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ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

The  Institute  of  Museum  and  Library  Services  through  an  Indiana  State  Library  LSTA  Grant 


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STATUE    OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN    AT    CHICAGO.       BY    AUGUSTUS    ST.   GAUDENS. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

A  History 

The  Full  and  Authorized  Record 

of  His  Private  Life  and 

Public  Career 

By  His  Two  Private  Secretaries 
JOHN  G.  NICOLAY  and  JOHN  HAY 

With  the  assistance  of 

Robert  Todd  Lincoln  and  the 

Private  Papers  and  Manuscripts 

in  His  Possession 


Rare  Photographs,  Maps,  Private 
and   Official  Papers  in   Facsimile 

INDEXED— VOLUME  IX 


Issued  by 

The   American   Historical   Foundation 


Copyright  1886  and  1890 

by  John  G.  Nicoiay 

and  John  Hay 


Copyright  renewed,  1914 
by  Helen  G.  Nicolay 


ILLUSTRATIONS 
Vol.  IX 


Abraham  Lincoln Frontispiece 

From  a  photograph  of  the  statue  in  Chicago  by  Augustus 
St.  Gaudens. 

PAGE 

General  William  J.  Hardee 16 

From  a  photograph. 
Wendell  Phillips 32 

From  a  daguerreotype. 
General  Carl  Schitrz  48 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  Lovell  H.  Rousseau 64 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
William  Pitt  Fessenden 96 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
Henry  Winter  Davis 112 

From  a  photograph  by  Pollock. 
Rear-Admiral  Raphael  Semmes 128 

From  a  photograph. 

Captain  John  A.  Winslow 144 

From  a  photograph. 
General  Franz  Sigel 160 

From  a  photograph. 

General  Jubal  A.  Early 176 

From  a  photograph  by  Lee. 
Horace  Greeley 192 

From  a  photograph  by  Sarony. 
Admiral  Franklin  Buchanan  224 

From  a  photograph  by  D.  J.  Ryan. 
vii 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall 224 

Prom  a  photograph  by  D.  J.  Ryan. 
Captain  Tunis  A.  M.  Craven 240 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  Oliver  O.  Howard 256 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  James  B.  McPherson .272 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  John  A.  Logan 288 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  Fitzhugh  Lee 304 

From  a  photograph  by  Anderson-Cook. 

General  Horatio  G.  Wright 320 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
J.  P.  Usher 336 

From  a  photograph  by  Gardner. 
General  Philip  H.  Sheridan 384 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1864. 
General  George  Crook 400 

From  a  photograph. 
General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 408 

From  a  photograph  by  Gurney  &  Son. 
General  Orlando  B.  Willcox 424 

From  a  photograph  by  Anthony. 
General  John  G.  Parke 432 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  Edward  R.  S.  Canby 448 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 
General  John  M.  Corse 464 

From  a  photograph. 
General  Judson  Kilpatrick 480 

From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  t£ 

MAPS 
Vol.   IX 

PAGE 

The  Atlanta  Campaign  6 

The  Kearsarge-Alabama  Fight 148 

The  Shenandoah  Valley    162 

Battle  of  the  Monocacy 166 

The  Defenses  of  Washington  in  1864 168 

Battle  of  Mobile  Bay 228 

Battles  around   Atlanta 266 

Battles  in  North  Georgia  and  Alabama 282 

Field  Operations  around  Atlanta  284 

Battle  of  Opequon  or  Winchester 302 

Battle  of  Fisher's  Hill 308 

Battle  of  Cedar  Creek 318 

The  Petersburg  and  Appomattox  Campaigns 404 

The  Siege  of  Petersburg.     (Map  I.) 414 

"  "  "  (Map  II.) 416 

Sherman's  March  through  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  .  482 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 

Vol.   IX 

Chaptek  I.    Sherman's  Campaign  to  the  Chatta- 
hoochee 

Grant's  Orders  and  Sherman's  Plan.  Transportation. 
Sherman's  Army.  Confederate  Plans.  Davis  and 
Johnston  at  Variance.  Hood's  Letters  to  Richmond. 
Johnston's  Position  at  Daltou.  Sherman  Resolves  to 
Flank  it.  McPherson's  March  Through  Snake  Creek 
Gap.  Stops  at  Resaca.  Sherman  Demonstrates  on 
Johnston's  Front.  Johnston  Retires  to  Resaca.  The 
Fight  at  Resaca.  Sherman  Crosses  the  River.  John- 
ston Evacuates  Resaca.  Incidents  of  the  Confederate 
Retreat  to  the  Etowah.  Sherman  Flanks  Allatoona 
Pass.  Battles  about  Dallas  and  New  Hope  Church. 
The  Lines  at  Kenesaw.  Death  of  General  Polk.  The 
Assault  of  the  Confederate  Works  at  Kenesaw.  Sher- 
man Repulsed.  Heavy  Loss.  Johnston  Retires  to  the 
Chattahoochee.    Both  Annies  across  the  River    ...      ] 

Chapter   II.    The  Cleveland  Convention 

Republican  Opposition  to  Lincoln.  St.  Louis  and  New 
York  the  Centers  of  Disaffection.  The  Signers  of  the 
Call.  Small  Gathering  at  Cleveland.  No  One  of 
Prominence  Present.  The  Orators  of  the  Convention. 
A  Theist  from  Illinois.  A  Letter  from  Wendell 
Phillips.  Fremont  and  Cochrane  Nominated.  The 
Cave  of  Adullam.  Democratic  Encouragement.  The 
xi 


XU  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

Candidates  Accept  their  Nomination.  No  Response  in 
the  Country.  They  Withdraw.  The  Case  of  Arguelles. 
The  Forged  Proclamation.  Seizure  of  the  "  Woi'ld  " 
and  "  Journal  of  Commerce."  Governor  Seymour's 
Action.     The  Grant  Meeting  in  New  York      ...    29 

Chapter  III.    Lincoln  Renominated 

Premature  Expressions  of  Local  Conventions.  The 
Voice  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature.  Newspaper 
Opinion.  Legislatures  from  Kansas  to  Maine.  The 
Union  Leagues  and  the  Union  League  Club.  Attempts 
to  Postpone  Convention.  Mention  of  Grant.  Presi- 
dent Declines  Political  Assistance  of  Army  Officers. 
Lincoln's  Brief  Speeches  to  Delegations.  The  Radicals. 
Lane  and  Pomeroy.  The  Convention  a  Foregone  Con- 
clusion. It  Meets  June  7.  Speeches  of  E.  D.  Morgan, 
Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  and  William  Dennison.  Ad- 
mission of  Delegates.  The  Platform.  The  Nomination 
of  Lincoln.  The  President's  Refusal  to  Suggest  a  Name 
for  Vice-President.  Andrew  Johnson  Nominated.  The 
Union  Leagues.  The  President  Informed  of  his  Nom- 
ination.   His  Acceptance 52 

Chapter  IV.    The  Resignation  of  Mr.  Chase 

Mr.  Chase's  Controversy  with  the  Blairs.  His  Attitude 
towards  his  Colleagues  in  the  Government.  Appoint- 
ments to  Office.  His  Liability  to  Deception.  The  New 
York  Custom-House.  Joshua  F.  Bailey.  Chase  and 
Dixon.  The  Victor  Smith  Case.  Chase  Resigns.  Lin- 
coln Submits,  and  Chase  Withdraws  his  Resignation. 
Cisco's  Resignation.  Mr.  Chase  Chooses  M.  B.  Field 
as  his  Successor.  Protest  of  Governor  Morgan.  Chase 
Resigns.  His  Resignation  Accepted.  David  Tod 
Nominated  to  Succeed  Him.  Comments  by  Senators 
and  Members  of  Congress.  Tod  Declines.  William 
Pitt  Fessenden  Nominated.  Mr.  Chase's  Attitude  after 
his  Resignation 79 

Chapter  V.    The  Wade  Davis  Manifesto 

The  President's  Message  and  Proclamation  of  December 
8, 1863,  on  the  Subject  of  Reconstruction.    Its  Reception 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  XU1 

in  Congress.  Mr.  Lincoln's  Views.  Henry  Winter  Davis. 
His  Hostility  to  the  President.  Mr.  Lincoln's  Efforts 
to  Conciliate  Him.  Davis's  Reconstruction  Bill.  His 
Speech  in  its  Favor.  The  Debate  upon  it.  It  Passes 
the  House  and  the  Senate.  The  President  Declines  to 
Sign  it.  Scene  in  the  President's  Room  at  the  Capitol. 
The  President's  Proclamation  of  July  8,  1864.  The 
Manifesto  of  B.  F.  Wade  and  H.  W.  Davis  in  Opposi- 
tion to  the  President's  Action 104 

Chaptee    VI.    The    Last    Days    of    the    Rebel 
Navy 

The  Fate  of  the  Florida.  Collins  tows  her  out  of  the 
Port  of  Bahia.  She  Sinks  at  Hampton  Roads.  Diplo- 
matic Correspondence.  The  Sphinx,  afterwards  the 
Stonewall.  The  Cruise  of  the  Georgia.  Her  Capture. 
The  Rappahannock.  Admitted  to  Calais  but  never  able 
to  Depart.  The  Duplicity  of  Napoleon  III.  Jefferson 
Davis's  Anger.  The  Alabama  at  Cherbourg.  Chal- 
lenged by  the  Kearsarge.  The  Naval  Battle  off  the 
French  Coast.  The  Alabama  Defeated  and  Sunk. 
Rescue  of  her  Crew  by  the  Yacht  Deerhound.  Com- 
parative Strength  and  Armament  of  the  two  Vessels. 
Cruise  of  the  Shenandoah 128 

Chaptee  VII.    Eaely's  Campaign  Against  Wash- 
ington 

The  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah.  Sigel's  Defeat.  Hunt- 
er's Campaign.  His  Victoiy  at  Piedmont.  His  Re- 
treat by  West  Virginia.  Lee's  Orders  to  Early.  What 
he  Hoped  to  Accomplish.  Early's  Advance.  The  Con- 
dition of  Washington.  Reinforcements  Sent  From 
Petersburg.  Correspondence  Between  Lincoln  and 
Grant.  Early  Comes  in  Sight  of  Washington.  His 
Disappointment.  The  Fight  at  Fort  Stevens.  Mr. 
Lincoln  Under  Fire.  Early  Retires  by  Night.  The 
Pursuit  Not  Vigorous.  The  Burning  of  Chambersburg. 
McCausland  Driven  Out  of  Maryland  and  Defeated  at 
Moorefield.  Sheridan  Put  in  Command.  The  Presi- 
dent's Dispatch  to  Grant.  Grant's  Visit  to  Maryland. 
Sheridan's  Army 158 


XIV  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

Chapter  VIII.    Horace  Greeley's  Peace  Mission 

Mr.  Greeley's  Attitude  Towards  the  Administration. 
Colorado  Jewett.  His  Letters  to  Greeley.  Greeley's 
Correspondence  with  Lincoln.  The  President  Asks 
Greeley  to  go  to  Niagara.  Finds  the  Confederates 
Have  no  Credentials.  "  To  Whom  it  May  Concern." 
Greeley  and  Hay  Cross  the  River  to  Clifton.  The  Letter 
Delivered.  The  Confederate  Reply.  Criticisms  of  the 
President's  Action.  His  Correspondence  with  Greeley 
as  to  Publication  of  the  Letters 184 

Chapter  IX.    The  Jaquess-Gilmore  Mission 

Colonel  Jaquess's  Proposition.  Mr.  Lincoln's  Reply. 
Jaquess  Goes  South.  His  Return  and  Report.  He 
Obtains  Leave  of  Absence  a  Second  Time.  J.  R.  Gil- 
more's  Plan.  Jaquess  and  Gilmore  Visit  Richmond. 
Their  Interview  with  Jefferson  Davis.  Report  of  the 
Discussion.  Benjamin's  Report  of  the  Interview. 
Jefferson  Davis's  Comment.  Lincoln's  Letter  to  Wake- 
man.  Robinson's  Letter  to  Lincoln.  Lincoln's  Draft 
of  Reply.  Raymond's  Letter  to  Lincoln.  Lincoln's 
Draft  of  Instructions.  Raymond's  Interview  with 
Lincoln    and    the   Cabinet 201 

Chapter  X.    Mobile  Bay 

Importance  of  the  Port  of  Mobile.  Southern  Expe- 
dients. Blockade  Running.  Description  of  the  Bay 
Ingenuity  of  the  Confederates  in  Manufacture  of  War 
Material.  The  Ram  Tennessee.  Farragut's  Prepara- 
tions. The  Fifth  of  August.  The  Attack.  Sinking 
of  the  Tecumseh.  The  Fight  with  the  Fort.  The 
Tennessee  Attacks  the  Fleet.  Her  Defeat  and  Capture. 
Surrender  of  Fort  Gaines.  Capture  of  Fort  Morgan. 
The  Movement  Against  Mobile  in  March,  1865.  Forts 
and  Torpedoes.  Mobile  Surrenders.  The  Surrender 
of  the  Rebel  Naval  Forces  under  Farrand.  Destruction 
of  the  Confederate  Steamer  Webb 222 

Chapter  XI.    The  Chicago  Surrender 

Republican  Languor  in  the  Summer  of  1864.  Unfavor- 
able  Prospects.    McClellan's  Attitude.     Overtures  to 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  XV 

Him  from  the  Union  Party.  Thurlow  Weed.  Francis 
P.  Blair.  The  General  Gloom  Affects  the  President. 
His  Memorandum  of  the  23d  of  August.  Himself  and 
Cabinet  Pledged  to  Action  in  Case  of  McClellan's  Elec- 
tion. Address  of  Democratic  Congressmen.  Meeting 
of  the  Chicago  Convention.  Speech  of  August  Belmont. 
Appointment  of  Committees.  Speech  of  Governor  Sey- 
mour. The  Platform.  The  Vallandigham  Resolution. 
McClellan  Nominated  for  President.  Pendleton  for 
Vice-President.  McClellan's  Letter  of  Acceptance. 
Repudiated  by  Vallandigham 244 

Chaptek  XII.    Atlanta 

Sherman's  March  on  Atlanta.  Johnston  Relieved. 
Hood  Appointed  to  Command  in  his  Place.  His 
Embarrassment.  Asks  Johnston  to  Continue  in  Com- 
mand. Johnston  Refuses.  Opinions  of  the  Change 
Among  Union  Officers.  Battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek. 
The  Battle  of  the  22d  of  July.  Death  of  McPherson. 
Hardee's  Move  on  the  Union  Left.  Gallant  Behavior 
of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  The  Confederates  Re- 
pulsed. Howard  Succeeds  McPherson.  Hooker  Asks 
to  be  Relieved.  Sherman's  Correspondence  with  Lin- 
coln About  Promotions.  Sherman  Moves  Constantly 
to  the  Right.  Failure  of  the  Cavalry  Expeditions 
Under  McCook  and  Stoneman.  Hood  Attacks  Unsuc- 
cessfully the  Union  Right  Flank.  Hood's  Movement 
on  Sherman's  Rear.  Sherman's  March  to  the  Macon 
Road.  The  Battle  of  Jonesboro'.  Hood  Evacuates 
Atlanta.    Honors  to   Sherman 263 


Chapter  XIII.    Sheridan  in  the  Shenandoah 

Sheridan's  Characteristics.  Union  and  Confederate 
Marches  and  Manoeuvres.  Sheridan's  "Wise  Delay  at 
the  Opequon.  Grant's  Visit.  "  Go  In."  The  Battle  of 
the  Opequon.  Rout  of  Early.  Comparative  Losses. 
Honors  and  Promotion  to  Sheridan.  Pursuit  of  Early. 
Battle  of  Fisher's  Hill.  Flank  March  of  Crook.  Rout 
of  the  Confederates.  Early  Retires  to  Brown's 
G-ap 291 


XVI  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

Chaptek  XIV.    Cedar  Creek 

Lee  Sends  Reinforcements  to  Early.  Sheridan  Dev- 
astates the  Upper  Valley  and  Retires.  Early  Fol- 
lows. Rosser's  Defeat.  Sheridan  Encamps  on  Cedar 
Creek.  Visits  Washington.  Early's  Plan  of  Attack. 
His  Night  March.  Surprises  the  Union  Camp.  His 
Success.  Wright  Rallies  the  Forces.  The  Arrival  of 
Sheridan  on  the  Field.  He  Attacks  and  Routs  Early's 
Army.  Sheridan  Promoted  to  Major- General  in  the 
Regular  Army.  Sequels  of  the  Great  Campaign. 
Sheridan's  Final  March  Against  Early  in  1865.  The 
Battle  of  Waynesboro'  and  Destruction  of  Early's 
Force.     Sheridan  Joins  the  Army  of   the  Potomac   311 

Chapter  XV.    Cabinet  Changes 

Hostility  of  the  Radicals  to  Montgomery  Blair.  Its 
Causes.  His  Relations  with  Fremont.  Their  Rupture 
and  Its  Results.  Halleck  and  Blair.  The  President's 
Lecture  to  his  Cabinet.  Lincoln  Requests  Blair's  Resig- 
nation. Manly  Conduct  of  the  Blair  Family.  A 
Foreign  Mission  Offered  to  Montgomery  Blair  and  De- 
clined. William  Dennison  Appointed  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral. Resignation  of  Edward  Bates.  James  Speed 
Appointed  Attorney-General.  General  Holt  Declines. 
Fessenden  Resigns  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
Hugh  McCulloch  Succeeds   Him 332 

Chapter  XVI.    Lincoln  Eeelected 

Brightening  Prospects.  The  South  in  Favor  of  Mc- 
Clellan.  Seward's  Speech  at  Auburn.  The  President's 
Utterances.  His  Unpublished  Letter  to  Schermerhorn. 
The  Tennessee  Election.  Protest  of  the  McClellan 
Electors.  The  President's  Reply.  Lincoln's  Speech  of 
October  19.  His  Control  of  Office-holders.  Refusal 
to  Apply  Pressure  to  Them,  Except  to  Prevent  Injus- 
tice. Treatment  of  the  Draft  Question.  Collapse  of 
Republican  Opposition,  Everywhere  but  in  Missouri. 
Claybanks  and  Radicals.  The  Preliminary  Elections. 
The  11th  of  October.  The  President  Waits  for  Returns 
in  the  War  Department.     Universal  Successes.     The 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  XV11 

November  Elections.  Butler  in  New  York.  Election 
Day.  The  President's  Attitude.  Getting  the  Returns. 
"  A  Slip,  But  Not  a  Fall."  Reply  to  Serenaders.  Re- 
elected. Congratulation.  Lincoln's  Speech  of  Novem- 
ber 10.  Letter  to  John  Phillips.  Increase  of  Voters 
Since  1860 351 

Chapter  XVII.    Chase  as  Chief-Justice 

Death  of  Chief -Justice  Taney.  His  Character  and 
Career.  The  Place  Claimed  for  Mr.  Chase.  His  Aspira- 
tions. His  Attitude  After  his  Resignation.  Votes  for 
Lincoln.  The  Protests  Against  his  Appointment.  Blair 
a  Candidate.  Chase  Nominated  and  Confirmed.  The 
Nomination  Popular.  Chase  on  the  Bench.  His  Let- 
ters to  the  President  on  Reconstruction.  He  Presides 
at  the  Impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson.  Mentioned 
for  the  Democratic  Nomination  for  the  Presidency. 
His  Decisions.  Declares  the  Legal  Tender  Act  Un- 
constitutional      .    .  385 

Chapter  XVIII.    Petersburg 

Grant's  Various  Movements  on  Lee's  Lines  of  Supply. 
He  Crosses  the  James,  and  Moves  on  Petersburg. 
W.  P.  Smith's  Advance.  He  Fails  to  Take  the  Place. 
Petersburg  Reenforced.  Meade  Assaults  the  Works 
Unsuccessfully.  Grant  Invests  Petersburg.  Move- 
ments on  Railroads.  Cavalry  Raids.  The  Losses  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  Explosion  of  the  Peters- 
burg Mine.  Burnside's  Troops  Fail  to  Take  Advantage 
of  it.  Burnside's  Court  of  Inquiry.  Contradictory 
Verdicts.  Burnside  Retires.  Movements  During  the 
Summer  and  Autumn.  Warren  Seizes  the  Weldon 
Road.  The  Affair  of  Reams's  Station.  Capture  of  Fort 
Harrison.  Attempts  on  the  Southside  Road.  The 
Battle  of  Hatcher's  Run 403 

Chapter  XIX.    Reconstruction 

The  Peirpoint  Administration  at  Alexandria.  The  Vir- 
ginia State  Convention.  Slavery  Abolished  in  Virginia. 
General  Shepley's  Norfolk  Order.  Proclamation  of 
Governor  Peirpoint.    General  Butler's  Controversy  with 


Li  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

Peirpoint.  Butler's  Controversy  with  Attorney-General 
Bates.  Lincoln's  Letters  to  Butler.  Lincoln's  Letter 
to  General  Hurlbut.  Lincoln's  Letter  to  General 
Canby.  Ashley's  Reconstruction  Bills.  The  Louisiana 
Question  in  the  Senate.  Lincoln's  Letter  to  Trumbull. 
Senate  Filibustering.     Lincoln's  Reconstruction  Ad- 


436 


Chapter  XX.    The  March  to  the  Sea 

Sherman  Marches  Back  to  Atlanta.  Makes  it  a  Mili- 
tary Post.  Correspondence  with  Hood.  Sherman's 
Plan  Approved  at  Washington.  Wheeler's  Cavalry  in 
Sherman's  Rear.  Plans  of  Campaigns.  Abortive 
Attempt  at  a  Conference  with  Stephens  and  Brown. 
Jefferson  Davis  Visits  Hood's  Army.  Beauregard 
Placed  in  Command  over  Hood  and  Taylor.  Hood 
Moves  on  Sherman's  Rear.  Allatoona.  Hood's  Ec- 
centric Movements.  Sherman  Declines  to  Follow 
him.  Grant's  Anxiety.  Sherman  Resolves  on  his 
March  to  the  Sea.  Grant  Accedes.  Thomas  Left  to 
Defend  Tennessee.  The  March  Begun.  Last  Com- 
munications. Order  of  March.  Little  Opposition. 
Proclamations  of  the  Enemy.  Sherman  Arrives  Before 
Savannah.  Hardee  Secures  his  Line  of  Retreat.  Cap- 
ture of  Fort  McAllister.  Correspondence  Between 
Grant  and  Sherman.  Savannah  Evacuated.  A  Christ- 
mas Gift  to  the  President.  Lincoln's  Letter  of  Thanks. 
The  Plan  of  the  March  to  the  Sea  Sherman's  Own     .     .  464 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


CHAPTER    I 

SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE 

THE  great  campaign  of  1864  in  the  West  opened  chap.l 
with  the  precision  of  clockwork  at  the  same 
moment  that  Grant  crossed  the  Rapidan  and 
plnnged  into  the  wilderness  in  Virginia.  A  month 
before,  Grant  had  communicated  to  Sherman  his 
entire  plan  of  campaign,  telling  him  with  consid- 
erable detail  all  that  he  expected  others  to  do,  but 
saying  to  him  simply:  "You  I  propose  to  move 
against  Johnston's  army,  to  break  it  up  and  to  get    Grant  to 

n    .  i  .  a  Sherman, 

into  the  interior  of  the  enemy's  country  as  rar  as  Apriu.ise*. 

.     „.      .  -.■•    ,i        -i  •  Sherman, 

you  can,  inflicting  all  the  damage  you  can  against  "Memoirs." 
their  war  resources."     Such  was  the  confidence  and       p-  26- ' 
regard  that   Grant   always   showed  to  his  great 
subordinate,  that  he  did  not  lay  down  for  him  any 
plan  of  campaign,  but  merely  intimated  the  work 
which  it  was  desirable  to  have  done,  leaving  him 
free  to  execute  it  in  his  own  way.     Sherman  an- 
swered at  once,  accepting  the  task  assigned  him  aplio,«m, 
with  "  infinite  satisfaction."    He  laid  before  Grant 
his  proposed  plan  of   campaign,   which  was  for 
Vol.  IX.— 1 


2  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  Schofield  to  advance  upon  the  left,  Thomas  in  the 
center,  and  McPherson  on  the  right  against  John- 
ston's position  at  Dalton.  There  is  no  sign  of  dif- 
fidence or  distrust  in  his  letter;  the  question  of 
provisions  is  the  only  one  he  considers  especially 
difficult,  "  but  in  that,"  he  said,  "  I  must  venture. 

••MeiSoire."  Georgia  has  a  million  of  inhabitants ;  if  they  can 

pp°27,28.  live  we  should  not  starve."  Grant  answered  on 
the  19th  of  April,  saying  that  the  principal  con- 
sideration to  be  kept  in  view  by  both  armies  was 
to  guard  against  the  concentration  of  the  enemy 
against  either.  "With  the  majority  of  military 
commanders,"  he  wrote,  "  they  might  do  this ;  but 
you  have  had  too  much  experience  in  traveling 
light  and  subsisting  upon  the  country  to  be  caught 
by  any  such  ruse.  I  hope  my  experience  has  not 
been  thrown  away.  My  directions  then  would  be, 
if  the  enemy  in  your  front  shows  signs  of  joining 
Lee  follow  him  up  to  the  full  extent  of  your  ability. 
I  will  prevent  the  concentration  of  Lee  in  your 

raid.,  p.  29.  front  if  it  is  in  the  power  of  this  army  to  do  it." 

The  question  of  transportation  being  the  most 
important  one  in  Sherman's  mind,  he  had  issued  an 
order  early  in  April,  limiting  the  use  of  the  railroad 
cars  to  transporting  only  the  essential  articles  of 
food,  ammunition,  and  supplies  for  the  army,  ab- 
solutely cutting  off  all  civil  traffic;  even  troops 
were  not  allowed  to  ride  in  the  cars,  and  beef  cattle 
were  driven  on  their  own  legs.  He  estimated  the 
strength  of  the  army  with  which  he  should  move 
into  Georgia  at  about  100,000  men  and  35,000  ani- 
mals, and  that  he  would  require  130  car-loads  of 
ten  tons  each  to  reach  Chattanooga  daily  to  insure 

ibid.,  p.  ii.  an  adequate  supply  of  food  and  forage.    No  such 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE  6 

amount  of  rolling  stock  was  then  in  his  possession,  chap.  i. 
but  he  laid  a  strong  hand  upon  all  the  cars  in  his 
reach,  and,  like  the  footsteps  that  approached  the 
lion's  den,  none  ever  went  back  to  their  place  of 
departure.  The  president  of  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  Railroad,  finding  himself  reduced  to  se- 
vere straits  from  the  dearth  of  cars,  protested 
loudly ;  but  Sherman  held  firm,  and  tried  to  com- 
fort him  by  telling  him  to  keep  his  repair  shops  Co^mittee 
busy  night  and  day,  and  that  the  business  of  his  ofS? 
road  would  double  and  quadruple  as  the  waters  of  m? 
the  Cumberland  fell.  A  still  more  earnest  protest  ment  p.ek 
came  from  the  people  of  Tennessee,  who  had  already 
suffered  so  many  hardships  during  the  war  and 
now  saw  themselves  threatened  with  famine  by  the 
action  of  the  Union  general.  They  appealed  to 
the  President,  who  interposed  his  good  word  with 
Sherman  in  behalf  of  the  Tennesseeans.  He  replied 
that  the  railroad  could  not  supply  the  army  and  the 
people  too.  "  One  or  the  other  must  quit,"  he  said, 
"and  the  army  don't  intend  to,  unless  Joe  John- 
ston makes  us."  He  insisted  that  the  clamor  was 
"  partly  humbug  " ;  "  the  issues  to  citizens  have  been 
enormous,  and  the  same  weight  of  corn  or  oats  would 
have  saved  thousands  of  the  mules  whose  carcasses 
now  corduroy  the  roads."  He  refused  to  change 
his  orders,  and  advised  the  complainants  to  make 
up  caravans  of  cattle  and  wagons  and  come  over 
the  mountains,  by  Cumberland  and  Somerset,  to 
relieve  their  suffering  friends  on  foot,  as  they  used 
to  do  before  the  railroad  was  built.  He  was  not 
insensible  to  the  sufferings  of  the  people,  and  pro- 
posed that  the  soldiers  should  divide  their  rations  ^SoSif0 
with  them.    He  asked  no  one  to  endure  privations  iBl-fp^S! 


\  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  which  he  was  himself  not  willing  to  share.  He  re- 
duced his  own  transportation  to  the  minimum,  and 
insisted  that  all  the  officers  of  the  army  should 
follow  his  example.  Tents  were  forbidden  to  all 
except  the  sick  and  wounded ;  only  one  tent  was 
allowed  to  each  headquarters  for  use  as  an  office. 
He  himself  had  no  tent  and  allowed  none  to  any 
of  the  officers  immediately  about  him.  They 
spread  their  tent  flies  over  small  trees  and  fence- 
rails.  If  he  came  across  a  quartermaster  who 
had  saved  a  tent  for  himself,  he  took  pleasure  in 
depriving  him  of  this  illicit  luxury,  and  in  send- 
ing it  to  the  brigade  su/geon  for  the  sick.  "  I 
p. '22."  doubt,"  he  says  in  his  "Memoirs,"  "if  any  army 
ever  went  forth  to  battle  with  fewer  impedimenta, 
and  where  the  regular  and  necessary  supplies  of 
food,  ammunition,  and  clothing  were  issued,  as 
called   for,  so   regularly   and   so  well." 

When  the  time  for  action  approached,  his  army 
consisted  of  the  following  force  present  for  battle : 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  under  Major-General 
Thomas,  60,773 ;  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  under 
Major-General  McPherson,  24,465;  the  Army  of 
the  Ohio  under  Major-General  Schofield,  13,559; 

pp.  2V  24.  in  the  aggregate,  98,797  men  and  254  guns.  Some 
cavalry  and  two  divisions  of  infantry  joined  him 
during  the  next  month.  On  the  28th  of  April 
Sherman  received  his  final  orders  from  Grant  to 
move  by  the  5th  of  May.  Sherman  answered  that 
he  would  be  ready,  and  on  the  1st  of  May  tele- 
graphed that  he  would  agree  to  draw  the  enemy's 
1864.  fire  within  twenty-four  hours  of  May  5,  and  on 
that  day  the  great  army  moved  out  to  begin  the 
memorable  campaign. 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE 


It  had  not  been  the  intention  of  the  Confederate 
authorities  to  allow  the  initiative  to  the  National 
forces.  "  It  was  important,"  says  Jefferson  Davis, 
"  to  guard  against  the  injurious  results  to  the 
morale  of  the  troops,  which  always  attend  a  pro- 
longed season  of  inactivity ;  but  the  recovery  of  the 
territory  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  which  we  had 
been  compelled  to  abandon,  and  on  the  supplies  of 
which  the  proper  subsistence  of  our  armies  mainly 
depended,  imperatively  demanded  an  onward  move- 
ment." The  Confederate  executive  was  continually 
impressing  upon  General  Johnston,  throughout  the 
spring,  the  necessity  for  a  forward  movement.  His 
army  was  a  formidable  one.  He  had,  on  the  1st 
of  May,  at  Dalton,  and  within  easy  reach  of  him, 
68,620  men.1  So  anxious  was  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment for  a  successful  campaign  in  the  West, 
that  this  large  force  could  have  been  greatly  in- 
creased, Confederate  writers  say,  if  General  John- 
ston had  cordially  accepted  Mr.  Davis's  suggestions 
for  an  active  campaign. 

General  Bragg  wrote  to  him  in  the  middle  of 
March  proposing  that  he  should  move  across  the 
Tennessee  River  near  Kingston,  and  that  General 
Longstreet  should  move  simultaneously  by  the 
route  east  and  south  of  Knoxville  to  form  a  junc- 
tion with  him  near  that  crossing.  This,  Bragg 
thought,  would  isolate  Knoxville  and  threaten 
Chattanooga,  and  would  necessitate  the  withdrawal 


1  This  is  the  estimate  by  Jeffer- 
son Davis  ("Rise  and  Fall  of 
the  Confederate  Government," 
Vol.  H.,  p.  551),  founded  upon 
General  Johnston's  own  reports. 
Colonel  Kinloch  Falconer,  Gen- 
eral   Johnston's     Adjutant-Gen- 


Davis, 
"  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the 
Con- 
federate 

Gov- 
ernment." 
Vol.  II., 
p.  548. 


eral,  quoted  by  General  Johnston 
in  his  "  Narrative,"  p.  574,  sub- 
stantially confirms  this  estimate. 
General  Hood,  in  his  "Advance 
and  Retreat,"  puts  the  number 
still  higher,  though  Hood  is  hardly 
an  impartial  witness. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


SHERMAN'S    CAMPAIGN    TO    THE    CHATTAHOOCHEE 


8  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  of  the  Federal  army  to  the  line  of  the  Cumberland. 
He  suggested  at  the  same  time  throwing  a  heavy- 
column  of  cavalry  into  West  and  Middle  Tennessee, 
to  operate  on  the  National  lines  of  communications, 
"JNSrat#e  and,  as  a  result  of  this,  the  capture  of  Nashville 
°  opeS7  and  the  reclamation  of  the  provision  country  of 
pp.  29i,'292.  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  But  at  the  time  this 
dispatch  was  received,  Johnston  had  just  heard  of 
Grant's  visit  to  the  West,  and  of  Sherman's  arrival 
at  Memphis.  He  expected,  therefore,  the  great  Fed- 
eral effort  to  be  made  in  that  region.  "  He  [Grant] 
has  not  come  back  to  Tennessee,"  he  says,  "  to  stand 
on  the  defensive.  His  advance,  should  we  be  ready 
ibid.,  P.  294.  for  it,  will  be  advantageous  for  us."  He,  therefore, 
urgently  demanded  that  the  troops  which  had  been 
offered  him  for  an  aggressive  movement  be  sent 
him  at  once,  and  used  at  his  discretion;  and  the 
same  day  he  wrote  to  General  Bragg,  criticizing 
in  his  usual  clear,  sensible,  and  exasperating  man- 
ner the  plan  of  campaign  which  had  been  laid 
down  for  him.  He  did  not  think  that  Knoxville 
could  be  isolated  in  the  way  suggested ;  and  in  this 
he  was  perfectly  right,  for  Longstreet,  when  he 
had  thrust  his  whole  army  between  Grant  and 
Burnside,  had  not  been  able  to  isolate  Knoxville. 
He  believed  also  that  Grant  would  be  ready  to  act 
before  he  was,  and  that  the  Confederate  forces 
would  have  every  possible  advantage  in  fighting 
Grant  south  instead  of  north  of  the  Tennessee. 

This  sensible  letter  was  ill  received  at  Richmond. 
Johnston  was  informed  that  reinforcements  could 
be  sent  to  him  only  for  an  advance,  and  no  notice 
was  taken  of  his  protestations  that  an  advance  was 
really  what  he  meant  and  intended.  If  he  had  known 


SHEKMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE  9 

the  communications  which  were  going  forward  to     chap.i. 
Richmond  from  his  own  subordinates,  he  would  have 
comprehended  better  the  coldness  and  distrust  with 
which  he  was  regarded  by  the  Confederate  author- 
ities.   General  Hood  wrote  to  Bragg  on  the  13th 
of  April :  "  I  am  sorry  to  inform  you  that  I  have       i86±. 
done  all  in  my  power  to  induce  General  Johnston 
to  accept  the  proposition  you  made  to  move  for- 
ward.   He  will  not  consent,  as  he  desires  the  troops 
to  be  sent  here,  and  it  be  left  to  him  as  to  what  use 
shall  be  made  of  them.    I  regret  this  exceedingly, 
as  my  heart  was  fixed  on  going  to  the  front  and 
regaining    Tennessee  and   Kentucky.    .    .   When 
we  are  to   be  in  better  condition  to   drive   the  J#  B.Hood) 
enemy  from  our  country  I  am  not  able  to  com-  "Adandnce 
prehend."    Hood  was  an  especial  favorite  both  of    ^S*' 
Bragg  and  Jefferson  Davis,  and  these  misleading 
accusations  still  further  increased   the  prejudice 
under  which  General  Johnston  suffered  at  Rich- 
mond.   All  through  the  latter  part  of  April  the 
signs  of  a  forward  movement  in  Sherman's  camp 
were  evident  to  Johnston,  and  constantly  reported 
to  Bragg,  who,  even  so  late  as  the  2d  of  May,  sug-  »  Na^ratS-'e 

"  &°'  T  ,     '   .  L.      .    ,  ,     .  ,        ,  J      .     °,     of  Military 

gested  to  Johnston  that  he  was  probably  deceived      opera^ 
by  mere  demonstrations  made  for  the  purpose.  p-  *»• 

The  position  which  General  Johnston  occupied 
in  front  of  Dalton  was  not  one  which  had  been 
originally  selected  by  him.  Bragg's  army,  in  its 
desperate  flight  from  Missionary  Ridge,  had  simply 
dropped  there  in  its  fatigue,  and  intrenched  itself 
where  it  happened  to  camp,  but  during  the  winter 
and  spring  the  position  had  been  made  excessively 
strong  by  fortifications.  Dalton  is  guarded  on 
the  left  and  north  by  a  wall  of  quartz  rock  called 


10  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  Rocky  Face  Ridge.  It  is  traversed  by  a  gorge 
called  the  Buzzard's  Roost,  through  which  runs  a 
little  stream  called  Mill  Creek.  When  Sherman 
May,  lsw.  arrived  on  the  7th  in  front  of  this  formidable  bar- 
rier, the  summit  and  the  sides  of  Rocky  Face  were 
one  continuous  mass  of  bristling  batteries.  Mill 
Creek  had  been  dammed,  and  a  considerable  body 
of  water  offered  an  additional  protection  to  the  gap 
of  Buzzard's  Roost.  It  would  have  been  an  unpar- 
donable enterprise  for  any  general  to  dash  his  army 
against  such  impregnable  obstacles.  Yet  it  is  clear 
that  Johnston  expected  Sherman  to  do  this,  and  it 
is  equally  clear  that  Sherman,  during  the  previous 
month,  had  seriously  contemplated  an  assault  of 
Johnston  in  that  position ;  but  when  in  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  the  position  Sherman  wisely 
changed  his  mind,  and,  contenting  himself  with  a 
strong  demonstration  in  front  of  Johnston's  lines, 
he  sent  General  McPherson  with  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  through  Snake  Creek  Gap  against 
Resaca. 

General  Johnston    expected    Sherman's  princi- 
pal attack  to  be  made  on  his  front  at  Dalton, 
and  he  therefore  concentrated  the  full  strength  of 
his  army  at  that  point,  leaving  the  protection  of 
his  communications  to  General  Polk's  troops,  then 
on  their  way  from  Alabama  to  join  him.    He  rea- 
soned that  it  was  Sherman's  true  policy  to  get  a 
"JNarratwe  battle  out  of  him  as  soon  as  he  could,  and  to  have  it 
ofoSra-ry  as  near  the  Northern,  and  as  far  from  the  Southern, 
p°317.      base  as  possible ;  and  there  is  no  question  that  if 
Sherman  had  not  found  Johnston's  position  so 
strong  naturally,  and  so  admirably  defended,  he 
would  have  made  the  serious  attack  the  Confeder- 


SHERMAN'S    CAMPAIGN    TO    THE    CHATTAHOOCHEE  11 

ate  general  expected,  and  left  to  McPherson,  in  case  chap.i. 
of  victory,  the  duty  of  striking  the  flank  of  the 
retreating  Confederate  column.  The  vigor  and 
energy  with  which,  during  the  9th  and  10th,  the  May,  ism. 
armies  of  Thomas  and  Schofield  pressed  Johnston's 
front  at  all  points  confirmed  the  Confederate  com- 
mander in  his  theory  that  he  was  to  fight  his  battle 
there.  Secure  in  his  formidable  works  and  com- 
manding position,  and  encouraged  by  the  success 
with  which  he  baffled  every  attempt  of  the  National 
troops  to  pierce  his  lines,  he  waited  during  three 
days  for  the  supreme  assault.  The  attack  of  Hooker, 
Palmer,  and  Howard  in  front  of  Buzzard's  Eoost 
was  constantly  kept  up  with  strong  skirmish-lines. 
Harker's  brigade  of  the  Fourth  Corps  made  a  gal- 
lant assault  on  the  north  crest  of  Rocky  Face ;  Scho- 
field pushed  the  divisions  of  J.  D.  Cox  and  Hovey 
up  to  the  fortifications  extending  across  the  valley 
north  of  Dalton ;  but  everywhere  the  works  were 
found  excessively  strong ;  and  at  last,  as  General 
Cox,  who  took  part  in  the  engagement,  says,  "It 
became  apparent,  even  to  the  most  daring,  that  it 
was  useless  to  lead  men  against  such  barriers.  The 
orders  were  not  to  waste  life  in  serious  assaults 
upon  intrenchments ;  but  the  zeal  of  the  troops 
and  subordinate  commanders  turned  the  intended  Jac°x,D' 
skirmish  into  something  very  like  a  ranged  battle."   "aSmt" 

Meanwhile  McPherson  in  pursuance  of  his  orders 
marched  through  Snake  Creek  Gap  on  the  9th  of 
May.  This  is  a  wild  and  narrow  defile,  about  six  ig^. 
miles  long ;  the  road  was  merely  the  bed  of  a  dry 
stream,  almost  impracticable  for  wagons,  shut  in 
by  beetling  cliffs  on  either  side,  and  dark  as  twilight 
even  at  midday.    A  little  distance  from  its  eastern 


12  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  entrance  stands  the  village  of  Resaca.  It  had  been 
fortified  beforehand  by  the  Confederates,  and  two 
brigades  under  General  Cantey  had  arrived  from 
the  South  exactly  in  time  to  hold  it  against 
McPherson's  advance.  The  ground  was  admirably 
adapted  for  a  large  intrenched  camp.  In  front  a 
rivulet  called  Camp  Creek  flows  into  the  Oosta- 
naula  just  west  of  the  village.  The  left  of  the  Con- 
federate position  thus  rested  securely  on  the  river. 
Its  front  was  guarded  by  Camp  Creek,  along  whose 
bank  the  line  ran  to  the  north  and  turned  to  the 
east  across  the  railroad  running  to  Dalton,  and 
rested  upon  the  Connasauga  River,  which  flows 
into  the  Oostanaula  a  few  miles  east  of  Resaca. 
McPherson,  finding  the  Confederate  force  strongly 
posted  and  intrenched  between  the  mouth  of  the 
Gap  and  the  railroad,  not  knowing  how  strongly 
it  might  be  supported,  nor  exactly  informed  of  the 
whereabouts  of  Johnston's  army,  and  concluding 
that  the  works  were  too  strong  to  be  carried  by  a 
coup  de  main,  took  a  strong  position  at  the  southern 
mouth  of  the  Gap,  where  he  secured  his  force  by 
improvised  intrenchments  and  reported  the  situa- 
tion to  Sherman. 

General  Sherman  afterwards  showed  great  dis- 
appointment at  this  action  of  McPherson's,  and 
even  in  his  "  Memoirs  "  censures  him  for  not  hav- 
ing stormed  the  works  in  his  front  and  seized  the 
railroad.      At  the  same  time  he  does  McPherson 

Report 

on  condu£  *ne  justice  to  say  that  he  acted  according  to  his  m- 
°  vSu  L,ar'  structions,and  in  fact  he  so  reported  to  Halleck  on 
meSj  ple59.  the  10th  of  May.     He  had  by  this  time  become  con- 
vinced that  Buzzard's  Roost  Gap  was  naturally  and 
artificially  too  strong  to  be  attempted,  and  had  re- 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         13 

solved  to  feign  at  that  point,  but  to  move  the  bulk  chap.i. 
of  his  army  by  the  right  flank  through  Snake  Creek 
Gap  and  place  himself,  if  possible,  between  John- 
ston and  Resaca ;  but  Johnston  on  the  other  hand 
had  no  fear  of  being  cut  off  by  this  manoeuvre; 
even  when  he  began  to  suspect  it,  he  considered  his 
camp  well  defended  by  James  Cantey's  division; 
and  on  the  11th,  when  Sherman's  march  towards  May,i864. 
Snake  Creek  Gap  was  begun,  the  strength  of  the  in- 
trenched camp  was  much  greater  and  the  number 
of  the  garrison  had  been  increased  from  two  to 
thirteen  brigades  by  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of 
Polk's  corps  from  the   South. 

Sherman's  army  moved  by  the  right  at  daybreak 
on  the  12th,  leaving  only  Howard's  corps  and 
Stoneman's  cavalry  to  keep  up  a  show  of  force 
in  front  of  Dalton  and  to  pursue  Johnston  if  he 
should  retreat.  He  learned  by  a  reconnaissance 
under  Wheeler  of  the  departure  of  Sherman,  and 
was  duly  informed  by  Polk  of  the  arrival  of  a  heavy 
column  through  Snake  Creek  Gap  on  the  12th. 
He  evacuated  Dalton  that  night,  and  speedily  con- 
centrated his  entire  force  at  Resaca.  Howard  fol- 
lowed his  rear  on  the  morning  of  the  13th, 
capturing  some  prisoners  at  Dalton  and  along  the 
road,  and  joined  Sherman's  left  in  the  course  of 
the  day.  A  series  of  skirmishes,  so  sharp  and  de- 
structive as  to  deserve  the  name  of  battles,  now 
took  place  between  the  opposing  armies  on  either 
side  of  Camp  Creek  during  the  14th  and  15th  of 
May.  Each  side  fought  with  equal  vigor  and  en- 
terprise, the  Confederates  being  protected  by  their 
works,  by  their  position,  and  by  the  nature  of  the 
ground  over  which  the  fighting  was  done.    The 


14  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  losses  on  both  sides  were  considerable,  Sherman's 
being,  of  course,  the  heavier;  but  while  he  was 
pressing  the  Confederate  forces  in  his  front,  he  was 
as  usual  stretching  out  his  line  and  demonstrating 
in  the  enemy's  rear.  Sweeny's  division  crossed 
May,  1864.  the  Oostenaula  on  the  morning  of  the  15th,  in- 
trenched itself,  and  bridged  the  river. 

General  Johnston,  on  receiving  this  news,  felt  that 

further  delay  would  be  fatal,  and  therefore  withdrew 

during  the  night  of  the  15th,  burning  his  bridges 

behind  him.    This,  however,  occasioned  Sherman 

little  delay.    He  had  telegraphed  during  the  day, 

c<2Stee   "  We  intend  to  fight  Joe  Johnston  until  he  is  satis- 

o?thenwar!  fied,  and  I  hope  he  will  not  attempt  to  escape.    If 

supple-     he  does,  my  bridges  are  down,  and  we  will  be  after 

ment,  ° 

p.  63.  him."  The  next  day  he  entered  Resaca  and  was 
astonished  at  the  strength  of  the  position  and  the 
elaborate  works  which  had  been  abandoned.  But, 
without  a  moment's  delay,  he  pushed  his  forces  over 
the  river  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  Johnston  in- 
tended to  make  a  stand  near  Calhoun,  but  it  is  sin- 
»  Narrate  gular  that  on  arriving  there,  although  he  had  been 

of  Military    °  ,  .     °  •  i_     *  j 

opera-  encamped  so  long  m  that  region,  he  found  no  suit- 
p-  aw-  able  ground  for  fighting.  He  retired  next  to 
Adairsville,  where,  according  to  his  maps,  the  val- 
ley of  the  Oothcaloga  was  so  narrow  that  he  ex- 
pected his  army,  formed  in  order  of  battle  across 
it,  would  hold  the  heights  on  the  right  and  left 
with  its  flanks.  But,  what  seems  almost  incred- 
ible, his  maps  again  failed  him,  and  he  found  that 
he  could  here  obtain  no  advantage  of  ground ;  so, 
after  a  rest  of  eighteen  hours,  his  troops  fell  back 
ibid.,  p.  320.  to  Cassville.  At  Adairsville  the  roads  leading 
south  diverge;  one  follows  the  railroad  to  King- 


SHEKMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         15 

ston,  the  other  runs  in  a  straight  line  through  Cass-  chap.i. 
ville  to  a  bridge  over  the  Etowah  River;  the 
railroad  turns  east  at  Kingston  and  crosses  the 
Etowah  about  twelve  miles  away,  Cassville  lying 
some  two  miles  north  of  the  road  and  about  six 
miles  from  Kingston.  Both  armies  divided  at 
Adairsville.  Johnston  marched  Polk  and  Hood 
directly  to  Cassville  and  Hardee  to  Kingston. 
Thomas  marched  after  Hardee,  and  Hooker  and 
Schofield  moved  direct  upon  Cassville.  This  was 
the  finest  opportunity  which  had  been  presented 
to  Johnston,  during  the  campaign,  of  beating  the 
enemy  in  detail.  Sherman's  principal  force  had 
followed  Hardee  to  Kingston,  and  Johnston,  in 
high  hopes,  ordered  Hood  and  Polk  on  the  18th  to  May,  ism. 
march  out  of  Cassville  and  try  to  crush  Sherman's 
left  wing  north  of  that  place.  The  movement  came 
to  nothing,  on  account,  as  Johnston  says,  of  the 
lack  of  harmonious  cooperation  between  Hood  and 
Polk.  No  attack  was  made  upon  Schofield's  ad- 
vancing column,  and  the  sound  of  the  Federal  artil- 
lery chasing  Hardee  out  of  Kingston  convinced 
General  Johnston  that  he  was  to  have  the  whole  of 
Sherman's  army  on  his  hands  at  once.  He  fell 
back  to  the  ridge  immediately  south  of  Cassville, 
which  he  says  was  the  best  position  he  saw  oc- 
cupied during  the  war;  "with  a  broad,  open,  .:§2Stfte 
elevated  valley  in  front  of  it,  completely  com-  ofcK£ry 
manded  by  the  fire  of  troops  occupying  its  crest."      p.  322. 

Here  at  last  he  halted  on  the  evening  of  the  19th 
of  May,  expecting  to  receive  and  hoping  to  repulse 
Sherman's  attack  the  next  morning.  But  soon 
after  dark  he  received  an  invitation  to  meet  his 
lieutenant-generals    at   Polk's  headquarters,   and 


16  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.i.  going  there  found  Polk  and  Hood,  who  informed 
him,  to  his  bitter  chagrin  and  dismay,  that  neither 
of  their  corps  would  be  able  to  hold  its  position 
next  day,  because,  as  they  said,  a  part  of  each  was 
enfiladed  by  Federal  artillery.  He  says  that  both 
generals  agreed  in  urging  him  to  abandon  the 
ground  and  cross  the  Etowah.  General  Hood,  in 
his  account  of  this  interview,  does  not  deny  that 
he  said  the  ground  was  untenable,  but  insists  that 
he  urged  going  forward  to  attack  the  enemy 
instead  of  waiting  his  attack  upon  that  ground. 
General  Hardee,  on  the  contrary,  who  was  present 
at  the  latter  part  of  the  interview,  confirms  the 
statement  of  General  Johnston.  "Although  the 
position,"  says  Johnston,  "  was  the  best  we  had 
occupied,  I  yielded  at  last  in  the  belief  that  the 
confidence  of  the  commanders  of  two  of  the  three 
corps  of  the  army  of  their  inability  to  resist  the 
enemy  would  inevitably  be  communicated  to  their 
troops,  and  produce  that  inability.  Lieutenant- 
General  Hardee,  who  arrived  after  this  decision, 
remonstrated  against  it  strongly,  and  was  confident 
"JNanSSve  that  his  corps  could  hold  its  ground,  although  less 
°  oper^y  favorably  posted.  The  error  was  adhered  to  how- 
ever and  the  position  abandoned  before  daybreak." 
General  Sherman  had  already  come  into  posses- 
sion of  Johnston's  General  Order  announcing  to 
the  Confederate  troops  that  their  retreat  was  at  an 
end,  and  that  they  were  now  to  give  battle  to  their 
enemy ;  he,  therefore,  expected  to  enjoy  that  morn- 
ing the  opportunity  for  a  decisive  engagement, 
which  he  had  so  eagerly  sought  for  the  past  week ; 
but  he  found  only  an  empty  camp  before  him. 
He  had  been  excessively  anxious  to  bring  Johnston 


tlons, 


~-: 


GENERAL    WILLIAM    J.   HARDEE. 


SHERMAN'S    CAMPAIGN    TO    THE    CHATTAHOOCHEE  17 

to  battle.     The  division  of  his  forces  at  Adairsville     chap.i. 
and  their  rapid  movement  forward  in  two  columns 
had  been  occasioned  by  his  intense  desire  to  lose  no 
opportunity  to  strike  the  enemy.    He  said  to  Scho- 
field  on  the  evening  of  the  18th :  "  If  we  can  bring  c^£Sttee 
Johnston  to  battle  this  side  of  Etowah,  we  must  do  ™ tSwS 
it,  even  at  the  hazard  of  beginning  battle  with  but     voiTi6; 
a  part  of  our  forces."    On  the  20th  of  May  a  rapid  men£p.  k 
pursuit  was  made,  but  Johnston  had  gained  such 
a  start  in  the  night  that  he  was  able  to  cross  the 
Etowah  River  without   serious  molestation.    The 
first  stage  of  the  great  campaign  was  ended.     A 
large  extent  of  country  had  been  won  from  the  Con- 
federates by  the  capture  of  the  towns  of  Kingston  and 
Some ;  and  a  large  quantity  of  material  of  inestima- 
ble value  to  the  rebels  was  captured  and  destroyed. 

Sherman,  with  his  usual  restless  energy,  lost  not 
a  moment's  time  at  the  Etowah.  He  established 
his  new  base  of  supplies  at  Kingston,  bridging  the 
river  with  that  marvelous  alacrity  which  had  be- 
come a  matter  of  habit  to  his  army,  and  at  once 
started  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  He  had,  how- 
ever, now  come  to  a  part  of  the  country  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  having  journeyed  over  this  region 
twenty  years  before,  when  he  was  a  young  lieuten- 
ant of  artillery.  Between  the  town  of  Marietta 
and  the  Etowah  Eiver  the  road  runs  through  a  wild 
and  difficult  defile  called  the  Allatoona  Pass,  and 
Sherman  determined  that,  instead  of  pursuing 
through  this  rough  and  easily  defensible  road,  he 
would  turn  it  on  the  right  by  marching  from  King- 
ston to  Marietta  by  way  of  Dallas.  McPherson 
had  the  right  wing ;  Thomas  was  on  the  main  road 
in  the  center,  Hooker's  corps  leading,  and  Schofield 
Vol.  IX.— 2 


18  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. i.  had  the  left  rear.  But  Johnston,  whose  vigilance 
throughout  this  entire  campaign  was  unsleeping, 
became  at  once  aware  of  this  movement,  and  Sher- 
man, on  the  other  hand,  had  the  good  fortune  of 
capturing  a  cavalry  picket  who  had  on  his  person 
an  order  from  Johnston  which  showed  he  was 
aware  of  the  march  and  direction  of  the  Na- 
tional army ;  and  it  was,  therefore,  with  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  each  other's  intentions  that  the  two 
lee*.  armies  met  on  the  25th  of  May  at  the  cross-roads 
called  New  Hope  Church,  about  four  miles  north- 
east of  Dallas. 

General  Geary's  division  of  Hooker's  corps  first 
struck  Hood's  command,  forming  the  right  of 
the  Confederate  force,  in  its  hastily  prepared  in- 
trenchments,  and  although  he  attacked  with  great 
vigor  and  energy  he  had  gained  no  ground  by 
nightfall.  During  the  night  the  Confederates 
greatly  strengthened  their  position,  and  Johnston 
got  his  forces  so  well  in  hand  —  Hood  holding  the 
right,  Polk  the  center,  and  Hardee  the  extreme 
left,  where  he  was  opposed  by  McPherson  —  that  in 
the  morning,  when  Sherman  brought  up  his  entire 
force,  he  was  unable  to  make  any  impression  upon 
the  strong  lines  of  the  Confederates.  A  continuous 
skirmishing  fight,  varied  by  several  movements  on 
each  side,  which  at  times  took  on  the  dimensions 
of  a  battle,  filled  the  whole  day  of  the  26th.  When- 
ever either  side  left  its  intrenchments  to  assail  the 
other,  it  was  repulsed,  and  although  there  was  con- 
siderable loss  of  life,  no  especial  advantage  was 
gained  by  anybody.  But  by  evening  of  that  day 
it  was  clear  to  Sherman  that  the  road  to  Allatoona 
was  now  open  to  himj  he  had  only  to  hold  his 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         19 

intrenchments  with  a  part  of  his  force  and  move  chap.i. 
the  rest,  by  the  left  flank,  to  the  railroad.  He 
ordered  McPherson  to  disengage  himself  from 
Hardee,  and  close  up  on  Hooker,  but,  like  many 
a  hero  of  pioneer  history,  McPherson  found  that 
letting  go  of  a  wild  cat  was  no  easy  task.  The 
moment  he  turned  from  his  intrenchments,  on  the 
morning  of  the  28th,  Hardee  was  upon  him.  A  May.ise*. 
furious  battle  took  place,  at  the  end  of  which, 
although  he  had  repulsed  his  assailant  and  held 
his  ground,  he  found  it  still  very  difficult  to  retire. 
It  was  not  until  the  1st  of  June  that  he  was  able 
to  bring  off  his  army  and  effect  a  junction  with 
Hooker  at  New  Hope. 

But  all  this  while  Thomas  and  Schofield  were 
extending  towards  the  left  and  approaching  the 
railroad.  Each  side  held  its  lines  in  the  midst  of  a 
skirmish  fire  so  hot  and  malignant  that  the  soldiers 
christened  the  unhallowed  neighborhood  by  the  "Memoi™!" 
name  of  "Hell  Hole."  Holding  his  right  in  close  pp.  44,45. 
contact  with  the  enemy's  position,  Sherman  gradu- 
ally worked  to  the  left  until  his  strong  infantry 
line  had  reached  and  secured  possession  of  all  the 
wagon  roads  to  Ackworth.  By  this  means  the  pass 
of  Allatoona  fell  into  his  possession  without  fur- 
ther trouble,  and  he  at  once  gave  orders  to  repair 
the  railroad  from  Kingston  to  that  point  and  put 
the  bridges  over  the  Etowah  in  good  order.  John- 
ston, seeing  that  Sherman  had  accomplished  his 
purpose,  and  having  no  further  object  in  holding 
the  lines  at  New  Hope,  evacuated  that  position  and 
fell  back  to  the  lofty  stronghold  formed  by  a  tri- 
angle of  mountains,  the  northern  apex  of  which 
was    Pine    Mountain;  the    base    ran  from    Lost 


20  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  Mountain  on  the  west  to  Kenesaw  on  the  east,  be- 
hind which  lay  the  town  of  Marietta.  Sherman 
established  his  new  line  directly  north  of  John- 
ston's position,  his  left,  under  McPherson,  holding 
the  railroad;  Thomas,  in  the  center,  obliqued  to 
the  right,  deploying  below  Kenesaw  and  facing 
Pine  Mountain ;  and  Schofield  on  the  general  right 
towards  Lost  Mountain. 
1864.  By  the  11th   of  June  the   Etowah  bridge  was 

done,  but  active  operations  were  rendered  impossi- 
ble for  several  days  by  pouring  rains.  On  the  14th 
the  rains  slackened,  and  Sherman  reconnoitered 
the  position  between  Kenesaw  and  Pine  Mountain 
«mS.'"  with  the  purpose  of  attempting  a  breach  in  the 
pp?5i,  52.  lines.  At  the  same  moment  General  Johnston, 
with  General  Polk  and  some  other  officers,  rode  up 
to  Pine  Mountain  to  examine  the  ground  with  a 
view  of  retiring  the  troops  from  that  position,  which 
he  thought  too  much  exposed.  Sherman,  observ- 
ing the  group  on  the  opposite  hill,  gave  orders  to 
the  artillery  to  fire  a  few  volleys  so  as  to  compel 
the  enemy  to  keep  under  cover.  At  the  second  shot 
fired  General  Polk  was  killed.  His  place  was  tem- 
porarily filled  by  General  W.  W.  Loring,  and  after- 
wards permanently  by  Lieutenant-General  A.  P. 
Stewart.  The  next  day  Johnston  evacuated  Pine 
Mountain,  which  was  immediately  occupied  by 
Sherman,  and  the  National  lines  were  extended  to 
the  immediate  front  of  the  Confederates,  which  now 
stretched  across  from  Kenesaw  to  Lost  Mountain. 
The  new  position  was  so  closely  pressed  at  every 
point  by  Thomas,  McPherson,  and  Schofield  that 
Johnston,  becoming  convinced  his  lines  were  too 
extended  to  be  safe  in  case  of  the  assault  which  he 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         21 

foresaw,  abandoned  six  miles  of  strong  field  works     chap.i. 
and  fell  back  to  an  intrenched    line  nearer    to 
Marietta. 

In  his  new  position,  General  Hood's  corps 
covered  Marietta  on  the  northeast,  Loring  hold- 
ing Kenesaw  Mountain,  and  Hardee  holding  the 
left  to  the  road  which  ran  between  Marietta  and 
Lost  Mountain.  The  bold  front  of  Kenesaw  formed 
the  salient  of  his  line,  and  the  flanks  were  refused 
on  both  sides,  covering  Marietta  and  his  communi- 
cations. Not  only  was  the  position  one  of  great 
strength,  but  it  had  been  fortified  with  the  utmost 
care  for  months  before.  All  the  available  slave 
labor  had  been  bestowed  upon  it,  and  now  the 
army  under  experienced  engineers  added  the 
finishing  touches  until  it  seemed,  as  on  trial  it 
turned  out  to  be,  impregnable.  But  if  on  the  one 
hand  the  position  of  Johnston  was  now  too  formi- 
dable to  be  attacked  with  prudence,  on  the  other 
hand  it  was  so  compact  that  Sherman  was  perfectly 
able  to  hold  him  tight  within  his  intrenchments 
with  a  portion  of  his  force,  and  to  feel  round  one 
or  the  other  flank  for  his  communications.  In 
spite  of  bad  weather,  which  lasted  for  three  weeks, 
he  made  constant  progress  on  his  right  wing,  until 
at  last  Johnston  became  seriously  disquieted  as 
to  his  safety  from  that  quarter.  If  Sherman  had 
persevered  but  a  few  days  longer  in  this  course, 
he  would  have  had  Kenesaw  without  a  struggle. 
Johnston  was  already  constructing  two  lines  of 
defense  in  case  of  retreat,  one  ten  miles  south  of 
Marietta,  and  another  on  the  high  ground  on  the  ^Stive 
river,  covering  the  approaches  to  the  railroad  ofopera;ry 
bridge  and  Turner's  Ferry.  p.  uh. 


22  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  Sherman  made  an  important  forward  movement 
1864.  on  his  right  on  the  22d  of  June,  pushing  Hooker 
forward  to  the  Kulp  House ;  but,  as  usual,  John- 
ston's vigilance  had  been  equal  to  every  demand 
upon  it,  and  he  had  posted  General  Hood  at  the 
threatened  point  with  a  heavy  force.  Hood  at- 
tacked with  his  usual  fury,  and  although  he  was 
soundly  whipped  and  driven  back  with  great  loss, 
it  was  a  certain  disappointment  to  Sherman  to  find 
so  heavy  a  force  upon  the  ground.  Heavy  as  it 
was,  Hooker  greatly  exaggerated  it  in  his  dispatch 
announcing  the  engagement,  saying  that  three  en- 
tire corps  were  in  his  front.  For  this  and  other 
reasons  Sherman  rebuked  him,  and  their  relations 
were  never  afterwards  cordial. 

For  some  motive,  for  which  General  Sherman  has 
never  given  any  adequate  explanation,  he  now  re- 
solved to  assault  Johnston's  position  in  front. 
This  desperate  enterprise  was  ordered  for  the  27th 
1864.  of  June.  McPherson  was  directed  to  assault  near 
Kenesaw,  and  Thomas  about  a  mile  to  the  south  in 
front  of  the  ground  occupied  by  the  Fourth  Corps. 
Davis's  and  Newton's  divisions  were  designated  by 
Thomas  to  form  the  assaulting  column.  The  point 
chosen  for  the  attack  was  a  salient  in  Johnston's 
works,  which  was  selected  because  the  ground  in 
front  was  comparatively  open.  At  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  under  cover  of  a  heavy  artillery  fire, 
the  brigades  of  Daniel  McCook  and  John  G.  Mitch- 
ell leaped  over  their  intrenchments  and  rushed  for 
the  enemy's  works  under  a  terrible  fire  of  artillery 
and  musketry.  They  went  forward  in  splendid 
order  about  six  hundred  yards,  and  only  halted 
when  they  reached  the  Confederate  intrenchments. 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         23 

The  attempt  was  here  seen  to  be  hopeless;  such  chap.i. 
was  the  strength  of  the  works,  so  heavy  had  been 
the  loss  of  the  assaulting  column,  and  so  great  the 
exhaustion  of  those  who  reached  the  enemy's  para- 
pets that  no  attempt  was  made  to  carry  them  ;  but 
even  in  this  desperate  situation  they  did  not  re- 
treat. Thomas  ordered  General  Davis  to  hold  the 
position  and  fortify  it ;  intrenching  tools  were  at 
once  sent  forward,  and  only  a  few  yards  from  the 
Confederate  works,  under  a  terrible  fire,  this  heroic 
column  intrenched  itself  and  held  the  ground  it  had 
gained.  The  loss  had  been  frightful.  Daniel  Mc- 
Cook  was  killed,  Colonel  Oscar  F.  Harmon,  next  in 
rank,  fell  immediately  afterwards.  Newton's  divi- 
sion met  with  no  better  success.  They  were  held 
by  formidable  obstructions  and  entanglements  and 
a  most  destructive  fire.  He,  therefore,  withdrew 
his  division.  General  Charles  G.  Harker  was  killed, 
and  the  loss  in  his  brigade  and  in  George  D. 
Wagner's  was  very  great.  The  attack  was  made 
with  energy,  and  some  of  his  men  were  killed  on 
the  parapets.  On  McPherson's  front  the  operations 
amounted  to  nothing  more  than  a  strong  demon- 
stration against  a  spur  of  Little  Kenesaw;  he 
gained  some  ground  but  did  not  break  the  Con- 
federate line. 

It  was  difficult  for  Sherman  to  admit  that  the     Report 
attack  had  failed.    Until  nearly  noon,  he  was  still  S  cSSuft 
urging  Thomas  to  break  through  the  line,  if  possi-  °  i865-66.ar' 

ble.     "  It  is  easier  now  than  it  will  be  hereafter,"     supple- 
ment, 
he  said.    At  2 :  25  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  ordered      p-  **. 

Thomas  to  secure  what  advantageous  ground  he 

had  gained,  Thomas,  smarting  under  the  sense  of 

a  useless  sacrifice  of  his  soldiers,  replied  that  he 


24  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.     still  held  all  the  ground  he  had  gained  and  the  di- 
vision commanders  reported  their  ability  to  hold, 
Y?Arm0™!'  and  added,  "  we  have  already  lost  heavily  to-day 
beriand/'    without  gaining  any  material  advantage.    One  or 
p.  io3."     two  more  such  assaults  would  use  up  this  army." 
In  the  evening  Sherman,  not  in  the  least  shaken  by 
the  day's  bad  fortune,  but  ready,  as  usual,  to  admit 
the  fact  of  the  failure,  and  to  adopt  some  other 
course,  suggested  a  move  on  Fulton,  cutting  loose 
from  the  railroad.     Thomas,  with  unusual  sullen- 
ness,  replied,   "I  think  it  decidedly  better  than 
ibid.,  p.  io4.  butting  against  breastworks  twelve  feet  thick." 

Sherman,  unlike  Grant  at  Cold  Harbor,  never 
admitted  that  his  assault  at  Kenesaw  was  a  mis- 
pp°6o,  ei.    take.    In  his  "  Memoirs  "  and  in  his  report,  as  well 
as  in  his  letters  to  Halleck  and  Grant,  he  stoutly 
July  9, 1864.  defends  it.    To  Halleck,  he  says,  "  I  had  to  do  it. 
The  enemy  and  our  own  army  and  officers  had  settled 
down  into  the  conviction  that  the  assault  of  lines 
Report     formed  no  part  of  my  game,  and  the  moment  the 
o?co^ducet  enemy  was  found  behind  anything  like  a  parapet, 
ofi865-66.ar'  why  everybody  would  deploy,  throw  up  counter- 
8uPpie-     works,  and  take  it  easy,  leaving  it  to  the  'old  man ' 
P.  in!      to  turn  the  position."    To  Grant  he  said,  "  I  re- 
garded an  assault  on  the  27th  of  June  necessary 
for  two  good  reasons  :   first,  because  the  enemy 
as  well  as  my  own  army  had  settled  down  into 
the  belief  that  *  flanking'  alone  was  my  game ;  and 
second,  that,  on  that  day  and  ground,  had  the 
assault  succeeded  I  could  have  broken  Johnston's 
center  and  pushed  his  army  back  in  confusion, 
juiy  12,     and  with  great  loss,  to  his  bridges  over  the  Chat- 
ibid.,  p."  122.  tahoochee." 

The  losses  in  this  costly  battle  were  twenty-five 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         25 

hundred  on  the  Union  side.     Johnston  admits  a     chap.l 
loss  of  about  five  hundred  and  finds  it  difficult  to 
believe  that  Sherman's  loss  is  as  small  as  we  have 
stated.     He  seems  to  think  that  it  would  not  be 
quite  creditable  to  Sherman's  army  to  have  lost  «JNSSSve 
only  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  its  force  in  this  ofqpej5iy 
desperate  attack.     But  only  a  few  brigades  were      v?zU. 
actually  engaged  ;  the  forests,  except  in  a  very  few 
exposed  places,  ran  up  almost  to  the  abatis  of  the 
Confederate  works,  and  the  troops  forming  the  col- 
umn of  attack  had  so  much  experience  and  intelli- 
gence that  they  sought  cover  the  moment  it  was 
clearly  shown  that  the  work  assigned  them  was 
impossible. 

The  only  advantage  of  the  bloody  day's  work 
was  the  advance  made  by  Cox's  division  of  Scho- 
field's  corps  beyond  Olley's  Creek,  which  amounted 
to  a  virtual  flanking  of  Johnston's  position.  The 
moment  Sherman  began  to  shift  his  troops  to  the 
right  with  a  view  to  a  movement  on  the  Chattahoo- 
chee, Johnston  withdrew  his  army  to  a  position 
which  had  been  prepared  in  advance  at  Smyrna;  and 
Sherman,  rising  at  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  3d  of 
July,  and  scanning  the  crest  of  Kenesaw  with  a  1864. 
glass,  saw  his  pickets  cautiously  crawling  to  the 
top  of  the  mountain  and  running  excitedly  along  the 
abandoned  crest.  He  started  his  staff  in  every  direc- 
tion to  order  a  keen  pursuit.  He  rode  at  once  into 
Marietta,  where  he  concentrated  his  army  to  follow 
Johnston.  He  issued  the  most  vehement  orders 
to  his  subordinates  to  lose  not  an  instant  so  as  to 
catch  Johnston  before  he  reached  the  Chattahoo- 
chee. To  McPherson  he  said,  "  If  you  ever  worked 
in  your  life,  work  at  daybreak  to-morrow  on  the 


Supple- 
ment, 
p.  103. 


26  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.     flank,  crossing  Nickajack  somehow,  and  the  mo- 
Report     ment  you  discover  confusion  pour  in  your  fire  " ;  to 
on  conduct  Thomas  he  said,  "  We  will  never  have  such  a  chance 

of  the  War.  .     _  .  _      . 

RnnniA*  again»  and  *■  want  you  to  impress  on  Hooker, 
Howard,  and  Palmer  the  importance  of  the  most 
intense  energy  of  attack  to-night  and  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  to  press  with  vehemence  at  any  cost  of  life 
and  material.  Every  inch  of  his  line  should  be 
felt  and  the  moment  there  is  a  give,  pursuit  should 
be  made.  .  .  You  know  what  loss  would  ensue  to 
Johnston  if  he  crosses  his  bridges  at  night  in  con- 
fusion, with  artillery  thundering  at  random  on  his 
ibid.,  p.  104.  rear." 

But  there  was  no  confusion,  and,  properly  speak- 
ing, nothing  like  flight  in  the  Confederate  army. 
Johnston  retired  at  his  leisure  to  Smyrna  Camp- 
ground and  there  halted,  keeping  back  Sherman's 
advance  until  he  had  his  trains  safely  collected  by 
1864.  the  bridges  of  the  Chattahoochee.  The  4th  of  July 
was  celebrated,  as  Sherman  says,  by  "  a  noisy  but 
not  a  desperate  battle,"  and  during  the  night  John- 
ston withdrew  his  army  and  his  trains  inside  his 
tete  de  pont  at  the  Chattahoochee,  which  Sherman 
says  was  one  of  the  strongest  pieces  of  field  forti- 
fications he  ever  saw.  Here  he  stood  defiantly. 
The  existence  of  this  powerful  work  was  entirely 
unsuspected  by  Sherman  and,  of  course,  frustrated 
his  hope  of  catching  Johnston  in  confusion  at  the 
crossing  of  the  Chattahoochee.  Not  wishing  to 
repeat  the  costly  experiment  of  the  27th  of  June, 
he  refrained  from  assaulting  the  work,  but  spread 
his  wings  on  either  side  far  up  and  down  the  river, 
threatening  strongly  on  the  right  at  a  point  where 
a  curve  of  the  Chattahoochee  brought  him  nearer 


SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  THE  CHATTAHOOCHEE         27 

to  Atlanta  than  Johnston  was;  at  the  same  time  chap.i. 
searching  the  fords  thoroughly  on  the  left  until  he 
found  two  eligible  places  at  Rosswell  and  at  Soap's 
Ferry,  where  he  crossed  two  divisions1  and  in- 
trenched strongly  on  the  other  side.  He  had  pre- 
viously dispatched  southward  General  Rousseau, 
who,  with  a  cavalry  force  of  some  two  thousand 
men,  started  from  Decatur  on  the  8th  of  July  mm. 
across  the  Coosa,  struck  the  railroad  west  of 
Opelika,  destroyed  it  for  twenty  miles  and  re- 
turned with  his  command  safe,  having  several 
hundred  captured  mules  and  horses,  and  reported 
to  Sherman  south  of  the  river. 

Of  course  as  soon  as  Johnston  learned  of  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  heavy  force  by  Sherman  south  of 
the  Chattahoochee  on  his  right  flank,  he  saw  that 
his  position  was  no  longer  tenable  on  the  north  of 
that  river.  He  evacuated  his  trenches  during  the 
night  of  the  9th  of  July,  burning  the  bridges  and 
carrying  his  pontoons  with  him.  Sherman  spent  a 
few  days  in  strengthening  the  several  points  for 
the  passage  of  the  river,  increasing  the  number  and 

..  a  -t  •     t     •  i  n  .  Sherman, 

capacity  ot  his  bridges,  rearranging  the  garrisons  "Memoirs." 
to  his  rear  and  bringing  forward  supplies.  Gen-  hi1 
eral  Frank  Blair  with  the  Seventeenth  Corps  had 
joined  him,  and  the  army  was  as  strong  as  when 
it  left  Chattanooga.  His  army  was  at  this  time 
about  double  that  of  Johnston,  the  proper  propor- 
tion which  should  always  obtain  between  an  army 
of  invasion,  subject  to  constant  depletion  by  the 
necessary  demands  for  detachments  for  the  guard- 
ing of  communications,  and  an  army  of  defense 

J-Kenner  Garrard's  cavalry  at  Rosswell    and    Cox's    division  of 
Schofield's  army  at  Soap's  Creek. 


28  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  i.  which  can  avail  itself  of  all  the  natural  features 
of  the  country  and  can  generally  choose  its  time  of 
fighting  behind  intrenchments.  It  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  the  precise  numbers  of  the  two  armies, 
but  they  were  not  far  on  either  side  from  100,000 
and  50,000.  The  power  of  Johnston  had  relatively 
decreased,  and  that  of  Sherman  had  slowly  gained, 
in  the  long  and  destructive  march  from  the  Ten- 
nessee line  to  the  heart  of  Georgia.  Johnston's 
lee*.  losses  during  the  month  of  May  were  about  9500 ; 
during  the  month  of  June  about  7000.  Jefferson 
Davis  and  General  Hood  represent  Johnston's 
losses  as  much  heavier  than  these,  but  this  is  an 
instance  where  the  personal  prejudice  of  these 
writers  leads  them  into  the  unusual  error  of  exag- 
gerating Confederate  losses.  The  casualties  of 
Sherman's  army  for  the  month  of  May  were  about 
9000 ;  for  the  month  of  June  7500.  The  aggregate 
on  each  side  is  large,  yet  when  it  is  considered  that 
almost  every  day  of  these  two  months  had  witnessed 
either  a  battle  or  continuous  hot  skirmishing,  the 
wonder  is  that  the  casualties  were  so  few. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION 

BEFORE  the  snows  melted,  it  had  become  evi- 
dent to  the  most  narrow  and  malignant  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  opponents  that  nothing  could  prevent 
his  renomination  by  the  Republican  Convention 
which  was  to  meet  at  Baltimore  in  June.  There 
was  no  voice  of  opposition  to  him  in  any  organized 
Republican  assembly,  except  in  Missouri ;  and  even 
there  the  large  majority  of  radical  Republicans  were 
willing  to  accept  the  universal  verdict  of  their 
party ;  but  there  were  a  few  earnest  spirits  scattered 
throughout  the  country  to  whom  opposition  to  the 
Administration  had  become  the  habit  of  a  lifetime. 
There  were  others  not  so  honest  who  for  personal 
reasons  disliked  the  President.  To  these  it  was 
impossible  to  stand  quietly  by  and  see  Mr.  Lincoln 
made  his  own  successor  without  one  last  effort  to 
prevent  it.  The  result  of  informal  consultations 
among  them  was  the  publication  of  a  number  of 
independent  calls  for  a  mass  convention  of  the 
people  to  meet  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  the  31st  of 
May,  a  week  before  the  assembling  of  the  Repub- 
lican Convention  at  Baltimore. 

The  two  centers  of  this  disaffection  were  in  St. 
Louis  and  New  York.  In  the  former  city  it  was 
composed  of  a  small  fraction  of  a  faction.    The 


30  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ii.  large  majority  of  those  radical  politicians  who  had 
been  for  two  years  engaged  in  the  bitter  struggle 
with  Blair  and  his  associates  still  retained  their 
connection  with  the  Eepublican  party,  and  had  no 
intention  of  breaking  off  their  relations  with  the 
Union  party  of  the  nation.  It  was  a  small  fraction 
1864.  of  their  number  which  issued  its  call  to  the  dis- 
affected throughout  the  nation.  Harking  back  to 
the  original  cause  of  quarrel,  they  had  attached 
themselves  blindly  to  the  personal  fortunes  of  Gen- 
eral Fremont;  they  now  put  themselves  in  communi- 
cation with  a  small  club  of  like-minded  enthusiasts 
in  New  York  called  the  "  Central  Fremont  Club," 
and  invited  their  radical  fellow-citizens  to  meet 
them  in  convention  at  Cleveland.  They  made  no 
pretense  of  any  purpose  of  consultation  or  of  inde- 
pendent individual  action.  The  object  stated  in 
their  call  was  "  in  order  then  and  there  to  recom- 
mend the  nomination  of  John  C.  Fremont  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  to  assist  in 
organizing  for  his  election."  They  denounced  "  the 
imbecile  and  vacillating  policy  of  the  present 
Administration  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  ...  its 
treachery  to  justice,  freedom,  and  genuine  demo- 
cratic principles  in  its  plan  of  reconstruction, 
whereby  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  nation  have 
been  sacrificed  to  conciliate  the  still  existing  and 
arrogant  slave  power,  and  to  further  the  ends  of  an 
unscrupulous  partisan  ambition  " ;  they  demanded 
"the  immediate  extinction  of  slavery  throughout  the 
whole  United  States,  by  congressional  action,  the 
absolute  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,"  and  a 
vigorous  execution  of  the  laws  confiscating  the 
property  of  rebels. 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONTENTION  31 

This  circular  was  stronger  in  its  epithets  than  in  chap.  ii. 
its  signatures ;  the  names  of  the  signers  were,  as  a 
rule,  unknown  to  fame.  One  column  was  headed 
by  the  name  of  the  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  another 
by  the  apparently  farcical  signature  of  Pantaleon 
Candidus.  Perhaps  the  most  important  name  af- 
fixed to  this  document  was  that  of  Elizabeth  Cady 
Stanton,  who  wrote,  desiring  to  sign  her  name 
to  the  call ;  "  taking  it  for  granted,"  she  said, 
"  you  use  'men'  in  its  largest  sense."  She  informed 
the  committee  that  they  had  "  lifted  politics  into 
the  sphere  of  morals  and  religion,  and  made  it 
the  duty  of  all  true  men  and  women  to  unite  with 
them  in  building  up  the  New  Nation."  She  spelled 
"new  nation"  with  capital  letters,  and  gave  oc- 
casion for  a  malicious  accusation  that  her  letter 
was  merely  an  advertisement  of  a  radical  Fremont 
paper  of  that  name  which  was  then  leading  a  pre- 
carious existence  in  New  York.  Samuel  Bowles 
inferred  from  her  letter  that  the  convention  was 
to  be  composed  of  "the  gentler  sex  of  both 
genders." 

Another  call  was  issued  by  the  People's  Com- 
mittee of  St.  Louis,  though  signed  by  individuals 
from  several  other  States.  These  gentlemen  felt 
themselves  "  impelled  on  our  own  responsibility 
to  declare  to  the  people  that  the  time  has  come  for 
all  independent  men,  jealous  of  their  liberties  and  of 
the  national  greatness,  to  confer  together  and  unite 
to  resist  the  swelling  invasion  of  an  open,  shame- 
less, and  unrestrained  patronage,  which  threatens 
to  engulf  under  its  destructive  wave  the  rights  of 
the  people,  the  liberty  and  dignity  of  the  nation  " ; 
declaring  that  they  did  not  recognize  in  the  Balti- 


32  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  n.  more  Convention  the  essential  conditions  of  a  truly 
national  convention.  It  was  to  be  held,  they 
thought,  too  near  Washington  and  too  far  from  the 
center  of  the  country ;  its  mode  of  convocation  giv- 
ing no  guarantee  of  wise  and  honest  deliberation. 
This  circular  was  signed  by  B.  Grata  Brown  of 
Missouri  and  by  a  number  of  old-time  abolitionists 
in  the  East,  though  its  principal  signers  were  from 
the  ranks  of  the  most  vehement  German  radicals 
of  St.  Louis.  Still  another  call  was  drawn  up  and 
issued  by  Lucius  Robinson,  Controller  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  others.  The  terms  of  this  address 
were  properly  applicable  to  all  the  Administration 
Republicans.  It  called  upon  the  "citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  mean  to  uphold  the  Union, 
who  believe  that  the  Rebellion  can  be  suppressed 
without  infringing  the  rights  of  individuals  or  of 
States,  who  regard  the  extinction  of  slavery  as 
among  the  practical  effects  of  the  war  for  the 
Union,  and  favor  an  amendment  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery,  and  who 
demand  integrity  and  economy  in  the  administra- 
tion of  Government." 

The  signers  of  this  call  approached  the  question 
from  an  entirely  different  point  of  view  from  that 
of  the  radical  Germans  of  St.  Louis.  In  their  view 
Mr.  Lincoln,  instead  of  being  a  craven  and  a 
laggard,  was  going  entirely  too  fast  and  too  far. 
Their  favorite  candidate  was  General  Grant. 
Wendell  Phillips,  the  stormy  petrel  of  all  our 
political  disturbances,  found  enjoyment  even  in 
this  teapot  tempest.  He  strongly  approved  the 
Convention  at  Cleveland,  and  constructed  before- 
hand a  brief  platform  for  it.    "  Subdue  the  South 


WENDELL    PHILLIPS. 


THE  CLEVELAND  CONVENTION  33 

as    rapidly  as  possible.     The    moment    territory    chap.ii. 
comes  under  our  flag  reconstruct  States  thus :  con- 
fiscate and  divide  the  lands  of  rebels ;  extend  the 
right  of  suffrage  broadly  as  possible  to  whites  and 
blacks ;  let  the  Federal  Constitution  prohibit  slav- 
ery throughout  the  Union,  and  forbid  the  States  to 
make  any  distinction  among  their  citizens  on  ac- 
count of  color  or  race."    He  also  advised  the  nomi- 
nation "  for  the  Presidency,  [of]  a  statesman  and  a   PSo,to 
patriot " ;   by  which  terms  he  intended  to  exclude       uik21' 
Mr.  Lincoln. 

The  Convention  might  have  met,  deliberated,  and 
adjourned  for  all  the  people  of  the  United  States 
cared  about  it,  had  it  not  been  for  the  violent  and 
enthusiastic  admiration  it  excited  in  Democratic 
newspapers  and  the  wide  publicity  they  gave  to  its 
proceedings.  They  described  it  as  a  gathering  of 
the  utmost  dignity  and  importance ;  they  pre- 
tended to  discern  in  it  a  distinct  line  of  cleavage 
through  the  middle  of  the  Republican  party.  For 
several  days  before  it  assembled  they  published 
imaginary  dispatches  from  Cleveland  representing 
the  streets  and  hotels  as  crowded  with  a  throng  of 
earnest  patriots  determined  on  the  destruction  of 
the  tyrant  Lincoln.  The  papers  of  Cleveland  tell 
another  story.  There  was  no  sign  of  political  up- 
heaval in  the  streets  or  hotels  of  that  beautiful  and 
thriving  city.  Up  to  the  very  day  of  the  meeting 
of  the  Convention  there  was  no  place  provided  for 
it,  and  when  the  first  stragglers  began  to  arrive 
they  found  no  preparation  made  to  receive  them. 
All  the  public  halls  of  any  consequence  were  en- 
gaged, and  the  Convention  at  last  took  shelter  in  a 
small  room  called  "  Chapin's  Hall."    Its  utmost  ca- 

Vol.  IX.— 3 


34  ABKAHAM  LINCOLN 

chap.h.  pacity  was  five  or  six  hundred  persons,  and  it  was 
much  too  large  for  the  Convention ;  delegates  and 
spectators  together  were  never  numerous  enough 
to  fill  it.  The  delegates  were  for  the  most  part 
Germans  from  St.  Louis.  They  held  a  preliminary 
meeting  the  night  before  the  Convention  opened, 
and  passed  vigorous  and  loyal  resolutions  of  the 
usual  character.  To  the  resolution  that  the  Rebel- 
lion must  be  put  down,  some  one  moved  to  amend 
by  adding  the  words,  "with  God's  assistance," 
which  was  voted  down  with  boisterous  demonstra- 
tions. Non  tali  auxilio  was  the  sentiment  of  those 
materialist  Missourians. 
1864.  '  The  Convention  met  at  10  o'clock  in  a  hall  only 
half  filled.  Hoping  for  later  arrivals,  they  delayed 
organization  until  nearly  noon.  The  leaders  who 
had  been  expected  to  give  character  and  direction 
to  the  movement  did  not  appear.  It  was  hoped 
until  the  last  moment  that  Mr.  Greeley  would  be 
present,  though  he  had  never  given  any  authority 
for  such  an  expectation.  He  said,  in  answer  to  an 
inquiry,  that  "  the  only  convention  he  took  any  in- 
terest in  was  that  one  Grant  was  holding  before 
Richmond."  B.  Gratz  Brown,  the  real  head  of 
the  movement,  was  also  absent.  Emil  Pretorius 
and  Mr.  Cheever,  who,  from  the  two  extremities  of 
the  country  had  talked  most  loudly  in  favor  of  the 
Convention,  staid  away.  The  only  persons  present 
whose  names  were  at  all  known  were  General  John 
Cochrane  of  New  York ;  Colonel  Charles  E.  Moss,  a 
noisy  politician  from  Missouri ;  Caspar  Butz  of  Illi- 
nois ;  two  or  three  of  the  old- school  abolitionists, 
and  several  (not  the  weightiest)  members  of  the  staff 
of  General  Fremont.    The  delegates  from  the  Ger- 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  35 

man  Workingmen's  Union  of  Chicago  were  dis-  chap.il 
credited  in  advance  by  the  publication  of  a  card  um. 
from  the  majority  of  the  association  they  pretended 
to  represent,  declaring  their  intention  to  support  the 
nominees  of  the  Baltimore  Convention.  Some  one 
moved,  as  usual,  the  appointment  of  a  committee  on 
credentials ;  but  as  no  one  had  any  valid  credentials, 
it  was  resolved  instead  to  appoint  a  committee  to 
enroll  the  names  of  the  delegates.  No  action  was 
taken  even  upon  this  proposition,  because  the  act  of 
enrollment  would  have  been  too  fatal  a  confession 
of  weakness.  The  committee  on  organization  re- 
ported the  name  of  General  Cochrane  for  President 
of  the  Convention,  who  made  a  discreet  and  mod- 
erate speech.  He  was  a  man  of  too  much  native 
amiability  of  character  to  feel  personal  bitterness 
towards  any  one,  and  too  adroit  and  experienced  a 
politician  to  commit  himself  irrevocably  against  any 
contingency.  He  had,  in  fact,  thrown  an  anchor  to 
windward  by  visiting  Mr.  Lincoln  before  the  Con- 
vention met  and  assuring  him  of  his  continued 
friendship. 

A  delegate  from  Iowa,  who  seemed  to  have  taken 
the  Convention  seriously,  then  offered  a  resolution 
that  no  member  of  it  should  hold,  or  apply  for, 
office  under  the  next  Administration  — a  proposition 
which  was  incontinently  smothered.  While  waiting 
for  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  platform, 
speeches  were  made  by  several  delegates.  David 
Plumb  attacked  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  pro-slavery  poli- 
tician. Colonel  Moss  of  Missouri  denounced  him 
as  the  principal  obstacle  to  freedom  in  America. 
A  debate  now  arose  on  the  proposition  of  the  com- 
mittee on  rules  that  in  voting  for  President  the 


36  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  ii.    vote  should  be  by  States  according  to  their  repre- 

1864.       sentation  in  Congress.    This  was  in  the  interest  of 

the  Grant  delegates  and  was  violently  opposed  by 

the  Missourians,  who  ruled  the  Convention,  and  had 

come  for  no  purpose  but  to  nominate  Fremont. 

In  the  course  of  this  debate  the  somewhat  dreary 
proceedings  were  enlivened  by  a  comic  incident.  A 
middle-aged  man,  who  gave  his  name  as  Carr,  ad- 
dressed the  chair,  saying  that  he  had  come  from 
Illinois  as  a  delegate  under  the  last  call  and  did 
not  want  to  be  favored  "  a  single  mite."  His  ideas 
not  flowing  readily,  he  repeated  this  declaration 
three  times  in  a  voice  continually  rising  in  shrill- 
ness with  his  excitement.  Something  in  his  tone 
stirred  the  risibles  of  the  Convention,  and  loud 
laughter  saluted  the  Illinoisan.  As  soon  as  he 
could  make  himself  heard  he  cried  out,  "  These  are 
solemn  times."  This  statement  was  greeted  with 
another  laugh,  and  the  delegate  now  shouted  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  "  I  believe  there  is  a  God  who 
holds  the  universe  in  his  hand  as  you  would  hold  an 
egg^  This  comprehensive  scheme  of  theocracy 
was  too  much  for  the  Missouri  agnostics,  and  the 
Convention  broke  out  in  a  tumult  of  jeers  and  roars. 
The  rural  delegate,  amazed  at  the  reception  of  his 
confession  of  faith,  and  apparently  in  doubt  whether 
he  had  not  stumbled  by  accident  into  a  lunatic 
asylum,  paused,  and  asked  the  chairman  in  a  tone 
of  great  seriousness  whether  he  believed  in  a  God. 
The  wildest  merriment  now  took  possession  of  the 
assembly,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  Illinois  theist 
solemnly  marched  down  the  aisle  and  out  of  the 
house,  shaking  from  his  feet  the  dust  of  that  unbe- 
lieving Convention. 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  37 

As  soon  as  the  laughing  died  away  the  committee  chap.  n. 
on  resolutions  reported  a  set  of  judicious  and,  on 
the  whole,  undeniable  propositions,  such  as,  the 
Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved,  the  constitu-  i864- 
tional  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be  obeyed, 
the  Rebellion  must  be  suppressed  by  force  of  arms 
and  without  compromise.  The  platform  did  not 
greatly  differ  from  that  subsequently  adopted  at 
Baltimore,  except  that  it  spoke  in  favor  of  one 
Presidential  term,  declared  that  to  Congress  instead 
of  the  President  belonged  the  question  of  recon- 
struction, and  advocated  the  confiscation  of  the 
property  of  the  rebels  and  its  distribution  among 
the  soldiers. 

