaves, but Miller saw the proclamation as having sound military application in defeating the South. (See pages two through three. For more from the Thomas F. Miller Papers please see 1118491. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This poem by Jane M. Kennedy of LaSalle, Illinois was written some time after learning of her husband's death at Memphis, Tennessee, in June 1863. William J. Kennedy was in the U.S. Army, a member of the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment. In the poem Mrs. Kennedy laments that he died alone and was buried as an unknown soldier. (For more from the William J. Kennedy Papers please see 1118461 and 1118460. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a portion of a letter from Private William J. Kennedy (location unknown) to his wife, Jane M. Kennedy, at LaSalle, Illinois, dated circa January 1863. Kennedy was in the U.S. Army, a member of the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He likely wrote this letter on board a steamer en route to Arkansas Post. He died in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 1863. Kennedy relates how he and other soldiers in his unit were prepared to carry out whatever orders President Abraham Lincoln wished carried out, including those involving the emancipation of slaves. (See page one. For more from the William J. Kennedy Papers please see 1118496 and 1118460. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This poem written by Jane M. Kennedy of LaSalle, Illinois was written on December 7, 1865. She laments the death of her husband, William J. Kennedy, recalling how he was only a few months away from coming home on furlough when he died in June 1863. She notes the end of the Civil War and that her husband died in a just cause. William J. Kennedy was in the U.S. Army, a member of the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment. (For more from William J. Kennedy Papers please see 1118496 and 1118461. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

These are the resolutions of the officers of the 82nd Illinois Infantry Regiment at Stafford Court House, Virginia, dated February 14, 1863. The committee of officers was chaired by Lieutenant Edward S. Salomon. The document was addressed to Illinois Governor Richard Yates and it includes a resolution of the officers to carry out the Emancipation Proclamation. (See page one.) Salomon served with distinction at the Battle of Gettysburg, then taking command of the 82nd regiment as lieutenant colonel. He recieved a brevet promotion as brigadier general in March 1865. (See images 1118469 and 1118470. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of Corporal James M. Taylor at Danville, Kentucky, to his sister Mary Taylor in Lake County, Illinois, dated January 20, 1863. Taylor served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 96th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant and mustered out of the service in 1864 after suffering a wound in his arm. Taylor survived the resulting gangrene and arm amputation. In the letter, on pages two through three, Taylor describes the reaction of fellow soldiers and Kentuckians to the Emancipation Proclamation. He defended the proclamation while also recognizing the difficulties ahead for a post-slavery South. Taylor saw colonization of freed slaves as a possible solution. (Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a diary entry written by Corporal Thomas L. Pankey, at Carrollton, Illinois, dated January 3-21, 1863. Pankey served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 91st Illinois Infantry Regiment. At that time he was a paroled prisoner of war. He died in Louisiana in 1864. The diary entry describes how unpopular the Emancipation Proclamation was in the loyal western states. (See page two. For more from the Thomas L. Pankey Papers please see 1118449 and 1118448. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of Corporal Thomas L. Pankey, at Shepherdsville, Kentucky to his wife, Sallie S. Pankey, in Illinois, dated November 28, 1862. Pankey served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 91st Illinois Infantry Regiment. He died in Louisiana in 1864. In the letter Pankey describes the Union war effort in positive terms and places the Emancipation Proclamation alongside military pressure. (See top half of page two. For more from the Thomas L. Pankey Papers please see 1118450 and 1118448. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This is a letter of Corporal Thomas L. Pankey, at Shepherdsville, Kentucky to his wife, Sallie S. Pankey, in Illinois, dated November 22, 1862. Pankey served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 91st Illinois Infantry Regiment. He died in Louisiana in 1864. In the letter Pankey anticipates the worst outcome from the Emancipation Proclamation. According to Pankey, after the proclamation Southerners will fight harder to defend their property. (See page two. For more from the Thomas L. Pankey Papers please see 1118450 and 1118449. Transcription provided by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum and the White House Historical Association.)

This photograph of soldiers on the South Lawn of the White House was taken by Mathew Brady in 1862, during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Brady was one of the first professional photographers in the United States. He studied under inventor Samuel B. Morse, who brought the daguerreotype from France to America. Brady achieved his fame documenting the Civil War. This photograph was printed as a carte de visite, popular Victorian collectables between 1859 and the 1870s. Much like modern trading cards, cartes de visite were exchanged between family and friends and displayed in albums.

This black and white photograph of the North Portico is attributed to Henry F. Warren. The boy in the foreground is thought to be Tad Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's younger son.

The painting of the allegorical representation of Liberty, along with its companion piece Union, is by Italian-born artist Constantino Brumidi. After Brumidi completed The Apotheosis of Washington in the United States Capitol Rotunda in 1866, President Ulysses S. Grant commissioned the artist to create two paintings for display in the renovated Entrance Hall of the White House. Both were mounted in the ceiling and represent the post-Civil War resurgence and indivisibility of the Union. After being removed during the Benjamin Harrison administration, they were returned to the White House following rediscovery in 1978. Brumidi would continue his work in the Capitol until his death in 1880.

This landscape is by Alfred Wordsworth Thompson, an artist who captured American Civil War battle scenes for publications such as Harper's Weekly and the Illustrated London News. Thompson composed both engraved illustrations and paintings. This particular painting depicts the October 20, 1861 cannon fire across the Potomac River near Ball's Bluff and Leesburg in Virginia and Harrison Island and Edwards Ferry in Maryland that was a precursor to the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21st.

This is a letter of Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto of Illinois, dated February 9, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He mustered in as a 2nd Lieutenant and was later promoted to Captain of Company K serving until the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto expresses his support for the Emancipaton Proclamation as a measure that will hinder the South's war effort. He encloses resolutions his unit promoted in support of the proclamation (not found). (For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, please see 1118456 and 1118508.)

This is a letter from Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto in Illinois, dated February 9, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to Captain of Company K and served to the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto describes how his thinking changed on emancipation during the course of the war. While maintaining a conservative view on race, Barto fully supported the Emancipation Proclamation. (For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, please see 1118454 and 1118508.)

This is a letter of Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto of Illinois, dated February 9, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He mustered in as a 2nd Lieutenant and was later promoted to Captain of Company K serving until the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto expresses his support for the Emancipaton Proclamation as a measure that will hinder the South's war effort. He encloses resolutions his unit promoted in support of the proclamation (not found). (For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, please see 1118456 and 1118508.)

This is a letter from Lieutenant Alphonso Barto at Corinth, Mississippi to his father, William Barto in Illinois, dated February 9, 1863. Barto served in the U.S. Army, a member of the 52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to Captain of Company K and served to the end of his enlistment in 1864. In the letter Barto describes how his thinking changed on emancipation during the course of the war. While maintaining a conservative view on race, Barto fully supported the Emancipation Proclamation. (For more from the Alphonso Barto Papers, please see 1118454 and 1118508.)