U.S. Grant Letter to Elihu Washburne-- Part 2 "...One Nation, and That Without Slavery."

The letter to Grant's friend went on past his not wanting command of the army in the east to give his reflections on slavery.

"The people of the North need not quarrel over the institution of slavery, for it is dead and cannot be resurrected...I never was an abolitionist, but I try to judge fairly and honestly and it became patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the North and South could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without slavery."

--Old Secesh