The  platform  was  adopted  after  brief  debate,  and 
a  letter  from  Wendell  Phillips  was  read  to  the  Con- 
vention, full  of  the  vehement  unreason  which  dis- 
tinguished most  of  the  attempts  of  this  matchless 
orator  to  apply  his  mind  to  the  practical  affairs  of 
life.  He  predicted  the  direst  results  from  four  more 
years  of  Lincoln's  Administration.  "Unless  the 
South  is  recognized" — which  he  apparently  thought 
not  improbable  under  Lincoln's  nerveless  policy  — 
"  the  war  will  continue ;  the  taxation  needed  to  sus- 
tain our  immense  debt,  doubled  by  that  time,  will 
grind  the  laboring  man  of  the  North  down  to  the 
level  of  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe ;  and  we  shall 
have  a  Government  accustomed  to  despotic  power 
for  eight  years  —  a  fearful  peril  to  democratic 
institutions."  He  denounced  Mr.  Lincoln's  plan  of 
reconstruction,  and  drew  this  comical  parallel  be- 
tween him  and  Fremont:  "The  Administration, 
therefore,  I  regard  as  a  civil  arid  military  failure, 
and  its  avowed  policy  ruinous  to  the  North  in  every 


38  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap,  il  point  of  view.  Mr.  Lincoln  may  wish  the  end  — 
peace  and  freedom — but  he  is  wholly  unwilling  to 
use  the  means  which  can  secure  that  end.  If  Mr. 
1864.  Lincoln  is  reelected  I  do  not  expect  to  see  the 
Union  reconstructed  in  my  day,  unless  on  terms 
more  disastrous  to  liberty  than  even  disunion 
would  be.  If  I  turn  to  General  Fremont,  I  see  a 
man  whose  first  act  was  to  use  the  freedom  of  the 
negro  as  his  weapon ;  I  see  one  whose  thorough 
loyalty  to  democratic  institutions,  without  regard 
to  race,  whose  earnest  and  decisive  character, 
whose  clear-sighted  statesmanship  and  rare  mili- 
tary ability,  justify  my  confidence  that  in  his  hands 
all  will  be  done  to  save  the  State  that  foresight,  skill, 
decision,  and  statesmanship  can  do."  With  charac- 
teristic reliance  on  his  own  freedom  from  prejudice, 
he  continued:  "This  is  an  hour  of  such  peril  to 
the  Republic  that  I  think  men  should  surrender  all 
party  and  personal  partiality,  and  support  any 
man  able  and  willing  to  save  the  state."  This  was, 
in  fact,  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  vast  majority  of 
the  people  of  the  country ;  but  all  it  meant  in  Mr. 
Phillips's  case  was  that  he  was  willing  to  vote  for 
either  Fremont  or  Butler  to  defeat  Lincoln. 

A  feeble  attempt  was  now  made  by  the  delegates 
from  New  York,  who  called  themselves  "War  Demo- 
crats," to  induce  the  Convention  to  nominate  Gen- 
eral Grant.  Andrew  J.  Colvin  read  a  letter  from 
Lucius  Eobinson  of  New  York  —  afterwards  gov- 
ernor of  that  State  —  attacking  the  errors  and 
blunders  of  "  a  weak  Executive  and  Cabinet," 
and  claiming  that  the  hope  of  the  people  through- 
out the  country  rested  upon  General  Grant  as  a 
candidate.     Although    Mr.    Colvin    supplemented 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  39 

the  reading  of  this  letter  by  promising  a  majority  chap.ii. 
of  one  hundred  thousand  for  Grant  in  the  State  of  i«a. 
New  York,  the  Missourians  cheered  only  the  louder 
for  Fremont ;  and  when  a  last  effort  was  made  by 
George  W.  Demers  of  Albany  to  nominate  Grant, 
he  was  promptly  denounced  as  a  Lincoln  hireling. 
Colonel  Moss,  in  the  uniform  of  a  general  of  the 
Missouri  militia,  arose  and  put  a  stop  to  the  profit- 
less discussion  by  moving  in  a  stentorian  voice  the 
nomination  of  General  Fremont  by  acclamation, 
which  was  at  once  done;  and  the  assembly  com- 
pleted its  work  by  placing  John  Cochrane  on  the 
ticket  as  its  candidate  for  Vice-President.  No  one 
present  seemed  to  have  any  recollection  of  the  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution  which  forbids  electors 
voting  for  citizens  of  their  own  State  for  both 
these  places. 

The  Convention  met  again  in  the  evening  and 
listened  to  dispirited  and  discouraging  speeches  of 
ratification.  The  committee  appointed  in  the  after- 
noon to  give  a  name  to  the  new  party,  brought 
in  that  of  the  "Eadical  Democracy,"  and  in  this 
style  it  was  formally  christened.  An  executive 
committee  was  appointed,  of  men  destitute  of 
executive  capacity,  and  the  Convention  adjourned. 

Its  work  met  with  no  response  from  the  country. 
On  the  day  of  its  meeting  the  German  press  of 
Cleveland  expressed  its  profound  disappointment 
at  the  smallness  and  insignificance  of  the  gathering, 
and  with  a  few  unimportant  exceptions  the  news- 
papers of  the  country  greeted  the  work  of  the  Con- 
vention with  an  unbroken  chorus  of  ridicule.  Its 
absurdities  and  inconsistencies  were,  indeed,  too 
glaring  for  serious  consideration.    Its  movers  had 


40  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

CHAP.n.  denounced  the  Baltimore  Convention  as  being  held 
1864.  too  early  for  an  expression  of  the  deliberate  judg- 
ment of  the  people,  and  now  they  had  made  their 
own  nominations  a  week  earlier ;  they  had  claimed 
that  Baltimore  was  not  sufficiently  central  in  situa- 
tion, and  they  had  held  their  Convention  on  the 
northern  frontier  of  the  country ;  they  had  claimed 
that  the  Baltimore  delegates  were  not  properly 
elected,  and  they  had  assumed  to  make  nomina- 
tions by  delegates  not  elected  at  all ;  they  had 
denounced  the  Baltimore  Convention  as  a  close 
corporation  and  invited  the  people  to  assemble  in 
mass,  and  when  they  came  together  they  were  so 
few  they  never  dared  to  count  themselves;  they 
had  pretended  to  desire  a  stronger  candidate  than 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  had  selected  the  most  conspicuous 
failure  of  the  war;  they  clamored  loudly  against 
corruption  in  office,  and  one  of  the  leading  person- 
ages in  the  Convention  was  a  member  of  Fremont's 
staff  who  had  been  dismissed  the  service  for  dis- 
honesty in  Government  contracts. 

The  whole  proceeding,  though  it  excited  some 
indignation  among  the  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  was 
regarded  by  the  President  himself  only  with  amuse- 
ment. On  the  morning  after  the  Convention,  a 
friend,  giving  him  an  account  of  it,  said  that,  in- 
stead of  the  many  thousands  who  had  been  expected, 
there  were  present  at  no  time  more  than  four  hun- 
dred men.  The  President,  struck  by  the  number 
mentioned,  reached  for  the  Bible  which  commonly 
lay  on  his  desk,  and  after  a  moment's  search  read 
these  words :  "  And  every  one  that  was  in  distress, 
and  every  one  that  was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that 
was  discontented,  gathered  themselves  unto  him; 


THE  CLEVELAND  CONVENTION  41 

and  he  became  a  captain  over  them:  and  there    chap.ii. 
were  with  him  about  four  hundred  men."1 

It  was  only  among  the  Democratic  papers  that 
the  Cleveland  Convention  met  with  any  support  or 
applause.  They  gave  it  solemn  and  unmeasured 
eulogies  for  its  independence,  its  patriotism,  its 
sagacity,  and  even  its  numbers.  The  Copperhead 
papers  in  New  York  urged  the  Radicals  not  to  give 
up  their  attitude  of  uncompromising  hostility  to 
Lincoln,  and  predicted  a  formidable  schism  in  the 
Republican  party  as  a  consequence  of  their  action. 
But  the  motive  of  this  support  was  so  evident  that 
it  deceived  nobody ;  and  it  was  compared  by  a  sar- 
castic observer  to  the  conduct  of  the  Spanish 
urchins  accompanying  a  condemned  Jew  to  an 
auto-da-fe,  and  shouting,  in  the  fear  that  he  might 
recant  and  rob  them  of  their  holiday,  "  Stand  fast, 
Moses."  The  ticket  of  the  two  New  Yorkers  met 
with  a  gust  of  ridicule  which  would  have  destroyed 
more  robust  chances  than  theirs.  "  The  New  York 
Major-General  John  C.  and  the  New  York  Brig- 
adier-General John  C."  formed  a  matched  ticket 
fated  to  laughter. 

But  if  no  one  else  took  them  seriously,  the  two 
generals  at  least  saw  in  the  circumstances  no  occa- 
sion for  smiling.  General  Fremont  promptly  ac- 
cepted his  nomination.  He  said:  "This  is  not  an  JuneMse*. 
ordinary  election.  It  is  a  contest  for  the  right 
even  to  have  candidates,  and  not  merely,  as  usual, 
for  the  choice  among  them.  .  .  The  ordinary  rights 
secured  under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of 
the  country  have  been  violated,  and  extraordinary 

1  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  several  years  in  advance  of  the 
famous  reference  to  the  Cave  of  Adullam  in  the  British  Parliament. 


42  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  ii.  powers  have  been  usurped  by  the  Executive.  It  is 
directly  before  the  people  now  to  say  whether  or 
not  the  principles  established  by  the  Revolution 
are  worth  maintaining.  .  .  To-day  we  have  in  the 
country  the  abuses  of  a  military  dictation  without 
its  unity  of  action  and  vigor  of  execution  —  an  Ad- 
ministration marked  at  home  by  disregard  of  con- 
stitutional rights,  by  its  violation  of  personal  liberty 
and  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and,  as  a  crowning  shame, 
by  its  abandonment  of  the  right  of  asylum."  The 
feebleness  and  want  of  principle  of  the  Adminis- 
tration, its  incapacity  and  selfishness,  were  roundly 
denounced  by  General  Fremont,  but  he  repudiated 
the  cry  of  the  Cleveland  Convention  for  confiscat- 
ing the  property  of  rebels.  In  conclusion  he  said : 
"  If  the  Convention  at  Baltimore  will  nominate  any 
man  whose  past  life  justifies  a  well-grounded  con- 
fidence in  his  fidelity  to  our  cardinal  principles, 
there  is  no  reason  why  there  should  be  any  division 
among  the  really  patriotic  men  of  the  country. 
To  any  such  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  give  a  cordial 
and  active  support.  .  .  But  if  Mr.  Lincoln  should  be 
nominated  —  as  I  believe  it  would  be  fatal  to  the 
country  to  indorse  a  policy  and  renew  a  power 
which  has  cost  us  the  lives  of  thousands  of  men, 
and  needlessly  put  the  country  on  the  road  to 
bankruptcy  —  there  will  remain  no  other  alterna- 

phSon,  tive  but  to  organize  against  him  every  element  of 
conscientious  opposition  with  the  view  to  prevent 


"  History 
of  the 

p.  m.      the  misfortune  of  his  reelection." 


He  therefore  accepted  the  nomination,  and  in- 
formed the  committee  that  he  had  resigned  his 
commission  in  the  army.  General  Cochrane  ac- 
cepted in  briefer  and  more  judicious  language, 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  43 

molding  the  same  views  as  his  chief  on  the  sub-    chap.ii. 
ject  of  confiscation. 

Later  in  the  summer  some  of  the  partisans  of 
Fremont,  seeing  that  there  was  positively  no  re- 
sponse in  the  country  to  his  candidacy,  wrote  to 
him  suggesting  that  the  candidates  nominated  at  Aii*4?°' 
Cleveland  and  Baltimore  should  both  withdraw,  and 
leave  the  field  entirely  free  for  a  united  effort  for 
"a  new  convention  which  should  represent  the 
patriotism  of  all  parties."  They  asked  him  whether 
in  case  Mr.  Lincoln  would  withdraw  he  would  do 
so.  Although  the  contingency  referred  to  was 
more  than  sufficiently  remote,  General  Fremont 
with  unbroken  dignity  refused  to  accede  to  this 
proposition.  "  Having  now  definitely  accepted  the  186±- 
Cleveland  nomination,"  he  said,  "I  have  not  the 
right  to  act  independently  of  the  truly  patriotic 
and  earnest  party  who  conferred  that  honor  upon 
me.  .  .  It  might,  besides,  have  only  the  effect  still 
further  to  unsettle  the  public  mind,  and  defeat  the 
object  you  have  in  view,  if  we  should  disorganize 
before  first  proceeding  to  organize  something  bet- 
ter." 

But  a  month  later  he  seemed  to  have  regarded  sept.  17. 
the  public  mind  as  beyond  the  risk  of  unsettling, 
and  he  then  wrote  to  his  committee,  withdrawing 
his  name  from  the  list  of  candidates.  He  could 
not,  however,  withhold  a  parting  demonstration 
against  the  President.  "In  respect  to  Mr.  Lin-  sept. at 
coin,"  he  said,  "I  continue  to  hold  exactly  the 
sentiments  contained  in  my  letter  of  acceptance. 
I  consider  that  his  Administration  has  been  politi- 
cally, militarily,  and  financially  a  failure,  and  that 
its  necessary  continuance  is  a  cause  of  regret  for 


44 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Mc- 
Pherson, 
"  History 

of  the 
Rebellion," 
pp.  426,  427. 

Sept.  21. 


chap.  ii.  the  country.  There  never  was  a  greater  unanimity 
in  a  country  than  was  exhibited  here  at  the  fall  of 
Sumter,  and  the  South  was  powerless  in  the  face 
of  it;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  completely  paralyzed  this 
generous  feeling.  He  destroyed  the  strength  of 
the  position  and  divided  the  North  when  he  de- 
clared to  the  South  that  slavery  should  be  pro- 
tected. He  has  built  up  for  the  South  a  strength 
which  otherwise  they  could  have  never  attained, 
and  this  has  given  them  an  advocate  on  the 
Chicago  platform." 

With  a  final  denunciation  of  the  leading  men 
whose  reticence  had  "  established  for  him  [Mr.  Lin- 
coln] a  character  among  the  people  which  leaves 
now  no  choice,"  General  Fremont  at  last  subsided 
into  silence.  General  Cochrane  on  the  same  day 
withdrew  his  name  from  the  Cleveland  ticket,  which 
had  already  passed  into  swift  oblivion.  His  letter 
had  none  of  the  asperity  which  characterized  that 
of  his  chief.  He  genially  attacked  the  Chicago 
resolutions,  and,  while  regretting  the  omissions  of 
the  Baltimore  platform,  he  approved  it  in  sub- 
stance. "We  stand  within  view,"  he  said,  "of  a 
rebellion  suppressed,  within  hail  of  a  country  re- 
united and  saved.  War  lifts  the  curtain  and  dis- 
closes the  prospect.  War  has  given  to  us  Atlanta, 
and  war  offers  to  us  Eichmond.  .  .  Peace  and  divi- 
sion, or  war  and  the  Union.  Other  alternative 
there  is  none." 

Two  incidents  which  occurred  in  the  spring  of 
1864  caused  unusual  excitement  among  both  wings 
of  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  one  was  the 
delivery  of  Arguelles  to  the  Spanish  authorities; 
the  other  was  the  seizure  of  two  New  York  news- 


Mc- 
Pherson, 
"  History 

of  the 

Rebellion,' 

p.  427. 


THE  CLEVELAND  CONVENTION  45 

papers  for  publishing  a  forged  proclamation.  It  chap.ii. 
was  altogether  natural  that  the  pro-slavery  Demo- 
crats and  peace  men  should  have  objected  to  these 
acts,  as  one  of  the  injured  parties  was  a  slave- 
trader,  and  the  others  opponents  of  the  war ;  but  it 
was  not  the  least  of  the  absurdities  of  the  Cleve- 
land protestants  that  they  also,  in  their  anxiety  to 
find  a  weapon  against  the  President,  at  the  very 
moment  that  they  were  assailing  him  for  not 
overriding  all  law  and  precedent  in  obedience  to 
their  demand,  still  belabored  him  for  these  in- 
stances of  energetic  action  in  the  very  direction  in 
which  they  demanded  that  he  should  proceed. 

The  case  of  Arguelles  was  a  perfectly  clear  one ; 
and  if  the  surrender  of  a  criminal  is  ever  justified 
as  an  exercise  of  international  comity  in  the  ab- 
sence of  treaty  stipulations,  no  objections  could 
reasonably  be  made  in  this  instance.  He  was  a 
colonel  in  the  Spanish  army  and  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor of  the  district  of  Colon,  in  Cuba.  He  had 
captured  a  cargo  of  African  slaves  in  his  official 
capacity,  and  had  received  much  credit  for  his 
efficiency  and  a  considerable  sum  of  money  as  his 
share  of  the  prize.  He  went  to  New  York  imme- 
diately afterwards  and  purchased  a  Spanish  news- 
paper which  was  published  there;  but  after  his 
departure  from  Cuba  it  was  ascertained  that  in 
beginning  so  extensive  a  business  in  New  York  he 
did  not  rely  exclusively  upon  the  money  he  had 
received  from  the  Government,  but  that  in  concert 
with  a  curate  of  Colon  he  had  sold  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  of  the  recaptured  Africans,  had  put  the 
money  in  his  own  pocket,  and  had  officially  re- 
ported them  as  having  died  of  small-pox. 


46 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


"  Globe," 
May  26, 

1864, 
p.  2484. 


The  Cuban  Government  laid  these  facts  before 
the  State  Department  at  Washington,  and  repre- 
sented that  the  return  of  this  miscreant  to  Cuba 
was  necessary  to  secure  the  liberation  of  the  un- 
fortunate victims  of  his  cruelty  and  greed.  It  was 
impossible  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  courts,  as 
no  extradition  treaty  existed  at  that  period  between 
Spain  and  the  United  States,  and  the  American 
authorities  could  not  by  any  legal  procedure  take 
cognizance  of  the  crime.  The  President  and  Mr. 
Seward  at  once  assumed  the  responsibility  of  act- 
ing in  the  only  way  indicated  by  the  laws  of 
common  humanity  and  international  courtesy. 
Arguelles  was  arrested  in  New  York  by  the  United 
States  marshal,  put  in  charge  of  a  Spanish  officer 
commissioned  for  the  purpose,  and  by  him  taken 
to  Havana.  The  action  of  the  Government  was 
furiously  attacked  by  all  the  pro-slavery  organs. 

A  resolution  was  introduced  by  Reverdy  John- 
son in  the  Senate  demanding  an  explanation  of  the 
circumstances.  Mr.  Seward  answered,  basing  the 
action  of  the  Government  upon  the  stipulations 
of  the  ninth  article  of  the  treaty  of  1842  with 
Great  Britain,  by  which  the  two  countries  agreed 
to  use  all  the  measures  in  their  power  to  close  the 
market  for  slaves  throughout  the  world,  and 
added:  "Although  there  is  a  conflict  of  authori- 
ties concerning  the  expediency  of  exercising  comity 
towards  a  foreign  government  by  surrendering,  at 
its  request,  one  of  its  own  subjects  charged  with 
the  commission  of  crime  within  its  territory,  and 
although  it  may  be  conceded  that  there  is  no 
national  obligation  to  make  such  a  surrender  upon 
a  demand  therefor,  unless  it  is  acknowledged  by 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  47 

treaty  or  by  statute  law,  yet  a  nation  is  never  chap.ii. 
bound  to  furnish  asylum  to  dangerous  criminals 
who  are  offenders  against  the  human  race ;  and  it  geward 
is  believed  that  if  in  any  case  the  comity  could  SayKS! 
with  propriety  be  practiced,  the  one  which  is  un-  phSson, 
derstood  to  have  called  forth  the  resolution  fur-  "?fthey 
nished  a  just  occasion  for  its  exercise."  %?sk?' 

The  Captain-General  of  Cuba,  on  the  arrival  of 
Arguelles,  sent  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Seward  "  for  the 
service  which  he  has  rendered  to  humanity  by 
furnishing  the  medium  through  which  a  great 
number  of  human  beings  will  obtain  their  freedom 
whom  the  desertion  of  the  person  referred  to 
would  have  reduced  to  slavery.  His  presence  alone 
in  this  island  a  very  few  hours  has  given  liberty  to  ^iwd!86*" 
eighty-six." 

The  grand  jury  of  New  York  nevertheless  in- 
dicted Marshal  Robert  Murray  for  the  arrest  of  Ar- 
guelles on  the  charge  of  kidnaping.  The  marshal 
pleaded  the  orders  of  the  President  as  the  authority 
for  his  action,  and  based  upon  this  a  petition  that 
the  case  be  transferred  to  the  United  States  court ; 
and  although  the  judges  before  whom  he  was  taken, 
who  happened  to  be  Democrats,  denied  this  peti- 
tion, the  indictment  was  finally  quashed,  and  the 
only  result  of  the  President's  action  was  the  de- 
nunciation which  he  received  in  the  Democratic 
newspapers,  combined  with  the  shrill  treble  of  the 
clamor  from  the  Cleveland  Convention. 

The  momentary  suppression  of  the  two  New 
York  newspapers,  of  which  mention  has  been  made, 
was  a  less  defensible  act,  and  arose  from  an  error 
which  was,  after  all,  sufficiently  natural  on  the  part 
of  the  Secretary  of  War.     On  the  19th  of  May  the       im. 


48  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. ii.  " Journal  of  Commerce"  and  the  "World,"  two 
newspapers  which  had  especially  distinguished 
themselves  by  the  violence  of  their  opposition  to 
the  Administration,  published  a  forged  proclama- 
tion, signed  by  the  President's  name,  calling,  in 
terms  of  exaggerated  depression  not  far  from  des- 
peration, for  four  hundred  thousand  troops.  It  was 
a  scheme  devised  by  two  young  Bohemians  of  the 
press,  probably  with  no  other  purpose  than  that  of 
making  money  by  stock-jobbing.  In  the  tremulous 
state  of  the  public  mind  which  then  prevailed,  in 
the  midst  of  the  terrible  slaughter  of  Grant's 
opening  campaign,  the  country  was  painfully  sen- 
sitive to  such  news,  and  the  forged  proclamation, 
telegraphed  far  and  wide,  accomplished  for  the 
moment  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  doubtless 
intended.  It  excited  everywhere  a  feeling  of  con- 
sternation ;  the  price  of  gold  rose  rapidly  during 
the  morning  hours,  and  the  Stock  Exchange  was 
thrown  into  violent  fever.  The  details  of  the  mys- 
tification were  managed  with  some  skill,  the  paper 
on  which  the  document  was  written  being  that  em- 
ployed by  the  Associated  Press  in  delivering  its 
news  to  the  journals,  and  it  was  left  at  all  the  news- 
paper offices  in  New  York  just  before  the  moment 
of  going  to  press.  If  all  the  newspapers  had  printed 
it  the  guiltlessness  of  each  would  have  been  equally 
evident;  but  unfortunately  for  the  victims  of  the 
trick,  the  only  two  papers  which  published  the  for- 
gery were  those  whose  previous  conduct  had  ren- 
dered them  liable  to  the  suspicion  of  bad  faith.  The 
May  i9, 1864.  fiery  Secretary  of  War  immediately  issued  orders 
for  the  suppression  of  the  "  World  "  and  "  Journal 
of  Commerce,"  and  the  arrest  of  their  editors.    The 


GENERAL    CARE    SCHURZ. 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  49 

editors  were  never  incarcerated  ;  after  a  short  de-    chap.  ii. 
tention,  they  were  released.    The  publication  of  the 
papers  was  resumed  after  two  days  of  interruption. 

These  prompt  measures  and  the  announcement  of 
the  imposture  sent  over  the  country  by  telegraph 
soon  quieted  the  excitement,  and  the  quick  detec- 
tion of  the  guilty  persons  reduced  the  incident  to 
its  true  rank  in  the  annals  of  vulgar  misdemeanors. 
But  in  the  memories  of  the  Democrats  of  New  York 
the  incident  survived,  and  was  vigorously  employed 
during  the  summer  months  as  a  means  of  attack 
upon  the  Administration.  Governor  Seymour  in- 
terested himself  in  the  matter  and  wrote  a  long  and 
vehement  letter  to  the  district  attorney  of  New  May23,i864. 
York  denouncing  the  action  of  the  Government. 
"  These  things,"  he  said  in  his  exclamatory  style, 
"  are  more  hurtful  to  the  national  honor  and  strength 
than  the  loss  of  battles.  The  world  will  confound 
such  acts  with  the  principles  of  our  Government, 
and  the  folly  and  crimes  of  officials  will  be  looked 
upon  as  the  natural  results  of  the  spirit  of  our  in- 
stitutions. Our  State  and  local  authorities  must 
repel  this  ruinous  inference."  He  predicted  the 
most  dreadful  consequences  to  the  city  of  New  York 
if  this  were  not  done.  The  harbor  would  be  sealed 
up,  the  commerce  of  New  York  paralyzed,  the  world 
would  withdraw  from  the  keeping  of  New  York 
merchants  its  treasures  and  its  commerce  if  they  phSon, 
did  not  unite  in  this  demand  for  the  security  of  of  vS^m 
persons  and  of  property.  In  obedience  to  these  p- 192. ' 
frantic  orders  A.  Oakey  Hall,  the  district  attor- 
ney, did  his  best,  and  was  energetically  seconded 
by  Judge  Eussell,  who  charged  the  grand  jury  that 
the  officers  who  took  possession  of  these  newspaper 

Vol.  IX.— 4 


50  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. ii.  establishments  were  "liable  as  for  riot";  but  the 
grand  jury,  who  seem  to  have  kept  their  heads  more 
successfully  than  either  the  Governor  or  the  judge, 
resolved  that  it  was  "  inexpedient  to  examine  into 
the  subject."  The  Governor  could  not  rest  quiet 
under  this  contemptuous  refusal  of  the  grand  jury 
iwL.  '  to  do  his  bidding.  He  wrote  again  to  the  district 
attorney,  saying,  "  As  they  [the  grand  jury]  have 
refused  to  do  their  duty,  the  subject  of  the  seizure 
of  these  journals  should  at  once  be  brought  before 
some  proper  magistrate."  He  promised  him  all  the 
assistance  he  required  in  the  prosecution  of  the  in- 
vestigations. Thus  egged  on  by  the  chief  executive 
of  the  State,  Mr.  Hall  proceeded  to  do  the  work 
required  of  him.  Upon  warrants  issued  at  his  in- 
stance by  City  Judge  Russell,  General  Dix  and 

juiy  i,i864.  several  officers  of  his  staff  were  arrested.  They 
submitted  with  perfect  courtesy  to  the  behest  of 
the  civil  authorities,  and  appeared  before  Judge 
Russell  to  answer  for  their  acts.  The  judge  held 
them  over  on  their  own  recognizance  to  await  the 
action  of  another  grand  jury,  which,  it  was  hoped, 
might  be  more  subservient  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Governor  than  the  last ;  but  no  further  action  was 
ever  taken. 

During  the  same  week  which  witnessed  the  radi- 
cal fiasco  at  Cleveland,  an  attempt  was  made  in 
New  York  to  put  General  Grant  before  the  coun- 
try as  a  Presidential  candidate.  The  committee 
having  the  matter  in  charge  made  no  public  avowal 
of  their  intentions ;  they  merely  called  a  meeting 
to  express  the  gratitude  of  the  country  to  the  gen- 
eral for  his  signal  services.  They  even  invited  the 
President  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings,  an  in- 


THE    CLEVELAND    CONVENTION  51 

vitation  which  he  said  it  was  impossible  for  him  to    chap,  il 
accept. 

"I  approve,"  he  wrote,  "nevertheless,  whatever 
may  tend  to  strengthen  and  sustain  General  Grant 
and  the  noble  armies  now  under  his  direction.    My 
previous  high  estimate  of  General  Grant  has  been 
maintained  and  heightened  by  what  has  occurred 
in  the  remarkable  campaign  he  is  now  conducting, 
while  the  magnitude  and  difficulty  of  the  task  be- 
fore him  do  not  prove  less  than  I  expected.    He 
and  his  brave  soldiers  are  now  in  the  midst  of 
their  great  trial,  and  I  trust  that  at  your  meeting   "^J  *° 
you  will  so  shape  your  good  words  that  they  may  andShefs, 
turn  to  men  and  guns,  moving  to  his  and  their  sup-    ^ms. 
port." 

With  such  a  gracious  approval  of  the  movement, 
the  meeting  naturally  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Lincoln  men.  General  Grant  neither  at  this  time 
nor  at  any  other  gave  the  least  countenance  to  the 
efforts  which  were  made  to  array  him  in  political 
opposition  to  the  President. 


CHAPTEE  III 


LINCOLN     RENOMINATED 


IN  other  chapters  we  have  mentioned  the  un- 
availing efforts  made  by  a  few  politicians  to 
defeat  the  will  of  the  people  which  everywhere  de- 
manded the  renomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  These 
efforts  were  worth  studying  as  manifestations  of 
eccentric  human  nature,  but  they  never  had  the 
least  effect  upon  the  great  currents  of  public  opin- 
ion. Death  alone  could  have  prevented  the  choice 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  Union  Convention.  So  ab- 
solute and  universal  was  this  tendency  that  most 
of  the  politicians  made  no  effort  to  direct  or  guide 
it ;  they  simply  exerted  themselves  to  keep  in  the 
van  and  not  be  overwhelmed.  The  Convention 
was  to  meet  on  the  7th  of  June,  but  the  irregular 
nominations  of  the  President  began  at  the  feast  of 
the  Epiphany.  The  first  convention  of  the  year 
was  held  in  New  Hampshire  on  the  6th  of  January 
— for  the  nomination  of  State  officers.  It  had 
properly  no  concern  with  the  National  nomina- 
tions. The  Convention  consisted  in  great  part  of 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Chase,  and  those  employees 
of  the  Treasury  Department  whose  homes  were  in 
New  Hampshire  had  come  together  determined  to 
smother  any  mistimed  demonstration  for  the  Presi- 


LINCOLN    KENOMINATED  53 

dent;  but  the  first  mention  of  his  name  set  the   chap. ni. 
assembly  on  fire,  and  before  the  chairman  knew 
what  he  was  doing  the  Convention  had  declared  in 
favor  of  the  renomination  of  Lincoln. 

The  same  day  a  far  more  important  demonstra- 
tion came  to  the  surface  in  Pennsylvania.  The 
State  Legislature  met  on  the  5th  of  January,  and  we*. 
the  following  day  a  paper,  prepared  in  advance, 
addressed  to  the  President,  requesting  him  to  ac- 
cept a  second  term  of  the  Presidency,  began  to  be 
circulated  among  the  Union  members.  Not  one  to 
whom  it  was  presented  declined  to  sign  it.  Within 
a  day  or  two  it  received  the  signature  of  every 
Union  member  of  the  Senate  and  the  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Simon  Cameron,  transmitting 
it  to  the  President  on  the  14th  of  January,  could 
say: 

"You  are  now  fairly  launched  on  your  second 
voyage,  and  of  its  success  I  am  as  confident  as 
ever  I  was  of  anything  in  my  life.    Providence  has  CLhfcoiD,to 
decreed  your  reelection,  and  no  combination  of  the   i8«?"  ms. 
wicked  can  prevent  it." 

This  remarkable  address  began  by  congratu- 
lating the  President  upon  the  successes  of  the 
recent  election,  which  were  generously  ascribed  to 
the  policy  of  his  Administration.  Referring  to  the 
Republican  victory  in  their  own  State,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  said :  "  If  the  voice  of  Penn- 
sylvania became  thus  potential  in  indorsing  the 
policy  of  your  Administration,  we  consider  that, 
as  the  representatives  of  those  who  have  so  com- 
pletely indorsed  your  official  course,  we  are  only 
responding  to  their  demands  when  we  thus  pub- 
licly announce  our  unshaken  preference  for  your 


54  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  in.  reelection  to  the  Presidency  in  1864."  This  prefer- 
ence was  justified  by  them  purely  on  public  grounds. 

"  To  make  a  change  in  the  Administration  until 
its  authority  has  been  fully  reestablished  in  the 
revolted  States  would  be  to  give  the  enemies  of 
the  Government  abroad  a  pretext  for  asserting 
that  the  Government  had  failed  at  home.  To 
change  the  policy  in  operation  to  crush  rebellion 
and  restore  the  land  to  peace  would  be  to  afford 
the  traitors  in  arms  time  to  gather  new  strength  — 
if  not  for  immediate  victory,  at  least  for  ultimate 
success  in  their  efforts  permanently  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  .  .  We  do  not  make  this  communication 
at  this  time  to  elicit  from  you  any  expression  of 
opinion  on  this  subject.  Having  confidence  in 
your  patriotism,  we  believe  that  you  will  abide  the 
decision  of  the  friends  of  the  Union,  and  yield  con- 
sent to  any  honorable  use  which  they  may  deem 
proper  to  make  of  your  name  in  order  to  secure 
the  greatest  good  to  the  country  and  the  speediest 
success  to  our  arms.  .  .  Expressing  what  we  feel 
to  be  the  language  not  only  of  our  own  constitu- 
ents, but  also  of  the  people  of  all  the  loyal  States, 
we  claim  to  indulge  the  expectation  that  you  will 
yield  to  the  preference  which  has  already  made 
you  the  people's  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in 
1864." 

In  every  gathering  o^  the  supporters  of  the 
Union  the  same  irrepressible  sentiment  broke 
forth.  The  "New-York  Times"  on  the  15th  of 
ism.  January  clearly  expressed  the  general  feeling: 
"  The  same  wise  policy  which  would  forbid  a  man 
of  business  in  troublous  times  to  change  his  agent 
of  proved  efficiency,  impels  the  loyal  people  of  our 


Jan.  4,  1864. 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  55 

country  to  continue  President  Lincoln  in  his  re-    chap.  in. 
sponsible  position ;  and  against  the  confirmed  will 
of  the  people  politicians  are  powerless." 

The  sentiment  was  so  pocent  in  its  pressure  upon 
the  politicians  that  they  everywhere  gave  way  and 
broke  into  premature  indorsement  of  the  nomina- 
tion. The  Union  Central  Committee  of  New  York 
held  a  special  meeting,  and  unanimously  recom- 
mended the  renomination  of  the  President.  Sena- 
tor Morgan,  sending  this  news  to  Mr.  Lincoln, 
added:  "It  is  going  to  be  difficult  to  restrain  the 
boys,  and  there  is  not  much  use  in  trying  to  do  so."  "~"iflt 

At  a  local  election  some  of  the  ward  tickets  were 
headed,  with  an  irrelevancy  which  showed  the 
spirit  of  the  hour,  "For  President  of  the  United 
States  in  1864,  Abraham  Lincoln." 

From  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  country  these 
spontaneous  nominations  joyously  echoed  one 
another.  Towards  the  close  of  January  the  Eadical 
Legislature  of  Kansas,  with  but  one  dissenting 
voice,  passed  through  both  its  houses  a  resolution 
renominating  Lincoln.  All  through  the  next  month 
these  demonstrations  continued.  The  Union  mem- 
bers of  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  united  in  an 
address  to  the  President,  saying:  "Without  any 
disparagement  of  the  true  men  who  surround  you, 
and  whose  counsel  you  have  shared,  believing 
that  you  are  the  choice  of  the  people,  whose  ser- 
vants we  are,  and  firmly  satisfied  that  they  desire 
and  intend  to  give  you  four  years  for  a  policy  of 
peace,  we  present  your  name  as  the  man  for  Presi-  is&T  ms. 
dent  of  the  American  people,  in  1864." 

Connecticut  instructed  her  delegates  by  resolu- 
tions on  the  17th  of  February;   Maryland,  Min- 


Feb.  18, 


56  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  in.  nesota,  and  Colorado  expressed  in  the  same  way 
the  sentiment  of  their  people.  Wisconsin  and  In- 
diana made  haste  to  range  themselves  with  the 
other  Northern  States ;  and  Ohio  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  put  a  stop  to  the  restless  ambition  of  her 
favorite  son  by  a  resolution  of  the  Republican 
members  of  the  Legislature  declaring  that  "  the 
people  of  Ohio,  and  her  soldiers  in  the  field,  de- 
mand the  renomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to 
the  Presidency "  —  the  members  rising  to  their 
feet  and  cheering  with  uncontrollable  clamor 
when  the  resolution  passed.  The  State  of  Maine, 
on  the  extreme  eastern  border,  spoke  next.  Early 
in  March  the  President  received  this  dispatch, 
signed  by  a  name  afterwards  illustrious  in  our 
political  annals :  "  Both  branches  of  the  Maine 
Legislature  have  this  day  adopted  resolutions  cor- 
dially recommending  your  renomination.  Every 
Union  member  voted  in  favor  of  them.    Maine  is 

Mark\1864-  a  unit  for  you.— James  G.  Blaine." 

Nowhere  except  in  the  State  of  Missouri  was  the 
name  of  Mr.  Lincoln  mentioned  without  over- 
whelming adhesion,  and  even  in  the  Missouri 
Assembly  the  resolution  in  favor  of  his  renomina- 
tion was  laid  upon  the  table  by  a  majority  of  only 
eight.  There  had  been  some  anxiety  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  lest  the  powerful  secret 
organization  called  the  Union  League,  which  repre- 
sented the  most  ardent  and  vehement  Eepublican 
sentiment  of  the  country,  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  opponents ;  but  it  was  speedily  seen 
that  out  of  Missouri  these  apprehensions  were 
groundless.  The  Union  Leagues  of  New  York, 
Illinois,  and  even  Vicksburg,  where  the  victory  of 


LINCOLN    KENOMINATED  57 

Grant  had  allowed  the  development  of  a  robust  chap,  iil 
Union  sentiment,  were  among  the  first  to  declare 
for  the  President.  The  Union  League  Club  in 
Philadelphia,  powerful  in  wealth,  intelligence,  and 
personal  influence,  so  early  as  the  11th  of  January 
had  resolved  that  to  the  "  prudence,  sagacity,  com- 
prehension, and  perseverance  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  under 
the  guidance  of  a  benign  Providence,  the  nation  is 
more  indebted  for  the  grand  results  of  the  war, 
which  Southern  rebels  have  wickedly  waged  against 
liberty  and  the  Union,  than  to  any  other  single 
instrumentality;  and  that  he  is  justly  entitled  to 
whatever  reward  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  nation  to 
bestow."  They  declared  also  :  "  That  as  Mr.  Lin- 
coln has  had  to  endure  the  largest  share  of  the 
labor  required  to  suppress  the  Eebellion,  now  rapidly 
verging  to  its  close,  he  should  also  enjoy  the  largest 
share  of  the  honors  which  await  those  who  have 
contended  for  the  right.  They  therefore  recognize 
with  pleasure  the  unmistakable  indications  of  the 
popular  will  in  all  the  loyal  States,  and  heartily 
join  with  their  fellow-citizens,  without  any  dis- 
tinction of  party,  here  and  elsewhere,  in  presenting 
him  as  the  people's  candidate  for  the  Presidency." 

The  current  swept  on  irresistibly  throughout  the 
months  of  spring.  A  few  opponents  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  isw. 
seeing  that  he  would  be  nominated  the  moment 
the  Convention  should  meet,  made  one  last  effort  to 
postpone  the  meeting  of  the  Convention  until  Sep- 
tember, knowing  that  their  only  reliance  was  in 
some  possible  accident  of  the  summer.  So  earnest 
and  important  a  Eepublican  as  William  Cullen 
Bryant  united  with  a  self-constituted  committee 
of  others  equally  earnest,  but  not  so  important,  to 


April  26 


58  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  in.  induce  the  National  Committee  to  postpone  the 
Convention.  In  their  opinion  the  country  was 
not  now  in  a  position  to  enter  into  a  Presidential 
contest;  it  was  clear  to  them  that  no  nomination 
could  be  made  with  any  unanimity  so  early  as 
June.  They  thought  it  best  to  see  what  the  result 
of  the  summer  campaign  would  be,  as  the  wish  of 
the  people  to  continue  their  present  leaders  in 
power  would  depend  very  much  upon  this.  The 
committee,  of  course,  took  no  notice  of  this  appeal, 
though  it  was  favored  by  so  strong  a  Republican 
1864.""'  authority  as  the  "New  York  Tribune."  The  Na- 
tional Committee  wisely  thought  that  they  might 
with  as  much  reason  take  into  consideration  the  re- 
quest of  a  committee  of  prominent  citizens  to  check 
an  impending  thunder-storm.  All  the  movements 
in  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln  were  marked  with  the 
same  naivete  and  futility.  The  secret  circular  of 
Senator  Pomeroy,  the  farcical  Cleveland  Conven- 
tion, the  attempt  of  Mr.  Bryant's  committee  to  post- 
pone the  Baltimore  Convention,  were  all  equally 
feeble  and  nugatory  in  their  effect. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  no  measures  whatever  to  pro- 
mote his  candidacy.  It  is  true  he  did  not,  like 
other  candidates,  assume  airs  of  reluctance  or  bash- 
fulness.  While  he  discouraged  on  the  part  of 
strangers  any  suggestions  as  to  his  reelection, 
among  his  friends  he  made  no  secret  of  his  readi- 
ness to  continue  the  work  he  was  engaged  in,  if  such 
should  seem  to  be  the  general  wish.  In  a  private 
letter  to  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  he  said :  "  A  second 
term  would  be  a  great  honor  and  a  great  labor, 
which  together  perhaps  I  would  not  decline  if  ten- 
863.**  ms.    dered."    To  another  Congressman  he  is  reported  to 


LINCOLN    EENOMINATED  59 

have  said :  "  I  do  not  desire  a  renomination,  except  chap.  in. 
for  the  reason  that  such  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Republican  party  would  be  the  most  emphatic 
indorsement  which  could  be  given  to  the  policy  of 
my  Administration."  We  have  already  mentioned 
the  equanimity  with  which  he  treated  the  efforts 
of  a  leading  member  of  his  Cabinet  to  supplant 
him,  and  he  received  in  the  same  manner  the 
frequent  suggestions  of  apprehensive  friends  that 
he  would  do  well  to  beware  of  Grant.  His  usual 
reply  was :  "  If  he  takes  Richmond,  let  him  have 
it."  In  reality,  General  Grant  was  never  at  any 
time  a  competitor  for  the  nomination.  Of  course, 
after  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge  there  was  no 
lack  of  such  suggestions  on  the  part  of  those  who 
surrounded  the  victorious  general ;  but  he  positively 
refused  to  put  himself  in  the  lists  or  to  give  any 
sanction  to  the  use  of  his  name. 

The  President  constantly  discouraged  on  the  part 
of  office-holders  of  the  Government,  civil  or  mili- 
tary, any  especial  eagerness  in  his  behalf.  General 
Schurz  wrote,  late  in  February,  asking  permission 
to  take  an  active  part  in  the  Presidential  canvass, 
to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  replied :  "  Allow  me  to  sug- 
gest that  if  you  wish  to  remain  in  the  military 
service,  it  is  very  dangerous  for  you  to  get  tempo- 
rarily out  of  it;  because,  with  a  major-general  once 
out,  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  even  the  President 
to  get  him  in  again.  With  my  appreciation  of  your 
ability  and  correct  principle,  of  course  I  would  be 
very  glad  to  have  your  service  for  the  country  in 
the  approaching  political  canvass ;  but  I  fear  we 
cannot  properly  have  it  without  separating  you  schura, 
from  the  military."    And  in  a  subsequent  letter   laa. '  ms. 


60 


ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 


Lincoln  to 

Schurz, 

Mar.  23, 

1864. 

Auto? 


addressed  to  the  same  general,  he  said :  "  I  perceive 
no  objection  to  your  making  a  political  speech  when 
you  are  where  one  is  to  be  made ;  but  quite  surely 
speaking  in  the  North  and  fighting  in  the  South  at 
the  same  time  are  not  possible ;  nor  could  I  be  jus- 
tified to  detail  any  officer  to  the  political  campaign 
during  its  continuance  and  then  return  him  to  the 
army." 

The  experience  of  a  hundred  years  of  our  poli- 
tics has  shown  what  perils  environ  a  Presidential 
candidate  who  makes  speeches.  The  temptation  to 
flatter  the  immediate  audience,  without  regard  to 
the  ultimate  effect  of  the  words  spoken,  has  often 
proved  too  strong  for  the  wariest  politician  to  resist. 
Especially  is  a  candidate  iu  danger  when  confront- 
ing an  audience  belonging  to  a  special  race  or  class. 
Mr.  Lincoln  made  no  mistake  either  in  1860  or  in 
1864.  Even  when  exposed  to  the  strongest  possi- 
ble temptation,  the  reception  of  an  address  from 
a  deputation  of  a  workingmen's  association,  he 
preserved  his  mental  balance  undisturbed.  To 
such  a  committee,  who  approached  him  on  the 
21st  of  March,  1864,  he  replied  by  repeating  to 
them  the  passage  from  his  message  of  December, 
1861,  in  which  the  relations  of  labor  and  capital 
are  set  down  with  mathematical  and  logical  pre- 
cision, illuminated  by  the  light  of  a  broad  human- 
ity ;  and  he  only  added  to  the  views  thus  expressed 
the  following  words,  than  which  nothing  wiser  or 
more  humane  has  ever  been  said  by  social  econo- 
mists : 


None  are  so  deeply  interested  to  resist  the  present  Re- 
bellion as  the  working  people.  Let  them  beware  of 
prejudices  working  disunion  and  hostility  among  them- 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  61 

selves.    The  most  notable  feature  of  a  disturbance  in    chap.  in. 
your  city  last  summer  was  the  hanging  of  some  working  Mar.2i,i864. 
people  by  other  working  people.     It  should  never  be  so. 
The  strongest  bond  of  human  sympathy,  outside  of  the 
family  relation,  should  be  one  uniting  all  working  people, 
of  all  nations  and  tongues  and  kindreds.    Nor  should  this 
lead  to  a  war  upon  property  or  the  owners  of  property. 
Property  is  the  fruit  of  labor,  property  is  desirable,  is  a 
positive  good  in  the  world.     That  some  should  be  rich 
shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  and  hence,  is  just 
encouragement  to  industry  and  enterprise.     Let  not  him        Mc- 
who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of  another,  but  let    <?Histo?y 
him  labor  diligently  and  build  one  for  himself,  thus  by    Re£fe$®n  „ 
example  assuring  that  his  own  shall  be  safe  from  violence      p.  607.  ' 
when  built. 

The  politicians  who  opposed  Mr.  Lincoln,  whether 
from  pure  motives  or  from  motives  not  so  pure,  met 
with  one  common  fate :  they  were  almost  univer- 
sally beaten  in  their  own  districts  by  men  who, 
whatever  their  other  incentives,  were  sufficiently 
adroit  to  perceive  the  sign  in  which  they  should 
conquer.  It  gave  a  man  all  this  year  a  quite  unfair 
advantage  in  his  district  to  be  known  as  a  friend  of 
the  President,  when  his  opponent  was  not  equally 
outspoken ;  and  many  of  the  most  radical  poli- 
ticians, seeing  in  which  direction  their  advantage 
lay,  suddenly  turned  upon  their  opponents  and 
vanquished  them  in  the  President's  name.  General 
Lane,  for  example,  who  had  been  engaged  in  a  bit- 
ter controversy  with  Pomeroy  in  regard  to  local 
interests  in  Kansas,  saw  his  opportunity  in  the 
anti-Lincoln  circular  of  his  colleague ;  and  although 
before  this  it  would  have  been  hard  to  say  which  of 
the  two  had  been  most  free  in  his  criticisms  of  the 
President,  General  Lane  instantly  trimmed  his  sails 
to  catch  the  favoring  breeze  and  elected  himself 


62  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  in.  and  a  full  list  of  delegates  to  the  Baltimore  Conven- 
tion, whom  he  called,  in  his  characteristic  language, 
"all  vindictive  friends  of  the  President."  Other 
Members  of  Congress,  equally  radical  and  more 
sincere  and  honest,  made  haste  to  range  themselves 
on  the  side  of  the  President  against  those  with 
whom  they  had  been  more  intimately  associated. 
William  D.  Kelley  of  Philadelphia  publicly  pro- 
claimed him  "  the  wisest  Eadical  of  us  all";  James 
M.  Ashley,  of  Ohio,  to  whom  one  of  his  abolitionist 
constituents  had  objected  that  he  wanted  no  more 
of  a  President  who  had  not  crushed  a  rebellion  in 
four  years,  replied  that  this  was  unreasonable, 
as  the  Lord  had  not  crushed  the  devil  in  a  much 
longer  time. 

As  the  day  for  the  meeting  at  Baltimore  drew 
near,  and  its  unanimous  verdict  became  more  and 
more  evident,  the  President  was  besieged  from 
every  quarter  of  the  Union  with  solicitations  to 
make  known  his  wishes  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the 
Convention.  To  all  such  inquiries  he  returned  an 
energetic  refusal  to  give  any  word  of  counsel  or  to 
express  any  personal  desire.  During  a  few  days 
preceding  the  Convention  a  great  many  delegates 
took  the  road  to  Washington,  either  to  get  some 
intimation  of  the  President's  wishes  or  to  impress 
their  own  faces  and  names  on  his  expectant  mind. 
They  were  all  welcomed  with  genial  and  cordial 
courtesy,  but  received  not  the  slightest  intimation 
of  what  would  be  agreeable  to  him.  The  most 
powerful  politicians  from  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania were  listened  to  with  no  more  confidential 
consideration  than  the  shy  and  awkward  repre- 
sentatives of  the  rebellious  States,  who  had  elected 


LINCOLN    KENOMINATED  63 

themselves  in  sutlers'  tents  and  in  the  shadow  of   chap.  m. 
department  headquarters.    "  What  is  that  crowd 
of  people  in  the  hall ! "  he  asked  one  day  of  his 
secretary.     "It  is  a  delegation  from  South  Car- 
olina.   They  are  a  swindle."    "  Let  them  in,"  said      Diary. 
Lincoln ;    "  they  will  not  swindle  me." 

When  at  last  the  Convention  came  together  on 
the  7th  of  June,  1864,  it  had  less  to  do  than  any 
other  convention  in  our  political  history.  The 
delegates  were  bound  by  a  peremptory  mandate. 
John  W.  Forney,  the  editor  of  the  "  Philadelphia 
Press,"  in  an  article  printed  the  day  before  the 
meeting,  put  forth  with  unusual  candor  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Convention  towards  its  constituents. 
The  permanent  policy  of  the  Republican  party  of 
the  nation  was  already  absolutely  established  by 
the  acts  of  the  President  and  accepted  and  ratified 
by  Congress  and  the  people.  "  For  this  reason," 
said  Mr.  Forney,  "  it  is  less  important  as  a  political 
body,  as  it  cannot  originate  but  will  simply  repub- 
lish a  policy.  Yet  for  this  reason  it  is  transcen- 
dently  the  more  imposing  in  its  expression  of  the 
national  will.  Nor  has  the  Convention  a  candidate 
to  choose.  Choice  is  forbidden  it  by  the  previous 
action  of  the  people.  It  is  a  body  which  almost 
beyond  parallel  is  directly  responsible  to  the  people, 
and  little  more  than  the  instrument  of  their  will. 
Mr.  Lincoln  is  already  renominated,  and  the  Con- 
vention will  but  formally  announce  the  decision  of 
the  people.  If  this  absence  of  independence  lessens 
the  mere  political  interest  of  the  Convention  in  one  «<  pmie- 
respect,  the  fact  that  it  will  thoroughly  and  un-  press," 
questionably  obey  national  instructions  gives  it  is**. 
higher  importance." 


64  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  hi.  These  words  represented  the  well-nigh  universal 
sentiment  among  Republicans.  There  were,  of 
course,  those  to  whom  such  a  sentiment  was  not 
agreeable.  Horace  Greeley  found  it  hard  to  accept 
an  opinion  which  ran  counter  to  his  personal  views. 

June  e,  1862.  In  an  article  of  the  same  date  as  that  last  quoted, 
although  he  admitted  the  predestined  action  of  the 
Convention,  he  still  protested  vehemently  against 
the  impolicy  of  such  action.  He  quoted  the  mes- 
sage sent  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  Governor  Seymour  in 
the  dark  winter  of  1862-63,  "  that  if  he  wants  to  be 
President  of  the  United  States,  he  must  take  care 
that  there  shall  be  a  United  States." 

"We  could  wish,"  he  said,  "the  Presidency  utterly 
forgotten  or  ignored  for  the  next  two  months,  while 
every  impulse,  every  effort  of  the  loyal  millions 
should  be  directed  toward  the  overthrow  of  the 
armed  hosts  of  the  Rebellion.  That  effected,  or 
its  speedy  accomplishment  proved  impossible,  we 
should  be  ready  to  enter  clear-sightedly  on  the 
Presidential  canvass.  Now  we  are  not.  We  feel 
that  the  expected  nomination,  if  made  at  this  time, 

"New York  exposes  the  Union   party  to  a  dangerous  'flank 

June e, lsk  movement' — possibly  a  successful   one." 

Among  the  Democratic  newspapers  a  still  more 
blind  and  obstinate  disinclination  to  accept  the  ex- 
isting facts  was  seen  up  to  the  hour  of  the  meeting 
of  the  Convention.  They  still  insisted  that  the  nomi- 
nation of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  the  highest  degree 
doubtful ;  some  pretended  that  the  delegates  were 
equally  divided  between  Lincoln  and  Grant ;  others 
insisted  that  the  nomination  of  Fremont  at  Cleve- 
land had  electrified  the  country  and  would  prob- 
ably carry  the  Convention  by  storm. 


GENERAL    L(  )VELL    H.   HOUSSEAU. 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  65 

The  Convention  was  opened  by  a  brief  speech  chap.  hi. 
from  Senator  Morgan  of  New  York,  who  was  June7,i8<a. 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee.  It  con- 
tained one  significant  sentence.  He  said  the  party 
of  which  they  were  the  delegates  and  honored  rep- 
resentatives would  fall  short  of  accomplishing  its 
great  mission  unless  among  its  other  resolves  it 
should  declare  for  such  amendment  of  the  Consti- 
tution as  would  positively  prohibit  African  slavery 
in  the  United  States.  The  sentence  was  greeted 
with  prolonged  applause,  which  burst  at  last  into 
three  cheers,  in  the  midst  of  which  Governor 
Morgan  announced  the  choice  by  the  National 
Committee  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge 
of  Kentucky  as  temporary  chairman.  The  vener- 
able Kentuckian  on  taking  the  chair  made  a  speech 
which,  though  entirely  extemporaneous,  was  de- 
livered with  great  ease  and  dignity,  and  pro- 
foundly impressed  his   auditors. 

Disregarding  the  etiquette  which  assumes  that  a 
convention  is  a  deliberative  assembly  and  that  its 
choice  cannot  be  foretold  until  it  is  made,  he 
calmly  took  it  for  granted  at  the  very  beginning 
of  his  remarks  that  the  Union  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  was  already  nominated,  and  as  soon  as 
the  tumultuous  cheers  which  greeted  his  mention 
of  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  had  died  away 
he  turned  at  once  to  the  discussion  of  what  he 
considered  the  real  business  of  the  day  —  the  dec- 
laration of  principles.  Coming  from  a  section  of 
the  country  where  the  Constitution  had  been 
especially  reverenced  in  words  and  vehemently 
assailed  in  action,  he  declared  that  with  all  the  out- 
cry about  our  violations  of  the  Constitution  this 
Vol.  IX.— 5 


66 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  in.  present  living  generation  and  this  present  Union 
party  are  more  thoroughly  devoted  to  that  Consti- 
tution than  any  generation  that  ever  lived  under 

June 7, 1864.  it;  but  he  contended  also  that  sacred  as  was  the 
Constitution  the  nation  was  not  its  slave.  "We 
ought  to  have  it  distinctly  understood  by  friends 
and  enemies  that  while  we  love  that  instrument, 
[while]  we  will  maintain  it,  and  will,  with  un- 
doubted certainty,  put  to  death  friend  or  foe  who 
undertakes  to  trample  it  under  foot ;  yet,  beyond  a 
doubt,  we  will  reserve  the  right  to  alter  it  to  suit 
ourselves  from  time  to  time  and  from  generation 
to  generation."  This  speech  was  full  of  brief  and 
powerful  apothegms,  some  of  which  were  startling 
as  coming  from  an  aged  theologian  of  an  aspect 
equally  strong  and  benignant.  "  The  only  endur- 
ing, the  only  imperishable  cement  of  all  free  insti- 
tutions," he  said,  "  has  been  the  blood  of  traitors.  .  . 
It  is  a  fearful  truth,  but  we  had  as  well  avow  it  at 
once ;  and  every  blow  you  strike,  and  every  rebel 
you  kill,  every  battle  you  win,  dreadful  as  it  is  to 
do  it,  you  are  adding,  it  may  be  a  year,  it  may  be 
ten  years,  it  may  be  a  century,  it  may  be  ten  cen- 
turies, to  the  life  of  the  Government  and  the  free- 
dom of  your  children."  Though  presiding  over  a 
political  convention,  he  declared  himself  absolutely 
detached  from  politics.  "  As  a  Union  party  I  will 
follow  you  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  to  the 
gates  of  death.  But  as  an  Abolition  party,  as  a 
Republican  party,  as  a  Whig  party,  as  a  Democratic 
party,  as  an  American  party  I  will  not  follow  you 
one  foot."  He  echoed  the  brief  speech  in  which 
E.  D.  Morgan  had  struck  the  keynote.  He  said :  "  I 
unite  myself  with  those  who  believe  it  [slavery]  is 


Mc- 
Pherson, 
"  History 

of  the 
Rebellion,' 
pp.  403,  404 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  67 

contrary  to  the  brightest  interests  of  all  men  and  of  chap.  in. 
all  governments,  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  incompatible  with  the  natural 
rights  of  man.  I  join  myself  with  those  who  say, 
Away  with  it  forever ;  and  I  fervently  pray  God 
that  the  day  may  come  when  throughout  the  whole 
land  every  man  may  be  as  free  as  you  are,  and  as 
capable  of  enjoying  regulated  liberty.  .  .  I  know 
very  well  that  the  sentiments  which  I  am  uttering 
will  cause  me  great  odium  in  the  State  in  which  I 
was  born,  which  I  love,  where  the  bones  of  two 
generations  of  my  ancestors  and  some  of  my  chil- 
dren are,  and  where  very  soon  I  shall  lay  my  own.  pnereon, 
.  .  .  But  we  have  put  our  faces  toward  the  way      of  the 

.  .t  .       Rebellion," 

in  which  we  intend  to  go,  and  we  will  go  in  it  pp-  »*. m- 
to  the  end." 

In  the  evening  the  permanent  organization  of  June7,i864. 
the  Convention  was  effected,  William  Dennison  of 
Ohio  being  made  chairman.  He,  also,  in  a  brief 
and  eloquent  speech  took  for  granted  the  unani- 
mous nomination  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States  "  of  the  wise  and  good  man  whose  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  country,  in  the  administration  of 
the  Government,  has  secured  to  him  not  only  the 
admiration  but  the  warmest  affection  of  every 
friend  of  constitutional  liberty " ;  and  also,  in  the 
tone  of  both  the  speakers  who  had  preceded  him, 
said  that  the  loyal  people  of  the  country  expected 
the  Convention  "  to  declare  the  cause  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  Rebellion  to  be  slavery,  which,  as  well 
for  its  treasonable  offenses  against  the  Government 
as  for  its  incompatibility  with  the  rights  of  human- 
ity and  the  permanent  peace  of  the  country,  must, 
with  the  termination  of  the  war,  and  as  much 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  III. 

Mc- 
Pherson, 
"  History 

of  the 

Rebellion," 

p.  405. 


speedier  as  possible,  be  made  to  cease  forever  in 
every  State  and  Territory  of  the  Union." 

There  were  in  fact  but  three  tasks  before  the  Con- 
vention. The  first  was  to  settle  the  status  of  con- 
testing delegations  from  the  States  and  Territories ; 
the  second,  to  agree  upon  the  usual  platform ;  and 
the  third,  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  All  of  these  questions  were  handled 
skillfully,  and  with  a  spirit  of  moderation  which  led 
to  the  most  successful  result  in  the  canvass. 

There  were  no  questions  of  consequence  in  re- 
gard to  the  delegations  of  any  of  the  Northern 
States,  nor  did  any  questions  arise  in  regard  to 
those  from  Kentucky  and  West  Virginia,  Delaware 
and  Maryland.  There  were  two  delegations  from 
Missouri,  both  making  special  claims  of  loyalty  and 
of  regularity  of  election.  The  committee  on  cre- 
dentials decided  that  those  styling  themselves  the 
"  Eadical  Union  "  delegates  should  be  awarded  the 
seats.  As  this  was  the  only  delegation  which  had 
presented  itself  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Lin- 
coln, and  as  a  large  majority,  not  only  of  the  Con- 
vention, but  of  the  committee  on  credentials,  were 
of  the  contrary  opinion,  their  action  in  admitting 
the  recalcitrant  Missourians  was  sagacious.  It 
quieted  at  once  the  beginnings  of  what  might  have 
been  a  dangerous  schism.  The  question  as  to  ad- 
mitting the  delegates  from  Tennessee  also  raised 
some  discussion,  but  was  decided  in  their  favor  by 
more  than  a  two-thirds  vote.  The  delegates  from 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas  were  also  admitted  by  a 
vote  nearly  as  large.  The  delegates  from  Nevada, 
Colorado,  and  Nebraska  were  admitted  with  the 
right  to  vote;  those  from  the  States  of  Virginia 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  69 

and  Florida,  and  the  remaining  Territories,  were   chap.  m. 
admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  floor  without  the 
right  to  vote ;  and  those  from  South  Carolina  were 
rejected  altogether. 

The  same  wise  spirit  of  compromise  was  shown 
in  the  platform  reported  by  Henry  J.  Raymond  of  June8,i864. 
New  York.  The  first  resolution  declared  it  the  high- 
est duty  of  every  citizen  to  maintain  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  and  to  quell  the  Rebellion  by  force  of 
arms;  the  second  approved  the  determination  of 
the  G-overnment  to  enter  into  no  compromise  with 
the  rebels ;  the  third,  while  approving  all  the  acts 
hitherto  done  against  slavery,  declared  in  favor  of 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  terminating  and 
forever  prohibiting  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.  This  resolution  was  received  with  an 
outburst  of  spontaneous  and  thunderous  applause. 
The  fourth  resolution  gave  thanks  to  the  soldiers 
and  sailors ;  the  fifth  applauded  the  practical  wis- 
dom, unselfish  patriotism,  and  unswerving  fidelity 
with  which  Abraham  Lincoln  had  discharged,  under 
circumstances  of  unparalleled  difficulty,  the  great 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  Presidential  office, 
and  it  enumerated  and  approved  the  acts  of  his 
Administration.  The  sixth  resolution  was  of  suf- 
ficient significance  to  be  given  entire. 

Resolved,  That  we  deem  it  essential  to  the  general  wel- 
fare that  harmony  should  prevail  in  our  national  councils, 
and  we  regard  as  worthy  of  public  confidence  and  official 
trust  those  only  who  cordially  indorse  the  principles  pro- 
claimed in  these  resolutions  and  which  should  characterize 
the  administration  of  the  Government. 

This  resolution,  like  the  admission  of  the  Mis- 
souri Radicals,  was  intended  in  general  to  win  the 


70 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


support  and  heal  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  so-called 
Radicals  throughout  the  Union.  Its  specific  mean- 
ing, however,  was  not  entirely  clear.  There  were 
not  many  of  the  delegates  who  voted  for  it  who 
would  have  agreed  upon  all  the  details  of  a  scheme 
for  reorganizing  the  Cabinet.  If  measures  for  os- 
tracizing all  the  objectionable  members  of  the  Gov- 
ernment had  been  set  on  foot  in  the  hall  of  the 
Convention,  it  is  probable  that  the  name  of  every 
member  of  the  Cabinet  would  have  been  found  on 
some  of  the  shells.  It  is  altogether  likely,  how- 
ever, that  the  name  of  the  Postmaster-General 
would  have  occurred  more  frequently  than  that  of 
any  other  minister.  The  controversy  between  his 
brother  and  the  Radicals  of  Missouri,  in  which  he 
had,  in  accordance  with  his  habit  and  temperament, 
taken  an  energetic  part,  had  embittered  against  him 
the  feelings  of  the  radical  Republicans,  not  only  in 
the  West,  but  throughout  the  North,  and  his  habit 
of  candid  and  trenchant  criticism  had  raised  for 
him  enemies  in  all  political  circles. 

The  seventh  resolution  claimed  for  the  colored 
troops  the  full  protection  of  the  laws  of  war.  The 
eighth  declared  that  foreign  immigration  should  be 
fostered  and  encouraged.  The  ninth  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  speedy  construction  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  tenth  declared  that  the  national  faith 
pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt  must 
be  kept  inviolate;  and  the  eleventh  declared  against 
the  efforts  of  any  European  power  to  establish  mon- 
archical governments  sustained  by  foreign  military 
forces  in  near  proximity  to  the  United  States. 

This  last  resolution  showed  the  result  of  an 
adroit  and  sagacious  compromise.    The  Radicals  in 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  71 

the  Convention  desired  to  make  it  a  censure  upon    chap.  iii. 
the  action  of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  junes.ise*. 
State ;  but  the  friends  of  the  Administration,  while 
accepting  to  its  utmost  results  the  declaration  in 
favor  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  assumed  that  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet  were  of  the  same  mind, 
and  therefore  headed  the  resolution  with  the  decla- 
ration, "  That  we  approve  the  decision  taken  by 
the   Government  that  the  people   of    the  United 
States  can    never    regard  with    indifference    the 
attempt  of  any  European  power  to  overthrow  by   Raymond, 
force  or  to  supplant  by  fraud  the  institutions  of  any    Abraham 
Eepublican  Government  on  the  Western  continent."  pp-  556-558. 

There  was  nothing  more  before  the  Convention 
but  the  nominations,  and  one  of  those  was  in  fact 
already  made.  The  only  delay  in  registering  the 
will  of  the  Convention  occurred  as  a  consequence 
of  the  attempt  of  members  to  do  it  by  irregular 
and  summary  methods.  Mr.  Delano  of  Ohio  made 
the  customary  motion  to  proceed  to  the  nomination ; 
Simon  Cameron  moved  as  a  substitute  the  renomi- 
nation  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  by  acclamation.  A 
long  wrangle  ensued  on  the  motion  to  lay  this  sub- 
stitute on  the  table,  which  was  brought  to  a  close  by 
a  brief  speech  from  Henry  J.  Raymond,  represent- 
ing the  cooler  heads,  who  were  determined  that 
whatever  opposition  there  might  be  should  have  the 
fullest  opportunity  of  expression ;  and  by  a  motion, 
which  was  adopted,  to  nominate  in  the  usual  way, 
by  the  call  of  States.  The  interminable  nominat- 
ing speeches  of  recent  years  had  not  come  into 
fashion:  B.  C.  Cook,  the  chairman  of  the  Illinois 
delegation,  merely  said, "  The  State  of  Illinois  again 
presents  to  the  loyal  people  of  this  nation,  for 


72  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  hi.  President  of  the  United  States,  Abraham  Lincoln 
—  God  bless  him ! "  and  those  who  seconded  the 

June  s,  1864.  nomination  were  equally  brief .  Every  State  gave 
its  undivided  voice  for  Lincoln,  with  the  exception 
of  Missouri,  which  cast  its  vote,  as  the  chairman 
stated,  under  positive  instructions,  for  Grant.  But 
before  the  result  was  announced  John  F.  Hume  of 
Missouri  moved  that  the  nomination  of  Lincoln  be 
declared  unanimous.  This  could  not  be  done  until 
the  result  of  the  balloting  was  made  known  —  484 
for  Lincoln,  22  for  Grant.  Missouri  then  changed 
its  vote,  and  the  secretary  read  the  grand  total  of 
506  for  Lincoln.  This  announcement  was  greeted 
with  a  storm  of  cheering,  which  during  many  min- 
utes as  often  as  it  died  away  burst  out  anew. 

The  principal  names  mentioned  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  were,  besides  Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  ac- 
tual incumbent,  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  and 
Daniel  S.  Dickinson  of  New  York;  besides  these 
General  L.  H.  Rousseau  had  the  vote  of  his  own 
State,  Kentucky.  The  Radicals  of  Missouri  favored 
General  B.  F.  Butler,  who  had  a  few  scattered  votes 
also  from  New  England.  But  among  the  three 
principal  candidates  the  voters  were  equally  enough 
divided  to  make  the  contest  exceedingly  spirited 
and  interesting.  For  several  days  before  the  Con- 
vention the  President  had  been  besieged  by  in- 
quiries as  to  his  personal  wishes  in  regard  to  his 
associate  on  the  ticket.  He  had  persistently  refused 
to  give  the  slightest  intimation  of  such  wish.  His 
private  secretary,  Mr.  Nicolay,  was  at  Baltimore  in 
attendance  at  the  Convention ;  and  although  he  was 
acquainted  with  this  attitude  of  the  President,  at 
last,  overborne  by  the  solicitations  of  the  chairman 


LINCOLN    KENOMINATED  73 

of  the  Illinois  delegation,  who  had  been  perplexed  chap.  hi. 
at  the  advocacy  of  Joseph  Holt  by  Leonard  Swett, 
one  of  the  President's  most  intimate  friends,  Mr. 
Nicolay  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hay,  who  had  been 
left  in  charge  of  the  executive  office  in  his  absence, 
containing  among  other  matters  this  passage: 
"  Cook  wants  to  know  confidentially  whether  Swett 
is  all  right ;  whether  in  urging  Holt  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent he  reflects  the  President's  wishes ;  whether  the 
President  has  any  preference,  either  personal  or  on 
the  score  of  policy ;  or  whether  he  wishes  not  even 
to  interfere  by  a  confidential  intimation.  .  .  Please 
get  this  information  for  me,  if  possible."  The  letter  Hay?  ayM8. 
was  shown  to  the  President,  who  indorsed  upon  it 
this  memorandum :  "  Swett  is  unquestionably  all 
right.  Mr.  Holt  is  a  good  man,  but  I  had  not  Lincoln, 
heard  or  thought  of  him  for  V.  P.    Wish  not  to  in-  dorsement, 

Autograph 

terfere  about  V.  P.    Can  not  interfere  about  plat-       ms. 
form.    Convention  must  judge  for  itself." 

This  positive  and  final  instruction  was  sent  at 
once  to  Mr.  Nicolay,  and  by  him  communicated  to 
the  President's  most  intimate  friends  in  the  Con- 
vention. It  was  therefore  with  minds  absolutely 
untrammeled  by  even  any  knowledge  of  the  Presi- 
dent's wishes  that  the  Convention  went  about  its 
work  of  selecting  his  associate  on  the  ticket. 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  the  ticket  of  1864 
would  have  been  nominated  without  a  contest  had 
it  not  been  for  the  general  impression,  in  and  out 
of  the  Convention,  that  it  would  be  advisable  to 
select  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  a  war 
Democrat.  Mr.  Dickinson,  while  not  putting  him- 
self forward  as  a  candidate,  had  sanctioned  the  use 
of  his  name  by  his  friends  on  the  especial  ground 


74  ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  ni.  that  his  candidacy  might  attract  to  the  support  of 
the  Union  party  many  Democrats  who  would  have 
been  unwilling  to  support  a  ticket  avowedly  Repub- 
lican ;  but  these  considerations  weighed  with  still 
greater  force  in  favor  of  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  not 
only  a  Democrat,  but  also  a  citizen  of  a  border  slave- 
holding  State,  and  had  rendered  distinguished  ser- 
vices to  the  Union  cause.  At  the  first  show  of  hands 
it  was  at  once  evident  that  the  Tennessean  was 
stronger  than  the  New  Yorker,  receiving  four  more 

June  s,  1864.  votes  than  Mr.  Dickinson  even  in  the  New  York 
delegation.  When  the  votes  on  the  first  ballot 
were  counted  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Johnson  had 
received  200,  Mr.  Hamlin  150,  Mr.  Dickinson  108 ; 
but  before  the  result  was  announced  almost  the 
whole  Convention  turned  their  votes  to  Johnson, 
and  on  motion  of  Lyman  Tremain  of  New  York 
his  nomination  was  declared  unanimous.  The  work 
was  quickly  done.  Mr.  Lincoln,  walking  over  to 
the  War  Department  in  the  afternoon,  as  usual,  for 
military  news,  received  the  dispatch  announcing 
the  nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson  before  he  was 
informed  of  his  own.  The  telegram  containing  the 
news  of  his  own  nomination  had  gone  to  the  White 
House  a  few  minutes  before. 

In  the  evening  the  National  Grand  Council  of 
the  Union  League  came  together.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  its  members  had  participated  in  the  Na- 
tional Convention,  and  their  action  was  therefore 
a  foregone  conclusion.  They  adopted  a  platform 
similar  to  that  of  the  Convention,  with  the  excep- 
tion that  they  declared,  as  the  Cleveland  people  had 
done,  in  favor  of  the  confiscation  of  the  property  of 
rebels.    They  heartily  approved  and  indorsed  the 


LINCOLN    RENOMINATED  75 

nominations  already  made,  and  passed  a  resolution  chap.  in. 
to  the  effect  that  as  Lincoln  and  Johnson  were  the 
only  candidates  who  could  hope  to  be  elected  as 
loyal  men,  they  regarded  it  as  the  imperative  duty 
of  the  Union  League  to  do  all  that  lay  in  its  power 
to  secure  their  election.  They  also  earnestly  ap- 
proved and  indorsed  the  platform  and  principles 
adopted  by  the  Convention,  and  pledged  them- 
selves, as  individuals  and  as  members  of  the  League, 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  elect  the  candidates.  The 
seal  of  secrecy  was  removed  from  this  action  and  a 
copy  of  the  resolution  transmitted  to  the  President 
by  W.  R.  Erwin,  the  Grand  Recording  Secretary.  ms. 

A  committee,  headed  by  Governor  Dennison, 
came  on  the  next  day  to  notify  the  President  of 
his  nomination.  "  I  need  not  say  to  you,  sir,"  said  jLi^S. 
Mr.  Dennison,  "  that  the  Convention,  in  thus  unani- 
mously nominating  you  for  reelection,  but  gave 
utterance  to  the  almost  universal  voice  of  the  loyal 
people  of  the  country.  To  doubt  of  your  trium- 
phant election  would  be  little  short  of  abandoning 
the  hope  of  the  final  suppression  of  the  Rebellion 
and  the  restoration  of  the  authority  of  the  Govern- 
ment over  the  insurgent  States." 

The  President  answered : 

I  will  neither  conceal  my  gratification  nor  restrain  the 
expression  of  my  gratitude  that  the  Union  people,  through 
their  Convention,  in  the  continued  effort  to  save  and 
advance  the  nation,  have  deemed  me  not  unworthy  to 
remain  in  my  present  position.  I  know  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  I  shall  accept  the  nomination  tendered ;  and 
yet  perhaps  I  should  not  declare  definitely  before  reading 
and  considering  what  is  called  the  platform.  I  will  say 
now,  however,  I  approve  the  declaration  in  favor  of  so 
amending  the  Constitution  as  to  prohibit  slavery  through- 


76 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  hi.  out  the  nation.  When  the  people  in  revolt,  with  a  hun- 
dred days  of  explicit  notice  that  they  could  within  those 
days  resume  their  allegiance  without  the  overthrow  of 
their  institutions,  and  that  they  could  not  resume  it 
afterwards,  elected  to  stand  out,  such  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  as  is  now  proposed  became  a  fitting  and 
necessary  conclusion  to  the  final  success  of  the  Union 
cause.  Such  alone  can  meet  and  cover  all  cavils.  Now 
Mc_        the  unconditional  Union  men,  North  and  South,  perceive 

•MBstory  ^S  importance  and  embrace  it.  In  the  joint  names  of 
of  the      Liberty  and  Union,  let  us  labor  to  give  it  legal  form  and 

Rebellion,"  . . J  .      -_     .  '  to  b 

p.  408.       practical  effect. 


June9,i864.  On  the  same  day  a  committee  of  the  Union 
League  presented  themselves  to  inform  him  of  the 
action  taken  the  night  before.  The  President 
answered  them  more  informally,  saying  that  he 
did  not  allow  himself  to  suppose  that  either  the 
Convention  or  the  League  had  concluded  that  he 
was  either  the  greatest  or  the  best  man  in  Amer- 
ica, but  rather  that  they  had  decided  that  it  was 
not  best  "to  swap  horses  while  crossing  the 
river."  All  day  the  throngs  of  shouting  and 
congratulating  delegates  filled  the  approaches  to 
the  Executive  Mansion.  In  a  brief  speech  at  night, 
in  answer  to  a  serenade  from  citizens  of  Ohio, 
the  President  said :  "  What  we  want,  still  more 
than  Baltimore  conventions  or  Presidential  elec- 
tions, is  success  under  G-eneral  Grant.  I  propose 
that  you  constantly  bear  in  mind  that  the  support 
you  owe  to  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  in 
the  field  is  of  the  very  first  importance,  and  we 
should  therefore  bend  all  our  energies  to  that  point." 
He  then  proposed  three  cheers  for  General  Grant 
and  the  officers  and  soldiers  with  him,  and,  swing- 
ing his  own  hat,  led  off  in  the  cheering. 


LINCOLN    EENOMINATED  77 

The  more  formal  notification  of  the  Convention  chap.  ni. 
was  made  in  a  letter  written  by  George  William 
Curtis  of  New  York,  in  which  he  paraphrased 
the  platform  and  expressed  the  sentiment  of  the 
Convention  and  of  the  people  of  the  country 
with  his  usual  elegance  and  force.  "  They  have 
watched  your  official  course  .  .  .  with  unflag- 
ging attention;  and  amid  the  bitter  taunts  of 
eager  friends  and  the  fierce  denunciation  of  ene- 
mies, now  moving  too  fast  for  some,  now  too 
slowly  for  others,  they  have  seen  you  through- 
out this  tremendous  contest  patient,  sagacious, 
faithful,  just ;  leaning  upon  the  heart  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people,  and  satisfied  to  be  moved  by 
its  mighty  pulsations.  It  is  for  this  reason  that, 
long  before  the  Convention  met,  the  popular  instinct 
had  plainly  indicated  you  as  its  candidate,  and  the 
Convention  therefore  merely  recorded  the  popular 
will.  Your  character  and  career  prove  your  un- 
swerving fidelity  to  the  cardinal  principles  of  Amer- 
ican liberty  and  of  the  American  Constitution.  In 
the  name  of  that  liberty  and  Constitution,  sir,  we 
earnestly  request  your  acceptance  of  this  nomina- 
tion, reverently  commending  our  beloved  country, 
and  you,  its  Chief  Magistrate,  with  all  its  brave 
sons  who,  on  sea  and  land,  are  faithfully  defending 
the  good  old  American  cause  of  equal  rights,  to  the  ffSofn, 
blessing  of  Almighty  God."  i864meMs. 

In  accepting  the  nomination  the  President  ob- 
served the  same  wise  rule  of  brevity  which  he  had 
followed  four  years  before.  He  made  but  one  spe- 
cific reference  to  any  subject  of  discussion.  While 
he  accepted  the  resolution  in  regard  to  the  sup- 
planting of  republican  government  upon  the  West- 


78 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


Chap.  m. 


Lincoln  to 
Committee, 

June  27, 
1864.     MS. 


ern  continent,  he  gave  the  Convention  and  the 
country  distinctly  to  understand  that  he  stood  by 
the  action  already  adopted  by  himself  and  the 
Secretary  of  State.  He  said :  "  There  might  be 
misunderstanding  were  I  not  to  say  that  the  po- 
sition of  the  Grovernment  in  relation  to  the  action 
of  France  in  Mexico,  as  assumed  through  the  State 
Department  and  approved  and  indorsed  by  the  Con- 
vention among  the  measures  and  acts  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive, will  be  faithfully  maintained  so  long  as 
the  state  of  facts  shall  leave  that  position  pertinent 
and  applicable." 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE    RESIGNATION    OP    MR.    CHASE 

AFTER  Mr.  Chase's  withdrawal  from  his  hopeless    chap.  iv. 
Jl\.  contest  for  the  Presidency,  his  sentiments 
towards  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  exhibited  in  his  letters 
and  his  diary,  took  on  a  tinge  of  bitterness  which 
gradually  increased  until  their  friendly  association 
in  the  public  service  became  no  longer  possible. 
There  was  something  almost  comic  in  the  sudden 
collapse  of  his  candidacy;  and  the  American  people, 
who  are  quick  to  detect  the  ludicrous  in  any  event, 
could  not  help  smiling  when  the  States  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Ohio  ranged  themselves  among  the  first 
on  the  side  of  the  President.    This  was  intolerable 
to  Mr.  Chase,  who,  with  all  his  great  and  noble 
qualities,  was  deficient  in  humor.    His  wounded 
self-love  could  find  no  balm  in  these  circumstances, 
except  in  the  preposterous  fiction  which  he  con-    ^^^ 
structed  for  himself  that,  through  "the  systematic     Q^S 
operation   of  the   Postmaster-General  and    those  harden!4, 
holding  office  under  him  a  preference  for  the  re-   s'aSnP. 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  created."    Absurd  as      p.Ǥl 
this  fancy  was,  he  appears  firmly  to  have  believed 
it ;  and  the  Blairs,  whom  he  never  liked,  now  ap- 
peared to  him  in  the  light  of  powerful  enemies. 
An  incident  which  occurred  in  Congress  in  April  in- 
creased this  impression  to  a  degree  which  was  almost 

19 


80  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.  maddening  to  the  Secretary.  The  quarrel  between 
186*.  General  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  and  the  radicals  in 
Missouri  had  been  transferred  to  Washington  ;  and 
one  of  the  Missouri  members  having  made  charges 
against  him  of  corrupt  operations  in  trade  permits, 
he  demanded  an  investigation,  which  resulted,  of 
course,  in  his  complete  exoneration  from  such  im- 
putations. 

It  was  a  striking  instance  of  the  bewildering 
power  of  factious  hatred  that  such  charges  should 
ever  have  been  brought.  Any  one  who  knew  Blair, 
however  slightly,  should  have  known  that  personal 
dishonesty  could  never  have  offered  him  the  least 
temptation.  In  defending  himself  on  the  floor  of 
Congress  the  natural  pugnacity  of  his  disposition 
led  him  to  what  soldiers  call  an  offensive  return, — 
in  fact,  Frank  Blair  always  preferred  to  do  his 
fighting  within  the  enemy's  lines, —  and  believing 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  be  in  sympathy, 
at  least,  with  the  assault  which  had  been  made  up- 
on his  character,  he  attacked  him  with  equal  vigor 
and  injustice  by  way  of  retaliation.  As  we  have 
seen  in  another  chapter,  before  this  investigation 
was  begun  the  President  had  promised  when  Blair 
should  resign  his  seat  in  the  House  to  restore  him 
to  the  command  in  the  Western  army  which  he  had 
relinquished  on  coming  to  Washiugton.  Although 
he  greatly  disapproved  of  General  Blair's  attack 
upon  Mr.  Chase,  the  President  did  not  think  that 
he  was  justified  on  this  account  in  breaking  his 
word;  and  doubtless  reasoned  that  sending  Blair 
back  to  the  army  would  not  only  enable  him  to  do 
good  service  in  the  field,  but  would  quiet  an  element 
of  discord  in  Congress. 


THE    EESIGNATION    OF    MK.    CHASE  81 

The  result,  however,  was  most  unfortunate  in  its    chap.  rv. 
effect  on  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Chase.    He  was  stung 
to  the  bitterest  resentment  by  the  attack  of  Blair ; 
and  he  held  that  restoring  Blair  to  his  command 
made  the  President  an  accomplice  in  his  offense. 
From  that  time  he  took  a  continually  darkened 
view  both  of  the  President's  character  and  of  his 
chances  for  reelection.    No  good  could  come,  he 
said,  of   the  probable  identification   of  the   next 
Administration  with  the  Blair  family.      His   first  jfyacooke, 
thought  was  to  resign  his  place  in  the  Cabinet;  M^MenI*' 
though,  on  consulting  his  friends  and  finding  them   salmon  p. 

■  it.  i  M.  Chase," 

unanimous  against  such  a  course,  he  gave  it  up.  p.  584. 
But  his  letters  during  this  month  are  full  of  ill-will 
to  the  President.  To  his  niece  he  wrote :  "  If  Con- 
gress gives  me  the  measures  I  want,  and  Uncle  Abe 
will  stop  spending  so  fast,"  he,  Chase,  would  bring  d.  T.smith, 
about  resumption  within  a  year.  To  another,  he  in-  ibid.,  p.  m'. 
directly  blamed  the  President  for  the  slaughter  at 
Fort  Pillow.  To  Governor  Buckingham,  who  had 
written  him  a  sympathetic  note,  he  said :  "  My 
chief  concern  in  the  attacks  made  on  me  springs 
from  the  conviction  that  the  influence  of  the  men 
who  make  them  must  necessarily  divide  the  friends 
of  the  Union  and  freedom,  unless  the  President 
shall  cast  it  off,  of  which  I  have  little  hope.  I  am 
willing  to  be  myself  its  victim,  but  grieve  to  think 
our  country  may  be  also " ;  and  adds  this  com- 
pliment to  his  correspondent  at  the  expense  of  his 
colleagues  in  the  Government:  "How  strikingly 
the  economy  and  prudence  shown  by  the  narration 
of  your  excellent  message  contrasts  with  the  extrav- 
agance and  recklessness  which  mark  the  disburse- 
ment of  national  treasure."  Writing  to  another  Ma^wd!864' 
Vol.  IX.— 6 


82  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.    friend,  he  indulges  in  this  lumbering  pleasantry : 

"  It  seems  as  if  there  were  no  limit  to  expense.  .  . 

The  spigot  in  Uncle  Abe's  barrel  is  made  twice  as 

warden,    big  as  the  bung-hole.     He  may  have  been  a  good 

Ba£Sn°p.    flatboatman  and  rail-splitter,  but  he  certainly  never 

p.a586.      learned  the  true  science  of  coopering." 

This  was  a  dark  month  to  him ;  his  only  fortress 
of  refuge  was  his  self-esteem;  secure  in  this,  he 
lavished  on  every  side  his  criticisms  and  his  ani- 
madversions upon  his  associates.    "  Congress,"  he 
said,  "  is  unwilling  to  take  the  decisive  steps  which 
are  indispensable  to  the  highest  degree  of  public 
credit;  and  the  Executive  does  not,  I  fear,  suffi- 
chase  to    ciently  realize  the  importance  of  an  energetic  and 
^Say1^'    comprehensive  policy  in  all  departments  of  admin- 
186p.  59o!d"'  istration."    Smarting  as  he  did  under  the  attack  of 
the  Blairs,  he  pretended  to  treat  them  with  con- 
tempt.    "  Don't  trouble  yourself  about  the  Blairs," 
Mayie.1864.  he  wrote  to  an   adherent.     "Dogs   will  bark  at 
p.  591.      the  moon,  but  I  have  never  heard  that  the  moon 
stopped  on  that  account."    By  constantly  dwelling 
on  the  imaginary   coalition  of  Lincoln  with  the 
Blairs  against  him,  he  began  at  last  to  take  heart 
again,  and  to  think   that  against  adversaries   so 
weak  and  so  wicked  there  might  still  be  a  chance 
of  victory.    Only  a  fortnight  before  the  gathering 
of  the  Republican  Convention  at  Baltimore  he  began 
to  look  beyond  the  already  certain  event  of  that 
Convention,  and  to  contemplate  the  possibility  of 
defeating  Mr.  Lincoln  after  he  should  be  nomi- 
nated. 

"  It  has  become  quite  apparent  now,"  he  wrote, 
"that  the  importunity  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  special 
friends  for  an  early  convention,  in  order  to  make 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    MK.    CHASE 


83 


his  nomination  sure,  was  a  mistake  both  for  him 
and  for  the  country.  The  Convention  will  not  be 
regarded  as  a  Union  convention,  but  simply  as  a 
Blair-Lincoln  convention,  by  a  great  body  of  citi- 
zens whose  support  is  essential  to  success.  Few 
except  those  already  committed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  will 
consider  themselves  bound  by  a  predetermined 
nomination.  Very  many  who  may  ultimately  vote 
for  Mr.  Lincoln  will  wait  the  course  of  events,  hop- 
ing that  some  popular  movement  for  Grant  or 
some  other  successful  general  will  offer  a  better 
hope  of  saving  the  country.  Others,  and  the  num- 
ber seems  to  be  increasing,  will  not  support  his 
nomination  in  any  event,  believing  that  our  ill- 
success  thus  far  in  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion 
is  due  mainly  to  his  course  of  action  and  inaction, 
and  that  no  change  can  be  for  the  worse.  But 
these  are  speculations  merely  from  my  stand- 
point." 

The  Secretary's  relations  with  the  President  and 
his  colleagues  while  he  was  in  this  mood  were 
naturally  subject  to  much  friction,  and  this  frame 
of  mind  had  lasted  with  little  variation  for  more 
than  a  year.  It  was  impossible  to  get  on  with 
him  except  by  constant  agreement  to  all  his 
demands.  He  chose  in  his  letters  and  his  diaries 
to  represent  himself  as  the  one  just  and  patriotic 
man  in  the  Government,  who  was  striving  with 
desperate  energy,  but  with  little  hope,  to  preserve 
the  Administration  from  corrupt  influences.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  his  motives  were  pure, 
his  ability  and  industry  unusual,  his  integrity,  of 
course,  beyond  question.  He  held,  and  justly  held, 
that,  being  responsible  for  the  proper  conduct  of 


Chap.  IV. 


Chase  to 
Brough, 
May  19, 

1864. 

Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  593. 


84  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.  affairs  in  his  department,  he  should  not  be  com- 
pelled to  make  appointments  contrary  to  his  con- 
victions of  duty.  He  was  unquestionably  right  in 
insisting  that  appointments  should  be  made  on 
public  grounds,  and  that  only  men  of  ability  and 
character  should  be  chosen  to  fill  them ;  but  he  had 
an  exasperating  habit  of  assuming  that  nobody 
agreed  with  him  in  this  view,  and  that  all  differ- 
ences of  opinion  in  regard  to  persons  necessarily 
sprung  from  corrupt  or  improper  motives  on  the 
part  of  those  who  differed  with  him.  At  the 
slightest  word  of  disagreement  he  immediately 
put  on  his  full  armor  of  noble  sentiments  and 
phrases,  appealed  to  Heaven  for  the  rectitude  of 
his  intentions,  and  threatened  to  resign  his  com- 
mission if  thwarted  in  his  purpose.  When  he  was 
not  opposed  he  made  his  recommendations,  as  his 
colleagues  did,  on  grounds  of  political  expediency 
as  well  as  of  personal  fitness.  One  day,  for  in- 
stance, he  recommended  the  appointment  of  Rhein- 
hold  Solger  as  Assistant  Register  of  the  Treasury 
on  the  ground  that  "  the  German  supporters  of  the 
Administration  have  had  no  considerable  appoint- 
ment in  the  department." 

He  frequently  gave,  in  support  of  his  nominees, 
the  recommendations  of  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives of  the  States  where  the  appointments  were  to 
be  made.  But  he  always  sturdily  resented  any 
suggestions  from  the  President  that  an  appoint- 
ment proposed  by  him  would  have  a  bad  effect 
politically.  He  had  the  faculty  of  making  himself 
believe  that  his  obstinacy  in  such  matters  arose 
purely  from  devotion  to  principle.  He  would  not 
only  weary  the  President  with  unending  oral  dis- 


THE    RESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE 


85 


cussions,  but,  returning  to  the  department,  would 
write  him  letters  filled  with  high  and  irrelevant 
morality,  and  at  evening  would  enter  in  his  diary 
meditations  upon  his  own  purity  and  the  perversity 
of  those  he  chose  to  call  his  enemies.  It  would 
hardly  be  wise  for  the  ablest  man  of  affairs  to  as- 
sume such  an  attitude.  To  justify  it  at  all  one  should 
be  infallible  in  his  judgment  of  men.  With  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  this  was  far  from  being 
the  case.  He  was  not  a  good  judge  of  character ; 
he  gave  his  confidence  freely  to  any  one  who  came 
flattering  him  and  criticizing  the  President;  and 
after  having  given  it,  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
make  him  believe  that  the  man  who  talked  so  ju- 
diciously could  be  a  knave.  His  chosen  biographer, 
Judge  Warden,  says  :  "  He  was  indeed  sought  less 
by  strong  men  and  by  good  men  than  by  weak  men 
and  by  bad  men."  A  much  better  authority,  White- 
law  Reid,  while  giving  him  unmeasured  praise  for 
other  qualities,  calls  him  "  profoundly  ignorant  of 
men,"  and  says,  "  The  baldest  charlatan  might  de- 
ceive him  into  trusting  his  personal  worth." 

Early  in  the  year  1864  the  Federal  appointments 
in  New  York  City  began  to  be  the  subject  of  frequent 
conversations  between  the  President  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury.  So  many  complaints  of  irregu- 
larity and  inefficiency  in  the  conduct  of  affairs  in 
the  New  York  custom-house  had  reached  Mr.  Lin- 
coln that  he  began  to  think  a  change  in  the  officers 
there  would  be  of  advantage  to  the  public  service. 
Every  suggestion  of  this  sort,  however,  was  met 
by  Mr.  Chase  with  passionate  opposition.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  not  lost  confidence  in  the  integrity  or 
the  high  character  of  Hiram  Barney,  the  collector  of 


Chap.  IV. 


Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  530. 


Reid, 

"  Ohio  in 

the  War." 

Vol.  I., 

p.  18. 


86 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Lincoln 
to  Chase, 
Feb.  12, 

1864. 

Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  572. 


