President gives Christmas reception at White House. N.Y. Herald, 29 December 1864.

Lincoln writes to thank General William T. Sherman and "your whole army" for "your Christmas gift—the capture of Savannah [Georgia]." Lincoln confesses, "I was anxious, if not fearful" when he learned of Sherman's plan to take Savannah, "but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked, nothing gained' I did not interfere." Lincoln concludes, "But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave Gen. [Ulysses S.] Grant and yourself to decide." William T. Sherman to Abraham Lincoln, 22 December 1864, Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Abraham Lincoln to William T. Sherman, 26 December 1864, CW, 8:181-82.