Handwritten Lincoln Note Found at NARA

The manuscript draft of a note from Lincoln to his top generals exhorting them to pursue Robert E. Lee's army in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg has been "found" at the National Archives, the AP reports. Archivist Trevor Plante "said he was looking for something else last month when he found Lincoln's note [dated 7 July 1863] tucked away in a drawer among other papers." His reaction, he told the press, was "wow." The text of this note was known to scholars because it was telegraphed to the generals, but the handwritten original was not known to have survived.