Ibid. 


customs  ;  he  was  even  willing  to  give  him  an  im- 
portant appointment  abroad  in  testimony  of  his 
continued  esteem;  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with 
what  he  heard  of  the  conduct  of  his  office.  Several 
of  his  subordinates  had  been  detected  in  improper 
and  corrupt  practices,  and  after  being  defended  by 
Mr.  Chase  until  defense  was  impossible,  they  had 
been  dismissed,  and  in  some  cases  punished.  In 
the  month  of  February,  while  the  conduct  of  the 
custom-house  was  under  investigation  in  Congress, 
a  special  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department,  named 
Joshua  F.  Bailey,  came  to  Washington,  having 
been  summoned  as  a  witness  to  testify  before  the 
committee  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  in 
charge  of  the  matter.  He  called  on  the  chairman 
in  advance,  and  endeavored  to  smother  the  inves- 
tigation by  saying,  among  other  things,  that,  what- 
ever might  be  developed,  the  President  would  in 
no  case  take  any  action. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  reported  this 
impudent  statement  to  the  President,  who  at  once 
communicated  the  fact  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  saying,  "  The  public  interest  cannot  fail 
to  suffer  in  the  hands  of  this  irresponsible  and  un- 
scrupulous man";  and  he  proposed  at  the  same 
time  to  send  Mr.  Barney  as  Minister  to  Portugal. 
Mr.  Chase  defended  Bailey,  and  resisted  with  such 
energy  the  displacement  of  Mr.  Barney  that  mid- 
summer came  with  matters  in  the  custom-house 
unchanged.  Mr.  Chase,  in  his  diary,  gives  a  full 
account  of  a  conversation  between  himself  and  the 
President  in  regard  to  this  matter,  in  which  the 
Secretary  reiterates  his  assurances  of  confidence 
in  the  conduct  of  the  custom-house,  and  gives  es- 


THE    RESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE  87 

pecially  warm  expression  to  his  regard  for  Bailey,    chap.  rv 

meeting  the  positive  assertion  of  the  chairman  of 

the  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  by 

saying,  "  I  think  Mr.  Bailey  is  not  the  fool  to  have 

made  such  a  suggestion."    So  long  as  he  remained  Junee.is**. 

in  office  he  gave  this  blind  confidence  to  Bailey, 

who  finally  showed  how  ill  he  deserved  it  by  the 

embezzlement  of  a  large  sum  of  public  money, 

and  by  his  flight  in  ruin  and  disgrace  from  the 

country. 

In  February,  1863,  the  Senate  rejected  the  nomi- 
nation of  Mark  Howard  as  collector  of  internal 
revenue  for  the  district  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Chase, 
hearing  that  this  rejection  was  made  at  the  instance 
of  Senator  Dixon,  immediately  wrote  a  letter  de- 
manding the  renomination  of  Howard ;  or,  if  the 
President  should  not  agree  with  him  in  this,  of 
some  one  not  recommended  by  Senator  Dixon.  A 
few  days  later  the  President  wrote  to  Mr.  Chase 
that  after  much  reflection  and  with  a  great  deal  of 
pain  that  it  was  adverse  to  his  wish,  he  had  con- 
cluded that  it  was  not  best  to  renominate  Mr. 
Howard.  He  recognized  the  constitutional  right 
of  the  Senate  to  reject  his  nomination  without 
being  called  to  account;  and  to  take  the  ground 
in  advance  that  he  would  nominate  no  one  for 
the  vacant  place  who  was  favored  by  a  Senator 
so  eminent  in  character  and  ability  as  Mr.  Dixon 
seemed  to  him  preposterous.  The  only  person 
from  Connecticut  recommended  for  the  vacancy 
was  Edward  Goodman,  in  favor  of  whom  Senator 
Dixon  and  Dwight  Loomis,  the  Representative  in  the  Bwiff 
House,  cordially  united.  The  President  therefore  saimon°p. 
asked  Mr.  Chase  to  send  him  a  nomination  for      p-  ^ 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


This  was 
indorsed 

Mar.  3, 1864, 
as  being 
withheld. 
Warden, 
"Life  of 

Salmon  P. 
Chase 


chap.  iv.  G  oodman.  Immediately  on  the  receipt  of  this  letter 
Mr.  Chase  wrote  out  his  resignation  as  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  these  words: 

Finding  myself  unable  to  approve  the  manner  in  which 
selections  for  appointment  to  important  trusts  in  this 
department  have  been  recently  made,  and  being  unwilling 
to  remain  responsible  for  its  administration,  under  exist- 
ing circumstances,  I  respectfully  resign  the  office  of  Sec- 
ppr524,l25.  retary  of  the  Treasury. 

This  letter,  however,  never  reached  the  Presi- 
dent, as  Senator  Dixon  came  in  before  it  was  dis- 
patched and  discussed  the  matter  in  a  spirit  so 
entirely  different  from  that  of  the  Secretary  that 
no  quarrel  was  possible  with  him;  and  after  he 
left,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  a  letter  to  the  President,  in 
which  he  said:  "I  do  not  insist  on  the  renom- 
ination  of  Mr.  Howard;  and  Mr.  Dixon  and  Mr. 
Loomis,  as  I  understand,  do  not  claim  the  nomina- 
tion of  his  successor.  .  .  My  only  object  —  and  I 
think  you  so  understand  it  —  is  to  secure  fit  men 
for  responsible  places,  without  admitting  the  rights 
of  Senators  or  Representatives  to  control  appoint- 
ments for  which  the  President,  and  the  Secretary 
as  his  presumed  adviser,  must  be  responsible.  Un- 
less this  principle  can  be  practically  established,  I 

Mar.  2, 1863.  feel  that  I  cannot  be  useful  to  you  or  the  country 
u  Ma^    in  my  present  position." 

It  is  possible  that  the  Secretary  may  have  thought 
that  this  implied  threat  to  resign  brought  both  the 
President  and  the  Senator  to  reason,  for  the  matter 
ended  at  this  time  by  their  allowing  him  to  have 

to  Lincoln,  absolutely  his  own  way.    Mr.  Dixon  wrote  to  the 

ms.    '  President,  saying  that  he  "preferred  to  leave  the 

whole  matter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  be- 


THE    RESIGNATION    OF    MR.    CHASE  89 

lieving  his  choice  would  be  such  as  to  advance  the  chap.iv. 
interests  of  the  country  and  the  Administration n ; 
and  the  President,  who  heartily  detested  these 
squabbles  over  office,  was  glad  of  this  arrange- 
ment. There  was  not  a  shade  of  difference  be- 
tween him  and  Mr.  Chase  as  to  the  duty  of  the 
Administration  to  appoint  only  fit  men  to  office, 
but  the  President  always  preferred  to  effect  this 
object  without  needlessly  offending  the  men  upon 
whom  the  Government  depended  for  its  support  in 
the  war. 

A  few  months  later  Mr.  Lincoln  was  subjected 
to  great  trouble  and  inconvenience  by  the  constant 
complaints  which  came  to  him  by  every  mail  from 
Puget  Sound  against  the  collector  for  that  district, 
one  Victor  Smith,  from  Ohio,  a  friend  and  ap- 
pointee of  Mr.  Chase.  This  Smith  is  described  by 
Schuckers1  as  "a  man  not  very  likely  to  become 
popular  on  the  Pacific  coast  —  or  anywhere  else. 
He  believed  in  spirit  rappings  and  was  an  avowed 
abolitionist;  he  whined  a  great  deal  about  ' prog- 
ress'; was  somewhat  arrogant  in  manner  and 
intolerant  in  speech,  and  speedily  made  himself 
thoroughly  unpopular  in  his  office." 

No  attention  was  paid  by  the  Secretary  to  these 
complaints,  which  were  from  time  to  time  referred 
to  him  by  the  President ;  but  at  last  the  clamor  by 
letter  and  by  deputations  from  across  the  continent 
became  intolerable,  and  the  President,  during  a 
somewhat  protracted  absence  of  the  Secretary 
from  Washington,  ordered  a  change  to  be  made  in 
the  office.    In  a  private  note  to  Mr.  Chase,  wishing 

iMr.  Schuckers  was  private   secretary  to  Mr.  Chase  and  author 
of  a  biography  of  him,  q.  v.,  p.  493. 


90 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


May 


to  avoid  giving  him  personal  offense,  he  said:  "My 
mind  is  made  np  to  remove  Victor  Smith  as  col- 
lector of  the  customs  at  the  Puget  Sound  district. 
Yet  in  doing  this  I  do  not  decide  that  the  charges 
against  him  are  true.  I  only  decide  that  the  de- 
gree of  dissatisfaction  with  him  there  is  too  great 
for  him  to  be  retained.  But  I  believe  he  is  your 
personal  acquaintance  and  friend,  and  if  you  desire 
it  I  will  try  to  find  some  other  place  for  him." 

Three  days  later  the  Secretary,  having  returned 
to  Washington,  answered  in  his  usual  manner,  pro- 
testing once  more  his  ardent  desire  to  serve  the 
country  faithfully,  and  claiming  that  he  had  a 
right  to  be  consulted  in  matters  of  appointment. 
He  sent  a  blank  commission  for  the  person  whom 
the  President  had  concluded  to  appoint,  but  pro- 
tested against  the  precedent,  and  tendered  his  resig- 
nation. This  time  again  the  President  gave  way. 
He  drove  to  the  Secretary's  house,  handed  his  pet- 
ulant letter  back  to  him,  and  begged  him  to  think 
May  13, 1863.  no  more  of  the  matter.1  Two  days  afterwards,  in  a 
letter  assenting  to  other  recommendations  for  office 
which  had  come  to  him  from  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, he  said,  "  Please  send  me  over  the  commis- 
sion for  Lewis  C.  G-unn,  as  you  recommend,  for  col- 
lector of  customs  at  Puget  Sound." 

Any  statesman  possessing  a  sense  of  humor  would 
have  hesitated  before  repeating  this  identical  pro- 


warden, 

"  Life  of 
Salmon  P 


p.  528. 


1  Maunsell  B.  Field,  in  his 
"  Memories  of  Many  Men,  And  of 
Some  Women,"  p.  303,  quotes 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  saying:  "I  went 
directly  up  to  him  with  the  res- 
ignation in  my  hand,  and,  put- 
ting my  arm  around  his  neck, 
said  to  him,   'Chase,  here  is  a 


paper  with  which  I  wish  to  have 
nothing  to  do ;  take  it  back  and 
be  reasonable.'  .  .  It  was  dif- 
ficult to  bring  him  to  terms.  I 
had  to  plead  with  him  a  long 
time ;  but  I  finally  succeeded, 
and  heard  nothing  more  of  that 
resignation." 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    MK.    CHASE  91 

ceeding;  but,  as  we  have  said,  Mr.  Chase  was  de-    chap.iv. 
ficient  in  this  saving  sense,  and  he  apparently  saw 
no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  repeated  indefinitely. 

John  J.  Cisco,  the  assistant  treasurer  at  New  1864. 
York,  who  had  served  the  Government  with  re- 
markable ability  and  efficiency  through  three  Ad- 
ministrations, resigned  his  commission  in  May,  to 
take  effect  at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year,  the  30th 
of  June,  1864.  It  was  a  post  of  great  importance 
in  a  financial  point  of  view,  and  not  insignificant 
in  the  way  of  political  influence.  Up  to  this  time 
Mr.  Chase  had  made  all  the  important  appoint- 
ments in  New  York  from  his  own  wing  of  the  sup- 
porters of  the  Union  —  the  men  who  had  formerly 
been  connected  with  the  Democratic  party,  and 
who  now  belonged  to  what  was  called  the  radical 
wing  of  the  Republican.  This  matter  was  the 
source  of  constant  complaint  from  those  who  were 
sometimes  called  the  Conservative  Republicans  of 
New  York,  or  those  who  had  in  great  part  formerly 
belonged  to  the  Whig  party,  and  who  in  later 
years  acknowledged  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Seward. 

The  President  was  anxious  that  in  an  appoint- 
ment so  important  as  that  which  was  now  about  to 
be  made  both  sections  of  the  party  in  New  York 
should,  if  possible,  be  satisfied  ;  and  especially  that 
no  nominations  should  be  made  which  should  be 
positively  objectionable  to  Senator  Morgan,  who 
was  considered  to  represent  more  especially  the 
city  of  New  York  and  its  great  commercial  inter- 
ests. To  this  Mr.  Chase  at  first  interposed  no 
objection ;  and  it  was  upon  full  and  friendly  con- 
sultation and  conference  between  him  and  Senator 
Morgan  that  the  appointment  was  offered  succes- 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

sively  to  Denning  Duer  and  to  John  A.  Stewart, 
both  of  them  gentlemen  of  the  highest  stand- 
ing. But  both  declined  the  office  tendered  them; 
upon  which  Mr.  Chase  suddenly  resolved  to  ap- 
point Maunsell  B.  Field,  who  was  at  that  time 
an  assistant  secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr.  Field 
was  a  gentleman  of  excellent  social  position,  of 
fine  literary  culture,  to  whom  the  Secretary  was 
sincerely  attached,  but  who  was  entirely  destitute 
of  such  standing  in  either  the  political  or  the  finan- 
cial circles  of  New  York  as  was  required  by  so 
important  a  place.  Senator  Morgan  at  once  pro- 
tested vigorously  against  such  an  appointment, 
which  only  served  to  confirm  the  Secretary  in  his 
insistence  upon  it.  Besides  his  objections  to  Mr. 
Field,  whom  he  thought  in  no  way  competent  to 
hold  such  a  place,  Mr.  Morgan  urged  that  the  po- 
litical result  of  his  appointment  would  be  extremely 
unfavorable  to  the  Union  party  in  New  York.  He 
became  thoroughly  alarmed,  and  begged  the  Secre- 
tary and  the  President  successively  to  make  their 
choice  among  three  of  the  most  eminent  citizens  of 
New  York,  whose  names  he  presented;  but  the 
Secretary's  mind  was  made  up.  Without  further 
consultation  with  the  President,  he  sent  him  the 
nomination  for  Mr.  Field  on  the  27th  of  June. 

The  next  day  the  President  replied  :  "  I  can  not 
without  much  embarrassment  make  this  appoint- 
ment, principally  because  of  Senator  Morgan's 
very  firm  opposition  to  it.  Senator  Harris  has 
not  spoken  to  me  on  the  subject,  though  I  under- 
stand he  is  not  averse  to  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Field,  nor  yet  to  any  one  of  the  three  named  by 
Senator  Morgan.  .  .  Governor  Morgan  tells  me  he 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE  93 

has  mentioned  the  three  names  to  you,  to  wit :  R.  M.    chap.  rv. 
Blatchford,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  and  Thomas  Hill- 
house.    It  will  really  oblige  me  if  you  will  make 
choice  among  these  three,  or  any  other  man  that 
Senators  Morgan  and  Harris  will  be  satisfied  with,      chLe, 
and  send  me  a  nomination  for  him."  ise*.   ms. 

There  have  been  few  ministers  who  would  have 
refused  so  reasonable  and  considerate  a  request  as 
this,  but  it  did  not  for  a  moment  shake  Mr.  Chase's 
determination  to  have  his  own  way  in  the  matter. 
He  sent  a  note  to  the  President  asking  for  an  inter- 
view, and  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Cisco,  begging  him 
most  earnestly  to  withdraw  his  resignation  and 
give  the  country  the  benefit  of  his  services  at  least  to  Lincoln, 
one  quarter  longer.  He  was  determined,  in  one  is&^ms. 
way  or  another,  that  neither  the  President  nor  the 
Senators  from  New  York  should  have  anything  to 
say  in  regard  to  this  appointment ;  and  conscious 
of  his  own  blamelessness  in  all  the  controversy,  he 
went  home  and  wrote  in  his  diary :  "  Oh,  for  more 

"  '  Warden, 

faith  and  clearer  sight !  How  stable  is  the  city  of  ^JJJJ^ 
God  !  How  disordered  is  the  city  of  man ! "  The  *]K5f 
same  day  the  President  wrote  him: 

When  I  received  your  note  this  forenoon  suggesting  a 
verbal  conversation  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  a 
successor  to  Mr.  Cisco,  I  hesitated,  because  the  difficulty 
does  not,  in  the  main  part,  He  within  the  range  of  a  con- 
versation between  you  and  me.  As  the  proverb  goes,  no 
man  knows  so  well  where  the  shoe  pinches  as  he  who 
wears  it.  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Field  a  very  proper  man 
for  the  place,  but  I  would  trust  your  judgment  and 
forego  this  were  the  greater  difficulty  out  of  the  way. 
Much  as  I  personally  like  Mr.  Barney,  it  has  been  a  great 
burden  to  me  to  retain  him  in  his  place  when  nearly  all 
our  friends  in  New  York  were  directly  or  indirectly  urg- 
ing his  removal.     Then  the  appointment  of  Judge  Hoge- 


94 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Lincoln 
to  Chase. 

June  28, 
1864.     MS. 


boom  to  be  general  appraiser  brought  me  to,  and  has 
ever  since  kept  me  at,  the  verge  of  open  revolt.  Now  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Field  would  precipitate  me  in  it,  un- 
less Senator  Morgan,  and  those  feeling  as  he  does,  could 
be  brought  to  concur  in  it.  Strained  as  I  already  am  at 
this  point,  I  do  not  think  that  I  can  make  this  appoint- 
ment in  the  direction  of  still  greater  strain. 

In  the  evening  the  extremely  tense  situation  was 
relieved  by  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Cisco  complying 
with  the  request  of  the  Secretary  to  remain  another 
quarter.  But  it  was  not  in  the  nature  of  Mr.  Chase 
to  accept  this  simple  denouement.  He  felt  that  the 
President  had  acted  badly,  and  must  be  subjected 
to  some  discipline;  and  he  naturally  resorted  to 
those  measures  which  had  hitherto  proved  so  ef- 
fective.   He  wrote  to  him: 

The  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Cisco's  resignation,  which  I  in- 
close, relieves  the  present  difficulty ;  but  I  cannot  help 
feeling  that  my  position  here  is  not  altogether  agreeable 
to  you,  and  it  is  certainly  too  full  of  embarrassment  and 
difficulty  and  painful  responsibility  to  allow  in  me  the 
least  desire  to  retain  it.  I  think  it  my  duty,  therefore, 
to  inclose  to  you  my  resignation.  I  shall  regard  it  as 
Chase      a  real  relief  if  you  think  proper  to  accept  it,  and  will 

tojune29In'  most  cheerfully  render  to  my  successor  any  aid  he  may 

1864.    ms.    find  useful  in  entering  upon  his  duties. 

In  this  letter  Mr.  Chase  inclosed  his  formal  resig- 
nation. The  President  received  this  note  while  very 
much  occupied  with  other  affairs.  The  first  paper 
which  met  his  eyes  was  the  telegram  from  Mr.  Cisco 
withdrawing  his  resignation.  Glad  that  the  affair 
was  so  happily  terminated,  he  laid  the  packet  aside 
for  some  hours,  without  looking  at  the  other  papers 
contained  in  it.  The  next  morning,  wishing  to  write 
a  congratulatory  note  to  Mr.  Chase  upon  this  wel- 
come termination  of  the  crisis,  he  found,  to  his  bitter 


THE    RESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE  95 

chagrin  and  disappointment,  that  the  Secretary  had  chap.iv 
once  more  tendered  his  resignation.  He  took  it  to 
mean  precisely  what  the  Secretary  had  intended  — 
that  if  he  were  to  retain  Mr.  Chase  as  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  it  should  not  be  hereafter  as  a  subor- 
dinate ;  to  refuse  this  resignation,  to  go  once  more 
to  the  Secretary  and  urge  him  to  remain,  would 
amount  to  an  abdication  of  his  constitutional 
powers.  He  therefore,  without  hesitation,  sent  him 
this  letter :  "  Your  resignation  of  the  office  of  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  sent  me  yesterday,  is  ac- 
cepted. Of  all  I  have  said  in  commendation  of 
your  ability  and  fidelity  I  have  nothing  to  unsay, 
and  yet  you  and  I  have  reached  a  point  of  mutual 
embarrassment  in  our  official  relation  which  it 
seems  can  not  be  overcome  or  longer  sustained  LichaS,to 
consistently  with  the  public  service."  iS^ms. 

At  the  same  time  he  sent  to  the  Senate  the  nom- 
ination of  David  Tod  of  Ohio  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Most  people  have  chosen  to  consider 
this  a  singular  selection.  Yet  David  Tod  was  by 
no  means  an  unknown  man.  He  had  gained  an 
honorable  position  at  the  bar ;  had  been  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  governor  in  1844 ;  had  served 
with  credit  as  minister  to  Brazil;  was  first  vice- 
president  of  the  Charleston  Convention  and  be- 
came its  president  at  Baltimore  on  the  secession  of 
Caleb  Cushing ;  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men 
in  Ohio  in  railroad  and  mining  enterprises;  had 
been  the  most  eminent  and  efficient  of  the  war  Reid, 
Democrats  of  the  State;  and  as  Governor  had  thewa?!" 
shown  executive  capacity  of  a  high  order.  There  p-  m." 
were  some  superficial  points  of  resemblance  be- 
tween Mr.  Chase  and  Governor  Tod  that  doubtless 


96  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.  caught  the  attention  of  the  President  in  choosing  a 
successor  to  the  foi*mer  in  such  haste.  Tod  was  a 
citizen  of  the  same  State  with  Chase,  of  which  both 
had  been  governor  j  he  had  come  into  the  Union 
party  from  the  Democrats ;  he  was  a  man  of  un- 
usually dignified  and  impressive  presence;  but  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  had  ever  thought  of  him 
for  the  place  now  vacant. 

The  nomination  was  presented  to  the  Senate  at 
its  opening  and  was  received  with  amazement.   Not 
the  least  surprised  of  the  statesmen  in  the  Capitol 
was   Mr.    Chase  himself,   who  was  busy  at  the 
moment   in    one  of  the  committee  rooms  of  the 
Senate  arranging  some  legislation  which  he  needed 
for  his  department.    There  are  many  indications 
which  go  to  show  that  his  resignation  of  the  even- 
ing before  was  intended,  like  those  which  had  pre- 
ceded it,  as  a  means  of  discipline  for  the  President. 
After  sending  it  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Cisco  expressing 
his  thanks  for  the  withdrawal  of  his  resignation, 
and  saying :  "  It  relieves  me  from  a  very  painful 
embarrassment.  .  .  I  could  not  remain  here  and 
schuckers,   see  your  office  made  parcel  of  the  machinery  of 
"  b.p.       party,  or  even  feel  serious  apprehensions  that  it 
P.  5os'.      might  be."     Even  on  the  morning  of  the  30th  of 
1864.       June,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  to  the  President  recom- 
mending a  considerable  increase  of  taxation,  say- 
ing that  there  would  be  a  deficit  by  existing  laws 
ms.       of  about  eighty  millions.    On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  nothing  to  show,  up  to  the  instant  that  he  was 
informed  of  the  nomination  of  Tod,  that  he  ex- 
pected his  official  career  to  end  on  that  day. 

The  news  for  the  moment  created  something  like 
consternation  in  political  circles  at  the  capital.  Mr. 


^dlH 

fes^  1 

m 

jfl9 

•■■llltlillllMll 

|f    '^^H 

WILLIAM    1'ITT    FES8ENDEX. 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE  97 

Washburne  hurried  to  the  White  House,  saying  the  chap.  rv. 
change  was  disastrous;  that  at  this  time  of  mili- 
tary unsuccess,  financial  weakness,  congressional 
hesitation  on  questions  of  conscription,  and  immi- 
nent famine  in  the  West,  it  was  ruinous.  The 
Senate  Committee  on  Finance,  to  which  the  nomi- 
nation of  Tod  had  been  referred,  came  down  in  a 
body  to  talk  with  the  President  about  it.  The 
President  gave  this  account  of  the  interview: 
"Fessenden  was  frightened,  Conness  was  angry, 
Sherman  thought  we  could  not  have  gotten  on 
together  much  longer  anyhow,  Cowan  and  Van 
Winkle  were  indifferent."  They  not  only  objected  Diary, 
to  any  change,  but  specially  protested  against  the 
nomination  of  Tod  as  too  little  known  and  too 
inexperienced  for  the  place.  The  President  re- 
plied that  he  had  little  personal  acquaintance 
with  Tod,  that  he  had  nominated  him  on  ac- 
count of  the  high  opinion  he  had  formed  of  him 
as  G-overnor  of  Ohio ;  but  that  the  Senate  had  the 
duty  and  responsibility  of  passing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  fitness,  in  which  it  must  be  entirely  un- 
trammeled ;  he  could  not,  in  justice  to  himself  or 
to  Tod,  withdraw  the  nomination. 

The  impression  of  the  undesirability  of  the  change 
rather  deepened  during  the  day.  Mr.  Hooper  of 
Massachusetts,  an  intimate  friend  of  both  the 
President  and  Mr.  Chase,  and  the  man  upon  whom 
both  principally  relied  for  the  conduct  of  financial 
legislation  in  the  House,  spoke  of  the  crisis  in  deep 
depression.  He  said  he  had  been  for  some  time  of 
the  opinion  that  Mr.  Chase  did  not  see  his  way 
entirely  clear  to  raising  the  funds  which  were 
necessary;  that  his  supplementary  demand  for 
Vol.  IX.— 7 


98  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.  money  sent  in  at  the  close  of  the  session  after 
everything  had  been  granted  which  he  asked, 
looked  like  an  intention  to  throw  an  anchor  to 
windward  in  case  he  was  refused.  Mr.  Hooper 
said  he  had  waked  that  morning  feeling  a  little 
vexed  that  Chase  had  done  this,  that  he  thought 
it  was  an  attempt  to  throw  an  unfair  responsibility 
upon  Congress ;  but  now  this  resignation  came  to 
relieve  him  of  all  responsibility ;  his  successor  would 
have  an  enormous  work  to  do;  the  future  was 
troubled;  there  remained  the  great  practical  problem, 
regularly  recurring,  to  raise  one  hundred  millions- 
a  month.  "I  do  not  clearly  see,"  he  said,  "  how  it  is 
to  be  done ;  the  talent  of  finance  in  its  national 
aspect  is  something  entirely  different  from  banking. 
Most  bankers  criticize  Mr.  Chase,  but  he  has  a 
faculty  of  using  the  knowledge  and  experience  of 
others  to  the  best  advantage ;  that  has  sufficed  him 
hitherto ;  a  point  has  been  reached  where  he  does 
not  clearly  see  what  comes  next,  and  at  this  point 
the  President  allows  him  to  step  from  under  his 

Diary.        load." 

This  view  of  the  case  has  a  color  of  confirmation 
lew.  in  a  passage  of  the  diary  of  Mr.  Chase  of  the  30th 
of  June,  which  goes  to  show  at  least  a  mixed  mo- 
tive in  his  resignation.  After  his  resignation  had 
been  accepted,  Mr.  Hooper  had  called  upon  him, 
and,  evidently  hoping  that  some  reconciliation  was 
still  possible,  told  him  that,  several  days  before,  the 
President  had  spoken  to  him  in  terms  of  high 
esteem,  indicating  his  purpose  of  making  him  Chief 
Justice  in  the  event  of  a  vacancy,  a  post  which  Mr. 
Chase  had  long  before  told  the  President  was  the 
one  he  most  desired.    Mr.  Chase  answered  that  had 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    MR.    CHASE  99 

such  expression  of  good-will  reached  him  in  time  it    chap.iv. 
might  have  prevented  the  present  misunderstand- 
ing, but  that  now  he  could  not  change  his  position. 
"  Besides,"  he  adds,  "  I  did  not  see  how  I  could  carry- 
on  the  department  without  more  means  than  Con-      Cha8e> 
gress  was  likely  to  supply,  and  amid  the  embarrass-     wSS, 
ments  created  by  factious  hostility  within  and  both   saimfon0p. 
factious  and  party  hostility  without  the  depart-      p.aa 
ment." 

At  night  the  President  received  a  dispatch  from  im. 
Mr.  Tod  declining  the  appointment  on  the  ground 
of  ill-health.  The  President's  secretary  went  im- 
mediately to  the  Capitol  to  communicate  this 
information  to  the  Senators,  so  that  no  vote  might 
be  taken  on  the  nomination.  Early  the  next  morn- 
ing the  President  sent  to  the  Senate  the  nomination 
of  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  Senator  from  Maine. 
When  he  gave  the  nomination  to  his  secretary,  the 
latter  informed  him  that  Mr.  Fessenden  was  then 
in  the  ante-room  waiting  to  see  him.  He  answered, 
"  Start  at  once  for  the  Senate,  and  then  let  Fessen- 
den come  in."  The  Senator,  who  was  chairman  of 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Finance,  began  imme- 
diately to  discuss  the  question  of  the  vacant  place 
in  the  Treasury,  suggesting  the  name  of  Hugh  Mc- 
Culloch.  The  President  listened  to  him  for  a 
moment  with  a  smile  of  amusement,  and  then  told 
him  that  he  had  already  sent  his  nomination  to  the 
Senate.  Fessenden  leaped  to  his  feet,  exclaiming, 
"  You  must  withdraw  it.  I  cannot  accept."  "  If  you 
decline,"  said  the  President,  "  you  must  do  it  in  open 
day,  for  I  shall  not  recall  the  nomination."  "  We 
talked  about  it  for  some  time,"  said  the  President, 
"  and  he  went  away  less  decided  in  his  refusal."  Diar£ 


100  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.  The  nomination  was  instantly  confirmed,  the 
executive  session  lasting  no  more  than  a  minute. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  difference  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Fessenden  ;  the  only  fear  was  that  he 
would  not  accept.  His  first  impulse  was  to  decline ; 
but  being  besieged  all  day  by  the  flattering  solici- 
tations of  his  friends,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
persist  in  refusing.  The  President  was  equally 
surprised  and  gratified  at  the  enthusiastic  and 
general  approval  the  nomination  had  met  with.  He 
said:  "It  is  very  singular,  considering  that  this 
Diary,  appointment  is  so  popular  when  made,  that  no  one 
ever  mentioned  his  name  to  me  for  that  place. 
Thinking  over  the  matter,  two  or  three  points 
occurred  to  me:  first,  his  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  business  ;  as  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee of  Finance,  he  knows  as  much  of  this  special 
subject  as  Mr.  Chase ;  he  possesses  a  national  repu- 
tation and  the  confidence  of  the  country;  he  is  a 
Radical  without  the  petulant  and  vicious  fretful- 
ness  of  many  Radicals.  There  are  reasons  why  this 
appointment  ought  to  be  very  agreeable  to  him. 
For  some  time  past  he  has  been  running  in  rather 
a  pocket  of  bad  luck;  the  failure  to  renominate 
Mr.  Hamlin  makes  possible  a  contest  between  him 
and  the  Vice-President,  the  most  popular  man  in 
Maine,  for  the  election  which  is  now  imminent.  A 
little  while  ago  in  the  Senate  you  know  Trumbull 
told  him  his  ill-temper  had  left  him  no  friends,  but 
this  sudden  and  most  gratifying  manifestation  of 
good  feeling  over  his  appointment,  his  instanta- 
neous confirmation,  the  earnest  entreaties  of  every- 
body that  he  should  accept,  cannot  but  be  very 
Diary'      grateful  to  his  feelings." 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    MK.    CHASE  101 

Mr.  Chase  left  a  full  record  in  his  diaries  and  let-  chap.  iv. 
ters  of  the  sense  of  injury  and  wrong  done  him  by 
the  President.  He  especially  resented  the  Presi- 
dent's reference  to  the  "  embarrassment  in  our 
official  relations."  "I  had  found  a  good  deal  of 
embarrassment  from  him,"  he  said ;  "  but  what  he 
had  found  from  me  I  could  not  imagine,  unless 
it  has  been  caused  by  my  unwillingness  to  have 
offices  distributed  as  spoils  or  benefits.  .  .  He  has 
never  given  me  the  active  and  earnest  support  I 
was  entitled  to."  After  Mr.  Fessenden  was  ap- 
pointed, the  ex-Secretary  entered  in  his  diary  his 
approval  of  the  selection :  "  He  has  the  confidence 
of  the  country,  and  many  who  have  become  inimical 
to  me  will  give  their  confidence  to  him  and  their 
support.  Perhaps  they  will  do  more  than  they  warden, 
otherwise  would  to  sustain  him,  in  order  to  show  saimoVp. 
how  much  better  a  Secretary  he  is  than  I  was."  pp-  619, 620. 

Before  Mr.  Fessenden  accepted  his  appointment 
he  called  on  Mr.  Chase  and  conversed  fully  with  him 
on  the  subject.  Mr.  Chase  frankly  and  cordially 
advised  him  to  accept,  telling  him  that  all  the  great 
work  of  the  department  was  now  fairly  blocked 
out  and  in  progress,  that  the  organization  was 
planned  and  in  many  ways  complete,  and  all  in 
a  state  which  admitted  of  completion.  His  most 
difficult  task  would  be  to  provide  money.  "But 
he  would  have  advantages,"  said  Mr.  Chase,  "which 
I  had  not.  .  .  Those  persons  [to  whom  I  had  given 
offense]  would  have  no  cause  of  ill-will  against  him, 
and  would  very  probably  come  to  his  support  with 
zeal  increased  by  their  ill-will  to  me;  so  my  damage 
would  be  to  his  advantage,  especially  with  a  certain  ibid.,P.  621. 
class  of  capitalists  and  bankers." 


102  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  iv.        The  entries  in  Mr.  Chase's  diary  continue  for  sev- 
eral days  in  the  same  strain.    He  congratulates  him- 
self on  his  own  integrity ;  he  speaks  with  severity 
of  the  machinations  of  imaginary  enemies.    On  the 
we*.       2d  of  July  he  remarks  the  passage  of  the  bill  giving 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  control  over  trade  in 
the  rebel  States  and  authority  to  lease  abandoned 
property  and  to  care  for  the  freedmen,  and  adds : 
"  How  much  good  I  expected  to  accomplish  under 
warden,     this  bill !    Will  my  successor  do  this  work  ?    I  fear 
salmon  p.    not.    He  had  not  the  same  heart  for  this  measure 

Chase," 

p.  622.  that  I  had."  On  the  Fourth  of  July  the  ringing 
of  bells,  the  firing  of  cannon,  and  the  snapping  of 
crackers  awoke  him  to  the  reflection  that  "if  the 
Government  had  been  willing  to  do  justice,  and 
had  used  its  vast  powers  with  equal  energy  and 
wisdom,  the  struggle  might  have  been  happily  ter- 

ibid.,p.623.  minated  long  ago."  Later  in  the  same  day  Mr.  Fes- 
senden  came  to  see  him,  and  informed  him  that  he 
had  been  discussing  with  the  President  the  subject 
of  appointments  in  the  Treasury  Department,  and 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  requested  him  not  to  remove 
any  friends  of  Governor  Chase  unless  there  should 
be  a  real  necessity  for  it.  Mr.  Chase  persuaded  him- 
self that  if  the  President  had  spoken  to  him  in  that 
tone  he  would  have  withdrawn  his  resignation. 
"  Why  did  he  not  ? "  he  mused.  "  I  can  see  but  one 
reason — that  I  am  too  earnest,  too  antislavery,  and, 
say,  too  radical  to  make  him  willing  to  have  me  con- 
nected with  the  Administration:  just  as  my  opinion 
that  he  is  not  earnest  enough,  not  antislavery 
enough,  not  radical  enough,  but  goes  naturally  with 
those  hostile  to  me,  rather  than  with  me,  makes  me 

ibid.,  p.  62*.  willing  aud  glad  to  be  disconnected  from  it." 


THE    KESIGNATION    OF    ME.    CHASE 


103 


Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  623. 


How  far  his  animosity  against  the  President  had 
misled  this  able,  honest,  pure,  and  otherwise  sa- 
gacious man  may  be  seen  in  one  single  phrase. 
Referring  to  the  President's  refusal  to  sign  the  re- 
construction bill,  he  put  down  his  deliberate  opin- 
ion that  neither  the  President  nor  his  chief  advisers 
had  abandoned  the  idea  of  possible  reconstruction 
with  slavery ;  and  this  in  spite  of  the  President's 
categorical  statement,  "  While  I  remain  in  my  pres- 
ent position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or  modify 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  nor  shall  I  return 
to  slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of 
that  proclamation  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress," and  of  his  declaration  that  such  action 
would  be  "a  cruel  and  an  astounding  breach  of  Annual 
faith."  But  after  all  these  expressions  of  that  petu-  DecXwra. 
lant  injustice  which  was  only  a  foible  in  a  noble 
character,  the  greatest  financial  Secretary  which 
the  country  had  known  since  Hamilton  had  a  per- 
fect right,  in  laying  down  the  high  office  he  had 
borne  with  such  integrity  and  such  signal  success, 
to  indulge  in  the  meditation  which  we  find  in  his 
diary  of  June  30 :  1864. 

"So  my  official  life  closes.  I  have  laid  broad 
foundations.  Nothing  but  wise  legislation  and  es- 
pecially bold  yet  judicious  provision  of  taxes,  with 
fair  economy  in  administration  and  energetic  yet 
prudent  military  action,  .  .  .  seems  necessary  to 
insure  complete  success." 


Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  617. 


CHAPTEE  V 


THE    "WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO 


chap.  v.  TN  his  message  to  Congress  of  the  8th  of  Decem- 
J-  ber,  1863,  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  expression  to  his 
ideas  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction  more  fully 
and  clearly  than  ever  before.  He  appended  to  that 
message  a  proclamation  of  the  same  date  guaran- 
teeing a  full  pardon  to  all  who  had  been  implicated 
in  the  Rebellion,  with  certain  specified  exceptions, 
on  the  condition  of  taking  and  maintaining  an 
oath  to  support,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  and  the  Union  of  the 
States  thereunder ;  to  abide  by  and  support  all 
acts  of  Congress  and  Proclamations  of  the  Presi- 
dent made  during  the  Rebellion  with  reference  to 
slaves,  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  repealed,  modified, 
or  held  void  by  Congress  or  by  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  exceptions  to  this  general 
amnesty  were  of  those  who,  having  held  places 
of  honor  and  trust  under  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  had  betrayed  this  trust  and  entered 
the  service  of  the  Confederacy,  and  of  those  who 
had  been  guilty  of  treatment  of  colored  troops  not 
justified  by  the  laws  of  war.  The  proclamation 
further  promised  that  when  in  any  of  the  States  in 
rebellion  a  number  of  citizens  equal  to  one-tenth  of 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  105 

the  voters  in  the  year  1860  should  reestablish  a    chap.  v. 
State  government    republican  in  form,   and  not 
contravening    the    oath    above    mentioned,    such 
should  be  recognized  as  the  true  government  of 
the  State,  and  should  receive  the  benefits  of  the 
constitutional  provision  that  "  The  United  States 
shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion ;  and,  on  application 
of  the  Legislature,  or  the  Executive  (when  the    procSt 
Legislature  cannot  be  convened),  against  domestic  Dec.  a^W 
violence." 

The  President  also  engaged  by  this  proclamation 
not  to  object  to  any  provision  which  might  be 
adopted  by  such  State  governments  in  relation  to 
the  freed  people  of  the  States  which  should  rec- 
ognize and  declare  their  permanent  freedom  and 
provide  for  their  education,  "  and  which  may  yet 
be  consistent,  as  a  temporary  arrangement,  with 
their  present  condition  as  a  laboring,  landless, 
and  homeless  class."  He  suggested  that  in  recon- 
structing the  loyal  State  governments,  the  names, 
the  boundaries,  the  subdivisions,  the  constitutions, 
and  the  general  codes  of  laws  of  the  States  should 
be  preserved.  He  stated  distinctly  that  his  procla- 
mation had  no  reference  to  States  where  the  loyal 
State  governments  had  all  the  while  been  main- 
tained ;  he  took  care  to  make  it  clear  that  the  re- 
spective houses,  and  not  the  executive,  had  the 
constitutional  power  to  decide  whether  Members 
sent  to  Congress  from  any  State  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  seats ;  and  he  concluded  by  saying :  "  This 
proclamation  is  intended  to  present  the  people  of 
the  States  wherein  the  national  authority  has  been 


106  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  v.  suspended,  and  loyal  State  governments  have  been 
subverted,  a  mode  in  and  by  which  the  national 
authority  and  loyal  State  governments  may  be  re- 
established within  said  States,  or  in  any  of  them. 
And  while  the  mode  presented  is  the  best  the  Ex- 
ecutive can  suggest,  with  his  present  impressions, 
prociamil-  it  must  not  be  understood  that  no  other  possible 
Dec.  8,1863.  mode  would  be  acceptable."1 
Dec.  8, 1863.  The  message  contained  an  unusually  forcible  and 
luminous  expression  of  the  principles  embraced  in 
the  proclamation.  The  President  referred  to  the 
dark  and  doubtful  days  which  followed  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  policy  of  emancipation  and  of 
the  employment  of  black  soldiers;  the  gradual 
justification  of  those  acts  by  the  successes  which 
the  National  arms  had  since  achieved;  of  the 
change  of  the  public  spirit  of  the  border  States  in 
favor  of  emancipation ;  the  enlistment  of  black 
soldiers,  and  their  efficient  and  creditable  behavior 
in  arms;  the  absence  of  any  tendency  to  servile 
insurrection  or  to  violence  and  cruelty  among  the 
negroes;  the  sensible  improvement  in  the  public 
opinion  of  Europe  and  of  America.  He  then  ex- 
Dec.  8, 1863.  *  In  some  instances  this  procla-  ' '  only  to  those  persons  who,  being 
mation  was  misunderstood  by  yet  at  large  and  free  from  any 
generals  and  commanders  of  de-  arrest,  confinement,  or  duress, 
partments,  so  that  prisoners  of  shall  voluntarily  come  forward 
war  were  allowed  on  their  volun-  and  take  the  said  oath  with  the 
tary  application  to  take  the  am-  purpose  of  restoring  peace  and 
nesty  oath.  This  was  not  the  establishing  the  national  author- 
President's  intention,  and  would  ity";  and  that  "prisoners  ex- 
have  led  to  serious  embarrass-  eluded  from  the  amnesty  offered 
ment  in  the  matter  of  the  ex-  in  the  said  proclamation  may 
change  of  prisoners.  apply     to     the     President     for 

He,  therefore,  on  the  26th  of  clemency,  like  all  other  off  end- 
March,  1864,  issued  a  supple-  ers,  and  that  their  applica- 
mentary  proclamation  declaring  tions  will  receive  due  considera- 
that   the    proclamation    applied    tion." 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  107 

plained  the  purpose  and  spirit  of  his  proclamation,  chap.  v. 
Nothing  had  been  attempted  beyond  what  was 
amply  justified  by  the  Constitution;  the  form  of 
an  oath  had  been  given,  but  no  man  was  coerced 
to  take  it ;  the  Constitution  authorized  the  Execu- 
tive to  grant  or  withhold  a  pardon  at  his  own  ab- 
solute discretion,  and  this  included  the  power  to 
grant  on  terms,  as  was  fully  established  by  judicial 
authority.  He  therefore  referred  to  the  provision 
of  the  Constitution  guaranteeing  to  the  States  a 
republican  form  of  government  as  providing  pre- 
cisely for  the  case  then  under  treatment;  where 
the  element  within  a  State  favorable  to  republican 
government  in  the  Union  might  "  be  too  feeble  for 
an  opposite  and  hostile  element  external  to  or  even 
within  the  State." 

"  An  attempt,"  said  the  President,  "  to  guaranty 
and  protect  a  revived  State  government  con- 
structed in  whole  or  in  preponderating  part  from 
the  very  element  against  whose  hostility  and  vio- 
lence it  is  to  be  protected,  is  simply  absurd.  There 
must  be  a  test  by  which  to  separate  the  opposing 
elements,  so  as  to  build  only  from  the  sound ;  and 
that  test  is  a  sufficiently  liberal  one  which  accepts 
as  sound  whoever  will  make  a  sworn  recantation  Lincoln, 
of  his  former  unsoundness."  In  justification  of  his  De&Tfsk 
requiring  in  the  oath  of  amnesty  a  submission  to 
and  support  of  the  antislavery  laws  and  proclama- 
tions, he  said :  "  Those  laws  and  proclamations 
were  enacted  and  put  forth  for  the  purpose  of  aid- 
ing in  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion.  To  give 
them  their  fullest  effect,  there  had  to  be  a  pledge 
for  their  maintenance.  In  my  judgment  they  have 
aided  and  will  further  aid  the  cause  for  which  they 


108  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  v.  were  intended.  To  now  abandon  them  wonld  be 
not  only  to  relinquish  a  lever  of  power,  but  would 
also  be  a  cruel  and  an  astounding  breach  of  faith. 
I  may  add,  at  this  point,  that  while  I  remain  in  my 
present  position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or 
modify  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  nor  shall 
I  return  to  slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the 
terms  of  that  proclamation  or  by  any  of  the  acts 
of  Congress." 

The  President  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
that  part  of  the  oath  was  subject  to  the  modifying 
and  abrogating  power  of  legislation  and  supreme 
judicial  decision;  that  the  whole  purpose  and 
spirit  of  the  proclamation  was  permissive  and  not 
mandatory.  '"The  proposed  acquiescence,"  he 
said,  "  of  the  National  Executive  in  any  reasonable 
temporary  State  arrangement  for  the  freed  people 
is  made  with  the  view  of  possibly  modifying  the 
confusion  and  destitution  which  must  at  best  at- 
tend all  classes  by  a  total  revolution  of  labor 
throughout  whole  States.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
already  deeply  afflicted  people  in  those  States  may 
be  somewhat  more  ready  to  give  up  the  cause  of 
their  affliction  if,  to  this  extent,  this  vital  matter 
be  left  to  themselves,  while  no  power  of  the  Na- 
tional Executive  to  prevent  an  abuse  is  abridged 
by  the  proposition."  He  had  taken  the  utmost 
pains  to  avoid  the  danger  of  committal  on  points 
which  could  be  more  safely  left  to  further  develop- 
ments. "  Saying  that  on  certain  terms  certain 
classes  will  be  pardoned  with  rights  restored,  it  is 
not  said  that  other  classes  or  other  terms  will 
Lincoln,  never  be  included ;  saying  that  reconstruction  will 
Dec.Tig863.  be  accepted  if  presented  in  a  specified  way,  it  is 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  109 

not  said  it  will  never  be  accepted  in  any  other  chap.  v. 
way."  The  President  expressed  his  profound  con- 
gratulation at  the  movement  towards  emancipa- 
tion by  the  several  States,  and  urged  once  more 
upon  Congress  the  importance  of  aiding  these  steps 
to  the  great  consummation. 

It  is  rare  that  so  important  a  state  paper  has 
been  received  with  such  unanimous  tokens  of  en-  Dec,  i863. 
thusiastic  adhesion.  However  the  leading  Repub- 
licans in  Congress  may  have  been  led  later  in  the 
session  to  differ  with  the  President,  there  was  ap- 
parently no  voice  of  discord  raised  on  the  day  the 
message  was  read  to  both  Houses.  For  a  moment 
all  factions  in  Congress  seemed  to  be  of  one  mind. 
One  who  spent  the  morning  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress wrote  on  the  same  day:  "Men  acted  as 
though  the  millennium  had  come.  Chandler  was 
delighted,  Sumner  was  joyous,  apparently  forget- 
ting for  the  moment  his  doctrine  of  State  suicide ;  * 
while  at  the  other  political  pole  Dixon  and  Reverdy 
Johnson  said  the  message  was  highly  satisfactory."  mEj. 
Henry  Wilson  said  to  the  President's  secretary: 
"  He  has  struck  another  great  blow.  Tell  him  for 
me,  God  bless  him."  The  effect  was  similar  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  George  S.  Boutwell, 
who  represented  the  extreme  antislavery  element 
of  New  England,  said :  "  It  is  a  very  able  and 
shrewd  paper.  It  has  great  points  of  popular- 
ity, and  it  is  right."  Owen  Lovejoy,  the  lead- 
ing abolitionist  of  the  West,  seemed  to  see  on  the 
mountain  the  feet  of  one  bringing  good  tidings. 
"  I  shall  live,"  he  said,  "  to  see  slavery  ended  in 
America."    James  A.  Garfield  gave  his  unreserved 

1  See  resolutions  introduced  in  the  Senate,  Feb.  11, 1862. 


110  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  v.  approval ;  Francis  W.  Kellogg  of  Michigan  went 
shouting  about  the  lobby:  "The  President  is 
the  only  man.     There  is  none  like   him   in  the 

Dec,  1863.  world.  He  sees  more  widely  and  more  clearly 
than  any  of  us."  Henry  T.  Blow,  the  radical 
member  from  St.  Louis  (who  six  months  later  was 
denouncing  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  traitor  to  freedom), 
said :  "  Grod  bless  old  Abe !  I  am  one  of  the  Radi- 
cals who  have  always  believed  in  him."  Horace 
Greeley,  who  was  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  went 
so  far  as  to  say  the  message  was  "  devilish  good." 
The  Executive  Mansion  was  filled  all  day  by  a  rush 
of  Congressmen,  congratulating  the  President  and 
assuring  him  of  their  support  in  his  wise  and  hu- 
mane policy.  The  conservatives  and  radicals  vied 
with  each  other  in  claiming  that  the  message  rep- 
resented their  own  views  of  the  crisis.  N.  B.  Judd 
of  Illinois  said  to  the  President :  "  The  opinion  of 
people  who  read  your  message  to-day  is,  that  on 
that  platform  two  of  your  ministers  must  walk  the 
plank  —  Blair  and  Bates."  To  which  the  President 
answered :  "  Both  of  these  men  acquiesced  in  it 
without  objection;  the  only  member  of  the  cabi- 
net who  objected  was  Mr.  Chase."  For  a  moment 
the  most  prejudiced  Democrats  found  little  to  say 
against  the  message ;  they  called  it  "  very  ingenious 
and  cunning,  admirably  calculated  to  deceive." 

This  reception  of  the  message  was  extremely 
pleasing  to  the  President.  A  solution  of  the  most 
important  problem  of  the  time,  which  conserva- 
tives like  Dixon  and  Reverdy  Johnson  thoroughly 
approved,  and  to  which  Mr.  Sumner  made  no  ob- 
jection, was  of  course  a  source  of  profound  gratifi- 
cation.   He  took  it  as  a  proof  of  what  he  had  often 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  111 

said,  that  there  was  no  essential  contest  between    chap.  v. 
loyal  men  on  this  subject  if  they  would  consider  it 
reasonably.    He  said  in  conversation  on  the  10th 
of  December :  "  The  only  question  is,  Who  consti-       i863. 
tute  the  State  ?    When  that  is  decided,  the  solution 

T   II 

of  subsequent  questions  is  easy."  He  wrote  in  his  Diary, 
original  draft  of  the  message  that  he  considered 
"  the  discussion  as  to  whether  a  State  had  been  at 
any  time  out  of  the  Union  as  vain  and  profitless. 
We  know  they  were,  we  trust  they  shall  be,  in  the 
Union.  It  does  not  greatly  matter  whether  in  the 
mean  time  they  shall  be  considered  to  have  been  in 
or  out."  But  afterwards,  considering  that  the 
Constitution  empowered  him  to  grant  protection  to 
States  "  in  the  Union,"  he  saw  that  it  would  not 
answer  to  admit  that  the  States  had  at  any  time 
been  out  of  it ;  he  erased  that  sentence,  as  possibly 
suggestive  of  evil.  He  preferred,  he  said,  "  to  stand 
firmly  based  on  the  Constitution  rather  than  to 
work  in  the  air."  He  was  specially  gratified  by 
reports  which  came  to  him  of  the  adhesion  of  the 
Missourians  in  Congress  to  his  view.  "I  know," 
he  said,  "  these  radical  men  have  in  them  the  stuff 
which  must  save  the  State,  and  on  which  we  must 
mainly  rely.  They  are  absolutely  incorrosive  by 
the  virus  of  secession.  It  cannot  touch  or  taint  them ; 
while  the  conservatives,  in  casting  about  for  votes 
to  carry  through  their  plans,  are  attempting  to 
affiliate  with  those  whose  record  is  not  clear.  If 
one  side  must  be  crushed  out  and  the  other  cher- 
ished, there  cannot  be  any  doubt  which  side  we 
must  choose  as  fuller  of  hope  for  the  future ;  but 
just  there,"  he  continued,  "  is  where  their  wrong 
begins.     They  insist  that  I  shall  hold  and  treat 


112  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.v.  Governor  Gamble  and  his  supporters,  men  ap- 
pointed by  the  loyal  people  of  Missouri,  as  repre- 
sentatives of  Missouri  loyalty,  and  who  have  done 
their  whole  duty  in  the  war  faithfully  and  promptly, 
who  when  they  have  disagreed  with  me  have  been 
silent  and  kept  about  the  good  work  —  that  I  shall 
treat  these  men  as  copperheads  and  enemies  of  the 
Diaiy.      Government.    This  is  simply  monstrous." 

For  the  first  few  days  there  was  no  hint  of  any 
hostile  feeling  in  Congress.  There  was,  in  fact,  no 
just  reason  why  the  legislative  body  should  regard 
its  prerogative  as  invaded.  The  President  had  not 
only  kept  clearly  within  his  Constitutional  powers, 
but  his  action  had  been  expressly  authorized  by 
Congress.  The  act  of  July  17,  1862,  had  provided 
that  the  President  might  thereafter  at  any  time,  by 
proclamation,  extend  pardon  and  amnesty  to  per- 
sons participating  in  the  Rebellion,  "with  such 

"^Jobe,"'  exceptions  and  at  such  time  and  on  such  conditions 
1862,  p.  413.  as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  public  welfare." 
Of  course  a  general  amnesty  required  general  con- 
ditions ;  and  the  most  important  of  these  was  one 
which  should  provide  for  the  protection  of  the 
freedmen  who  had  been  liberated  by  the  war. 

It  soon  enough  appeared,  however,  that  the  mil- 
lenium  had  not  arrived ;  that  in  a  Congress  com- 
posed of  men  of  such  positive  convictions  and 
vehement  character  there  were  many  who  would 
not  submit  permanently  to  the  leadership  of  any 
man,  least  of  all  to  that  of  one  so  gentle,  so  reason- 
able, so  devoid  of  malice  as  the  President.  Henry 
Winter  Davis  at  once  moved  that  that  part  of  the 
message  relating  to  reconstruction  should  be  re- 
ferred to  a  special  committee,  of  which  he  was 


HENRY    WINTER    I>AVIS. 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  113 

made  chairman ;  and  on  the  15th  of  February  he  chap.  v. 
reported  "a  bill  to  guarantee  to  certain  States 
whose  governments  have  been  usurped  or  over-  «aiobe," 
thrown  a  republican  form  of  government."  Mr.  %*.  ms. 
Davis  was  a  man  of  too  much  integrity  and  eleva- 
tion of  character  to  allow  the  imputation  that  his 
action  on  public  matters  was  dictated  entirely  by 
personal  feeling  or  prejudice ;  but  at  the  same  time 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  maintained  towards  the 
President,  from  beginning  to  end  of  his  administra- 
tion, an  attitude  of  consistent  hostility.  This  was 
a  source  of  chagrin  and  disappointment  to  Mr. 
Lincoln.  He  came  to  Washington  with  a  high 
opinion  of  the  ability  and  the  character  of  Mr. 
Davis,  and  expected  to  maintain  with  him  rela- 
tions of  intimate  friendship.  He  was  cousin  to  one 
of  the  President's  closest  friends  in  Illinois,  Judge 
David  Davis,  and  his  attitude  in  the  Congress  which 
preceded  the  Rebellion  was  such  as  to  arouse  in  the 
mind  of  Mr.  Lincoln  the  highest  admiration  and 
regard.  But  the  selection  of  Mr.  Blair  of  Maryland 
as  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  estranged  the  sym- 
pathies of  Mr.  Davis  and  his  friends ;  and  the  breach 
thus  made  between  him  and  the  Administration 
was  never  healed,  though  the  President  did  all  in 
his  power  to  heal  it.  In  the  spring  of  1863  Mr. 
Davis,  assuming  that  the  President  might  be  in- 
clined to  favor  unduly  the  conservative  candidate 
in  the  election  for  the  next  Congress,  sought  an 
interview  with  him,  the  result  of  which  the  Presi- 
dent placed  in  writing  in  a  letter  dated  March  18 :       iws. 

There  will  be  in  the  new  House  of  Representatives,  as 
there  were  in  the  old,  some  members  openly  opposing  the 
war,  some  supporting  it  unconditionally,  and  some  sup- 
Vol.  IX.— 8 


114 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Lincoln 
to  Davis. 


Davis 
to  Lincoln 

Mar.  20, 
1863.     MS. 


porting  it  with  "  buts,"  and  "  ifs,"  and  "  ands."  They  will 
divide  on  the  organization  of  the  House  —  on  the  election 
of  a  Speaker.  As  you  ask  my  opinion,  I  give  it,  that  the 
supporters  of  the  war  should  send  no  man  to  Congress 
who  will  not  pledge  himself  to  go  into  caucus  with  the 
unconditional  supporters  of  the  war,  and  to  abide  the 
action  of  such  caucus  and  vote  for  the  person  therein 
nominated  for  Speaker.  Let  the  friends  of  the  Govern- 
ment first  save  the  Government,  and  then  administer  it 
to  their  own  liking. 

Mr.  Davis  answered :  "  Your  favor  of  the  18th  is 
all  that  could  be  desired,  and  will  greatly  aid  us  in 
bringing  our  friends  to  a  conclusion  such  as  the 
interests  of  the  country  require." 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  which  the  President 
made  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  Mr.  Davis,  the 
difference  between  them  constantly  widened.  Mr. 
Davis  grew  continually  more  confirmed  in  his  atti- 
tude of  hostility  to  every  proposition  of  the  Presi- 
dent. He  became  one  of  the  most  severe  and  least 
generous  critics  of  the  Administration  in  Congress. 
He  came  at  last  to  consider  the  President  as  un- 
worthy of  even  respectful  treatment ;  and  Mr.  Sew- 
ard, in  the  midst  of  his  energetic  and  aggressive 
campaign  against  European  unfriendliness,  was 
continually  attacked  by  him  as  a  truckler  to  foreign 
powers  and  little  less  than  a  traitor  to  his  country. 
The  President,  however,  was  a  man  so  persistently 
and  incorrigibly  just,  that,  even  in  the  face  of  this 
provocation,  he  never  lost  his  high  opinion  of  Mr. 
Davis's  ability  nor  his  confidence  in  his  inherent 
good  intentions.  He  refused,  in  spite  of  the  solici- 
tations of  most  of  his  personal  friends  in  Maryland, 
to  discriminate  against  the  faction  headed  by  Mr. 
Davis  in  making  appointments  to  office  in  that 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  115 

State;  and  when,  during  an  important  campaign,  chap. v. 
a  deputation  of  prominent  supporters  of  the  Ad- 
ministration in  Maryland  came  to  Washington  to 
denounce  Mr.  Davis  for  his  outspoken  hostility  to 
the  President,  saying  that  such  a  course,  if  it  con- 
tinued unchecked,  would  lose  Mr.  Lincoln  the 
electoral  vote  of  the  State,  he  replied :  "  I  under- 
stand that  Mr.  Davis  is  doing  all  in  his  power  to 
secure  the  success  of  the  emancipation  ticket  in 
Maryland.  If  he  does  this,  I  care  nothing  about 
the  electoral  vote." 

In  the  preamble  to  his  bill  Mr.  Davis  expressed, 
with  his  habitual  boldness  and  lucidity,  his  funda- 
mental thesis  that  the  rebellious  States  were  out 
of  the  Union.    He  said : 

Whereas,  the  so-called  Confederate  States  are  a  public 
enemy,  waging  an  unjust  war,  whose  injustice  is  so  glar- 
ing that  they  have  no  right  to  claim  the  mitigation  of  the 
extreme  rights  of  war  which  are  accorded  by  modern 
usage  to  an  enemy  who  has  a  right  to  consider  the 
war  a  just  one ;   and, 

Whereas,  none  of  the  States  which,  by  a  regularly  re- 
corded majority  of  its  citizens,  have  joined  the  so-called 
Southern  Confederacy  can  be  considered  and  treated  as 
entitled  to  be  represented  in  Congress  or  to  take  any  part     "  Globe," 
in  the  political  government  of  the  Union.  .  .  p^  2107. 

This  seemed  to  Congress  too  trenchant  a  solu- 
tion of  a  Constitutional  knot  which  was  puzzling 
the  best  minds  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  pre- 
amble was  rejected;  but  the  spirit  of  it  breathed 
in  every  section  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Davis's  design 
was  to  put  a  stop  to  the  work  which  the  President 
had  already  begun  in  Tennessee  and  Louisiana, 
and  to  prevent  the  extension  of  that  policy  to 
other  Southern  States.      The  bill  authorized  the 


116  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.v.  appointment  of  a  provisional  governor  in  each  of 
the  States  in  rebellion,  and  provided  that,  after  the 
military  resistance  to  the  United  States  should 
have  been  suppressed  and  the  people  sufficiently 
returned  to  their  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws,  the  white  male  citizens  of  the  State  should 
be  enrolled ;  and  when  a  majority  of  them  should 
have  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance,  the  loyal  people 
of  the  State  should  be  entitled  to  elect  delegates 
to  a  convention  to  reestablish  a  State  government. 
The  convention  was  required  to  insert  in  the  con- 
stitution three  provisions :  First,  to  prevent  prom- 
inent civil  or  military  officers  of  the  Confederates 
to  vote  for  or  to  be  members  of  the  legislature  or 
governor;  second,  that  involuntary  servitude  is 
forever  prohibited,  and  the  freedom  of  all  persons 
guaranteed  in  said  States  ;  third,  no  debt,  State  or 
Confederate,  created  by  or  under  the  sanction  of 
the  usurping  power,  shall  be  recognized  or  paid  by 
the  State.  Upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
by  the  convention,  and  its  ratification  by  the  elec- 
tors of  the  State,  the  provisional  government  shall 
so  certify  to  the  President,  who,  after  obtaining 
the  assent  of  Congress,  shall  by  proclamation  rec- 
ognize the  government  so  established,  and  none 
other,  as  the  constitutional  government  of  the 
State ;  and  from  the  date  of  such  recognition,  and 
not  before,  Congressmen  and  Presidential  electors 
may  be  elected  in  such  State.  Pending  the  reor- 
ganization, the  provisional  governor  shall  enforce 
the  laws  of  the  Union,  and  of  the  State  before  re- 
bellion. Another  section  of  the  bill  emancipated 
all  slaves  in  those  States,  with  their  posterity,  and 
made  it  the  duty  of  the  United  States  courts  to 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  117 

discharge  them  on  habeas  corpus  if  restrained  of  chap.  v. 
their  liberty  on  pretense  of  any  claim  to  service 
or  labor  as  slaves,  and  to  inflict  a  penalty  of  fine 
or  imprisonment  upon  the  persons  claiming  them. 
Another  section  declared  any  person  hereafter 
holding  any  important  office,  civil  or  military,  in 
the  rebel  service  not  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States. 

This  bill  was  supported  by  Mr.  Davis  in  a  speech 
of  extraordinary  energy.  Without  hesitation  he 
declared  it  a  test  and  standard  of  antislavery  or- 
thodoxy; he  asserted  boldly  that  Congress,  and 
Congress  alone,  had  the  power  to  revive  the  reign 
of  law  in  all  that  territory  which,  through  rebellion, 
had  put  itself  outside  of  the  law.  "  Until  therefore," 
he  said,  "  Congress  recognize  a  State  government 
organized  under  its  auspices,  there  is  no  govern- 
ment in  the  rebel  States  except  the  authority  of 
Congress.  .  .  The  duty  is  imposed  on  Congress  .  .  . 
to  administer  civil  government  until  the  people  shall, 
under  its  guidance,  submit  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  under  the  laws  which  it  shall 
impose,  and  on  the  conditions  Congress  may  require, 
reorganize  a  republican  government  for  themselves, 
and  Congress  shall  recognize  that  government."  He 
declared  there  was  no  indication  which  came  from 
the  South,  "  from  the  darkness  of  that  bottomless 
pit,"  that  there  was  a  willingness  to  accept  any 
terms  that  even  the  Democrats  were  willing  to 
offer;  he  believed  that  no  beginning  of  legal  and 
orderly  government  could  be  made  till  military 
opposition  was  absolutely  annihilated ;  that  there 
were  only  three  ways  of  bringing  about  a  reorgan- 
ization of  civil  governments.     One  was  to  remove 


118  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  v.  the  cause  of  the  war  by  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  prohibiting  slavery 
everywhere  within  its  limits :  that,  he  said,  "  goes 
to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  should  consecrate 
the  nation's  triumph " ;  but  this  measure  he 
thought  involved  infinite  difficulty  and  delay. 
Though  it  met  his  hearty  approval,  it  was  not  a 
remedy  for  the  evils  to  be  dealt  with.  The  next 
plan  he  considered  was  that  of  the  President's  am- 

Of 

Dec.  s,  1863.  nesty  proclamation.  This  he  denounced  as  utterly 
lacking  in  all  the  guarantees  required :  "  If,  in  any 
manner,"  he  said,  "by  the  toleration  of  martial 
law,  lately  proclaimed  the  fundamental  law,  under 
the  dictation  of  any  military  authority,  or  under 
the  prescriptions  of  a  provost  marshal,  something 
in  the  form  of  a  government  shall  be  presented, 
represented  to  rest  on  the  votes  of  one-tenth  of  the 
population,  the  President  will  recognize  that,  pro- 
vided it  does  not  contravene  the  proclamation  of 
freedom  and  the  laws  of  Congress." 

Having  dismissed  both  of  these  plans  with  brief 
censure,  he  then  made  a  powerful  plea  for  the  bill 
he  had  reported.  He  called  upon  Congress  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  saying,  "  In  the  face  of  those 
who  clamor  for  speedy  recognition  of  governments 
tolerating  slavery,  that  the  safety  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  is  the  supreme  law;  that  their 
will  is  the  supreme  rule  of  law,  and  that  we  are  au- 
thorized to  pronounce  their  will  on  this  subject; 
take  the  responsibility  to  say  that  we  will  revise 
the  judgments  of  our  ancestors ;  that  we  have  ex- 
perience written  in  blood  which  they  had  not ;  that 
we  find  now,  what  they  darkly  doubted,  that 
slavery  is   really,  radically  inconsistent  with  the 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  119 

permanence  of  republican  governments,  and  that    chap.  v. 
being  charged  by  the  supreme  law  of  the  land 
on  our  conscience  and  judgment  to  guaranty,  that 
is,  to  continue,  maintain,  and  enforce,  if  it  exist, 
to  institute  and  restore  when  overthrown,  repub- 
lican governments  throughout  the  broad  limits  of   Appendix, 
the  republic,  we  will  weed  out  every  element  of    'ibr.n 
their  policy  which  we  think  incompatible  with  its    pp.  sws. 
permanence  and  endurance." 

The  bill  was  extensively  debated.  It  was  not 
opposed  to  any  extent  by  the  Republicans  of  the 
House ;  the  Democrats  were  left  to  make  a  purely 
partisan  opposition  to  it.  The  President  declined 
to  exercise  any  influence  on  the  debate,  and  the 
bill  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  seventy-four  to  fif- 
ty-nine. It  was  called  up  in  the  Senate  by  B.  F.  juiyi,  lee*. 
Wade  of  Ohio,  who,  in  supporting  it,  followed  very 
much  the  same  line  of  argument  as  that  adopted 
by  Mr.  Davis  in  the  House.  B.  Gratz  Brown  of 
Missouri,  believing  that  as  the  session  was  draw- 
ing near  its  close  there  was  no  time  to  discuss  a 
measure  of  such  transcendent  importance,  offered 
an  amendment  simply  forbidding  any  State  in  in- 
surrection to  cast  votes  for  electors  of  President 
or  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  or  to  elect 
Members  of  Congress  until  the  insurrection  in 
such  State  was  suppressed  or  abandoned,  and  its 
inhabitants  had  returned  to  their  obedience  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  such  returning 
to  obedience  being  declared  by  proclamation  of  the 
President,  issued  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Congress 
thereafter  to  be  passed  authorizing  the  same.  The 
amendment  of  Mr.  Brown  was  adopted  by  a  bare  «<  Globe," 
majority,  seventeen  voting  in  favor  of  it  and  six-     pT&Eeof*' 


120  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.v.  teen  against  it.  Mr.  Sumner  tried  to  have  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation  adopted  and  en- 
acted as  a  statute  of  the  United  States,  but  this 
proposition  was  lost  by  a  considerable  majority. 
The  House  declined  to  concur  in  the  amendment 
of  the  Senate  and  asked  for  a  committee  of  confer- 
ence, in  which  the  Senate  receded  from  its  amend- 
ment and  the  bill  went  to  the  President  for  his 
approval  in  the  closing  moments  of  the  session. 
Congress  was  to  adjourn  at  noon  on  the  Fourth 
1864.  of  July;  the  President  was  in  his  room  at  the  Capi- 
tol signing  bills,  which  were  laid  before  him  as  they 
were  brought  from  the  two  Houses.  When  this  im- 
portant bill  was  placed  before  him  he  laid  it  aside 
and  went  on  with  the  other  work  of  the  moment. 
Several  prominent  members  entered  in  a  state  of 
intense  anxiety  over  the  fate  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Sum- 
ner and  Mr.  Boutwell,  while  their  nervousness  was 
evident,  refrained  from  any  comment.  Zachariah 
Chandler,  who  was  unabashed  in  any  mortal  pres- 
ence, roundly  asked  the  President  if  he  intended  to 
M*uy.  sign  the  bill.  The  President  replied :  "  This  bill  has 
been  placed  before  me  a  few  moments  before  Con- 
gress adjourns.  It  is  a  matter  of  too  much  import- 
ance to  be  swallowed  in  that  way."  "  If  it  is  vetoed," 
cried  Mr.  Chandler,  "  it  will  damage  us  fearfully  in 
the  Northwest.  The  important  point  is  that  one 
prohibiting  slavery  in  the  reconstructed  States." 
Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "That  is  the  point  on  which  I 
doubt  the  authority  of  Congress  to  act."  "It  is  no 
more  than  you  have  done  yourself,"  said  the  Sena- 
tor. The  President  answered :  "  I  conceive  that  I 
may  in  an  emergency  do  things  on  military  grounds 
which  cannot  be  done  constitutionally  by  Congress." 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  121 

Mr.  Chandler,  expressing  his  deep  chagrin,  went  out,    chap.  v. 
and  the  President,  addressing  the  members  of  the       1864. 
Cabinet  who  were  seated  with  him,  said:  "I  do  not 
see  how  any  of  us  now  can  deny  and  contradict 
what  we  have  always  said,  that  Congress  has  no 
constitutional  power  over  slavery  in  the  States." 
Mr.  Fessenden  expressed  his  entire  agreement  with 
this  view.    "  I  have  even  had  my  doubts,"  he  said, 
"  as  to  the  constitutional  efficacy  of  your  own  de- 
cree of  emancipation,  in  those  cases  where  it  has 
not  been  carried  into  effect  by  the  actual  advance      Diary', 
of  the  army." 

The  President  said :  "  This  bill  and  the  position 
of  these  gentlemen  seem  to  me,  in  asserting  that 
the  insurrectionary  States  are  no  longer  in  the 
Union,  to  make  the  fatal  admission  that  States, 
whenever  they  please,  may  of  their  own  motion 
dissolve  their  connection  with  the  Union.  Now 
we  cannot  survive  that  admission,  I  am  convinced. 
If  that  be  true,  I  am  not  President ;  these  gentle- 
men are  not  Congress.  I  have  laboriously  endeav- 
ored to  avoid  that  question  ever  since  it  first  began 
to  be  mooted,  and  thus  to  avoid  confusion  and  dis- 
turbance in  our  own  councils.  It  was  to  obviate 
this  question  that  I  earnestly  favored  the  move- 
ment for  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
abolishing  slavery,  which  passed  the  Senate  and 
failed  in  the  House.  I  thought  it  much  better,  if 
it  were  possible,  to  restore  the  Union  without  the 
necessity  of  a  violent  quarrel  among  its  friends  as 
to  whether  certain  States  have  been  in  or  out  of 
the  Union  during  the  war  —  a  merely  metaphysical 
question,  and  one  unnecessary  to  be  forced  into  una. 
discussion." 


122  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.v.  Although  every  member  of  the  Cabinet  agreed 
July*,  1864.  with  the  President,  when,  a  few  minutes  later,  he 
entered  his  carriage  to  go  home,  he  foresaw  the 
importance  of  the  step  he  had  resolved  to  take  and 
its  possibly  disastrous  consequences  to  himself. 
When  some  one  said  to  him  that  the  threats  made 
by  the  extreme  Badicals  had  no  foundation,  and 
that  people  would  not  bolt  their  ticket  on  a  ques- 
tion of  metaphysics,  he  answered  :  "  If  they  choose 
to  make  a  point  upon  this,  I  do  not  doubt  that 
they  can  do  harm.  They  have  never  been  friendly 
to  me.  At  all  events,  I  must  keep  some  conscious- 
ness of  being  somewhere  near  right.  I  must  keep 
Diary,      some  standard  or  principle  fixed  within  myself." 

After  the  fullest  deliberation  the  President  re- 
mained by  his  first  impression  that  the  bill  was  too 
rigid  and  too  restrictive  in  its  provisions  to  accom- 
plish the  work  desired.  He  had  all  his  life  hated 
formulas  in  government,  and  he  believed  that  the 
will  of  an  intelligent  people,  acting  freely  under 
democratic  institutions,  could  best  give  shape  to 
the  special  machinery  under  which  it  was  to  be  gov- 
erned; and,  in  the  wide  variety  of  circumstances 
and  conditions  prevailing  throughout  the  South, 
he  held  it  unwise  for  either  Congress  or  himself  to 
prescribe  any  fixed  and  formal  method  by  which 
the  several  States  should  resume  their  practical 
legal  relations  with  the  Union.  Thinking  in  this 
way,  and  feeling  himself  unable  to  accept  the  bill  of 
Congress  as  the  last  word  of  reconstruction,  and  yet 
unwilling  to  reject  whatever  of  practical  good  might 
be  accomplished  by  it,  he  resolved,  a  few  days  after 
Congress  had  adjourned,  to  remit  the  matter  to  the 
people  themselves,  and  to  allow  them  their  choice 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO 


123 


Chap.  V. 

1864. 


of  all  the  methods  proposed  of  returning  to  their 
allegiance.  He  issued,  on  the  8th  of  July,  a  proc- 
lamation giving  a  copy  of  the  bill  of  Congress, 
reciting  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was 
passed,  and  going  on  to  say : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  do  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known 
that  while  I  am  —  as  I  was  in  December  last,  when  by 
proclamation  I  propounded  a  plan  of  restoration  —  unpre- 
pared by  a  formal  approval  of  this  bill  to  be  inflexibly 
committed  to  any  single  plan  of  restoration,  and  while  I 
am  also  unprepared  to  declare  that  the  free  State  consti- 
tutions and  governments,  already  adopted  and  installed 
in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  shall  be  set  aside  and  held 
for  naught,  thereby  repelling  and  discouraging  the  loyal 
citizens  who  have  set  up  the  same  as  to  further  effort,  or 
to  declare  a  constitutional  competency  in  Congress  to 
abolish  slavery  in  States,  but  am  at  the  same  time  sin- 
cerely hoping  and  expecting  that  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation  may 
be  adopted,  nevertheless,  I  am  fully  satisfied  with  the 
system  for  restoration  contained  in  the  bill  as  one  very 
proper  plan  for  the  loyal  people  of  any  State  choosing  to 
adopt  it;  and  that  I  am,  and  at  all  times  shall  be,  pre- 
pared to  give  the  executive  aid  and  assistance  to  any  such 
people,  so  soon  as  military  resistance  to  the  United  States 
shall  have  been  suppressed  in  any  such  State,  and  the 
people  thereof  shall  have  sufficiently  returned  to  their 
obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  in  which  cases  military  governors  will  be  ap- 
pointed, with  directions  to  proceed  according  to  the  bill,  juiy  sTiW 

The  refusal  of  the  President  to  sign  the  recon- 
struction bill  caused  a  great  effervescence  at  the 
adjournment  of  Congress.  Mr.  Chase,  who  had 
resigned  from  the  Cabinet,  made  this  entry  in  his 
diary :  "  The  President  pocketed  the  great  bill  pro- 
viding for  the  reorganization  of  the  rebel  States 
as  loyal  States.    He  did  not  venture  to  veto,  and 


Lincoln, 
Proclama- 
tion, 


124 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Warden, 

"  Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase," 

p.  623. 


so  put  it  in  his  pocket.  It  was  a  condemnation  of 
his  amnesty  proclamation  and  of  his  general  policy 
of  reconstruction,  rejecting  the  idea  of  possible  re- 
construction with  slavery,  which  neither  the  Presi- 
dent nor  his  chief  advisers  have,  in  my  opinion, 
abandoned." 

This  entry,  made  by  Mr.  Chase  in  the  bitterness 
of  his  anger,  places  the  basest  construction  upon 
the  President's  action;  but  this  sentiment  was 
shared  by  not  a  few  of  those  who  claimed  the  title 
of  extreme  Radicals  in  Congress.  Two  days  later 
the  ex-Secretary  gleefully  reported,  on  the  authority 
of  Senator  Pomeroy,  that  there  was  great  dissatis- 
faction with  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  had  been  much 
exasperated  by  the  pocketing  of  the  reconstruction 
bill. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln,  disregarding  precedents,  and 
acting  on  his  lifelong  rule  of  taking  the  people  into 
his  confidence,  issued  his  proclamation  of  the  8th 
of  July,  it  was  received  by  each  division  of  the 
loyal  people  of  the  country  as  might  have  been 
expected.  The  great  mass  of  Republican  voters, 
who  cared  little  for  the  metaphysics  of  the  case, 
accepted  his  proclamation,  as  they  had  accepted  that 
issued  six  months  before,  as  the  wisest  and  most 
practicable  method  of  handling  the  question;  but 
among  those  already  hostile  to  the  President,  and 
those  whose  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom  was 
so  ardent  as  to  make  them  look  upon  him  as  luke- 
warm, the  exasperation  which  was  already  excited 
increased.  The  indignation  of  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr. 
Wade  at  seeing  their  work  of  the  last  session  thus 
brought  to  nothing  could  not  be  restrained.  Mr. 
Davis  prepared,   and   both  of   them  signed  and 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  125 

published,  in  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  on  the  5th    chap.  v. 
of  August,  a  manifesto,  the  most  vigorous  in  attack 
that  was  ever  directed  against  the  President  from 
his  own  party  during  his  term. 

The  grim  beginning  of  this  document,  which  is  ad- 
dressed "  To  the  Supporters  of  the  Government,"  is 
in  these  terms :  "  We  have  read  without  surprise,  but 
not  without  indignation,  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  of  the  8th  of  July,  1864.  The  supporters  of 
the  Administration  are  responsible  to  the  country 
for  its  conduct ;  and  it  is  their  right  and  duty  to 
check  the  encroachments  of  the  Executive  on  the 
authority  of  Congress,  and  to  require  it  to  confine 
itself  to  its  proper  sphere."  The  paper  went  on  to 
narrate  the  history  of  the  reconstruction  bill,  and 
to  claim  that  its  treatment  indicated  a  persistent 
though  unavowed  purpose  of  the  President  to  de- 
feat the  will  of  the  people  by  the  Executive  per- 
version of  the  Constitution.  They  insinuated  that 
only  the  lowest  personal  motives  could  have  dic- 
tated this  action :  "  The  President,"  they  said,  "  by 
preventing  this  bill  from  becoming  a  law,  holds  the 
electoral  votes  of  the  rebel  States  at  the  dictation 
of  his  personal  ambition.  .  .  If  electors  for  Presi- 
dent be  allowed  to  be  chosen  in  either  of  those 
States,  a  sinister  light  will  be  cast  on  the  motives 
which  induced  the  President  to  'hold  for  naught' 
the  will  of  Congress  rather  than  his  government 
in  Louisiana  and  Arkansas." 

They  ridiculed  the  President's  earnestly  ex- 
pressed hope  that  the  constitutional  amendment 
abolishing  slavery  might  be  adopted:  "We  curi- 
ously inquire  on  what  his  expectation  rests,  after 
the  vote  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the 


126  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  v.  recent  session  and  in  the  face  of  the  political  com- 
plexion of  more  than  enough  of  the  States  to  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  its  adoption  within  any 
reasonable  time ;  and  why  he  did  not  indulge  his 
sincere  hopes  with  so  large  an  installment  of  the 
blessing  as  his  approval  of  the  bill  would  have 
secured ! " 

When  we  consider  that  only  a  few  months  elapsed 
before  this  beneficent  amendment  was  adopted,  we 
can  form  some  idea  of  the  comparative  political 
sagacity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  critics.  The  fact 
that  the  President  gave  the  bill  of  Congress  his 
approval  as  a  very  proper  plan  for  the  loyal  people 
of  any  States  choosing  to  adopt  it  seemed  to  in- 
furiate the  authors  of  the  bill :  they  said,  "  A  more 
studied  outrage  on  the  legislative  authority  of  the 
people  has  never  been  perpetrated."  At  the  close 
of  a  long  review  of  the  President's  proclamation, 
in  which  every  sentence  came  in  for  its  share  of 
censure  or  of  ridicule,  this  manifesto  concluded : 

"  Such  are  the  fruits  of  this  rash  and  fatal  act  of 
the  President  —  a  blow  at  the  friends  of  his  Ad- 
ministration, at  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  at  the 
principles  of  republican  government.  The  Presi- 
dent has  greatly  presumed  on  the  forbearance 
which  the  supporters  of  his  Administration  have  so 
long  practiced,  in  view  of  the  arduous  conflict  in 
which  we  are  engaged,  and  the  reckless  ferocity  of 
our  political  opponents.  But  he  must  understand 
that  our  support  is  of  a  cause  and  not  of  a  man  ; 
that  the  authority  of  Congress  is  paramount  and 
must  be  respected;  that  the  whole  body  of  the 
Union  men  of  Congress  will  not  submit  to  be  im- 
peached by  him  of  rash  and  unconstitutional  legis- 


THE    WADE-DAVIS    MANIFESTO  127 

lation;  and  if  he  wishes  our  support  he  must  con-  chap.  v. 
fine  himself  to  his  executive  duties  —  to  obey  and 
to  execute,  not  make  the  laws  —  to  suppress  by 
arms  armed  rebellion,  and  leave  political  reorganiza- 
tion to  Congress.  If  the  supporters  of  the  Gov- 
ernment fail  to  insist  on  this  they  become  respon- 
sible for  the  usurpations  which  they  fail  to  rebuke, 
and  are  justly  liable  to  the  indignation  of  the 
people  whose  rights  and  security,  committed  to 
their  keeping,  they  sacrifice.  Let  them  consider 
the  remedy  of  these  usurpations,  and,  having  found 
it,  fearlessly  execute  it." 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY 


ohap.vi.  A  Ik  J  JdJ  have  seen  how  through  the  incessant 
V  V  efforts  of  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Adams  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain  had  been  brought  to  the 
point  of  prohibiting  the  building  and  the  fitting  out 
of  Confederate  ships  of  war  in  British  ports ;  and 
also  how  Napoleon  III.  had  been  convinced  by  Get- 
tysburg and  Vicksburg  that  a  brusque  treachery 
was  more  expedient  than  the  fulfillment  of  his 
promises  to  Mr.  Slidell.  Most  of  the  rebel  rams 
and  ironclads  built  in  Confederate  waters  had  come 
to  miserable  ends  before  reaching  the  open  seas. 
The  power  of  the  rebel  navy  was  therefore  strictly 
circumscribed  in  the  latter  years  of  the  war,  and 
the  few  cruisers  which  were  left  afloat  could  do 
nothing  more  than  destroy  an  occasional  vessel  in 
distant  waters.  Although  using  no  weapon  but 
the  torch  they  were  still  able  to  inflict  considerable 
damage  upon  unarmed  and  peaceful  commerce; 
but  after  a  few  months  passed  in  alternate  arson 
and  evasion  they  all  finished  their  careers  in  ways 
more  or  less  ignoble. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1863  the  cruiser 
Florida,  under  the  command  of  Captain  J.  N.  Maflfitt, 
burned  a  large  number  of  small  trading  vessels  on 


BEAR-ADMIRAL    RAPHAEL    SEMMES. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY 


129 


the  American  coast,1  and  one  of  her  tenders  entered, 
in  June,  the  harbor  of  Portland,  Maine,  and  de- 
stroyed a  United  States  revenue  cutter  lying  there. 
She  then  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  took  refuge  in 
the  harbor  of  Brest.  She  remained  there  all  the 
autumn,  repairing  and  refitting  in  a  government 
dock.  A  large  portion  of  her  crew  left  her  at  that 
port,  and  the  work  of  filling  their  places  with 
British  sailors  was  slow  and  tedious.2  The  autumn 
and  a  part  of  the  winter  passed  in  this  way,  and  it 
was  late  in  February  before  the  Florida,  now  under 
command  of  Lieutenant  C.  M.  Morris,  began  another 
cruise  in  the  West  Indies  and  on  the  American 
coast.  She  made  few  depredations,  however,  dur- 
ing the  summer,  and  on  the  4th  of  October  an- 
chored in  the  harbor  of  Bahia  in  Brazil.  The  thor- 
ough refitting  she  had  received  in  the  French  port, 
the  light  work  she  had  done  during  the  summer, 
had  left  her  in  nearly  perfect  condition.  "  Officers 
and  crew,"  says  Bulloch,  "  were  in  fine  spirits,  and 
hoped  to  accomplish  a  good  deal  of  work  still." 
But  when  at  twilight  on  the  4th  of  October  she 
entered  the  Brazilian  harbor,  the  trap  was  sprung 
and  the  sea  rover  had  finished  her  career.  At  the 
dawn  of  the  next  day  the  United  States  steam  cor- 
vette Wachusett,  commanded  by  Napoleon  Collins, 
was  discovered  at  anchor  not  far  off.  Captain  Mor- 
ris went  on  shore,  where  he  was  received  with 


Chap.  VL 


Bulloch, 


Service 
of  the  Con- 
federate 
States  in 
Europe." 
Vol.  I., 
p.  186. 


1  James  D.  Bulloch  in  his  work 
"  Secret  Service  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  in  Europe,"  Vol.  I., 
p.  178,  says:  "The  whole  num- 
ber of  prizes  taken  during  Maf- 
fitt's  cruise  was  fifty -five." 

2  "  The  Florida  wanted  English- 
speaking  seamen,  and  these  had 

Vol.  IX.— 9 


to  be  sought  for  chiefly  across  the 
Channel.  The  men  were  engaged 
in  small  groups  wherever  they 
could  be  found,  and  were  for- 
warded to  Calais  and  other 
French  channel  ports,  and  then 
taken  by  rail  to  Brest." —  Bulloch, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  182. 


130  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  special  kindness  by  the  president  of  the  province ; 
the  Brazilian  admiral,  on  duty  at  Bahia,  being  also 
present  at  the  interview.  The  Confederate  cruiser 
was  granted  a  stay  of  forty-eight  hours  for  some 
trifling  repairs  he  said  were  necessary,  and  it  was 
intimated  to  him  that  an  extension,  if  it  was 
wanted,  would  not  be  refused.  To  put  him  still  more 
at  his  ease,  the  admiral  suggested  that  he  should 
anchor  the  Florida  between  his  flagship  and  the 
shore,  which  Morris  at  once  did ;  and  feeling  now 
perfectly  secure,  he  permitted  one  half  of  his  crew 

Oct  e,  1864.  to  go  on  shore  and  the  next  day,  the  liberty  men 
having  returned,  the  other  half  with  Captain  Mor- 
ris and  some  of  his  officers  took  their  turn  to  visit 
the  town.  He  had  received  during  the  day,  in  an 
irregular  manner,  a  challenge  from  the  Wachusett, 
conveyed  through  the  United  States  consulate,  with 
the  understanding  that  in  case  it  was  accepted  the 
consul  would  use  his  influence  to  facilitate  whatever 
repairs  were  needed  on  the  Florida.  Captain  Morris 
declined  this  eccentric  defiance,  saying  that  he 
came  to  Bahia  on  his  own  business,  and  should 
leave  when  he  liked ;  that  if  he  should  happen  to 
meet  the  Wachusett  outside  of  the  port  he  would 
fight  her.  But  he  had  no  thought  of  impending 
conflict  in  his  mind  when,  after  amusing  himself 
during  the  evening  in  town,  he  went  to  bed.  His 
slumbers  were  broken  before  daylight  by  the  land- 
lord of  the  hotel  where  he  lodged,  who  told  him 
that  firing  and  cheering  had  been  heard  from  the 
direction  of  the  Florida. 

As  soon  as  the  Florida  had  anchored  in  the  port 
Thomas  F.  Wilson,  Consul  of  the  United  States  at 
Bahia,  sent  a  protest  to  the  President  of  the  province 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KEBEL  NAVY  131 

against  the  admission  of  that  vessel  to  free  practice,  chap.vl 
and  also  claimed  that  she  should  be  detained  for 
having,  "  in  combination  with  the  pirate  Alabama, 
violated  the  sovereignty  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment of  Brazil  by  capturing  and  destroying  vessels 
belonging  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica within  the  territorial  waters  of  Brazil,  near  the 
island  of  Fernando  de  Noronha,  in  April,  1863." 
This  demand  having  been  refused  by  the  President 
on  the  same  day,  the  consul  reported  the  action  of 
the  authorities  to  Commander  Collins,  who  at  once 
resolved  to  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands.  In 
his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  he  says 
that  he  "thought  it  probable  the  Brazilian  authori- 
ties would  forbear  to  interfere,  as  they  had  done  at 
Fernando  de  Noronha,  when  the  rebel  steamer  Ala- 
bama was  permitted  to  take  into  the  anchorage  three 
American  ships,  and  to  take  coal  from  the  Louisa 
Hatch  within  musket  shot  of  the  fort,  and  after- 
ward, within  easy  range  of  their  guns,  to  set  on  fire 
those  unarmed  vessels." x  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
Commander  Collins  thought  this  was  the  course 
which  the  Brazilian  Government  in  justice  and 
impartiality  should  have  pursued ;  but  it  can  hardly 
be  believed  that  he  had  full  confidence  in  their 
abstention.  It  is  clear  that  the  consul  felt  that  he 
would  be  safer  beyond  Brazilian  jurisdiction  after 

1  Semmes,  in  his  "  Adventures  ter,"  p.  179,  of  the  Louisa  Hatch 

Afloat,"  denies  that  he  burned  and  Kate  Cory,  that  "when  about 

these  vessels  within  the  marine  five  miles  from  land  both  vessels 

league.     He  says  he  took  "pains  were  set  fire  to." 
to  send  them  both  beyond  the        On  the  next  page  the  statement 

marine  league,  that  he  might  pay  is  made  from  Captain  Semmes's 

due  respect  to  the  jurisdiction  diary  that  he  sent  the  vessels  "  a 

of  Brazil."    It  is  stated  in  the  league   outside    the    island    and 

"Cruise  of  the  A  labama  and  Sum-  burned  them." 


132  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  the  blow  had  been  struck,  as  he  volunteered  to 
remain  on  board  the  Wachusett  during  the  attack, 
and  afterwards  accompany  her  to  sea. 
At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  Oc- 
1864.  tober  the  Wachusett  slipped  her  cable  and  steered  for 
the  Florida,  a  little  more  than  half  a  mile  away.  Col- 
lins's  intention  was  to  sink  the  corsair  on  the  spot ; 
but  unforeseen  circumstances  prevented  him  from 
striking  her  as  he  intended.  He  struck  her  instead 
on  the  starboard  quarter,  cutting  down  her  bulwarks 
and  carrying  away  her  mizenmast  and  breaking 
her  mainyard,  with  no  injury  whatever  to  the 
Wachusett.  She  then  backed  off,  believing  the 
Florida  would  sink  from  the  effects  of  the  blow.  A 
few  pistol  shots,  fired  by  the  Confederates,  were 
answered  by  a  volley  of  small  arms  from  the  Wa- 
chusett, and,  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  two 
broadside  guns  were  fired  from  the  national  vessel 
contrary  to  Collins's  orders,  when  the  Confederate 
lieutenant,  J.  K.  Porter,  finding  further  resistance 
impossible,  came  on  board  the  Wachusett  and  sur- 
rendered. A  hawser  was  at  once  attached  to  the 
Florida,  and  the  Wachusett,  with  her  prize,  moved 
out  to  sea. 

The  Brazilian  naval  commander  had  seen,  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  morning,  the  Wachusett  ap- 
proaching the  Florida,  and  had  sent  an  officer  to 
warn  her  off.  This  intimation  was  received  after 
the  collision,  and  the  humorously  evasive  answer  of 
the  American  was  that  he  would  do  nothing  fur- 
ther. A  short  while  afterwards  the  United  States 
vessel  was  seen  apparently  returning  to  her  berth,  but 
to  the  surprise  of  the  Brazilian  the  Florida  seemed 
to  be  following  her,  and  it  was  soon  discovered  that 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY  133 

she  was  in  tow.    The  Brazilian  fired  three  guns  at    chap.  vi. 
the  Wachusett,  none  of  which  struck,  and  as  soon      Com. 
as  steam  could  be  made  Commander  Macebo  started     Maoebo, 
in  pursuit ;  but  the  stern  chase  was  hopeless  from  o-ct-TW. 
the  first,  and  by  noon  the  American  vessels  had 
disappeared  below  the  Northern  horizon,  and  the 
Brazilian  returned  to  draw  up  the  report  which 
should  form  the  basis  of  the  diplomatic  demand 
which  the  Imperial  Government  at  once  made  on 
that  of  the  United  States.    Collins  arrived  with 
his  prize  at  Hampton  Roads  on  the  12th  of  Novem-       1864. 
ber,  where,  on  the  28th,  she  foundered  while  lying 
at  anchor.     So  seasonable  a  disaster  of  course 
gave  rise  to  rumors  of  collusion,  for  which  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  just  foundation.    A  naval 
and  a  military  court  of  inquiry  were  held,  from 
which  it  appeared  that  the  sinking  of  the  Florida 
was  accidental. 

