"Uncle Sam's Web Feet" 1863

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: December 1, 1863.

In a letter addressed by President Lincoln to the "Mass Convention of Unconditional Union Men of Illinois," we find the following rather quaint allusion to the exploits of the Navy, in the opening of the Mississippi: 

"The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea; thanks to the great Northwest for it. Nor yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it. While those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present; not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou; and wherever the ground was a little damp they have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all for the great Republic, for the principle it lives by and keeps alive—for man's vast future —thanks to all."