Lee's Spotsylvania line

from The Civil War, Vol. III, by Shelby Foote, Random House, 1974, p. 204:

Studded with guns at critical points throughout its convex three-mile length, Lee's Spotsylvania line was constructed, Meade's chief of staff declared, "in a manner unknown to European warfare, and indeed, in a manner new to warfare in this country." Actually, it was not so much the novelty of the individual engineering techniques that made this log-and-dirt barrier so forbidding; it was the combination of them into a single construction of interlocking parts, the canny use of natural features of the terrain, and the speed with which the butternut veterans, familiar by now with the fury of Grant's assaults, had accomplished their intricate task. Traverses zigzagged to provide cover against enfilade fire from artillery, and head logs, chocked a few inches above the hard-packed spoil on the enemy side of the trench, afforded riflemen a protected slit through which they could take unruffled aim at whatever came their way.

Lincoln's Letter to Stephens

This letter, signed by Abraham Lincoln, is of the utmost rarity. It resulted from the meeting of Lincoln and Alexander Stephens at the secret Hampton Roads Conference held on a boat in Virginia the night of 3 February 1865, to discuss terms of a possible peace settlement. Lincoln and Stephens were old friends, having served together as Whigs in the U.S. Congress. Although peace terms were not agreed to, a lesser matter was addressed. Stephens had a nephew who was a prisoner at Johnson's Island, and the family had lost all communication with him. He entreated Lincoln to supply information about his nephew. Upon returning to Washington, Lincoln telegraphed the commanding officer at Johnson's Island ordering that a Lieutenant John A. Stephens, prisoner of war, be paroled and "report to me here in person, and send him to me...". Lincoln met with the young Stephens and gave him this letter, telling him it was for his uncle. He took a carte-de visit of himself, signed it A. Lincoln, and suggested he take it as well, noting that there were probably very few of them down South.

(source: University of Georgia Libraries, Hargrett Library, http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/selections/confed/letter.html)