The  Government  of  Brazil  protested  with  great 
energy  against  the  act  of  Commander  Collins  and 
promptly  demanded  reparation,  which  was  readily 
granted  by  the  President.  "Jealousy  of  foreign 
intervention  in  every  form,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  in 
his  reply  to  the  Brazilian  minister,  "  and  absolute 
non-intervention  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  foreign 
nations,  are  cardinal  principles  in  the  policy  of  the 
United  States.  You  have,  therefore,  justly  ex- 
pected that  the  President  would  disavow  and  regret 
the  proceedings  at  Bahia.  He  will  suspend  Captain 
Collins,  and  direct  him  to  appear  before  a  court 
martial.  The  consul  at  Bahia  admits  that  he  ad- 
vised and  incited  the  captain,  and  was  active  in 
the  proceedings ;  he  will  therefore  be  dismissed.  BarboL  da 
The  flag  of  Brazil  will  receive  from  the  United    Dec™6. 


134  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  States  navy  the  honors  customary  in  the  inter- 
186*.  course  of  friendly  maritime  powers."  Having  thus 
done  justice  to  the  international  law  which  had 
been  violated  by  Captain  Collins,  the  Secretary  ad- 
ministered a  severe  rebuke  to  the  Government  of 
Brazil  for  its  ascribing  the  character  of  a  lawful 
naval  belligerent  to  insurgent  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  He  claimed  that  the  Florida  like  the  Ala- 
bama was  a  pirate  belonging  to  no  nation  or  lawful 
belligerent,  and  therefore  that  the  harboring  of  these 
piratical  ships  in  Brazilian  ports  was  a  wrong  and 
injury  for  which  Brazil  justly  owed  reparation  to 
the  United  States  as  ample  as  the  reparation  which 
she  now  received  from  them.  "  These  positions  of 
this  Government,"  said  the  Secretary,  "are  no  longer 
deemed  open  to  argument.  It  does  not,  however, 
belong  to  the  captains  of  ships-of-war  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  the  commanders  of  their  armies,  or  to 
their  consuls  residing  in  foreign  ports,  acting  with- 
out the  authority  of  Congress,  and  without  even 
Executive  direction,  and  choosing  their  own  time, 
manner,  and  occasion,  to  assert  the  rights  and  re- 
dress the  wrongs  of  the  country.  This  power  can  be 
lawfully  exercised  only  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States."  He  therefore  equally  condemned 
the  conduct  of  the  American  and  the  Brazilian  offi- 
cers in  the  port  of  Bahia.  "  Subordinate  agents," 
he  said,  "  without  the  knowledge  of  their  respective 
Governments,  mutually  inaugurated  an  unauthor- 
ized, irregular,  and  unlawful  war.  In  desisting  from 
that  war  on  her  part,  and  in  appealing  to  this  Gov- 
ernment for  redress,  Brazil  rightly  appreciated  the 
character  of  the  United  States  and  set  an  example 
worthy  of  emulation." 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  EEBEL  NAVY  135 

The  officers  of  the  Florida  were  released  and  soon  chap,  vl 
afterwards  sailed  for  England.  The  act  of  Collins 
was  one  of  many  instances  where  brave  and  patri- 
otic naval  officers  have,  in  defiance  of  international 
law,  committed  acts  of  aggression  on  the  territory 
of  neutral  powers.  Seeing  an  important  end  to  be 
accomplished  he  took  the  responsibility  of  violating 
neutral  territory  and  of  facing  whatever  punish- 
ment might  result  from  his  act.  His  conduct  was 
not  unlike  that  of  Nelson  when  he  attacked  the 
Danish  fleet  at  Copenhagen;  of  Captain  Hellyar 
when  he  cut  out  the  Essex  under  the  guns  of  the 
Chilian  battery  at  Valparaiso,  and  of  Captain  Daniel 
Turner  when  he  chased  the  Federal  into  the  Har- 
bor of  St.  Bartholomew  and  captured  her  at  the 
very  mouth  of  the  Swedish  cannon.1  An  attempt 
has  been  made  by  Confederate  writers  to  show  that 
the  exploit  of  Collins  in  the  harbor  of  Bahia  dif- 
fered from  those  we  have  mentioned  in  the  fact  that 
the  Consul  of  the  United  States  had  promised  the 
President  of  the  Province  that  no  act  of  aggres- 
sion should  be  committed  by  the  Wachusett,  but 
there  is  no  claim  that  Collins  participated  in  this 
promise,  and  he  was  under  no  honorable  obligation 
to  regard  it.  He  broke  the  law  and  took  his  pun- 
ishment with  equal  bravery  and  fortitude. 

When,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1864,  the  Em- 
peror of  France  suddenly  changed  his  mind  in 
regard  to  the  building  of  Confederate  ironclads  in 
France,  and  ordered  the  astonished  M.  Arman  to  sell 
them  to  some  other  power,  the  Government  of  Den- 
mark, which  was   then   in   trouble  with  Prussia, 

1  Captain  J.  D.  Bulloch  (Vol.  L,  pp.  190,  191)  with  perfect  fairness 
cites  these  very  instances  in  the  case  of  the  Florida. 


136  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.    acquired  one  of  the  rams  which  Captain  Bulloch 
had  originally  ordered.     "  There  was  at  the  same 
time,"  says  Captain  Bulloch,  "an   express  under- 
standing between  M.  Arman  and  me  that  the  sale 
„  „   v     of  the  corvettes    should  be  purely  fictitious  and 

Bulloch  e  J 

*°jJ5S1wy'  *na*  ^ne  negotiations  in  respect  to  the  rams  should 
"Secret  be  kept  in  such  a  state  that  we  might  get  posses- 
theconfed-  sion  of  them  again  if  there  should  be  any  change  in 
^Europe!"  the  policy  of  the  Emperor's  Government  before  their 
p. "45."  completion."  The  ship  was  sold  to  Denmark  and 
was  sent  to  Copenhagen  under  the  French  flag,  with 
a  French  crew.  Captain  Bulloch,  however,  still  re- 
mained in  communication  with  M.  Arman,  watch- 
ing for  an  opportunity  to  repossess  himself  of  the 
Sphinx,  as  the  ram  had  been  named.  There  had 
been  great  delay  in  the  completion  and  delivery 
of  the  vessel.  Denmark  had  been  defeated  by  Prus- 
sia in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  controversy,  and  the 
Sphinx  had  not  been  made  ready  in  time  to  take  part 
in  the  war.  M.  Arman,  learning  that  the  Danish 
Government  was  willing  to  part  with  its  bargain, 
prolonged  the  negotiations  until  Captain  Bulloch 
could  collect  a  staff  of  officers,  a  crew,  and  sufficient 
stores ;  and  the  year  1865  had  begun  before  all  was 
in  readiness.  The  sale  was  effected,  and  the  Stone- 
wall, as  the  ram  was  rechristened,  sailed  from 
Copenhagen  on  the  6th  of  January.  A  tender  was 
purchased  and  fitted  out  and  the  two  vessels  met 
at  the  Bay  of  Quiberon,  Belle  Isle,  on  the  24th, 
where  the  ram  took  on  her  crew  and  her  stores  and 
sailed  for  Ferrol.  All  the  labor  and  expense  which 
had  been  bestowed  upon  her  was  to  be  without 
avail.  She  lay  in  the  harbor  of  Ferrol  until  the 
1866.       24th  of  March,  and  then,  evading  the  Niagara  and 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY  137 

Sacramento,  which  indeed  showed  no  eagerness  to  chap.  vi. 
attack  her,  she  made  her  way  to  Lisbon ;  thence 
striking  westward  she  arrived  at  Havana  early  in 
May.  Learning  that  Lee  had  surrendered  and  Jef-  i865. 
ferson  Davis  was  captured,  her  commander  gave 
up  the  Stonewall  to  the  Captain-General  of  Cuba, 
receiving  sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  money  to  pay 
off  his  crew.  The  Spanish  Government  handed 
her  over  to  the  United  States,  receiving  the  money 
the  Captain-General  had  disbursed,  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  Stonewall  again  changed  her  name 
and  her  flag  and  became  the  property  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan. 

Commander  M.  F.  Maury,  better  known  as  a  man 
of  science  than  as  a  naval  warrior,  had  been  sent 
to  England  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1862  for 
special  service,  and  very  much  was  expected  of  him 
by  the  Richmond  Government,  which  probably  exag- 
gerated his  influence  with  the  ruling  classes  of  that 
country.  His  special  duty  was  the  investigation 
of  the  subject  of  submarine  defenses,  and  the  manu- 
facture and  use  of  explosives.  He  had  also  author- 
ity to  buy  and  equip  a  cruiser  if  he  thought  it 
practicable,  and  under  this  authority  he  purchased 
an  iron-clad,  Clyde-built  screw  steamer,  called  the 
Japan,  and  put  his  cousin  W.  L.  Maury  on  board 
as  commander,  changing  the  name  of  the  ship  to 
the  Georgia.  His  enlistment  of  her  crew  gave  rise 
to  a  prosecution  against  two  persons  named  Jones 
and  Highatt  for  a  violation  of  the  foreign  enlistment 
act;  a  jury  at  the  Liverpool  assizes  found  them  ,?£^J» 
both  guilty  and  they  were  fined  £50  each.  The  t|fS££_ 
Georgia  cruised  for  several  months  in  1863,  de-  fnEurope?" 
stroying  six  or  seven  American  vessels;   but  be-   PJ.°26i-263. 


138  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  ing  ill  handled  and  ill  managed,  she  came  back 
to  Europe  for  repairs  and  went  into  the  Govern- 
ment dock  at  Cherbourg,  where  she  remained  four 
months.  In  March,  1864,  she  went  out  again,  but 
soon  afterwards  put  in  at  Bordeaux,  whence,  in 
despair  of  accomplishing  anything  more  with  her, 
she  was  dispatched  to  Liverpool  and  sold  to  a 
merchant  of  that  city.  Her  war  fittings  were  re- 
moved and,  with  a  British  register  and  flying  the 
British  flag,  under  charter  to  the  Portuguese  Gov- 
ernment she  sailed  in  August  from  Liverpool  for  Lis- 
•?sSret'  Don-  Brrt  her  peaceful  appearance  and  her  honest 
thIrSed-  intentions  could  not  save  her.  She  was  captured 
^Europe6"  by  the  Niagara  off  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus,  and 
p.  264."'  condemned  and  sold  in  a  United  States  prize  court. 
Another  of  Commodore  Maury's  purchases  came 
to  no  better  fate.  He  bought  at  Sheerness,  in  No- 
vember, 1863,  a  dispatch  boat  called  the  Victor, 
but  before  she  had  been  made  ready  for  a  cruise, 
Maury  took  alarm  and  hurried  her  across  the  Chan- 
nel to  Calais.  A  staff  of  Confederate  naval  officers 
boarded  her  in  the  transit ;  she  went  through  the 
ceremony  of  being  commissioned  as  a  ship-of-war, 
and  entered  the  harbor  of  Calais  under  the  name 
and  style  of  the  Confederate  ship  Rappahannock. 
Mr.  Dayton  remonstrated  strongly  against  her 
being  received,  but  the  French  Government  in- 
sisted that  she  could  not  be  refused  asylum  as  she 
had  entered  the  port  in  distress.  Although  his 
protests  were  not  sufficient  to  keep  her  out,  they 
were  of  sufficient  force  to  keep  her  in,  and  after 
her  repairs  were  completed  Mr.  Slidell  exhausted 
all  his  powers  of  argument  and  persuasion  in  the 
fruitless  attempt  to  induce  the  Government  of  the 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  EEBEL  NAVY  139 

Emperor  to  allow  her  to  depart.  She  lay  at  Calais  chap.vi. 
enjoying  the  fatal  hospitality  of  France  until  the 
war  ended  and  the  United  States  Government  took 
possession  of  her.  The  dispatches  of  Mr.  Slidell  to 
the  Government  in  Richmond,  in  regard  to  this 
matter,  form  a  most  amazing  chapter  of  the  diplo- 
matic history  of  the  Rebellion.  The  Emperor  acted, 
not  only  towards  Mr.  Slidell  but  towards  his  own 
ministers,  with  almost  inconceivable  duplicity. 

We  shall  hereafter  show  how  disastrous  an  effect 
the  controversy  over  the  Rappahannock  exercised 
on  the  fortunes  of  the  Alabama,  and  after  that 
famous  cruiser  had  been  sent  to  the  bottom  of  the 
Channel  by  the  guns  of  the  Kearsarge,  the  Emperor 
still  continued  the  most  astounding  mystifications 
and  falsehoods  to  the  American  minister,  the  Con- 
federate commissioner,  and  his  own  Government. 
On  the  11th  of  July  Slidell  wrote  to  Mr.  Benjamin :  m*. 
"I  called  on  the  1st  inst.  on  Messrs.  Horny  and 
Persigny  to  invoke  their  good  offices  in  the  affair 
of  the  Rappahannock.  I  expressed  very  fully  my 
opinion  of  the  conduct  of  the  Foreign  Minister,  in 
which  they  heartily  concurred,  and  promised  me, 
the  former  to  speak  and  the  latter  to  write  to  the 
Emperor  on  the  subject.  On  the  7th  I  received 
from  Mr.  Persigny  a  note  inclosing  an  autograph  MS_  Con. 
letter  of  the  Emperor,  of  the  same  day,  in  these  irSiives. 
words : 

" 'Hon  cher  Peksigny:  J'ai  donne  l'ordre  pour  que 
le  Rappahannock  puisse  quitter  les  ports  de  France, 
mais  il  ne  faut  pas  que  le  ministre  Americain  le 
sache.  Croyez  a  ma  sincere  amitie. —  Napoleon.' 
In  response  to  an  inquiry  made  of  my  friend  at  the 
Foreign  Affairs,  he  wrote  to  me  on  the  9th  inst.: 


140  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  "'Aucune  decision  n'a  ete  prise  au  sujet  du  Rap- 
pahannock. M.  D.  de  l'H.  me  l'a  dit  et  repete  hier 
soir.  En  attendant  le  Rappahannock  fera  bien  de 
prendre  des  precautions  pour  ne  pas  etre  pince  par 
un  des  croiseurs  federaux  qui  le  surveillent.' 

"This  caution,"  says  Mr.  Slidell,  "was  rather 
inconsistent  with  the  declaration  that  no  decision 
had  been  made ;  but  supposing  it  possible  that  the 
order  might  have  been  given  to  the  Minister  of 
Marine,  I  called  on  him  immediately  to  ascertain 
the  fact,  and  showed  him  the  Emperor's  letter, 
saying  that  as  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  said 
that  no  decision  had  been  made  on  the  subject  of 
the  Rappahannock  I  presumed  that  the  order  had 
been  communicated  directly  to  him.  He  assured 
me  that  such  was  not  the  case,  and  was  evidently 
surprised  at  the  discrepancy  between  the  Emperor's 
letter  and  the  declaration  of  his  Foreign  Minister." 
The  Emperor  seems  at  this  time  to  have  carried  on 
his  Government  in  water-tight  compartments.  He 
gave  separate  directions  in  a  different  sense  to  each 
of  his  ministers.  M.  Drouyn  de  l'Huys  was  directed 
to  give  satisfactory  assurances  to  Mr.  Dayton ;  the 
Minister  of  Marine  was  authorized  to  be  on  the  best 
possible  terms  with  Mr.  Slidell ;  Persigny  and 
Mocquard,  Napoleon's  nearest  familiars,  were  frank 
and  avowed  Confederate  sympathizers.  Even  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  presiding  over  the  Com- 
mittee of  Jurisconsults,  received  orders  from  the 
Tuileries  as  to  legal  decisions  which  were  to  be 
rendered  in  the  case  of  the  Rappahannock,  and  the 
Emperor  held  himself  perfectly  free  to  repudiate 
anything  said  by  either  of  these  officers,  or  by 
himself,  when  occasion  required  it. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KEBEL  NAVY 


141 


When  at  last  Napoleon  III.  gave  the  peremptory  chap,  vl 
order  that  the  Rappahannock  should  be  allowed  to  mm. 
leave  the  ports  of  France,  it  was  coupled  with  the 
condition  that  she  should  take  away  no  larger  crew 
than  she  had  brought  into  Calais.  This  was  a  bitter 
disappointment  to  Mr.  Slidell  and  his  associates. 
The  rebel  envoy  represented  to  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment that  if  this  point  were  insisted  on  the  per- 
mission to  go  to  sea  was  altogether  illusory.  The 
Minister  of  Marine  expressed  his  deep  regret  at  the 
stringency  of  the  instructions  under  which  he  was 
acting,  and  which  allowed  him  no  discretion.1  He 
volunteered  to  make  an  effort  to  induce  his  col- 
leagues to  relax  the  rigor  of  the  conditions ;  but  a 
few  days  later  informed  Mr.  Slidell  that  after  a  full 
discussion  in  Cabinet  Council,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  Empress,  it  was  decided  not  to  change  the 
instructions.  Commodore  Samuel  Barron  and  Cap- 
tain Bulloch  then  concluded  that  it  was  not  worth 
while  for  the  Rappahannock  to  attempt  to  go  to  sea 
with  this  insufficient  number  of  men ;  the  difficulty 
of  getting  a  new  crew  from  England ;  the  presence 
of  four  Union  cruisers  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Calais ;  the  inability  of  the  ship  to  carry  more 
than  five  days'  full  supply  of  coal,  were  the  discour- 


1  The  rebel  commissioners 
could  find  no  fault  in  the  conduct 
of  the  Minister  of  Marine.  In  dis- 
cussing the  Rappahannock  case 
with  Mr.  Slidell,  he  said  "that 
in  this  case  as  well  as  in  those  of 
the  Florida  and  Georgia  he  had 
done  all  he  could  to  keep  his  eyes 
shut  to  any  violation  of  neutrality, 
but  that  it  could  not  be  expected 
that  when  forcibly  opened  he 
should  affect  not  to  see.    He  ap- 


pealed to  me  whether  he  had  not 
afforded  everypossiblefacilityfor 
the  landing,  transit,  and  putting 
of  seamen  on  board  of  our  vari- 
ous ships.  He  said  that  he  had 
given  the  order  for  the  ship  to 
proceed  to  sea  by  the  first  tide, 
because  he  knew  that  he  would 
receive,  the  next  day,  from  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  a  com- 
munication that  would  compel 
him  to  detain  her." 


Slidell  to 
Benjamin, 
Mar.  5, 1864. 
MS.,  Con- 
federate 
Archives. 


142 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Slidell  to 
Benjamin, 
Aug.  1, 1864. 
MS.,  Con- 
federate 
Archives. 


MS.,  Con- 
federate 
Archives. 


aging  circumstances  which  induced  the  Confederate 
agents  to  leave  the  Rappahannock  to  her  fate  in  the 
port  of  Calais.  Mr.  Slidell  attributed  his  failure 
in  this  matter  to  the  ill-will  and  bad  faith  of  M. 
Drouyn  de  l'Huys.  "  Strange  as  it  may  seem,"  he 
says,  "  the  fact  is  patent  that  Mr.  Dayton  has  man- 
aged to  convince  him  that  the  Lincoln  Government 
is  prepared  to  go  to  war  with  France,  if  not  directly, 
at  least  by  pursuing  a  course  towards  Mexico  which 
would  necessarily  soon  result  in  open  hostilities.  I 
still  believe  that  the  Emperor  is  decidedly  our 
friend,  but  the  Mexican  question  and  his  well- 
founded  distrust  of  England  will  continue  to  pre- 
vent any  favorable  action  on  his  part  in  which  she 
will  not  fully  participate." 

The  course  of  the  Imperial  Government  in  this 
matter  caused  deep  indignation  in  Richmond. 
When  Mr.  Davis  read  Slidell's  dispatch  of  May  2, 
1864,  in  which  he  said  that  he  had  instructed 
Fauntleroy  to  strike  his  flag  and  abandon  the  Rappa- 
hannock in  the  port  of  Calais,  the  Confederate  chief 
made  this  angry  note  in  pencil  for  Mr.  Benjamin  : 
"  Too  much  has  been  borne  of  evasion  and  indig- 
nity in  relation  to  the  Rappahannock  —  nothing  was 
left  but  the  course  adopted." 1 

It  was  while  the  triangular  controversy  was  going 
on  between  the  American  legation,  the  Imperial 
Government,  and  the  Confederate  emissaries  in 
regard  to  the  hospitality  extended  to  the  Rappa- 
hannock in  the  ports  of  France  that  Captain  Semmes 
arrived  with  the  Alabama  in  the  harbor  of  Cher- 
bourg with  thirty-seven  prisoners  on  board,  cap- 


1  Mr.  Davis  also  refers  in  the  same  note  to  "the  devious  and 
offensive  course"  of  France  in  relation  to  tobacco. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY  143 

tured  from  American  merchant  vessels.  Mr.  Dayton  chap.  vi. 
lost  not  a  moment  in  laying  a  brief  and  menacing 
protest  before  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  He 
had  said  some  time  before,  when  protesting  against 
the  presence  of  the  Florida  and  the  Georgia,  that  it 
needed  only  the  Alabama  to  make  the  French  ports 
a  rendezvous  for  the  entire  rebel  navy,  and  M. 
Dronyn  de  l'Huys,  irritated  by  the  epigram,  said 
hastily :  "  Monsieur,  I  will  not  permit  that  vessel  to&waid, 
to  come  in."  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  M.  uisw.  ' 
Drouyn  de  l'Huys  would  gladly  have  warned  off 
this  troublesome  visitor,  but  there  was  so  much  of 
sympathy  with  the  Confederate  cause  in  the  high- 
est official  circles  that  he  was  unable  to  effect 
this.  The  terms,  however,  on  which  the  Alabama 
was  admitted  to  the  port  were  those  of  harsh  and 
grudging  welcome.  The  Minister  of  Marine  wrote 
to  the  admiral-prefect  at  Cherbourg  that  the  Ala- 
bama could  not  be  permitted  to  enter  into  one  of 
the  basins  of  the  arsenal,  but  might  address  itself 
to  commercial  accommodations  for  such  urgent 
repairs  as  it  needed ;  that  it  was  not  proper  for  one 
of  the  belligerents  to  be  continually  making  use  of 
the  French  ports  as  a  base  of  operations.  The 
admiral-prefect  was  further  ordered  to  observe  to 
the  captain  of  the  Alabama  that  he  had  not  been 
forced  to  enter  into  Cherbourg  by  any  accidents 
of  the  sea,  and  that  he  might  just  as  well  have 
gone  somewhere  else. 

The  moment  the  Alabama  appeared  Mr.  Day- 
ton had  telegraphed  to  Captain  John  A.  Winslow, 
who  was  at  Flushing  with  the  United  States  ship 
Kearsarge,  who  came  with  all  haste  to  Cherbourg. 
He  did  not  enter  the  port,  as  that  would  have 


144  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  subjected  him  to  detention,  but  he  steamed  by 
the  breakwater  from  end  to  end  without  anchor- 
ing, an  act  accepted  both  by  Semmes  and  the 
French  officers  in  the  port  as  a  virtual  challenge. 
It  has  suited  Captain  Semmes  and  other  Confed- 
erate writers  to  represent  his  acceptance  of  this 
chivalrous  defiance  as  a  bit  of  heroic  self-sacrifice 
in  encountering  an  overwhelming  superiority  of 
force.  This  is  clearly  an  afterthought;  the  two 
ships  were  not  unequally  matched ;  the  Alabama 
was  somewhat  larger  than  the  Kearsarge  and  car- 
ried one  more  gun;  the  Kearsarge  was  in  better 
condition,  with  a  crew  superior  in  numbers  and 
under  far  better  discipline  and  training.  It  is  only 
fair  to  Captain  Semmes  to  say  that  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate for  a  moment  to  accept  the  combat  thus 
afforded  him.  He  says  in  his  diary  of  the  15th 
1864.  of  June  :  "  The  two  ships  are  so  equally  matched  I 
do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline  it."  He  sent  notice 
to  the  United  States  consul,  through  M.  Bonfils,  the 
Confederate  agent,  that  he  would  go  out  to  engage 
the  Kearsarge  as  soon  as  he  could  get  ready.  He 
at  once  ordered  a  load  of  coal  on  board,  which  was 
in  itself  a  notification  to  the  authorities  of  imme- 
diate departure. 

M.  Bonfils  did  not  share  in  the  confidence  of  the 
Confederate  cruiser.  His  fear  of  the  result  of  the 
coming  fight  so  grew  upon  him  that  he  sent  on 
the  18th  of  June  a  letter  full  of  panic  to  Mr.  Slidell 
in  Paris,  imploring  him  to  order  Captain  Semmes 
to  desist  from  a  contest  which  he  felt  would  be 
fatal.  Mr.  Slidell  answered  on  the  morning  of  the 
19th  of  June,  just  as  he  was  starting  to  the  races 
at  Fontainebleau,  declining  to  give  any  such  ad- 


CAPTAIN    JOHN    A.   WINSLOW. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY 


145 


vice  to  Captain  Sernmes.  "  I  have  the  most  entire 
confidence,"  he  said,  "in  his  judgment,  his  skill, 
and  his  cool  courage.  I  believe  he  would  not  pro- 
ceed to  the  encounter  of  the  Kearsarge  unless  he 
thought  he  had  a  reasonable  chance  of  capturing 
her."  In  reply  to  M.  Bonfils's  assurance  that  the 
Alabama  would  be  welcome  to  the  Government 
docks  at  Cherbourg,  Mr.  Slidell  expressed  his 
doubt  as  to  whether  any  such  permission  would 
be  granted.  "  I  have  recently,"  he  said,  "  had  sad 
occasion,  in  the  case  of  the  Rappahannock,  detained 
without  cause  since  the  17th  February,  to  know 
how  long  an  unfriendly  minister  may  delay  the 
decision  of  the  plainest  case." 

The  French  Government  had  been  greatly  em- 
barrassed by  the  arrival  of  the  Alabama  at  Cher- 
bourg, and  their  embarrassment  was  not  lessened  by 
the  promptness  with  which  Captain  Winslow  came 
to  the  rendezvous.  M.  Drouyn  de  l'Huys  in  con- 
versation with  Mr.  Dayton  strongly  objected  to  a 
sea-fight  in  the  face  of  France  and  at  a  distance 
from  the  coast  "  within  reach  of  the  guns  used  on 
shipboard  in  these  days."  "  The  reason  of  the  old 
rules,"  he  said,  "  which  assumed  that  three  miles 
was  the  outermost  reach  of  a  cannon  shot,  no  longer 
existed ;  and,  in  a  word,  a  fight  on  or  about  such  a 
distance  from  their  coast  would  be  offensive  to  the 
dignity  of  France,  and  they  would  not  permit  it." 
Mr.  Dayton,  of  course,  declined  to  accept  such  an 
off-hand  modification  of  a  rule  of  international  law, 
but  courteously  said  that  he  would  prefer  that  the 
American  ship  should  bring  on  a  fight  a  little 
further  off  if  no  advantage  were  lost  by  it.  He 
wrote,  at  the  same  time,  to  Captain  Winslow,  in- 
Vol.  IX.— 10 


Slidell  to 

Benjamin, 

June  30, 

1864. 

MS.,   Con- 
federate 

Archives. 


146 


ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 


June,  1864. 


Wlnslow, 
Report, 
July  30, 

1864. 

Report 

Secretary 

of  the 

Navy,  1864, 

p.  630. 


forming  him  of  the  feeling  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment, telling  him  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  fight 
three  miles  off  the  coast,  but  that  he  had  better 
choose  his  battleground  six  or  seven  miles  away 
from  France,  if  he  lost  nothing  by  it.  Captain 
Winslow  took  upon  himself  to  assure  the  admiral- 
prefect  that  no  question  should  arise  about  the  line 
of  jurisdiction. 

Accordingly  when  on  the  morning  of  the  19th, 
the  day  being  fine,  the  atmosphere  hazy,  and  a 
gentle  breeze  blowing  from  the  west,  the  Alabama 
was  seen  coming  out  of  the  western  entrance  at 
Cherbourg,  accompanied  by  the  French  ironclad 
Couronne,  which  was  charged  with  the  keeping 
of  peace  within  the  marine  league,  Captain  Wins- 
low,  determined  that  no  controversy  of  jurisdic- 
tion should  possibly  arise,  and  also,  that  if  he 
once  laid  his  hands  upon  the  Alabama  she  should 
not  get  again  within  neutral  waters,  steamed  away 
to  seaward,  clearing  for  action  as  he  ran,  with  the 
Alabama  in  pursuit,  until  the  Kearsarge  had  at- 
tained a  point  seven  miles  from  the  French  coast ; 
he  then  turned  short  about  and  steered  directly  for 
the  Alabama,  his  purpose  being  to  run  her  down, 
or,  if  that  were  not  practicable,  to  close  in  with  her. 
But  as  soon  as  the  Kearsarge  came  round,  the 
Alabama  sheered,  presenting  her  starboard  battery, 
and  when  the  ships  had  come  within  about  a  mile 
of  each  other,  she  opened  her  full  broadside  and 
began  firing  rapidly.  The  shot  did  little  damage 
to  the  Kearsarge ;  another  and  another  broadside 
came  thundering  from  the  Confederate  corsair, 
still  without  harm  to  the  Union  vessel  except  to 
the  rigging.    The  Kearsarge  was  now  within  900 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  REBEL  NAVY  147 

yards  of  her  enemy  and  had  not  yet  fired  a  chap.vi 
shot,  but  her  commander,  apprehensive  that  an- 
other broadside,  which  would  have  raked  her,  might 
prove  disastrous,  sheered  his  vessel  and  opened  on 
the  Alabama.  The  vessels  now  lay  broadside  and 
broadside,  and  Winslow  feared  that  Semmes  might 
make  for  the  shore ;  to  defeat  this  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  keep  full  speed  on,  to  run  under  the  stern 
of  the  Alabama  and  rake  her.  To  avoid  this  Semmes 
kept  sheering,  and  as  a  consequence  the  two  vessels, 
with  a  full  head  of  steam,  fell  into  a  circular  track 
which  continued  during  the  whole  engagement. 

The  duel  thus  begun,  neither  side  could  with- 
draw from  it.  Winslow,  intent  upon  destroy- 
ing his  enemy,  had  no  fear  except  that  she  should 
escape  to  French  waters,  and  he  held  her  so  close 
that  the  two  vessels  in  this  deadly  waltz  drifted 
slowly  westward  in  a  three-knot  current  and 
Winslow  was  able  to  finish  his  work  five  miles 
from  land.  The  firing  of  the  Alabama  was  at  first 
rapid  and  wild,  though  it  improved  towards  the 
close  of  the  action.  On  board  the  Kearsarge  the 
firing  was  much  more  deliberate;  the  men  had  been 
ordered  to  point  the  heavy  guns  below  the  water 
line  reserving  the  lighter  ones  to  clear  the  deck  at 
closer  quarters.  The  time  for  this  latter  service, 
however,  never  arrived ;  the  Alabama  was  defeated 
before  grape  could  be  used.  The  Confederate  fired  Win8low> 
some  two  shots  to  one  fired  by  the  Kearsarge,  but  Re£ort 
with  very  little  effect.  Only  three  persons  were  8oCfrthaery 
wounded  on  the  national  vessel,  of  whom  one  apfe3i. 
afterwards  died,  while  nearly  every  shot  from  the 
guns  of  the  Kearsarge  told  fearfully  on  the  Ala- 
bama.   Six  times  the  vessels  had  circled  around  each 


148 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


MAP  OF  THE  KEAKSARGE  AND  ALABAMA  FIGHT. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  EEBEL  NAVY  149 

other,  the  Alabama,  with  all  her  noise  and  fury,  doing  chap.  vi. 
little  damage,  while  the  steady  fire  of  the  Kearsarge 
was  working  havoc  on  the  decks  and  hull  of  the  Con- 
federate. At  last,  on  the  seventh  rotation,  Semmes, 
perceiving  the  battle  was  lost,  tried  to  take  flight  for 
the  shore  of  France.1  His  port  broadside  was  then 
presented  to  the  Kearsarge  with  only  two  guns 
bearing.  Winslow  now  saw  that  his  enemy  was 
at  his  mercy,  and  poured  his  shot  into  her,  and  in  a 
few  moments  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  white 
flag  displayed  over  her  stern.  The  fire  of  his  lighter 
guns,  which  he  had  been  keeping  for  close  quarters, 
was  then  reserved;  but  a  few  moments  later  he 
was  astonished  by  a  renewed  discharge  from  the 
two  guns  on  the  port  side  of  the  Alabama.  Wins- 
low  again  opened  fire  and  laid  the  Kearsarge  across 
the  Alabatna1  shows  for  raking,  when  he  discovered 
the  white  flag  was  still  flying  and  again  reserved 
his  fire.  A  moment  later  the  Alabama  lowered  her 
boats  and  an  officer  came  alongside  the  Kearsarge, 
informing  Winslow  that  the  ship  was  sinking. 
Twenty  minutes  later  she  went  down  by  the  stern 
—  her  batteries  rushing  aft  weighing  her  down, 
her  bows  rising  high  out  of  the  water. 

The  Kearsarge  had  suffered  so  little  during  the 
engagement  that  Captain  Winslow  was  taken  some- 
what by  surprise  at  the  sudden  and  complete  de- 

1  "  For  some  few  minutes  I  had  furnaces,  and  we  were  evidently 

hopes  of  being  able  to  reach  the  on  the  point  of  sinking.    I  now 

French  coast,  for  which  purpose  hauled  down  my  colors  to  prevent 

I  gave  the  ship  all  steam  and  set  the  further   destruction  of  life, 

such  of  the  fore  and  aft  sails  as  and  dispatched  a  boat  to  inform 

were  available.      The  ship  filled  the    enemy  of  our  condition." — 

so  rapidly,  however,  that  before  Captain  Semmes,   Eeport,   June 

we  had  made  much  progress  the  21,  1864;  Eeport  Secretary  of 

fires  were   extinguished    in   the  the  Navy,  1864-65,  p.  646. 


150  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

shap.vi.  feat  of  his  enemy.  The  Alabama  had  sunk  before 
the  Kearsarge  was  ready  with  her  boats  to  rescue 
the  Confederate  crew.  While  Winslow  was  lower- 
ing his  boats  for  this  purpose  he  took  notice  of 
the  English  yacht  Deerhound,  which  had  steamed 
out  from  Cherbourg  to  watch  the  fight,  and  re- 
quested John  Lancaster,  her  owner,  to  assist  him 
in  picking  up  the  drowning  men.  The  latter  in- 
stantly availed  himself  of  this  request  in  a  manner 
which  amazed  the  commander  of  the  Kearsarge ;  in 
ten  minutes  after  the  request  was  made  he  had 
Semmes  and  about  40  of  his  officers  and  men  on 
board,  and  then  instantly  steamed  away  to  the 
English  shore.  Some  French  pilot  boats  which 
had  arrived  upon  the  scene  also  took  part  in  the 
work  of  rescue  and  carried  their  contingent  to 
France,  so  that  Winslow,  on  the  Kearsarge,  had 
but  a  scanty  show  of  prisoners. 

A  bitter  controversy  arose  in  regard  to  this  action 
of  Mr.  Lancaster,  and  his  conduct  was  the  subject 
of  severe  animadversion  in  the  report  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy.  Mr.  Welles  said,  referring  to 
Semmes,  "  The  same  dishonor  marked  his  conduct 
on  this  occasion  as  during  his  whole  ignoble  career. 
Before  leaving  Cherbourg  he  deposited  the  chro- 
nometers and  other  trophies  of  his  robberies  on 
shore.  When  beaten  and  compelled  to  surrender, 
he  threw  overboard  the  sword  that  was  no  longer 
his  own,  and  abusing  the  generous  confidence  of 
his  brave  antagonist  he  stole  away  in  the  English 
Report  tender,  whose  owner  proved  himself,  by  his  con- 
8eofrthery  duct,  a  fit  companion  for  the  dishonored  and  beaten 
DeosTiw*.  corsair."  It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  any 
man  conscious  of  the  acts  which  Semmes  had  com- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KEBEL  NAVY  151 

mitted  would  have  neglected  any  means  of  escape    chap,  vi 
to  neutral   ground.    He  could  hardly  have  been 
expected  to  go  voluntarily  on  board  the  Kearsarge 
and  deliver  his  sword  to  Captain  Winslow ;  and, 

June  19, 

although  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Lancaster  and  his  sub-  ism- 
sequent  explanations  of  it  showed  clearly  enough  his 
warm  and  active  sympathies  with  the  Confederate 
cause,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Captain  Winslow, 
by  requesting  him  to  assist  in  saving  the  Confeder- 
ate crew  from  the  waves  was  estopped  from  any 
further  criticism  of  his  conduct.  Lancaster  could 
not  have  been  asked  to  assist  Captain  Winslow 
in  the  capture  of  prisoners  of  war.  If  Winslow 
had  ordered  him  off  under  penalty  of  being  sent  to 
follow  the  Alabama  to  the  bottom  of  the  Channel, 
he  would  have  been  entirely  within  his  right ;  but 
having  with  instinctive  humanity  authorized  him  to 
pick  up  the  men  who  were  struggling  in  the  water 
he  had  no  reason  to  complain  that  the  yachtsman 
made  off  with  them  to  Southampton. 

When  Mr.  Lancaster  arrived  on  English  soil  with 
Captain  Semmes  and  his  crew  they  were  received 
with  every  demonstration  of  enthusiastic  welcome, 
and  in  the  clubs  and  public  journals  friendly  to  the 
Confederate  cause  an  attempt  was  at  once  made  to 
account  for  the  result  of  the  fight  in  a  manner  which 
should  be  equally  honorable  to  Confederate  valor 
and  British  shipbuilding.  The  simple  truth  that  an 
American  vessel,  built  in  great  haste  in  an  Ameri- 
can ship-yard,  manned  by  American  sailors,  armed 
with  American  ordnance,  in  a  fair  duel  lasting  an 
hour,  should  have  sent  to  the  bottom  a  ship  built 
with  the  utmost  care  in  a  British  yard,  manned  by 
British  sailors,  and  armed  with  the  most  approved 


152 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Report 
Secretary 
of  the 
Navy, 
1864-65, 
p.  657. 


British  guns,  the  two  vessels  being  almost  abso- 
lutely equal  in  tonnage,  armament,  and  equipment, 
was  intolerable  and  incredible.  The  Kearsarge  was 
therefore  represented  as  greatly  superior  in  size  and 
equipment,  and,  finally,  the  assertion  of  Captain 
Semmes  that  he  owed  his  defeat  to  the  Union  vessel 
being  armor-plated  was  eagerly  seized  upon  as  a 
solution  of  the  mystery.  A  few  days  after  the  bat- 
tle Captain  Winslow,  nettled  at  the  fables  current 
in  regard  to  the  affair,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  "  Daily 
News,"  as  blunt  and  sailor-like  as  his  manner  of 
fighting,  setting  forth  the  facts  of  the  engagement, 
and  explaining  the  iron  plating  in  these  words: 
"  In  the  wake  of  the  engines,  on  the  outside,  the 
Kearsarge  had  stopped  up  and  down  her  sheet 
chains.  These  were  stopped  by  marline  to  eye- 
bolts,  which  extended  some  twenty  feet,  and  this 
was  done  by  the  hands  of  the  Kearsarge  ;  the  whole 
was  covered  by  light  plank  to  prevent  dirt  collect- 
ing. It  was  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  en- 
gines when  there  was  no  coal  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  bunkers,  as  was  the  case  when  the  action  took 
place.  The  Alabama  had  her  bunkers  full,  and  was 
equally  protected.  The  Kearsarge  went  into  action 
with  a  crew  of  162  officers  and  men.  The  Alabama, 
by  report  of  the  Deerhound's  officers,  had  150." 
Semmes,  after  the  habit  of  beaten  commanders, 
claimed  that  this  simple  expedient  of  Winslow's 
gave  him  the  victory,  and  further  asserted  that  if 
a  shell,  which  he  lodged  in  the  stern  post  of  the 
Kearsarge,  had  exploded,  the  result  would  have 
been  different.  It  is  idle  to  discuss  these  hypothe- 
ses ;  the  facts  are  that  no  missile  struck  the  chains 
on  the  Kearsarge  which  would  have  done  any  seri- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KEBEL  NAVY 


153 


ous  damage  had  the  chains  not  been  there,  and  the 
shot  in  the  stern  post  was  fired  after  the  Alabama 
was  hopelessly  beaten. 

In  France  the  news  caused  a  great  sensation. 
The  Emperor  heard  it  on  the  grand-stand  at  the 
Fontainebleau  races,  and  Prince  Murat  at  once 
bore  the  evil  tidings  to  Mr.  Slidell.  "The  Em- 
peror," said  the  Prince,  "was  deeply  grieved"; 
and  when  this  friendly  intermediary  repeated  to 
his  Majesty  Mr.  Slidell's  charge  that  the  delay  in 
granting  the  Alabama  access  to  the  military  port 
had  caused  Captain  Senimes  to  go  outside  to  meet 
his  fate,  the  Emperor  said  Mr.  Slidell  "was  mis- 
taken, as  the  permission  had  been  granted."  Mr. 
Slidell,  however,  cherished  his  grievance  in  spite  of 
the  Emperor's  assurances,  and  returning  to  Paris 
demanded  an  audience  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  M.  Drouyn  de  l'Huys  met  him  with  that 
courtesy  which  every  one  about  the  Emperor  seems 
to  have  had  orders  to  show  to  the  Confederate  emis- 
saries, saying  that  "he  and  everybody  connected 
with  the  Government  were  profoundly  afflicted  at 
the  loss  of  the  Alabama ;  .  .  .  quHl  ne  faisait  pas  du 
sentiment,  but  sincerely  felt  all  that  he  expressed." 

Mr.  Slidell  refused  to  be  cajoled.  He  said  that 
candor  compelled  him  to  declare  that  the  disaster 
of  the  Alabama  lay  at  the  door  of  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  or  the  Minister  of  Marine;  that 
if  permission  to  enter  the  military  port  had  been 
accorded,  the  point  of  honor  which  had  induced 
Captain  Semmes  to  encounter  a  superior  foe  would 
not  have  been  raised.  The  Minister  denied  the 
fact  alleged ;  but  the  well-informed  Mr.  Slidell 
quoted  the  instructions  to   the  military  prefect, 


Chap.  VI. 

J.  R.  Soley, 

"The 

Blockade 

and  the 

Cruisers," 

pp.  211,  212. 


June,  1864. 


Slidell  to 

Benjamin, 

June  30, 

1864. 

MS.,  Con- 
federate 

Archives. 


154  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  which,  as  we  have  seen,  amounted  to  an  intima- 
tion that  Captain  Semmes's  visit  was  unwelcome. 
Mr.  Slidell  continued  that  he  was  obliged  to  say- 
he  had  observed  for  some  months  past  a  growing 
disposition  to  treat  his  Government  with  scant 
courtesy  and  that  even  the  neutrality  which  the 
Emperor  had  proclaimed  was  not  observed  towards 
them  —  a  line  of  observation  which  M.  Drouyn 
de  l'Huys  at  once  checked,  "with  some  appearance 

June,  1864.  of  temper,"  says  Mr.  Slidell.  Before  the  interview 
ended  Mr.  Slidell  asked  the  Minister,  categorically, 
if  the  sentiments  of  the  Emperor  had  for  any  cause 
become  less  friendly  towards  the  Confederacy; 
that  he  was  quite  at  a  loss  to  imagine  any  such  cause; 
but  that  in  relation  to  the  ships  they  had  been  in- 
duced to  build  by  his  suggestions,  and  for  which 
they  had  expended  large  sums  of  money  raised 
with  great  inconvenience  and  sacrifice,  they  had 
been  treated  with  extreme  harshness ;  and  it  was 
difficult  to  account  for  such  a  sudden  change  of 
policy  if  there  were  no  corresponding  change  of 
feeling. 

The  Minister,  "with  a  significant  smile,"  de- 
clined to  enter  into  this  subject,  but  assured  Mr. 
Slidell  that  the  feeling  of  the  Emperor  was  un- 
changed ;  he  was,  as  he  always  had  been,  prepared 
to  recognize  the  Confederacy,  but  he  would  not  act 
alone.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Slidell's  inquiry  whether 
the  failure  of  Grant  before  Richmond  would  im- 
prove the  chance  of  recognition,  the  Minister  natu- 
rally answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  dismissed 
the  Southern  envoy  with  suave  regrets  at  the  catas- 
trophe of  the  Alabama  and  hopes  of  speedy  good 
news  from  Virginia.    At  his  next  interview  with 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  EEBEL  NAVY  155 

the  Minister  of  Marine  lie  was  made  happy  by  the    chap,  vl 
statement  that  the  catastrophe  of  the  Alabama  had 
produced  "  the  most  beneficial  effect  upon  public 
opinion;  that  while  they  had  lost  some  valuable 
lives  and  a  ship  that  had  proved  capable  of  good 
service,  they  were  compensated  a  hundredfold  by 
the  prestige  which  everywhere,  but  above  all  in 
France,   attaches   to    chivalrous    daring  and  the    siideuto 
jealous  observation  of  the  point  of  honor,  and  that   ^^K^ 
the  material  loss  could  not  be  weighed  against  the    f  j°£te"' 
moral   gain."    When  one  is  consoling  a  trouble-    ArcMves. 
some  suitor,  whose  requests  are  denied  beforehand, 
words  cost  little ;  and  if  M.  de  Chasseloup-Laubat 
thought  it  worth  while  to  say  that  the  Confederacy 
had  gained  anything  by  the  loss  of  the  Alabama, 
it  cost  no  more  to  say  it  had  gained  "  a  hundred- 
fold." 

The  last  place  where  the  Confederate  flag  floated 
on  sea  or  on  shore  was  at  the  masthead  of  the 
Shenandoah.    After  the  war  had  ended  everywhere 
else,  this   inglorious  vessel  carried  the  torch   of 
devastation  among  the  poor  and  hardy  sailors  of 
New  England  in  the  Arctic  seas.     She  was  pur- 
chased by  Captain  Bulloch  in   September,  1864; 
sailed  from  Liverpool  to  Funchal,  where  she  met 
her  tender  and  took  on  her  armaments  and  stores 
on  the  20th  of  October.    A  large  number  of  the    Bullocll> 
men  sent  out  in  the  tender  refused  to  volunteer  for     g^S 
service  in  the  corsair,  which  caused  the  Confederate  0fetdeerSe1" 
lieutenant,  J.  F.  Ramsey,  to  report  that  he  "  never  in  Europe." 
saw  such  a  set  of  curs  in  all  his  experience  at  sea."      p.  i*3." 
Under  the  command  of  Captain  J.  I.  Waddell,  an  old 
officer  of  the  United  States  navy,  the  Shenandoah 
began  her  career  in  the  Southern  seas  in  the  late 


156  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vi.  autumn,  and  had  destroyed  eight  vessels  in  the 
equatorial  belt  of  the  Atlantic  by  the  time  she  ar- 
rived at  Melbourne  on  the  25th  of  January,  1865. 
She  was  hospitably  received  at  that  port  and  re- 
mained there  until  late  in  February,  when  she  set 
sail  for  the  North.  Her  officers  recount  her  exploits 
in  Behring  Sea  with  a  pride  which,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, is  unaccountable.  They  destroyed 
a  great  number  of  little  whalers ;  they  pilfered 
watches  and  chronometers  and  such  small  sums  of 
money  as  they  could  find  among  the  thrifty  sailors,1 
lighting  the  icy  seas  with  pitiful  bonfires;  and 
all  this  theft  and  wanton  waste  was  perpetrated 
after  Captain  Waddell  knew  of  Lee's  surrender  to 
Grant.  He  himself  admitted  in  a  published  letter 
of  the  27th  of  December,  1865,  that  he  "  captured, 
after  reaching  Behring  Sea,  the  ship  William  Thomp- 
son and  brig  Susan  Abigail.  Both  had  left  San 
Francisco  in  April.  These  captures  were  made 
1865.  about  the  23d  of  June,  and  from  each,"  he  says,  "  I 
received  San  Francisco  papers.  These  papers  pro- 
Hunt,  fessed  to  have  the  correspondence  between  Gen- 
andoah?""  erals  Grant  and  Lee  concerning  the  surrender  of 
'267.'  '  Lee's  army."  He  pretends,  however,  that  he  be- 
lieved the  war  would  be  kept  up  by  President 
Davis,  and  he  therefore,  to  use  his  own  language, 
"  continued  my  work  until  it  was  completed  in  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  on  the  28th  of  June,  1865,  when  I 

!In    a    book    entitled     "The  during  the  entire  cruise.  .  .  We 

Shenandoah,"  by  C  E.  Hunt,  one  did  not  make  quite  so  good  a  haul 

of  her  officers,  the  writer  describ-  as  some   of  the  old  buccaneers 

ing  a  capture  made  on  the  25th  of  used  to  when  they  fell  in  with  a 

June  says:  "This  prize  was  the  Spanish  ship  laden  with  specie; 

General  Williams  of  New  London,  but  we  did  secure  out  of  that  New 

.   .    .   and  had   more   money   on  Londoner  the  enormous  sum  of 

board  than  any  vessel  we  captured  four  hundred  dollars"  (p.  189). 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KEBEL  NAVY  157 

had  succeeded  in  destroying  or  dispersing  the  New    chap,  vl 
England  whaling  fleet."    He  fell  in  with  no  other 
vessel  after  leaving  Behring  Sea  until  the  2d  of 
August,  when  he  spoke  a  British  barque,  fourteen       i86& 
days  out  from  San  Francisco,  and  received  informa- 
tion of  the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis. 

Waddell,  beginning  to  realize  his  true  position, 
set  sail  instinctively  for  the  port  from  which  he 
had  departed.  He  tried  to  give  his  sea-rover  the 
innocent  appearance  of  a  merchant  vessel;  he  closed 
her  ports,  whitewashed  her  funnel,  and  strove  to 
obliterate  every  external  appearance  of  a  war-like 
character.  Like  any  other  criminal  running  for  his 
lair  he  avoided  speaking  to  any  vessel  that  he  met 
and  slunk  by  night,  on  the  6th  of  November,  into  i865. 
the  Mersey.  The  Shenandoah  was  at  once  placed 
under  detention  by  the  officers  of  the  customs  and 
soon  afterwards  handed  over  to  the  United  States. 
Captain  Freeman,  who  had  been  put  in  command  of 
her,  started  for  New  York.  A  furious  storm  arose, 
and  after  fighting  against  head  winds  and  wintry 
seas  for  several  days  she  returned  in  a  crippled  con- 
dition to  Liverpool.  She  was  then  put  up  for  sale 
to  the  highest  bidder,  and  bought  for  the  Sultan  of 
Zanzibar.  His  Majesty  intending  her  for  the  digni- 
fied position  of  a  royal  yacht,  she  was  fitted  out  and 
furnished  in  a  luxurious  manner;  but  the  Sultan 
soon  tired  of  his  new  favorite,  after  the  fashion  of 
sultans,  and  the  yacht  became  once  more  a  merchant 
vessel.  After  four  years  of  peaceful  commerce  she 
met  with  an  honorable  death  on  a  coral  reef  in  the 
Indian  Ocean. 


CHAPTER   VII 

EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON 

CHAP.vn.  QOME  of  the  most  stirring  scenes  of  the  great 
O  Virginia  campaign  of  1864  took  place  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  it  was  here  that 
the  first  gleams  of  the  final  victory  shone  upon  the 
Union  arms.  During  the  whole  war  this  valley 
had  been  a  vast  covered  way  which  sheltered  the 
advance  and  retreat  of  every  Confederate  force 
that  invaded  the  North  or  menaced  Washington. 
The  towering  Blue  Ridge  guarded  it  on  the  east,  the 
North  Mountains,  a  portion  of  the  great  Alleghany 
chain,  formed  its  western  wall.  Every  movement 
of  troops  along  its  course  was  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Confederates ;  as  it  ran  to  the  northeast,  each 
step  brought  them  nearer  to  the  unguarded  rear  of 
Washington ;  when  they  chose  to  withdraw  they 
drew  the  pursuing  Union  forces  every  moment 
farther  away  from  their  base.  They  did  not  lose 
their  advantage  even  in  crossing  the  Potomac ;  the 
Cumberland  Valley  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
is  merely  a  prolongation  of  that  of  the  Shenan- 
doah ;  the  South  Mountain  continues  the  wall  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  and  under  its  protecting  cover  an 
invading  force  more  than  once  carried  devastation 
with  fire  and  steel  among  the  quiet  rural  hamlets 
of  Pennsylvania. 


EAKLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  159 

Early  in  the  campaign  Grant  felt  the  necessity  chap.vii. 
of  closing  to  the  enemy  this  path  of  approach  and  uu. 
of  taking  from  them  this  fertile  region  from  which 
they  drew  such  plentiful  stores  of  subsistence. 
But  it  continued  throughout  the  summer  to  be  the 
race-track  of  rushing  armies,  and  autumn  arrived 
before  it  was  finally  and  forever  wrenched  from 
the  weakened  hands  of  the  Rebellion.  Our  narrow- 
ing limits  will  not  allow  us  to  describe  in  detail  the 
moving  incidents  of  this  crowded  campaign ;  a  bare 
outline  of  what  was  accomplished  must  suffice. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  failure  of  Sigel's 
movement  in  May  and  his  defeat  by  Breckinridge 
at  Newmarket,  which  in  public  opinion  obscured  the 
fair  measure  of  success  obtained  by  Crook  in  his 
victory  at  Cloyd's  Mountain  and  the  destruction 
of  New  River  bridge.  Grant  and  Halleck  were 
equally  dissatisfied  with  General  Sigel,  and  the 
gallant  veteran  David  Hunter  was  appointed  in  his 
stead.  He  moved  southward  with  characteristic 
energy  and  speed  ;  defeated  and  killed  General  W. 
E.  Jones  at  Piedmont  on  the  5th  of  June ;  pushed 
rapidly  on  to  Staunton  and  thence  up  to  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Lynchburg.  This  place,  however,  was 
of  such  vital  importance  to  the  Confederacy  that 
General  Lee  had  hurried  heavy  reenforcements  for- 
ward, under  Early,  to  protect  it;  and  Hunter, 
whose  supplies  and  ammunition  were  almost  ex- 
hausted, found  himself  unable  to  carry  the  strong 
works  by  which  it  was  surrounded  or  to  fight  the 
veteran  army  by  which  it  was  newly  garrisoned. 
He  therefore  wisely  resolved  to  retreat  by  way  of 
the  Kanawha,  instead  of  the  Shenandoah,  which 
would  have  been  extremely  hazardous  in  view  of 


160 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Early, 
"  Memoir 

of  the 
Last  Year 

of  the 

War," 
pp.  42,  51. 


Lee's 
Letter 
Book.    MS. 
War  De- 
partment 
Archives. 


Early's  strength.  But  this  march  took  much  time, 
and  meanwhile  the  broad  valley  lay  an  open  road 
before  the  Confederates,  leading  directly  to  Mary- 
land and  the  rear  of  Washington. 

The  temptation  proved  irresistible  to  General 
Lee.  He  felt  himself  unable  to  cope  with  Grant  in 
the  open  field ;  he  knew  his  best  opportunities  lay 
in  those  assaults  upon  his  intrenchments  with 
which  Grant  had  of  late  so  frequently  gratified 
him.  When,  after  his  easy  and  most  valuable  vic- 
tory at  Cold  Harbor,  he  detached  Early  to  the  pro- 
tection of  Lynchburg,  he  had  given  him  orders 
to  strike  Hunter's  force  in  rear  and,  if  possible,  to 
destroy  it;  then  to  move  down  the  valley,  cross 
the  Potomac,  and  threaten  Washington.  After 
Early  had  arrived  at  Lynchburg  and  Hunter  had 
retreated  by  the  West,  General  Lee  left  it  to 
Early's  judgment  whether  to  carry  out  the  original 
plan  or  to  return  to  Petersburg,  and  he  doubtless 
knew  enough  of  Early's  enterprising  temper  to  be 
sure  which  course  he  would  pursue.  We  are  not 
left  in  the  dark  as  to  Lee's  feeling  in  the  matter. 
On  the  20th  of  June  —  after  the  assaults  upon 
Petersburg  were  over  and  the  siege  had  begun  — 
he  wrote  to  Jefferson  Davis,  "  I  still  think  it  is  our 
policy  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  enemy  to  his 
own  territory.  It  may  force  Grant  to  attack  me, 
or  weaken  his  force.  It  will  also,  I  think,  force 
Hunter  to  cross  the  Potomac,  or  expose  himself  to 
attack.  From  either  of  these  events  I  anticipate 
good  results."  His  subsequent  letters,  however, 
show  that  his  strongest  hope  and  reliance  was 
that  Grant,  goaded  by  the  menace  in  the  North, 
would  rush  furiously  upon  his  works  at  Petersburg. 


GENERAL    FRANZ    SIGEL. 


EAKLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  161 

Early  started  northward  with  about  seventeen  chap.vil 
thousand  men.  He  traveled  with  great  expedi- 
tion, having  reduced  his  impediments  to  the  mini- 
mum. He  reached  Winchester  on  the  2d  of  July,  lse*. 
and  sent  his  cavalry  forward  to  destroy  the  rail- 
road in  rear  of  Sigel  and  if  possible  to  cut  off  his 
retreat. 

But  Sigel  made  his  way  to  Shepherdstown  in 
time  to  save  most  of  the  stores  in  his  charge,  and 
Colonel  J.  A.  Mulligan,  well  known  for  his  gallant 
defense  of  Lexington,  checked  the  Confederate  cav- 
alry in  an  engagement  at  Leetown,  enabling  Sigel 
to  establish  himself  safely  on  Maryland  Heights, 
where,  once  fixed,  he  remained,  in  spite  of  demon- 
strations to  the  right  and  left  of  him.1  This  move 
was  a  serious  disappointment  to  Early.  "My  de- 
sire had  been,"  he  says,  "  to  manoeuvre  the  enemy 
out  of  Maryland  Heights,  so  as  to  enable  me  to 
move  directly  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Washington ; 
but  he  had  taken  refuge  in  his  strongly  fortified 
works,  and,  as  they  could  not  be  approached  with 
out  great  difficulty,  and  an  attempt  to  carry  them 
by  assault  would  have  resulted  in  greater  loss  than 
the  advantage  to  be  gained  would  justify,  I  deter-  «  Memoir  of 
mined  to  move  through  the  gaps  of  South  Moun-  vlarof  the 
tain."  At  daybreak  of  the  8th  of  July  his  whole  pfik 
force  began  to  move  through  the  passes.  The  next 
morning  General  B.  T.  Johnson  was  sent  with  a 
brigade  of  cavalry  and  a  battery  of  horse  artillery 
to  break  all  the  railroads  leading  into  Baltimore  and 
threaten  that  city ;   then  to  move  towards  Point 

1  The  dissatisfaction  of  General  and  he  was  finally  removed  from 

Grant  and  General  Halleck  with  command,   and    General  Albion 

General  Franz  Sigel   had,   how-  P.  Howe  sent  to  Harper's  Ferry 

ever,   now  reached    its    climax,  in  his  place. 

Vol.  IX.— 11 


162 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  163 

Lookout  to  cooperate  in  a  scheme  for  the  release  of  chap.vii. 
the  prisoners  there,  which  had  been  devised  at  Rich- 
mond. These  orders  to  Johnson  form  the  strongest  1*4. 
proof  that  Early  really  hoped  to  capture  the  capital; 
the  force  of  Johnson  was  sent  to  Lookout,  to  use 
Early's  own  words,  "for  the  purpose  of  releasing 
the  prisoners  if  we  should  succeed  in  getting  into 
Washington." 

This  purpose  of  Early  was  not  so  absurd  as, 
after  its  failure,  it  seemed.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  Washington  had  been  left  nearly  unguarded. 
The  confidence  felt  by  the  President  in  the  pru- 
dence of  Grant  had  permitted  almost  all  the 
effective  force  to  be  sent  to  the  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac. Hunter's  line  of  retreat  had  opened  the 
valley  to  the  Confederates,  and  he  was  now,  with 
the  greatest  possible  exertion,  it  is  true,  striving  to 
make  his  way  back  to  his  post,  against  the  obstacles 
of  bad  roads  and  low  water  in  the  river.  With  his 
exhausted  and  footsore  soldiers  there  was  no  chance 
of  his  arriving  before  the  enemy.  General  Lew. 
Wallace,  who  in  Hunter's  absence  had  been  left  in 
command  of  the  department,  had  a  small  force  at 
Baltimore ;  Washington  was  garrisoned  by  a  force 
of  hundred  days  men  —  the  Veteran  Reserves  (or 
invalid  corps),  District  of  Columbia  Volunteers, 
and  a  few  dismounted  cavalry.  As  the  enemy  ap- 
proached, General  Meigs  hastily  organized  some 
two  thousand  quartermaster's  employees  and  put 
them  into  the  lines.  In  numbers  the  garrison  was 
strong  enough  to  withstand  attack,  being  a  total  BaS1, 
of  twenty  thousand  men  of  all  sorts,  but  they  were  T>ftSa°ot 
mostly  raw,  undisciplined,  and  unavailable.  The  ton!»g 
great  reliance  was,  after  all,  in  the  fortifications, 


164 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chaf.VII. 


Early, 
"Memoir 

of  the 

Last  Year 

of  the  War," 

p.  59. 


which  had  been  constructed  with  the  greatest  care, 
and  supported  and  commanded  each  other  in  such 
fashion  that  a  comparatively  small  force  of  disci- 
plined troops  could  have  held  them  indefinitely 
against  any  attack.  Halleck  reported  to  General 
Grant  this  state  of  affairs,  but  the  General-in-Chief 
was  slow  to  believe  that  any  serious  movement  was 
in  progress.  After  Early  had  seized  Martinsburg, 
so  late  as  the  3d  of  July,  Grant  insisted  that  he  was 
at  Petersburg,  and  that  it  was  impossible  he  could 
be  threatening  Hunter's  department.  But  after 
Grant  became  convinced  that  Early  was  on  the 
Potomac,  he  at  once  ordered  the  Sixth  Corps  to 
the  rescue,  Ricketts,  who  started  first,  going  to 
Baltimore,  where  he  arrived  on  the  8th,  and 
Wright,  with  Getty's  and  D.  A.  Russell's  divisions, 
embarking  at  midnight  of  the  9th  and  coming 
directly  to  Washington.  There  was  never  a  more 
opportune  march  and  arrival. 

The  advance  of  Early  caused  great  consternation 
throughout  Maryland  and  Southern  Pennsylvania. 
The  quiet  farmers  saw  their  crops  stolen  by  the 
troopers  or  committed  to  the  flames;  the  towns  were 
laid  under  ruinous  requisitions  of  money — $200,000 
at  Frederick,  $20,000  at  Hagerstown  —  on  pain  of 
conflagration  in  case  of  refusal.  His  reassuring 
proclamations,  taken  in  connection  with  the  action 
of  his  soldiers,  did  nothing  to  allay  the  terror 
excited  by  his  march.  He  proceeded  on  his  way 
without  opposition,  until,  moving  out  of  Frederick, 
he  met  the  force  with  which  General  Wallace  had 
come  from  Baltimore,  and  which,  although  it  had 
been  much  aided  and  strengthened  by  Ricketts's 
fine  division  of  the  Sixth   Corps,  was  obviously 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  165 

inadequate  to  cope  with  General  Early's  army,  chap.vtl 
At  the  Monocacy  River,  General  Wallace  made  a 
creditable  fight;  General  Ricketts,  who  behaved  Juiyg, i864 
with  his  usual  coolness  and  energy,  was  severely 
wounded,  and  both  sides  suffered  considerable  loss 
in  killed  and  wounded ;  Wallace  lost  heavily  in 
prisoners,  and  in  the  evening  fell  back  on  the  road 
to  Baltimore,  and  Early  was  too  full  of  the  thought 
of  Washington  to  waste  time  in  pursuing. 

He  marched  at  daylight  of  the  10th  on  the 
Georgetown  Pike,  and  camped  at  night  only  four 
miles  north  of  Rockville.  It  was  an  anxious  Sun- 
day throughout  the  North.  Troops  were  every- 
where called  out,  in  various  degrees  of  unreadiness. 
Every  available  man  in  Baltimore  and  Washing- 
ton was  put  into  the  trenches.  Johnson's  cavalry 
was  active  in  Northern  Maryland ;  Harry  Gilmor 
captured  two  passenger  trains  at  Gunpowder  River, 
backed  one  of  them  upon  the  great  bridge,  and 
burned  bridge  and  train  together.  But  the  princi- 
pal object  of  Johnson's  raid,  the  release  of  Con- 
federate prisoners  at  Point  Lookout,  was  not 
accomplished  nor  even  attempted ;  the  burning 
of  Governor  Bradford's  house  in  the  suburbs  of 
Baltimore  gained  the  Confederate  arms  neither 
credit  nor  advantage. 

It  has  been  the  habit  of  all  military  writers  who 
have  discussed  this  campaign  to  represent  the  civil 
departments  of  the  Government  as  a  prey  to  terror 
and  panic  during  this  and  the  following  day.  But 
those  who  were  at  Richmond  are  not  the  best  wit- 
nesses of  what  was  taking  place  at  Washington; 
neither  Lincoln,  nor  Stanton,  nor  even  Halleck, 
whom  it  is  still  more  fashionable  to  abuse,  lacked 


166 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


BATTLE  OF  THE  MONOCACT. 


coolness  or  energy  in  the  emergency.  They  of 
course  recognized  the  fact  that  Washington  was 
imperfectly  defended,  and  the  possibility  of  its 
capture;  but  they  regarded  this  contingency  as 
highly  improbable,  and  not  satisfied  with  repulsing 
the  enemy,  they  were  especially  anxious  that  a 
force  strong  enough  to  move  out  and  destroy 
Early's  army  should  be  put  in  motion  for  Wash- 
ington. Grant  entirely  agreed  in  this  view.  "If 
the  rebel  force,"  he  said,  "  now  North,  can  be  cap- 
tured or  destroyed,  I  would  willingly  postpone 
aggressive  operations  to  destroy  them."  He  even 
offered,  if  the  President  thought  it  advisable,  to 

HiXryTf   leave  everything  at  Petersburg  on  the  defensive, 
Grant.**     and  to  start  for  Washington  at  an  hour's  notice  to 

pp.  «6,  ik  command  in  person  the  operations  against  Early. 
The  President,  in  his  anxiety  to  have  the  in- 
vading force  destroyed,  accepted  this  proposition, 


Badeau, 
Military 


EAKLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON 


167 


Grant 
to  Lincoln, 

July  10, 
1864.      MS. 


saying  he  thought  there  was  really  a  fair  chance 
of  doing  it,  if  the  movement  were  prompt.  At  the 
same  time,  with  his  habitual  consideration  for  a 
trusted  general,  he  told  Grant  that  this  was  in  pur- 
suance of  his  own  suggestion,  and  was  not  an  or- 
der. Grant,  however,  "  on  reflection  "  had  changed 
his  mind,  and  concluded  it  would  have  a  bad  effect 
for  him  to  leave  Petersburg  at  that  moment.  He 
telegraphed  to  the  President  his  belief,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  Wright  and  Ord  and  Hunter  were  on 
the  ground,  that  "  the  enemy  will  never  be  able  to 
get  back  with  much  of  his  force."  The  President 
could  not  entirely  share  this  placid  faith ;  he  had 
too  often  seen  the  enemy  retire  from  the  Poto- 
mac undisturbed  by  pursuit;  but  he  answered 
General  Grant's  dispatch  expressing  his  satisfac- 
tion at  his  decision,  but  adding,  "  The  enemy  will 
learn  of  Wright's  arrival,  and  then  the  difficulty 
will  be  to  unite  Wright  and  Hunter  south  of  the 
enemy  before  he  will  recross  the  Potomac.  Some 
firing  between  Rockville  and  here  now."  Even 
with  the  sound  of  hostile  guns  in  his  ears,  he  writes 
with  the  utmost  calmness  to  General  Grant  at 
Petersburg,  thinking  only  of  the  chance  of  crush- 
ing the  army  which  has  ventured  so  far  from  its 
base  and  forecasting  the  actual  result  far  more 
accurately  than  the  general.  He  thought  perhaps 
too  little  of  his  personal  safety.  On  the  night  of 
the  10th  he  left  the  White  House  as  usual  and  rode  July,  im, 
out  to  his  summer  residence  at  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
in  the  northern  suburb,  a  few  miles  from  Early's 
bivouac.  Other  officers  of  the  Government,  in  view 
of  possible  contingencies,  disapproved  of  this  im- 
passive conduct;  Mr.  Stanton,  finding  the  enemy 


Lincoln  to 

Grant, 

July  11, 

1864.     MS. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


MAP    OF    THE    DEFENSES    OF    WASHINGTON    IN    1864. 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  169 

advancing  in  heavy  force  on  the  Tenallytown  and  chap.vii. 
Seventh  Street  roads,  sent  out  to  the  Soldiers' 
Home  and  insisted  upon  the  President's  coming 
into  Washington  ;  and  Captain  Fox,  the  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  without  the  President's 
knowledge,  had  a  vessel  made  ready  in  case  of  a 
serious  disaster. 

General  Early  left  his  camp  near  Rockville  at 
dawn  on  the  11th,  and  pushed  forward  with  eager  juiy,  ism. 
hopes  upon  Washington.  The  infantry,  turning  to 
the  left,  advanced  by  the  Seventh  Street  road,  which 
runs  by  Silver  Spring  into  the  city,  with  a  cloud  of 
cavalry  on  either  flank.  The  day  was  hot  and  dusty, 
and  the  troops  suffered  greatly,  but  inspired  by  the 
prospect  of  the  rich  prize  before  them,  they  plodded 
onward  with  good  heart,  and  shortly  after  noon 
Early,  riding  a  little  in  advance  of  his  column, 
came  in  sight  of  Fort  Stevens,  which  guarded  the 
entrance  to  Washington  by  Seventh  Street.  A 
brief  survey  convinced  him  "  that  the  works  were  «mSoit 
but  feebly  manned";  the  greatest  achievement  of  La/tYear 
the  war  seemed  to  be  within  his  grasp.  He  ordered  war,"  peeo. 
General  Rodes  to  "  bring  his  division  into  line  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  to  move  into  the  works  if 
he  could."  But  before  the  column,  which  was  mov- 
ing by  flank,  could  be  brought  up,  Early,  who  was 
gazing  intently  at  the  line  of  works  in  his  front, 
saw  to  his  infinite  vexation  a  column 1  of  men  in 
blue  file  into  them  on  the  right  and  left ;  a  fringe 
of  skirmishers  was  thrown  out  in  front,  and  from 
all  the  batteries  in  range  a  sharp  artillery  fire 
opened.    His  hopes  of  a  surprise  passed  away  in 

1  Humphreys,  "The  Virginia  Campaign  of  64  and  '65,"  p.  244, 
says  this  column  consisted  of  600  dismounted  cavalrymen. 


170  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vii.  the  wreathing  smoke  of  the  National  guns,  and 
he  gave  orders  for  a  close  reconnaissance  of  the 
position. 

The  whole  afternoon  was  consumed  in  this  work, 
and  as  it  proceeded  the  prospect  for  the  Confed- 
erates became  every  hour  more  discouraging.  The 
obstacles  might  have  appeared  insurmountable  to 
even  a  better  soldier  than  General  Early:  "In- 
closed forts  for  heavy  artillery  with  a  tier  of  lower 
works  in  front  of  each,  pierced  for  an  immense 
number  of  guns,  the  whole  being  connected  by 
"Memoir  curtains,  with  ditches  in  front,  and  strengthened 
Last  Year  by  palisades  and  abatis.  .  .  Every  possible  ap- 
war/^fei.  proach  was  raked  with  artillery."  In  vain  did  he 
seek  a  point  of  entry  on  either  side.  As  far  as  his 
eye  could  reach  to  the  left  over  the  bare  spaces 
where  the  forests  had  been  leveled  to  give  play 
to  the  guns,  the  same  powerful  works;  and  his 
cavalry  coming  in  from  the  right  reported  the  forti- 
fications on  the  Georgetown  pike  to  be  still  more 
impregnable.  Early  might  well  be  excused  for 
declining  to  rush  his  tired  army  upon  those  brist- 
ling works;  he  had  less  than  20,000  men — he  says 
"  about  8000  muskets,"  but  he  always  looked  at  his 
own  force  through  the  wrong  end  of  his  field-glass — 
and  he  was  laboring  under  a  serious  error  in  regard 
to  the  troops  in  front  of  him.  He  had  captured 
some  of  the  Sixth  Corps  at  the  Monocacy;  the 
newspapers  had  informed  him  of  the  departure  of 
heavy  reinforcements  from  Petersburg ;  and  when 
he  saw  the  improvised  levies  of  General  Augur 
filing  into  the  works  in  the  afternoon,  he  came,  not 
unnaturally,  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  to  deal 
with  the  veterans  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  171 

This  supposed  state  of  affairs  called  for  the  most  chap.vii. 
careful  preparation,  and  before  the  preparations 
were  completed  what  he  had  imagined  had  become 
true:  "Wright  with  his  two  magnificent  divisions 
had  landed  at  the  wharf,  being  received  by  Presi-  Juiyiuaa. 
dent  Lincoln  in  person  amid  a  tumult  of  joyous 
cheering ;  and  the  advance  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps 
under  W.  H.  Emory  was  also  in  the  streets  of  Wash- 
ington. When  the  rear  of  Early's  infantry  closed 
up  in  the  evening,  the  capital  was  already  safe 
from  a  coup  de  main. 

It  was  with  much  diminution  of  his  high  spirits 
of  the  morning  that  Early  called  his  generals  to- 
gether for  consultation  on  the  night  of  the  11th. 
There  was  clearly  no  time  to  be  lost.  Washington 
must  be  assaulted  immediately  if  at  all.  The 
passes  of  South  Mountain  would  soon  be  closed,  he 
said — not  knowing  that  Julius  Stahel's  troopers  had 
already  occupied  them.  But  it  was  like  parting 
soul  and  body  for  Early  to  give  up  his  hope  of 
seizing  Washington,  and  he  broke  up  the  confer- 
ence, saying  he  would  assault  the  works  at  day- 
break next  morning,  unless  it  should  previously  be 
shown  to  be  impracticable.  In  the  night  he  received 
false  information  from  Bradley  T.  Johnson  that  two 
corps  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  arrived. 
He  therefore  delayed  his  attack  until  he  could 
make  one  final  reconnaissance ;  he  rode  to  the  front, 
and  found  the  parapets  lined  with  troops.  With  the 
dome  of  the  Capitol  in  his  sight,  gilded  by  the  rays 
of  the  rising  sun,  he  gave  up  all  hope  of  capturing 
Washington.  He  knew,  however,  that  it  would  be 
most  unwise  to  turn  and  run  by  daylight  in  the 
face  of  such  an  enemy,  and  he  therefore  determined 


172  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vii.  to  maintain  a  bold  front  until  nightfall,  and  then 
make  good  his  retreat. 

The  evening  before,  Wright  had  proposed  to 
send  out  a  brigade  to  clear  away  the  enemy's 
skirmish  line,  but  this  was  not  thought  advisable 
by  General  Augur  until  the  Union  lines  were  better 
established.  At  night  the  Sixth  Corps  relieved  the 
pickets  and  intrenched  their  line.  On  the  morning 
juiy,  1864.  of  the  12th  skirmishing  began  and  continued  all 
the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  Daniel  D.  Bid- 
well's  brigade  of  Getty's  division  was  sent  out  by 
Wright  to  drive  the  Confederate  skirmishers  from 
a  house  and  orchard  near  the  Silver  Spring  road. 
Rodes's  division,  which  was  in  possession  of  the 
place,  stood  its  ground  handsomely,  and  a  severe 
engagement  ensued,  which  has  a  special  interest 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  fought  in  full  view  of  the 
Capitol,  and  was  witnessed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  on  one  side  and  on  the  other  by 
General  Breckinridge,  the  candidate  who  had  re- 
ceived the  suffrages  of  the  seceding  States  in  1860. 

The  President  had  resolutely  refrained  from  giv- 
ing military  orders  during  the  invasion  —  though 
sorely  tempted  to  do  so,  on  account  of  the  disin- 
clination of  Grant  and  Halleck  to  interfere  with 
each  other's  authority — but  his  interest  in  the  pro- 
gress of  affairs  was  intense  and  ardent,  and  his 
presence  among  the  soldiers  roused  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  When  Rodes's  division  arrived  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  11th  he  saw  the  first  shots  ex- 
changed in  front  of  Fort  Stevens,  and  stood  in  the 
fort,  his  tall  figure  making  him  a  conspicuous 
mark,  until  ordered  to  withdraw ;  and  on  the  12th, 
when  Bidwell's  brigade  marched,  in  perfect  order, 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  173 

out  of  the  works,  to  drive  the  enemy  from  the  Rives  chap.vii. 
house,  the  President  again  stood,  apparently  un-  jmyi2,i864. 
conscious  of  danger,  watching,  with  that  grave  and 
passive  countenance,  the  progress  of  the  fight  amid 
the  whizzing  bullets  of  the  sharp-shooters,  until  an 
officer  fell  mortally  wounded  within  three  feet  of 
him,  and  General  Wright  peremptorily  represented 
to  him  the  needless  risk  he  was  running.  The 
national  troops  marched  out  with  disciplined  valor, 
worthy  of  the  place  and  the  spectators;  they  ad- 
vanced in  unbroken  formation  up  the  slight  acclivity 
in  the  face  of  a  destructive  fire,  drove  the  Confeder- 
ates from  the  orchard  and  the  grove  which  sheltered 
them,  and  pushed  the  enemy's  pickets  back  for  a 
mile.  The  success  was  gained  not  without  loss; 
two  hundred  and  eighty  of  the  small  force  engaged 
were  killed  and  wounded. 

General  Early  waited  only  for  nightfall  to  with- 
draw his  troops  from  a  position  which  had  become 
full  of  peril.  The  next  morning  his  camps  had 
vanished.  Everybody  was  eager  for  the  pursuit 
to  begin ;  but  Grant  was  too  far  away  to  give  the 
necessary  orders ;  the  President,  true  to  the  posi- 
tion he  had  taken  when  Grant  was  made  general- 
in-chief,  would  not  interfere,  though  he  observed 
with  anguish  the  undisturbed  retreat  of  Early; 
Halleck,  whose  growing  disposition  to  avoid  re- 
sponsibility had  become  only  too  apparent,  merely 
told  Augur  what  Wright  ought  to  do  to  strike 
the  retiring  column,  and  at  noon  Wright,  hav- 
ing been  put  by  a  telegram  from  Grant  in  com- 
mand of  all  the  available  troops,  got  away  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  force,  and  marched  with 
commendable   celerity  to  Poolesville,  twenty-six 


174 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  vii.  miles  from  Washington,  which  he  reached  on 
July,  1864.  the  evening  of  the  14th.  But  Early  had  too  long  a 
start,  and  his  hardy  infantry  were  too  fleet  to  be 
overtaken.  He  crossed  the  Potomac  at  White's 
Ford,  in  Loudon  county,  on  the  morning  of  the 
14th,  taking  with  him  most  of  the  plunder  he  had 
amassed  in  Maryland. 

Wright  reported  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  to 
Halleck  for  instructions,  believing  that  his  force, 
about  10,500,  was  not  sufficient  to  justify  his  cross- 
ing the  river  in  pursuit  of  Early.  Halleck  an- 
swered in  general  terms  repeating  Grant's  wish  that 
pursuit  should  be  made.  At  first  Grant's  orders 
were  peremptory  for  pursuit,  but  his  knowledge  of 
the  situation  was  imperfect.  On  the  13th  he  was 
anxious  only  that  the  enemy  should  be  driven  out 
of  Maryland ;  on  the  next  day,  finding  Early  was 
south  of  the  river,  he  urged  a  helter-skelter  pursuit 
by  "  veterans,  militiamen,  men  on  horseback,  and 
everything  that  could  be  got  to  follow,  to  eat  out 
Virginia  clear  and  clean,  as  far  as  they  go,  so  that 
crows  flying  over  it  for  the  balance  of  the  season 
will  have  to  carry  their  provender  with  them."  In 
a  letter  of  the  same  date,  he  said  that  Hunter 
should  make  the  valley  a  desert.  But  on  the  16th, 
the  day  Early,  after  two  days'  rest  near  Leesburg, 
resumed  his  march  towards  the  passes  of  the  Blue 
Eidge  which  led  into  the  valley,  Grant  changed  his 
mind  about  the  pursuit,  and  said  to  Halleck  that 
there  could  be  no  use  in  Wright's  following  the 
ibid.,  p.  447.  enemy  a  day  behind,  and  ordered,  "As  soon  as  the 
rebel  army  is  known  to  have  passed  Hunter's 
forces,  recall  Wright,  and  send  him  back  here  with 
all  dispatch,  and  also  send  the  Nineteenth  Corps." 


Badeau, 

"  Military 

History  of 

U.S. 

Grant." 

Vol.  II., 

p.  446. 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  175 

Halleck  protested,  and  with  reason,  against  execut-  chap.vii. 
ing  these  orders,  so  long  as  Early  remained  in  the 
valley;  they  were  suspended,  then  repeated  and 
again  suspended,  and  the  Sixth  and  Nineteenth 
Corps  were  finally  allowed  to  stay  where  great 
glory  and  usefulness  awaited  them. 

Wright  crossed  the  river  and  chased  Early  to  the 
Shenandoah;  Hunter,  having  come  up  on  the 
other  flank,  continued  the  pursuit,  but  the  Con- 
federates were  so  far  in  advance  that  little  damage 
was  done  until  the  20th  of  July,  when  Hunter's  186*- 
cavalry,  under  Wm.  W.  Averill,  moved  out  from  Mar- 
tinsburg  and  inflicted  a  stinging  defeat  upon  Ram- 
seur's  division ;  Early  retired  to  Strasburg,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  22d.  Wright  meanwhile  returned 
to  Washington ;  and  on  the  24th  Early  turned  upon 
Crook,  who  was  at  Kernstown,  and  routed  him,  the 
gallant  Colonel  Mulligan  being  mortally  wounded. 
Crook,  however,  made  his  retreat  in  good  order 
and  with  such  skill  as  to  save  his  artillery  and 
trains.  Early  followed  in  hot  pursuit,  and  drove 
the  Union  forces  across  the  Potomac.  The  Presi- 
dent had  feared  and  partly  anticipated  this  dis- 
aster. He  had  telegraphed  to  Hunter  on  the  23d, 
"Are  you  able  to  take  care  of  the  enemy  when 
he  turns  back  upon  you,  as  he  probably  will,  on  LHunter!° 
finding  that  Wright  has  left?"  and  Hunter  had  18J6?y^. 
answered  that  his  force  was  insufficient  for  the 
purpose.  General  Grant's  distance  from  the  scene  ms. 
and  lack  of  perfect  knowledge  of  the  situation, 
the  President's  unwillingness  to  interfere  with  his 
orders,  and  Halleck's  reluctance  to  assume  author- 
ity which  he  thought  did  not  belong  to  him,  were 
the  causes  to  which  may  be  attributed  the  unsatis- 


176 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Grant  to 
Lincoln. 

MS. 


factory  progress  of  affairs  during  this  discouraging 
midsummer  season.  There  was,  notwithstanding, 
perfect  harmony  of  feeling  and  intention  between 
Grant  and  the  Government.  They  were  all  resolved, 
regardless  of  personal  or  political  considerations,  to 
do  everything  possible  to  end  the  war.  Grant  had 
no  hesitation  in  asking,  on  the  19th  of  July,  that 
the  President  should  call  for  300,000  men  to  recruit 
the  armies  wasted  by  a  prodigiously  destructive 
campaign,  although  the  effect  of  such  a  call  could 
not  but  be  damaging  to  the  Administration  at  the 
outset  of  a  Presidential  campaign ;  and  the  Presi- 
dent was  able  to  answer  this  dispatch  by  informing 
the  general  that  he  had  already,  on  the  18th,  issued 
a  call  for  500,000  men,  to  be  drafted  after  Septem- 
ber 5th  if  not  previously  furnished.  "  Which  I  sup- 
pose," he  adds  simply,  "covers  the  case.  Always 
glad  to  hear  your  suggestions." 

But  for  the  moment  there  was  no  adequate  force 
in  front  of  Early,  and  encouraged  by  his  long  im- 
munity, the  instincts  of  a  freebooter  began  to  wake 
in  him,  and  he  determined  upon  a  rapid  campaign 
of  plunder  and  destruction.  His  appetite  for  valid 
money  had  been  whetted  by  the  exactions  levied 
on  the  unfortunate  towns  which  he  had  visited  in 
Maryland,  and  he  now  sent  his  cavalry  forward 
under  John  McCausland  to  ransom  or  destroy  other 
towns  near  the  border  of  that  State  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  town  of  Chambersburg  was  the  first 
one  selected  for  that  barbarous  treatment.  Mc- 
« Memoir"  Causland  reached  the  place  on  the  30th  of  July,  and 
year  oftnl  presented  to  some  of  the  citizens,  arrested  for  that 
p-  ml  purpose,  a  written  demand  for  $500,000  in  currency 
or  $100,000  in  gold  on  penalty  of  the  immediate 


July  20, 
1864.     MS. 


GENERAL    JOBAI.    A.    EARLY. 


EAELY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON 


177 


destruction  of  the  town.  Whether  Early  purposely  chap.vii. 
made  a  demand  impossible  to  meet,  or  whether,  his 
ignorance  and  greed  being  equal,  he  thought  the 
wealth  of  the  North  was  unlimited,  can  only  be 
conjectured;  the  truth  was  the  arrested  citizens 
could  no  more  have  produced  such  a  sum  on 
the  moment  than  they  could  have  performed  any 
other  miracle.  But  McCausland  had  no  discre- 
tion; his  superior  expressly  states  in  his  "Memoir" 
that  his  orders  were  peremptory.  The  Confeder-  Juiy.iaa. 
ate  general  first  made  sure  of  his  breakfast  at  an 
hotel,  and  then  ordered  Grilmor  to  burn  the  town. 
The  task  was  no  welcome  one  for  even  this  hard- 
ened raider.  "I  felt  more  like  weeping  over 
Chambersburg,"  he  says,  but  his  work  was  thor- 
oughly done.  "  The  conflagration  seemed  to  spring 
from  one  vast  building.  .  .  How  piteous  the  sight 
in  those  beautiful  green  meadows  —  groups  of 
women  and  children  exposed  to  the  rays  of  a  burn- 
ing sun,  hovering  over  the  few  articles  they  had 
saved,  most  of  them  wringing  their  hands,  and 
with  wild  gesticulations  bemoaning  their  ruined 
homes." 

From  Chambersburg  McCausland  rode  to  Han- 
cock, Maryland,  where  he  demanded  a  ransom 
of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  This,  says  Gilmor, 
"  was  so  out  of  all  reason  that  we  Marylanders  re- 
monstrated, but  to  no  purpose.  He  told  the  princi- 
pal men  of  the  place  that  unless  the  money  was 
paid  he  would  burn  the  town."  Gilmor,  whose  raid.,  p.  213. 
sympathies  were  now  thoroughly  aroused  for  the 
people  of  his  own  State,  seeing  that  the  place  was 
in  imminent  risk  of  being  plundered  before  it  was 
burned,  made  an  effort  with  his  own  troopers  to 
Vol.  IX.— 12 


Gilmor, 
"Four 
Years 
in  the 
Saddle," 
p.  212. 


178  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vii.   guard  the  houses,  while  the  terrified  citizens  were 
trying  to  raise  the   money  McCausland  had   re- 
quired.   Before   this  was   accomplished   Averill's 
cavalry  came  upon  the  scene,  drove  out  the  Con- 
Giimor,     federates,  and  saved  the  town,  as  well  as  McCon- 

Yearaluthe  nellsburg  and  Bedford  which  had  also  been  marked 
J.  213'.  for  destruction.  McCausland  retreated  to  Cum- 
1864.  berland,  where  on  the  1st  of  August  he  had  a  sharp 
skirmish  with  General  Kelley,  and  then  crossed  the 
Potomac  and  withdrew  to  Moorefield  in  Western 
Virginia.  Thither  Hunter  dispatched  General 
Averill,  who  on  the  7th  attacked  and  routed  Mc- 
Causland, capturing  all  his  guns  and  trains  with 
over  four  hundred  prisoners,  and  scattering  the 
residue  of  the  Confederate  cavalry  through  the 
bridle-paths    of    the    mountains.     General    Early 

"Memoir of  frankly  admits,  "This  affair  had  a  very  damaging 

Year  of  the  effect  upon  my  cavalry  for  the  rest  of  the  cam- 
p-  75.      paign." 

While  these  operations  were  going  on,  the  Na- 
tional infantry  were  marching  and  countermarch- 
ing in  every  direction,  to  little  purpose,  under 
contradictory  orders,  and  had  at  last  been  posted  at 
Frederick  to  guard  against  another  possible  advance 
on  Washington.  The  confusion  arose  primarily 
from  the  fact  that  General  Grant  disbelieved1  in 
Early's  movement  northward  up  to  the  moment  he 
defeated  Crook  at  Kernstown,  and  therefore  wanted 
the  Sixth  Corps  sent  back  to  him,  and  that  Halleck 
holding  a  different  belief,  yet  hesitated  about  taking 
the  responsibility  of  giving  the  orders  absolutely 

1  On  the  23d  of  July,  Grant,  at  turning  here  to  enable  the  enemy 
Petersburg,  telegraphed  Hal-  to  detach  troops  to  go  to  Georgia." 
leek  :  "  Early  is  undoubtedly  re-    — -Badeau,  Vol.  II.,  p.  451. 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  179 

necessary  under  the  circumstances.  Grant  was  too  chap.  vn. 
far  away  to  take  advantage  of  the  hourly  changes 
in  the  situation,  and  Hunter,  who  was  as  zealous 
and  energetic  as  a  man  need  be,  was  rendered  pow- 
erless by  the  lack  of  harmonious  cooperation 
between  his  two  superior  officers.  Grant,  seeing 
the  difficulty,  had  recommended  the  consolidation 
of  the  four  departments  —  the  Susquehanna,  the 
Middle,  Western  Virginia,  and  Washington — under 
one  commander,  and  had  mentioned  for  that  duty 
General  W.  B.  Franklin.  This  suggestion  was  not 
favorably  received  by  the  War  Department,  and 
General  Grant  next  suggested  General  Meade.  The 
President,  seeing  more  clearly  than  any  one  else  the 
wide  range  of  personal  complications  which  such  a 
change  would  involve,  asked  Grant  to  name  a  time 
when  they  could  meet  at  Fort  Monroe ;  but  their 
meeting  was  prevented  by  the  state  of  affairs  at 
Deep  Bottom  and  Petersburg. 

On  the  1st  of  August  General  Grant  made  a 
new  choice,  which  was  one  of  his  happiest  in- 
spirations, and  formed  a  resolution  which  proved 
of  inestimable  benefit  in  its  results.  He  hastily 
relieved  General  Sheridan  from  the  command  of 
the  cavalry  corps,  and  ordered  him  North,  send- 
ing an  additional  division  of  cavalry  after  him, 
at  the  same  time  informing  Halleck,  "  I  am  send- 
ing General  Sheridan  for  temporary  duty  whilst 
the  enemy  is  being  expelled  from  the  border. 
Unless  General  Hunter  is  in  the  field  in  person,  I 
want  Sheridan  put  in  command  of  all  the  troops  in 
the  field,  with  instructions  to  put  himself  south  of  Grant, 
the  enemy  and  follow  him  to  the  death.  Where-  MeS." 
ever  the  enemy  goes,  let  our  troops  go  also."    This      p-  317." 


180 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  VII. 


Lincoln  to 
Grant.  MS. 


dispatch  was  shown  to  the  President.  It  embodied 
precisely  his  own  wishes ;  he  had  been  agonizing 
to  have  exactly  this  thing  done.  But  he  found,  in 
conversation  with  Halleck,  and  perhaps  with  others, 
that  no  measures,  or  at  least  none  sufficiently  ener- 
getic, were  being  taken  to  carry  Grant's  suggestion 
into  effect.  He  had  before  this  remarked,  with  pain 
and  disappointment,  a  tendency  in  General  Halleck 
to  shrink  from  the  exercise  of  authority  in  emer- 
gencies, and  to  throw  upon  himself  or  Grant  the 
burden  of  all  important  decisions.  He  saw,  in  this 
instance,  that  if  he  did  not  interfere  the  campaign 
would  be  lost  by  hesitation  and  delay.  In  violation, 
therefore,  of  all  official  etiquette,  and,  as  some 
critics  think,  of  propriety,  he  telegraphed  to  Grant 
on  the  3d  of  August,  quoting  his  dispatch  given 
above,  and  adding,  "  This  I  think  is  exactly  right, 
as  to  how  our  forces  should  move.  But  please  look 
over  the  dispatches  you  may  have  received  from 
here  ever  since  you  made  that  order,  and  discover 
if  you  can  that  there  is  any  idea  in  the  head  of  any 
one  here  of  '  putting  our  army  south  of  the  enemy ' 
or  of  'following  him  to  the  death1  in  any  direc- 
tion. I  repeat  to  you,  it  will  neither  be  done  nor 
attempted,  unless  you  watch  it  every  day  and  hour, 
and  force  it." 

We  will  not  stop  to  defend  the  taste  or  regu- 
larity of  this  dispatch.  It  was  at  least  perfectly 
lucid,  and  it  answered  the  purpose.  In  two  hours 
Grant  was  on  the  way  to  Monocacy  Station,  where 
he  arrived  the  next  evening.  It  was  evident  by 
this  time  that  a  defensive  position  at  Frederick  was 
no  longer  necessary,  and  that  the  point  already 
selected  by  Hunter,  at  Halltown,  for  the  concentra- 


EARLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON  181 

tion  of  his  troops  might  be  occupied  at  once.    This   chap.vii. 
was  immediately  done,  under  Grant's  instructions, 
which  provided  further  for  an  active  campaign 
against  the   enemy,  and  the   devastation   of  the 
Shenandoah  Valley,  so  that  "nothing  should  be 
left  to  invite  the  enemy  to  return.    Take  all  pro- 
visions, forage,  and  stock  wanted  for  the  use  of 
your  command;  such  as  cannot  be  consumed,  de- 
stroy.   It  is  not  desirable  that  the  buildings  should 
be  destroyed — they  should  rather  be  protected ;  but 
the  people  should  be  informed  that  so  long  as  an      Grant 
army  can  subsist  among  them  recurrences  of  these   Me3S$ 
raids  must  be  expected,  and  we  are  determined  to     ™5S:' 
stop  them  at  all  hazards." 

The  move  to  Halltown  brought  Hunter's  army 
upon  Early's  right  flank  and  rear.  Early  had  again 
moved  on  the  4th  to  the  Potomac  —  a  demonstra-  Aug.,186*. 
tion  which  had  become  instinctive  with  him  —  and 
the  next  day  his  whole  army  had  crossed  once  more 
into  Maryland  by  the  Williamsport  and  Shepherds- 
town  fords,  visiting  the  Antietam  battleground. 
But  this  threatening  movement  made  no  impression 
on  the  impassive  commander  of  the  National  armies. 
His  habit  of  minimizing  his  enemy's  numbers  here 
stood  to  his  advantage.  He  wrote  to  Halleck  that 
there  was  "no  great  force  of  the  enemy  north 
of  the  Potomac  " ;  and,  in  fact,  Early  only  remained 
one  day,  and  on  the  7th  retired  to  Bunker  Hill. 

In  conversation  with  General  Hunter,  Grant  sug- 
gested that  he  should  establish  the  headquarters  of 
his  department  at  Cumberland  or  Baltimore,  leav- 
ing to  Sheridan  the  command  of  the  troops  in  the 
field.  The  gallant  veteran  promptly  offered  to  re- 
sign his  position  if  it  seemed  that  another  officer 


182  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

CHAP.vn.   could  assume  it  with  the  prospect  of  more  har- 
monious relations  with  his  superiors,  and  conse- 
quently of  more  successful  results.     Grant  eagerly 
accepted    this    generous    self-sacrifice,    and    tele- 
graphed for  Sheridan  to  come  to  the  Monocacy. 
He   responded   in   person    by   special  train;    the 
troops  were  all  gone  over  the  Potomac  to  Hall- 
town  ;  no  one  was  left  at  the  station  but  the  three 
Grant,      generals  and   their   staffs.     Grant  in   few   words 
Memoirs."  gave  Sheridan  the  instructions  he  had  prepared  for 
P.  mo.''     Hunter  and  returned  to  Petersburg.     Sheridan,  on 
1864.       the  7th   of  August,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  formally 
assumed  command  of  the  Middle  Military  Division, 
comprising   the   four  departments   already  men- 
tioned. 

His  army,  which  was  afterwards  called  the  Army 
of  the  Shenandoah,  consisted  of  the  Sixth  Corps, 
under  General  Wright ;  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  part 
present  and  part  on  the  way,  under  General  Cuvier 
Grover;  Crook's  Army  of  Western  Virginia;  Tor- 
bert's  division  of  cavalry  from  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, and  Charles  R.  Lowell,  Jr.'s  reserve  brigade. 
Averill's  division,  Alfred  N.  Duffle's  troops,  and  J.  H. 
Wilson's  division  of  cavalry  from  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  were  also  on  the  march  to  join  him. 
Sheridan  desired  that  this  splendid  cavalry  force 
should  be  made  a  corps  and  commanded  by  one  of 
his  own  men,  and  Grant  immediately  authorized  this 
to  be  done.  In  spite  of  Averill's  recent  and  brilliant 
success,  A.  T.  A.  Torbert  was  made  chief  of  cav- 
alry, and  Merritt  succeeded  to  the  command  of  his 
division.  It  was,  of  course,  the  finest  army  ever 
brought  together  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  con- 
sisting of  some  22,000  infantry  present  for  duty, 


EAKLY'S    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST    WASHINGTON 


183 


and  of  about  8000  horse.  The  field  returns  show 
nearly  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  these  figures,  or 
about  43,000  officers  and  men;  but,  all  proper  reduc- 
tions being  made,  both  Grant  and  Sheridan  regarded 
30,000  as  the  fighting  force  of  the  Arniy  of  the 
Shenandoah. 


Chap.  VII. 


Badeau, 

"  Military 

History  of 

U.S. 

Grant." 

VoL  III., 

Appendix, 

p.  656. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HORACE  GREELEY'S  PEACE  MISSION 

chap. viii.  "VTOT  least  among  the  troubles  and  the  vexa- 
-Ll  tions  of  the  summer  of  1864  was  the  constant 
criticism  of  sincere  Republicans  who  were  impa- 
tient at  what  they  considered  the  slow  progress  of 
the  war,  and  irritated  at  the  deliberation  with 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  weighed  every  important  act 
before  decision.  Besides  this,  a  feeling  of  discour- 
agement had  taken  possession  of  some  of  the  more 
excitable  spirits,  which  induced  them  to  give  ready 
hospitality  to  any  suggestions  of  peace.  Foremost 
among  these  was  Horace  Greeley,  who,  in  personal 
interviews,  in  private  letters,  and  in  the  columns  of 
the  "  Tribune,"  repeatedly  placed  before  the  Presi- 
dent, with  that  vigor  of  expression  in  which  he  was 
unrivaled,  the  complaints  and  the  discontents  of 
a  considerable  body  of  devoted,  if  not  altogether 
reasonable,  Union  men.  The  attitude  of  benevo- 
lent criticism  which  he  was  known  to  sustain  to- 
wards the  Administration  naturally  drew  around 
him  a  certain  number  of  adventurers  and  busy- 
bodies,  who  fluttered  between  the  two  great  parties, 
and  were  glad  to  occupy  the  attention  of  promi- 
nent men  on  either  side  with  schemes  whose  only 
real  object  was  some  slight  gain  or  questionable 
notoriety  for  themselves. 


HORACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  185 

A  person  who  called  himself  "  William  Cornell  chap.viii. 
Jewett  of  Colorado  "  had  gained  some  sort  of  inti- 
macy with  Mr.  Greeley  by  alleging  relations  with 
eminent  Northern  and  Southern  statesmen.  He 
wrote  interminable  letters  of  advice  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln (as  well  as  to  Jefferson  Davis),  which  were 
never  read  nor  answered,  but  which,  printed  with 
humorous  comment  in  the  "New  York  Herald," 
were  taken  seriously  by  the  undiscriminating, 
and  even  quoted  and  discussed  in  the  London 
papers.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Greeley  in  the  early 
part  of  July  from  Niagara  Falls,  and  appears  i^. 
to  have  convinced  the  latter  that  he  was  an 
authorized  intermediary  from  the  Confederate 
authorities  to  make  propositions  for  peace.  He 
wrote  that  he  had  just  left  George  N.  Sanders  of 
Kentucky  on  the  Canada  side.  "  I  am  authorized 
to  state  to  you,"  he  continued,  "  for  our  use  only, 
not  the  public,  that  two  ambassadors  of  Davis  & 
Co.  are  now  in  Canada  with  full  and  complete  pow- 
ers for  a  peace,  and  Mr.  Sanders  requests  that  you 
come  on  immediately  to  me  at  Cataract  House  to 
have  a  private  interview ;  or,  if  you  will  send  the 
President's  protection  for  him  and  two  friends,  they 
will  come  on  and  meet  you.  He  says  the  whole 
matter  can  be  consummated  by  me,  you,  them,  and 
President  Lincoln."  This  letter  was  followed  the  *££$&>£ 
next  day  by  a  telegram  saying :  "  "Will  you  come  *$&**& 
here?    Parties  have  full  power." 

Mr.  Greeley  was  greatly  impressed  by  this  com- 
munication. The  inherent  improbabilities  of  it 
did  not  seem  to  strike  him,  though  the  antece- 
dents of  Sanders  were  scarcely  more  reputable 
than  those  of  Jewett.    He  sent  the  letter  and  the 


186  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  viii.  telegram  to  the  President,  inclosed  in  a  letter  of 
his  own,  the  perfervid  vehemence  of  which  shows 
the  state  of  excitement  he  was  laboring  nnder. 
He  refers  to  his  correspondent  as  "  our  irrepres- 
sible friend,  Colorado  Jewett."  He  admits  some 
doubt  as  to  the  "full  powers,"  but  insists  upon 
the  Confederate  desire  for  peace.  "  And  there- 
upon," he  says,  "I  venture  to  remind  you  that 
our  bleeding,  bankrupt,  almost  dying  country  also 
longs  for  peace ;  shudders  at  the  prospect  of  fresh 
conscriptions,  of  further  wholesale  devastations, 
and  of  new  rivers  of  human  blood.  And  a  wide- 
spread conviction  that  the  Government  and  its 
prominent  supporters  are  not  anxious  for  peace, 
and  do  not  improve  proffered  opportunities  to 
achieve  it,  is  doing  great  harm  now,  and  is  morally 
certain,  unless  removed,  to  do  far  greater  in  the 
approaching  elections."  He  then  rebukes  Mr.  Lin- 
coln for  not  having  received  the  Stephens  embassy, 
disapproves  the  warlike  tone  of  the  Baltimore  plat- 
form, urges  the  President  to  make  overtures  for 
peace  in  time  to  affect  the  North  Carolina  elections, 
and   suggests  the  following  plan  of  adjustment : 

1.  The  Union  is  restored  and  declared  perpetual. 

2.  Slavery  is  utterly  and  forever  abolished  through- 
out the  same.  3.  A  complete  amnesty  for  all 
political  offenses.  4.  Payment  of  $400,000,000  to 
the  slave  States,  pro  rata,  for  their  slaves.  5.  The 
slave  States  to  be  represented  in  proportion  to  their 
total  population.  6.  A  National  Convention  to  be 
called  at  once. 

The  letter  closes  with  this  impassioned  appeal  : 
"  Mr.  President,  I  fear  you  do  not  realize  how  in- 
tently the  people  desire  any  peace  consistent  with 


HORACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  187 

the  national  integrity  and  honor,  and  how  joyously  chap.viii. 
they  would  hail  its  achievement  and  bless  its 
authors.  With  United  States  stocks  worth  but  forty 
cents  in  gold  per  dollar,  and  drafting  about  to  com- 
mence on  the  third  million  of  Union  soldiers,  can 
this  be  wondered  at  ?  I  do  not  say  that  a  just  peace 
is  now  attainable,  though  I  believe  it  to  be  so.  But 
I  do  say  that  a  frank  offer  by  you  to  the  insurgents, 
of  terms  which  the  impartial  will  say  ought  to  be 
accepted,  will,  at  the  worst,  prove  an  immense  and 
sorely  needed  advantage  to  the  national  cause ;  it 
may  save  us  from  a  Northern  insurrection."  In  a 
postscript  Mr.  Greeley  again  urges  the  President  to 
invite  "  those  now  at  Niagara  to  exhibit  their  ere-  to  Lincoln, 
dentials  and  submit  their  ultimatum."  ms. 

Mr.  Lincoln  determined  at  once  to  take  action 
upon  this  letter.  He  had  no  faith  in  Jewett's  story. 
He  doubted  whether  the  embassy  had  any  exist- 
ence, except  in  the  imagination  of  Sanders  and 
Jewett.  But  he  felt  the  unreasonableness  and 
injustice  of  Mr.  Greeley's  letter,  while  he  did  not 
doubt  his  good  faith ;  and  he  resolved  to  convince 
him  at  least,  and  perhaps  others  of  his  way  of 
thinking,  that  there  was  no  foundation  for  the  re- 
proaches they  were  casting  upon  the  Government 
for  refusing  to  treat  with  the  rebels.  That  there 
might  be  no  opportunity  for  dispute  in  relation  to 
the  facts  of  the  case,  he  arranged  that  the  witness 
of  his  willingness  to  listen  to  any  overtures  which 
might  come  from  the  South  should  be  Mr.  Greeley 
himself.  He  answered  his  letter  at  once,  on  the  9th 
of  July,  saying :  "  If  you  can  find  any  person,  any- 
where, professing  to  have  any  proposition  of 
Jefferson  Davis  in  writing,  for  peace,  embracing 


188  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  viii.  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  and  abandonment  of 
slavery,  whatever  else  it  embraces,  say  to  him  he 
may  come  to  me  with  you,  and  that  if  he  really 
brings  such  proposition  he  shall  at  the  least  have 
safe  conduct  with  the  paper  (and  without  pub- 
licity, if  he  chooses)  to  the  point  where  you  shall 

^•eeKy,0   have  met  him.    The  same  if  there  be  two  or  more 

July  9,  1864.  ,, 

ms.       persons." 

Mr.  Greeley  answered  this  letter  the  next  day  in 
evident  embarrassment.  The  President  had  sur- 
prised him  by  his  frank  and  prompt  acquiescence 
in  his  suggestions.  He  had  accepted  the  first  two 
points  of  Mr.  Greeley's  plan  of  adjustment  —  the 
restoration  of  the  Union,  and  the  abandonment 
of  slavery  —  as  the  only  preliminary  conditions  of 
negotiations  upon  which  he  would  insist,  and  re- 
quested this  vehement  advocate  of  peace  to  bring 
forward  his  ambassadors.  Mr.  Greeley's  reply  of 
the  10th  seems  somewhat  lacking  both  in  temper 
and  in  candor.  He  thought  the  negotiators  would 
not  "open  their  budget"  to  him;  repeated  his 
reproaches  at  the  "rude  repulse"  of  Stephens; 
referred  again  to  the  importance  of  doing  some- 
thing in  time  for  the  North  Carolina  elections ;  and 
said  at  least  he  would  try  to  get  a  look  into  the  hand 
of  the  men  at  Niagara,  though  he  had  "  little  heart 

ms.  for  it."  But  on  the  13th  he  wrote  in  a  much  more 
positive  manner.  He  said :  "  I  have  now  informa- 
tion, on  which  I  can  rely,  that  two  persons,  duly 
commissioned  and  empowered  to  negotiate  for 
peace,  are  at  this  moment  not  far  from  Niagara 
Falls  in  Canada,  and  are  desirous  of  conferring 
with  yourself,  or  with  such  persons  as  you  may 
appoint  and  empower  to  treat  with  them.    Their 


HOKACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  189 

names  (only  given  in  confidence)  are  Hon.  Clement  chap.viii. 
C.  Clay  of  Alabama  and  Hon.  Jacob  Thompson  of 
Mississippi."    He  added  that  he  knew  nothing  and 
had  proposed  nothing  as  to  terms ;  that  it  seemed 
to  him  high  time  an   effort  should  be  made  to 
terminate  the  wholesale  slaughter.     He  hoped  to 
hear  that  the  President  had  concluded  to  act  in  the  toGL±n«£n, 
premises,  and  to  act  so  promptly  as  to  do  some   itmy ms. 
good  in  the  North  Carolina  elections. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  which  was  written 
four  days  after  Mr.  Greeley  had  been  fully  author- 
ized to  bring  to  Washington  any  one  he  could  find 
empowered  to  treat  for  peace,  and  which  yet  was 
based  on  the  assumption  of  the  President's  unwill- 
ingness to  do  the  very  thing  he  had  already  done, 
Mr.  Lincoln  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  a  correspond- 
ence which  promised  to  be  indefinitely  prolonged, 
by  sending  an  aide-de-camp  to  New  York  to  ar- 
range in  a  personal  interview  what  it  seemed  im- 
possible to  conclude  by  mail.  On  the  15th  he  sent 
Mr.  Greeley  a  brief  telegram  expressing  his  disap- 
pointment, saying,  "  I  was  not  expecting  you  to 
send  me  a  letter,  but  to  bring  me  a  man  or  men,"  ms. 
and  announced  the  departure  of  a  messenger  with 
a  letter.  The  letter  was  of  the  briefest.  It  merely 
said:  "Yours  of  the  13th  is  just  received,  and  I 
am  disappointed  that  you  have  not  already  reached 
here  with  those  commissioners,  if  they  would  con- 
sent to  come,  on  being  shown  my  letter  to  you  of 
the  9th  inst.  Show  that  and  this  to  them,  and  if 
they  will  come  on  the  terms  stated  in  the  former, 
bring  them.  I  not  only  intend  a  sincere  effort  for  Greeiey, 
peace,  but  I  intend  that  you  shall  be  a  personal  ««■  ms. 
witness  that  it  is  made." 


190  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. vin.  This  curt  and  peremptory  missive  was  delivered 
to  Mr.  Greeley  by  Major  John  Hay  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  16th.  Mr.  Greeley  was  still  some- 
what reluctant  to  go ;  he  thought  some  one  not  so 
well  known  would  be  less  embarrassed  by  public 
curiosity ;  but  said  finally  that  he  would  start  at 
once  if  he  could  be  given  a  safe  conduct  for  four 
persons,  to  be  named  by  him.  Major  Hay  com- 
municated this  to  the  President  and  received  the 
required  order  in  reply.     "If  there  is  or  is  not 

L"g°£ to   anything  in  the  affair,"  he  wrote,  "  I  wish  to  know 

juiyuuss*.  it  without  unnecessary  delay." 

The  safe  conduct  was  immediately  written  and 
given  to  Mr.  Greeley,  who  started  at  once  for 
Niagara.  It  provided  that  Clement  C.  Clay,  Jacob 
Thompson,  James  P.  Holcombe,  and  George  N. 
Sanders  should  have  safe  conduct  to  Washington 
in  company  with  Horace  Greeley,  and  should  be 
exempt  from  arrest  or  annoyance  of  any  kind  from 
any  officer  of  the  United  States  during  their 
journey.  Nothing  was  said  by  Mr.  Greeley  or 
by  Major  Hay  to  the  effect  that  this  safe  conduct 
modified  in  any  respect  the  conditions  imposed  by 
the  President's  letter  of  the  9th.  It  merely  carried 
into  effect  the  proposition  made  in  that  letter.  On 
arriving  at  Niagara,  Mr.  Greeley  placed  himself  at 
once  in  the  hands  of  Jewett,  who  was  waiting  to 
receive  him,  and  sent  by  him  a  letter  addressed  to 
Clay,  Thompson,  and  Holcombe,  in  which  he  said  : 
"  I  am  informed  that  you  are  duly  accredited  from 
Eichmond  as  the  bearers  of  propositions  look- 
ing to  the  establishment  of  peace  ;  that  you  desire 
to  visit  Washington  in  the  fulfillment  of  your  mis- 
sion ;  and  that  you  further  desire  that  Mr.  George 


HORACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  191 

N.  Sanders  shall  accompany  you.  If  my  information  chap.viii. 
be  thus  far  substantially  correct,  I  am  authorized 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  tender  you    phXm, 
his  safe  conduct  on  the  journey  proposed,  and  to      of  the7 

^  V      1/        ix.    4.         -n     u       Rebellion," 

accompany  you  at  the  earliest  time  that  will  be      p.  mi. 
agreeable  to  you." 

No  clearer  proof  can  be  given  than  is  afforded  in 
this  letter  that  Mr.  Greeley  was  absolutely  ignorant 
of  all  the  essential  facts  appertaining  to  the  nego- 
tiation in  which  he  was  engaged.  As  it  turned  out, 
he  had  been  misinformed  even  as  to  the  personnel  of 
the  embassy,  Jacob  Thompson  not  being,  and  not 
having  been,  in  company  with  the  others ;  none 
of  them  had  any  authority  to  act  in  the  capacity 
attributed  to  them ;  and,  worse  than  all  this,  Mr. 
Greeley  kept  out  of  view,  in  his  missive  thus  shot 
at  a  venture,  the  very  conditions  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  imposed  in  his  letter  of  the  9th  and  repeated 
in  that  of  the  15th.  Yet,  with  all  the  advantages 
thus  afforded  them,  Clay  and  Holcombe  felt  them- 
selves too  bare  and  naked  of  credentials  to  accept 
Mr.  Greeley's  offer,  and  were  therefore  compelled  to 
answer  that  they  had  not  been  accredited  from 
Richmond,  as  assumed  in  his  note.  They  made 
haste  to  say,  however,  that  they  were  acquainted 
with  the  views  of  their  Government,  and  could 
easily  get  credentials,  or  other  agents  could  be 
accredited  in  their  place,  if  they  could  be  sent 
to  Richmond  armed  with  "  the  circumstances  dis- 
closed in  this  correspondence."  It  is  incomprehen- 
sible that  a  man  of  Mr.  Greeley's  experience  should 
not  have  recognized  at  once  the  purport  of  this 
proposal.  It  simply  meant  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should 
take  the  initiative  in  suing  the  Richmond  author- 


192  ABBAHAM   LINCOLN 

CHAP.vm.  ities  for  peace,  on  terms  to  be  proposed  by  them. 
The  essential  impossibility  of  these  terms  was  not 
apparent  to  Mr.  Greeley ;  he  merely  saw  that  the 
situation  was  somewhat  different  from  what  he 
had  expected,  and  therefore  acknowledged  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  letter,  promised  to  report  to  Wash- 
ington and  solicit  fresh  instructions,  and  then 
telegraphed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  the  substance  of  what 
Clay  and  Holcombe  had  written.  The  President, 
with  unwearied  patience,  drew  up  a  final  paper, 
which  he  sent  by  Major  Hay  to  Niagara,  informing 
Mr.  Greeley  by  telegraph  that  it  was  on  the  way. 
This  information  Mr.  Greeley  at  once  sent  over  the 
border  with  many  apologies  for  the  delay. 

Major  Hay  arrived  at  Niagara  on  the  20th  of 
July  with  a  paper  in  the  President's  own  hand- 
writing, expressed  in  these  words : 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  July  18,  1864. 
To  WHOM  IT  may  CONCERN  :     Any  proposition  which 
embraces  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  integrity  of  the 
whole  Union,  and  the  abandonment  of  slavery,  and  which 
comes  by  and  with  an  authority  that  can   control  the 
armies  now  at  war  against  the  United  States,  will  be  re- 
ISSetS   ceived  and  considered  by  the  Executive  Government  of 
CImeric£f  the  United  States,  and  will  be  met  by  liberal  terms  on 
^ography.  0tner  substantial  and  collateral  points,  and  the  bearer  or 
p."72±."     bearers  thereof  shall  have  safe  conduct  both  ways. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  already  begun  to  have  some  im- 
pression of  the  unfortunate  position  in  which  he 
had  placed  himself,  and  the  reading  of  this  straight- 
forward document  still  further  nettled  and  per- 
plexed him.  He  proposed  to  bring  Jewett  into 
conference;   this   Major  Hay  declined.    He  then 


HORACE    GREELEY. 


HORACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  193 

refused  to  cross  the  river  to  Clifton  unless  Major  chap.vhi. 
Hay  would  accompany  him,  and  himself  deliver 
the  paper  to  the  Confederate  emissaries.  They 
therefore  went  together  and  met  Mr.  Holcombe  in  July,  is**. 
a  private  room  of  the  Clifton  House  (Mr.  Clay  be- 
ing absent  for  a  day),  and  handed  him  the  Presi- 
dent's letter.  After  a  few  moments'  conversation 
they  separated,  Mr.  Greeley  returning  to  New 
York  and  Major  Hay  remaining  at  Niagara  to 
receive  any  answer  that  might  be  given  to  the  let- 
ter. Before  taking  the  train  Mr.  Greeley  had  an 
interview  with  Jewett,  unknown  to  Major  Hay, 
in  which  he  seems  to  have  authorized  Jewett  to 
continue  to  act  as  his  representative.  Jewett  lost 
no  time  in  acquainting  the  emissaries  with  this 
fact,  informing  them  of  the  departure  of  Mr. 
Greeley,  of  his  regret  at "  the  sad  termination  of  the 
initiatory  steps  taken  for  peace,  from  the  change 
made  by  the  President  in  his  instructions  given 
him  to  convey  commissioners  to  Washington  for  ne- 
gotiations, unconditionally,"  and  that  Mr.  Greeley 
would  be  pleased  to  receive  their  answer  through 
him  (Jewett).  They  replied  to  Jewett  with  mutual 
compliments,  inclosing  a  long  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley 
arraigning  the  President  for  his  alleged  breach 
of  faith,  which  Jewett  promptly  communicated  to 
the  newspapers  of  the  country  without  notice  to 
Major  Hay,  informing  him  afterwards  in  a  note 
that  he  did  this  by  way  of  revenging  the  slight 
of  the  preceding  day. 

In  giving  the  letter  of  the  rebel  emissaries  to  the 
press  instead  of  sending  it  to  its  proper  destina- 
tion, Jewett  accomplished  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  written.    It  formed  a  not  ineffective  docu- 
Vol.  IX.— 13 


194  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  vin.  ment  in  a  heated  political  campaign.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  ascertain,  at  this  day,  whether  Mr. 
Greeley  ever  communicated  to  Jewett  or  Sanders, 
and  whether  they,  in  their  constant  Sittings  to  and 
fro  over  the  Suspension  Bridge,  ever  made  known 
to  Clay  and  Holcombe,  the  conditions  of  negotia- 
tion laid  down  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  letters  of  the 
we*.  9th  and  15th  of  July.  At  all  events  they  pretended 
to  be  ignorant  of  any  such  conditions,  and  assumed 
that  the  President  had  sent  Mr.  Greeley  to  invite 
them  to  Washington  without  credentials  and  with- 
out conditions,  to  convey  to  Richmond  his  over- 
tures of  peace.  They  did  not  say  with  any  certainty 
that  even  in  that  event  his  overtures  would  have 
been  accepted,  but  expressed  the  hope  that  in  case 
the  war  must  continue  there  might  "have  been 
infused  into  its  conduct  something  more  of  the 
spirit  which  softens  and  partially  redeems  its 
brutalities."  They  then  went  on  to  accuse  the 
President  of  a  "sudden  and  entire  change  of 
views,"  of  a  "  rude  withdrawal  of  a  courteous  over- 
ture," of  "  fresh  blasts  of  war  to  the  bitter  end " ; 
attributing  this  supposed  change  to  some  "  myster- 
ies of  his  Cabinet "  or  some  "  caprice  of  his  imperial 
will."  They  plainly  intimated  that  while  the  South 
desired  peace,  it  would  not  accept  any  arrangement 
which  bartered  away  its  self-government;  and  in 
conclusion  they  called  upon  their  fellow-Confed- 
erates to  strip  from  their  "eyes  the  last  film  of 
such  delusion "  that  peace  is  possible,  and  if  there 
were  "any  patriots  or  Christians"  in  the  North, 
phSson,    they  implored  them  "  to  recall  the  abused  author- 

"  ofi8they    ity  and  vindicate  the  outraged  civilization  of  the 

Rebellion,"  ,        .. 

pp.  301, 302.  country." 


HORACE    GKEELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  195 

Even  this  impudent  and  uncandid  manifesto  did  chap.vih. 
not  convince  Mr.  Greeley  that  he  had  committed 
an  error.  On  the  contrary,  he  adopted  the  point 
of  view  of  the  rebel  emissaries,  and  contended  after 
his  return  to  New  York  that  he  regarded  the  safe 
conduct  given  him  on  the  16th  of  July  as  a  waiver  we*. 
by  the  President  of  all  the  conditions  of  his  former 
letters.  Being  attacked  by  his  colleagues  of  the 
press  for  his  action  at  Niagara,  he  could  only 
defend  himself  by  implied  censure  of  the  Presi- 
dent, and  the  discussion  grew  so  warm  that  both 
he  and  his  assailants  at  last  joined  in  a  request  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  permit  the  publication  of  the  cor- 
respondence between  them.  This  was  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  Mr.  Lincoln  to  vindicate  his  own 
proceeding.  But  he  rarely  looked  at  such  matters 
from  the  point  of  view  of  personal  advantage,  and 
he  feared  that  the  passionate,  almost  despairing 
appeals  of  the  most  prominent  Eepublican  editor 
in  the  North  for  peace  at  any  cost  would  deepen 
the  gloom  in  the  public  mind  and  have  an  injurious 
effect  upon  the  Union  cause.  He  therefore  pro- 
posed to  Mr.  Greeley,  in  case  the  correspondence 
should  be  published,  to  omit  some  of  the  more 
vehement  phrases  of  his  letters  and  those  in  which 
he  advocated  peace  negotiations  solely  for  political 
effect ;  at  the  same  time  he  invited  him  to  come  to 
Washington  and  talk  with  him  freely.  Mr.  Greeley, 
writing  on  the  8th  of  August,  accepted  both  sug-  1864. 
gestions  in  principle,  but  he  querulously  declined 
going  to  Washington  at  that  time,  on  the  ground 
that  the  President  was  surrounded  by  his  "  bitterest 
personal  enemies,"  and  that  his  going  would  only 
result  in  further  mischief,  as  at  Niagara.     "  I  will 


196  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. viii.  gladly  go,"  he  continued,  "whenever  I  feel  a  hope 
that  their  influence  has  waned."  Then,  unable  to 
restrain  himself,  he  broke  out  in  new  and  severe 
reproaches  against  the  President  for  not  having 
received  Mr.  Stephens,  for  not  having  sent  a  depu- 
tation to  Eichmond  to  ask  for  peace  after  Vicks- 
burg,  for  not  having  taken  the  Democrats  in 
Congress  at  their  word,  and  sent  "  the  three  biggest 
of  them  as  commissioners  forthwith,  to  see  what  kind 
of  peace  they  could  get."  He  referred  once  more 
to  Niagara,  and  said,  magnanimously,  "Let  the 
past  go " ;  but  added  the  stern  admonition,  "  Do 
not  let  this  month  pass  without  an  earnest  effort 
for  peace."  He  held  out  a  hope  that  if  the  Presi- 
dent would  turn  from  the  error  of  his  ways  he 

to  Lincoln,  would  still  help  him  make  peace ;  but  for  the  time 
Ms.  '  being,  "knowing  who  are  nearest  you,"  he  gave 
him  up.  The  only  meaning  this  can  have  is  simply, 
Dismiss  Seward  from  your  Cabinet  and  do  as  I  tell 
you,  and  then  perhaps  I  can  save  your  Administra- 
tion. 

The  next  day,  having  received  another  telegram 
from  the  President,  who,  regardless  of  his  own  dig- 
nity, was  still  endeavoring  to  conciliate  and  con- 
vince him,  Mr.  Greeley  wrote  another  letter,  which 
we  shall  give  more  fully  than  the  rest,  to  show  in 
what  a  dangerous  frame  of  mind  was  the  editor  of 
the  most  important  organ  of  public  opinion  in  the 
North.  He  begins  by  refusing  to  telegraph,  "  Since 
I  learned  by  sad  experience  at  Niagara  that  my  dis- 
patches go  to  the  War  Department  before  reaching 
you." 

I  fear  that  my  chance  for  usefulness  has  passed.  I 
know  that  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  American  people, 


HOKACE    GREELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  197 

North  and  South,  are  anxious  for  peace  —  peace  on  almost  chap.  vm. 
any  terms  —  and  utterly  sick  of  human  slaughter  and 
devastation.  I  know  that,  to  the  general  eye,  it  now  seems 
that  the  rebels  are  anxious  to  negotiate  and  that  we  repulse 
their  advances.  I  know  that  if  this  impression  be  not 
removed  we  shall  be  beaten  out  of  sight  next  November. 
I  firmly  believe  that,  were  the  election  to  take  place  to- 
morrow, the  Democratic  majority  in  this  State  and  Penn- 
sylvania would  amount  to  100,000,  and  that  we  should 
lose  Connecticut  also.  Now  if  the  Rebellion  can  be  crushed 
before  November  it  will  do  to  go  on ;  if  not,  we  are  rush- 
ing on  certain  ruin. 

What,  then,  can  I  do  in  "Washington  ?  Your  trusted 
advisers  nearly  all  think  I  ought  to  go  to  Fort  Lafayette 
for  what  I  have  done  already.  Seward  wanted  me  sent 
there  for  my  brief  conference  with  M.  Mercier.  The  cry 
has  steadily  been,  No  truce !  No  armistice !  No  negotia- 
tion !  No  mediation !  Nothing  but  surrender  at  discretion ! 
I  never  heard  of  such  fatuity  before.  There  is  nothing 
like  it  in  history.  It  must  result  in  disaster,  or  all  experi- 
ence is  delusive. 

Now  I  do  not  know  that  a  tolerable  peace  could  be  had, 
but  I  believe  it  might  have  been  last  month  ;  and,  at  all 
events,  I  know  that  an  honest,  sincere  effort  for  it  would 
have  done  us  immense  good.  And  I  think  no  Govern- 
ment fighting  a  rebellion  should  ever  close  its  ears  to  any 
proposition  the  rebels  may  make. 

I  beg  you,  implore  you,  to  inaugurate  or  invite  pro- 
posals for  peace  forthwith.    And  in  case  peace  cannot  now 
be  made,  consent  to  an  armistice  for  one  year,  each  party 
to  retain,  unmolested,  all  it  now  holds,  but  the  rebel  ports     Greeley 
to  be  opened.    Meantime,  let  a  national  convention  be  %^^^ 
held,  and  there  will  surely  be  no  more  war  at  all  events.        ms. 

In  a  letter  of  the  11th  of  August,  Mr.  Greeley  lse*. 
closed  this  extraordinary  correspondence  by  insist- 
ing that  if  his  letters  were  published  they  should  be 
printed  entire.  This  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  a  veto  upon  their  publication.  He  could  not 
afford,  for  the  sake  of  vindicating  his  own  action, 


198  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  viii.  to  reveal  to  the  country  the  despondency  —  one 
might  almost  say  the  desperation  —  of  one  so  promi- 
nent in  Republican  councils  as  the  editor  of  the 
"  Tribune."  The  spectacle  of  this  veteran  journal- 
ist, who  was  justly  regarded  as  the  leading  contro- 
versial writer  on  the  antislavery  side,  ready  to 
sacrifice  everything  for  peace,  and  frantically 
denouncing  the  Government  for  refusing  to  sur- 
render the  contest,  would  have  been,  in  its  effect 
upon  public  opinion,  a  disaster  equal  to  the  loss  of 
a  great  battle.  The  President  had  a  sincere  regard 
for  Mr.  Greeley  also,  and  was  unwilling  to  injure 
him  and  his  great  capacities  for  usefulness  by  pub- 
lishing these  ill-considered  and  discouraging  utter- 
ances. His  magnanimity  was  hardly  appreciated. 
Mr.  Greeley,  in  his  letter  of  the  11th  of  August,  and 
afterwards,  insisted  that  the  President  had,  in  his 
letter  and  his  dispatch  of  the  15th  of  July,  changed 
his  ground  from  that  held  in  his  letter  of  the  9th, 
which  ground,  he  asserted,  was  again  shifted  in  his 
paper  "  To  whom  it  may  concern."  This  was,  of 
course,  wholly  without  foundation.    The  letter  of  the 

juiy,  1864.  9th  authorized  Mr.  Greeley  to  bring  to  Washington 
any  one  "professing  to  have  any  proposition  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  in  writing,  for  peace,  embracing 
the  restoration  of  the  Union,  and  abandonment  of 
slavery";  the  letter  of  the  15th  repeats  the  offer 
contained  in  that  of  the  9th,  saying,  "  Show  that 
and  this  to  them,  and  if  they  will  come  on  the  terms 
stated  in  the  former,  bring  them."  The  next  day 
Major  Hay  gave  Mr.  Greeley  a  formal  safe  conduct 
for  himself  and  party,  and  neither  of  them  thought  of 
it  as  nullifying  the  President's  letters.  Indeed,  Mr. 
Greeley's  sole  preposterous  justification  for  his  claim 


MB. 
1864. 


HOEACE    GKEELEY'S    PEACE    MISSION  199 

that  his  safe  conduct  superseded  the  President's  chap.viii. 
instructions  was  that  Major  Hay  did  not  say  that 
it  did  not. 

It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Lincoln  that,  seeing 
the  temper  in  which  Mr.  Greeley  regarded  the 
transaction,  he  dropped  the  matter  and  submitted  im. 
in  silence  to  the  misrepresentations  to  which  he 
was  subjected  by  reason  of  it.  The  correspondence 
preceding  the  Niagara  conference  was  not  pub- 
lished until  after  the  President's  death;  that  sub- 
sequent to  it  sees  the  light  for  the  first  time  in  these 
pages.  The  public,  having  nothing  of  the  record 
except  the  impudent  manifesto  of  Clay  and  Hol- 
combe,  the  foolish  chatter  of  Jewett,  and  such  half 
statements  as  Mr.  Greeley  chose  to  make  in  answer 
to  the  assaults  of  his  confreres  of  the  press,  judged 
Mr.  Lincoln  unjustly.  Some  thought  he  erred  in 
giving  any  hearing  to  the  rebels ;  some  criticized 
his  choice  of  a  commissioner ;  and  the  opposition 
naturally  made  the  most  of  his  conditions  of  nego- 
tiation, and  accused  him  of  embarking  in  a  war  of 
extermination  in  the  interest  of  the  negro.  So 
that  this  well-meant  effort  of  the  President  to  as- 
certain what  were  the  possibilities  of  peace  through 
negotiation,  or,  failing  that,  to  convince  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  large  body  of  Republicans  of  his 
willingness  to  do  all  he  could  in  that  direction, 
resulted  only  in  putting  a  keener  edge  upon  the 
criticisms  of  his  supporters,  and  in  arming  his 
adversaries  with  a  weapon  which  they  used,  after 
their  manner,  among  the  rebels  of  the  border  States 
and  their  sympathizers  in  the  North.  Nevertheless, 
surveying  the  whole  transaction  after  a  lapse  of 
twenty-five  years,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  any 


200  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

CHAP.vm.  act  of  his  in  relation  to  it  is  lacking  in  wisdom,  or 
how  it  could  have  been  changed  for  the  better. 
Certainly  every  step  of  the  proceeding  was  marked 
with  his  usual  unselfish  sincerity  and  magnanimity 
to  friend  and  to  foe. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION 

IF  the  result  of  Mr.  Greeley's  Niagara  efforts  chap.ix. 
left  any  doubt  that  peace  was  at  present  un-  juiy.iset 
attainable,  the  fact  was  demonstrated  beyond 
question  by  the  result,  and  published  report,  of 
another  unofficial  and  volunteer  negotiation  which 
was  proceeding  at  the  same  time.  The  war 
had  brought  into  the  Western  army  James  F. 
Jaquess,  D.  D.,  a  Methodist  clergyman  from  the 
State  of  Illinois,  whom  Governor  Yates  had  com- 
missioned to  raise  and  lead  to  the  field  the  73d 
Regiment  of  Illinois  Volunteers.  With  some  force 
of  character  and  practical  talent,  his  piety  and  re- 
ligious enthusiasm  touched  that  point  of  develop- 
ment which  causes  men  to  be  classed  as  fanatics 
or  prophets  as  success  or  failure  waits  on  the  un- 
usual efforts  to  which  they  sometimes  dedicate 
themselves.  In  May,  1863,  Colonel  Jaquess  wrote 
to  General  James  A.  Garfield,  then  chief -of -staff 
to  General  Rosecrans,  in  whose  army  Jaquess  was 
serving,  as  follows : 

It  is  a  -well-known  fact  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  was  divided  on  the  very 
questions  which  have  divided  the  nation  before  the  South- 
ern States  seceded.     It  is  also  known  that  the  Methodist 


202  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  Episcopal  Church  South  was  a  leading  element  in  the  re- 
bellion of  the  Southern  States,  and  has  been  a  prominent 
power  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  A  considerable  part  of 
the  territory  occupied  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South,  at  the  time  of  the  separation  and  up  to  recent  date,  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  our  (the  Union)  army.  This  brings 
a  large  number  of  ministers  and  people  of  that  commun- 
ion within  our  lines.  Some  of  these  were  prominent  in 
the  rebellion  that  separated  the  church,  and  were  most 
bitter  and  uncompromising  on  the  questions  of  difference. 
From  these  I  have  learned,  in  person,  the  following  facts : 
That  they  consider  the  rebellion  has  killed  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South  ;  that  it  has  virtually  obliterated 
slavery,  and  all  the  prominent  questions  of  difference  be- 
tween the  North  and  the  South ;  that  they  are  desirous  of 
returning  to  the  "  old  church  "  (Methodist  Episcopal) ; 
that  their  brethren  of  the  South  are  most  heartily  tired 
of  the  Rebellion ;  and  that  they  most  ardently  desire  peace, 
and  the  privilege  of  returning  to  their  allegiance  to 
church  and  state,  and  that  they  will  do  this  on  the  first 
offer  coming  from  a  reliable  source.  My  attention  has 
been  called  to  these  facts,  and  others  of  a  like  character, 
frequently,  of  late,  and  from  these  considerations,  but  not 
from  these  alone,  but  because  God  has  laid  the  duty  upon 
me,  I  submit  to  the  proper  authorities  the  following  prop- 
osition, viz:  I  ivill  go  into  the  Southern  Confederacy  and 
return  within  ninety  days  with  terms  of  peace  that  the 
Government  will  accept. 

N.  B. —  I  propose  no  compromise  with  traitors  —  but 
their  immediate  return  to  allegiance  to  God  and  their 
country.  It  is  no  part  of  my  business  to  discuss  the  prob- 
ability or  the  possibility  of  the  accomplishment  of  this 
work.    I  propose  to  do  it  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  if  he 

jaquess     Pu^s  **  ^°  the  hearts  of  my  superiors  to  allow  me  to 
t0Maarfli9l(i'  ^°  **>  ■*■  snan  be  thankful ;  if  not,  I  have  discharged  my 

1863.  ms.    duty. 

General  Rosecrans  forwarded  this  letter  to  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  earnestly  approving  and  seconding 
the  application  of  Colonel  Jaquess.  "I  do  not 
anticipate  the  results  that  he  seems  to  expect,"  he 


THE    JAQUESS-GLLMOKE    MISSION  203 

wrote;  "but  believe  a  moral  force  will  be  gener-    chap.ix. 
ated  by  his  mission  that  will  more  than  compensate   Roseorans 

J  r  to  Lincoln, 

us  for  his  temporary  absence  from  his  regiment."  18^3ay  g^ 
To  the  request  thus  indorsed  Mr.  Lincoln  made  the 
following  reply :  "  I  have  but  a  slight  personal 
acquaintance  with  Colonel  Jaquess,  though  I  know 
him  very  well  by  character.  Such  a  mission  as  he 
proposes  I  think  promises  good,  if  it  were  free  from 
difficulties,  which  I  fear  it  can  not  be.  First,  he 
can  not  go  with  any  Government  authority  what- 
ever. This  is  absolute  and  imperative.  Secondly, 
if  he  goes  without  authority  he  takes  a  great  deal 
of  personal  risk  —  he  may  be  condemned  and 
executed  as  a  spy.  If,  for  any  reason,  you  think 
fit  to  give  Colonel  Jaquess  a  furlough,  and  any 
authority  from  me  for  that  object  is  necessary,  Ro^ecians, 
you  hereby  have  it  for  any  length  of  time  you  i863.  ms. 
see  fit." 

General  Eosecrans  issued  the  required  furlough ; 
but  Colonel  Jaquess  soon  found  that  this  alone 
would  not  serve  his  purpose.  Instead  of  trusting 
to  church  influence  he  at  once  addressed  himself 
to  the  ordinary  military  channels  for  communicat- 
ing with  the  South.  He  went  to  Baltimore  and 
asked  permission  to  go  by  way  of  Fort  Monroe 
to  Richmond.  Under  date  of  July  13  General 
Schenck  telegraphed  to  the  President :  "  Colonel 
James  F.  Jaquess,  73d  Illinois  Infantry,  is  here 
from  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  He  desires  me 
to  send  him  to  Fort  Monroe.  Shall  I  do  so?  Si!inco?n!° 
He  says  you  understand."  To  this  Mr.  Lincoln  lsel7  ms. 
replied:    "Mr.  Jaquess   is  a  very  worthy  gentle- 

*     ■  ,    ,  /  ...  /-,-,.         xi  Lincoln  to 

man,  but  I  can  have   nothing  to  do,  directly  or    schencb, 
indirectly,  with  the  matter  he  has  in  view."  "63.  ms. 


204  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  We  may  suppose  that  the  colonel  persuaded 
General  Schenck  to  send  him  to  Fort  Monroe, 
and  that  he  also  prevailed  upon  the  officers  con- 
ducting exchanges  of  prisoners  to  further  allow 
him  to  proceed  from  there  through  the  mili- 
tary lines  on  some  pretext.  At  all  events,  in  eleven 
days  Colonel  Jaquess  was  back  in  Baltimore,  from 
which  place  he  wrote  the  President  the  following 
absurd  letter :  "  I  have  obtained  valuable  informa- 
tion and  proposals  for  peace  through  the  channel  I 
proposed.  Unofficial,  but  from  men  of  character 
and  great  influence  in  the  South,  residents  there. 
Would  it  be  consistent  for  me  to  communicate 
them  to  you?  If  so,  how?  By  telegraph,  mail, 
or  in  person  ?     Latter  greatly  preferred,  if  thought 

toJLiucoin,  proper.    I   am   moving  strictly  private.    I  await 

iS!7  ms.   your  answer  at  Barnum's." 

But  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  need  any  further  report 
from  Colonel  Jaquess.  To  his  quick  eye  this  brief 
letter  told  all  the  writer  intended  to  communicate, 
and  much  more  which  his  blinded  enthusiasm  could 
not  comprehend.  Admitting  that  he  had  actually 
been  within  the  rebel  lines,  it  was  preposterous  to 
suppose  that  in  the  brief  space  of  a  single  week  he 
could  have  gathered  any  considerable  information 
concerning  public  sentiment ;  and  the  vague  in- 
timations of  half  a  dozen  private  individuals  in 
Eichmond  were  worthless  as  exponents  of  the  po- 
litical will  of  the  States  in  rebellion.  Of  what  value 
were  these  unavowed,  unofficial  suggestions,  when 
Lee's  army,  directed  by  the  unyielding  military 
dictatorship  of  Jefferson  Davis,  had  with  difficulty 
just  been  driven  out  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  still 
hovering    between   Washington  and    Richmond? 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION  205 

Mr.  Lincoln  could  listen  to  none  but  official  propo-  chap.ix. 
sals,  and  not  to  official  proposals  merely  but  to 
such  only  as  came  "  by  and  with  an  authority  that 
can  control  the  armies  now  at  war  against  the 
United  States,"  as  he  stated  a  year  later  in  his  an-  lse*.  ' 
nouncement,  "  To  whom  it  may  concern,"  which  is  Ant9e2. 
quoted  elsewhere.  He  had  just  refused  to  permit 
the  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy  to  come 
within  the  Union  lines  because  he  would  not  avow 
the  object  of  his  visit.  All  these  things  were 
simply  a  part  of  the  continually  repeated  diplo- 
matic ruse  to  get  from  the  Government  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  official  and  independent  status  of 
the  Confederacy,  wherewith  to  strengthen  their 
claims  to  European  recognition.  While  combat- 
ing the  open  contumacy  of  the  Vallandigham 
Democrats  in  Ohio  and  suppressing  the  draft 
riots  in  New  York,  the  President  could  not  make 
himself  a  party  to  the  well-meant  but  dangerous 
petty  intrigue.  Colonel  Jaquess  was  left  strictly  to 
his  own  course,  and  after  waiting  at  Baltimore  till 
his  patience  was  exhausted,  he  returned  to  his  regi- 
ment in  the  West  to  do  better  service  as  a  soldier 
than  as  a  diplomat ;  meanwhile  nursing  his  hobby 
for  a  more  opportune  occasion,  and  apparently  not 
communicating  to  Generals  Rosecrans  and  Gar- 
field, who  had  honored  him  with  their  confidence, 
the  "  valuable  "  information  and  "  unofficial "  "  pro- 
posals for  peace  "  which,  in  his  note  to  the  President 
he  claimed  to  have  received ;  or  if  he  did,  these 
officers  did  not  consider  them  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  bring  them  to  the  President's  attention. 

Jaquess's  verbal  report  to  some  of  his  personal 
friends  was  more  rose-colored.     He  gave  out  that 


206  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  through  the  mysterious  fellowship  and  brotherhood 
of  the  church  he  had  met  and  conversed  with  high 
officers  and  prominent  personages  in  the  rebel 
armies  and  Southern  society,  and  had  learned  from 
them  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  the  South  was 
tired  of  the  war  and  reconciled  to  the  loss  of 
slavery ;  but  that  their  sense  of  general  responsi- 
bility and  loyalty  to  the  rebel  cause  and  Govern- 
ment would  not  permit  them  to  initiate  movements 
for  peace  even  by  intimation.  Like  all  enthusiasts, 
he  was  simply  strengthened  in  his  zeal  by  his 
failure ;  and  about  a  year  afterwards  he  resolved 
to  repeat  his  visit  and  effort.  He  had  from  the 
first  enlisted  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  J.  R.  Gil- 
more,  a  lecturer  and  writer  under  the  nom  de  plume 
of  "  Edmund  Kirke,"  who  had  spent  much  time  in 
the  "Western  armies,  to  smooth  his  way  through 
the  obstacles  of  military  and  official  routine. 

President  Lincoln  saw  clearly  enough  the  futility 
of  all  such  projected  negotiations.  But  he  also  un- 
derstood the  necessity  of  silencing  clamors  for 
ism.  peace.  He  therefore  again  gave  Jaquess  leave  of 
absence,  and  to  both  permission  to  pass  the  lines;1 
refusing,  however,  all  authority,  instruction,  or  any 
promise  of  protection.  He  would  not  even  give  the 
colonel  a  personal  interview. 

In  studying  this  unofficial  peace  mission  as  a 
phenomenon  of  popular  thought  it  will  not  be  un- 

1  "  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  me  a  pass,  lows :  '  Will  General  Grant  allow 

It  reads  as  follows  :  '  Allow  J.  R.  J.  R.  Gilmore  and  friend  to  pass 

Gilmore  and  friend  to  pass,  with  our  lines  with  ordinary  baggage 

ordinary    baggage,    to    General  and  go  South. — A.Lincoln.'" 

Grant  at  his  headquarters.  —  J.  R.  Gilmore,  reply  to  Ben- 

" 'A.  Lincoln.'  jamin's  letter  to  Masoix,  printed 

"He  also  gave  me  a  note  to  in  "  New  York  Tribune,"  Sept.  5, 

General  Grant,  that  read  as  fol-  1864. 


THE    JAQUESS-GLLMORE    MISSION  207 

interesting  to  compare  the  feeling  and  theory  under  chap.ix. 
which  it  originated  with  the  feeling  and  theory 
under  which  it  submitted  its  volunteer  proposals 
to  the  rebel  authorities.  In  his  letter  to  Garfield 
of  May  19,  1863,  Colonel  Jaquess  said :  "  I  propose 
no  compromise  with  traitors,  but  their  immediate 
return  to  allegiance  to  God  and  their  country."  So 
also  Mr.  Gilmore,  forwarding  the  application  for 
Colonel  Jaquess's  second  visit,  wrote  under  date  of 
June  15, 1864,  "  I  suppose  he  [Jaquess]  comes  to  see 
me  to  know  what  terms  he  can  offer  those  people. 
Of  course  we  have  none  to  offer;  only  to  say: 
'Lay  down  your  arms,  and  go  back  to  peaceful 
pursuits.  The  Emancipation  Proclamation  tells 
what  we  will  do  for  the  blacks ;  the  amnesty  proc- 
lamation, what  we  will  do  for  the  mass  of  whites. 
We  can  make  no  terms  with  rebels.'  This  is,  I 
know,  all  that  you  can  say ;  but  Jaquess  will  have 
to  deal  with  the  leaders,  and,  of  course,  they  have 
some  affection  for  their  own  necks.  Suppose  I 
say  to  him :  *  Tell  the  big  devils  we  want  no  blood. 
The  country  feels  no  enmity  and  will  seek  no 
revenge;  it  will  only  seek  its  own  safety.  Its 
safety  requires  that  they  shall  no  longer  remain  in 
it,  to  foster  feuds  and  incite  rebellion.  Therefore, 
they  must  leave.  They  can  sell  no  lands  or  houses ; 
no  conveyance  of  that  sort  will  be  recognized ;  but 
if  they  need  to  raise  means  to  pay  their  passage 
across  the  Atlantic  by  the  disposal  of  their  per- 
sonal property,  the  Government  will  not  interfere 
with  it.  But  at  the  end  of  sixty  days  not  one  of 
them  must  be  found  within  the  limits  of  the  United  t0GLiSn, 
States.  If  they  are,  the  laws  made  for  traitors  will  is^ms. 
be  applied  to  them.' " 


208  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  At  the  last  moment  Gilmore  determined  to  ac- 
company Jaquess  to  Richmond.  Their  short  jour- 
ney was  uneventful.  On  the  16th  of  July,  1864, 
at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  they  shook  hands 
with  General  Butler  at  one  of  the  Union  outposts 
on  the  James  River,  and  trusting  to  a  flag  of  truce 
were  lucky  enough  to  find  themselves  at  ten  o'clock 
that  night  under  close  surveillance  in  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  Spotswood  Hotel  in  the  rebel  capital. 
Next  morning,  Sunday,  July  17,  1864,  they  ad- 
dressed a  note  to  the  Confederate  Secretary  of 
State,  Benjamin,  asking  an  interview  with  "  Presi- 
dent Davis."  "  They  visit  Richmond,"  they  wrote, 
"  only  as  private  citizens,  and  have  no  official  char- 
acter or  authority;  but  they  are  acquainted  with 
the  views  of  the  United  States  Government,  and 
with  the  sentiments  of  the  Northern  people,  rela- 
tive to  an  adjustment  of  the  differences  existing 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  earnestly 
hope  that  a  free  interchange  of  views  between 
President  Davis  and  themselves  may  open  the 
way  to  such  official  negotiations  as  will  result  in 

MoutMv,"   restoring  peace  to  the  two  sections  of  our   dis- 

Sept.,1864.  ,         , 

p.  376.      tracted  country." 

Upon  this  they  were  invited  to  Mr.  Benjamin's 
office  and  thoroughly  cross- questioned  to  ascertain 
whether  Mr.  Lincoln  in  any  way  authorized  their 
coming;  to  which  they  replied  emphatically  and 
truthfully  in  the  negative.  Finally  the  desired  in- 
terview was  arranged;  and  at  nine  o'clock  that 
night  Jefferson  Davis  and  Mr.  Benjamin,  his  Sec- 
retary of  State,  gave  them  an  audience  in  the  same 
room.  The  self-constituted  envoys  reported  on 
their  return  that  Mr.  Davis  received  them  politely, 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMOKE    MISSION  209 

and  favored  them  with  a  two  hours'  discussion,  chap.ix. 
Only  so  much  of  their  report  need  be  quoted  as  juiyn.ise*. 
indicates  the  plan  of  adjustment  which  their  imag- 
ination had  devised,  and  which  was  as  visionary 
as  might  be  expected  from  the  joint  effort  of  a 
preacher  and  a  novelist.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
repeat  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  thought  of  nor 
hinted  at  any  such  scheme  to  Mr.  Gilmore,  and 
that  he  would  not  and  could  not  have  accepted  it, 
even  if  it  had  been  agreed  to  or  offered  by  the 
rebels.  The  essential  part  of  the  discussion  is 
thus  stated: 

Envoys. —  ...  If  I  understand  you,  the  dispute  be- 
tween your  Government  and  ours  is  narrowed  down  to 
this:  Union  or  Disunion. 

Davis. — Yes;  or,  to  put  it  in  other  words,  independ- 
ence or  subjugation. 

Envoys. —  .  .  .  Suppose  the  two  Governments  should 
agree  to  something  like  this :  To  go  to  the  people  with 
two  propositions ;  say  peace  with  disunion  and  Southern 
independence  as  your  proposition  —  and  peace  with 
Union,  emancipation,  no  confiscation,  and  universal  am- 
nesty as  ours.  Let  the  citizens  of  all  the  United  States  (as 
they  existed  before  the  war)  vote  "  yes  "  or  "  no"  on  these 
two  propositions,  at  a  special  election  within  sixty  days. 
If  a  majority  votes  disunion,  our  Government  to  be  bound 
by  it,  and  to  let  you  go  in  peace.  If  a  majority  votes 
Union,  yours  to  be  bound  by  it  and  to  stay  in  peace.  The 
two  Governments  can  contract  in  this  way,  and  the 
people,  though  constitutionally  unable  to  decide  on  peace 
or  war,  can  elect  which  of  the  two  propositions  shall 
govern  their  rulers.  Let  Lee  and  Grant,  meanwhile, 
agree  to  an  armistice.  This  would  sheathe  the  sword; 
and  if  once  sheathed,  it  would  never  again  be  drawn  by 
this  generation. 

Davis. —  The  plan  is  altogether  impracticable.  If  the 
South  were  only  one  State,  it  might  work  ;  but  as  it  is,  if 
one  Southern  State  objected  to  emancipation,  it  would 
Vol.  IX.— 14 


210 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  ix.  nullify  the  whole  thing ;  for  you  are  aware  the  people  of 
Virginia  cannot  vote  slavery  out  of  South  Carolina,  nor 
the  people  of  South  Carolina  vote  it  out  of  Virginia. 

Envoys. —  But  three- fourths  of  the  States  can  amend 
the  Constitution.  Let  it  be  done  in  that  way,  in  any 
juiyn,i864.  way,  so  that  it  be  done  by  the  people.  I  am  not  a  states- 
man or  a  politician,  and  I  do  not  know  just  how  such  a 
plan  could  be  carried  out ;  but  you  get  the  idea  that  the 
people  shall  decide  the  question. 

Davis. —  That  the  majority  shall  decide  it,  you  mean. 
We  seceded  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  rule  of  the  majority, 
and  this  would  subject  us  to  it  again. 

Envoys. — But  the  majority  must  rule  finally,  either 
with  bullets  or  ballots. 

Davis. —  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that.  Neither  current 
events  nor  history  shows  that  the  majority  rules,  or  ever 
did  rule.  The  contrary,  I  think,  is  true.  Why,  sir,  the 
man  who  should  go  before  the  Southern  people  with  such 
a  proposition,  with  any  proposition  which  implied  that 
the  North  was  to  have  a  voice  in  determining  the  domestic 
relations  of  the  South,  could  not  live  here  a  day.  He 
would  be  hanged  to  the  first  tree,  without  judge  or  jury. 

Envoys. —  But,  seriously,  sir,  you  let  the  majority  rule 
in  a  single  State ;  why  not  let  it  rule  in  the  whole  country  ? 

Davis. —  Because  the  States  are  independent  and  sov- 
ereign. The  country  is  not.  It  is  only  a  confederation 
of  States ;  or  rather  it  was.    It  is  now  two  confederations. 


Benjamin. —  But  tell  me,  are  the  terms  you  have  named 
—  emancipation,  no  confiscation,  and  universal  amnesty — 
the  terms  which  Mr.  Lincoln  authorized  you  to  offer  us  ? 

Envoys. —  No,  sir;  Mr. Lincoln  did  not  authorize  me  to 
offer  you  any  terms.  But  I  think  both  he  and  the  North- 
ern people,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  would  assent  to  some 
such  conditions. 

Davis. —  . .  .  But  amnesty,  sir,  applies  to  criminals.  We 
have  committed  no  crime.  Confiscation  is  of  no  account 
unless  you  can  enforce  it.  And  emancipation !  You 
have  already  emancipated  nearly  two  millions  of  our 
slaves;   and  if  you  will  take   care  of  them,  you  may 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION  211 

emancipate  the  rest.     I  had  a  few  when  the  war  began,    chap.ix. 

I  was  of  some  use  to  them  ;  they  never  were  of  any  to  me. 

Against  their  will  you  "  emancipated  "  them,  and  you  may 

"  emancipate  "  every  negro  in  the  Confederacy,  but  we  will 

be  free.    We  will  govern  ourselves.     We  will  do  it,  if  we 

have  to  see  every  Southern  plantation  sacked,  and  every 

Southern  city  in  flames.  .  .  Say  to  Mr.  Lincoln  from  me 

that  I  shall  at  any  time  be  pleased  to  receive  proposals 

for  peace  on  the  basis  of  our  independence.    It  will  be 

useless  to  approach  me  with  any  other.  July,  1864. 

The  envoys  were  as  fortunate  in  getting  quickly 
out  of  the  rebel  lines  as  they  had  been  in  getting  in ; 
and  soon  after  their  return,  Mr.  Gilmore  published 
a  long  account  of  the  interview,  from  which  the   "^tkfttie 

°  '  Monthly," 

foregoing  extracts  are  made.    That  it  was  substan-   8ePt-  1864 
tially  correct  is  shown  by  comparing  it  with  the  ac- 
count written  out  and  sent  to  the  diplomatic  agents 
of  the  Confederacy  in  Europe  by  Mr.  Benjamin.1 

i"The  President  came  to  my  pentant  criminals.     In  order  to 

office  at  9  o'clock  in  the  evening,  accomplish  the  abolition  of  slav- 

and  Colonel    Ould  came  a  few  ery,  it  was  proposed  that  there 

moments  later  with  Messrs.  Ja-  should  be  a  general  vote  of  all  the 

quess  and  Gilmore.     The  Presi-  people  of    both    federations,   in 

dent  said  to  them  that  he  had  mass,   and  the  majority  of  the 

heard,  from  me,  that  they  came  vote  thus  taken  was  to  determine 

as  messengers  of  peace  from  Mr.  that  as  well  as  all  other  disputed 

Lincoln  ;  that  as  such  they  were  questions.     These  were  stated  to 

welcome ;  that  the  Confederacy  be    Mr.    Lincoln's    views.     The 

had  never  concealed  its  desire  for  President  answered  that  as  these 

peace,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  proposals  had  been  prefaced  by 

hear  whatever  they  had  to  offer  the  remark  that  the  people  of  the 

on  that  subject.  North  were  a  majority,  and  that 

"Mr.  Gilmore  then  addressed  a  majority  ought  to  govern,  the 

the  President,  and  in  a  few  min-  offer  was,  in  effect,  a  proposal 

utes  bad  conveyed  the  inforcna-  that     the     Confederate     States 

tion  that   these  two  gentlemen  should    surrender  at  discretion, 

had  come  to  Richmond  impressed  admit  that  they  had  been  wrong 

with  the  idea  that  this  Govern-  from  the  beginning  of  the   con- 

ment  would  accept  a  peace  on  the  test,  submit  to  the  mercy  of  their 

basis  of  a  reconstruction  of  the  enemies,  and  avow  themselves  to 

Union,  the  abolition  of  slavery,  be  in  need  of  pardon  for  crimes ; 

and  the  grant  of  an  amnesty  to  that  extermination  was  preferable 

the  people  of  the  States  as  re-  to  such  dishonor. 


212 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  IX. 


Davis, 
"Rise  and 
Fall  of  tlie 

Con- 
federate 
Govern- 
ment." 
Vol.  II., 
pp.  610,  611. 


He  makes  an  issue  of  veracity  on  a  minor  point,  al- 
leging that  Mr.  Gilmore  and  Colonel  Jaquess  stated 
they  came  with  the  knowledge  and  at  the  desire 
of  President  Lincoln,1  and  were  prepared  to  make 
proposals  by  his  authority  —  an  allegation  directly 
contradicted  by  their  letter  asking  the  interview. 
But  on  the  question  of  terms  of  adjustment,  there 
is  no  material  variance  as  to  what  was  proposed 
on  the  one  hand  or  declared  on  the  other.  Jeffer- 
son Davis  haughtily  charges  the  envoys  with  im- 
pudence and  ignorance,  but  admits  in  the  same 
breath  that  he  condescendingly  explained  to  them 
his  views  of  their  proposal  and  the  nature  and 
powers  of  the  Confederate  Government. 


"He  stated  that  if  they  were 
themselves  so  unacquainted  with 
the  form  of  their  own  Govern- 
ment as  to  make  such  proposi- 
tions, Mr.  Lincoln  ought  to  have 
known  when  giving  them  his 
views  that  it  was  out  of  the 
power  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment to  act  on  the  subject  of  the 
domestic  institutions  of  the  sev- 
eral States,  each  State  having  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  on  that  point ; 
still  less  to  commit  the  decision 
of  such  a  question  to  the  vote  of 
a  foreign  people ;  that  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  States  was  an  ac- 
complished fact ;  that  he  had  no 
authority  to  receive  proposals  for 
negotiations  except  by  virtue  of 
his  office  as  President  of  an  inde- 
pendent Confederacy,  and  on  this 
basis  alone  must  proposals  be 
made  to  him. 

"  At  one  period  of  the  conver- 
sation, Mr.  Gilmore  made  use  of 
some  language  referring  to  these 
States  as  'rebels,'  while  render- 
ing an  account  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
views,   and    apologized    for    the 


word.  The  President  desired  him 
to  proceed,  that  no  offense  was 
taken,  and  that  he  wished  Mr. 
Lincoln's  language  to  be  repeated 
to  him  as  exactly  as  possible. 
Some  further  conversation  took 
place,  substantially  to  the  same 
effect  as  the  foregoing,  when  the 
President  rose  to  indicate  that 
the  interview  was  at  an  end. 
The  two  gentlemen  were  then  re- 
committed to  the  charge  of  Colo- 
nel Ould,  and  left  Richmond  the 
next  day." — Benjamin  to  Mason, 
Commissioner  to  the  Continent, 
Aug.  25,1864;  Richmond  "Daily 
Dispatch,"  Aug.  26, 1864. 

1  Mr.  Gilmore  at  once  denied 
the  charge  in  a  published  card 
("New  York  Tribune,"  Septem- 
ber 5,  1864).  Jefferson  Davis's 
version  in  his  "Rise  and  Fall 
of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment," Vol.  II.,  p.  610,  while 
it  corroborates  both  Mr.  Gilmore 
and  Mr.  Benjamin  as  to  the  terms 
discussed,  does  not  repeat  Mr. 
Benjamin's  allegation  on  this 
point. 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION  213 

On  the  whole  this  volunteer  embassy  was  of  ser-  chap.ex. 
vice  to  the  Union  cause.  In  the  pending  Presi- 
dential campaign  the  mouths  of  the  peace  faction- 
ists  were  to  a  great  extent  stopped  by  the  renewed 
declaration  of  the  chief  rebel  that  he  would  fight 
for  separation  to  the  bitter  end. 

The  peace  negotiations  at  Niagara  Falls  and  at 
Richmond,  which  in  a  fragmentary  way  were  im-  18u, 
mediately  noticed  and  commented  upon  by  the 
newspapers,  met  a  quick  and  sensitive  public  inter- 
est, and  directed  special  inquiry  to  President  Lin- 
coln himself.  Every  one  whose  political  or  personal 
standing  warranted  it  was  desirous  of  ascertaining 
the  truth  at  first  hand.  How  the  President  felt 
and  talked  upon  this  topic  is  best  shown  by  a  letter 
written  to  a  personal  friend  in  New  York  at  the  time. 

"  I  feel  that  the  subject  which  you  pressed  upon 
my  attention  in  our  recent  conversation  is  an  im- 
portant one.  The  men  of  the  South  recently  (and 
perhaps  still)  at  Niagara  Falls  tell  us  distinctly 
that  they  are  in  the  confidential  employment  of  the 
Rebellion ;  and  they  tell  us  as  distinctly  that  they 
are  not  empowered  to  offer  terms  of  peace.  Does 
any  one  doubt  that  what  they  are  empowered  to 
do,  is  to  assist  in  selecting  and  arranging  a  candi- 
date, and  a  platform  for  the  Chicago  Convention  I 
Who  could  have  given  them  this  confidential  em- 
ployment, but  he  who,  only  a  week  since,  declared 
to  Jaquess  and  Gilmore,  that  he  had  no  terms  of 
peace  but  the  independence  of  the  South  —  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union.  Thus,  the  present  Presiden- 
tial contest  will  almost  certainly  be  no  other  than 
a  contest  between  a  union  and  a  disunion  candi- 
date, disunion  certainly  following  the  success  of 


214 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


Chap.  IX. 

Lincoln  to 

Abram 

Wakeman, 

July  25, 


Charles  D. 

Robinson 
to  Lincoln, 
Aug.  7, 1864. 

MS. 


the  latter.  The  issue  is  a  mighty  one,  for  all  people, 
and  all  times;  and  whoever  aids  the  right  will  be 
appreciated  and  remembered." 

This  letter,  written  to  a  Eepublican  politician, 
needed  no  argument  to  enforce  its  conclusions; 
but  there  was  another  class  of  questioners  who,  in 
the  new  and  rapid  development  of  war  and  poli- 
tics, came  to  the  President  with  more  searching 
and  far-reaching  inquiries.  Thus  the  editor  of  a 
war-Democratic  newspaper  in  Wisconsin  wrote  to 
say  that  he  had  hitherto  sustained  the  President's 
emancipation  policy  on  the  argument  that  it  de- 
prived the  South  of  its  laborers  and  thus  under- 
mined the  strength  of  rebellion.  "The  Niagara 
Falls  'peace'  movement,"  he  continued,  "was  of 
no  importance  whatever,  except  that  it  resulted  in 
bringing  out  your  declaration,  as  we  understand  it, 
that  no  steps  can  be  taken  towards  peace  from  any 
quarter,  unless  accompanied  with  an  abandonment 
of  slavery.  This  puts  the  whole  war  question  on 
a  new  basis,  and  takes  us  war  Democrats  clear  off 
our  feet,  leaving  us  no  ground  to  stand  upon.  If 
we  sustain  the  war  and  war  policy,  does  it  not 
demand  the  changing  of  our  party  politics?  I 
venture  to  write  you  this  letter,  then,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  finding  fault  with  your  policy  —  for 
that  you  have  a  right  to  fix  upon  without  consult- 
ing any  of  us  —  but  in  the  hope  that  you  may  sug- 
gest some  interpretation  of  it,  as  well  as  make  it 
tenable  ground  on  which  we  war  Democrats  may 
stand  —  preserve  our  party  consistency  —  support 
the  Government  —  and  continue  to  carry  also  to  its 
support  those  large  numbers  of  our  old  political 
friends  who  have  stood  by  us  up  to  this  time." 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMOKE    MISSION  215 

In  reply  to  him  Mr.  Lincoln  drafted  a  letter  of  chap.ix. 
considerable  length  which,  though  apparently  un-  m 
finished  and  probably  never  sent,  is  of  the  highest 
interest :  "  Your  letter  of  the  7th  was  placed  in  my 
hand  yesterday  by  Governor  Eandall.  To  me  it 
seems  plain  that  saying  reunion  and  abandonment 
of  slavery  would  be  considered,  if  offered,  is  not 
saying  that  nothing  else  or  less  would  be  considered, 
if  offered.  But  I  will  not  stand  upon  the  mere 
construction  of  language.  It  is  true,  as  you  remind 
me,  that  in  the  Greeley  letter  of  1862  I  said :  '  If  I 
could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave  I 
would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all 
the  slaves  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by 
freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone  I  would 
also  do  that ' ;  I  continued  in  the  same  letter  as  fol- 
lows :  '  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored 
race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the 
Union ;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do 
not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I 
shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am 
doing  hurts  the  cause ;  and  I  shall  do  more  when- 
ever I  shall  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause.' 

"  All  this  I  said  in  the  utmost  sincerity;  and  I  am 
as  true  to  the  whole  of  it  now,  as  when  I  first  said 
it.  When  I  afterwards  proclaimed  emancipation, 
and  employed  colored  soldiers,  I  only  followed  the 
declaration  just  quoted  from  the  Greeley  letter 
that '  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing 
more  will  help  the  cause.'  The  way  these  meas- 
ures were  to  help  the  cause  was  not  to  be  by  magic, 
or  miracles,  but  by  inducing  the  colored  people  to 
come  bodily  over  from  the  rebel  side  to  ours.  On 
this  point,  nearly  a  year  ago,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 


216  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  Conkling,  made  public  at  once,  I  wrote  as  follows : 
Aug.,  1864.  '  But  negroes,  like  other  people,  act  upon  motives. 
Why  should  they  do  anything  for  us  if  we  will  do 
nothing  for  them  ?  If  they  stake  their  lives  for  us 
they  must  be  prompted  by  the  strongest  motives 
—  even  the  promise  of  freedom.  And  the  promise 
being  made,  must  be  kept.'  I  am  sure  you  will 
not,  on  due  reflection,  say  that  the  promise  being 
made  must  be  broken  at  the  first  opportunity.  I 
am  sure  you  would  not  desire  me  to  say,  or  to 
leave  an  inference,  that  I  am  ready,  whenever  con- 
venient, to  join  in  reenslaving  those  who  shall  have 
served  us  in  consideration  of  our  promise.  As 
matter  of  morals,  could  such  treachery  by  any  pos- 
sibility escape  the  curses  of  Heaven,  or  of  any  good 
man?  As  matter  of  policy,  to  announce  such  a 
purpose  would  ruin  the  Union  cause  itself.  All 
recruiting  of  colored  men  would  instantly  cease, 
and  all  colored  men  now  in  our  service  would 
instantly  desert  us.  And  rightfully,  too.  Why 
should  they  give  their  lives  for  us,  with  full  notice 
of  our  purpose  to  betray  them  ?  Drive  back  to  the 
support  of  the  Rebellion  the  physical  force  which 
the  colored  people  now  give  and  promise  us,  and 
neither  the  present,  nor  any  coming  administration, 
can  save  the  Union.  Take  from  us  and  give  to 
the  enemy  the  hundred  and  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty 
thousand  colored  persons  now  serving  us  as  sol- 
diers, seamen,  and  laborers,  and  we  cannot  longer 
maintain  the  contest.  The  party  who  could  elect 
a  President  on  a  War  and  Slavery  Restoration 
platform  would,  of  necessity,  lose  the  colored  force ; 
and  that  force  being  lost,  would  be  as  powerless  to 
save  the  Union  as  to  do  any  other  impossible  thing. 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION  217 

"It  is  not  a  question  of  sentiment  or  taste,  but  chap.ix. 
one  of  physical  force,  which  may  be  measured  and 
estimated,  as  horse-power  and  steam-power  are 
measured  and  estimated.  And  by  measurement  it 
is  more  than  we  can  lose  and  live.  Nor  can  we,  by 
discarding  it,  get  a  white  force  in  place  of  it. 
There  is  a  witness  in  every  white  man's  bosom 
that  he  would  rather  go  to  the  war  having  the 
negro  to  help  him  than  to  help  the  enemy  against 
him.  It  is  not  the  giving  of  one  class  for  another 
—  it  is  simply  giving  a  large  force  to  the  enemy 
for  nothing  in  return.  In  addition  to  what  I  have 
said,  allow  me  to  remind  you  that  no  one,  having 
control  of  the  rebel  armies,  or,  in  fact,  having  any 
influence  whatever  in  the  Rebellion,  has  offered, 
or  intimated  a  willingness  to  a  restoration  of  the 
Union,  in  any  event,  or  on  any  condition  what- 
ever. Let  it  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  no 
such  offer  has  been  made  or  intimated.  Shall  we 
be  weak  enough  to  allow  the  enemy  to  distract  us 
with  an  abstract  question  which  he  himself  refuses 
to  present  as  a  practical  one  ?  In  the  Conkling 
letter  before  mentioned,  I  said:  'Whenever  you 
shall  have  conquered  all  resistance  to  the  Union, 
if  I  shall  urge  you  to  continue  fighting,  it  will  be 
an  apt  time  then  to  declare  that  you  will  not  fight 
to  free  negroes.'  I  repeat  this  now.  If  Jefferson 
Davis  wishes  for  himself,  or  for  the  benefit  of  his 
friends  at  the  North,  to  know  what  I  would  do  if  23E£fi 
he  were  to  offer  peace  and  reunion,  saying  nothing  ism.8*  ms. 
about  slavery,  let  him  try  me." 

But  the  President  was  not  yet  at  the  end  of  his 
annoyances  from  this  unreasonable  and  abnorma 
craving  for  peace  negotiations  which  had  infected 


218  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  some  individuals  of  otherwise  cool  judgment.  The 
party  anxiety  of  certain  Republican  leaders  had  at 
this  juncture  become  unusually  sensitive.  The 
Democratic  National  Convention  was  about  to 
meet  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  the  nomination 
of  McClellan  as  its  candidate  was  strongly  fore- 
shadowed. In  anticipation,  Democratic  leaders, 
newspapers,  and  delegates  were  specially  active 
and  boastful.  Their  unwonted  confidence  and  bold 
prophecies  created  general  uneasiness  among  Re- 
publicans, and,  in  a  few  instances,  produced  a 
downright  panic.  Under  this  feeling  the  National 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Republican  party  met 
in  New  York  for  consultation,  and  on  the  22d  of 
1864.  August,  its  chairman,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  wrote 
the  President  the  following  extraordinary  letter : 

I  feel  compelled  to  drop  you  a  line  concerning  the 
political  condition  of  the  country  as  it  strikes  me.  I  am 
in  active  correspondence  with  your  stanchest  friends  in 
every  State  and  from  them  all  I  hear  but  one  report.  The 
tide  is  setting  strongly  against  us.  Hon.  E.  B.  Wash- 
burne  writes  that  "  were  an  election  to  be  held  now  in 
Illinois  we  should  be  beaten."  Mr.  Cameron  writes  that 
Pennsylvania  is  against  us.  Governor  Morton  writes  that 
nothing  but  the  most  strenuous  efforts  can  carry  Indiana. 
This  State,  according  to  the  best  information  I  can  get, 
would  go  50,000  against  us  to-morrow.  And  so  of  the 
rest.  Nothing  but  the  most  resolute  and  decided  action, 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  its  friends,  can  save 
the  country  from  falling  into  hostile  hands.  Two  special 
causes  are  assigned  for  this  great  reaction  in  public 
sentiment,  —  the  want  of  military  successes,  and  the  im- 
pression in  some  minds,  the  fear  and  suspicion  in  others, 
that  we  are  not  to  have  peace  in  any  event  under  this 
Administration  until  slavery  is  abandoned.  In  some  way 
or  other  the  suspicion  is  widely  diffused  that  we  can  have 
peace  with  Union  if  we  would.  It  is  idle  to  reason  with 
this  belief  —  still  more  idle  to  denounce  it.     It  can  only 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMOEE    MISSION  219 

be  expelled  by   some   authoritative   act,   at   once    bold    chap.ix. 
enough   to  fix  attention   and  distinct  enough  to  defy 
incredulity  and  challenge  respect. 

Why  would  it  not  be  wise,  under  these  circumstances, 
to  appoint  a  commission,  in  due  form,  to  make  distinct 
proffers  of  peace  to  Davis,  as  the  head  of  the  rebel  armies, 
on  the  sole  condition  of  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of 
the  Constitution  —  all  other  questions  to  be  settled  in  a 
convention  of  the  people  of  all  the  States  f  The  making 
of  such  an  offer  would  require  no  armistice,  no  suspen- 
sion of  active  war,  no  abaDdonment  of  positions,  no  sac- 
rifice of  consistency.  If  the  proffer  were  accepted  (which  I 
presume  it  would  not  be),  the  country  would  never  consent 
to  place  the  practical  execution  of  its  details  in  any  but 
loyal  hands,  and  in  those  we  should  be  safe.  If  it  should 
be  rejected  (as  it  would  be),  it  would  plant  seeds  of  disaf- 
fection in  the  South,  dispel  all  the  delusions  about  peace 
that  prevail  in  the  North,  silence  the  clamors  and  damag- 
ing falsehoods  of  the  opposition,  take  the  wind  completely 
out  of  the  sails  of  the  Chicago  craft,  reconcile  public  sen- 
timent to  the  war,  the  draft,  and  the  tax  as  inevitable 
necessities,  and  unite  the  North  as  nothing  since  the  fir- 
ing on  Fort  Sumter  has  hitherto  done.  I  cannot  conceive 
of  any  answer  which  Davis  could  give  to  such  a  propo- 
sition which  would  not  strengthen  you  and  the  Union 
cause  everywhere.  Even  your  radical  friends  could  not 
fail  to  applaud  it  when  they  should  see  the  practical 
strength  it  would  bring  to  the  common  cause. 

I  beg  you  to  excuse  the  earnestness  with  which  I  have 
pressed  this  matter  upon  your  attention.  It  seems  to  me 
calculated  to  do  good — and  incapable  of  doing  harm.  It 
will  turn  the  tide  of  public  sentiment  and  avert  impend- 
ing evils  of  the  gravest  character.  It  will  arouse  and 
concentrate  the  loyalty  of  the  country  and  unless  I  am 
greatly  mistaken  give  us  an  easy  and  a  fruitful  victory. 
Permit  me  to  add  that  if  done  at  all  I  think  this  should 
be  done  at  once, —  as  your  own  spontaneous  act.  In 
advance  of  the  Chicago  Convention  it  might  render  the  to  Lincoln, 
action  of  that  body  of  very  little  consequence.  i86^g"  ms. 

Three  days  later,  Raymond  and  his  commit- 
tee,   in   obvious   depression   and   panic,  came  to 


220  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  ix.  Washington  personally  to  urge  these  views  upon 
the  President.  To  any  calm  judgment,  and  in  the 
light  of  Greeley's  Niagara  mission  and  Jaquess's 
Eichmond  mission  and  their  results,  the  proposi- 
tion of  Raymond  was  entirely  inadmissible.  But  Mr. 
Lincoln  felt  that  this  advice,  coming  from  the  chair- 
man of  the  Executive  National  Committee  of  the 
political  party  of  which  he  was  the  Presidential 
candidate,  demanded  patient  hearing  and  respectful 
answer.  He  likewise  resolved  that  if  he  were  forced 
to  such  a  step,  he  would,  as  he  had  done  in  the  case  of 
both  Greeley  and  Jaquess,  again  make  the  proposer 
of  the  project  the  witness  of  its  absurdity.  To  facili- 
tate examination  and  discussion  of  the  question,  he 
therefore  wrote  with  his  own  hand  the  following 
experimental  draft  of  instructions,  with  which  (to 
give  point  to  his  argument)  he  proposed  to  send 
Raymond  to  the  rebel  authorities: 

"  Executive  Mansion, 
"Washington,  August  24,  1864. 
"  Sir  :  You  will  proceed  forthwith  and  obtain, 
if  possible,  a  conference  for  peace  with  Honorable 
Jefferson  Davis,  or  any  person  by  him  authorized 
for  that  purpose.  You  will  address  him  in  entirely 
respectful  terms,  at  all  events,  and  in  any  that  may 
be  indispensable  to  secure  the  conference.  At  said 
conference  you  will  propose,  on  behalf  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, that  upon  the  restoration  of  the  Union 
and  the  national  authority,  the  war  shall  cease  at 
once,  all  remaining  questions  to  be  left  for  adjust- 
ment by  peaceful  modes.  If  this  be  accepted,  hos- 
tilities to  cease  at  once.  If  it  be  not  accepted,  you 
will  then  request  to  be  informed  what  terms,  if  any 


THE    JAQUESS-GILMORE    MISSION  221 

embracing  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  would  be  chap.ix. 
accepted.  If  any  such  be  presented  you  in  answer, 
you  will  forthwith  report  the  same  to  this  Grovern- 
ment,  and  await  further  instructions.  If  the  pres- 
entation of  any  terms  embracing  the  restoration 
of  the  Union  be  declined,  you  will  then  request  to 
be  informed  what  terms  of  peace  would  be  accepted; 

i  •     •  ,     , ,  Lincoln, 

and  on  receiving  any  answer,  report  the  same  to      Draft, 
this  Government,  and  await  further  instructions."       **• 

A  quotation  from  the  private  memoranda  of  an 
inmate  of  the  Executive  Mansion,  made  at  the  time, 
gives  us  the  conclusion  of  the  incident:  "The  Presi- 
dent and  the  stronger  half  of  the  Cabinet,  Seward, 
Stanton,  and  Fessenden,  held  a  consultation  with 
him  [Raymond]  and  showed  him  that  they  had 
thoroughly  considered  and  discussed  the  proposi- 
tion of  his  letter  of  the  22d;  and  on  giving  him  Aug.,i8M. 
their  reasons  he  very  readily  concurred  with  them 
in  the  opinion  that  to  follow  his  plan  of  sending  a 
commission  to  Richmond  would  be  worse  than 
losing  the  Presidential  contest  —  it  would  be 
ignominiously  surrendering  it  in  advance.  Never- 
theless the  visit  of  himself  and  committee  here  did 
great  good.  They  found  the  President  and  Cabinet  j.  G.  n., 
much  better  informed  than  themselves,  and  went  PMlm-al 
home  encouraged  and  cheered."  Events,  political  °rMs.a' 
and  military,  which  occurred  and  came  to  public 
knowledge  very  few  days  afterwards,  silenced  the 
preposterous  clamor  of  "peace"  fanatics;  and  the 
manuscript  of  Lincoln's  experimental  letter  there- 
after slept  undisturbed,  in  the  envelope  in  which 
he  placed  it,  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


CHAPTER  X 


MOBILE    BAY 


IT  became  evident,  soon  after  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans,  that  to  give  the  desired  efficiency  to 
the  blockade  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  it  would  be 
necessary  for  the  navy  to  gain  possession  of  Mobile 
Bay.  However  close  a  watch  the  Union  fleet  kept 
over  the  low  and  sandy  shores  of  Alabama,  it  was 
impossible  to  prevent  a  good  many  vessels  from 
slipping  in,  under  cover  of  night  or  of  fog,  with 
their  cargoes  of  necessaries  or  luxuries  from  Eu- 
rope, or  from  running  out  with  their  costly  cotton 
bales.  The  trade  was  so  lucrative  as  to  justify  the 
greatest  risks.  Not  only  munitions  of  war  were 
thus  brought  in,  but  up  to  the  last  there  was  a  keen 
demand  for  articles  of  taste  and  finery.  It  is  true 
that  the  ladies  of  Alabama  early  in  the  contest 
learned  their  needed  lesson  of  privation  and  self- 
denial.  Their  ingenuity,  stimulated  by  the  block- 
ade, displayed  itself  in  a  thousand  clever  devices. 
They  learned  to  make  their  own  clothes  from  the 
products  of  the  soil,  with  absolutely  no  interven- 
tion of  the  manufacturer ;  they  spun,  carded,  and 
wove  their  cloth  from  the  cotton  or  wool  of  their 
own  plantations ;  every  herb  of  the  forest  furnished 
them  a  dye  stuff;  they  made  buttons  of  dried 


MOBILE    BAY  223 

gourds  or  persimmon  seeds ;  elegant  fans  were  de-    chap.  x. 
vised  from  the  feathers  of  geese  and  peacocks; 
when  kid  and  calf-skin  became  unattainable  they 
made    shoes    of    swine-skin.      Many   a   Southern 
belle  presented  herself  at  church  with  innocent 
pride  in  raiment  in  which  every  detail  was  the 
work  of  her  own  hands ;  or  entertained  her  visitors 
with  a  cup  of  tea  made  of  the  dried  leaves  of  the 
holly  or  the  blackberry,  or  coffee  made  of  parched 
yam  or  of  the  seeds  of  the  okra  plant,  sweetened    MHa£ef" 
with  sugar  of  delicious  flavor,  obtained  by  boiling  Blockaded 
the  juice  of  the  watermelon.     When  coal  oil  failed      p-  «■.' 
they  lighted  their  tea-tables  with  candles  of  tallow 
or  beeswax,  bleached  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  as 
white  as  sperm;  or  with  burning  globes  of  the 
sweet-gum  tree  floating  in  bowls  of  lard. 

But  human  virtue  and  austerity  have  their 
limits;  and  when  the  rumor  flew  through  the 
plantations  of  the  Gulf  States  that  a  steamer  from 
Liverpool  or  Havre  had  run  the  blockade  with 
a  cargo  of  prints  and  ribbons  the  young  ladies  were 
drawn  to  the  nearest  city  as  by  an  irresistible 
magnet.  Scarce  as  money  was,  they  would  eagerly 
give  twelve  dollars  a  yard  for  the  simplest  calicoes,  a 
hundred  dollars  for  a  plain  straw  hat,  three  hundred 
and  seventy-five  dollars  for  a  pair  of  morocco 
shoes.  A  pound  of  genuine  coffee  cost  seventy  ibid.,  P.  92. 
dollars;  a  pound  of  good  tea  commanded  a  price 
as  uncertain  as  that  of  a  Teniers  at  an  auction. 
But  these  frivolities  formed  the  least  part  of  the 
cargoes  of  the  blockade  runners;  they  aided  in 
keeping  the  Confederacy  alive  by  the  military 
stores  they  brought  and  the  cotton  they  took  away. 
During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1863,  and  the 


224  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  x.  beginning  of  the  following  year,  it  was  the  con- 
1864.  stant  wish  of  the  Government,  and  of  Admiral 
Farragut  as  well,  that  the  naval  force  in  the  Gulf 
should  take  possession  of  the  harbor  of  Mobile. 
But  the  exigencies  of  the  campaigns  in  the  East 
and  West  for  a  long  time  prevented  the  detach- 
ment of  an  adequate  land  force  to  assist  him ;  and 
as  such  an  attack  could  not  be  successfully  made 
without  ironclads,  the  want  of  them  still  further 
delayed  him. 

It  was  no  light  undertaking.  The  city  of  Mobile 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  bay  which  stretches 
thirty  miles  northward  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
At  the  Southern  end  it  is  fifteen  miles  in  width, 
narrowing  to  six  as  it  reaches  the  city.  Through- 
out the  greater  part  of  its  area  the  water  is  only 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet  deep  with  gently  shelving 
shores ;  but  there  is  a  channel  two  and  a  half  miles 
wide,  running  from  the  mouth  of  the  bay  six  miles 
northward,  in  which  the  depth  is  from  twenty  to 
twenty-four  feet.  The  main  entrance  was  guarded 
by  two  low-lying  sand-points,  both  strongly  forti- 
fied :  on  the  east  Mobile  point,  a  projection  of  the 
mainland,  with  Fort  Morgan,  and  on  the  west 
Dauphin  Island,  one  of  the  chain  which  separates 
Mississippi  Sound  from  the  Gulf,  with  Fort  Gaines. 
There  was  a  passage  into  the  bay  from  the 
sound,  by  way  of  Grant's  Pass,  guarded  by  Fort 
Powell,  but  it  was  practicable  only  to  vessels  of 
light  draft.  The  only  way  in  for  Farragut  and  his 
fleet  was  between  the  guns  of  Morgan  and  Gaines. 
There  was  not  much  to  be  feared  from  the  latter 
fort,  as  it  was  more  than  two  miles  from  the 
channel.    A  line  of  piles  was  planted  along  this 


MOBILE    BAY  225 

entire  distance,  to  force  all  vessels  entering  the  chap.  x. 
harbor  to  pass  directly  under  the  guns  of  Fort 
Morgan.  This  was  a  work  of  great  strength,  and 
since  its  seizure  by  the  Confederates  they  had 
thrown  up  in  addition  heavy  exterior  water  bat- 
teries. The  main  fort  carried  forty  guns,  and  the 
outer  works  seven  more.  The  channel  was  thickly 
planted  with  torpedoes ;  a  narrow  gap  was  left  for 
the  convenience  of  blockade  runners,  its  limit  being 
marked  with  buoys. 

Every  student  of  the  history  of  the  Rebellion 
will  be  struck  with  the  remarkable  energy  and  in- 
genuity displayed  in  the  South  in  supplying  their 
war  material.  A  state  of  war  powerfully  stimu- 
lates production  and  invention  in  every  depart- 
ment of  human  activity.  In  the  North  there  was 
a  vast  development  of  intelligent  industry  aided  by 
unbounded  resources  and  opportunities  ;  the  pres- 
sure of  necessity  in  the  South,  acting  upon  minds 
of  great  natural  aptitude,  produced  astonishing  re- 
sults in  the  way  of  invention,  and  in  the  adaptation 
of  narrow  means  to  important  ends.  Their  de- 
ficiency in  other  means  of  harbor  defense  led  them 
to  devise  and  elaborate  a  system  of  torpedoes 
which  proved  terribly  fatal  to  the  National  ships-of- 
war ;  and  the  ironclads,  which  in  their  poverty  and 
isolation  they  improvised  from  the  slender  means 
at  their  disposal,  were  superior  in  strength  and 
efficiency  to  anything  the  world  had  hitherto  seen. 
Their  blockade  runners  furnished  them  for  a  while 
with  arms  and  ammunition  from  Europe ;  but  as 
the  blockade  became  more  stringent  they  had  to 
look  to  their  own  resources  for  such  supplies,  and 
so  long  as  the  war  lasted  they  never  failed,  what- 
Vol.  IX.— 15 


226  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  x.    ever  else  was  lackiDg,  to  have  powder  and  ball  suf- 
ficient for  their  needs. 

When  their  store  of  percussion  caps  threatened 
to  give  out,  an  ingenious  mechanic  from  Lynchburg 
"Southern   invented  a  machine  which  could  fill  and  press  a 
^elf   million  caps  a  day.    When  the  sheet  copper  in  the 
v3?xvl,    country  was  exhausted,  they  made  caps  of  all  the 
vvm. e     turpentine  and  brandy  stills  that  could  be  found  in 
North  Carolina.     When,  near  the  close  of  the  war, 
the  pinch  of  the  blockade  grew  so  tight  that  no 
mercury  could  be  obtained  from  abroad,  the  Con- 
federate chemists  found  they  could  make  a  fulmi- 
nate for  their  caps  with  chlorate  of  potash  and 
sulphuret  of  antimony.     The  Tredegar  works  cast 
excellent  light  cannon.    After  the  precious  niter 
beds  of  Tennessee  were  lost  by  the  advance  of  the 
Northern  army,  artificial  beds  were  formed  all  over 
the  Confederacy.     The  large  arsenal  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  was  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  gun- 
powder; and  up  to  the  final  catastrophe  it  supplied 
all  that  was  wanted,  of  the  best  quality.      When 
Richmond  fell,  a  large  quantity  of  this  powder  was 
destroyed  by  the  panic-stricken  officers  of  the  Con- 
federacy, with   consequences   more  disastrous  to 
their  capital  than    all  it  had  suffered  from  their 
enemies  up  to  that  time. 
1863.  From  time  to  time  during  the  preceding  year,  Far- 

ragut  had  heard  reports  of  the  building  and  equip- 
ment of  the  ram  Tennessee,  which  promised  to  be 
the  most  formidable  vessel  ever  constructed  by  the 
Confederacy,  and  which  really  turned  out  to  be 
one  of  the  most  effective  craft  for  harbor  defense 
ever  built.  He  was  especially  anxious  to  make  his 
attack  early  in  the  season  before  this  much-heralded 


MOBILE    BAT  227 

monster  should  make  her  appearance  in  the  lower  chap.  x. 
bay.  But  the  spring  passed  away  before  his  reen- 
forcements  joined  him,  and  the  Tennessee,  which 
had  been  launched  in  the  winter  at  Selma,  and 
towed  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  Mobile,  there 
received  her  plating  which  had  been  sent  to  meet 
her  from  the  rolling  mills  of  Atlanta,  and  in  March 
was  ready  for  service  and  took  on  as  her  commander 
J.  D.  Johnston.  Eight  miles  below  Mobile  is  a 
series  of  mud  flats  stretching  across  the  bay  and 
called  Dog  River  Bar.  The  draft  of  the  Tennessee 
was  too  great  to  pass  this  obstruction  and  Farra- 
gut,  hearing  where  she  was,  chafed  against  his  en- 
forced inaction,  while  the  Confederates  prepared 
the  "  camels  n  to  float  her  over  the  bar,  an  opera- 
tion which  required  two  months.  On  the  18th  of 
May  she  crossed  safely  over  and  anchored  in  the  mm. 
waters  of  the  lower  bay.  It  was  the  intention  of  the 
Confederates  to  sally  out  of  the  pass  and  attack 
Farragut  in  his  wooden  ships,  but  the  ram  proved 
unexpectedly  slow  and  unwieldy  and  it  was  re- 
solved to  keep  inside  and  use  her  for  the  defense  of 
the  harbor.  Besides  her  own  commander  she  had 
on  board  the  admiral  of  the  Confederate  navy, 
Franklin  Buchanan,  the  same  accomplished  officer 
who  had  fought  the  Merrimac  with  such  skill  and 
bravery. 

In  spite  of  her  slowness  —  due  to  the  fact  that 
her  machinery  was  not  made  for  her  but  taken 
from  a  light-draft  river  steamer  —  she  was  still  a 
vessel  of  considerable  importance.  Her  length  on 
deck  was  209  feet ;  her  beam  48  feet ;  with  her 
armament  on  board  she  drew  14  feet.  A  little 
over  two-thirds  of  her  deck  space  was    occupied 


228 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


*«■ 


vC   It' 


MOBILE    BAY 


229 


II, 


^55 


o  ci  e 


»»«>»»«>isaj»o=2«25!22^«2J 


g  -  ^  5  «  S  q 


230  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  x.  by  a  casemate,  protecting  her  battery.  The  hull 
was  strongly  built  of  oak  and  yellow  pine  ;  the  sides 
were  protected  by  an  overhang  covered  with  four 
inches  of  wrought  iron  which  extended  six  feet 
below  the  water  line.  The  deck  was  armored  with 
wrought  iron  plates  two  inches  thick.  The  case- 
mate was  very  strong ;  the  sides  and  ends  were  in- 
clined at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  built  of 
heavy  yellow  pine  beams,  a  vertical  and  a  horizon- 
tal layer,  and  outside  of  that  a  layer  of  four  inches 
of  oak  to  which  the  iron  plating  was  secured,  six 
inches  forward,  and  five  inches  abaft,  and  on  the 
sides.  It  was  covered  on  top  with  wrought  iron 
gratings.  She  carried  six  Brooke  rifled  guns  firing 
95  and  100  pound  shot.  About  two  feet  under 
water  projected  a  strong  iron  beak  formed  by  a 
continuation  of  the  knuckle  of  the  overhang.  In 
addition  to  the  Tennessee,  the  harbor  was  defended 
by  three  gunboats,  the  Selma,  the  Gaines,  and  the 
Morgan. 

Midsummer  came  and  passed  before  Farragut  got 

the  troops  and  ironclads  which  were  necessary  for 

1864.       his   attack;  but  on   the  4th   of  August,  General 

Gordon  Granger  landed   with   some   5000  troops 

on  Dauphin  Island,  in  rear  of  Fort  Gaines,  and  the 

same  evening  the  Tecumseh,  the  last  of  the  eagerly 

expected  ironclads,  reported  to  Farragut  outside 

the  harbor.    The  attack,  which  was  to  have  been 

made  on  the  4th,  was  therefore  postponed  till  the 

Farragut    nex*  ^ay  —  a  ' 0I"tunate   circumstance,  as  in  the 

t0R^port '    meanwhile  the  Confederates  threw  into  Fort  Gaines 

ofthaNavy  a  large  reenforcement  of  men  and  arms,  which  only 

fpr.ioof'     swelled  the  trophies  of  the  victory.    It  rained  hard 

on  the  evening  of  the  4th,  and  Farragut  waited 


MOBILE    BAY 


231 


"The  Gulf 

and  Inland 

Waters," 

p.  230. 


with  intense  expectation  to  see  what  sort  of  chap.x. 
weather  would  follow  the  shower.  He  needed  a 
flood-tide  to  carry  in  his  ships  and  a  westerly  wind 
to  blow  his  smoke  towards  the  fort.  At  midnight 
the  rain  ceased  and  for  a  few  hours  the  sky  was 
clear  and  the  ocean  calm.  The  night  was  sultry 
and  Farragut  slept  ill ;  at  three  o'clock  he  sent  his  Aug.  5,  lee* 
steward  to  inquire  how  the  wind  was.  On  learning 
it  blew  from  the  southwest  he  at  once  gave  orders 
to  go  in.  The  vessels  were  lashed  together  two 
and  two,  the  lighter  ones  on  the  side  away  from 
the  fort,  so  that  if  one  were  crippled  her  consort 
might  tow  her  in ;  if  both  were  disabled,  the  flood- 
tide  was  relied  upon  to  perform  this  office.  The 
four  monitors  took  their  positions  between  the 
wooden  ships  and  Fort  Morgan  ;  their  double  duty 
was  to  keep  down  the  fire  of  the  fort,  and  to  be 
ready  to  attack  the  Tennessee  as  soon  as  the  harbor 
was  entered. 

The  Brooklyn,  under  Captain  James  Alden,  with 
her  mate  the  Octorara,  led  the  column,  the  admiral 
following  in  the  Hartford,  Captain  Percival  Dray- 
ton, attended  by  the  Metacomet.  To  this  arrange- 
ment Farragut  yielded  only  at  the  urgent  request 
of  his  commanders ;  he  insisted  that  exposure  was 
one  of  the  penalties  of  rank  and  ought  not  to  be 
avoided;  he  finally  consented  to  let  the  Brooklyn 
precede  him  only  on  the  plea  that  she  was  better 
provided  with  chase-guns  and  had  an  ingenious 
contrivance  for  picking  up  torpedoes.  But  des- 
tiny sided  with  him  at  last,  and  he  was  to  enter 
the  harbor  after  all  with  his  broad  blue  pennant 
flying  in  the  van  of  the  fleet.  The  leading  vessels 
crossed  the  bar  at  ten  minutes  past  six;  the  line 


Farragut 
to  Welles, 

Report 
Secretary 

of  the 
Navy  for 
1864,  p.  401. 


232  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

chap.  x.  of  battle  was  rapidly  formed,  and  the  stately  pro- 
cession of  ships  moved  forward.  The  Teciimseh, 
Aug.  5, 1864.  under  the  gallant  Tunis  A.  M.  Craven,  led  the  way 
a  little  in  advance  and  to  the  right  of  the  line ;  she 
fired  the  opening  shots  of  the  battle  at  Fort  Mor- 
gan, a  little  before  seven  o'clock,  and  then  moved 
steadily  on  to  attack  the  Tennessee.  Intent  upon 
the  enemy  in  his  front,  Craven  gave  no  thought 
to  the  deadlier  invisible  dangers  under  his  keel. 
He  was  pushing  straight  upon  the  ram  when  a 
torpedo  exploded  directly  beneath  him  ;  the  Te- 
cumseh  lurched  violently,  careened,  and  sunk  al- 
most in  a  moment.  Craven,  in  the  pilot  house,  felt 
the  shock,  and  knew  its  fatal  significance.  He 
and  the  pilot  rushed  for  the  little  door  communi- 
cating with  the  deck ;  there  was  not  room  for  two  to 
pass.  The  instinct  of  the  chivalrous  gentleman  as- 
serted itself  above  the  dread  of  death  or  the  feel- 
ing of  rank.  "After  you,  pilot,"  he  said.  The 
pilot  escaped   and  Craven   went  down    with  his 

Alden  to      clii'n 
Farragut,      bmP* 

secretary  Captain  Alden,  in  the  Brooklyn,  was  about  three 
Navy  hundred  yards  behind  the  Tecumseh  when  he  wit- 
jf.lvt'  nessed  her  destruction.  A  moment  after,  shoal 
water  was  reported,  and  he  observed  a  line  of  buoys 
which  indicated  torpedoes  directly  under  his  bows. 
He  backed  to  avoid  them,  and  thus  came  down 
upon  the  flagship  next  astern.  Farragut  hailed 
and  asked  what  was  the  matter;  Alden  reported 
torpedoes  ahead;  but  the  admiral,  to  whom  this 
was  a  danger  already  foreseen  and  provided  for, 
and  who  saw  there  was  greater  danger  in  delaying 
under  the  guns  of  Morgan  than  in  pushing  for- 
ward, now  determined  to  take  the  lead  and  ordered 


MOBILE    BAY  233 

Alden  to  follow  him.    A  boat  was  sent  out  from  chap.  x. 
the  Metacomet  to   pick  up  the   survivors   of  the 

Tecumseh,  who  were  struggling  in  the  water  under  (  Mahan, 

a  heavy  fire  from  the  land  batteries,  and  twenty-  and  einiand 

Waters  " 

one  were  saved ;   over  a  hundred  were  drowned,  pp-  233, 2k 

The  flagship  moved  to  the  westward  of  the  Brook- 
lyn and  thus  passed  through  the  line  of  torpedoes ;  Aug.  5,  i«a. 
providentially  none  of  them  exploded,  though  the 
cases  were  heard  knocking  against  the  vessel  and 
the  primers  snapping.  It  took  some  time  for  the 
Brooklyn  to  right  herself  and  steam  forward ; 
meanwhile  she  and  the  Richmond,  which  was  next 
in  line,  were  engaged  in  a  heavy  interchange  of 
shots  with  the  fort,  which  wrapped  the  vessels,  the 
channel,  and  the  beach  in  dense  clouds  of  smoke. 
The  battle  had  become  general;  the  fort,  Buchanan's 
little  fleet,  the  Union  ironclads,  and  the  wooden 
ships  all  volleying  together.  On  the  flagship  the 
admiral  had  ascended  to  the  maintop,  and  think- 
ing he  might  be  wounded  he  had  himself  lashed 
to  the  mast,  unconscious  of  the  figure  he  would 
present  hereafter  in  history  and  in  art;  on  the  deck 
an  acting  ensign,  H.  H.  Brownell,  was  "taking 
notes,"  as  the  admiral  said,  "  with  coolness  and  ac- 
curacy," and  at  the  same  time  composing  to  the 
tremendous  obligato  of  tumultuous  battle  one  of 
the  finest  poems  which  we  owe  to  the  war.  While  Bayrfght." 
the  ships  were  moving  by,  the  fire  of  the  fort  was 
somewhat  subdued  by  the  incessant  cannonade 
from  the  channel;  but  when  the  leading  vessels 
were  out  of  range,  the  guns  of  Morgan  resumed 
their  work  and  the  belated  vessels  bringing  up  the 
rear  suffered  severely,  the  Oneida  being  shot  through 
and  disabled  by  a  shell  bursting  in  her  boiler, 


234  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.x.    though  her  consort  the  Galena  carried  her  safely 
away. 

After  the  admiral  had  passed  the  line  of  tor- 
pedoes the  Hartford  became  hotly  engaged  with 
Aug.  5, 1864.  the  Confederate  fleet.  The  three  smaller  gunboats 
kept  up  a  galling  fire  upon  her  as  they  retreated  up 
the  bay,  doing  great  execution.  They  speedily 
disabled  one  of  her  bow  guns  and  killed  and 
wounded  many  of  her  crew.  As  the  Hartford  came 
abreast  of  the  Tennessee's  station  the  formidable 
ram  dashed  out  upon  her.  The  Hartford,  however, 
was  so  far  superior  in  speed  and  dexterity  of  hand- 
ling that  Buchanan,  who  was  especially  anxious  to 
sink  the  flagship,  could  not  reach  her,  and  they 
parted  company  with  an  exchange  of  broadsides. 
After  a  brief  pursuit,  which  was  hopeless  from  the 
beginning,  the  Tennessee  turned  her  attention  to 
the  rest  of  the  fleet,  and  Farragut  sent  the  Meta- 
comet  after  the  rebel  gunboats.  She  chased  them 
through  a  heavy  squall,  in  mist  and  rain,  into 
shallow  water,  and  there,  pursuing  them  into  the 
soft  ooze,  drove  the  Gaines,  which  had  been  injured 
in  the  fight,  to  the  shelter  of  the  fort,  where  she 
was  burned  by  the  rebels,  and  engaged  and  cap- 
tured the  Selma ;  the  Morgan  got  away  under  the 
guns  of  the  fort,  and  in  the  night  made  her  escape 
to  Mobile. 

The  Tennessee,  after  leaving  the  Hartford,  went 
down  the  line  of  the  advancing  fleet  and  engaged 
in  a  running  fight,  doing  little  damage,  considering 
her  strength  and  opportunities.  She  first  aimed  at 
the  Brooklyn,  but  seeing  the  torpedo  tackle  on  her 
bows  and  mistaking  it  for  a  torpedo  she  sheered 
off,  firing  two  effective  shots  as  she  went  by.    She 


MOBILE    BAY  235 

next  engaged  the  Richmond,  doing  no  harm,  and     chap.  x. 
moved  along  the  line,  passing  by  the  Lackawanna, 
colliding  with  the  Monongahela,  firing  a  damaging   Aug.  5, 1864. 
shot  into  the  Kennebec,  and  giving  the  Ossipee  two 
shots  below  the  spar-deck.     She  had  got  now  to 
the  end  of  the  line,  where  lay  the  crippled  Oneida, 
apparently  an  easy  prey.     She  gave  her  a  raking 
shot,  severely  wounding  Commander  J.  R.  M.  Mul- 
lany,  and  would  have  rammed  and  sunk  her  but  for 
the  intervention  of  the  ironclad  Winnebago.  It  was 
then  about  half-past  eight,  and  although  Buchanan 
had  done  surprisingly  little  injury  in  this  rapid  raid 
down  the  Union  line,  he  had  at  least  had  a  cheer- 
ing and  encouraging  experience  and  had  convinced 
himself  of  his  own  invulnerability  in  face  of  the 
wooden  ships.    He  therefore  ordered  Johnston  to 
turn  and  attack  the  Union  fleet  again.    Farragut, 
thinking  the  battle  was  over  until  he  should  choose 
to  renew  it,  ordered  the  fleet  to  anchor  and  the 
men  to  breakfast.    But  scarcely  were  they  seated 
when  the  Tennessee,  which  had  been  turning  her 
head  northward,  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  was 
observed  making  directly  for  the  flagship.   Percival    Drayton  to 
Drayton  could  at  first  hardly  believe  his  eyes  ;  the     FReS' 
splendid  temerity  of  the  ram  in   attacking  such  oftheNavy, 
odds  was  almost  incredible.     There  were  but  a  few       P.  w. 
minutes  to  prepare  for  her ;  her  black  mass  swelled 
every  instant  upon  the  eye. 

Orders  were  at  once  signaled  to  every  avail- 
able ship  to  attack  the  ram,  not  only  with  guns 
but  bows  on  also;  she  must  be  destroyed,  no 
matter  what  vessels  were  dashed  to  pieces  against 
her  iron  sides.  The  Monongahela  was  first  to 
strike  her  but  lost  her  iron  prow  and  cutwater 


236  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.x.  by  the  blow,  and  could  not  avoid  a  deadly  shot 
in  the  act;  a  shell  passed  through  her  berth 
deck,  exploding  and  wounding  an  officer  and  two 
men.    The  Monongahela  fired  a  broadside  at  ten 

Aug.  5, 1864.  yards,  which  rattled  harmlessly  off  the  side  of  the 
Tennessee.  The  Lackawanna  struck  her  next  at 
full  speed,  with  far  more  damage  to  herself  than  to 
the  ram,  her  stem  being  cut  and  crushed  to  the 
plank  ends,  with  no  effect  upon  the  Tennessee  ex- 
cept to  give  her  a  heavy  list.  The  two  vessels 
swung  round  till  their  port  sides  touched,  and  the 
Lackawanna  fired  a  9-inch  gun,  smashing  one  of 
the  Tennessee's  port  shutters.  The  Lackawanna 
drew  off  to  ram  again,  while  the  Hartford,  coming 
on  at  full  speed,  struck  the  Tennessee  a  glancing 
blow,  and  poured  in  upon  her  an  unavailing  broad- 
side, the  ram  replying  for  the  last  time.  In  the 
eagerness  of  the  big  ships  to  run  down  the  ram 
they  got  in  each  other's  way;  the  Lackawanna 
struck  the  Hartford  near  where  Farragut  was 
standing,  cutting  down  the  flagship  to  within  two 
feet  of  the  water's  edge.  The  undaunted  admiral, 
seeing  his  ship  was  not  sinking,  made  ready  for 
another  rush,  which  fortunately  was  not  needed. 
The  monitors  had  now  approached,  and  begun 
their  work.  The  Manhattan,  with  one  gun  disabled, 
struck  the  casemate  of  the  Tennessee  a  terrible 
blow  with  a  shot  from  her  15-inch  gun,  loaded  with 
a  double  charge  of  sixty-five  pounds  of  powder ;  it 
pierced  the  armor  of  the  ram,  not  going  through 
the  wood,  but  leaving  a  hanging  mass  of  oak  and 
pine  splinters  on  the  inside.  The  Chickasaw  got 
under  the  stern  of  the  Tennessee  and  hung  on  like 
a  bulldog,  keeping  up  an  obstinate  fire  with  her 


MOBILE    BAY  237 

four  11-inch  guns.  A  lucky  shot  severed  the  tiller  chap.  x. 
chains  of  the  Tennessee;  her  smoke-stack  was  shot 
away,  and  the  smoke  poured  in  suffocating  volumes 
upon  the  gun  deck.  The  monitors  surrounded  her, 
pouring  in  their  relentless  volleys,  and  the  great 
ships  were  approaching  again  to  run  her  down. 
Buchanan,  however,  was  still  full  of  pluck ;  he  had 
no  thought  of  giving  up.  He  was  fighting  a  bat- 
tery himself,  and  called  a  machinist  to  put  a 
jammed  shutter  to  rights.  A  shot  struck  the  side 
with  such  frightful  force  that  the  man  flew  into 
pieces  like  a  glass  vase,  and  Buchanan's  leg  was 
broken.  Johnston  —  at  10  o'clock  —  went  on  deck 
and  displayed  the  white  flag.  He  was  just  in  time ; 
the  Ossipee  was  upon  him,  coming  at  full  speed; 
but  her  courteous  commander,  W.  E.  Le  Eoy,  backed 
his  vessel  so  that  the  boats  came  lightly  together. 
Bowing  with  easy  grace  to  his  beaten  enemy,  as 
if  they  were  passing  each  other  on  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  Le  Roy  shouted,  "  Hello !  Johnston,  old 
fellow ;  how  are  you  !  " —  typifying,  with  this  frank 
friendliness,  the  spirit  in  which  all  true  men  of  the 
North  wished  the  war  to  end. 

The  Tennessee  was  a  noble  prize,  despite  her  in- 
juries, which  were  such  as  could  be  easily  repaired. 
She  and  her  little  consorts  had  fought  all  Farra- 
gut's  fleet  for  over  an  hour  —  she  had  lost  but  two 
men  killed  and  ten  wounded.    Farragut  had  lost, 
from  the  fire  of  the  forts  and  of  the  Confederate 
squadron,  leaving  out  those  drowned  in  the  Tecum-    J^Jggf 
seh,   52   killed   and    170  wounded.     The  flagship  Ax$£$L 
was  the  principal  sufferer  in  killed,  though  there    Se0cfrtblry 
were  more  men  wounded  on  the  Brooklyn.  va3?&m. 

The  Chickasaw,  the  most  efficient  of  the  iron- 


238 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Aug.,  1864. 


Report 

Secretary 

of  the 

Navy,  1864, 

pp.  472,  473. 


clads,  energetically  continued  the  day's  work.  After 
towing  the  prize  to  her  anchorage  near  the  flagship, 
she  steamed  down  to  Fort  Powell,  taking  the  work 
in  reverse,  and  bombarded  it  for  an  hour.  When 
night  came  on  the  fort  was  evacuated  and  blown 
up.  On  the  7th,  after  a  heavy  shelling  from  the 
Chickasaw,  Colonel  C.  D.  Anderson,  commanding 
Fort  Gaines,  surrendered  with  his  entire  garrison  of 
over  800  men.  These  works  being  taken,  and 
Grant's  pass  thus  opened  to  the  light-draft  vessels, 
the  control  of  the  harbor  and  the  supplies  of  the 
fleet  were  secured,  even  if  Fort  Morgan  had  held 
out  indefinitely.  In  fact  the  only  sensible  course 
open  to  its  commander,  General  R.  L.  Page,  was  to 
evacuate  the  place  and  save  its  garrison  and 
as  much  of  the  material  as  possible.  He  was 
apparently  incapable  of  so  wise  a  resolution. 
He  signaled  Anderson  to  hold  on  at  all  hazards 
and  bitterly  blamed  him  for  the  surrender;  and 
for  his  own  part  simply  waited  for  Farragut  and 
Granger  to  come  and  take  him.  This  they  did  two 
weeks  after  Gaines  surrendered.  The  fort  was  in- 
vested by  the  land  forces,  and  by  a  battery  sent 
ashore  from  the  fleet ;  the  bombardment  began  at 
daylight,  on  the  22d  of  August,  from  the  shore 
batteries  and  from  the  naval  force  inside  the  bay 
and  outside  in  the  Gulf,  and  continued  all  day.  At 
night  the  citadel  took  fire ;  early  in  the  morning  of 
the  23d  an  explosion  was  seen,  and  at  half-past  six 
the  fort  displayed  the  white  flag.  Terms  of  uncon- 
ditional surrender  were  offered  and  accepted,  and 
at  two  o'clock  the  Union  forces  took  possession. 
Farragut  then  found,  to  his  deep  indignation,  that 
most  of  the  guns  were  spiked,  and  the  stores  de- 


MOBILE    BAY  239 

stroyed;   that   General   Page   and  several    of  his    chap.  x. 
officers  had  no  swords  to  deliver  up,  while  those 
that  were   surrendered  were  broken;    an    action    secretary 
which  even  the  genial  admiral  characterized  in  his   Navy,  im, 
report  as  "  childish  spitefulness." 

The  harbor  was  thus  secured,  the  outer  defenses  Aug.,  um. 
of  Mobile  captured,  104  guns  and  about  1500  men 
taken,  and  the  great  Gulf  port  closed  forever  to 
Confederate  commerce  and  war.  The  city  itself 
was  now  of  no  more  importance  than  an  inland 
town,  and  amid  the  exigencies  of  the  great  cam- 
paigns that  occupied  the  latter  half  of  1864  it  was 
not  thought  advisable  to  detach  the  troops  required 
for  its  capture.  In  March  of  the  year  1865,  at  the 
opening  of  the  final  campaigns  to  which  the  Con- 
federacy succumbed,  General  E.  R.  S.  Canby  moved 
with  two  corps  against  Mobile.  It  was  then  the 
headquarters  of  the  department  commanded  by 
General  Eichard  Taylor,  General  D.  H.  Maury 
being  in  immediate  charge  of  the  city  and  its 
defenses,  with  a  force  of  some  15,000  men.  The 
force  brought  against  it  by  Canby  was  nearly 
twice  as  great;  and  the  navy  under  Admiral 
Henry  K.  Thatcher  of  course  made  an  overwhelm- 
ing preponderance  of  strength.  But  the  contest 
was  not  so  unequal  as  it  might  seem;  the  city 
was  strongly  fortified  on  every  side  and  defended 
also  by  a  network  of  streams ;  the  water  of  the  bay 
was  so  shallow  that  ships  of  heavy  draft  could  not 
easily  come  within  shelling  distance  of  the  town,  and 
was  everywhere  thickly  planted  with  torpedoes. 

Still,  the  forces  controlled  by  Canby  and  Thatcher 
were  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  take  the  place.  It  was 
determined  to  make  the  attack  from  the  eastern  side 


240  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  x.  where  the  defenses  seemed  less  formidable  than  on 
the  west.  The  Thirteenth  Corps,  under  Granger, 
with  Grierson's  cavalry,  marched  from  Mobile 
Point  around  Bon  Secours  Bay ;  and  General  Steele, 
with  a  division  of  negro  soldiers,  was  sent  from 
Pensacola  direct  upon  Fort  Blakely,  a  formidable 
work  near  the  mouth  of  the  Blakely,  the  west 
branch  of  the  Tensaw  River.  He  met  with  little 
opposition  except  from  Clanton's  Alabama  cavalry, 
which  he  defeated,  capturing  Clanton  and  275  of 
his  men,  and  arrived  before  Fort  Blakely  on  the 
1866.  29th  of  March,  and  there  established  the  right  of 
the  Union  line.  A.  J.  Smith  with  the  Sixteenth 
Corps  came  next,  and  the  Thirteenth  held  the  left. 
The  right  soon  invested  Fort  Blakely ;  the  left  had 
already  invested  the  so-called  Spanish  Fort  some 
three  miles  further  south.  The  navy  moved  up 
and  crossed  Dog  River  Bar  and  opened  on  the 
Rebel  works  with  five  ironclads  and  the  double- 
ender  Octorara.  So  thorough  a  search  had  been 
made  for  torpedoes  that  the  navy  felt  comparatively 
safe;  but  their  confidence  was  misplaced.  The 
Milwaukee  was  sunk  on  the  28th,  the  Osage  the 
next  day ;  the  light  draft  Rodolph,  coming  to  raise 
the  Milwaukee,  was  herself  sunk  the  1st  of  April ; 
and  at  a  later  period,  after  the  campaign  was 
ended,  four  other  vessels  were  lost  by  the  same 
effective  means. 

On  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  April,  the  prepara- 
tions having  been  completed,  all  the  batteries  from 
land  and  bay  opened  upon  Spanish  Fort,  and  a 
terrible  fire  was  kept  up  until  nearly  midnight, 
when  the  guns  of  the  fort  were  silenced,  and  the 
place  being  no  longer  tenable,  the  garrison  in  great 


CAKTAIJ.    TUNIS    A.   M.    CRAVEN. 


MOBILE    BAY  241 

part  escaped  in  the  darkness.    The  Union  troops    chap.x. 
entered   the  fort  immediately   and   succeeded  in 
capturing  over  six  hundred  prisoners  and  thirty 
heavy  guns.    As  soon  as  the  sun  rose  on  the  9th    Apr.,  1865. 

—  the  sun  whose  rising  saw  Sheridan  athwart 
Lee's  front  at  Appomattox,  and  whose  setting  saw 
the  Confederate  banners  furled  forever  in  Virginia 

—  preparations  were  promptly  made  for  the  final 
assault  upon  Fort  Blakely,  which  was  to  close  the 
war  in  Alabama. 

At  half -past  five  in  the  afternoon,  Steele  ordered 
his  forces  to  assault  the  fort.  It  was  a  strong 
work,  surrounded  with  every  obstacle  which  the 
Confederates  had  been  able  in  a  year's  leisure  to 
place  before  it ;  but  the  Union  troops,  flushed  with 
success,  went  at  it  with  such  spirit  that  neither 
ditch,  abatis,  nor  a  storm  of  grape  and  canister 
could  keep  them  out.  The  colored  troops  on  the 
right  of  the  line  especially  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  courage  and  conduct  in  this  final 
grapple  with  their  former  masters.  At  seven 
o'clock  the  Union  forces  were  in  possession  of  the 
work,  with  all  the  garrison,  some  three  hundred 
prisoners,  and  a  great  store  of  guns,  flags,  and 
small  arms.  They  lost  heavily  in  killed  and 
wounded  —  about  a  thousand,  to  the  Confederates' 
five  hundred. 

Mobile  was  at  the  mercy  of  Canby  and  Thatcher, 
but  three  more  days  were  required  in  which  to 
complete  the  work.  The  fleet  busied  itself  next 
day  in  clearing  away  torpedoes  and  working  its 
way  up  abreast  of  the  captured  forts.  The  guns 
of  Spanish  Fort  were  now  turned  on  Forts  Huger 
and  Tracy  a  little  to  the  north,  and  the  navy  aid- 
Vol.  IX.— 16 


242  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  x.  ing,  the  Confederates  were  driven  from  them  on 
Apr.,  1865.  the  11th  and  the  bine-jackets  took  possession. 
Commander  Pierce  Crosby  continued  his  work 
with  the  torpedoes,  reaping  a  plentiful  harvest : 
he  lifted  that  day  one  hundred  and  fifty.  When 
a  safe  path  was  opened,  Commander  James  S. 
Palmer  with  the  Octorara  and  the  ironclads 
threaded  his  way  through  the  Blakely  and  Ten- 
saw  rivers  to  within  a  mile  of  Mobile,  where  the 
fair  city  lay  helpless  beneath  his  guns.  Admiral 
Thatcher  about  the  same  time  went  directly  across 
the  bay,  with  eight  thousand  troops  under  Gordon 
Granger,  towards  the  city,  which  at  once  surren- 
dered. The  Confederate  army  and  navy  had  fled 
up  the  Tombigbee  river,  having  previously  sunk 
the  ironclads  Huntsville  and  Tuscaloosa,  which  had 
passed  all  their  inglorious  lives  at  the  wharf. 

Commander  Palmer  was  dispatched  up  the  Tom- 
bigbee in  pursuit  of  the  flying  Confederate  navy ; 
but  the  banks  of  that  quiet  stream  were  spared  the 
spectacle  of  a  naval  battle.  Commodore  E.  Farrand 
surrendered  his  fleet  of  one  ironclad  and  four 
river  steamers  at  Citronelle,1  on  the  4th  of  May,  at 
the  same  time  that  General  Taylor  capitulated 
with  his  army.  One  hundred  and  twelve  naval 
officers,  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  enlisted 
men,  and  twenty-four  marines  were  paroled  — 
a  proportion  of  epaulettes  which  showed  how  the 
Confederacy  had  gone  to  seed.  A  week  before, 
the  rebel  navy  in  the  Mississippi  had  come  to  a 
violent  end.  The  ram  Webb,  which  had  gained 
a  reputation  in  the  West  by  the  destruction  of  the 

1  The   memorandum  of  surrender  gives  Sidney  as  the  place,  but 
the  meeting  was  at  Citronelle,  according  to  all  reports. 


MOBILE    BAY  243 

Indianola,  was  ready  for  sea  when  the  final  catas-  chap.  x. 
trophe  came  at  Appomattox ;  she  was  loaded  with 
cotton,  rosin,  and  turpentine,  and  her  officers  de- 
termined to  make  a  bold  break  for  freedom  and 
a  market.  She  passed  New  Orleans  in  broad  day 
on  the  24th  of  April,  flying  the  Union  flag,  and  i»65. 
steaming  rapidly  down  the  river.  She  was  recog- 
nized, a  few  ineffectual  shots  were  fired  at  her, 
and  four  steamers  started  in  pursuit.  She  had  a 
good  lead  and  might  have  escaped;  but  about 
twenty-five  miles  below  the  city  she  met  the  Rich- 
mond coming  up-stream.  This  was  her  sentence 
of  death.  Her  commander  ran  her  ashore  and  set 
her  afire ;  her  inflammable  cargo  blazed  up  like 
tinder;  her  crew  scrambled  on  shore  and  were 
captured. 


CHAPTEE  XI 

THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER 

THE  Democratic  managers  had  called  the  Na- 
tional Convention  of  their  party  to  meet  on 
the  Fourth  of  July,  1864 ;  but  after  the  nomination 
of  Fremont  at  Cleveland  and  of  Lincoln  at  Balti- 
more it  was  thought  prudent  to  postpone  it  to  a 
later  date,  in  the  hope  that  something  in  the 
chapter  of  accidents  might  arise  to  the  advantage 
of  the  opposition.  It  appeared  for  a  while  as  if  this 
manoeuvre  were  to  be  successful.  As  a  vessel 
shows  its  finest  sailing  qualities  against  a  head 
wind,  so  the  best  political  work  is  always  done  in 
the  face  of  severe  opposition  ;  and  as  the  Eepubli- 
can  party  had  as  yet  no  enemy  before  it,  the  can- 
vass, during  its  first  months,  seemed  stricken  with 
languor  and  apathy.  The  military  situation  was 
far  from  satisfactory.  The  terrible  fighting  in  the 
Wilderness,  succeeded  by  Grant's  flank  movement 
to  the  left,  and  the  culmination  of  the  campaign  in 
the  horrible  slaughter  at  Cold  Harbor,  had  pro- 
foundly shocked  and  depressed  the  country.  The 
movement  upon  Petersburg,  so  far  without  decisive 
results,  had  contributed  little  of  hope  or  encourage- 
ment ;  the  campaign  of  Sherman  in  Georgia  gave 
as  yet  no  positive  assurance  of  the  brilliant  result 


THE    CHICAGO    SUEEENDEE  245 

it  afterwards  attained ;  the  Confederate  raid  into   chap.  xi. 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  in  July,  was  the  cause 
of  great  annoyance  and  exasperation. 

This  untoward  state  of  things  in  the  field  of  mili- 
tary operations  found  its  exact  counterpart  in  the 
political  campaign.  Several  circumstances  contrib- 
uted to  divide  and  discourage  the  Administration 
party.  The  resignation  of  Mr.  Chase,  on  the  last 
day  of  June,  had  seemed,  to  not  a  few  leading  Ee-  i**- 
publicans  of  the  North,  as  a  presage  of  disintegra- 
tion in  the  Government;  Mr.  Greeley's  mission  at 
Niagara  Falls,  in  spite  of  the  wise  and  resolute 
attitude  taken  by  the  President  in  relation  to  peace 
negotiations,  had  unsettled  and  troubled  the  minds 
of  many.  The  Democratic  party,  not  having  as 
yet  appointed  a  candidate  nor  formulated  a  plat- 
form, were  free  to  devote  all  their  leisure  to  attacks 
upon  the  Administration;  and  the  political  fusil- 
lade continued  with  great  energy  through  the 
summer  months.  The  Republicans  were  every- 
where on  the  defensive,  having  no  objective  point 
of  attack  in  the  opposite  lines.  The  rebel  emis- 
saries in  Canada,  being  in  thorough  concert  with 
the  leading  peace  men  of  the  North,  redoubled  their 
efforts  to  disturb  the  public  tranquillity,  and  not 
without  success.  Mr.  Davis  says  of  this  period  : 
"  Political  developments  at  the  North  .  .  .  favored 
the  adoption  of  some  action  that  might  influence 
popular  sentiment  in  the  hostile  section.  The  as-  Davig> 
pect  of  the  peace  party  was  quite  encouraging,  and  ^fIti 
it  seemed  that  the  real  issue  to  be  decided  in  the  ^fSfrSte11" 
Presidential  election  in  that  year  was  the  continu-  mint."" 
ance  or  cessation  of  the  war."  There  is  remarkable  p.  «u.' 
concurrence  between  this  view  of  Mr.  Davis  and 


246  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  which  we 
have  quoted  in  another  place.  Eeferring  to  the 
emissaries  at  Niagara  Falls  and  their  interest  in 
the  Chicago  Convention,  and  also  to  the  expressions 
used  by  the  Confederate  authorities  in  their  con- 
versation with  Jaquess,  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "  The 
present  Presidential  contest  will  almost  certainly 
be  no  other  than  a  contest  between  a  Union  and  a 

wakeman,   Disunion  candidate,  disunion  certainly  following 

1864.   ms.   the  success  of  the  latter!" 

Mr.  Thompson,  in  his  report  of  the  operations  of 
the  rebel  commission  in  Canada,  claims  that  the 
results  of  the  Niagara  Falls  conference  were  the 
source  of  such  encouragement  to  the  peace  party  as 
to  lead  them  to  give  up  their  half -formed  project  of 
insurrection  in  the  Northwest  in  the  hope  of  de- 
feating Lincoln  at  the  polls.  In  the  midst  of  these 
discouraging  circumstances  the  manifesto  of  Wade 
and  Davis  appeared  to  add  its  depressing  influence 
to  the  general  gloom.  It  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  this 
action  of  two  of  the  most  prominent  Republicans 
in  either  House  of  Congress  would  result  in  a  serious 
defection  from  the  Eepublican  party,  though  in  the 
end  the  effect  of  the  demonstration  proved  incon- 
siderable. 

General  McClellan  had  before  this  time  become 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  North.  It  is  true  he  was  not  the  favorite 
candidate  of  the  Democracy  in  most  of  the  West- 
ern States,  but  in  the  powerful  States  of  the  sea- 
board, and  especially  in  the  large  cities,  he  was  the 
only  person  indicated  by  popular  consent  among 
the  opposition  as  the  antagonist  of  Lincoln  in  the 
Presidential  canvass.    His  attitude  was  therefore  a 


THE    CHICAGO    SUEEENDEE  247 

matter  of  grave  preoccupation,  not  only  to  most  of  chap,  xl 
the  leading  Republicans,  but  even  to  the  President 
himself.  There  have  been,  in  the  last  twenty  years, 
many  conflicting  stories  in  regard  to  the  overtures 
made  to  him  during  this  summer;  but,  so  far  as 
can  be  ascertained,  they  were  all  the  voluntary 
acts  of  over-anxious  friends  of  the  President,  and 
made  without  his  knowledge  or  consent.  As  early 
as  the  month  of  June,  1863,  Thurlow  Weed  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  it  would  be  of  great  advan- 
tage to  the  Union  cause  if  General  McClellan 
would  take  a  prominent  part  in  a  great  war  meet- 
ing to  be  held  in  New  York.  With  the  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  President  he  approached  the 
general  with  this  purpose ;  he  even  suggested  to 
him  that  the  result  might  be  the  organization  of  a 
movement  to  make  him  the  Union  candidate  for 
the  Presidency.  We  learn  from  Mr.  Weed  that 
General  McClellan  at  first  gave  a  favorable  hear- 
ing to  the  proposition,  but  at  the  last  moment  with- 
drew his  consent  to  preside  at  the  meeting  in  a 
letter  in  which  he  said :  "  I  am  clear  in  the  convic- 
tion that  the  policy  governing  the  conduct  of  the 
war  should  be  one  looking  not  only  to  military 
success,  but  also  to  ultimate  reunion,  and  that  it 
should  consequently  be  such  as  to  preserve  the  T  w 
rights  of  all  Union-loving  citizens,  wherever  they 


Barnes, 


Thurlow 


may  be,  as  far  as  compatible  with  military  neces-      weed.' 
sity."    The  chance  of  identifying  himself  with  the      £  429.' 
Union  party  thus  passed  away ;  later  in  the  season 
he  came  out  in  favor  of  the  candidates  of  the  peace 
faction  in  Pennsylvania. 

An  attempt  made  in  July,  1864,  by  Francis  P. 
Blair,  the  elder,  to  induce  McClellan  to  withdraw 


248 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


Chap.  XI. 

Letter  of 

F.  P. 
Blair,  Sr., 

dated 
Oct.  5,  1864, 

in  the 
"National 
Intelli- 
gencer." 


from  the  canvass  caused  a  great  deal  of  gossip  at 
the  time,  and  led  to  such  misstatements  and  exag- 
gerations that  Mr.  Blair  afterwards  published  a  full 
and  detailed  account  of  his  action.  This  venerable 
gentleman,  sharing  in  the  apprehension  entertained 
by  many  as  to  the  divisions  and  consequent  weak- 
ness of  the  Union  party,  went  to  New  York  in  the 
latter  part  of  July  "  to  make  an  effort  at  concilia- 
tion." "I  went  on  this  errand,"  said  Mr.  Blair, 
"  without  consulting  the  President,  without  giving 
him,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  slightest  intimation 
of  my  object,  and,  of  course,  without  his  authority. 
I  apprised  no  one  but  my  son."  He  first  called 
upon  the  leading  editors  of  the  city.  Mr.  Bryant, 
though  discontented  with  the  Administration,  con- 
sidered Mr.  Lincoln,  with  all  his  abatements,  the 
only  man  who  could  be  relied  upon  for  the  defense 
of  the  Union.  Mr.  Greeley  assured  Mr.  Blair  that 
"  his  best  efforts  would  not  be  wanting  to  secure 
the  peace  of  the  country  and  the  reelection  of  the 
President " ;  Mr.  Bennett  of  the  "  Herald  "  gave  his 
ultimatum  in  a  "raucle  Scotch  accent" — "Tell 
him  to  restore  McClellan  to  the  army  and  he  will 
carry  the  election  by  default."  Through  S.  L.  M. 
Barlow,  Mr.  Blair  had  a  long  and  intimate  con- 
versation with  General  McClellan.  He  began  by 
stating  distinctly  to  him  that  he  had  not  come 
from  Mr.  Lincoln;  that  he  had  no  authority  or 
even  consent  from  him  to  make  representations  or 
overtures  of  any  sort.  He  then  urged  him,  with 
the  privilege  of  age  and  long  friendship,  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Chicago  Convention,  saying 
that  if  he  accepted  their  nomination  he  would  be 
defeated.    He  pictured  to  him  the  dismal  fate  that 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER  249 

awaits  defeated  candidates ;  he  urged  him  to  make  chap.  xi. 
himself  the  inspiring  center  and  representative  of 
the  loyal  Democrats  of  the  North  by  writing  a  let- 
ter to  Lincoln  asking  to  be  restored  to  service  in 
the  army,  declaring  at  the  same  time  that  he  did 
not  seek  it  with  a  view  to  recommend  himself  to 
the  Presidential  nomination.  "  In  case  the  Presi- 
dent should  refuse  this  request,"  said  Mr.  Blair, 
"he  would  then  be  responsible  for  the  conse- 
quences." 

General  McClellan  received  this  well-meant  ad-  juiy.ia*. 
vice  in  his  customary  manner.  It  is  altogether 
probable  that  he  did  not  believe  a  word  of  Mr. 
Blair's  opening  statement  that  this  overture  was 
without  the  approval  or  privity  of  the  President. 
It  no  doubt  seemed  to  him  a  political  trick  to  in- 
duce him  to  decline  the  nomination  of  which  he 
was  already  certain.  He  listened  with  his  habit- 
ual courtesy  and  answered  with  his  habitual 
indecision.  He  disclaimed  any  desire  for  the 
Presidential  candidacy ;  he  thanked  Mr.  Blair  for 
his  friendly  suggestions ;  he  said  he  would  give 
them  deep  consideration  ;  that  he  was  called  to  the 
country  to  see  a  sick  child  and  regretted  that  he 
could  not  talk  with  him  again.  Mr.  Blair  came 
back  from  his  useless  mission  and  repeated  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  what  he  had  done,  adding  that  he  thought 
it  probable  that  General  McClellan  would  write  to 
him.  The  President  "neither  expressed  approval 
nor  disapprobation,"  says  Mr.  Blair  in  his  letter, 
"but  his  manner  was  as  courteous  and  kind  as 
General  McClellan's  had  been." 

The  political  situation  grew  darker  throughout  the 
summer.    At  last,  towards  the  end  of  August,  the       we*. 


250  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

jhap.  xi.  general  gloom  and  depression  enveloped  the  Presi- 
dent himself.  The  Democrats  had  not  yet  selected 
their  candidate  nor  opened  their  campaign.  As 
in  the  field  of  theology  there  is  no  militant  vir- 
tue unless  there  is  an  active  evil  to  oppose,  so 
in  that  of  politics  a  party  without  an  organized 
opposition  appears  to  drop  to  pieces  by  its  own 
weight.  To  use  Mr.  Lincoln's  words:  "At  this 
period  we  had  no  adversary  and  seemed  to  have 
no  friends."  For  a  moment  he  despaired  of  the 
success  of  the  Union  party  in  the  coming  election. 
He  was  not  alone  in  this  impression.  It  was  shared 
by  his  leading  friends  and  counselors.  So  experi- 
enced and  astute  a  politician  as  Thurlow  Weed 
ism.  wrote  on  the  22d  of  August.  "  When,  ten  days 
since,  I  told  Mr.  Lincoln  that  his  reelection  was  an 
impossibility,  I  also  told  him  that  the  information 
would  soon  come  to  him  through  other  channels. 
It  has  doubtless  ere  this  reached  him.  At  any  rate 
nobody  here  doubts  it,  nor  do  I  see  anybody  from 
other  States  who  authorizes  the  slightest  hope 
of  success.  Mr.  Raymond,  who  has  just  left  me, 
says  that  unless  some  prompt  and  bold  step  be  now 
taken  all  is  lost.  The  people  are  wild  for  peace. 
They  are  told  that  the  President  will  only  listen 
to  terms  of  peace  on  condition  [that]  slavery  be 
abandoned.  .  .  Mr.  Raymond  thinks  commis- 
sioners should  be  immediately  sent  to  Richmond 
offering  to  treat  for  peace  on  the  basis  of  Union. 
That  something  should  be  done  and  promptly  done 


Weed 


to  seward,   to  give  the  Administration  a  chance  for  its  life  is 

Aug.  22,  ,     .       ,, 

186*.   ms.    certain. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  action   in   this   conjuncture  was 
most  original  and  characteristic.    Feeling  that  the 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER  251 

campaign  was  going  against  him,  he  made  up  his  chap  xi. 
mind  deliberately  as  to  the  course  he  should  pur- 
sue, and  unwilling  to  leave  his  resolution  to  the 
chances  of  the  changed  mood  which  might  follow 
in  the  natural  exasperation  of  defeat,  he  resolved  to 
lay  down  for  himself  the  course  of  action  demanded 
by  his  present  conviction  of  duty.  He  wrote  on 
the  23d  of  August  the  following  memorandum :  ism. 

This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  ex- 
ceedingly probable  that  this  Administration  will  not  be 
reelected.  Then  it  will  be  my  duty  to  so  cooperate  with 
the  President-elect  as  to  save  the  Union  between  the 
election  and  the  inauguration ;  as  he  will  have  secured 
his  election  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot  possibly  save      copied 

..      ..  ,  B  f  J  from  the 

it  afterwards.  ms. 

He  then  folded  and  pasted  the  sheet  in  such 
manner  that  its  contents  could  not  be  read,  and  as 
the  Cabinet  came  together  he  handed  this  paper 
to  each  member  successively,  requesting  them  to 
write  their  names  across  the  back  of  it.  In  this 
peculiar  fashion  he  pledged  himself  and  the  Ad- 
ministration to  accept  loyally  the  anticipated  ver- 
dict of  the  people  against  him,  and  to  do  their 
utmost  to  save  the  Union  in  the  brief  remainder 
of  his  term  of  office.  He  gave  no  intimation  to  any 
member  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  nature  of  the  paper 
they  had  signed  until  after  his  triumphant  reelec- 
tion.1 

1  We  copy  from  the  MS.  diary  last  summer  I  asked  you  all  to 

of  one  of  the  President's  secre-  sign  your  names  to  the  back  of  a 

taries  under  date   of  November  paper  of  which  I  did  not  show 

11,  1864,  the  following  passage  you  the  inside  ?    This  is  it.    Now, 

relating  to  this  incident:    "At  Mr.  Hay,  see  if  you  can  open  this 

the  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  to-  without    tearing    it.'     He    had 

day  the  President    took    out    a  pasted  it  up  in  so  singular  a  style 

paper  from  his  desk  and  said:  that  it  required  some  cutting  to 

'Gentlemen,   do   you  remember  get  it  open.    He  then  read  this 


252  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.  The  Democratic  Convention  was  finally  called  to 
law.  meet  in  Chicago  on  the  29th  of  August.  Much 
was  expected  from  the  strength  and  the  audacity 
which  the  peace  party  in  the  Northwest  had  re- 
cently displayed,  and  the  day  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention  was  actually  the  date  chosen  by  Eebel 
emissaries  in  Canada  and  their  agents  in  the  West- 
ern States  for  an  outbreak  which  should  effect  that 
revolution  in  the  Northwest  which  was  the  vague 
and  chimerical  dream  that  had  been  so  long  cher- 
ished and  caressed  in  Eichmond  and  Toronto. 

About  the  time  of  the  adjournment  of  Congress 
the  Democratic  members  of  that  body  issued  an 
address  to  their  party,  which,  when  read  after 
twenty-five  years,  shows  how  blinded  by  partisan 
passion  these  intelligent  and  well-meaning  gentle- 
men, neither  better  nor  worse  in  most  respects  than 
the  rest  of  their  fellow-citizens,  had  become.  They 
charged  in  effect  that  there  were  only  two  classes 
of  people  supporting  the  Government  —  those  who 

memorandum  [given  in  the  text  your  influence    and    I  with    all 

above].       The    President    said:  the  executive  power  of  the  Go v- 

'You  will    remember    that   this  eminent,  try  to  save  the  coun- 

was  written  at  the  time,  six  days  try.  You  raise  as  many  troops  as 

before  the  Chicago  nominating  you  possibly  can  for  this  final 

convention,  when  as  yet  we  had  trial,  and  I  will  devote   all  my 

no  adversary  and  seemed  to  have  energies  to  assist  and  finish  the 

no  friends.     I  then  solemnly  re-  war." ' 

solved  on  the  course  of  action  "  Seward  said,  '  And  the  Gen- 
indicated  in  this  paper.  I  re-  eral  would  have  answered  you, 
solved  in  case  of  the  election  of  "  Yes,  yes,"  and  the  next  day 
General  McClellan,  being  certain  when  you  saw  him  again  and 
that  he  would  be  the  candidate,  pressed  these  views  upon  him  he 
that  I  would  see  him  and  talk  would  have  said,  "  Yes,  yes,"  and 
matters  over  with  him.  I  would  so  on  forever,  and  would  have 
say,  "  General,  the  election  has  done  nothing  at  all.' 
demonstrated  that  you  are  "'At  least/  said  Lincoln,  'I 
stronger,  have  more  influence  should  have  done  my  duty  and 
with  the  American  people  than  I.  have  stood  clear  before  my  own 
Now  let  us  together,  you  with  conscience.'" 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER  253 

were  making  money  out  of  the  war,  and  the  radi-  chap.  xi. 
cal  Abolitionists ;  and  they  called  upon  the  indef- 
inite abstraction  which  they  named  the  "country"  lse*. 
to  throw  out  of  office  the  administration  of  a  Gov- 
ernment under  favor  of  which  these  two  classes 
of  men  "  nestle  in  power  and  gratify  their  unholy 
greed  and  their  detestable  passions."  The  party 
of  the  Union  —  that  is  to  say,  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  country  —  is  called  in  this  address 
"  a  nightmare  of  corruption  and  fanaticism  which 
is  pressing  out  its  very  existence."  The  most  re- 
markable feature  of  this  singular  document  is  its 
assumption  that  the  people  who  were  trying  to 
save  the  Union  and  to  reestablish  its  authority 
were  influenced  only  by  sentimental  doctrines  and 
the  wild  passions  of  fury  and  vengeance.  "  We  do 
not  decry  theory,"  these  Congressmen  gravely  said ; 
"but  we  assert  that  statesmanship  is  concerned 
mainly  in  the  domain  of  the  practical,  and  that  in 
the  present  imperfect  condition  of  human  affairs  it 
is  obliged  to  modify  general  ideas  and  adapt  them 
to  existing  conditions."  They  called  upon  the 
country  to  sustain  this  calm  and  philosophic  view 
of  the  function  of  statesmanship,  "to  bring  the 
sound  elements  of  society  to  the  surface,"  to  "  purge 
the  body  politic  of  its  unhealthy  elements,"  and  to 
substitute  in  places  of  public  trust "  just  and  broad- 
minded,  pure  and  liberal  men,  in  the  place  of  radi- 
cals and  corruptionists."  This  being  done,  they 
promised  the  millennium. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  came  to- 
gether  at   the  time  appointed,  but   it  is  by  no  Aug.29.i864. 
means  sure  that  any  real  and  permanent  advan- 
tage had  been  gained  by  the  delay.    The  scheme 


254  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.  of  the  American  Knights  to  inaugurate  on  that 
day  their  counter-revolution  had,  by  the  usual 
treachery  of  some  of  their  members,  been  discovered 
and  guarded  against  by  a  strong  show  of  force  in 
the  city  of  Chicago,  and  its  execution  was  post- 
1864,  poned  until  the  day  of  the  November  election.  No 
great  approach  to  harmony,  on  the  subject  of  peace 
or  war,  had  been  made  in  the  two  months  of  ob- 
servation and  skirmishing  which  the  managers  had 
allowed  themselves.  The  only  manner  in  which 
the  peace  men  and  the  war  Democrats  could  arrive 
at  an  agreement  was  by  mutual  deception.  The 
war  Democrats,  led  by  the  delegation  from  New 
York,  were  working  for  a  military  candidate ;  and 
the  peace  Democrats,  under  the  redoubtable  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  had  returned  from 
Canada  and  was  allowed  to  remain  at  large  by  the 
half- contemptuous  and  half -calculated  lenity  of  the 
Government  he  defied,  bent  all  their  energies  to  a 
clear  statement  of  their  principles  in  the  platform. 
August  Belmont,  a  German  by  birth  and  the 
representative  of  the  Rothschilds'  banking-house, 
called  the  delegates  to  order,  informing  them  that 
the  future  of  the  Republic  rested  in  their  hands. 
"  Four  years  of  misrule,"  he  said,  "  by  a  sectional, 
fanatical,  and  corrupt  party  have  brought  our 
country  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin."  He  gravely 
stated,  expecting  it  to  be  believed,  and  apparently 
believing  it  himself,  that  the  "  results  of  such  a  ca- 
lamity [as  the  reelection  of  Mr.  Lincoln]  must  be  the 
utter  disintegration  of  our  whole  political  and  social 
system  amidst  bloodshed  and  anarchy."  This  Ger- 
man banker  promised  the  Convention  that  the 
American  people  would  rush  to  the  support  of  its 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER  255 

candidate  and  platform,  "  provided  you  will  offer  chap.  xi. 
to  their  suffrage  a  tried  patriot."  This  vague  ref- 
erence to  McClellan  was  greeted  with  applause 
from  the  Eastern  delegates.  Mr.  Belmont  said: 
"  We  are  here,  not  as  war  Democrats  nor  as  peace 
Democrats,  but  as  citizens  of  the  great  Republic  v ; 
and  he  named  as  temporary  chairman  William 
Bigler,  formerly  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Bigler  made  a  brief  speech  charging  upon  the  Re- 
publicans all  the  woes  of  the  country,  and  saying 
that  "the  men  now  in  authority,  because  of  the 
feud  which  they  have  so  long  maintained  with  vio- 
lent and  unwise  men  of  the  South,  and  because  of 
a  blind  fanaticism  about  an  institution  of  some 
of  the  States  in  relation  to  which  they  have  no 
duties  to  perform  and  no  responsibilities  to  bear, 
are  rendered  incapable  of  adopting  the  proper 
means  to  rescue  our  country — our  whole  country 
—  from  its  present  lamentable  condition." 

The  usual  committees  were  appointed,  and  Clem- 
ent L.  Vallandigham  was  presented  by  his  State 
delegation  as  a  member  of  the  committee  on  plat- 
form. Several  resolutions  were  offered  in  open 
convention  —  one  by  Washington  Hunt  of  New 
York  suggesting  a  convention  of  the  States;  one 
by  Thomas  L.  Price  of  Missouri  for  a  demonstra- 
tion in  favor  of  the  freedom  and  purity  of  the  elec- 
tive franchise;  and  one  by  Alexander  Long  of 
Ohio,  a  furious  advocate  of  peace,  who  had  at- 
tained the  distinction  of  censure  by  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  suggested  that  a  committee 
proceed  forthwith  to  Washington  to  demand  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  the  suspension  of  the  draft  until  after 
the  election. 


256  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.  Governor  Seymour  of  New  York  was  chosen 
Aug.3o,i864.  permanent  chairman  of  the  Convention.  He  made 
a  long  and  eloquent  speech  full  of  abstract  devo- 
tion to  the  Union  and  of  denunciation  of  all  the 
measures  that  had  hitherto  been  taken  to  save  it. 
"  This  Administration,"  he  said,  "  cannot  now  save 
this  Union  if  it  would.  It  has,  by  its  proclamations, 
by  vindictive  legislation,  by  displays  of  hate  and 
passion,  placed  obstacles  in  its  own  pathway  which 
it  cannot  overcome,  and  has  hampered  its  own 
freedom  of  action  by  unconstitutional  acts."  But 
Mr.  Seymour  did  not  mourn  as  one  without  hope. 
He  continued:  "If  the  Administration  cannot  save 
this  Union,  we  can.  Mr.  Lincoln  values  many  things 
above  the  Union ;  we  put  it  first  of  all.  He  thinks  a 
proclamation  worth  more  than  peace ;  we  think  the 
blood  of  our  people  more  precious  than  the  edicts  of 
the  President.  .  .  We  demand  no  conditions  for  the 
restoration  of  our  Union.  We  are  shackled  with  no 
hates,  no  prejudices,  no  passions."  And  so, —  as 
he  imagined, —  without  prejudices,  without  hatred, 
and  without  passion,  he  went  on  denouncing  his 
Government  and  the  majority  of  his  fellow-citizens 
with  eloquent  fury  to  the  end  of  his  speech.  His 
address  was  greeted  at  its  close  with  loud  applause, 
not  unmingled  with  calls  on  the  part  of  the  peace 
men  for  Vallandigham.  The  latter  did  not  respond 
at  that  moment,  but  the  most  weighty  utterance  of 
the  Convention  was  his,  nevertheless  —  the  second 
resolution  of  the  platform,  reported  by  the  chair- 
man, James  Guthrie  of  Kentucky.  There  had  been 
on  the  organization  of  the  committee  a  contest  be- 
tween Guthrie  and  Vallandigham  for  the  chairman- 
ship.    "Through  the  artifices  of  Cassidy,  Tilden, 


GENERAL    OLIVER    O.   HOWARD. 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER 


257 


and  other  New  York  politicians,"  Mr.  Guthrie  of 
Kentucky  received  twelve  votes  to  eight  for  Vallan- 
digham ;  but  whatever  managers  may  accomplish, 
the  strongest  man  with  the  strongest  force  behind 
him  generally  has  his  way,  and  when  the  committee 
got  to  work  Vallandigham  carried  too  many  guns  for 
Guthrie.  He  wrote,  to  use  his  own  words :  "  The 
material  resolution  of  the  Chicago  platform,  and 
carried  it  through  the  sub-committee  and  the  gen- 
eral committee  in  spite  of  the  most  desperate,  per- 
sistent opposition  on  the  part  of  Cassidy  and  his 
friends,  Mr.  Cassidy  himself  in  an  adjoining  room 
laboring  to  defeat  it." 

This  Vallandigham  resolution  is  the  only  one  in 
the  platform  worth  quoting.  All  the  rest  was  a 
string  of  mere  commonplaces  declaring  devotion  to 
the  Union,  denouncing  interference  of  the  military 
in  elections,  enumerating  the  illegal  and  arbitrary 
acts  of  the  Government,  expressing  the  sympathy 
of  the  Convention  with  soldiers  and  sailors  and 
prisoners  of  war.  But  the  clause  written  by  Mr. 
Vallandigham  and  by  him  forced  upon  his  party — 

Resolved,  That  this  Convention  does  explicitly  declare, 
as  the  sense  of  the  American  people,  that  after  four  years 
of  failure  to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experiment  of  war, 
during  which,  under  the  pretense  of  a  military  necessity, 
or  war  power  higher  than  the  Constitution,  the  Constitu- 
tion itself  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part,  and  public 
liberty  and  private  right  alike  trodden  down  and  the  ma- 
terial prosperity  of  the  country  essentially  impaired, 
justice,  humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public  welfare  demand 
that  immediate  efforts  be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties, with  a  view  to  an  ultimate  convention  of  the  States, 
or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the  end  that  at  the  earliest 
practicable  moment  peace  may  be  restored  on  the  basis 
of  the  Federal  Union  of  the  States. 
Vol.  IX.— 17 


Letter  of 
Vallan- 
digham 
to  the 
New  York 
"  News," 
Oct.  22, 
1864. 


258  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap,  xl  It  is  altogether  probable  that  this  distinct  propo- 
sition of  surrender  to  the  Confederates  might  have 
been  modified  or  defeated  in  full  convention  if  the 
war  Democrats  had  had  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions ;  but  they  were  so  intent  upon  the  nomi- 
nation of  McClellan  that  they  considered  the 
question  of  platform  as  of  secondary  importance, 
and  these  fatal  resolutions  were  therefore  adopted 
without  debate,  and  the  Convention  passed  to  the 
nomination  of  candidates.  General  McClellan  was 
nominated  by  John  P.  Stockton  of  New  Jersey,  fol- 
lowed by  S.  S.  Cox  of  Ohio ;  Willard  Saulsbury  of 
Delaware  nominated  L.  W.  Powell  of  Kentucky,  who 
with  compliments  declined;  Mr.  Stuart,  in  behalf 
of  the  peace  faction  from  Ohio,  nominated  T.  H. 
Seymour  of  Connecticut ;  and  Charles  A.  Wickliffe 
of  Kentucky  raised  the  specter  of  the  old-fashioned 
Democracy,  in  the  Convention,  by  nominating  ex- 
President  Pierce  in  a  speech  more  amusing  than 

Aug  3i,i864.  effective.  McClellan  received  174  votes,  but  before 
the  result  was  declared  the  vote  was  raised  upon 
revision  to  202 ;  Seymour  received  a  little  more  than 
one-tenth  of  that  number. 

Mr.  Vallandigham,  who  had  taken  possession  of 
the  Convention  through  his  platform,  now  adopted 
the  candidate  also,  and  put  the  seal  of  his  sinister 
approval  upon  General  McClellan  by  moving  that 
his  nomination  be  made  unanimous,  which  was 
done  with  great  cheering.  Mr.  Wickliffe,  the  comic 
old  man  of  the  Convention,  then  offered  a  resolu- 
tion that  General  McClellan,  immediately  after  his 
inauguration  in  March  next,  should  "  open  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  prison  doors  and  let  the  captives 
free."    Mr.  Guthrie  and  George  H.  Pendleton  were 


THE    CHICAGO    SURRENDER  259 

the  principal  names  mentioned  in  the  first  ballot  chap.  xi. 
for  Vice-President,  but  on  the  second  New  York  Aug.31,1864. 
changed  from  Guthrie  to  Pendleton,  and,  all  the 
other  candidates  being  withdrawn,  he  was  nomi- 
nated, unanimously.  Pendleton  came  to  the  stand 
and  briefly  addressed  the  Convention,  accepting  the 
nomination  and  promising  to  continue  "  faithful  to 
those  principles  which  lie  at  the  very  bottom  of 
the  organization  of  the  Democratic  party."  The 
Convention  did  not  adjourn  as  usual  sine  die.  On 
the  motion  of  Mr.  Wickliffe,  who  said  that  the  del- 
egates from  the  West  were  "of  the  opinion  that 
circumstances  may  occur  between  now  and  the 
4th  of  March  next  which  will  make  it  proper  for 
the  Democracy  of  the  country  to  meet  in  conven- 
tion again,"  the  Convention  resolved  to  "  remain  as 
organized,  subject  to  be  called  at  any  time  and 
place  that  the  Executive  National  Committee  shall 
designate."  The  motives  of  this  action  were  not 
avowed.  It  was  taken  as  a  significant  warning 
that  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  held  them- 
selves ready  for  any  extraordinary  measures  which 
the  exigencies  of  the  time  might  provoke  or  invite. 
The  New  Yorkers  had,  however,  the  last  word. 
Mr.  Seymour,  as  chairman  of  the  Convention,  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  to  inform  McClellan  of 
his  nomination,  and  before  he  wrote  the  letter  At- 
lanta had  fallen,  the  tide  had  turned,  and  the  winds 
of  popular  opinion,  which  had  seemed  stagnant 
throughout  the  midsummer,  now  began  to  blow  fav- 
orably to  the  National  cause.  The  committee,  in 
their  letter  dated  a  week  after  the  Convention  ad-  8ept.8,i86* 
journed,  said :  "  Be  assured  that  those  for  whom 
we  speak  were  animated  with  the  most  earnest,  de- 


260  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.  voted,  and  prayerful  desire  for  the  salvation  of  the 
American  Union,  and  preservation  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  objects  was  the  guiding  and 
impelling  motive  in  every  mind ;  and  we  may  be 
permitted  to  add  that  their  purpose  to  maintain  the 
Union  is  manifested  in  their  selection,  as  their  can- 
didate, of  one  whose  life  has  been  devoted  to  its 
cause,  while  it  is  their  earnest  hope  and  confident 
committee  fofaf  fa^  your  election  will  restore  to  our  country 
sept.  I,  lew.  Union,  Peace,  and  Constitutional  Liberty."  The 
general  answered  on  the  same  date.  He  also  felt, 
with  the  New  York  politicians,  that  the  poison  of 
death  was  in  the  platform  of  the  Convention ;  that 
if  he  accepted  it  pure  and  simple,  the  campaign  was 
hopeless ;  his  only  possible  chance  for  success  was 
in  his  war  record ;  his  position  as  a  candidate  on  a 
platform  of  dishonorable  peace  was  no  less  desper- 
ate than  ridiculous.  He,  therefore,  in  his  letter  of 
acceptance  renewed  his  assurances  of  devotion  to 
the  Union,  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  the  flag 
of  his  country.    He  said : 

The  reestablishment  of  the  Union  in  all  its  integrity  is, 
and  must  continue  to  be,  the  indispensable  condition  in 
any  settlement.  So  soon  as  it  is  clear,  or  even  probable, 
that  our  present  adversaries  are  ready  for  peace,  upon 
the  basis  of  the  Union,  we  should  exhaust  all  the  re- 
sources of  statesmanship  practiced  by  civilized  nations 
and  taught  by  the  traditions  of  the  American  people,  con- 
sistent with  the  honor  and  interests  of  the  country,  to 
secure  such  peace,  reestablish  the  Union,  and  guarantee 
for  the  future  the  constitutional  rights  of  every  State. 
The  Union  is  the  one  condition  of  peace.  We  ask  no 
more.  Let  me  add,  what  I  doubt  not  was,  although  un- 
expressed, the  sentiment  of  the  Convention,  as  it  is  of  the 
people  they  represent,  that  when  any  one  State  is  willing 


THE    CHICAGO    SUEEENDEE 


261 


to  return  to  the  Union  it  should  be  received  at  once,  with 
a  full  guarantee  of  all  its  constitutional  rights.  .  .  But 
the  Union  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards.  I  could  not 
look  in  the  face  of  my  gallant  comrades  of  the  army  and 
navy,  who  have  survived  so  many  bloody  battles,  and  tell 
them  that  their  labors  and  the  sacrifice  of  so  many  of  our 
slain  and  wounded  brethren  had  been  in  vain,  that  we 
had  abandoned  that  Union  for  which  we  have  so  often 
periled  our  lives.  A  vast  majority  of  our  people, 
whether  in  the  army  and  navy  or  at  home,  would,  as  I 
would,  hail  with  unbounded  joy  the  permanent  restora- 
tion of  peace,  on  the  basis  of  the  Union  under  the  Con- 
stitution without  the  effusion  of  another  drop  of  blood. 
But  no  peace  can  be  permanent  without  union. 

Having  thus  absolutely  repudiated  the  platform 
upon  which  he  was  nominated,  he  coolly  concluded, 
"  Believing  that  the  views  here  expressed  are  those 
of  the  Convention  and  the  people  you  represent,  I 
accept  the  nomination." 1 

Upon  this  contradictory  body  of  doctrine  Mc- 
Clellan  began  his  campaign.  The  platform  of  the 
convention  was  the  law,  his  letter  was  the  gospel, 
and  the  orators  of  the  party  might  reconcile  the  two 
according  to  their  sympathies  or  their  ingenuity. 
The  Ohio  wing  had  no  hesitation  in  taking  its 
stand.  "  The  Chicago  platform,"  said  Mr.  Vallan- 
digham,  speaking  from  the  same  platform  with  Mr. 
Pendleton  on  the  16th  of  September,  "  enunciated 
its  policy  and  principles  by  authority  and  was  bind- 
ing upon  every  Democrat,  and  by  them  the  Demo- 
cratic Administration  must  and  should  be  governed. 
It  was  the  only  authorized  exposition  of  the  Demo- 
cratic creed,  and  he  repudiated  all  others."    And  a 

1  We  have  been  shown  several  General  McClellan  received  the 

copies  of  this  letter  in  the  posses-  judicious  and  intelligent  advice 

sion  of  Pierre  T.  Barlow,  which  and  assistance  of  Samuel  L.  M. 

indicate  that  in  its  composition  Barlow. 


McClellan 
to  Com- 
mittee, 
Sept.  8, 1864. 


Mc- 
Pherson, 
"  History 

of  the 

Rebellion,' 

p.  423. 


262  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xi.   week  afterwards  he  went  still  further  and  specifi- 
At  Sidney,   cally  contradicted   General   McClellan.    He    said, 
septl0k    "  The  two  principal  points  in  that  letter  of  accept- 
1864'       ance  to  which  I  object  were  brought  before  the 
committee.    The    one    containing    the   threat   of 
future  war  was  unanimously  rejected.     The  other, 
to  the  effect  that  until  the  States  and  people  of  the 
South  had  returned  to  the  Union  we  would  not  ex- 
haust these  *  arts  of  statesmanship,'  as  they   are 
called,  received  but  three  votes  in  that  committee, 
though  presented  almost  in  the  very  words  of  the 
letter  itself." 


CHAPTER  XII 


ATLANTA 


ON  the  17th  of  July  Sherman  began  his  march  chap,  xii 
upon  Atlanta.     Thomas  moved  directly  to-       wm. 
wards  that  city ;  Schofield  took  the  road  to  Decatur, 
and  McPherson,  still  further  to  the  left,  was  to 
strike  the  railroad   between   Decatur   and   Stone 
Mountain.    Johnston  being  instantly  apprised  of 
this  order  of  march,  took  up  his  position  for  de- 
fense on  Peach  Tree  Creek,  a  little  rivulet  north 
and  east  of  Atlanta,  which  flows  into  the  Chatta- 
hoochee near  the  railroad  bridge.    He  resolved  to 
throw  the  greater  part  of  his  own  force  against  the 
right  wing    of   Sherman,    under   Thomas,   before 
Schofield  and  McPherson  could  come  up  from  the 
left ;  but  while  planning  his  attack  he  received  this 
dispatch  from  the  Confederate  adjutant-general: 
"  I  am  directed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  inform 
you  that  as  you  have  failed  to  arrest  the  advance 
of  the  enemy  to  the  vicinity  of  Atlanta,  far  in  the 
interior  of  Georgia,  and  express  no  confidence  that 
you  can  defeat  or  repel  him,  you  are  hereby  re- 
lieved from  the  command  of  the  Army  and  Depart-  'JffinStre 
ment  of  Tennessee,  which  you  will  immediately  °  opera^7 
turn  over  to  General  Hood."    This  action  of  the      p.  349. 
Confederate  Government  was  entirely  unexpected 


264  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  by  General  Johnston.  He  was  aware  of  the  hostile 
feeling  existing  towards  him  in  the  Confederate 
executive;  but  only  a  few  days  before  General 
Bragg  had  passed  through  his  eamp  on  his  way  to 
Kirby  Smith's  department  to  ascertain,  as  he  said, 
what  reinforcements  could  be  forthcoming  from 
that  region  to  General  Johnston ;  and  he  had  also 
received  from  Governor  Brown  of  Georgia  the 
gratifying  intelligence  that  within  a  few  days  he 
could  give  him  reinforcements  of  10,000  State 
militia.  It  is  true  he  had  received  dispatches  from 
Eichmond  indicating  a  certain  degree  of  dissatis- 
faction with  his  policy  of  retreat,  and  he  had  only 
recently  had  a  telegram  from  the  Secretary  of  "War 
demanding  positive  information  as  to  his  plans  and 
purposes,  to  which  Johnston  had  replied  in  his  usual 
'i5iiofathe  manner,  declining  to  commit  himself  positively  to 
federate  anv  especial  course  of  action.  It  was  this  reply  of 
^Jnt.""  Johnston's,  Jefferson  Davis  says,  which  induced 
^hlt  him  to  take  the  decisive  step.  He  had  long  hesi- 
tated to  do  this,  knowing  Johnston's  popularity  in 
the  Confederacy,  and  conscious  that  his  own  preju- 
dice against  him  was  well  known  and  criticized 
throughout  the  country. 

Johnston  at  once  wrote  and  published  an  order 
transferring  the  command  of  the  army  to  General 
Hood ;  and  the  next  morning,  announcing  his  action 
to  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  permitted  himself  to 
say :  "  As  to  the  alleged  cause  of  my  removal,  I 
assert  that  Sherman's  army  is  much  stronger  com- 
pared with  that  of  Tennessee,  than  Grant's  com- 
pared with  that  of  Northern  Virginia.  Yet  the 
enemy  has  been  compelled  to  advance  much  more 
slowly  to  the  vicinity  of  Atlanta  than  to  that  of 


ATLANTA  265 

Richmond  and  Petersburg,  and  penetrated  much  chap.  xii. 
deeper  into  Virginia  than  into  Georgia."     Reply- 
ing to  the  Secretary's  charge  that  he  expressed  no 
confidence  in  his  ability  to  defeat  the  enemy,  he  „JJ£e 
added,  "Confident  language  by  a  military  com-  ^o^S17 
mander  is  not  usually  regarded  as  evidence  of  com-     ^ap- 
petence." 

General  Hood,  though  he  had  been  extremely 
free  in  his  criticisms  of  Johnston,  and  had  in  fact 
done  what  he  could  to  undermine  the  confidence  of 
the  Confederate  War  Department  in  his  chief,  felt 
himself  greatly  embarrassed  by  this  sudden  and 
unexpected  promotion.  He  was,  he  himself  says, 
comparatively  a  stranger  to  the  Western  army. 
He  was  a  fanatical  admirer  of  Stonewall  Jackson, 
and  could  see  no  merit  in  any  military  operations 
which  differed  from  those  of  that  energetic  com- 
mander. He  had  not  succeeded  in  inspiring  that 
army  with  confidence  or  enthusiasm;  and  on  the 
other  hand  he  entertained  an  opinion  of  the  troops 
whom  he  was  to  command  which  was  in  itself  a 
presage  of  disaster.  He  says :  "  The  troops  of  the 
Army  of  Tennessee  had  for  such  length  of  time 
been  subjected  to  the  ruinous  policy  pursued  from 
Dalton  to  Atlanta  that  they  were  unfitted  for  united 
action  in  pitched  battle.  .  .  They  had  become  j.  B.  Hood> 
wedded  to  the  'timid  defensive'  policy,  and  natu-  "Aindnce 
rally  regarded  with  distrust  a  commander  likely  to  p.  m.' 
initiate  offensive  operations." 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  July,  General       lse*. 
Hood,  after  a  sleepless  night,  took  General  A.  P. 
Stewart,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command  of 
Polk's  corps,  and  rode  to  the  quarters  of  General 
Johnston,  and  there  requested  that  Johnston  should 


266 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


ATLANTA  267 

pocket  the  Secretary's  dispatch,  leave  Hood  in  chap,  xil 
command  of  his  corps,  and  fight  the  battle  for  At- 
lanta. To  this  preposterous  proposition  Johnston 
naturally  replied  that  the  order  of  the  President 
must  stand  unless  it  were  countermanded.  Hardee 
and  Stewart  then  joined  Hood  in  a  telegram  to 
Jefferson  Davis,  requesting  that  the  order  for  re- 
moval be  suspended,  at  least  until  the  fate  of 
Atlanta  was  decided.  Jefferson  Davis  at  once 
replied,  "A  change  of  commanders  under  existing 
circumstances  was  regarded  as  so  objectionable 
that  I  only  accepted  it  as  the  alternative  of  continu- 
ing a  policy  which  has  proven  disastrous.  .  .  The 
order  has  been  executed,  and  I  cannot  suspend  it  Hood, 
without  making  the  case  worse  than  it  was  before        and106 

Retreat " 

the  order  was  issued."  Even  after  this  telegram  p-m.' 
was  received  Hood  says  that  in  a  private  interview 
he  again  urged  Johnston  to  "pocket  the  corre- 
spondence" and  resume  his  command.  He  lays 
great  stress  on  this  action  in  his  memoirs  and  ibid, 
seems  to  ascribe  credit  to  himself  and  blame  to 
Johnston  that  he  refused  to  entertain  the  absurd 
proposal. 

Johnston  explained  his  plan  of  attack  upon 
Thomas  at  Peach  Tree  Creek  and,  if  this  were  un- 
successful, his  scheme  to  hold  the  lines  with  a  part 
of  his  force  and  attack  the  right  or  left  flank  of  the 
Federal  army  as  might  seem  most  expedient.1  Hood 
accepted  Johnston's  plan  and  at  once  set  about 
carrying  it  into  effect.  The  news  of  the  change  of 
Confederate  commanders  reached  Sherman  on  the 

1  There    is    a    direct    contra-  transactions,   but  we   have  fol- 

diction   in    the    accounts    given  lowed  the    account  of    General 

by  General   Hood   and  General  Johnston    because    it   is   better 

Johnston    in    regard    to    these  supported. 


268  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  18th.  The  information  was  conveyed  by  a  news- 
juiy.ise*.  paper  which  Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  had  found  at  a 
farmhouse  and  sent  to  Sherman  by  a  courier.  He 
answered  Blair  "  that  it  was  very  good  news,  but  to 
look  out  for  an  attack ;  that  Hood  would  make  it 
very  lively  for  us,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  be 
exceedingly  cautious."  The  news  was  received 
throughout  Sherman's  army  with  the  greatest  joy. 
Johnston's  conduct  from  Tunnel  Hill  to  Atlanta 
had  been  such  as  to  inspire  his  adversaries  with 
sincere  respect.  They  had  found  him,  at  every 
move,  posted  across  their  path  in  the  best  chosen 
positions,  behind  intrenchments  sometimes  pre- 
pared with  forethought,  sometimes  improvised 
on  the  instant,  but  always  so  disposed  as  to  make 
his  inferior  force  equal  to  twice  its  number.  Cool, 
cautious,  and  imperturbable,  he  always  held  his 
ground  as  long  as  it  was  prudent  to  hold  it,  and 
then  retired  with  such  care  and  deliberation  as  to 
suffer  the  minimum  loss  in  men  and  material.  The 
leading  officers  of  Sherman's  army  gathered  to- 
gether and  hastily  compared  notes  in  regard  to  the 
new  commander.  He  was  personally  known  to 
McPherson,  Howard,  and  Schofield.  McPherson 
had  been  his  intimate  friend  at  West  Point ;  had 
assisted  him  in  his  mathematics  and  helped  him 
through  the  consequences  of  many  a  boyish  scrape. 
Schofield  said  he  was  a  man  bold  even  to  rashness 
and  courageous  in  the  extreme.  Howard  gave  the 
same  testimony  as  to  his  courage  and  energy,  and 
added  that  he  was  a  man  of  little  flexibility  of 
mind;  but  all  agreed  that  the  change  in  com- 
manders meant  fighting,  and  before  many  hours 
the  truth  of  this  was  shown. 


ATLANTA  269 

On  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  July  Hardee  and  chap.  xii. 
Stewart,  commanding  respectively  the  corps  of  1864- 
the  center  and  left,  made  a  furious  attack  upon 
Thomas's  corps  which  had  just  got  into  position  on 
the  banks  of  Peach  Tree  Creek.  Cheatham  was 
left  on  the  Confederate  right  to  guard  against  the 
arrival  of  Schofield  and  McPherson.  The  battle 
was  one  of  the  hardest  fought  in  this  memorable 
campaign,  but  Hood's  attack  —  apparently  success- 
ful at  first  from  the  mere  momentum  with  which 
it  was  made — met  finally  with  a  disastrous  repulse. 
His  army  suffered  more  than  twice  the  loss  inflicted 
upon  Thomas.  The  lines  were  so  close  together 
that  in  many  places  the  troops  became  commingled 
and  fought  hand  to  hand ;  but  in  the  end  the  Con- 
federates were  beaten  back  to  their  intrenchments 
and  the  Union  lines  were  strongly  connected  from 
the  north  to  the  south  of  Atlanta,  on  the  east.  In 
this  battle,  Colonel  Benjamin  Harrison,  afterwards 
President  of  the  United  States,  won  deserved  dis- 
tinction. 

Although    General  Hood  pretends  in  his  me- 
moirs that  the  failure  of  his  attack  on  the  20th  was   ..Advance 
due  to  lack  of  energy  on  the  part  of  Hardee,  this    Repeat," 
was  clearly  an  afterthought,  adopted  six  months      p'  7 " 
later,  when  the  necessity  presented  itself  of  explain- 
ing his  unbroken  series  of  defeats.     That  he  did 
not  lose  confidence  in  Hardee  at  that  time  was 
shown  by  his  assigning  to  him,  two  days  after- 
wards, the  most  important  and  daring  enterprise 
of  the  campaign,  and  the  one  which  came  nearest 
succeeding.     He  was  still  haunted  by  the  idea  of 
emulating  in  the  west  the  exploits  of  Stonewall 
Jackson  in  Virginia.    The  moment  his  attack  on 


270  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  Peach  Tree  Creek  failed,  he  resolved  to  withdraw 
his  army  to  the  inner  fortifications  about  Atlanta, 
and  to  detach  a  heavy  force  under  Hardee  to  move 
by  the  right  flank,  pass  beyond  the  Union  left,  and 
assail  McPherson's  flank  and  rear  by  a  movement 
which  he  hoped  to  make  overwhelming  in  celerity 
and  momentum.  This  manoeuvre  which  was  skill- 
fully planned  by  Hood  was  executed  by  Hardee  with 
admirable  vigor  and  ability.    On  the  morning  of  the 

July,  1864.  22d  Sherman,  finding  the  line  in  front  of  Thomas 
and  Schofield  abandoned,  thought  for  a  moment  that 

j.  d.  cox,    the  enemy  had  evacuated  Atlanta,  but,  moving  his 

pp.  166, 167.  whole  line  forward,  he  was  soon  undeceived.  He 
found  the  inner  intrenchments  fully  manned  and 
strongly  held,  while  shortly  after,  the  rattle  of 
musketry  on  McPherson's  exposed  left  flank,  and 
what  was  still  more  disquieting  the  sound  of  dis- 
tant artillery  in  the  neighborhood  of  Decatur  where 
Joseph  Wheeler's  cavalry  was  attacking  J.  W. 
Spr  ague's  brigade,  put  the  whole  army  on  the 
alert  to  confront  the  most  serious  danger  to  which 
it  had  ever  been  exposed. 

Sherman  and  McPherson  were  engaged  in  con- 
versation at  the  moment  this  attack  took  place. 
Sherman  instantly  gave  the  necessary  orders 
to  meet  the  emergency,  and  McPherson  rode  to 
his  endangered  left  flank.  Fortunately  Hardee 
had  already  met  with  an  unexpected  and  discon^ 
certing  obstacle.  Instead  of  finding  the  vacant 
space  he  expected  in  rear  of  McPherson's  flank,  he 
came  upon  two  divisions  of  Dodge's  corps  that 
were  marching  to  join  McPherson,  and  that  had 
only  to  face  into  line  to  be  ready  to  meet  his  attack. 
McPherson,  seeing  this  part  of  the  field  so  providen- 


ATLANTA  273 

tially  provided  for,  turned  to  ride  through  a  wood-  chap.  xn. 
land  path  to  the  rear  of  the  Seventeenth  Corps,  and 
rushed  in  a  moment  upon  a  squad  of  Confederate 
skirmishers,  who  had  penetrated  the  interval,  and 
filled  the  path  which  McPherson  knew  to  be  clear  a 
moment  before.  In  answer  to  their  summons  to 
surrender  he  gave  a  military  salute,  and  turning 
to  gallop  away  was  shot  dead  from  his  horse.  The  juiy23fi8M. 
animal,  streaming  with  wounds,  galloped  back  to 
where  Sherman  was  still  sitting,  and  a  single  orderly 
following  conveyed  to  the  commanding  general 
the  news  of  the  great  calamity  which  had  befallen 
the  army.  In  the  midst  of  his  grief  for  the  loss  of 
his  friend,  Sherman  was  greatly  disquieted  for  fear 
McPherson's  wallet  with  important  papers  relating 
to  the  campaign  had  fallen  into  the  enemy's  hands; 
but  within  a  few  moments  the  ground  where  he  had 
fallen  was  regained  by  the  Union  troops,  his  cap- 
tors captured  in  their  turn,  and  the  papers  found 
in  the  haversack  of  a  Confederate  soldier.  John 
A.  Logan  was  put  in  temporary  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances  conducted  the  fighting  on  the  Union 
left  throughout  the  day  with  perfect  coolness  and 
judgment. 

Hardee,  in  spite  of  the  untoward  meeting  with 
Dodge's  corps,  pushed  his  attack  with  unshaken 
vigor  and  determination.  It  is  a  singular  feature 
of  the  history  of  this  battle  that  we  must  look  for 
justice  to  the  general  who  fought  it ;  not  from  his 
own  commander,  but  from  his  opponents.  Hood, 
in  his  account  of  it,  seeks  ungenerously  to  lay  upon 
the  shoulders  of  Hardee  the  blame  for  its  failure. 
He  pretends  that  he  did  not  pass  beyond  the  flank 


272  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  of  Blair,  whereas  he  went  completely  to  his  rear ; 
that  he  marched  his  force  only  five  miles,  when  in 
fact  he  made  a  march  of  fifteen  before  attacking. 
Hardee's  right  flank  came,  as  we  have  said,  against 
Dodge's  command;  it  struck  the  latter  in  line  of 
march,  which  was  instantly  converted  into  line  of 
battle;  but  Hardee's  left  burst  through  the  wooded 
space  in  rear  of  Blair,  turning  his  left  flank  and  tak- 
ing his  intrenchments  in  reverse.  His  march  was  as 
skillful,  his  attack  as  vigorous,  as  that  of  Stonewall 
Jackson  at  Chancellorsville ;  but  he  met  with  a  far 
different  resistance  from  the  veterans  of  Dodge, 
Logan,  and  Blair,  from  that  which  was  opposed  to 
Jackson  on  Hooker's  exposed  right  by  the  Eleventh 
Corps  in  the  Wilderness  of  Virginia.  The  result 
proved  that  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was  panic- 
proof.  Blair's  soldiers,  finding  the  enemy  rushing 
upon  their  rear,  simply  leaped  over  their  intrench- 
ments and  fighting  from  the  reverse  side  repulsed 
them  and  drove  them  back  with  great  slaughter. 
Nor  was  this  the  only  test  of  their  organization 
and  their  courage;  for  Hood, seeing  that  Hardee  was 
fully  engaged  on  the  flank  and  rear,  threw  forward 
the  force  he  had  retained,  in  front  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Corps,  to  support  the  flanking  movement ; 
so  that  these  hardy  soldiers,  who  from  the  reverse  of 
their  own  intrenchments  had  repulsed  the  Confeder- 
ates attacking  in  their  rear,  now  leaped  once  more 
across  their  own  works  and  drove  back  this  second 
attack  from  their  front.  The  Confederate  attack 
on  the  Union  front  was  made  with  such  energy, 
and  was  so  assisted  by  the  formation  of  the  ground, 
that  a  gap  was  opened  near  the  point  where  Mc- 
Pherson's  and  Schofield's  armies  joined.    This  mo- 


GENERAL   JA3IES   B.  McPHEBSON. 


ATLANTA  273 

mentary  mishap  occurred  under  the  very  eyes  of  chap.  xii. 
Sherman  and  Schofield,  but  was  at  once  repaired 
by  Sherman's  ordering  Schofield  to  mass  his  artil- 
lery so  as  to  open  on  the  Confederate  flank  as  it 
pressed  towards  the  east.  Cheatham's  advance  was 
thus  checked  with  frightful  carnage.  The  Fif- 
teenth Corps  rallied  and  made  an  irresistible 
counter-charge,  which  drove  the  enemy  back,  re- 
establishing the  line  and  gaining  most  of  the  cap- 
tured guns.  The  fighting  was  too  hot  to  last 
long;  Cheatham  and  Hardee,  being  engaged  upon 
the  two  sides  of  a  right  angle  several  miles  apart, 
could  not  support  each  other  with  the  efficiency  re- 
quired. Every  instant  when  the  troops  of  Logan 
and  Blair  were  not  fighting  they  were  digging,  and  a 
light  line  of  intrenchments  gradually  grew  up  from 
the  Union  salient  towards  the  southwest,  which 
was  called  "  Leggett's  Hill "  from  the  gallant  charge 
which  General  M.  D.  Leggett  had  made  in  capturing 
it  the  day  before,  to  the  point  where  Dodge's  corps 
still  stood  in  position,  who  had  already  covered 
their  own  front  with  that  marvelous  dexterity  and 
rapidity  which  distinguished  Sherman's  army. 

Hardee's  attack  had  been  swift  and  strong ;  but 
the  battle  was  not  to  him;  its  crisis  was  already  July,  ism. 
passed;  and  although  again  and  again  the  Con- 
federate forces  advanced  to  the  attack  with  des- 
perate valor  it  was  all  clearly  useless.  G.  W. 
Smith's  Georgia  militia  struck  with  the  courage 
of  veterans  against  Schofield's  position,  but  were 
easily  and  promptly  driven  back.  Schofield,  see- 
ing the  failure  of  the  Confederate  onset,  sug- 
gested to  Sherman  that  he  could  follow  up  the 
retreating  enemy  with  his  command,  and  inter- 
Vol.  IX.— 18 


274  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xn.  pose  a  corps  between  Hood's  flanking  force  and 
the  city  of  Atlanta,  thus  finishing  the  campaign 
by  one  crushing  blow.  Howard  agreed  to  the 
suggestion,  but  Sherman  for  several  reasons  re- 
jected it.  The  plan  was  perhaps  not  absolutely 
certain  to  succeed,  and  the  success  that  had  been 
gained  was  too  much  to  expose  to  the  risks  of 
failure ;  and  besides  this,  there  was  another  con- 
sideration which  had  a  singular  influence  with 
Sherman.  His  reply  to  Schofield's  suggestion  was, 
"  No.  Let  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  fight  it  out 
this  time."  It  was  his  own  army,  the  creation  of 
his  own  genius,  the  pride  of  his  heart ;  he  was 
pleased  to  think  that  Hood's  whole  army  had  struck 
with  all  its  force  at  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  and 
that  that  army,  unaided,  had  beaten  it  back.1 

It  was  only  at  nightfall  that  Hardee  abandoned 
the  desperately  contested  field  and,  making  a  half 
wheel  to  the  rear,  withdrew  his  right  wing  to  a 
point  where  he  could  still  oppose  the  further  opera- 
tions of  Sherman  to  the  left  flank. 

But  Sherman  had  no  such  intention.  In  moving 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  upon  Decatur,  and 
thence  to  Atlanta,  his  only  purpose  had  been  to 
destroy  the  Augusta  road;  that  having  been  ac- 
complished, and  the  desperate  attack  of  Hood  upon 
the  left  wing  having  been  repulsed,  Sherman  at 
once  resumed  his  original  intention  of  moving  by 
the  right  flank  upon  the  southern  line  of  communi- 
cation supplying  Atlanta.  He  left  Schofield  to 
stretch  out  so  as  to  rest  his  left  flank  on  the  Au- 

iWe  find  this  incident  in  the  tributed  by  General  Oliver  O. 
account  given  of  the  battles  about  Howard  to  the  '*  Atlantic  Month- 
Atlanta  in  a  series  of  graphic  and  ly  "  Magazine,  during  the  year  of 
admirably  written  articles  con-  1876. 


ATLANTA  275 

gusta  road,  and  then  began  to  work  the  bulk  of  his  chap.  xii. 
force  gradually  around  the  north  to  the  west  of 
Atlanta.     The  first  important  matter  demanding     Report 
his  attention,  however,  was  the  appointment  of  a  0CnT™nducet 
successor  to  General  McPherson  to  command  the  ofit865-66.ar* 
Army  of  the  Tennessee.    He  could  hardly  hope     SmeEt?" 
to  replace  him,  he  wrote.     "  History  tells  us  of  but      p-  iss/ 
few  who  so  blended  the  grace  and  gentleness  of  the 
friend  with  the  dignity,  courage,  faith,  and  manli- 
ness of  the  soldier.     His  public  enemies,  even  the 
men  who   directed   the  fatal  shot,  never  spoke  or 
wrote  of  him  without  expressions  of  marked  re- 
spect.  Those  whom  he  commanded  loved  him  even 
to  idolatry ;  and  I,  his  associate  and  commander, 
fail  in  words  adequate  to  express  my  opinion  of  his  n>id.,p.i36. 
great  worth." 

General  Joseph  Hooker  was  the  one  officer  of 
that  army  who  in  distinction,  in  rank,  and  in 
service,  would  have  seemed  designated  for  the 
vacancy ;  but  his  character  and  temperament  were 
so  uncongenial  to  Sherman  that,  as  he  frankly 
says,  he  never  considered  him  for  the  place.  Gen- 
eral Logan,  the  commander  of  the  Fifteenth  Corps, 
who  had  temporarily  and  with  such  brilliant  valor 
and  success  taken  charge  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee when  McPherson  fell,  thought  that  he 
should  have  been  permitted  to  retain  the  com- 
mand, at  least,  until  the  close  of  the  campaign. 
Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  also  had  claims  for  the  place 
which  could  not  be  despised ;  but  Sherman's  in- 
superable objection  to  both  these  able  and  devoted 
officers  was  that  they  were  politicians,  and 
throughout  his  career  he  cherished  that  vague 
and  not  quite  intelligent  suspicion  of  politicians 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 


276  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  to  which  we  have  already  referred.  He  regarded 
Washington  with  whimsical  horror  as  a  sink  of 
corruption  and  iniquity,  and  thought  that  no  good 
could  come  out  of  it.  This  prepossession  some- 
times had  ludicrous  results.  Hearing  that  General 
Peter  J.  Osterhaus  had  been  made  a  major-general, 
and  perhaps  stung  by  the  complaints  of  merito- 
rious subordinates  that  their  claims  had  not  been 
1863.  recognized,  he  wrote  on  the  25th  of  July  an  angry 
dispatch  to  Washington  declaring  that  it  was  an 
act  of  injustice  to  officers  who  stood  by  their  posts 
in  the  day  of  danger  to  neglect  them  and  advance 
men  like  Osterhaus,  who  go  to  the  rear  in  search 

ofi865^66.ar'  of  promotion.  "  If  the  rear,"  he  says,  "be  the  post 
8m?nt?"  of  honor,  then  we  had  better  all  change  front  on 
P°i39.'     Washington." 

This  dispatch  was  shown  to  the  President  who, 
instead  of  resenting  its  tone  of  disrespect  and  in- 
subordination, wrote  in  his  kindliest  and  calmest 
manner  a  letter  to  General  Sherman,  in  which  he 
informed  him  that  the  promotion  of  Osterhaus  had 
been  made  upon  written  recommendations  from  no 
less  trustworthy  sources  than  Generals  Grant  and 
Sherman.  But  these  recommendations  had  been 
made  several  months  before,  and  Sherman's  recol- 
lections of  the  Vicksburg  campaign  had  somewhat 
faded  in  his  mind  during  the  fiery  experiences  of 
the  last  sixty  days.  He  frankly  acknowledged  his 
error,  and  repeats  in  his  "Memoirs"  that  he  was 
p.  m."'  fairly  caught.  The  Government  bore  him  no 
malice  for  this  incident.  They  continued  to  com- 
ply heartily  with  every  request  he  made;  they 
even  offered  him,  voluntarily,  eight  promotions  to 
the  grade  of  brigadier-general  to  be  distributed  on 


ATLANTA  277 

his  recommendation  among  the  most  meritorious  chap.  xn. 
colonels  of  his  command.    It  is  curiously  charac- 
teristic of  the  general  that  in  his  "Memoirs"  he  at-  "mISs.'" 
tributes  this  proof  of  signal  favor  to  his  Osterhaus      p.W 
letter. 

He  finally  selected  General  0.  0.  Howard  to  juiy 24,1864. 
command  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  This  was  a 
choice  extremely  agreeable  to  Schofield  and  Thomas, 
the  commanders  of  the  other  armies,  and  General 
Howard  was  unquestionably  a  more  comfortable 
person  to  live  with  than  General  Hooker.  The  re- 
sults justified  the  appointment,  and  the  faithful 
and  devoted  service  which  General  Howard  thence- 
forward rendered  in  his  new  command  makes  any 
vindication  of  Sherman's  course  in  the  matter  now 
superfluous;  but  General  Hooker  naturally  felt 
deeply  outraged  by  this  appointment.  It  was  not 
merely  that  his  rank  was  greater  than  that  of 
Howard,  but  he  felt  that  the  primary  cause  of  the 
failure  at  Chancellorsville,  which  deprived  him  of 
the  place  which  he  thought  he  merited  as  gen- 
eral-in-chief  of  the  army,  was  due  to  Howard's 
fault.  Howard  went  to  the  West  as  his  sub- 
ordinate; and  Hooker  had,  up  to  that  moment, 
exercised  with  unfailing  ability  and  success  a  more 
important  command  than  his  junior.  On  the 
announcement  of  Howard's  promotion,  Hooker 
at  once  applied  to  be  relieved  of  the  command 
of  the  Twentieth  Army  Corps.  Sherman  warmly 
approved  the  application ;  D.  S.  Stanley  was  ap- 
pointed to  command  the  Fourth  Corps  in  place 
of  Howard,  and  Slocum,  as  a  final  humiliation  to 
Hooker,  was  brought  back  from  Vicksburg  and  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  the  Twentieth  Corps. 


278  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  The  President  did  not  share  the  prejudice  which 
Sherman  felt  towards  Hooker,  but  grateful  to  the 
former  for  his  distinguished  services,  and  relying 
upon  him  for  the  success  of  the  arduous  campaign 
in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  felt  like  denying  him 
nothing  which  the  general  himself  considered  nec- 
essary to  success. 

In  this  manner  General  Hooker  retired  from  ac- 
tive service  in  the  field.  He  was  not,  however, 
left  idle.  A  few  weeks  later  he  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  Northern  Department;  in  the  next 
year  he  commanded  the  Department  of  the  East, 
and  after  the  war  for  a  short  period  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Lakes.  He  was  mustered  out  of  his 
volunteer  commission  in  1866,  and  two  years  later 
was  retired  from  the  service  with  the  brevet  rank 
of  Major-General  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States. 
His  health  was  at  this  time  completely  shattered, 
and  a  few  years  later  he  died.  In  the  paralytic, 
querulous  old  man,  whose  only  subjects  of  conver- 
sation were  his  grievances  against  McClellan,  Meade, 
and  Sherman,  there  was  little  to  remind  one  of  the 
bold,  dashing,  picturesque  soldier  of  Williamsburg 
and  Lookout  Mountain.  In  the  country  at  large 
he  never  lost  his  popularity,  which  was  founded  on 
a  basis  of  brilliant  abilities  and  honorable  service, 
and  gained  the  final  touch  of  splendid  legend  in 
the  "battle  above  the  clouds." 
The  road  to  Augusta  having  been  thoroughly 

juiy.  1864.  destroyed,  the  road  from  Atlanta  south  to  Macon 
became  now  the  vital  objective  point  of  Sherman's 
campaign.  While  he  pushed  his  heavy  battalions 
continually  to  the  right  he  prepared  important 
cavalry  expeditions  on  both  flanks  for  the  purpose 


ATLANTA  279 

of  cutting  Hood's  communications.  His  cavalry  chap,  xil 
and  infantry  detachments  both  moved  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th  of  July.  Our  space  will  not  wl 
allow  us  to  detail  the  various  striking  and  unex- 
pected incidents  which  the  two  cavalry  columns,  the 
one  to  the  light  under  Edward  M.  McCook  and  the 
one  to  the  left  under  Stoneman,  met  with  in  their 
march.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  both  expeditions 
virtually  failed,  though  McCook  saved  his  force  and 
even  inflicted  some  damage  upon  the  enemy.  From 
Stoneman  great  things  were  expected ;  his  force 
was  so  large  that  it  ought  not  to  have  been  stopped 
by  anything  thrown  in  its  way ;  and  the  task  com- 
mitted to  him  was  one  of  the  most  inspiring  allotted 
to  any  cavalry  general  in  the  war,  being  no  less 
than  to  break  the  Macon  railroad  and,  after  that, 
to  proceed  to  Anderson ville  and  liberate  the  thirty- 
five  thousand  Union  prisoners  confined  there,  whose 
sufferings  were  a  bitter  affliction  to  the  nation. 
This  duty  had  been  confided  to  him  at  his  own  re- 
quest by  General  Sherman,  who  saw  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  it :  but  thought  that  even  a  chance  of 
success  would  warrant  the  effort.  "I  will  keep  the 
enemy  busy,"  wrote  Sherman,  "  so  that  you  shall 
have  nothing  to  contend  with  but  the  cavalry,  and  Eeport 
if  you  can  bring  back  to  this  army  any  or  all  of  ScSffiS 
those  prisoners  of  war  it  will  be  an  achievement  ofitfJt_Sar' 
that  will  entitle  you  and  vour  command  to  the  love     8ment?" 

Vol  I 

and  admiration  of  the  whole  country."  Stoneman  P.  14a 
destroyed  a  large  amount  of  rolling  stock  at  Grris- 
wold,  made  a  demonstration  upon  Macon,  which 
failed,  and  then  being  intercepted  and,  as  he  sup- 
posed, surrounded,  by  a  force  which  ought  not  to 
have  delayed  him  an  hour,  he  gave  orders  to  his 


280  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  brigade  commanders  to  cut  their  way  out,  while  he 
with  a  few  hundred  of  his  men  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  enemy  until  it  was  too  late  to  escape, 
and  then  surrendered. 

The  movement  of  the  infantry  by  the  right  flank 
at  once  attracted  the  attention  of  General  Hood 
who  sent  General  S.  D.  Lee  with  his  corps  to  at- 
tack the  Federal  flank  upon  the  Lickskillet  road. 
The  assault  was  made  upon  Logan's  corps  with 
great  fury  but  indifferent  success,  and  Hood  dis- 
patched the  corps  of  General  Stewart  to  the  sup- 
port of  Lee.  The  greater  part  of  his  army  was  thus 
engaged  in  an  assault  upon  Sherman's  right  flank. 
It  was  Howard's  first  battle  in  command  of  the 
Army  of  Tennessee,  and,  assisted  by  the  devoted 
and  brilliant  services  of  his  corps  commanders,  he 
defeated  the  Confederates  with  great  slaughter. 
General  Hood  says,  founding  his  opinion  upon  that 
Hood,  of  S.  D.  Lee,  that  the  Confederate  troops  could  not 
andnc^  be  brought  to  act  unitedly;  "whilst  one  brigade 
P.  194.'  fought  gallantly  another  failed  to  do  its  duty." 
The  officers  on  the  Union  side,  who  saw  with  what 
devoted  valor  the  Confederates  advanced  upon  the 
Federal  intrenchments,  laying  their  windrows  of 
dead  before  the  parapet,  do  not  agree  in  this  cruel 
censure  inflicted  by  the  Confederate  commander 
upon  his  own  troops. 

Hood,  with  the  lack  of  logic  that  is  seen  in  all  of 
his  operations,  now  concluded,  because  Sherman's 
operations  in  the  Confederate  rear  had  been  of  little 
effect,  that  he  could  accomplish  the  discomfiture 
of  his  adversary  by  a  raid  in  the  Union  rear;  hoping, 
as  he  says,  that  the  movement  would  compel  Sher- 
man to  retreat  for  want  of  supplies  and  thus  allow 


ATLANTA  281 

him  an  opportunity  of  falling  upon  the  Federal  chap.  xn. 
rear  with  his  main  body.  He  suggested  this  plan  Aug.  2,  isw. 
to  Mr.  Davis  in  Richmond.  It  met  with  his  hearty 
concurrence ;  the  terrible  consequences  of  Hood's 
reckless  aggressive  policy  were,  it  would  seem,  be- 
ginning to  be  appreciated  in  Richmond.  Mr.  Davis 
said :  "  The  loss  consequent  upon  attacking  the 
enemy  in  his  intrenchments  requires  you  to  avoid  (  Hood, 
that  if  practicable";  and  Hood  at  once  ordered  _*«i 
Wheeler  with  4500  men  to  begin  operations.  He  p-  198- 
threw  himself  in  Sherman's  rear  with  great  ac- 
tivity ;  burned  the  bridge  over  the  Etowah ;  recap- 
turing Dalton  and  Resaca,  destroying  a  long  stretch 
of  railroad  track,  and  capturing  some  mules  and 
horses;  but  this  movement,  comparatively  success-  ibid., P.  199. 
ful  as  it  was,  produced  no  effect  whatever  upon 
Sherman's  general  plans.  He  ordered  John  New- 
ton's division  to  Chattanooga  and  John  M.  Corse's 
division  to  Rome,  and  adopting  what  measures 
seemed  to  him  expedient  for  the  repairing  and 
further  protection  of  the  roads,  pushed  his  forces 
steadily  on  by  the  right  flank.  He  even  took 
advantage  of  the  absence  of  Wheeler  to  throw 
Judson  Kilpatrick  with  a  large  force  of  cavalry 
upon  the  Macon  road.  Kilpatrick,  with  celer- 
ity and  with  what  efficiency  a  mounted  force 
could  bring  to  bear  upon  such  an  object,  per- 
formed the  task  allotted  to  him,  and  came  back 
reporting  that  he  had  destroyed  three  miles  of 
railroad  about  Jonesboro;  that  he  had  fought 
a  division  of  infantry  and  a  brigade  of  cavalry, 
had  captured  a  battery  and  a  few  prisoners. 
He  thought  he  had  rendered  the  road  useless  for 
at  least  ten  days;   but  his  calculations  were,  as 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


OUTLINE  MAP  OF  OPERATIONS  IN  NOBTH  GEOBGIA  AND  AT.ARAMA, 


ATLANTA  283 

usual  in  these  cavalry  raids,  wide  of  the  mark,  and  chap.  xii. 
his  report  was  hardly  in  before  the   rattle  and 
whistle  of  the  trains  from  the  south  were  heard 
again  in  the  National  intrenchments. 

Sherman,  after  a  month  of  more  or  less  unsuc- 
cessful experiments,  now  made  up  his  mind  defi- 
nitely that  cavalry  could  not  or  would  not  work 
hard  enough  to  disable  a  railroad  properly.  He 
wrote  to  Halleck  on  the  22d  of  August  after  Kil-  ism. 
patrick  returned,  "I  expect  I  will  have  to  swing 
across  to  that  road  in  force  to  make  the  matter 
certain  " ;  and  having  adopted  that  resolution,  he  lost 
not  a  moment  in  putting  it  into  execution.  Wheeler 
was  up  near  the  Hiawassee  wearing  out  his  horses 
in  a  useless  raid.  The  damage  he  had  done  to  the 
railroad  about  Resaca  and  Dalton  had  been  re- 
paired. Sherman  rode  down  to  the  Chattahoochee 
bridge  on  the  24th,  and  satisfied  himself  that  it 
could  be  defended  by  a  single  corps  left  there  for 
that  purpose,  by  taking  advantage  of  the  Confed- 
erate works  built  there  by  Johnston ;  and  return- 
ing to  his  camp  he  telegraphed  to  Halleck  that  he 
would  commence  the  movement  round  Atlanta  by 
the  south  the  next  night,  and  that  for  some  time 
they  might  expect  at  Washington  to  hear  little  "MeS." 
from  him.  On  the  night  of  the  25th  and  the  26th  p.  ioa." 
the  whole  army  drew  out  of  its  trenches,  abandon- 
ing the  works  it  had  taken  the  labor  of  so  many 
hands  to  build,  and  the  blood  of  so  many  brave 
men  to  defend,  and  swung  off  round  Hood's  left 
flank,  by  the  country  roads,  to  strike  the  Macon 
railroad  at  Jonesboro.  The  corps  of  Stewart  and 
Lee  at  once  occupied  the  empty  works.  Hood  for 
a  moment,  with  foolish  exultation,  adopted  the  be- 


284 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


MAP    OF    THE    FIELD    OPERATIONS    AROUND    ATLANTA. 


chap.  xii.  lief  that  terror  of  Wheeler's  cavalry  had  driven 
Sherman  in  retreat  to  the  north  across  the  Chatta- 
hoochee.1 It  was  not  until  the  28th  that  General 
Armstrong  reported  to  Hood  that  the  enemy  was 
in  large  force  at  Fairburn  on  the  West  Point  road. 
"  It  became  at  once,"  he  says, — and  the  reader  will 

1  General  Cox  in  his  admirable  tion  with  General  William  .7. 
work  on  the  Atlanta  Campaign,  Hardee  as  his  authority  for  this 
pp.  197,  198,  quotes  a  conversa-    statement. 


ATLANTA  285 

not  fail  to  appreciate  the  comic  force  of  the  adverb,  chap,  xil 
—  "evident  that   General   Sherman  was    moving      Hood( 
with  his  main  body  to  destroy  the  Macon  road,  and  "AdandCe 
that  the  fate  of  Atlanta  depended  npon  our  ability      p.  203.' 
to  defeat  this  movement." 

Sherman's  primary  object  in  this  expedition  was 
the  destruction  of  the  Macon  road.    A  single  sen- 
tence from  his  orders  to  General  Thomas  show  not 
only  how  minute  was  the  attention  that  he  gave  to 
all  the  details  of  operations  under  his  charge,  but 
it  also  gives  a  most  concise  and  graphic  account  of  Aug.28,i8<a. 
the  manner  in  which  he  went  about  to  destroy 
railroads  :  "  My  own  experience  demonstrates  the 
proper  method  to  be  to  march  a  regiment  to  the 
road,   stack  arms,  loosen  two  rails  opposite  the 
right  and  two  opposite  the  left  of  the  regiment, 
then  to  heave  the  whole  track,  rails  and  ties,  over, 
breaking  it  all  to  pieces ;  then  pile  the  ties  in  the 
nature  of  crib-work,  and  lay  the  rails  over  them ; 
then  by  means  of  fence  rails  make  a  bonfire,  and     Report 
when  the  rails  are  red-hot  let  men  give  the  rail  a  JJcSdnct 
twist  which  cannot  be  straightened  without  ma-  0,i^S"' 
chinery.    Also  fill  up  some  of  the  cuts  with  heavy     8ment?" 
logs  and  trunks  of  trees  and  branches,  and  cover      pa  i84."' 
up  and  fill  with  dirt." 

Howard  marched  in  advance  on  the  right  wing, 
Thomas  held  the  center,  and  Schofield  the  left. 
The  29th  was  spent  in  thoroughly  breaking  the  Aug.,i864. 
West  Point  railroad  according  to  General  Sher- 
man's graphic  directions.  Howard  then  moved  on 
towards  Jonesboro,  Schofield  on  the  left  towards 
Rough-and-Ready,  and  Thomas  in  easy  support 
towards  Renfrew's.  With  an  adversary  like  Hood 
it  was  almost  impossible  for  Sherman  to  foresee 


286 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


'Memoirs. 
Vol.  II., 
p.  106. 


Hood, 
'  Advance 

and 
Retreat," 

p.  204. 


Aug.,  1864. 


chap.  xii.  and  guard  against  his  possible  eccentricities. 
Sherman  describes  Schofield's  attitude  as  "  daring 
and  inviting  the  enemy  to  sally  out  and  to  attack 
him,"  which  Hood  says  he  would  have  done  had 
not  Sherman  "  been  doubly  protected  by  the  Chat- 
tahoochee, deep  intervening  creeks  and  ravines  ex- 
tending to  the  river,"  and  his  "wall  of  parapets.  .  . 
This  move  not  being  practicable  by  reason  of 
these  obstructions,  I  was  forced,"  he  says,  "to 
await  further  developments." 

The  developments  were  speedily  furnished  him. 
The  whole  army  moved  straight  for  the  Macon  rail- 
road ;  on  the  30th  Schofield  reached  it  near  Rough- 
and-Ready,  Thomas  at  two  points  below,  while 
Howard,  arriving  at  the  Flint  River,  pushed  boldly 
across,  Hazen's  division  carrying  the  further  bank, 
and  the  barricades  which  defended  it.  Logan 
rushed  his  whole  corps  over  and  took  the  high 
ground  between  the  river  and  the  railroad,  where 
he  strongly  intrenched  himself,  Hazen  on  the  left 
and  William  Harrow  on  the  right,  Osterhaus  being 
in  reserve.  T.  E.  G.  Ransom  was  placed  in  position 
west  of  the  river  facing  the  south,  and  Blair,  when  he 
arrived  next  morning,  faced  his  corps  northeast  in 
the  rear  of  Logan's  left.  Bridges  were  hastily  con- 
structed, by  which  Logan  on  the  east  and  Blair  and 
Ransom  on  the  left  were  put  thoroughly  in  com- 
munication. Hood  had  by  this  time  recovered 
from  the  confusion  into  which  he  had  been  thrown, 
and  had  sent  Hardee  and  Lee  to  attack  Sherman's 
right  wing  under  Howard.  In  the  afternoon  of  the 
31st  Hardee  made  his  assault,  the  brunt  of  the 
fighting  falling  upon  Hazen's  division.  Hood  had 
given  him  the  orders,  so  easy  to  give  and  so  diffi- 


ATLANTA  287 

cult  to  execute,  to  attack  and  drive  the  enemy  chap.  xn. 
across  Flint  River.    This  being  done,  he  says,  he 
intended  to  attack  Sherman  in  flank  with  Stewart's 
corps  and  the  militia  whom  he  retained  in  Atlanta. 

Whether  or  not  it  be  that  Hardee,  having  lost  all  Aug.3i,i864. 
confidence  in  the  capacity  of  his  commander,  at- 
tacked with  less  than  his  usual  energy,  his  distrust 
insensibly  communicating  itself  to  his  troops,  the 
fact  is  that  the  Confederate  attack  here  lacked  its 
usual  impetuosity.  Hood  himself  says  in  his  of- 
ficial report  that  the  number  of  men  on  the  Confed- 
erate side  considerably  exceeded  that  of  the  enemy ; 
yet  the  attack  failed,  being  easily  repulsed  in  every 
part  of  the  field ;  and  in  the  evening  Hood,  appear- 
ing by  this  time  to  have  completely  lost  his  head,  Hoodi 
ordered  Lee's  corps  to  march  back  and  take  posi-  "  Adand ce 
tion  in  the  vicinity  of  Rough-and-Ready.  Lee  p.m.' 
marched  as  he  was  ordered,  and  Hardee  did  his 
best,  by  holding  a  bold  front  and  stretching  out  his 
lines,  to  disguise  from  the  enemy  this  fatal  diminu- 
tion of  his  forces.  If  Howard  had  known  that 
half  of  Hardee's  army  had  marched  to  the  north  he 
could  have  made  short  work  of  the  rest;  but,  as 
Sherman  once  observed,  there  was  this  great  dis- 
advantage in  fighting  with  a  fool,  you  could  never 
conceive  what  he  was  going  to  do.  Sherman  and 
Thomas  arrived  on  the  ground  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  1st  of  September,  and  hearing  from  Howard,  ism. 
what  he  had  just  ascertained,  of  the  departure  of 
Lee,  Sherman  hurried  orders  in  every  direction 
for  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  to  push  forward 
and  assault  Hardee,  hoping  to  capture  the  whole  of 
his  corps.  One  aide  after  another  was  dispatched 
upon  this  quest,  and  at  last  General  Thomas  him- 


288  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  self  rode  off  at  a  gallop  to  bring  forward  his 
troops.  Several  chroniclers  think  it  worthy  of  men- 
tion that  this  was  the  first  time  in  the  war  that  the 
ponderous  and  deliberate  hero  of  Chickamauga 
was  seen  to  move  with  such  undignified  haste; 
but  the  night  came  too  quickly  on,  and  Hardee 
made  his  escape. 

Aug.3i,i864.  Sherman  had  sent  orders  to  Slocum  to  feel  for- 
ward cautiously  from  the  Chattahoochee  to  ascer- 
tain what  Hood  was  doing  at  Atlanta.  All  night 
Sherman,  unable  to  sleep,  waited  in  restless- 
ness and  impatience  for  the  dawn.  About  mid- 
night he  heard  from  the  north  sounds  like  distant 
detonations.  Instead  of  asking  one  of  the  experi- 
enced officers  of  the  staff  his  opinion  as  to  these 
sounds,  he  took  the  characteristic  course  of  waking 
up  a  farmer  in  the  neighborhood  and  asking  him 
what  he  thought  of  them.  He  replied  —  with  the 
positiveness  derived  from  his  summer's  education 
—  that  it  sounded  like  a  battle  at  Atlanta,  and  Sher- 
man could  only  wait  for  the  morning  to  come  to 
solve  the  doubt  in  his  mind  whether  Hood  was 
blowing  up  his  own  magazines  or  Slocum  had 
reached  forward  and  had  engaged  him  in  fight. 
When  morning  came,  it  was  ascertained  that 
Hardee  was  gone,  and  Sherman  starting  after  him 
in  hot  pursuit,  came  upon  his  lines  at  a  point  near 
Lovejoy's  Station.  Here,  while  feeling  the  new 
Confederate  position,  rumors  began  to  arrive  that 
Atlanta  had  fallen,  and  later  in  the  day  a  letter  from 
Slocum  confirmed  the  momentous  news.  Slocum 
had  heard  the  sounds  which  had  so  disturbed 
Sherman,  and  moving  rapidly  from  the  bridge  at 
daylight  had  entered  Atlanta  without  opposition. 


GENERAL   JOHN    A.   LOGAN. 


ATLANTA  289 

Sherman  sent  the  news  to  Thomas.      This  imper-  chap.  xn. 
turbable  soldier,  who  yesterday  had  for  the  first 
time    galloped    his    horse,    now,    says     Sherman,  "MeeS" 
"  snapped  his  fingers,  whistled,  and  almost  danced."      p.  ioa." 
Hood  saw  there  was  no  hope  for  Atlanta  from  the 
moment  that  Hardee  was  repulsed  at  Jonesboro. 
He  says  in  his  memoirs  that,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  necessity  of  keeping  his  army  between  Sher- 
man and  the  Andersonville  prison,  he  would  have 
met  Sherman's  bold    movement    by  another  far 
more  bold — and  it  may  be  said,  less  judicious — that 
is,  to  move  north  across  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  the      Hood, 
Chattahoochee  and  take  a  position  near  the  Ala-  "AdJndce 

Retreat ,J 

bama  line  across  Sherman's  line  of  supplies ;  but      p.  207/ 
this  plan  never  had  a  chance  of  realization.    He 
stopped  Lee's  corps  on  its  northward  march  near 
Rough-and-Ready,  posted  him  so  as  to  protect  the 
Confederate  left  flank,  marched  out  of  Atlanta  at 
five  o'clock  on  the  McDonough  road,  and  concen-  septi.ise*. 
trated  his  army  at  Lovejoy's  Station.    Sherman 
telegraphed  on  the  3d  to  Washington :  "Atlanta  is 
ours,  and  fairly  won.   .   .   Since  the  5th  of  May     Report 
we  have  been  in  one  constant  battle  or  skirmish,  ^craEft 
and  need  rest."    He  concluded  to  make  no  further  ^iStX""' 
pursuit  from  that  point,  but  ordered  his  army  back     Sm?nt?' 
to  Atlanta  on  the  5th  of  September.  P?i89.' 

Ungrudging  honors  were  paid  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  Sherman  and  his  troops  for  this  magnifi- 
cent achievement,  one  of  the  most  important  that 
the  cause  of  the  country  had  yet  gained,  not 
only  in  the  value  of  its  results,  but  in  the  skill 
and  good  conduct  by  which  it  was  brought 
about.  The  President  issued  an  order  in  these 
words :  "  The  national  thanks  are  tendered  by  the 
Vol.  IX.— 19 


290  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xii.  President  to  Major-General  W.  T.  Sherman,  and 
the  gallant  officers  and  soldiers  of  his  command  be- 
fore Atlanta,  for  the  distinguished  ability,  courage, 
and  perseverance  displayed  in  the  campaign  in 
Georgia  which,  under  Divine  favor,  has  resulted 
in  the  capture  of  Atlanta.    The  marches,  battles, 
Be  ort     sieges,  and  other  military  operations  that  have 
SoSSSt  signalized  the  campaign  must  render  it  famous  in 
ofi865-Xar'  the  annals  of  war,  and  have  entitled  those  who 
Sir     have  participated    therein    to  the  applause  and 
p°i9i'.'     thanks  of  the  nation."  Grant  telegraphed  Sherman 
from  City  Point,  "  In  honor  of  your  great  victory, 
I  have  ordered  a  salute  to  be  fired  with  shotted 
guns  from  every  battery  bearing  upon  the  enemy. 
The  salute  will  be  fired  within  an  hour  amidst  great 
ibid.       rejoicing."    Thus  with  the  thunder  of  guns,  with 
the  ringing  of  bells,  the  tumultuous  rejoicings  of 
a  great  people,   was  celebrated  this  momentous 
victory. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SHERIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH 

GENERAL  GRANT  had  at  last  in  command  of  ch.  xiil 
the  forces  in  the  Shenandoah  a  soldier  who  pos-  la*, 
sessed  his  utmost  confidence  and  affection.  Sheridan 
was  then  thirty-three  years  old ;  small  and  compact 
in  stature,  not  carrying  an  ounce  of  superfluous 
flesh ;  unpretending  in  manner,  but  quick  to  exert  all 
proper  authority ;  absolutely  at  home  in  the  saddle 
and  seemingly  incapable  of  fatigue;  an  eye  for 
topography  as  keen  and  far-reaching  as  an  eagle's ; 
and  that  gift  for  inspiring  immediate  confidence  in 
all  around  him  which  is  the  most  inestimable  of  all 
possessions  for  a  soldier.  With  all  his  relish  for 
fighting  and  his  brilliant  record  in  action,  he  was 
no  mere  sabreur ;  he  was  as  cool  as  he  was  cour- 
ageous, as  wise  in  planning  as  he  was  energetic 
in  executing.  He  spent  all  the  time  that  was  nec- 
essary in  thorough  preparation,  and,  while  in 
his  hands  one  man  was  generally  as  good  as  one  of 
the  enemy,  he  always  tried  to  have  two  men  at  the 
point  of  attack  to  his  adversary's  one.  There  was 
no  luck  in  the  splendid  series  of  victories  that  at- 
tended his  career  in  the  Valley ;  they  were  all  made 
ready  in  advance  and  honestly  earned. 


292 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ch.  xiii. 

1864. 


George  E. 
Pond, 
"The 
Shenan- 
doah 
Valley," 
p.  122. 
Early, 

"  Memoir 
of  the 

Last  Year 
of  the 
War," 
p.  75. 


Anxious  as  the  President  and  General  Grant  were 
that  Sheridan  should  "  put  himself  south  of  the 
enemy,"  and  ardently  as  Sheridan  sympathized  in 
this  desire,  it  was  never  to  be  accomplished ;  though 
brilliant  successes  awaited  him,  they  were  all  to  be 
gained  over  a  brave  and  vigilant  adversary,  and  all 
attacks  had  to  be  made  in  front.  Sheridan,  how- 
ever, never  gave  up  the  hope  with  which  he  began 
of  getting  in  rear  of  his  enemy.  At  the  very 
outset,  while  Early  was  still  on  the  Potomac,  he 
said,  "I  will  strike  for  Winchester,  which  is  the 
key,  and  pick  up  the  parties  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Potomac  " ;  and  he  moved  out  from  Halltown  with 
that  intention  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  August. 
But  Imboden  had,  on  the  day  before,  reported  to 
Early  the  concentration  at  Halltown;  the  latter 
at  once  began  a  retrograde  movement;  and  while 
Sheridan  was  moving  in  admirable  order,  his 
cavalry  guarding  both  flanks,  the  Sixth  Corps  on 
the  right,  the  Eighth  on  the  left,  and  the  Nine- 
teenth in  the  center,  to  take  up  a  line  between 
Clifton  and  Berryville,  Early  was  hurrying  back 
from  Bunker  Hill,  through  Winchester,  up  the 
Valley.  He  was,  as  usual  with  the  Confederates 
in  Virginia,  better  informed  than  his  adversary. 
He  knew  Sheridan's  strength,  and  he  knew  also 
that  a  large  reenforcement  was  on  its  way  from 
General  Lee  to  enable  him  to  defeat  the  National 
forces;  while  Sheridan  had  been  expressly  told 
by  Grant  on  the  9th  that  "not  one  brigade  had 
been  sent "  from  Lee  against  him.  Early  therefore 
very  properly  declined  the  battle  which  Sheridan 
offered  him  on  the  banks  of  the  Opequon,  and  fell 
back  to  meet  his  reinforcements  further  up  the 


SHEKIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  293 

Valley  in  the  neighborhood  of   Strasburg ;    and    ch.  xiii. 
Sheridan,  not  imagining  upon  what  danger  he  was 
rushing,  pursued   Early  with  diligence,   when  he 
found  he  could  not  cut  him  off,  and  heavy  skirmish- 
ing occurred  at  several  points. 

The  Confederates  came  to  a  halt  at  Fisher's  Hill, 
two  miles    south   of    Strasburg,   and    assumed  a 
strong  position  there.     Early  sent  word  to  Gen-  Aug.12,1864. 
eral  R.  H.  Anderson,  who,  with  Kershaw's  divi- 
sion of  infantry  and  Fitzhugh  Lee's  division  of 
cavalry,    was  on  the  way  to   reenforce  him,   to 
move  to   Front  Eoyal.      Sheridan  was  soon  in- 
formed of   this  movement  of  Anderson's,  and  it 
caused  him  great  anxiety,  as  this  was  too  impor- 
tant a  force  to  be  left  on  his  left  flank  and  rear  in 
case  he  should  attack  Fisher's  Hill  in  front.    Al-     Report 
though  Sheridan's  effective  force  amounted  in  all  ™Tonducet 
to  some  30,000,  his  "  effective  line-of -battle  strength  ofiSl-66.Br' 
at  this  time  was,"  as  he  says  in  his  report,  "  about      meig 
18,000  infantry    and  3500    cavalry,"  not  enough       p-'^-" 
to  risk  a  decisive  battle  with  Early's  force,  increased 
not  only  by  the  Richmond  contingent  but  by  the 
remnants  Averill  had  left  of  McCausland's  house- 
burners.     He  therefore   confined  himself  to   skir- 
mishing and    thorough    picket-searching    of    the 
enemy's  lines,  until,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th, 
Colonel  N.  P.  Chipman,  escorted  by  a  regiment  of 
cavalry,  galloped  into  camp  from  Washington  with 
a  dispatch  from  Grant  announcing  the  departure  of 
a  heavy  force  from  Lee's  army  to  join  Early.    This      ibid, 
time  Grant  exaggerated  the  true  state  of  affairs; 
he  said  there  were  two  divisions  of  infantry  on  the 
way,  instead  of  one ;  an  error  which,  however,  he 
corrected  two  days  later.    He  therefore  enjoined 


294 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Ch.  XIII. 


Grant  to 

Halleck, 

Aug.  12, 

1864. 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 


Supple- 
ment, 

Vol.  II., 
p.  35. 


caution,  and  said  Sheridan  must  act  on  the  defen- 
sive until  movements  at  Petersburg  should  draw 
Confederate  troops  away  from  the  Valley.  He  did 
not  think  Early's  force  exceeded  forty  thousand 
men,  but  this  was  too  much  for  Sheridan  to  attack ; 
and  when,  on  the  14th,  he  discovered  that  only  one 
division  of  infantry  had  left  his  front,  he  still 
thought  Sheridan  had  not  a  sufficient  superiority 
in  numbers  to  warrant  an  attack  upon  a  fortified 
position.  Sheridan,  on  receiving  these  orders,  felt 
his  situation  to  be  somewhat  critical.  He  was  not 
justified  in  going  forward ;  going  backward  was  a 
delicate  operation  in  the  face  of  a  watchful  oppo- 
nent, and  there  was  not,  in  his  opinion,  which 
events  afterwards  justified,  a  good  defensive  posi- 
tion in  the  Valley  south  of  the  one  at  Halltown. 
He  did  the  best  that  could  be  done  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ;  he  retired  from  the  Valley  and  gained 
a  long  start,  before  Early  on  the  morning  of  the 
17th  perceived  his  departure. 

The  Confederates  set  off  at  once  in  hot  pursuit, 
Early  from  Strasburg  and  Anderson  from  Front 
Eoyal ;  the  latter  had  a  sharp  brush  with  Wesley 
Merritt's  cavalry,  in  which  the  Confederates  were 
severely  repulsed.  Sheridan,  who  at  first  in- 
tended to  halt  at  Winchester,  concluding  that 
the  place  was  not  defensible,  moved  back  to  Ber- 
ry ville  where  he  had  Snicker's  Gap  behind  him, 
through  which  a  reenforcement  of  two  divisions 
was  coming  to  him.  He  seized  on  the  way 
all  mules,  horses,  and  cattle  that  could  be  of 
use  to  the  army  and  ordered  all  subsistence  and 
forage  which  could  not  be  taken  away  to  be  de- 
stroyed; at  the  same  time  commanding  that  no 


SHERIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  295 

dwellings  be  burned.  These  orders  were  faith-  ch.  xni 
fully  executed.  The  army  moved  with  the  pre- 
cision of  troops  on  parade  back  to  the  station 
assigned  them,  and  afterwards,  following  a  spirited 
fight  near  Charlestown  between  the  Sixth  Corps 
and  Early's  advance,  took  up  the  stronger  position 
at  Halltown.  This  once  more  left  the  lower  Valley, 
as  far  as  the  Potomac,  open  to  Early;  there  was 
nothing  in  his  way  but  cavalry,  and  Sheridan  had 
told  Averill  that  he  "  rather  desired  that  the  enemy 
should  cross  the  river."  But  Early  did  not  accept 
the  invitation;  he  went  far  enough  to  break  up 
the  railroad  again,  and  Fitzhugh  Lee  once  more 
watered  his  horses  in  the  Potomac.  There  was 
more  subsistence  in  the  lower  Valley  than  in  the 
region  which  Sheridan  had  ravaged  south  of  Win- 
chester; so  they  remained  there  several  days; 
there  were  frequent  skirmishes  between  the  cav- 
alry of  the  two  armies. 

It  seemed  at  one  moment  as  if  Maryland  was 
again  to  be  invaded.  Leaving  Anderson  "to 
amuse  the  enemy,"  Early  took  the  rest  of  his 
army  and  marched  due  north  to  Shepherdstown, 
handling  Torbert's  cavalry  very  roughly  on  the 
way,  and  cutting  off  Custer,  who  only  saved  his 
division  by  crossing  the  river.  Sheridan  hastily 
occupied  the  South  Mountain  gaps,  and  prepared 
to  strike  Early  in  the  rear  if  he  should  take 
the  road  to  Washington;  but  he  probably  had 
no  such  intention.  He  went  back  to  Bunker  Hill 
on  the  27th,  and  Anderson,  who  had  been  closely  Aug.,  186*. 
pressed  by  Crook  in  a  reconnaissance  the  day  be- 
fore, also  fell  back  to  Stephenson's  Depot.  Sheri- 
dan acted  throughout  these  operations  with  the 


1864. 


296  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiii.  greatest  discretion  and  prudence,  constantly  resist- 
ing the  numerous  temptations  to  attack  presented 
by  Early's  eccentric  marches.  Thus  far  he  had 
been  following  Grant's  suggestions  in  pursuing 
this  waiting  policy;  but  now  Grant  telegraphed 
him  that  in  view  of  the  destructive  battles  that  had 

Badeau,  

Sor^of   been  raging  on  the  Weldon  road,  he  believed  the 
Graift."     force  in  the  Valley  would  speedily  be  reduced  for 

Vp/2""  the  benefit  of  Lee's  army.  "Watch  closely,"  he 
said,  "and  if  you  find  this  theory  correct,  push 
with  all  vigor."  He  reiterated  his  orders  to  destroy 
everything  that  could  assist  the  enemy,  "If  the 

Pshettw!?e  war  is  to  last  another  year,  we  want  the  Shenan- 

ley^pTSo.  doah  Valley  to  remain  a  barren  waste." 

Sheridan  now  moved  forward — August  28 — 
with  the  same  caution  and  perfect  order  which  had 
characterized  all  his  marches,  to  take  up  again  the 
line  from  Clifton  to  Berryville,  which  he  accom- 
plished on  the  3d  of  September.  The  same  day 
Averill  struck  his  old  enemy,  McCausland,  another 
stunning  blow  at  Bunker  Hill ;  but  on  the  follow- 
ing day  was  himself  driven  from  the  place  by 
Rodes's  infantry.  All  this  while  Sheridan  had  been 
patiently  waiting  for  the  detachment  of  Confeder- 
ate troops  from  his  front,  which  both  Grant  and  he 
expected  as  a  consequence  of  the  heavy  losses  Lee 
had  suffered  near  Petersburg.  This  move  of  the 
enemy,  so  ardently  desired  by  Sheridan,  would 
have  taken  place  at  this  juncture  if  the  march  of 
the  National  troops  had  not  prevented  it.  On  the 
26th  of  August  General  Lee  had  written  to  Early, 
informing  him  that  he  was  in  great  need  of  Ander- 
son's troops  at  Eichmond,  if  they  could  be  spared 
from    the  Valley;    and    after    consultation   with 


SHERIDAN  IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  297 

Early,  Anderson  moved  on  the  3d  of  September  ch.  xiii. 
npon  Berryville  for  the  purpose  of  crossing  the  im. 
Blue  Eidge  at  Ashby's  Gap.  But  at  that  point, 
late  in  the  day,  he  ran  unawares  upon  Crook's 
corps,  which  had  just  arrived,  and  which  barred 
his  way  to  the  mountains.  A  brisk  engagement  en- 
sued, lasting  as  long  as  the  opposing  armies  could 
see  each  other.  Early  hurried  down  at  dawn  to 
Anderson's  assistance  and  found  him  even  yet  igno- 
rant of  what  was  before  him,  an  ignorance  which 
was  shared  by  Early,  both  of  them  thinking  it  was 
a  Federal  detachment  raiding  towards  their  rear. 
Early  left  one  division  on  Anderson's  left,  and 
hurried  with  the  rest  of  his  force  to  what  he  im- 
agined was  the  Union  right  flank,  thinking  to 
make  short  work  of  it ;  but  after  moving  for  two 
miles  and  finding  no  flank,  he  came  to  an  elevated 
outlook  and  discovered  to  his  dismay  the  Union 
army  stretching  to  his  left  as  far  as  his  best  glasses 
would  reach.  He  rejoined  Anderson  and  they  both 
retreated  hastily  to  the  west  side  of  the  Opequon. 
If  Sheridan  had  been  a  few  hours  less  expeditious 
in  occupying  Berryville,  Anderson  would  have 
been  on  his  way  to  Lee,  and  Early  would  have 
been  left  to  his  mercy  a  fortnight  earlier  than 
actually  happened. 

For  ten  days  he  held  his  lines  with  admirable 
persistence  and  patience,  exercising  his  cavalry  in 
constant  skirmishes,  harassing  and  damaging  the 
enemy  more  or  less  every  day.  He  kept  himself 
six  miles  away  from  the  Opequon,  the  west  bank  of 
which  was  occupied  by  the  enemy,  holding  this 
vacant  space  with  scouting  parties,  preferring  not 
to  advertise  his  intended  movement  by  occupying 


298  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiii.  it  with  his  main  force.  At  last  his  long  self-restraint 
and  tenacity  of  purpose  were  rewarded.    On  the 

sept.,  1864.  14th,  as  everything  seemed  quiet  in  front,  and 
Early  had  begun  to  think  lightly  of  an  adversary 
apparently  so  languid,  General  Anderson  again 
started  for  Lee's  army,  crossing  the  mountains  by 
way  of  Front  Royal,  it  is  needless  to  say,  without 
molestation.  Sheridan  received  information  of  this 
movement  on  the  night  of  the  15th,  and  with  every 
energy  of  mind  and  body  on  the  alert,  prepared  to 
seize  the  inestimable  chance  of  the  hour. 

The  President  was  extremely  anxious  that  a  move 
should  be  made.  Three  days  before  he  had  made 
this  suggestion  to  Grant :  "  Sheridan  and  Early  are 
facing  each  other  at  a  dead-lock.  Could  we  not 
pick  up  a  regiment  here  and  there,  to  the  number 
of  say  ten  thousand  men,  and  quietly  but  suddenly 
Grant,*0   concentrate  them  at  Sheridan's  camp  and  enable 

UM. '  Ms.  him  to  make  a  strike  ?  "  Not  only  was  the  oppor- 
tunity a  great  one;  the  need  was  great  also.  At 
the  very  moment  when  Anderson's  column  was 
marching  out  of  its  camps,  Halleck  was  telegraph- 
ing to  Grant  that  the  long-continued  interruption 
of  the  Ohio  and  Chesapeake  and  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroads  was  threatening  a  dearth  of  fuel  in 
Washington  and  Baltimore;  the  gas  companies 
feared  they  would  be  compelled  to  stop  their  works; 
if  Sheridan  was  not  strong  enough  to  break  Early's 
hold  on  the  railroad,  he  should  be  reenforced.  The 
long  inactivity  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah 
was  beginning  to  attract  the  ready  criticism  of  the 
Northern  press;  the  enemies  of  the  Government 
were  using  it  in  the  hot  canvass  then  going  forward 
as  an  argument  for  a  change  of  Administration. 


SHERIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  299 

Yet  —  as  General  Grant  says  in  his  report  —  the    ch.  xiil 
consequences  of  a  defeat  at  that  time  would  have 
been  so  serious,  laying  open  to  the  enemy  the 
States   of  Maryland   and  Pennsylvania   for  long 
distances,  that  he  hesitated  to  allow  the  initiative 
to  be  taken.    In  this  state  of  perplexity  he  left       wei.5' 
Petersburg  and  hastened  to  Sheridan's  camp.    He 
found  the  young  general  so  sure  of  his  ground,  so      Grant> 
cool,  and  yet  so  eager,  that  he  "  saw  there  were  but   ES1 
two  words  of  instructions  necessary :  "  Go  in ! "  and      P°  583."' 
with   these   words,   leaving   Sheridan   to  himself, 
Grant  started  to  New  Jersey  to  put  his  children  to 
school. 

Sheridan's  first  intention  had  been  to  move  to 
Newtown,  on  the  valley  pike,  giving  up  his  own 
line,  and  taking  that  of  the  enemy.  This  would 
have  been  a  move  of  extraordinary  boldness  and 
brilliancy,  and  if  successful  would  have  involved 
the  destruction  of  Early's  army.1  But  on  the  18th 
he  learned  that  Early  had,  on  the  day  before,  with 
almost  incredible  carelessness,  gone  with  half  his 
army  to  Martinsburg,  intent,  with  that  fixed  idea 
which  was  almost  a  mania  with  him,  on  breaking 
up  a  party  which  was  repairing  the  railroad.  On 
the  receipt  of  this  news  Sheridan  instantly  changed 
his  plan,  seeing  before  him  the  safer  prospect  of 
catching  Early  in  his  sin  and  destroying  the  two 
halves  of  his  army  in  succession.  He  was  not, 
however,  to  have  so  easy  a  victory.  Early  had 
heard  at  Martinsburg  of  Grant's  visit,  and,  conclud- 

1  "  Had  Sheridan  "by  a  prompt  way  through,    as  there  was  no  Early, 

movement    thrown     his     whole  escape  for  me  to  the  right  or  left,  "Memoir 

force  on  the  line  of  my  commu-  and  my  force  was  too  weak  to  year  o/the 

nications,    I    would    have    been  cross  the  Potomac  while  he  was  War," 

compelled  to  attempt  to  cut  my  in  my  rear."  P*  ^ 


300  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiii.  ing  that  there  would  soon  be  a  movement,  hurried 
back  with  his  troops  to  Stephenson's  Depot,  only- 
four  miles  from  Winchester,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  which  place  his  whole  force  was  concentrated 
the  next  morning.  Sheridan  encountered,  there- 
fore, double  the  number  he  expected ;  but  the  ex- 
cellence of  his  plans  and  the  spirit  of  his  troops 
brought  him  into  the  battle  with  all  the  omens  on 
his  side. 

SeiP8^19,  His  army  was  early  afoot.  The  day  was  fine, 
and  at  the  first  flush  of  dawn  they  marched  across 
the  neutral  ground  which  stretched  from  the  Union 
lines  to  theOpequon.  Wilson,  crossing  the  creek  with 
his  cavalry  before  daylight,  hurried  through  the 
Berryville  canon,  some  two  miles  long,  carried  by 
assault  the  earthworks  which  guarded  its  western 
entrance,  and  then  took  position  on  the  extreme 
left  flank.  The  infantry  followed  rapidly;  the 
Sixth  Corps  deploying  on  the  open,  rolling  ground 
to  the  front  and  left  of  the  defile,  and  the  Nine- 
teenth on  the  right.  The  position  was  about  two 
miles  from  Winchester;  a  Confederate  division 
under  Ramseur  was  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  town, 
and  every  movement  of  the  Union  troops  was 
effected  under  heavy  fire.  It  was  noon  before  all 
necessary  dispositions  were  completed  and  the  line 
was  ready  to  advance.  By  this  time  Rodes  and 
Gordon  had  been  hurried  down  from  Stephenson's 
Depot,  and  placed  in  line,  in  the  order  named, 
upon  Ramseur's  left. 

The  sun  was  crossing  the  meridian  as  the  line 
moved  forward  across  the  open  fields  against  the 
enemy  who  were  posted  in  a  belt  of  woods.  Wilson, 
on  the  left,  struck  the  cavalry  force  of  L.  L.  Lomax 


SHERIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  301 

and  forced  him  back ;  Wright,  with  the  Sixth  ch.  xm. 
Corps,  advancing  on  the  pike,  engaged  Ramseur 
and  Rodes,  gaining  ground  constantly;  Cuvier 
Grover's  division  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps  pushed  8ei864.19' 
forward  against  Gordon  and  drove  the  enemy  with 
such  impetuousity  as  to  break  the  continuity  of 
the  Union  line.  The  advance  on  the  right  was 
stopped  by  a  terrific  fire  from  Braxton's  guns ;  and 
C.  A.  Battle's  fresh  brigade  of  Rodes's  division, 
which  arrived  at  that  moment  from  Stephenson's, 
charged  at  the  broken  point  of  junction  between  the 
Sixth  and  Nineteenth  Corps,  and  for  a  moment  drove 
back  the  center  and  checked  the  advance  of  the 
whole  line.  In  this  charge  General  Rodes  lost  his 
life — a  damage  not  compensated  by  the  momentary 
success.  The  tide  was  instantly  turned  by  a  charge 
of  equal  gallantry  from  the  National  side  attended 
by  an  equal  calamity.  A  brigade  of  General  D.  A. 
Russell's  division,  led  by  Russell  and  Upton  in 
person,  rushed  with  splendid  courage  and  swiftness 
into  the  gap,  struck  the  advancing  Confederates  in 
flank,  driving  them  back  and  taking  many  prisoners, 
and  reestablished  the  Union  line  —  but  the  gallant 
and  devoted  Russell  fell  dead  at  the  moment  of  his 
victory. 

Up  to  this  time  Crook  had  been  held  in  reserve ; 
it  had  been  Sheridan's  original  intention  to  throw 
him  in  upon  the  left  to  turn  the  Confederate  right, 
seize  the  Valley  pike  south  of  Winchester,  and  cut 
off  Early's  retreat ;  and  for  a  while,  even  after  he 
had  discovered  that  he  was  fighting  Early's  whole 
army,  he  hoped  to  accomplish  this  object.  But  the 
energy  of  the  attack  upon  the  Union  right  at  last 
convinced  him  that  it  would  be  best  to  turn  the 


302 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


SHEKIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  303 

Confederate  left  at  whatever  cost,  and  this  task  ch.  xiil 
was  assigned  to  Crook's  force.  He  moved  forward  8e^9' 
at  once  along  the  line  of  the  Red  Bud,  a  little  rivu- 
let which  bounded  the  battlefield  on  the  north,  as 
Abraham's  Run  bounded  it  on  the  south.  H.  F. 
Duval's  division  took  the  north  side  of  the  stream 
and  Joseph  Thoburn's  the  south,  and  they  moved 
together  with  irresistible  momentum  against  the 
bit  of  woods  in  which  General  Gordon's  troops 
were  posted. 

There  was  no  withstanding  the  rush  of  this 
fresh  and  compact  force,  and  Gordon  was  driven 
back  towards  Winchester.  The  Union  cavalry 
were  at  this  juncture  swarming  in  upon  the  Con- 
federate left.  Torbert,  Merritt,  and  Averill  had 
been  fighting  all  day,  with  various  degrees  of  suc- 
cess, on  all  the  roads  running  north  from  Stephen- 
son's; they  had  driven  the  Confederate  cavalry 
pell-mell  before  them  and  had  finally  dislodged 
Breckinridge's  infantry  from  its  advanced  position 
and  forced  it  in  upon  Winchester.  While  this 
cloud  of  hostile  horsemen  was  hovering  upon  his 
left,  in  the  open  country  to  his  right  Early  could 
see  the  threatening  advance  of  Wilson's  column  in 
the  direction  of  the  pike ;  and  in  his  front,  Wright 
and  Emory,  under  Sheridan's  personal  orders,  were 
executing  a  left  half  wheel  of  the  whole  line  of 
battle  to  support  the  victorious  charge  of  Crook. 
In  this  desperate  emergency  Early  behaved  with 
remarkable  coolness  and  skill.  Defeat  was  inevi- 
table ;  his  whole  line  was  breaking  and  retiring. 
But  he  held  off  the  cavalry  as  well  as  he  could,  on 
both  flanks,  detached  a  force  to  the  rear  to  guard 
his  trains,  and  availed  himself  of  an  old  line  of 


304  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiii.  breastworks,  just  outside  of  Winchester,  to  rally 
once  more  his  disordered  battalions.  But  all  ef- 
forts to  retrieve  the  day  were  fruitless.  The  Union 
cavalry  once  more  swooped  around  the  left  flank 
of  the  Confederate  lines;  the  noise  of  battle  in 
their  rear  was  too  much  for  the  nerves  of  the  men 
in  the  breastworks.  They  left  their  shelter,  and 
poured,  a  fluid  mass,  through  Winchester  and  up 
the  Valley  by  the  open  pike. 

Ramseur's  division  still  maintained  its  organiza- 
tion, and  being  formed  on  the  east  and  south  of  the 
town  covered  the  retreat  until  nightfall.  The  Sixth 
Corps  occupied  the  road  parallel  to  the  one  by 
which  Early  was  escaping  but  could  not  efficiently 
pursue  him.  There  is  a  limit  to  human  endurance, 
and  these  troops  had  been  for  fifteen  hours  on  foot, 
marching  and  fighting.  The  reserve  had  been  put 
into  action  on  the  right  and  no  flank  movement 
was  possible  from  that  side.  The  cavalry  followed 
up  the  pike  to  Kernstown  and  came  in  contact 
with  Ramseur,  who  still  held  firm  in  the  rear ;  but 
as  night  came  on  the  pursuit  ceased,  and  the 
beaten  Confederates  marched  on  through  the  dark- 
ness to  Strasburg. 

The  list  of  the  casualties  shows  how  fierce  was 
the  fighting  in  this  fairly  won  battle.  The  loss  on 
the  Union  side  was  nearly  5000,4300  of  whom  were 
killed  and  wounded.  Among  the  killed  was  the 
lamented  Russell ;  among  the  wounded  were  Gen- 
erals E.  Upton,  J.  B.  Mcintosh,  and  G.  H.  Chapman, 
and  Colonels  Isaac  H.  Duval  and  Jacob  Sharpe. 
Early's  loss  was  less,  about  4000,  and  2000  of  these 
were  prisoners ;  he  lost  heavily  in  valuable  officers, 
Generals  R.  E.  Rodes   and  A.  C.  Godwin,   and 


GENERAL    F1TZIIUGH    LEE. 


SHEEIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  305 

Colonel  W.  T.  Patton,  killed ;  Generals  Fitzhugh  ch.  xin. 
Lee  and  Zebulon  York,  severely  wounded.  As  the 
Union  troops  were  constantly  attacking  and  always 
in  the  open  field,  their  heavier  losses  in  killed  and 
wounded  are  readily  accounted  for.  The  victory 
was  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  war.  The 
country  had  become  restive  and  impatient  at  the 
succession  of  costly  and  unremunerative  battles 
which  Grant  had  delivered  in  Virginia.  The  ad- 
vance of  Early  to  the  walls  of  Washington  and  his 
unpunished  retreat,  his  long  visit  to  the  lower  Val- 
ley, his  incendiary  raids  in  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania, had  brought  the  public  mind  to  a  point 
of  exasperation  which  had  in  it  a  serious  danger  to 
the  Union  cause.  This  brilliant  victory  of  Sheri- 
dan, unpromised  and  unheralded,  prepared  with 
infinite  prudence  and  pains,  and  then  carried 
through  with  such  dash  and  valor,  was  greeted 
with  an  outburst  of  patriotic  joy.  Sheridan's 
dispatch,  with  its  trooper-like  phrase,  "We  have 
just  sent  them  whirling  through  Winchester,  and 
we  are  after  them  to-morrow,"  became  a  house- 
hold word  in  a  few  hours  after  it  was  written. 
Grant  fired  a  hundred  guns  from  each  of  his 
armies  at  Petersburg  and  urged  Sheridan  to 
"  push  his  success."  The  President  appointed  the 
young  hero  a  brigadier-general  in  the  regular 
army  and  placed  him  in  permanent  command  of 
the  Middle  Division ;  and  sent  him  a  telegram,  the 
manuscript  of  which  hangs  framed  in  his  house,  a 
rich  legacy  to  his  children :  "  Have  just  heard  of 
your  great  victory.    God  bless  you  all,  officers  and 

rtj.  -.-tjx  1  8ept.20, 

men.     Strongly  inclined  to  come  up  and  see  you.    i864.   ms. 
—  A.  Lincoln." 
Vol.  IX.— 20 


306  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiil  It  was,  in  fact,  not  easy  to  exaggerate  the  impor- 
tance of  Sheridan's  achievement.  By  patiently  bid- 
ing his  time,  by  restraining  his  own  spirit  which  was 
naturally  ardent  and  enterprising,  until  he  saw  a 
prospect  of  almost  certain  success,  and  then  by 
striking  with  all  his  might,  he  had  rendered  an 
inestimable  service,  at  a  time  when  it  was  much 
needed.  The  lower  Valley  was  by  the  battle  of  the 
Opequon  permanently  rescued  from  Confederate 
control;  its  loyal  inhabitants  saved  from  further 
spoliation ;  its  rich  harvests  garnered  in  peace ; 
the  railroads  and  canals  restored  to  traffic.  The 
National  capital  was  never  again  subject  to  threat 
or  insult  from  an  enemy ;  the  soil  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland  was  never  again  trodden  by  a  hostile 
foot. 

sept.,  ism.  Early  established  himself  on  the  20th  two  miles 
south  of  Strasburg  at  Fisher's  Hill,  the  strongest 
defensive  position  in  the  Valley.  His  right,  under 
Wharton,  was  protected  by  the  hill  and  by  the 
north  fork  of  the  Shenandoah;  his  left,  the  dis- 
mounted cavalry  under  Lomax,  was  posted  at  the 
base  of  Little  North  Mountain ;  the  interval  was 
filled  by  Gordon's,  Ramseur's,  and  Pegrara's  divi- 
sions, in  the  order  named,  from  right  to  left.  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee's  cavalry,  now  under  W.  C.  Wickham,  was 
posted  at  Millford,  in  the  Luray  Valley,  to  guard 
against  a  movement  on  the  Confederate  right  and 
rear  —  a  precaution,  as  it  turned  out,  of  the  greatest 
value.  Thus  posted,  General  Early  felt  himself 
Early,      secure,  hoping  that  Sheridan  would  arrive,  look  at 

"Memoir  '         e      °  7 

YeSo/the  n^s  position,  and  retire,  as  had  happened  a  month 

^.a99.      before.    But  a  very  different  spirit  now  animated 

the  two  armies.    The  moment  the  National  troops 


SHEKIDAN  IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  307 

arrived,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  20th,  they  began  to    ch.  xiii. 
take  up  positions  which  could  mean  nothing  but   sept.ise*. 
aggression.     All  that  Early  could  see  in  the  way 
of  gradual  approach  and  careful  reconnaissance 
convinced  him  at  last  that  he  would  have  to  endure 
an  energetic  attack ;  but  what  was  going  on  out  of 
his  sight  was  more   serious  still.     Sheridan  was 
engaged  during  the  21st   in  posting  Wright  and 
Emory,  the  one  on  the  right,  the  other  on  the  left, 
as   near  as  convenient    to   the    enemy,   and  suc- 
ceeded in  occupying,  after  a  sharp  skirmish  with 
troops  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  the  high  ground  on  the 
north  of  Tumbling  Run,  a  swift  brook  which  ran 
directly  in  front  of  the  Confederate  position.    When 
this  point  had  been  gained,  it  was  quickly  fortified, 
and  there  was  a  certain  comfort  to  General  Early  in 
the  sound  of  the  pioneers' axes  and  in  the  work  of  the 
engineers  under  his  very  eyes.     He  began,  he  says, 
to  think  Sheridan  "  was  satisfied  with  the  advantage  "nSfeof 
he  had  gained  and  would  not  probably  press  it  fur-  Year  oAhe 
ther."    But  Sheridan,  instantly  on  arriving,  had  re-      p-  ab- 
solved to  repeat  his  tactics  of  the  19th,  and  send 
Crook  round  the  enemy's  left  flank.    With  admir- 
able silence  and  secrecy  this  was  accomplished, 
without  the  knowledge  of  Early's  vigilant  lookout 
on  Three  Top  Mountain.    Crook,  with  the  Eighth 
Corps,  gained  the  flank  of  Little  North  Mountain, 
and  then  stole  along  its  rugged  side,  under  cover    shendan, 
of  the  woods,  until  he  came  upon  the  Confederate  FebXisee. 
left  and  rear. 

In  the  mean  while,  Ricketts's  division  of  the  Sixth 
Corps  was  thrown  well  forward  and  to  the  left  of 
the  Confederate  center,  producing  the  impression 
that  the  attack  would  be  made  from  that  direction. 


308 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


SHERIDAN    IN    THE    SHENANDOAH  309 

General  Early,  who,  in  his  ordinary  frame  of  mind,    ch.  xiii. 
would  have  welcomed  such  an  attack  as  he  saw 
himself   threatened  with,  now   only    wished    for 
night  to  come,  and  gave  orders  for  his  troops  to    ((Eariy, 
retire  after  dark.    The  sun  had  already  set,  and  he  ^fe*£ eofLtah^ 
did  not  dream  that  a  battle  and  defeat  could  come       pa£," 
to  him  in  the  short  hour  of  twilight.     But  the  time 
was  ample.    Suddenly,  with  no  more  warning  than 
the  lightning  gives,  Crook  burst  upon  the  division 
of  Lomax,  taking  their  works  in  reverse  and  putting 
them  to  disordered  flight.    Ricketts  immediately 
joined  hands  with  him,  and  the  rest  of  Wright's  and 
Emory's  men  poured  like  a  torrent  into  the  ravine 
of  Tumbling  Run,  and  swarmed  up  its  further  slope 
with  an  irresistible  rush.    The  whole  Confederate 
line  yielded  its  formidable  position  almost  without 
striking  a  blow.     "  After  a  very  brief  contest,"  says       ibid. 
Early,  "  my  whole  force  retired  in  considerable  con- 
fusion."   The  two  defeats  exerted  their  cumulative 
force  upon  them.    They  were  so  amazed  at  Crook's 
sudden  apparition  that  they  imagined  he  had  come 
over  the  mountains  and  taken   the  pike  in  their 
rear,  and  great  numbers  therefore  broke  in  dismay      P.  W 
and  disorder  to  escape  on  the  right  by  the  north 
fork  of  the  Massanutten  range. 

Sept  22 

The  rout  on  the  battlefield  was  complete ;  sixty  lsei.  ' 
guns  were  abandoned  in  the  flight  of  the  Confed- 
erates, and  a  thousand  prisoners  were  taken.  The 
rest  escaped  in  the  darkness ;  and  if  the  cavalry 
which  had  been  sent  under  Torbert,  down  the  Luray 
Valley,  could  have  executed  their  orders  to  cross 
by  Massanutten  Gap  to  New  Market,  Early's  whole 
army  would  have  been  captured  or  destroyed. 
But  they  found  Wickham  strongly  posted  at  Mill- 


310  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xiii.  ford,  and  Torbert,  knowing  nothing  of  the  battle 
and  victory  at  Fisher's  Hill,  did  not  feel  justified  in 
making  the  sacrifice  which  would  have  been  re- 
quired to  carry  the  lines  by  assault.  When  the 
news  came,  it  was  too  late  to  profit  by  it.  Early 
was  driven  up  the  Valley  at  headlong  speed,  but 
pursuing  infantry  never  overtake  infantry  who  are 
running  for  their  lives,  and  even  the  cavalry  en- 
gaged in  this  stern  chase  touched  Early's  rear 
guard  only  once  or  twice.  He  marched  with  the 
greatest  expedition  up  the  Valley  to  New  Market, 
but  instead  of  going  on  to  Harrisonburg  he  turned 
to  the  east  and  took  the  Keezeltown  road  to  Port 
Republic  and  Brown's  Gap,  where  he  arrived  on 

Sept.,  1864.  the  25th,  and  where  shelter  and  succor  awaited 
him. 


CHAPTER    XIV 


CEDAR    CREEK 


GENERAL  LEE  had  recognized  the  error  of  the  chap.  xrv. 
detachment  of  R.  H.  Anderson  when  it  was  me*, 
too  late  to  be  remedied.  In  fact  he  had  never 
been  urgent  in  his  demands  for  those  troops;  he 
had  merely  represented  to  Early  his  pressing 
need  and  asked  for  them  if  they  could  be  spared. 
Writing  just  before  the  battle  of  the  Opequon 
when — although  he  did  not  know  it — the  detach- 
ment was  already  on  the  march,  he  said,  "  I  wish 
you  to  defeat  Sheridan  if  your  strength  is  suf- 
ficient. He  seems  disposed  to  protect  himself 
under  his  intrenchments.  If  you  could  draw 
him  up  the  Valley  " —  this  proved  an  easy  task  — 
"and  fall  upon  him  suddenly  or  throw  a  body 
of  troops  behind  him  you  might  succeed  in  de-  toEl?iy, 
f eating  him."  After  the  battle  had  been  fought  ei8ei.7' 
and  lost,  Early,  in  the  angry  candor  of  defeat, 
wrote  from  Port  Republic  that  Sheridan's  superior- 
ity in  cavalry  and  the  inefficiency  of  the  Confeder- 
ate horse  had  been  the  cause  of  his  disaster ;  that 
the  first  trouble  at  Fisher's  Hill  would  "  have  been 
remedied  if  the  troops  had  remained  steady,  but  a 
panic  seized  them  at  the  idea  of  being  flanked,  and 
without  being  defeated  they  broke,  many  of  them 


312 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


Chap.  XIV. 

Early 
to  Lee, 
Sept.  25, 
1864.    Pond, 
"The 
Shenan- 
doah 
Valley," 
p.  184. 


Lee 
to  Early, 
Sept.  27, 

1864. 

,.  ™L°ng-' 
"  Meujoira 

of 

R.  E.  Lee," 

p.  660. 


Sheridan, 
Report  of 
Operations 

from 

Aug.  4,  1864, 

to  Feb.  27, 

1865. 


fleeing  shamefully.  The  artillery  was  not  captured 
by  the  enemy,  but  abandoned  by  the  infantry." 
On  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  in  which  the  beaten 
general  unpacked  his  heart  with  such  bitter  words 
against  his  unfortunate  soldiers,  Lee  at  once 
ordered  all  available  force  to  his  support,  Ker- 
shaw's infantry  and  Rosser's  cavalry,  besides 
promising  the  cooperation  of  Breckinridge;  and 
wrote  a  letter  of  kindly  and  cheerful  encourage- 
ment. "  I  very  much  regret  the  reverses  that  have 
occurred  in  the  Valley,  but  trust  they  can  be  rem- 
edied. The  arrival  of  Kershaw  will  add  greatly 
to  your  strength.  .  .  It  will  require  that  every 
one  should  exert  all  his  energies  and  strength  to 
meet  the  emergency.  One  victory  will  put  all 
things  to  rights.  .  .  Manoeuvre  so,  if  you  can,  as 
to  keep  the  enemy  in  check  until  you  can  strike 
him  with  all  your  strength."  He  urged  upon  him 
a  policy  of  concentration  and  the  utmost  vigilance ; 
told  him  he  had  sent  him  all  the  reserves  in  the 
Valley.  "  The  enemy  must  be  defeated  and  I  rely 
upon  you  to  do  it.  .  .  Set  all  your  officers  to  work 
bravely  and  hopefully  and  all  will  go  well.  .  .  The 
enemy's  force  cannot  be  so  greatly  superior  to 
yours.  His  effective  infantry  I  do  not  think  ex- 
ceeds 12,000  men";  an  estimate  somewhat  under 
the  truth,  but  far  nearer  to  it  than  the  frantic  ex- 
aggeration of  Early. 

The  question  that  now  presented  itself  to  Sheri- 
dan was  whether  or  not  he  should  follow  the  en- 
emy to  Brown's  Gap,  drive  him  out,  and  advance 
on  Charlottesville  and  Gordonsville.  He  could,  of 
course,  have  done  nothing  which  would  have  been 
more  agreeable  to  Grant ;  but  he  was  sufficiently 


CEDAK    CREEK 


313 


Report 


Supple- 
ment, 

Vol.  II., 
p.  41. 


secure  in  the  confidence  and  regard  of  his  com- 
mander to  follow  his  own  judgment,  and  he  acted 
with  his  usual  intelligence  and  prudence  in  decid- 
ing against  the  move.  He  saw  that  a  considerable 
force  would  have  been  required  to  protect  the  new 
line  from  Alexandria,  another  to  guard  the  Valley. 
"  Then,"  as  he  said,  "  there  was  the  additional 
reason  of  the  uncertainty  as  to  whether  the  army 
in  front  of  Petersburg  could  hold  the  entire  force 
of  General  Lee  there,  and,  in  case  it  could  not,  a  oiT™ducet 
sufficient  number  might  be  detached  and  moved  ^lStX*' 
rapidly  by  rail  and  overwhelm  me,  quickly  return- 
ing." It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  at  the 
very  moment  when  Sheridan  was  balancing  these 
considerations  in  his  mind  and  wisely  acting  upon 
them,  the  President  was  sending  this  dispatch  to 
General  Grant.  "  I  hope  it  will  have  no  constraint 
on  you,  nor  do  harm  any  way,  for  me  to  say  I  am 
a  little  afraid  lest  Lee  sends  reinforcements  to 
Early,  and  thus  enables  him  to  turn  upon  Sheri- 
dan." Lincoln  and  Sheridan  took  precisely  the 
same  view  of  the  matter,  which  was  correct,  though 
it  was  not  the  view  taken  at  first  by  Grant,  who 
thought  he  could  prevent  any  reenforcement  being 
sent  by  Lee  from  Eichmond. 

Having  resolved  upon  terminating  his  campaign 
at  Harrisonburg,  and  sending  a  part  of  his  army 
back  to  Petersburg,  a  course  which  received  the 
approval  of  General  Grant  in  consideration  of 
the  needs  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  after  Deep 
Bottom  and  the  extension  of  his  lines  to  the  Wel- 
don  road,  Sheridan  thoroughly  devastated  the 
upper  Valley  and  destroyed  such  bridges  as  were 
within  his  reach,  and  on  the  6th  of  October  began 


Lincoln  to 

Grant, 

Sept.  29, 

1864.     MS. 


314  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  his  retrograde  movement,  capturing  or  destroying 
all  subsistence  as  he  went,  but  giving  the  most 
Oct.,  law.    stringent  orders  against  burning  dwellings.    Early, 
taking  renewed  heart  both  from  his  strong  and 
welcome  reinforcements  in  horse,  foot,  and  artil- 
««  »^m&of  lery,  and  from  the  supposed  retreat  of  his  enemy, 
Yea?  of  the  f ollowed,  his  cavalry  being  in  advance,  in  what  he 
p.wk      imagined  was  a  hot  pursuit.    On  the  evening  of 
the  8th,  having  arrived  at  Fisher's  Hill,  Sheridan 
ordered  Torbert  to  engage  and  defeat  the  Confed- 
erate cavalry  at  daylight,  which  was  done  with  great 
energy  and  thoroughness.     T.  L.  Rosser,  who  had 
succeeded  Wickham  in  the  command  of  Fitzhugh 
Lee's  division,  and  Lomax  were  utterly  routed, 
after  a  short  engagement,  losing,  as  Sheridan  said, 
"  everything  they  had  on  wheels,"  and  running  for 
twenty  miles. 

The  next  day  Sheridan  crossed  Cedar  Creek  and 
went  into  camp  on  the  north  bank ;  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  send  the  Sixth  Corps  from  this  point  to 
join  Grant  at  Petersburg,  and  the  march,  by  way 
of  Ashby's  Gap,  was  actually  begun;   but  Early, 
having  again  advanced  and  resumed  his  position 
at  Fisher's  Hill,  Wright  was  brought  back  to  await 
further  developments.    At  this  moment  Grant  once 
more  reverted  to  his  favorite  idea  of  a  movement 
on  Gordonsville  and  of  the  establishment  of  a  base 
for  that  purpose  in  the  vicinity  of  Manassas  Gap ; 
Sheridan.    Sheridan,  not  agreeing  as  to  its  advisability,  after 
operations   some    correspondence    with    General  Halleck,   in 
Auglviwa,  compliance  with  an  invitation  from  the  Secretary 
0  lsk    '    of  War  started  for  Washington  for  a  consultation 
on   the   evening  of  the  15th;   believing  that  the 
enemy  could  not  accomplish  much  in  his  absence 


CEDAK    CKEEK  315 

and  not  thinking  best  to  attack  him  at  Fisher's  chap.xiv. 
Hill.  He  took  with  him  all  the  cavalry,  intending 
to  push  it  through  Chester  Gap  to  Charlottesville, 
while  he  went  on  to  Washington  by  rail.  But  on 
arriving  at  Front  Royal  he  received  a  telegram 
from  General  Wright,  who  had  been  left  in  com- 
mand at  Cedar  Creek,  indicating  that  an  attack  was 
expected  from  Early.  Sheridan  therefore  sent  the 
cavalry  back  to  Wright,  and  proceeded  on  his  way 
to  Washington.  He  arrived  there  on  the  17th,  oct.ise*. 
left  the  same  day,  and  reached  Winchester  on  the 
evening  of  the  18th.  All  being  quiet  he  spent  the 
night  there,  and  the  next  morning  rode  tranquilly 
out  of  the  town  on  the  way  to  his  army.  About 
nine  o'clock  he  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  heavy  Sheridan, 
artillery  firing,  and  immediately  after  found  to  his  commFttee 

J  °'  .  ...  .on  Conduct 

dismay  the  road  filled  with  fugitives  in  blue  uni-  of  Jj£jJap* 
forms,  "trains  and  men  coming  to  the  rear  with     'JHJJf" 
appalling  rapidity."    A  great  disaster  seemed  in    ^lJ^u. 
progress  —  but  out  of  this  disaster  was  to  emerge 
for  him  an  immortal  renown. 

General  Early,  finding  himself  by  the  total  de- 
struction of  provisions  in  the  Valley  reduced  to  the 
alternative  of  fighting  or  retreating,  had  resolved 
to  attack  Sheridan  in  his  position.  In  planning 
his  attack  he  had  one  enormous  advantage ;  from 
his  signal  station  at  the  point  where  the  Massa- 
nutten  range  comes  to  an  end  above  the  Shenan- 
doah, his  topographical  officers  could  scan  the 
Union  camps  like  a  map,  and  mark  every  road, 
every  ford,  and  every  intrenchment  for  miles 
around.  The  point  from  which  General  Wright 
eventually  expected  an  attack  to  come  was  on  his 
right,  where  the  Back  road  crossed  the  shallow 


316  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  rivulet,  and  he  had  taken  his  measures  accordingly. 
But  Early  discovered  that  by  crossing  the  north 
fork  of  the  Shenandoah  he  could  move  down  the 
eastern  bank,  through  fields  occupied  by  his  cav- 
alry, by  a  narrow  pathway  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  crossing  again  by  a  ford  below  the  mouth 
of  Cedar  Creek,  could  come  in  upon  the  rear  of  the 
left  flank  of  the  Union  army.  He  therefore  re- 
solved upon  this  scheme,  and  made  his  preparations 
with  creditable  skill  and  energy.  He  placed  this 
flanking  force,  consisting  of  three  divisions,  Gor- 
don, Ramseur,  and  Pegram,  under  Gordon,  and  as 

Oct.,  1864.  soon  as  it  was  dark  on  the  night  of  the  18th  sent 
him  across  the  river  with  orders  to  be  in  position 
to  attack  by  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  —  a  little 
before  daybreak. 

He  himself  moved  an  hour  after  midnight,  with 
Kershaw's  and  Wharton's  divisions,  by  the  turn- 
pike through  Strasburg,  leaving  orders  for  the 
artillery  to  wait  until  the  last  moment,  and  then 
to  gallop  down  the  pike,  as  he  wished  to  avoid 
giving  the  alarm  by  the  rumbling  of  the  wheels 
over  the  macadam.  It  is  a  curious  instance  of  the 
personal  malevolence  which  had  grown  up  in  his 
mind  against  his  adversary,  that  a  part  of  his  plan 

..»Far1^'  ,  embraced  the  seizure  of  Sheridan  in  his  headquar- 

"  Memoir  oi  ± 

Year otuie  ^ers  by  a  strong  force  of  cavalry.  The  march  was 
p'ub!  accomplished  with  perfect  success.  Early's  own 
column  separated  at  Strasburg.  Wharton  con- 
tinued on  the  pike  with  orders  not  to  show  himself 
until  the  attack  was  made  on  the  left,  and  Early 
remained  with  Kershaw,  who  bore  off  to  the  right 
to  attack  Crook's  left  flank  at  Bowman's  Mill,  while 
Gordon  came  in  on  his  rear.     They  came  in  sight 


CEDAR    CREEK  317 

of  the  Union  campfires  at  three  o'clock ;  the  moon  chap.  xiv. 
gave  sufficient  light  to  guide  their  march.  With 
unbounded  joy  and  confidence  Early  saw  his  enemy  oct.19,1864. 
apparently  delivered  into  his  hands;  he  gave  his 
final  commands  at  his  leisure,  and  at  half -past  four, 
the  distant  sound  of  carbines  having  been  heard 
on  his  left,  where  Eosser's  cavalry  was  attacking 
Custer,  and  a  rattle  of  musketry  from  the  right, 
which  showed  that  Gordon  was  brushing  the 
pickets  away  from  the  ford,  he  sent  Kershaw  for- 
ward. His  division,  veiled  by  the  mist  of  the 
morning,  poured  like  phantoms  over  Crook's  in- 
trenchments,  capturing  seven  guns  and  turning 
them  on  their  flying  owners,  and  the  troops  in 
camp  suddenly  aroused  out  of  sleep. 

The  surprise  was  perfect;1  Crook's  soldiers 
were  good  ones,  but  they  had  been  in  battle  often 
enough  to  know  the  best  thing  they  could  do, 
under  the  circumstances,  was  to  go ;  though 
General  Thoburn,  the  gallant  commander  of  the 
first  division,  lost  his  life  in  an  attempt  to  stem 
the  disaster.  The  second  division,  under  a  gen- 
eral who  afterwards  commanded  the  armies  and 
navies  of  the  United  States,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
held  firm  after  the  first  had  melted  away,  and 
Wright,  Crook,  and  Emory,  roused  by  the  tumult, 
speedily  formed  a  line  to  resist  Kershaw's  ad- 
vance, which  would  doubtless  have  been  effective 
had  it  not  been  that  the  moment  it  was  ready 

i  General  Wright,  in  his  report,  the  troops  into  unusual  security, 

written  November  27, 1865,  says  Sheridan,     in    his    "Memoirs" 

that  a  reconnaissance  sent  out  (Vol.  II.,  p.  96),  says,  with  equal 

by  Crook  on  the  18th  reported  justice    and    generosity:    "The 

the  enemy  retreating,   and  that  surprise  of   the   morning  might 

this    report,    spreading    through  have  befallen  me  as  well  as  the 

the  camp,   had  probably  lulled  general  on  whom  it  did  descend." 


318 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


CEDAR    CREEK 


319 


320  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  Gordon,  with  his  three  divisions,  came  thundering 
in  from  the  left  and  rear,  out  of  a  heavy  fog  which 

Oct.  i9, 1864.  had  favored  his  march  from  the  river.  The  rest  of 
Crook's  corps,  under  this  unexpected  and  terrific 
onslaught,  streamed  away  to  the  right  and  rear ; 
and  left  the  Nineteenth  Corps  uncovered  and 
wholly  unprepared  for  resistance.  General  Wright, 
seeing  the  serious  disadvantage  of  attempting  to 
hold  his  original  line  with  the  enemy  on  the  flank 
of  the  Nineteenth  Corps,  at  once  ordered  Getty  to 
take  the  Sixth  Corps,  which  was  intact  and  in 
perfect  condition,  to  tenable  ground  in  the  rear, 
and  directed  Emory  to  fall  back  and  take  position 
on  the  right  of  the  Sixth.  These  orders  were 
promptly  executed,  and  from  the  moment  the  tide 
of  battle  struck  the  heroic  Sixth  Corps  the  current 
of  Confederate  victory  was  stayed;  for  although 
they  withdrew  first  to  a  point  west  of  Middletown, 
and  afterwards  to  one  north  of  that  place,  they 
fought  with  undaunted  energy,  and,  making  Early 
pay  dearly  for  every  foot  gained,  finally  brought 
him  to  a  stand. 

But  at  first  a  great  victory  seemed  secured  to 
him.  As  soon  as  he  saw  Crook's  intrenchments 
carried  by  Kershaw's  rush,  he  rode  to  the  left, 
where  Wharton  and  the  artillery  had  arrived,  and 
there  heard  the  welcome  racket  of  Gordon's  mus- 
ketry in  the  rear  of  the  Union  lines.  The  sun  was 
rising,  and  it  must  have  seemed  to  him  the  sun  of 
Austerlitz,  as  he  ordered  Wharton  forward  and 
riding  in  advance  of  him  over  the  stream  met 
Gordon  on  the  opposite  hill.  The  success  had  not 
been  gained  gratis,  for  Gordon  reported  to  his  chief 
that  the  fighting  had  been  severe.    But  Crook  and 


GENERAL    HORATIO    G.  WRIGHT. 


CEDAE    CKEEK  321 

Emory,  so  far  as  he  could  judge,  were  in  complete  chap.xiv. 
rout,  and  he  anticipated  an  easy  task  in  the  demo- 
lition of  the  Sixth  Corps.    Eamseur  and  Pegram  oct.io.ise*. 
told  him  their  divisions  were  in  line  confronting  it, 
but  that  there  was  a  vacancy  on  their  right  which 
should  be  filled ;  he  ordered  Wharton's  fresh  divi- 
sion forward  for  that  purpose.    But  in  a  very  short  «MSrof 
time,  to  his  great  disappointment,  "Wharton's  di-  ySoftL 
vision,"  he  says,  "  came  back  in  some  confusion."      JSSfc 
They  had  gone  gallantly  in,  expecting  to  share  in 
the  pursuit  of  fugitives,  but  they  were  greeted  with 
a  withering   fire  from    Getty's    division  —  under 
command  of  "Vermont "  [Lewis  A.]  Grant  —  before 
which  they  staggered;  upon  this  Grant's  troops 
rushed  out  from  their  position  and  drove  the  Con- 
federates headlong  down  the  hill ;  Early's  artillery 
now  opened  with  a  furious  fire,  which  checked  the 
counter-charge.    General  Bidwell,  who  had  made 
the  gallant  sortie  from  the  works  at  Washington  a 
few  months  before,  fell  mortally  wounded  at  this 
point. 

It  was  now  nine  o'clock;  the  sun  had  dis-  oct.isuse*. 
persed  the  fogs  of  the  morning;  the  sanguine 
energy  of  the  Confederate  attack  was  constantly 
diminishing.  The  defense  of  the  Union  officers 
was  becoming  more  coherent.  They  were  not  yet, 
however,  ready  to  advance,  nor  even  sure  of  hold- 
ing their  own ;  and  in  face  of  the  powerful  artillery 
of  Early  which  was  in  full  action,  and  of  evident 
preparations  for  assault  on  the  Confederate  left, 
Wright  withdrew  his  troops  to  a  point  north  of 
Middletown,  where  he  established  them  in  a  good 
position  and  awaited  Early's  attack  behind  hastily 
improvised  defenses.    Early  came  on  with  as  much 

Vol.  IX.— 21 


322  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  speed  as  possible,  intent  upon  finishing  his  day's 
work,  and  when  he  arrived  in  front  of  Wright's 
new  lines  he  sent  pressing  orders  to  his  division 
commanders  to  attack.  But  his  aides  came  back  to 
him  from  every  part  of  the  field  with  surprisingly 
unsatisfactory  reports.  Kershaw  said,"  His  division 
was  not  in  condition  to  make  the  attack,  as  it  was 
very  much  scattered,  and  there  was  a  cavalry  force 
threatening  him  in  front."  Gordon's  division,  an 
aide  reported,  was  not  fit  to  attack  and  he  had  not 

••MemSrof  delivered  the  order.    Early  says  he  himself  had 

Year  of  the  seen  a  number  of  men  plundering  the  captured 
p-  "*.  camps,  and  this  disorder  increased  all  day.  Both 
on  the  right  and  the  left  the  Union  cavalry  was 
strong,  and  the  recollection  of  their  work  at 
Fisher's  Hill  gave  Early  great  concern  for  his 
flanks. 

This  uneasiness  so  grew  upon  him  that  when, 
at  last,  on  Gordon  coming  up,  he  ordered  him 
to  attack,  in  consideration  of  the  strength  of  the 
Union  cavalry,  he  told  Gordon,  if  the  enemy's 
line  seemed  too  strong,  not  to  make  the  assault, 
and  Gordon,  availing  himself  of  that  proviso,  did 
not  assault.  "  It  was  now  apparent,"  says  General 
Early,  "  that  it  would  not  do  to  press  my  troops 
further.  They  had  been  up  all  night  and  were 
much  jaded.  In  passing  over  rough  ground  to 
attack  the  enemy  in  the  early  morning,  their  own 
ranks  had  been  much  disordered,  and  the  men  scat- 
tered, and  it  had  required  time  to  re-form  them. 
Their  ranks,  moreover,  were  much  thinned  by  the  ab- 
sence of  the  men  engaged  in  plundering  the  enemy's 

ibid.,  p.  no.  camps.  .  ."  In  this  state  of  things  the  only  preoc- 
cupation of  the  Confederate  general  was  to  get 


CEDAE    CREEK  323 

safely  away  from  the  field  with  his  spoil.  His  pris-  chap.  xrv. 
oners,  some  fourteen  hundred,  had  already  been 
sent  to  the  rear  on  the  way  to  Richmond  and  he 
hoped,  by  holding  his  line  until  nightfall,  to  be 
able  either  to  retire  in  safety  or  rally  his  disordered 
columns  for  new  successes.  But  the  choice  of 
advance  or  retreat  was  no  longer  his;  he  had 
reached  his  highest  tide  of  achievement;  a  swift 
and  final  ebb  was  to  follow.  The  initiative  had 
already  passed  into  younger  and  abler  hands  than 
his  own ;  Sheridan  had  arrived  at  the  lines  in  his 
front. 

He  had  ridden,  with  an  escort  of  twenty  men, 
devouring  the  ground,  for  twelve  miles  amid  the  oct.ie.isw. 
horrid  signs  of  defeat  that  incumbered  the  road : 
giving  orders  all  the  way  to  stop  the  stragglers,  to 
park  the  guns;  appealing  with  vehement  energy 
to  the  fugitives  to  turn  from  the  way  of  dishonor  to 
their  duty ;  and  to  use  his  own  admirable  phrase, 
"Hundreds  of  the  men,  who  on  reflection  found 
they  had  not  done  themselves  justice,  came  back 
with  cheers."  Arriving  at  the  front  he  was  received  Report? ' 
with  an  indescribable  tumult  of  joy ;  he  found  the 
Sixth  Corps  and  the  cavalry  intact ;  all  the  horse 
and  G-etty's  division  of  infantry  opposing  the 
enemy  and  two  other  divisions  about  two  miles 
to  the  right  and  rear.  He  immediately  took  com- 
mand, Wright  resuming  charge  of  the  Sixth  Corps 
and  Getty  that  of  his  own  division.  Sheridan 
ordered  all  the  troops  in  the  rear  up  to  Gretty's 
line,  where  he  proposed  to  make  his  fight,  and  with 
his  fiery  and  contagious  energy  began  to  put  every- 
thing in  shape  for  battle.  He  sent  Custer's  cavalry 
back  to  the  right;  ordered  a  line  of  battle  to  be 


324  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. xiv.  formed  prolonging  that  of  Getty;  his  ride  to  the 
front  on  his  well-known  black  charger  had  caused 
the  men  to  reflect,  and  the  first  fruit  of  their  reflec- 
tion was  that  they  came  back — not  merely  by 
hundreds  but  by  thousands1  —  and  filled  up  the  de- 
pleted ranks  of  the  regiments  in  line.  So  that  the 
strange  spectacle  was  presented,  of  an  army  sur- 
prised and  beaten  in  the  morning,  forced  back  four 
miles,  then  suddenly  recovering  its  tone  and  spirit, 
and  actually  increasing  its  effective  strength,  while 
the  victorious  enemy  grew  weaker  and  more  lan- 

oct. i9,i864.  guid  every  hour.  When  Early  made  his  last  inef- 
fective attack  about  one  o'clock  it  was  readily 
repulsed  by  the  Nineteenth  Corps  and  part  of  the 
Sixth. 

But  Sheridan  was  not  satisfied  with  repulsing 
the  enemy.  As  he  galloped  up  the  Valley  he  had 
shouted  to  his  troops,  "  We  are  going  to  get  back 
those  camps  and  those  guns  ! "  and  at  four  o'clock 
he  felt  that  he  was  ready  to  keep  his  word.  He 
gave  the  order  to  advance,  riding  up  and  down  the 
lines  in  the  midst  of  tempestuous  cheering,  and  the 
whole  command  sprang  forward  with  an  impulse 
which  made  victory  secure  in  advance.  Wright 
was  on  the  left,  Emory  on  the  right,  Crook  in  col- 
umn in  reserve ;  Custer  and  Merritt  led  the  cavalry 
on  the  right  and  left  flanks  respectively.  One 
spirit  animated  the  whole  mass,  and  there  was  no 
beating  them  back.  Their  advance  was  by  no 
means  unopposed.  Early  had  protected  his  lines 
with  breastworks,  and  in  front  of  Emory  a  vigor- 

1  Colonel  B.  W.  Crowninshield  the  command  of  General  Crook, 

says  two  thousand    men  of  all  then    on  the    extreme   left  and 

corps  came  with  him  from  near  rear.     See  Pond,  "The  Shenan- 

Newtown  and  were  turned  over  to  doah,"  p.  236. 


CEDAK    CREEK  325 

ous  resistance  was  made.  The  Confederate  flank  chap.xiv. 
here  overlapped  the  Union  right ;  but  a  charge  by 
James  W.  McMillan's  brigade  into  the  reentering  oct.w.is&t. 
angle  thus  formed  broke  the  rebel  line ;  Gordon's 
brigades,  mindful  of  former  terrible  experiences  on 
the  left  flank,  crumbled  away  one  by  one,  commu- 
nicating their  confusion  to  the  right  as  the  rest  of 
the  line  was  attacked ;  and  Wright's  corps  moved 
forward  driving  the  enemy  before  them.  Merritt's 
cavalry  charged  through  Middletown,  sweeping  the 
roads  on  the  left,  but  meeting  a  heavy  loss  in 
the  death  of  Colonel  Charles  Russell  Lowell,  of  the 
Reserve  Brigade  (composed  for  the  most  part  of 
Regular  troops),  a  young  officer  of  the  noblest  char- 
acter and  the  most  brilliant  accomplishments.1 

Early  speaks  with  perhaps  undeserved  severity  of 
the  conduct  of  his  own  troops:  "Every  effort  was 
made  to  stop  and  rally  Kershaw's  and  Ramseur's 
men,  but  the  mass  of  them  resisted  all  appeals,  and  .<]£;!&  of 
continued  to  go  to  the  rear  without  waiting  for  any  Yea?  JftL 
effort  to  retrieve  the  partial  disorder."  Ramseur  p.ue. 
himself  opposed  a  bold  front  to  inevitable  disaster, 
and,  gathering  a  few  hundred  brave  men  together, 
fought  till  he  fell  mortally  wounded.  Wharton  and 
Pegram  on  the  pike  were  the  last  to  give  way,  but 
once  started  their  commands  also  went  to  pieces, 
and  the  rout  was  complete.  The  National  infantry 
pursued  no  farther  than  Hupp's  Hill,  but  the  cav* 
airy  of  Custer  and  Devin  dashed  upon  the  fugi- 
tives. At  a  little  brook,  near  Fisher's  Hill,  a  bridge 
broke  down,  and  the  road  was  instantly  blocked ; 

1  "  I  do  not  think  there  was    perfection  of  a  man  and  a  sol- 
a  quality   which   I    could    have    dier. 
added  to  Lowell.    He  was  the  "P.  H.  Sheridan." 


326  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  here  the  cavalry  reaped  a  rich  harvest  of  guns, 
caissons,  wagons,  and  ambulances.  All  the  cap- 
ias*, tured  cannon  of  the  morning  were  recovered,  and 
two  dozen  more  taken.  The  disorganized  force  of 
Early  fled  in  wild  confusion  up  the  Valley  through 
the  night  and  the  next  day,  never  stopping  till  they 
got  to  New  Market.  He  had  lost  in  this  battle 
which  was  so  admirably  planned,  and  which  opened 
so  auspiciously,  about  3000  men,  of  whom  he 
reports  1860  as  killed  and  wounded.  The  Union 
loss  was  in  all  5665,  the  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
being  far  heavier  than  that  of  the  Confederates. 
But  the  net  result  was  vastly  in  favor  of  the  Na- 
tional arms.  The  veteran  force  of  Early,  composed 
of  as  fine  troops  as  the  Confederacy  could  furnish, 
was  so  completely  defeated  in  this  battle  that  it 
never  again  as  a  whole  did  an  efficient  day's  work. 
The  victory  of  Cedar  Creek,  gained  after  a  day  of 
such  dramatic  incidents  and  contrasts,  was  received 
throughout  the  country  with  tumultuous  enthusi- 
asm. It  gave  Sheridan  not  only  the  immense 
popularity  which  he  always  retained,  but  also  a 
place  in  the  confidence  of  the  Government  and  of 
the  troops,  which  greatly  increased  his  efficiency 
and  value.  Grant  said  this  action  "  stamped  Sheri- 
dan, what  I  have  always  thought  him,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  generals."  Meade  generously  joined  in 
unmeasured  praise  of  him.  Congress  and  State 
Legislatures  exhausted  the  language  of  eulogy  in 
their  resolutions.  The  President  immediately  sent 
a  dispatch,  saying,  "With  great  pleasure  I  tender 
to  you  and  your  brave  army  the  thanks  of  the 
nation,  and  my  own  personal  admiration  and  grati- 
tude, for  the  month's  operations  in  the  Shenandoah 


CEDAR    CREEK  327 

Valley;  and  especially  for  the  splendid  work  of  chap.xiv. 
October  19,  1864":    and  the  highest  guerdon  in     0ct-22, 

'  »  °  °  1864.    M8. 

the  gift  of  the  nation  was  to  follow.  On  Novem- 
ber 8  Sheridan  was  appointed  a  major-general  in 
the  regular  army,  and  his  commission  was  accom- 
panied by  words,  dictated  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  the 
warmest  and  most  cordial  appreciation  of  "the 
personal  gallantry,  military  skill,  and  just  confi- 
dence in  the  courage  and  patriotism  of  your  troops, 
displayed  by  you  on  the  19th  day  of  October 
at  Cedar  Run,  whereby,  under  the  blessing  of 
Providence,  your  routed  army  was  reorganized,  a 
great  National  disaster  averted,  and  a  brilliant  vic- 
tory achieved  over  the  rebels  for  the  third  time, 
in  pitched  battle,  within  thirty  days." 

Thoroughly  defeated  as  he  was,  however,  Early 
had  lost  very  little  of  his  numerical  strength ;  and 
the  convalescents  and  conscripts  who  were  sent  to 
him  during  the  weeks  he  remained  at  New  Market, 
together  with  George  B.  Cosby's  brigade,  which  re- 
enforced  him  from  Southwestern  Virginia,  more 
than  made  up  all  his  losses.  Rosser  guarded  the 
Valley  at  Stony  Creek,  a  few  miles  below  Mt.  Jack- 
son, and  Lomax  held  the  Luray  road  at  the  strongly 
fortified  post  at  Millford.  In  these  circumstances 
the  Shenandoah  could  not  be  left  undefended,  and 
the  movement  of  troops  to  Grant,  which  had  been 
checked  by  Early's  advance  on  Cedar  Creek,  was 
not  resumed  after  the  battle.  One  of  the  advan- 
tages of  the  victory  was  that  Sheridan  now  felt 
firm  enough  in  his  place  to  insist  upon  his  own 
opinion,  even  against  the  General-in-Chief,  who 
immediately  recurred  to  his  favorite  idea  of  an  ad- 
vance upon  the  Virginia  Central  Railroad.    This 


328  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xiv.  Sheridan  disapproved,  giving  sound  reasons  against 
it,  and  was  allowed  to  have  his  way.  On  the 
1864.  9th  of  November  he  moved  his  army  back  to 
Kernstown  for  greater  convenience  of  quarters 
and  supply.  General  Early,  imagining  that  Sheri- 
dan was  preparing  to  send  troops  to  Grant, 
moved  down  the  Valley,  hoping  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  diminished  force;  he  crossed  Cedar  Creek 
on  the  11th,  but,  not  being  satisfied  with  the 
aspect  of  affairs,  hastily  retreated  on  the  night  of 
the  next  day.     Sheridan,  in  his  report,  attributes 

committee   this  movement  to  "  bluster,"  aud  says  he  was  un- 

on  Conduct  __  ,  „    n   . 

ofi865-66ar'  aware  tnat  Early's  infantry  was  in  front  of  him 
8nientf  "  until  ^  was  to°  *ate  to  overtake  it  in  its  galloping 
vp!«!"  retreat."  In  this  affair  W.  H.  Powell  severely  de- 
feated McCausland  on  the  road  to  Front  Royal. 
When  Early  got  back  to  the  upper  Valley,  as  it 
was  now  plain  he  could  do  nothing  with  his 
force,  Kershaw  was  returned  to  Lee  and  Cosby  to 
Breckinridge. 

The  great  campaign  was  over ;  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  year  there  were  still  reconnaissances 
and  detached  movements  of  cavalry  on  both  sides ; 
Merritt  was  sent  into  Loudon  County,  so  to  destroy 
all  forage  and  subsistence  as  to  make  it  uninhab- 
itable by  the  Confederate  guerrillas,  and  he  rigor- 
ously executed  his  orders  ;  Eosser  crossed  the  Great 
North  Mountain,  and  captured  a  post  on  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad;  Torbert,  on  the  19th  of 
1864.  December,  in  obedience  to  Grant's  urgent  and 
reiterated  requests,  was  pushed  through  Chester 
Gap  to  strike  the  Central  road,  and  Custer  rode  up 
the  Valley  to  make  a  diversion  in  favor  of  the 
other  column ;  but  Sheridan's  judgment  was  vindi- 


CEDAK    CKEEK  329 

cated  by  the  failure  of  the  expedition.  The  two  chap.xiv. 
armies  were  now  rapidly  dissolved  by  the  demands  is**. 
of  Grant  and  Lee.  Early's  Second  Corps  went  to 
Lee,  leaving  only  Wharton  and  some  cavalry  and 
artillery,  with  which  he  moved  back  to  winter 
quarters  at  Staunton.  Sheridan  sent  the  Sixth 
Corps  to  Grant,  where  they  arrived  by  the  middle 
of  December.  Crook's  corps  (Army  of  West  Vir- 
ginia) followed  them ;  only  the  Nineteenth  was 
left  in  the  Shenandoah,  and  one  of  its  divisions 
also  went  to  Grant  during  the  winter. 

Although  events  had  vindicated  in  every  point 
the  wisdom  of  Sheridan's  view  as  to  an  advance 
upon  the  Virginia  Central  Eailroad,  the  advantage 
of  breaking  it  was  so  important  to  Grant  that  he 
continually  recurred  to  the  subject,  and  at  last,  on 
the  27th  of  February,  1865,  Sheridan,  now  unencum- 
bered by  infantry,  moved  up  the  Valley  with  a 
magnificent  force  of  ten  thousand  horsemen,  under 
orders  from  Grant  to  destroy  the  Virginia  Central 
Eailroad  and  the  James  River  Canal,  to  capture     Report 
Lynchburg,  if  he  found  it  practicable,  and  to  push  ^conduct 
south   and  join   Sherman  in  North   Carolina,  or  "'mkh*™' 
return  to  Winchester,   as    he    might    find    most      ment?" 
opportune.    The   feeble   resistance   which  Rosser      p.W 
could  make  against  this  formidable  host  was  swept 
aside  at  a  blow.     Early  was  found  on  the  morning 
of  March  2  posted  on  a  hill  near  Waynesboro'  with       ibbs. 
two  brigades  of  Wharton,  some  guns,  and  cavalry. 
This  Early  had  hoped,  and  the  hope  was  not  ex- 
travagant,  would  be  force  sufficient   at  least  to 
check   Sheridan's   advance   until    nightfall,   when  "uemmrot 
he  expected  to  cross  the  river  and  take  position  in  Yea?  otthe 
Rockfish  Gap;  he  had  done,  he  says,  "  more  difficult      p.  132. 


330 


ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  XIV. 


Sheridan, 
Report  of 

Operations 

from 

Feb.  27 

to  March  28, 


Long, 

"Memoirs 

of  Robert 

E.  Lee," 

p.  366. 


Early, 
"Memoir  of 

the  Last 

Year  of  the 

War," 

p.  133. 


things  than  that  during  the  war."  A  division  of 
veteran  infantry  well  posted,  with  good  artillery,  on 
commanding  ground,  might  reasonably  expect  to 
hold  at  bay  a  division  of  cavalry  indefinitely.  But 
Custer  with  three  brigades  of  horse  carried  the 
position  as  easily  as  if  it  were  a  child's  snow-fort. 
Without  even  wasting  time  in  reconnaissance,  he 
sent  three  regiments  round  the  enemy's  left  flank, 
and  boldly  rode  at  the  front  with  the  rest  of  his 
force.  "The  enemy,"  says  Sheridan,  "  threw  down 
their  arms  and  surrendered,  with  cheers  at  the 
suddenness  with  which  they  were  captured." 
Early  himself  says,  "The  troops  gave  way  after 
making  very  slight  resistance,  and  soon  everything 
was  in  a  state  of  confusion."  The  Confederate 
general,  A.  L.  Long,  who  was  present,  is  singularly, 
explicit  as  to  the  nature  of  the  disaster ;  he  says, 
"  As  Sheridan  was  without  artillery,  and  the  ground 
was  unfit  for  the  operations  of  cavalry,  Early  could 
have  easily  maintained  his  position  with  reliable 
troops  ;  but  there  was  considerable  disaffection  in 
Wharton's  division.  Therefore,  without  his  knowl- 
edge, his  little  army  harbored  the  elements  of  de- 
feat." Its  morale  was  gone  ;  it  crumbled  at  the  first 
energetic  touch ;  the  final  catastrophe  was  not  far 
off  when  a  division  of  hardy  foot  soldiers  sur- 
rendered "  with  cheers "  to  the  first  troopers  who 
leaped  over  their  breastworks.  The  five  Confed- 
erate generals  present,  Early,  Wharton,  Long,  R.  D. 
Lilley,  and  Rosser,  saved  themselves  in  the  woods ; 
and  Early,  from  a  lofty  lookout,  "  had  the  mortifi- 
cation," he  says,  "  of  seeing  the  greater  part  of  his 
command  being  carried  off  as  prisoners."  He  rode 
with  his  staff  from  one  station  to  another,  every- 


CEDAR    CREEK  331 

where  finding  the  hated  blue  uniforms  in  posses-  chap.xiv. 
sion ;  but  finally  made  his  weary  way  through  the 
ice  and  sleet  to  Richmond,  his  army  having  abso-       ise5. 
lutely  disappeared.     He  was  kindly  received  by 
General  Lee,  and  sent  back  to  "reorganize  what 
was  left  of  his  command,"  but  was  soon  after  super- 
seded by  General  John  Echols.   "  The  only  solution 
of  this  affair  which  I  can  give,"  he  says  in  his 
"  Memoir,"  with  that  curious  absence  of  the  sense  ^Mem&ot 
of  humor  which  gives  such  comic  force  to  all  his  Year  Saw 
writing,  "is  that  my  men  did  not  fight  as  I  had      p.m 
expected  them  to  do." 

But  although  his  victory  at  Waynesboro'  left  the 
Valley  at  Sheridan's  mercy,  he  was  not  then  or 
thereafter  to  take  Lynchburg,  any  more  than  his 
predecessors.  He  went  into  Charlottesville,  and 
destroyed  the  railroad  right  and  left ;  Merritt's 
cavalry  wrecked  the  canal;  manufactories  and 
mills  were  everywhere  burned.  Lynchburg  had 
been  reenforced  by  infantry,  and  Sheridan  deter- 
mined not  to  attack  it,  but  to  push  eastward  and 
join  Grant,  ruining  as  he  went. 


CHAPTER    XV 


CABINET    CHANGES 


chap.  xv.  f  I  ^HE  principal  concession  in  the  Baltimore  plat- 
-L  form  made  by  the  friends  of  the  Administra- 
tion to  its  opponents  was  the  resolution  which 
1864.  called  for  harmony  in  the  Cabinet ;  and,  although 
no  method  was  specified  by  which  such  harmony 
could  be  attained,  it  was  no  secret  that  the  Con- 
vention requested,  and,  so  far  as  its  authority  went, 
required,  that  the  Cabinet  should  be  rendered 
homogeneous  by  the  dismissal  of  those  members 
who  were  stigmatized  as  conservatives.  The  Pres- 
ident at  first  took  no  notice,  either  publicly  or 
privately,  of  this  resolution,  and  it  was  with  some- 
thing akin  to  consternation  that  the  radical  body 
of  his  supporters  heard  of  the  first  change  which 
occurred  after  the  Convention  adjourned.  The 
resignation  of  Mr.  Chase,  whom  the  extreme 
radicals  regarded  as  in  some  sort  their  special 
representative  in  the  Government,  took  them  en- 
tirely by  surprise.  The  demonstration  made  by  Mr. 
Wade  and  Mr.  Davis  some  weeks  later  increased 
the  feeling  of  restlessness  among  them,  and 
brought  upon  the  President  a  powerful  pressure 
from  every  quarter  to  induce  him  to  give  sat- 
isfaction to  the  radical  demand  by  the  dismissal 


CABINET    CHANGES  333 

from  the  Cabinet  of  Montgomery  Blair,  the  Post-   chap.  xv. 
master-General,  who   had  gradually   attracted  to 
himself  the  hostility  of  all  the  radical  Eepublicans 
in  the  country. 

The  unpopularity  into  which  Mr.  Blair  had  fallen 
among  the  Radicals  was  one  of  those  incidents  that 
recall  the  oft-repeated  simile  that  compares  politi- 
cal revolutions  to  Saturn  devouring  his  offspring. 
Mr.  Blair  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  After  graduating  at  West  Point  and 
serving  for  a  year  in  the  Seminole  war,  he  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  army  and  began  to  practice 
law  in  St.  Louis.  He  soon  gained  high  distinc- 
tion in  his  profession,  and  became,  while  yet  a 
young  man,  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  He  returned  to  Maryland,  and  in  1855  was 
appointed  solicitor  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Court  of  Claims.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise made  a  Republican  of  him.  President 
Buchanan  removed  him  from  office  in  1858  on  ac- 
count of  his  zealous  antislavery  attitude.  He  was 
counsel  for  the  plaintiff  in  the  famous  Dred  Scott 
case,  and  presided  over  the  Republican  Convention 
of  Maryland  in  1860.  With  the  exception  of  his 
brother  Frank  in  Missouri,  and  Cassius  M.  Clay  in 
Kentucky,  he  was  the  most  prominent  opponent  of 
the  extension  of  slavery  in  all  the  Southern  States. 

The  immediate  cause  which  occasioned  his  loss 
of  caste  among  the  radical  antislavery  men  was 
the  quarrel  which  sprung  up  between  his  family 
and  General  Fremont  in  Missouri.  In  this  also  he 
had  the  mortification  of  feeling  that  he  had  nursed 
the  pinion  that  impelled  the  steel.  The  reputation 
of  General  Fremont  was  the  creation  of  the  Blairs. 


334 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  xv.  It  was  at  their  solicitation  that  the  President  ap- 
pointed the  Pathfinder  a  major-general  in  the  regu- 
lar army,  and  gave  him  command  of  the  important 
department  of  Missouri.  So  late  as  the  24th  of 
August,  1861,  General  Fremont  relied  upon  Mont- 
gomery Blair  for  all  the  support  and  assistance  he 
required  in  Washington.     The    Postmaster-Gen- 

Aug.24.i86i.  eral,  writing  to  him  on  that  date,  spoke  of  the 
President  and  his  colleagues  with  the  indiscreet 
frankness  of  confidential  friendship.  "  Chase,"  he 
said,  "  has  more  horror  of  seeing  treasury  notes  be- 
low par  than  of  seeing  soldiers  killed,  and  therefore 
has  held  back  too  much,  I  think.  I  don't  believe 
at  all  in  that  style  of  managing  the  Treasury."  He 
goes  on  lamenting  his  lack  of  influence  in  the 
Government  in  a  style  which  reminds  us  of  Mr. 
Chase  himself. 

"  This,  I  can  see,"  he  says,  "  is  partly  my  own 
fault.  I  have  been  too  obstreperous,  perhaps,  in 
my  opposition,  and  men  do  not  like  those  who  have 
exposed  their  mistakes  beforehand  and  taunt  them 
with  them  afterwards.  The  main  difficulty  is, 
however,  with  Lincoln  himself.  He  is  of  the  Whig 
school,  and  that  brings  him  naturally  not  only  to 
incline  to  the  feeble  policy  of  Whigs,  but  to  give 
his  confidence  to  such  advisers.  It  costs  me  a  great 
deal  of  labor  to  get  anything  done,  because  of  the 
inclination  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  President,  or 
leading  members  of  the  Cabinet,  including  Chase, 
who  never  voted  a  Democratic  ticket  in  his  life. 
But  you  have  the  people  at  your  back,  and  I 
am  doing  all  I  can  to  cut  red  tape  and  get  things 
done.  I  will  be  more  civil  and  patient  than  here- 
tofore, and  see  if  that  won't  work."     No  man  can 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 

1862-63. 

Part  III., 

p.  116. 


CABINET    CHANGES  335 

be  sufficiently  sure  of  friends  to  write  them  such  CHAp-  xv 
letters  as  this.  A  few  months  later  Fremont  was 
Blair's  deadliest  enemy,  and  these  letters,  being 
printed,  came  up  like  impertinent  ghosts  between 
the  Postmaster-General  and  his  colleagues  at  the 
Cabinet  table. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  quarrel  the  Blairs  were 
unquestionably  right ;  but  being  unjustly  assailed 
by  the  Radicals,  the  natural  pugnacity  of  their  dis- 
positions would  not  permit  them  to  rest  firmly 
planted  on  their  own  ground.  They  entered  upon 
a  course  of  hostility  that  was  at  first  confined  to 
their  factious  enemies,  but  which  gradually  broad- 
ened and  extended  till  it  landed  them  both  in  the 
Democratic  party.  Montgomery  Blair  was  doubt- 
less unconscious  of  his  progress  in  that  direction. 
He  thought  himself  the  most  zealous  of  Republi- 
cans until  the  moment  that  he  declared  himself 
the  most  zealous  of  Democrats.  Every  admonition 
he  received  but  increased  the  heat  and  energy  with 
which  he  defended  himself.  The  Union  League  of 
Philadelphia,  towards  the  close  of  1863,  left  out  his 
name  in  the  resolutions  by  which  they  elected  all 
the  rest  of  the  Cabinet  honorary  members  of  the 
League.  He  chose  to  consider  Henry  Winter  Davis 
responsible  for  some  attacks  made  upon  him,  and 
desired  to  defeat  him  in  Maryland.  The  President, 
who  had  certainly  no  cause  to  show  personal  favor 
to  Mr.  Davis,  said  that  as  he  was  the  choice  of  the 
Union  men  of  Maryland  he  merited  and  should 
receive  what  friendly  support  the  Administration 
could  give. 

Mr.  Blair  made  a  speech  in  Rockville  touching 
upon  the  subject  of  reconstruction,  and  indulged  in 


336  ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  vigorous  and  somewhat  acrid  allusions  to  some  of 
his  leading  Republican  assailants.  This  brought 
upon  him,  and  upon  Mr.  Lincoln,  over  his  shoulders, 
much  vehement  criticism.  It  was  in  relation  to 
this  speech  that  the  President  said: 

"  The  controversy  between  the  two  sets  of  men 
represented  by  Blair  and  by  Sumner  is  one  of  mere 
form  and  little  else.  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Blair 
would  agree  that  the  States  in  rebellion  are  to  be 
permitted  to  come  at  once  into  the  political  family 
and  renew  their  performances,  which  have  already 
so  bedeviled  us,  and  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Sumner 
would  insist  that  when  the  loyal  people  of  a  State 
obtain  supremacy  in  their  councils  and  are  ready 
to  assume  the  direction  of  their  own  affairs  they 
should  be  excluded.  I  do  not  understand  Mr.  Blair 
to  admit  that  Jefferson  Davis  may  take  his  seat  in 
Congress  again  as  a  representative  of  his  people.  I 
do  not  understand  Mr.  Sumner  to  assert  that  John 
Minor  Botts  may  not.  So  far  as  I  understand  Mr. 
Sumner,  he  seems  in  favor  of  Congress  taking  from 
the  Executive  the  power  it  at  present  exercises 
over  insurrectionary  districts  and  assuming  it  to 
itself ;  but  when  the  vital  question  arises  as  to  the 
right  and  privilege  of  the  people  of  these  States 
to  govern  themselves,  I  apprehend  there  will  be 
little  difference  among  loyal  men.  The  question  at 
once  is  presented,  In  whom  is  this  power  vested  ? 
and  the  practical  matter  for  discussion  is  how  to 
j.  h.,      keep  the  rebellious  population  from  overwhelming 

Nov.1?,1!^.  and  outvoting  the  loyal  minority." 

It  was  a  year  before  this  that  the  President  wrote 
the  letter  of  kindly  and  sensible  advice  to  General 
Frank  P.  Blah*,  Jr.,  which  we  have  given  in  another 


J.   P.    USHER. 


CABINET    CHANGES  337 

place;  a  letter  which,  when  published  many  months   chap.  xv. 
afterwards,  gave  great  and  lasting  offense  to  the 
enemies  of  Blair  in  Congress  and  in  the  country. 
Although  General  Blair  at  this  time  retired  from  the 
contest  for  the  speakership,  the  Postmaster-General 
continued,  with  equally  bad  taste  and  judgment,  to 
oppose  the  nomination  of  Schuyler  Colfax  for  that 
place.    Upon  Colfax  going  to  him  in  person  and 
demanding  the  motive  of  his  hostility,  Mr.  Blair 
was  so  indiscreet  as  to  give  as  a  reason  for  his      JaSr, 
opposition  that  Colfax  was  running   as  a   Chase     ^lses?1' 
candidate. 

The  opposition  to  Blair  was  not  confined  to  the 
radical  demonstrations  in  the  Baltimore  Convention 
and  out  of  it.  Some  of  the  most  judicious  Eepub- 
licans  in  the  country,  who  were  not  personally 
unfriendly  to  Blair,  urged  upon  the  President  the 
necessity  of  freeing  himself  from  such  a  source  of 
weakness  and  discord.  Even  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Government  itself  a  strong  hostility  to  Mr.  Blair 
made  itself  felt.  While  Mr.  Chase  remained  in  the 
Cabinet  there  was  always  a  condition  of  smolder- 
ing hostility  between  the  two  men.  Mr.  Blair's 
enmity  to  Mr.  Seward  also  became  more  and  more 
violent  in  its  expression,  and  his  relations  with  Mr. 
Stanton  were  subject  to  a  strain  which  was  hardly 
endurable.  There  was  still,  however,  so  much  in 
his  character  and  antecedents  that  was  estimable, 
the  President  had  so  deep  a  regard  for  both  the 
Blairs,  and  especially  for  their  father,  that  he  had 
great  reluctance  to  take  any  action  against  the 
Postmaster-General. 

In  the  middle  of  July,  after  the  termination  of       1864. 
Early's  raid  upon  Washington,  General  Halleck, 

Vol.  IX.— 22 


338 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Halleck  to 
Stanton, 
July  13, 

1864.     MS. 


Lincoln 

to  Stanton, 

July  14, 

1864.    MS. 


exasperated  by  the  report  of  stringent  and  sar- 
castic remarks  which  Mr.  Blair,  under  the  provoca- 
tion of  the  destruction  by  rebels  of  his  property  in 
the  suburbs  of  Washington,  had  made,  in  reference 
to  the  laxity  or  poltroonery  of  the  defenders  of  the 
capital,  addressed  an  angry  note  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  saying  that  he  wished  to  know  "  whether 
such  wholesale  denouncement  and  accusation  by  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet  receives  the  sanction  and 
approbation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
If  so,"  General  Halleck  continued,  "  the  names  of  the 
officers  accused  should  be  stricken  from  the  rolls  of 
the  army ;  if  not,  it  is  due  to  the  honor  of  the  ac- 
cused that  the  slanderer  should  be  dismissed  from 
the  Cabinet."  Mr.  Stanton  sent  this  letter  of 
Halleck's  to  the  President  without  comment.  The 
President,  on  the  same  day,  replied  in  his  most 
masterful  manner.  After  summarizing  Halleck's 
letter,  he  said : 

"Whether  the  remarks  were  really  made  I  do 
not  know,  nor  do  I  suppose  such  knowledge  is  nec- 
essary to  a  correct  response.  If  they  were  made, 
I  do  not  approve  them  ;  and  yet,  under  the  circum- 
stances, I  would  not  dismiss  a  member  of  the  Cab- 
inet therefor.  I  do  not  consider  what  may  have 
been  hastily  said  in  a  moment  of  vexation  at  so 
severe  a  loss  is  sufficient  ground  for  so  grave  a 
step.  Besides  this,  truth  is  generally  the  best  vin- 
dication against  slander.  I  propose  continuing  to 
be  myself  the  judge  as  to  when  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet  shall  be  dismissed." 

Not  satisfied  with  this,  the  President,  when  the 
Cabinet  came  together,  read  them  this  impressive 
and  oracular  little  lecture : 


CABINET    CHANGES  339 

I  must  myself  be  the  judge  how  long  to  retain  in  and  chap.  xv. 
when  to  remove  any  of  you  from  his  position.  It  would 
greatly  pain  me  to  discover  any  of  you  endeavoring  to 
procure  another's  removal,  or  in  any  way  to  prejudice 
him  before  the  public.  Such  endeavor  would  be  a  wrong 
to  me,  and,  much  worse,  a  wrong  to  the  country.  My 
wish  is  that  on  this  subject  no  remark  be  made  nor 
question  asked  by  any  of  you,  here  or  elsewhere,  now  or  Lincoln, 
hereafter.  Aut$s\aph 

This,  we  are  inclined  to  think,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  speeches  ever  made  by  a  President. 
The  tone  of  authority  is  unmistakable.  Washing- 
ton was  never  more  dignified ;  Jackson  was  never 
more  peremptory. 

The  feeling  against  Mr.  Blair  and  the  pressure 
upon  the  President  to  remove  him  increased 
throughout  the  summer.  Henry  "Wilson  wrote  on 
the  5th  of  September, "  Blair  every  one  hates.  Tens 
of  thousands  of  men  will  be  lost  to  you  or  will  toT'Sin, 
give  a  reluctant  vote  on  account  of  the  Blairs."  epMa864 
The  President's  mail  was  filled  with  such  appeals 
as  this;  but  through  the  gloom  and  discourage- 
ment of  midsummer  he  declined  to  act.  There  was 
a  moment,  as  we  have  seen,  when  he  lost  heart  in 
the  campaign,  and  believed  that  the  verdict  of  the 
country  would  be  against  him.  Yet  even  then  he 
refused  to  make  the  concession  to  the  radical 
spirit  which  he  was  assured  from  every  quarter 
would  result  so  greatly  to  his  advantage ;  but  with 
the  victories  which  came  later  in  the  season,  and 
with  the  response  of  the  country  to  the  pusillani- 
mous surrender  of  the  Chicago  Convention,  there 
came  a  great  and  inspiring  change  of  public  opin- 
ion, and  before  the  month  of  September  ended  the 
assured  triumph  of  the  Union  cause  became  evi- 


340  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  dent  to  one  so  capable  as  was  Mr.  Lincoln  to  dis- 
cern and  appreciate  the  signs  of  the  times.  He 
felt  that  it  was  his  duty  no  longer  to  retain  in  his 
Cabinet  a  member  who,  whatever  his  personal 
merits,  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  great  body 
of  Republicans.  He  had  learned  also  during  the 
long  controversy  more  than  he  had  ever  known 
before  of  the  violent  and  unruly  candor  of  the 
Postmaster-General.  Exasperated  by  the  attacks 
made  upon  him,  there  were  no  limits  to  Mr. 
Blair's  jealousy  and  suspicion.  He  wearied  the 
President  by  insisting  upon  it  that  all  the  leading 
Eepublicans  were  Lincoln's  enemies.  After  Chase 
left  the  Cabinet  he  insisted  that  Seward  and  Stan- 
ton were  in  league  against  Lincoln ;  that  Stanton 
went  into  the  Cabinet  to  break  down  the  Admin- 
istration by  thwarting  McClellan,  and  that  Seward 
was  coquetting  with  the  Copperheads.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln listened  to  these  denunciations  with  growing 
fatigue  and  impatience.  He  protested  against 
them.  He  said  once  to  Mr.  Blair,  in  the  presence 
of  another,  "  It  is  much  better  not  to  be  led  from 
the  region  of  reason  into  that  of  hot  blood  by  im- 
puting to  public  men  motives  which  they  do  not 
Diary,  avow."  Towards  the  end  of  September  the  Presi- 
dent, reasonably  sure  of  his  reelection,  and  feeling 
ism.  that  he  ought  not  any  longer  to  delay  complying 
with  the  demand  of  a  party  which  was  giving 
him  so  earnest  and  loyal  a  support,  wrote  this  let- 
ter to  the  Postmaster-General : 

You  have  generously  said  to  me  more  than  once  that 
whenever  your  resignation  could  be  a  relief  to  me  it  was 
at  my  disposal.  The  time  has  come.  You  very  well  know 
that  this  proceeds  from  no  dissatisfaction  of  mine  with 


CABINET    CHANGES  341 

you  personally  or  officially.    Your  uniform  kindness  has    chap.  xv. 
been   unsurpassed  by  that  of  any  friend ;  and  while  it 
is  true  that  the  war  does  not  so  greatly  add  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  your  department  as  to  those  of  some  others,  it 
is  yet  much  to  say,  as  I  most  truly  can,  that  in  the  three    Lincoln  to 
years  and  a  half  during  which  you  have  administered  the     aBlf%3 
General  Post-office,   I   remember   no    single    complaint    1864.  'ms. 
against  you  in  connection  therewith. 

Mr.  Blair  accepted  bis  dismissal  in  a  manner 
which  was  to  have  been  expected  from  his  manly 
and  generous  character.  He  called  upon  the  Pres- 
ident at  once,  not  pretending  to  be  pleased  at  what 
had  happened,  but  assuming  that  the  President 
had  good  reasons  for  his  action,  and  refraining 
from  any  demand  for  explanation.  He  went  im- 
mediately to  Maryland  and  busied  himself  in 
speaking  and  working  for  the  Union  cause,  and 
for  the  reelection  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  made  a 
speech  a  few  days  later  in  New  York,  at  a  great 
war  meeting,  in  which  he  said  that  the  action  of 
the  President  in  asking  his  resignation  was  sug- 
gested by  his  own  father.  All  the  family  received 
this  serious  reverse  in  the  temper  of  fighting  men 
ready  for  all  the  chances  of  battle,  and  of  bold 
players  whose  traditional  rule  of  conduct  when  the 
cards  go  against  them  is,  "  Pay  and  look  pleasant." 
General  Blair  wrote  to  his  father  that  he  was  sure 
in  advance  that  his  brother  had  acted  for  the  good 
of  the  country,  and  in  the  interest  of  the  reelection 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  which  he  says  "  the  safety  of  the 
country  is  involved." 

"I  believe,"  he  continued,  "that  the  failure  to 
elect  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  the  greatest  disaster 
that  could  befall  the  country,  and  the  sacrifice  made 
by  the  Judge  to  avert  this  is  so  incomparably  small 


342  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  that  I  felt  it  would  not  cost  him  a  pang  to  make. 
.  .  .  The  Judge  leaves  the  Cabinet  with  an  untar- 
nished name  and  the  reputation  of  having  admin- 
istered the  department  with  the  greatest  ability 
and  success ;  and  that  as  far  as  worldly  considera- 
tions go,  it  is  far  better  for  him  to  go  out  than  to 
remain  in  the  Cabinet.  .  .  As  to  the  future  I  have 
no  fear,  if  Lincoln's  election  is  secured.  No  matter 
what  his  personal  disposition  may  be  towards  us,  or 
what  his  political  necessities  may  compel  him  to  do, 
if  the  country  is  saved  and  restored,  those  who  have 

F'/r*.,Btoair'  served  the  country  in  its  trials  will  some  day  be  re- 
"sept.  30, '  warded  for  the  patriotism  they  have  shown  by  the 
Ms."  verdict  of  a  higher  power  than  that  of  the  President." 
After  the  death  of  Judge  Taney,  Mr.  Blair  for 
a  while  indulged  the  hope  that  he  might  be  ap- 
pointed Chief-Justice,  a  position  for  which  his 
natural  abilities,  his  legal  learning,  his  former  judi- 
cial service,  and  his  large  acquaintance  with  the 
more  important  matters  which  would  come  before 
the  court  eminently  fitted  him;  but  the  compe- 
tition of  Mr.  Chase  was  too  strong  for  any  rival, 
however  worthy,  and  he  was  chosen,  to  the  bitter 
disappointment  of  the  Blairs.  Even  this  did  not 
shake  their  steadfast  loyalty  to  the  Union  cause, 
nor  their  personal  fidelity  and  friendship  to  the 
President.  Immediately  after  his  second  inaugura- 
tion Mr.  Lincoln  offered  Montgomery  Blair  his 
choice  of  the  Spanish  or  the  Austrian  mission,  an 

to8iIncoin,  offer  which  was  peremptorily  though  respectfully 

Mar.  9, 1865.    j      t        -, 

Ms.        declined. 

Mr.  Blair's  successor  in  the  Cabinet,  ex-Governor 
William  Dennison  of  Ohio,  had  been  selected  be- 
forehand.   The  President  informed  him  of  his  ap- 


CABINET    CHANGES  343 

pointment  in  a  brief  telegram,  and  directed  him  to  chap.  xv. 
proceed  to  Washington  as  soon  as  possible.    Mr. 
Dennison  had  rendered  admirable  service  to  the 
Government,  as  Governor  of  Ohio,  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.    He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  highest 
character,  of  great  ability  and  perfect  integrity,  and 
of  peculiarly  winning  and  gracious  manners.    We 
find  among  the  President's  papers  a  letter  written 
by  his  intimate  friend,  David  Davis,  on  the  2d  of 
June,  suggesting  Governor  Dennison  as  a  proper       mm. 
person  to  preside  over  the  Baltimore  Convention. 
Judge  Davis  wrote:  "He  is  a  pure,  upright  man, 
one  of  your  most  devoted  friends.  .  .  If ,  during  this 
or  your  subsequent  Administration,  you  think  it 
your  duty  to  modify  your  Cabinet,  in  my  judgment 
you  could  not  get  a  wiser  counselor  than  Governor      Davl8 
Dennison."    This,  so  far  as  we  know,  was  the  first,  t0  L$goln' 
perhaps  the  only,  suggestion  made  to  the  President 
in  favor  of  Mr.  Dennison  for  a  place  in  the  Cabinet. 
The  claim  of  localities  always  had  a  dispropor- 
tionate weight  in  his  mind.    When  Mr.  Chase  re- 
signed Mr.  Lincoln  appointed  Governor  Tod  in  his 
place,  and  after  Tod  had  declined  he  was  glad  to 
find  an  opportunity  to  call  another  Ohio  statesman 
into  his  Cabinet. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  Cabinet  went  on  by 
gradual  disintegration  rather  than  by  any  brusque 
or  even  voluntary  action  of  the  President.  Mr. 
Bates,  the  Attorney-General,  before  the  end  of  the 
year  1864  grew  weary,  not  only  of  the  labors  of 
his  official  position,  but  also  of  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  revolution  of  which  he  had  been  one  of 
the  earliest  advocates.  Before  the  war  he  was  the 
most  eminent  of  all  those  Whig  lawyers  in  the 


344  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.   South  who,  while  standing  by  all  the  guarantees 

of  the  Constitution,  still  opposed  the  aggressions  of 

the  slave  power.    After  the  rebellion  began  he  did 

not  shift  his  ground  in  any  essential  respect.  When 

asked  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  whether 

colored  men  could  be  citizens  of  the  United  States 

and  therefore  competent  to  discharge  functions 

reserved  exclusively  for  citizens,  he  not  only  an- 

noj.29,1862.  swered  in  the  affirmative,  but  accompanied  his 

°toril^-"    answer  with  an  elaborate  opinion,  full  of  learning 

Gvoi?rx!"    and  legal  acumen,  in  which  he  relied  exclusively 

p'382'      upon  the  law  in  the  case,  without  regard  to  any 

question  of  morals  or  of  sentiment  involved. 

Although  heartily  devoted  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom and  emancipation,  he  was  wedded,  by  consti- 
tutional temperament  and  lifelong  habit,  to  the 
strictest  rules  of  law  and  precedent.  Every  devia- 
tion from  tradition  pained  him  inexpressibly.  The 
natural  and  unavoidable  triumph  of  the  radical 
party  in  St.  Louis  politics,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
in  those  of  the  nation,  seemed  to  him  the  herald  of 
the  trump  of  doom.  He  grew  weary  of  it  all,  and 
expressed  to  the  President  his  desire  for  retirement. 
If  he  had  not  himself  wished  to  resign  the  President 
would  probably  not  have  suggested  it.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  greatly  displeased  at  an  announcement 
made  by  Simon  Cameron,  as  if  upon  his  authority, 
that  in  the  event  of  reelection  he  would  call  around 
him  fresh  and  earnest  antislavery  men.  On 
hearing  of  this  indiscreet  and  injurious  statement, 
he  said,  "They  need  not  be  so  savage  about  a 
Dia?r.  change  in  the  Government.  There  are  now  only 
three  left  of  the  original  Cabinet."  He  put  a  vacant 
judgeship  at  the  disposition  of  the  Attorney-Gen- 


CABINET    CHANGES  345 

eral ;  but  Mr.  Bates  declined  it,  not  without  some  chap.  xv. 
petulant  remarks  about  the  "  uselessness  of  a  legal 
system  in  a  State  dominated  by  the  revolutionary 
spirit  which  then  ruled  in  Missouri."  He  said  he  Diary, 
could  not  work  in  harmony  with  the  radicals,  whom 
he  regarded  as  enemies  of  law  and  order;  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  patriotic  and  honest  Ameri- 
can radical ;  some  of  the  transcendental  Republican 
Germans  were  honest  enough  in  their  moon-struck 
theorizing,  but  the  Americans  impudently  and  dis- 
honestly arrogated  to  themselves  the  title  of  un- 
conditional loyalty,  when  the  whole  spirit  of  their 
faction  was  contempt  of  and  opposition  to  the  law. 
"While  the  present  state  of  things  continues  in 
Missouri  there  is  no  need  of  a  court ;  so  says  Judge 
Treat,  and  I  agree  with  him."  Considering  the 
subject  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Bates,  the  President, 
his  mind  still  hampered  by  the  consideration  of 
locality,  weighed  for  several  days  the  names  of  all 
the  leading  men  of  Missouri  who  were  in  any  way 
fitted  for  the  place,  but  found  good  reasons  for  re- 
jecting them  all.  One  of  his  secretaries  said  to 
him,  "Why  confine  yourself  to  Missouri  ?  Why  not 
go  to  the  adjoining  State  and  take  Judge  Holt?" 
The  President  looked  up  with  some  surprise,  and 
said :  "  Why,  that  would  be  an  excellent  appoint- 
ment. I  question  if  I  could  do  better.  I  had 
always  intended,  though  I  had  never  mentioned 
it  to  any  one,  that  if  a  vacancy  should  occur  on  the 
Supreme  bench  in  any  Southern  district  I  would 
appoint  him ;  but  giving  him  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  ibid, 
would  not  hinder  that." 

Mr.  Bates  tendered  his  resignation  at  last  on  the 
24th  of  November.  mm. 


34G  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  "  Heretofore,"  lie  said,  "  it  has  not  been  compat- 
ible with  my  ideas  of  duty  to  the  public  and  fidel- 
ity to  you  to  leave  my  post  of  service  for  any 
private  considerations,  however  urgent.  Then  the 
fate  of  the  nation  hung  in  doubt  and  gloom ;  even 
your  own  fate,  as  identified  with  [that  of]  the  nation, 
was  a  source  of  much  anxiety.  Now,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  affairs  of  the  Government  display  a 
brighter  aspect ;  and  to  you,  as  head  and  leader  of 
the  Government,  all  the  honor  and  good  fortune 
that  we  hoped  for  has  come.  And  it  seems  to  me, 
under  these  altered  circumstances,  that  the  time 
has  come  when  I  may,  without  dereliction  of  duty, 
ask  leave  to  retire  to  private  life.  In  tendering 
the  resignation  of  my  office  of  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States  (which  I  now  do)  I  gladly 
seize  the  occasion  to  repeat  the  expression  of  my 
gratitude,  not  only  for  your  good  opinion  which 
led  to  my  appointment,  but  also  for  your  uniform 
and  unvarying  courtesy  and  kindness  during  the 
whole  time  in  which  we  have  been  associated  in 
the  public  service.  The  memory  of  that  kind- 
ness and  personal  favor  I  shall  bear  with  me  into 
private  life,  and  hope  to  retain  it  in  my  heart  as 
ESSS£    long  as  I  live.    Pray  let  my  resignation  take  effect 

isST'  Ms.   on  the  last  day  of  November." 

A  few  days  before  the  end  of  November  the 
President  offered  the  place  of  Attorney-General  to 
Joseph  Holt ;  but  Mr.  Holt,  with  that  modesty  and 
conscientiousness  which  formed  the  most  striking 
trait  of  his  noble  character,  believed  that  the  length 
of  time  which  had  elapsed  since  he  had  retired 
from  active  service  at  the  bar  had  rendered  him 
unfit  for  the  preparation  and  presentation  of  cases 


CABINET    CHANGES  347 

in  an  adequate  manner  before  the  Supreme  Court,   chap.  xv. 

and  therefore   declined    the    appointment.      The 

President  was  not  at  first  inclined  to  accept  this 

as   a   sufficient   reason   for  declination;    but  on 

the  30th  of  November  Mr.  Holt  wrote  a  letter       im. 

formally    reiterating    his    refusal    to    accept    the 

appointment. 

"  After  the  most  careful  reflection,"  he  said,  "  I 
have  not  been  able  to  overcome  the  embarrass- 
ments referred  to  in  our  last  interview,  and  which 
then  disinclined  me  to  accept,  as  they  must  now 
determine  me  respectfully  to  decline,  the  appoint- 
ment tendered  in  terms  at  once  so  generous  and  so 
full  of  encouragement.  In  view  of  all  the  circum- 
stances, I  am  satisfied  that  I  can  serve  you  better 
in  the  position  which  I  now  hold  at  your  hands 
than  in  the  more  elevated  one  to  which  I  have  been 
invited.  I  have  reached  this  conclusion  with  ex- 
treme reluctance  and  regret;  but  having  reached 
it,  and  with  decided  convictions,  no  other  course  is 
open  to  me  than  that  which  has  been  taken.  I  beg 
you  to  be  assured  that  I  am  and  shall  ever  be 
most  grateful  for  this  distinguished  token  of  your 
confidence  and  good-will.  In  it  I  cannot  fail  to 
find  renewed  incentives  to  the  faithful  and  zealous  i^com, 
performance  of  the  public  duties  with  which  you  ise*. '  ms. 
have  already  charged  me." 

Failing  to  secure  Mr.  Holt,  the  mind  of  the 
President  turned  to  another  Kentuckian,  James 
Speed,  an  able  and  accomplished  lawyer,  a  man 
of  high  professional  and  social  standing  in  his 
State,  and  the  brother  of  the  most  intimate  friend 
of  the  President's  youth,  Joshua  F.  Speed.  Mr. 
Holt  warmly  recommended  Mr.  Speed.    He  said: 


348  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  "  I  can  recall  no  public  man  in  the  State,  of  un- 
compromising loyalty,  who  unites  in  the  same  de- 
gree the  qualifications  of  professional  attainments, 
fervent  devotion  to  the  Union  and  to  the  principles 
of  your  Administration,  and  spotless  purity  of  per- 
sonal character.  To  these  he  adds  —  what  I  should 
SoS,    deem  indispensable — a  warm  and  hearty  friendship 

DeCM8m  for  yourself,  personally  and  officially." 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  new  year  Mr.  Fes- 
senden  was  again  elected  to  the  Senate  from  Maine, 
and  resigned  his  office  as  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury. In  his  letter  of  resignation  he  said :  "  I  carry 
with  me  great  and  increased  respect  for  your  per- 
sonal character  and  for  the  ability  which  has 
marked  your  administration  of  the  Government 
at  a  period  requiring  the  most  devoted  patriotism 
and  the  highest  intellectual  and  moral  qualities 
for  a  place  so  exalted  as  yours.  Allow  me  also 
to  congratulate  you  upon  the  greatly  improved 
aspect  of  our  national  affairs,  to  which,  and  to 
the  auspicious  result  of  our  prolonged  struggle 
for  national  life,  now,  as  I  sincerely  believe,  so 
near  at  hand,  no  one  can  claim  to  have  so  largely 

toeLiencoeiS.  contributed  as  the  chosen  Chief  Magistrate  of  this 

Feb.  6, 1865.  ,     „ 

Ms.       great  people." 

The  place  thus  vacated  instantly  excited  a  wide 
and  spirited  competition  of  recommendations. 
The  principal  bankers  of  Chicago  joined  in  rec- 
ommending Hugh  McCulloch  of  Indiana,  who  had 
made  a  favorable  official  record  as  Comptroller  of 
the  Currency  in  the  supervision  of  the  national 
banks;  Governor  Morgan  was  strongly  presented 
by  nearly  the  entire  State  of  New  York,  though  a 
few  of  the  so-called  Radicals  of  that  State  joined 


CABINET    CHANGES  349 

with  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  New  England  chap.  xv. 
in  recommending  Governor  Andrew,  whose  splendid 
executive  qualities  no  less  than  his  fiery  zeal  and 
patriotism  had  endeared  him  to  the  earnest  anti- 
slavery  people  throughout  the  country.  Both 
branches  of  the  Maine  Legislature  recommended 
Vice-President  Hamlin  to  take  the  place  vacated 
by  his  distinguished  colleague.  Jay  Cooke,  who 
was  carrying  on  with  such  remarkable  success 
at  that  time  the  great  funding  operations  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  reenforced  with  his  recom- 
mendation the  demand  of  the  Western  politicians 
and  bankers  for  Mr.  McCulloch.  Montgomery 
Blair,  who  still  retained  his  friendly  and  confiden- 
tial relations  with  the  President,  wrote  to  him  on 
the  22d  of  February,  saying  that  Mr.  Hamlin  did 
not  wish  his  claim  to  be  appointed  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  urged  upon  the  President ;  that  Mr. 
Morgan  positively  refused  the  appointment.  He 
supplemented  these  two  important  bits  of  informa- 
tion with  the  characteristic  and  irrelevant  sugges- 
tion that  Mr.  Seward  should  leave  the  Cabinet,  that 
Sumner  should  take  his  place,  and  that  Governor 
Andrew  might  then  succeed  Sumner  in  the  Senate. 
He  also  added  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  en-  £}j}j£§ 
courage  Garibaldi  to  drive  the  French  from  Mexico.  18J?b-  mU. 
The  President  concluded  to  nominate  Governor 
Morgan,  who  declined  the  honor.  Mr.  McCulloch 
was  then  appointed ;  upon  which  Mr.  Usher,  on  the 
8th  of  March,  desiring,  as  he  said,  to  relieve  the 
President  from  any  possible  embarrassment  which 
might  arise  from  the  fact  that  two  members  of  the 
Cabinet  were  from  the  same  State,  resigned  his 
place  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior.    The  President  Mar^1865- 


350  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xv.  indorsed  the  resignation,  "Accepted,  to  take  effect 
May  15,  1865."  Before  that  date  should  arrive 
tremendous  changes  were  to  take  place  in  the 
Government  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


LINCOLN     REELECTED 


FROM  the  moment  the  Democratic  Convention  chap.xvi. 
named  its  candidates  the  stars  in  their  courses  Aug.3i,i864. 
seemed  to  fight  against  them.  During  the  very- 
hours  when  the  streets  of  Chicago  were  blazing 
with  torches,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  the  per- 
fervid  rhetoric  of  the  peace  men,  rejoicing  over 
their  work,  Hood  was  preparing  for  the  evacua- 
tion of  Atlanta;  and  the  same  newspapers  which 
laid  before  their  readers  the  craven  utterances  of 
the  Vallandigham  platform  announced  the  entry 
of  Sherman  into  the  great  manufacturing  me- 
tropolis of  Georgia  —  so  close  together  came  bane 
and  antidote.  The  Convention  had  declared  the 
war  was  a  failure,  and  demanded  that  the  Govern- 
ment  should  sue  for  terms  of  peace.  Lincoln's 
reply  three  days  afterwards  was  a  proclamation  an-  sept.3,1864. 
nouncing  "the  signal  success  that  Divine  Prov- 
idence has  recently  vouchsafed"  the  country  at 
Mobile  and  Atlanta,  and  calling  for  "devout  ac- 
knowledgment to  the  Supreme  Being  in  whose 
hands  are  the  destinies  of  nations."  He  also  ten- 
dered, by  proclamation,  the  national  thanks  to 
Farragut,  Canby,  and  Granger,  and  to  General 
Sherman  and  the  gallant  officers  and  soldiers  of  their 


352  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  respective  commands,  and  ordered  that  national 
salutes  of  one  hundred  guns  should  be  fired  on  suc- 
cessive days  from  all  the  arsenals  and  navy  yards 
in  the  United  States  in  honor  of  these  glorious 
victories.  Thus,  amid  the  prayers  and  thanksgiv- 
ings of  a  grateful  people,  and  the  thunder  and 
smoke  of  great  guns,  uttering  from  their  iron 
throats  the  general  joy,  the  Presidential  campaign 
began.  The  darkest  hour  had  come  just  before 
the  dawn,  and  the  light  broadened  on  the  political 
campaign  from  beginning  to  end.1 

It  would  of  course  be  unjust  to  describe  the  mass 
of  the  Democratic  party  as  lacking  in  patriotism  and 
as  advocates  of  a  dishonorable  peace.  But  parties 
are  judged  by  their  general  tendencies  and  not  by 
the  virtues  or  vices  of  individuals ;  and  the  two 
parties  in  the  North  in  1864  were  differentiated  with 
sufficient  definiteness  in  the  public  mind  as  the 
peace  and  the  war  parties.  In  the  South  there  was 
no  shade  of  doubt  as  to  this  distinction.  The  hopes 
and  prayers  of  the  revolt  were  centered  on  Mc- 
Clellan's  success.  They  deplored  Confederate  mili- 
tary disasters  more  for  their  political  effect  in  the 
North  than  for  any  other  reason.  The  "  Charleston 
1864.  Courier *  of  the  7th  of  September  contained  a 
leader  on  the  fall  of  Atlanta  in  which  the  depen- 
dence of  the  rebellion  upon  Democratic  success  was 
frankly  avowed.  "All  of  us  perceive,"  it  said,  "  the 
intimate  connection  existing  between  the  armies  of 

i  The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson,  platform  or  to  the  victory  at  At- 

calling  on  the  President  soon  after  lanta.    ' '  I  guess  it  was  the  vic- 

this,  congratulated  him  on  the  tory,"    Mr.    Lincoln    answered ; 

improved  aspect  of  politics,  and  "  at  least,  I  should  prefer  to  have 

asked  him  whether  he  attributed  that  repeated." — "Voices  of  the 

it  in  greater  part  to  the  Chicago  Pulpit,"  p.  191. 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  353 

the  Confederacy  and  the  peace  men  in  the  United  chap.  xvi. 
States.  These  constitute  two  immense  forces  that 
are  working  together  for  the  procurement  of 
peace.  .  .  Our  success  in  battle  insures  the  suc- 
cess of  McClellan.  Our  failure  will  inevitably  lead 
to  his  defeat."  The  article  goes  on  to  lament  the 
disaster  at  Atlanta,  which  would  cloud  the  promis- 
ing prospect  of  the  peace  organization ;  by  which 
the  entire  Democratic  party  was  meant. 

One  of  the  earliest  speeches  of  the  autumn  was 
made  by  Mr.  Seward  at  his  home  in  Auburn,  New 
York.  He  spoke  avowedly  without  authority  from  sePt.3,i864. 
the  President;  yet,  as  well  from  his  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Lincoln  as  from  his  commanding  place  in 
the  Administration,  his  speech  demanded  and  re- 
ceived great  attention.  He  said :  "  While  the  rebels 
continue  to  wage  war  against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  the  military  measures  affecting 
slavery,  which  have  been  adopted  from  necessity 
to  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy  and  successful  end, 
will  be  continued,  except  so  far  as  practical  ex- 
perience shall  show  that  they  can  be  modified  ad- 
vantageously, with  a  view  to  the  same  end.  When 
the  insurgents  shall  have  disbanded  their  armies 
and  laid  down  their  arms  the  war  will  instantly 
cease;  and  all  the  war  measures  then  existing, 
including  those  which  affect  slavery,  will  cease 
also;  and  all  the  moral,  economical,  and  political 
questions,  as  well  questions  affecting  slavery 
as  others  which  shall  then  be  existing  between 
individuals  and  States  and  the  Federal  Govern-  5^' 
ment,  whether  they  arose  before  the  civil  war  DjS£to?ylc 
began,  or  whether  they  grew  out  of  it,  will,  by  off£retE>ar 
force  of  the  Constitution,  pass  over  to  the  ar-  pp.  SlpW 
Vol.  IX.— 23 


354  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.xvl  bitrament  of  courts   of  law  and  to   the  councils 
of  legislation." 

Referring  to  the  Chicago  declaration  in  favor  of 
the  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities,  and  the  par- 
alyzing effect  on  the  action  of  the  Government 
which  would  follow  the  success  of  the  Democrats 
upon  such  a  platform,  he  asked,  in  that  contin- 
« The'     gency>  "  Who  can  vouch   for   the   safety  of  the 
^KS?"  country  against  the  rebels   during   the   interval 
offoretiSar  which  must  elapse  before  the  new  Administration 
p.  W.      can   constitutionally   come    into   power  ?  ■ l    The 
opposition    journalists    immediately  seized   upon 
this  as  a  threat  that  the  Administration  was  de- 
termined to  keep  itself  in  power  whatever  might 
be  the  verdict  of  the  people,  and  this  clamor  went 
on  until  the  President,  as  we  shall  show,  put  an 
1864.       effectual  quietus  upon  it. 

Mr.  Lincoln  himself  took  little  part  in  the  con- 
test. He  was  forced,  from  time  to  time,  to  assist 
with  his  presence  charitable  demonstrations  in 
favor  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers ;  and  being 
always  obliged  on  these  occasions  to  say  a  few 
words,  he  acquitted  himself  of  these  necessary 
tasks  with  dignity  and  discretion.  He  made  no 
personal  reference  to  his  opponents,  and  spoke  of 

1  Ten    days    later,   when    Mr.  the  contrary,  we  determined  that 

Seward  had  returned  to  Wash-  there  should  be  no  such  thing  as 

ington,  he  said,  in  answer  to  a  failure,  and  therefore  we  went  in 

serenade:    "The   Democracy  of  to  save  the  Union  by  battle  to  the 

Chicago,  after  waiting  six  weeks  last.    Sherman  and  Farragut  have 

to  see  whether  this  war  for  the  knocked  the  bottom  out  of  the 

Union  is  to  succeed  or  fail,  finally  Chicago    nominations,    and    the 

concluded  that  it  would  fail,  and  elections  in  Vermont  and  Maine 

therefore  went  in  for  a  nomina-  prove  the  Baltimore  nominations 

tion  and  platform  to  make  it  a  stanch  and  sound.     The  issue  is 

sure  thing  by  a  cessation  of  hos-  thus  squarely  made  up  —  McClel- 

tilities  and  an  abandonment  of  Ian  and  disunion,  or  Lincoln  and 

the  contest.    At   Baltimore,  on  Union." 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  355 

his  enemies  North  and  South  with  unfailing  char-  chap,  xvl 
ity  and  moderation.  Regiments  of  soldiers  return- 
ing to  their  homes  after  their  term  of  service  was 
over  sometimes  called  upon  him,  and  in  brief  and 
pithy  speeches  he  thanked  them  for  calling,  and 
always  added  a  word  or  two  of  wise  or  witty  po-  i86*- 
litical  thought.  Speaking  to  an  Ohio  regiment,  he 
defined  in  one  phrase  the  essential  character  of  our 
republican  government  with  more  accuracy  and 
clearness  than  ever  Jefferson  had  done :  "  I  wish  it 
might  be  more  generally  and  universally  under- 
stood what  the  country  is  now  engaged  in.  We 
have,  as  all  will  agree,  a  free  government,  where 
every  man  has  a  right  to  be  equal  with  every  other 
man.  In  this  great  struggle  this  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  every  form  of  human  right,  is  en- 
dangered if  our  enemies  succeed.  .  .  There  is 
involved  in  this  struggle  the  question  whether  your 
children  and  my  children  shall  enjoy  the  privileges 
we  have  enjoyed.  .  .  When  you  return  to  your 
homes,  rise  up  to  the  height  of  a  generation  of 
men  worthy  of  a  free  government,  and  we  will 
carry  out  the  great  work  we  have  commenced." 

To  another  regiment  he  said :  "  I  happen,  tem- 
porarily, to  occupy  this  big  white  house.  I  am 
a  living  witness  that  any  one  of  your  children 
may  look  to  come  here  as  my  father's  child  has. 
It  is  in  order  that  each  one  of  you  may  have, 
through  this  free  government  which  we  have  en- 
joyed, an  open  field  and  a  fair  chance  for  your  in- 
dustry, enterprise,  and  intelligence  —  that  you  may 
all  have  equal  privileges  in  the  race  of  life  with 
all  its  desirable  human  aspirations  —  it  is  for  this 
that  the  struggle  should  be   maintained,  that  we 


356  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  may  not  lose  our  birthright.  .  .  The  nation  is  worth 
fighting  for  to  secure  such  an  inestimable  jewel." 
186*.  Being  invited  to   attend   a  Union   mass  meet- 

ing at  Buffalo,  the  President  at  first  thought  of 
writing  a  letter,  and  we  find  among  his  papers 
the  following  fragment  in  his  own  manuscript: 

Yours  inviting  me  to  attend  a  Union  mass  meeting  at 
Buffalo  is  received.  Much  is  being  said  about  peace,  and 
no  man  desires  peace  more  ardently  than  I.  Still  I  am 
yet  unprepared  to  give  up  the  Union  for  a  peace  which, 
so  achieved,  could  not  be  of  much  duration.  The  preser- 
vation of  our  Union  was  not  the  sole  avowed  object  for 
which  the  war  was  commenced.  It  was  commenced  for 
precisely  the  reverse  object  —  to  destroy  our  Union.  The 
insurgents  commenced  it  by  firing  upon  the  Star  of  the 
West  and  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  by  other  similar  acts.  It 
is  true,  however,  that  the  Administration  accepted  the 
war  thus  commenced  for  the  sole  avowed  object  of  pre- 
serving our  Union ;  and  it  is  not  true  that  it  has  since 
been,  or  will  be,  prosecuted  by  this  Administration  for 
any  other  object.  In  declaring  this  I  only  declare  what 
I  can  know,  and  do  know,  to  be  true,  and  what  no  other 
man  can  know  to  be  false. 

In  taking  the  various  steps  which  have  led  to  my  pres- 
ent position  in  relation  to  the  war,  the  public  interest  and 
my  private  interest  have  been  perfectly  parallel,  because 
in  no  other  way  could  I  serve  myself  so  well  as  by  truly 
serving  the  Union.  The  whole  field  has  been  open  to  me 
where  to  choose.  No  place-hunting  necessity  has  been 
upon  me  urging  me  to  seek  a  position  of  antagonism  to 
some  other  man,  irrespective  of  whether  such  position 
might  be  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  the  Union. 

Of  course,  I  may  err  in  judgment ;  but  my  present  po- 
sition in  reference  to  the  rebellion  is  the  result  of  my  best 
judgment,  and,  according  to  that  best  judgment,  it  is  the 
only  position  upon  which  any  executive  can  or  could  save 
the  Union.  Any  substantial  departure  from  it  insures 
the  success  of  the  rebellion.  An  armistice  —  a  cessation 
of  hostilities  —  is  the  end  of  the  struggle,  and  the  insur- 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  357 

geuts  would  be  in  peaceable  possession  of  all  that  has  chap.xvi. 
been  struggled  for.    Any  different  policy  in  regard  to  the 
colored,  man  deprives  us  of  his  help,  and  this  is  more 
than  we  can  bear.     We  cannot  spare  the  hundred  and 
forty  or  fifty  thousand  now  serving  us  as  soldiers,  sea- 
men, and  laborers.     This  is  not  a  question  of  sentiment 
or  taste,  but  one  of  physical  force,  which  may  be  meas- 
ured and  estimated    as  horse-power   and  steam-power 
are  measured  and  estimated.     Keep  it,  and  you  can  save 
the  Union.     Throw  it  away,  and  the  Union  goes  with  it. 
Nor  is  it  possible  for  any  administration  to  retain  the    gcbermer0 
service  of  these  people  with  the  express  or  implied  un-       hom> 
derstanding  that  upon  the  first  convenient  occasion  they    is&^'ms. 
are  to  be  reenslaved.   It  can  not  be,  and  it  ought  not  to  be. 

After  he  had  written  thus  far  he  seems  to  have 
changed  his  mind  as  to  the  good  taste  or  the  expe- 
diency of  aiding  even  thus  far  in  his  own  canvass. 
He  therefore  laid  his  letter  aside  unsigned  and  wrote 
a  brief  note  declining  to  address  the  meeting,  on  the 
ground,  first,  that  it  would  be  a  breach  of  prece- 
dent, and,  secondly,  that  if  he  once  began  to  write 
letters  it  would  be  difficult  to  discriminate  between  iwa. 
meetings  having  equal  claims. 

Although  the  dignity  and  self-control  with  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  held  himself  aloof  from  the  work  of 
the  canvass  has  been  generally  acknowledged, 
there  is  one  incident  of  the  campaign  which  was 
the  object  of  severe  criticism  at  the  time.  Gov- 
ernor Johnson,  in  accordance  with  the  request  of 
the  State  Convention  of  Tennessee,  had  issued  a 
proclamation  specifying  the  manner  in  which  the  «**•  ' 
vote  for  Presidential  electors  should  be  taken,  the 
qualification  of  voters,  and  the  oath  which  they 
should  be  required  to  take.  The  Democratic  can- 
didates on  the  electoral  ticket  of  that  State,  regard- 
ing themselves  aggrieved  by  these  requirements  of 


358  ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  the  Convention  and  the  Governor,  united  in  a 
protest  against  this  proceeding,  and  one  of  their 
number,  John  Lellyett,  was  sent  to  present  the 

Oct.  is,  1864.  protest  in  person.  In  the  account  of  his  interview 
with  the  President,  which  he  published  in  the  news- 
papers, Mr.  Lellyett  said  that  the  President  told 
him  he  would  manage  his  side  of  the  contest  in  his 
own  way,  and  the  friends  of  General  McClellan 
could  manage  their  side  in  theirs.  It  is  not  im- 
possible that,  in  a  moment  of  irritation  at  the 
presentation  of  a  petition  which  was  in  itself  an 
insinuation  that  he  was  making  a  selfish  and  cor- 
rupt use  of  his  power,  the  President  may  have 
treated  Mr.  Lellyett  with  scant  courtesy;  but  he  took 
the  protest,  nevertheless,  and  told  him  he  would 
answer  it  at  his  convenience.  There  is  certainly 
nothing  of  malice  or  of  petulance  in  the  grave  and 
serious  tone  of  the  reply  which  the  President  sent 
a  few  days  later  to  the  McClellan  electors  of  Ten- 
nessee. He  informed  them  that  he  had  had  no  com- 
munication whatever  with  Governor  Johnson  on 
the  subject  of  his  proclamation ;  that  he  had  given 
to  the  subject  such  consideration  as  was  in  his 
power  in  the  midst  of  so  many  pressing  public 
duties.    He  said : 

My  conclusion  is  that  I  can  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  matter,  either  to  sustain  the  plan  as  the  Convention 
and  Governor  Johnson  have  initiated  it,  or  to  revoke  or 
modify  it  as  you  demand.  By  the  Constitution  and  laws 
the  President  is  charged  with  no  duty  in  the  conduct  of 
a  Presidential  election  in  any  State ;  nor  do  I,  in  this  case, 
perceive  any  military  reason  for  his  interference  in  the 
matter. 

The  movement  set  on  foot  by  the  Convention  and  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  does  not,  as  seems  to  be  assumed  by  you, 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  359 

emanate  from  the  National  Executive.    In  no  proper  sense  chap,  xvl 
can   it   be    considered    other  than   as   an   independent 
movement  of  at  least  a  portion  of  the  loyal  people  of 
Tennessee. 

I  do  not  perceive  in  the  plan  any  menace  of  violence  or 
coercion  toward  any  one.  Governor  Johnson,  like  any 
other  loyal  citizen  of  Tennessee,  has  the  right  to  favor 
any  political  plan  he  chooses,  and,  as  military  governor, 
it  is  his  duty  to  keep  the  peace  among  and  for  the  loyal 
people  of  the  State.  I  cannot  discern  that  by  this  plan 
he  purposes  any  more. 

But  you  object  to  the  plan.  Leaving  it  alone  will  be 
your  perfect  security  against  it.  Do  as  you  please  on 
your  own  account,  peacefully  and  loyally,  and  Governor 
Johnson  will  not  molest  you,  but  will  protect  you  against 
violence  so  far  as  in  his  power. 

I  presume  that  the  conducting  of  a  Presidential  election 
in  Tennessee  in  strict  accordance  with  the  old  code  of 
the  State  is  not  now  a  possibility. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  if  any  election  shall 
be  held,  and  any  votes  shall  be  cast  in  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  it  will  belong  not  to  the  military  agents,  nor  yet  to 
the  Executive  Department,  but  exclusively  to  another 
department  of  the  Government,  to   determine  whether    Linc0in  to 
they  are  entitled  to  be  counted  in  conformity  with  the    campben 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States.    Except  it  be      Qctfaa 
to  give  protection  against  violence,  I  decline  to  interfere        isU. ' 
in  any  way  with  any  Presidential  election. 

The  McClellan  electors  thereupon  withdrew  from 
the  contest;  Lincoln  and  Johnson  electors  were 
chosen,  but  their  votes  were  not  counted  by 
Congress. 

The  most  important  utterance  of  the  President 
during  the  campaign  was  a  speech  which  he  made 
on  the  evening  of  the  19th  of  October,  in  which  he 
referred  to  the  construction  which  had  been  placed 
on  the  remarks  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Auburn, 


360  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap,  xvl  already  quoted.  He  thought  the  distorted  and  un- 
just conclusiDus  which  had  been  drawn  from 
la*.  Seward's  remarks  had  gone  far  enough,  and  that 
the  time  had  come  to  put  an  end  to  them,  and  he 
seized,  for  that  purpose,  the  occasion  of  a  serenade 
from  a  party  of  loyal  Marylanders  who  were  cele- 
brating in  Washington  the  victory  which  the  party 
of  emancipation  had  gained  in  the  elections  in  their 
State.  He  said  a  few  words  of  congratulation  upon 
that  auspicious  event,  and  then  added : 

A  word  upon  another  subject.  Something  said  by 
the  Secretary  of  State,  in  his  recent  speech  at  Auburn,  has 
been  construed  by  some  into  a  threat  that  if  I  shall  be 
beaten  at  the  election  I  will,  between  then  and  the  end  of 
my  constitutional  term,  do  what  I  may  be  able  to  ruin 
the  Government.  Others  regard  the  fact  that  the  Chicago 
Convention  adjourned,  not  sine  die,  but  to  meet  again,  if 
called  to  do  so  by  a  particular  individual,  as  the  intima- 
tion of  a  purpose  that  if  their  nominee  shall  be  elected  he 
will  at  once  seize  control  of  the  Government.  I  hope  the 
good  people  will  permit  themselves  to  suffer  no  uneasiness 
on  either  point. 

I  am  struggling  to  maintain  government,  not  to  over- 
throw it.  I  am  struggling  especially  to  prevent  others 
from  overthrowing  it.  I  therefore  say  that  if  I  shall  live 
I  shall  remain  President  until  the  4th  of  next  March ;  and 
that  whoever  shall  be  constitutionally  elected  therefor, 
in  November,  shall  be  duly  installed  as  President  on  the 
4th  of  March ;  and  that,  in  the  interval,  I  shall  do  my 
utmost  that  whoever  is  to  hold  the  helm  for  the  next 
voyage  shall  start  with  the  best  possible  chance  to  save 
the  ship. 

This  is  due  to  the  people  both  on  principle  and  under 
the  Constitution.  Their  will,  constitutionally  expressed, 
is  the  ultimate  law  for  all.  If  they  should  deliberately 
resolve  to  have  immediate  peace,  even  at  the  loss  of  their 
country  and  their  liberty,  I  know  not  the  power  or  the 
right  to  resist  them.  It  is  their  own  business,  and  they 
must  do  as  they  please  with  their  own.    I  believe,  how- 


LINCOLN    EEELECTED  361 

ever,  they  are  still  resolved  to  preserve  their  country  and  chap.  xvi. 
their  liberty ;  and  in  this,  in  office  or  out  of  it,  I  am  re-  Autograph 
solved  to  stand  by  them.  Ms" 

During  the  progress  of  the  campaign  Mr.  Lin-  isw 
coin  was  frequently  called  upon  to  assist  his 
friends,  to  oppose  his  enemies,  and  to  exercise  his 
powerful  influence  in  appeasing  discord  in  different 
States  and  districts.  He  interfered  as  little  as  pos- 
sible, and  always  in  the  interests  of  the  party  at 
large,  rather  than  in  those  of  individuals.  He  took 
no  account  of  the  personal  attitude  of  candidates 
towards  himself.  In  the  case  of  those  who  were 
among  his  intimate  friends  he  would  go  no  further 
than  to  demand  that  Government  officers  should 
not  work  against  them.  When  Isaac  N,  Arnold 
of  Chicago,  who  had  incurred  the  hostility  of  Mr. 
Scripps,  the  postmaster  at  that  place,  complained 
of  the  opposition  of  that  official  and  called  upon 
the  President  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  the  President 
would  do  nothing  more  than  to  order  the  offending 
postmaster  to  content  himself  with  the  exercise  of 
his  own  rights  as  a  citizen  and  a  voter  and  to  allow 
his  subordinates  to  do  the  same.  The  postmaster 
answered,  as  was  natural,  that  this  was  precisely 
what  he  had  been  doing,  and  that  this  was  the 
source  of  Mr.  Arnold's  complaint;  that  the  con- 
gressman wanted  his  active  official  assistance,  and 
would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less.  Although 
Arnold  was  an  intimate  and  valued  friend  of  the 
President,  he  declined  to  exercise  any  further  pres- 
sure upon  the  postmaster,  and  Mr.  Arnold  soon 
afterwards  withdrew  from  the  contest. 

After  candidates  had  been  regularly  and  fairly 
nominated,   the  President  had  no    hesitation  in 


362  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  doing  all  in  his  power  to  conciliate  hostilities  and 
to  unite  the  party  in  support  of  them.  He  toler- 
ated in  these  cases  no  factious  or  malicious  oppo- 
sition on  the  part  of  his  office-holders,  and  he  laid 
his  hands  most  heavily  upon  those  injudicious 
friends  of  his  own  who  attempted  to  defeat  the 
reelection  of  Republican  congressmen  who  had  not 
been  especially  friendly  to  him.  A  large  number 
of  the  leading  Republicans  in  Roscoe  Conkling's 
district  had  declared  their  intention  to  oppose  him. 
Mi*.  Conkling's  friends  appealed  to  the  President, 
claiming  that  the  Republican  opposition  to  him 
had  its  rise  and  origin  among  friends  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  State.  The  President  commended  their 
complaint  to  the  attention  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  an- 
swered for  himself:  "  I  am  for  the  regular  nominee 
in  all  cases,  and  no  one  could  be  more  satisfactory 
to  me  as  the  nominee  in  that  district  than  Mr. 
Lincoln     [Roscoe]  Conkling.    I  do  not  mean  to  say  there 

to  Ward       r         n  J 

A°uni6  l-are]  not  others  as  good  as  he  in  the  district,  but  I 
1864.  ms.  think  I  know  him  to  be  at  least  good  enough." 
Being  informed  of  some  hostility  on  the  part  of 
the  custom-house  officials  in  New  York  against 
Frederick  A.  Conkling,  he  wrote  similar  admoni- 
tions to  them.  The  postmaster  of  Philadelphia 
being  accused  of  interference  against  William  D. 
Kelley,  the  President  sent  for  him,  and,  following 
his  custom  in  grave  matters,  he  read  to  him  a  rep- 
rimand which  he  had  committed  to  paper  in  the 
following  words : 

Complaint  is  made  to  me  that  you  are  using  your 
official  power  to  defeat  Judge  Kelley's  renomination  to 
Congress.  I  am  well  satisfied  with  Judge  Kelley  as  a 
Member  of  Congress,  and  I  do  not  know  that  the  man 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  363 

who  might  supplant  him  would  be  as  satisfactory ;  but  chap.  xvi. 

the  correct  principle,  I  think,  is  that  all  our  friends 

should   have   absolute   freedom    of    choice    among  our 

friends.    My  wish,  therefore,  is  that  you  will  do  just  as 

you  think  fit  with  your  own  suffrage  in  the  case,  and 

not  constrain   any  of  your   subordinates  to   do   other 

than  as  he  thinks  fit  with  his.    This  is  precisely  the 

rule  I  inculcated  and  adhered  to  on  my  part  when   a 

certain  other  nomination  now  recently  made  was  being    is^ms. 

canvassed  for. 


June  20, 


The  reform  of  the  civil  service  had  not  at  that 
time  been  formulated  by  its  friends,  nor  even 
adopted  in  principle  by  the  country  at  large,  yet  it 
would  be  difficult  even  in  the  light  of  this  day  to 
improve  upon  this  statement  of  its  essential  prin- 
ciple as  applied  to  the  conduct  of  office-holders. 
The  postmaster,  of  course,  promised  exact  obedi- 
ence ;  but  later  in  the  summer  the  President  was 
informed,  on  authority  that  he  credited,  that  of  the 
two  or  three  hundred  employees  in  the  post-office 
not  one  was  openly  in  favor  of  the  renomination 
of  Judge  Kelley.  Upon  learning  this,  Mr.  Lincoln 
wrote  to  an  influential  friend  in  Philadelphia,  stat- 
ing these  facts  and  adding : 

"  This,  if  true,  is  not  accidental.  Left  to  their 
free  choice,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  large 
number  of  them,  probably  as  much  or  more  than 
half,  would  be  for  Kelley.  And  if  they  are  for 
him  and  are  not  restrained  they  can  put  it  beyond 
question  by  publicly  saying  so.  Please  tell  the 
postmaster  he  must  find  a  way  to  relieve  me  from 
the  suspicion  that  he  is  not  keeping  his  promise  to  McMicnaei, 
me  in  good  faith."  The  postmaster  felt  at  last  the  ms. 
hand  of  iron  under  the  velvet  glove,  and  Kelley 
was  renominated  and  reelected,  as  he  was  ever 


364  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  after  till  his  death  —  to  the  honor  and  advantage  of 
his  district  and  State. 

The  summer  was  full  of  brief  panics  and  flurries 
among  the  politicians,  and  they  were  continually 
rushing  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  urge  him  to  action  or 
inaction  in  the  interests  of  the  canvass.  We  believe 
there  is  no  instance  in  which  he  yielded  to  these  so- 
licitations. A  matter  of  especial  difficulty  was  the 
draft  for  half  a  million  of  men  which  had  been  issued 
1864.  on  the  18th  of  July.  Leading  Republicans  all  over 
the  country,  fearing  the  effect  of  the  draft  upon  the 
elections,  begged  the  President  to  withdraw  the 
call  or  suspend  operations  under  it.  Mr.  Cameron, 
so  late  as  the  19th  of  October,  after  the  State  elec- 
tions had  been  secured,  advised  against  the  draft  in 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Chase,  on  the  same  day,  tele- 
graphed from  Ohio,  which  had  been  carried  tri- 
umphantly by  the  Republicans  a  few  days  before, 
recommending  the  suspension  of  the  draft  for  three 
MS.  weeks.  Judge  Johnson  of  Ohio  reports  that  he 
was  with  the  President  when  a  committee  came 
from  Ohio  to  request  him  to  suspend  the  draft  until 
after  the  elections,  and  that  Mr.  Lincoln  quietly 
answered,  "  What  is  the  Presidency  worth  to  me  if 
I  have  no  country  f  "  But  these  solicitations  were 
not  all  in  the  same  direction.  General  Sherman 
telegraphed  from  the  field,  "  If  the  President  modi- 
fies it  [the  draft]  to  the  extent  of  one  man,  or 
wavers  in  its  execution,  he  is  gone  forever;  the 
8e&.17,     army  would  vote  against  him." 

The  politicians  and  the  general  probably  exag- 
gerated in  equal  measure;  the  army  would  not 
have  rejected  him  if  he  had  seen  fit  to  suspend  the 
draft ;  and  the  people  stood  by  him  in  his  refusal 


LINCOLN    EEELECTED  365 

to  do  it.  He  went  so  far  in  compliance  with  the  chap.xvl 
earnest  request  of  the  Union  people  in  Indiana  as 
to  write  to  Sherman  expressing  his  sense  of  the 
importance  of  allowing  as  many  of  the  Indiana 
soldiers  as  possible  to  go  home  to  vote.  Most  of 
the  other  States  which  voted  in  October  allowed 
their  soldiers  to  vote  in  the  field.  Indiana  had  not 
passed  the  necessary  legislation  for  this  purpose. 
The  draft  was  steadily  proceeding  in  that  State, 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  leading  men  there,  was 
endangering  the  success  of  the  Union  party  in  the 
elections.  "Anything  you  can  safely  do,"  Mr. 
Lincoln  wrote,  "  to  let  her  soldiers,  or  any  part  of 
them,  go  home  and  vote  at  the  State  election  will 
be  greatly  in  point.  They  need  not  remain  for 
the  Presidential  election,  but  may  return  to  you 
at  once." 

He  was  careful,  however,  not  to  urge  General 
Sherman  to  any  course  of  action  which  he  might 
consider  injurious.  "  This  is,"  he  added,  "  in  no 
sense  an  order,  but  is  merely  intended  to  impress 
you  with  the  importance,  to  the  army  itself,  of 
your  doing  all  you  safely  can,  yourself  being  the  Srmnan? 
judge  of  what  you  can  safely  do."  There  were  isH^mS. 
also  reports  from  Missouri  that  Rosecrans  was  in- 
clined to  deny  the  soldiers  the  right  of  attending 
the  elections,  on  the  assumed  ground  that  they 
would  get  drunk  and  make  disturbance.  The 
President,  on  being  informed  of  this,  quoted  to 
Rosecrans  the  following  words  from  the  letter 
which  he  had  written  to  Schofield ;  "  '  At  elections 
see  that  those,  and  only  those,  are  allowed  to  vote 
who  are  entitled  to  do  so  by  the  laws  of  Missouri, 
including  as  of  those  laws  the  restrictions  laid  by  the 


366 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Lincoln  to 
Roeecrans, 

Sept.  26, 
1864.     MS. 


Thurlow 

Weed 

to   Seward, 

Sept.  20, 
1864.     MS. 


Missouri  Convention  upon  those  who  may  have  par- 
ticipated in  the  rebellion.'  This,"  said  Lincoln,  "  I 
thought  right  then  and  think  right  now,  and  I  may 
add  I  do  not  remember  that  either  party  complained 
after  the  election  of  General  Schofield's  action 
under  it.  Wherever  the  law  allows  soldiers  to  vote, 
their  officers  must  also  allow  it." 

The  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln  within  the  ranks 
of  his  own  party  did  not  entirely  die  away,  even 
after  the  Chicago  nomination  and  the  changed 
political  prospect  which  immediately  followed  it. 
So  late  as  the  20th  of  September  Thurlow  Weed 
wrote  to  Mr.  Seward  that  "  the  conspiracy  against 
Mr.  Lincoln  collapsed  on  Monday  last.  It  was 
equally  formidable  and  vicious,  embracing  a  larger 
number  of  leading  men  than  I  supposed  possible. 
Knowing  that  I  was  not  satisfied  with  the  Presi- 
dent, they  came  to  me  for  cooperation;  but  my 
objection  to  Mr.  Lincoln  is  that  he  has  done  too 
much  for  those  who  now  seek  to  drive  him  out  of 
the  field.  Their  last  meeting  was  early  last  week  at 
the  house  of  Dudley  Field.  It  was  attended  by 
Greeley,  Godwin,  Wilkes,  Tilton,  Opdyke,  Curtis 
Noyes,  and  twenty-five  others  of  the  same  stripe." 

He  also  stated  that  a  circular  had  been  sent  to 
leading  Eepublicans  in  other  States  inquiring  as  to 
the  feasibility  of  making  another  nomination  for 
President  at  that  time  ;  that  the  malcontents,  find- 
ing themselves  in  solitude,  had  concluded  to  break 
up  operations  and  try  to  control  the  regular  State 
Convention. 

This  letter  referred  to  a  movement  which  at  one 
time  assumed  a  certain  importance.  About  the 
middle  of  August  a  number  of  leading  Republicans, 


LINCOLN    BEELECTED  367 

belonging  to  the  faction  in  New  York  opposed  to  chap.  xvi. 
Mr.  Seward,  who  had  been  displeased  at  the  unani- 
mous nomination  of  Lincoln  at  Baltimore,  and  who 
by  constant  conversation  among  themselves  had 
become  convinced  of  his  unpopularity,  endeavored 
to  organize  a  demonstration  against  him  which 
should  force  him  to  withdraw  from  the  ticket. 
They  had  the  earnest  support  and  eager  instiga- 
tion of  Henry  Winter  Davis  in  Maryland,  of  the  ^jg^gf8 
editors  of  the  "Cincinnati  Gazette"  in  Ohio,  and  perSnsVe 
what  would  have  surprised  Mr.  Lincoln  if  he  had  tot? sSn," 
known  it,  of  Charles  Sumner  in  Massachusetts.  Jlu$89?0' 
General  Butler  was  the  favorite  candidate  of  most 
of  this  singular  cabal,  and  he  sent  a  representative 
to  their  conferences.  Mr.  Chase  gave  in  a  guarded 
adhesion  and  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  —  not  having 
been  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency  at  Balti- 
more—  was  naturally  "full  of  anxiety  and  alarm 
over  the  manifest  downward  tendency  of  things." 
They  met  with  severe  rebuffs  from  several  quarters 
where  they  expected  assistance ;  Eoscoe  Conkling  lse*. 
refused  bluntly  to  sign  their  call ;  Jacob  Collamer 
thought  it  inexpedient.  When  the  country  woke  up 
to  the  true  significance  of  the  Chicago  platform,  the 
successes  of  Sherman  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people,  and  the  Unionists,  arousing  from  their  mid- 
summer languor,  began  to  show  their  confidence 
and  regard  towards  the  Republican  candidate,  the 
hopelessness  of  all  efforts  to  undermine  him  became 
apparent,  and,  one  by  one,  all  the  men  engaged  in 
this  secret  movement  against  him  fell  into  line  and 
did  their  best  to  elect  him. 

After  every  semblance  of  open  hostility  had  dis- 
appeared everywhere  else  in  the  country  the  fire  of 


368  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  faction  still  kept  it  alive  in  Missouri.  A  singular 
state  of  tilings  existed  there.  The  Radical  party 
had  almost  entirely  absorbed  the  Union  sentiment 
of  the  State ;  the  Conservative  party,  the  Presi- 
186*.  dent's  friends,  had  almost  ceased  to  exist.  The 
incumbents  of  the  Government  offices,  a  few  of  the 
intimate  personal  friends  of  Blair,  still  stood  out 
against  the  Radicals ;  and  so  long  as  this  attitude 
was  maintained  the  Radicals,  while  working  vigor- 
ously for  their  State  and  local  tickets,  refused  to 
avow  themselves  in  favor  of  Lincoln.  So  far  as 
can  be  ascertained  the  only  reason  for  this  absurd 
position  was  that  the  "  Claybanks,"  as  the  Conser- 
vatives were  called,  wished  the  Radicals  to  declare 
for  Lincoln  as  a  pretext  by  which  they  could  join 
the  vast  majority  of  their  party,  and  the  Radicals 
spitefully  refused  to  allow  them  this  accommoda- 
tion. Thomas  C.  Fletcher,  the  Radical  candidate 
for  governor,  refused  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
campaign  to  make  any  public  statement  that  he 
would  vote  for  Lincoln.  His  reason  for  this,  pri- 
vately given,  was  that  he  feared  such  an  announce- 
ment would  alienate  from  his  support  a  large 
number  of  the  more  furious  anti-Lincoln  Germans. 
At  last,  however,  he  concluded  to  declare  for  the 
regular  Republican  Presidential  ticket,  and  a  meet- 
ing was  appointed  for  the  purpose;  but,  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  moderate  Union  men,  he  went 
no  further  at  this  meeting  than  to  say  he  would 
not  vote  for  McClellan,  and  in  explanation  of  this 
singular  performance  he  told  the  President's  private 
secretary  that  he  had  found  at  the  hotel  where  his 
speech  was  made  a  letter  of  the  "  Claybank  "  com- 
mittee offering  their  support  on  condition  of  his 


LINCOLN    KEELECTED  369 

declaring  for  Lincoln,  and  that  he  would  not  be  chap.xvi. 
coerced  into  it.  Mcoiayto 

,  Lincoln, 

The  President  sent  messages  to  the  moderate  JgJ-  ^ 
Unionists  expressing  his  desire  that  the  childish 
quarrel  should  come  to  an  end,  and  they,  to  do 
them  justice,  desired  nothing  more.  The  only  con- 
dition of  their  support  which  they  made  was  that 
candidates  should  declare  themselves  for  Lincoln, 
which  they  in  turn  would  have  been  willing  to  do 
if  it  were  not  that  the  "Claybanks"  requested 
it.  So  far  as  practical  results  went  the  party  was 
united  enough,  Mr.  Nicolay  reported;  "it  seems 
to  be  very  well  understood  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  very  few  impracticables,  the  Union  men 
will  cast  their  votes  for  you,  for  the  Eadical  Con- 
gressmen, for  the  emancipation  candidates,  for  the 
State  Legislature  and  the  State  Convention,  so  that 
in  practice  nearly  everybody  is  right  and  united, 
while  in  profession  everybody  is  wrong  or  at  cross 
purposes."  This  was  surmised  while  the  clatter  of  ibid, 
factious  fighting  was  going  on,  and  was  abundantly 
proved  by  the  result.  While  the  Eadical  candidate 
for  governor  only  claimed  that  he  would  be  elected 
by  a  majority  of  ten  thousand,  which  claim  by 
many  of  his  party  was  considered  sanguine,  when 
the  votes  were  counted  it  was  found  that  Lincoln 
had  carried  the  State  by  the  immense  majority  of 
forty  thousand. 

The  electoral  contest  began  with  the  picket  firing 
in  Vermont  and  Maine  in  September,  was  continued  1** 
in  what  might  be  called  the  grand  guard  fighting  in 
October,  in  the  great  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
and  Indiana,  and  the  final  battle  all  along  the  line 
took  place  in  November.  Vermont  and  Maine  were 
Vol,  IX.— 24 


370  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  carried  by  good  Republican  majorities,  the  can- 
vass in  the  latter  State  having  been  managed  by- 
James  G.  Blaine  with  a  dash  and  energy  which 
gave  a  presage  of  his  subsequent  career.  Before  the 
October  elections  came  on,  auguries  of  Republican 
success  had  become  so  significant  and  universal 
that  there  was  little  doubt  of  the  result  in  the  best- 
informed  political  circles.  The  President,  how- 
ever, was  too  old  a  politician  to  be  sure  of  anything 
until  the  votes  were  counted,  and  it  was  not  with- 
out some  natural  trepidation  that  on  the  evening  of 
1864.  the  11th  of  October  he  walked  over  to  the  War  De- 
partment *  to  get  from  the  telegraphic  instruments 
the  earliest  intimations  of  the  course  of  the  contest. 
The  first  dispatch  he  received  contained  the  wel- 
come intelligence  of  the  election  of  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes  and  his  Republican  colleague  from  the 
hard-fought  Cincinnati  districts.  Next  came  dis- 
patches announcing  a  Republican  majority  in 
Philadelphia  and  indicating  a  similar  result  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  news  continued  very  much  in  the  same 
strain  during  the  evening,  and  the  President,  in  the 
lull  of  dispatches,  read  aloud  to  Stanton  and  Dana 
selected  chapters  of  the  Nasby  papers.2  As  the 
votes  of  the  soldiers  in  the  different  camps  in  the 
vicinity  of  Washington  began  to  be  reported  they 
were  found  to  be  nearly  unanimous  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  candidate,  the  proportion  among  West- 

1  Attended  by  one  of  his  secre-  Sun,"  Charles  A.  Dana  has  given 
taries,  from  whose  manuscript  an  entertaining  account  of  Stan- 
diary  this  account  is  taken.  ton's  impatience  at  this  perform- 

2  In  the  volume  of  "Reminis-  ance  of  Lincoln,  which  he  at- 
cences  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  tributed  to  a  stolid  indifference 
edited  by  A.  T.  Rice,  and  in  an  to  the  result  in  which  the  Presi- 
article  printed  in  the  "  New  York  dent  had  so  momentous  a  stake. 


LINCOLN   REELECTED  371 

ern  troops  being  generally  that  of  ten  to  one :  chap.  xvi. 
among  the  Eastern  troops,  although  there  was 
everywhere  a  majority,  it  was  not  so  large.  Carver  m 
Hospital,  by  which  Lincoln  and  Stanton  passed 
every  day  on  their  way  to  the  country,  gave  the 
heaviest  opposition  vote  reported  —  about  one  out 
of  three.  Lincoln  turned  to  the  Secretary  and  said, 
"  That 's  hard  on  us,  Stanton !  They  know  us  bet- 
ter than  the  others."  The  sum  of  the  day's  work 
was  of  enormous  importance.  Indiana  indicated  a 
gain  of  thirty  thousand  in  two  years.  Governor 
Morton  and  the  entire  Republican  ticket  were 
elected  by  twenty  thousand  majority,  with  the  gain 
of  four  Congressmen.  Pennsylvania,  whose  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  had  been  equally  divided, 
now  changed  their  proportion  to  fifteen  against 
nine,  and  made  her  Legislature  strongly  Republican 
in  both  branches,  with  popular  majorities  ranging 
from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand.  The  Unionists  car- 
ried Ohio  by  a  majority  of  over  54,000,  and  effected 
a  complete  revolution  in  her  representation  in 
Congress ;  for  while  in  1862  she  had  elected  fourteen 
Democrats  and  five  Republicans,  she  now  sent  to 
Washington  seventeen  Republicans  and  two  Demo- 
crats. But  the  success  of  the  day  which  lay  nearest 
to  the  heart  of  the  President  was  the  adoption  in 
Maryland  of  the  new  State  constitution  abolishing 
slavery  forever  on  her  soil.  The  majority  was  a 
very  slender  one,  the  vote  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
field  being  necessary  to  save  emancipation ;  but  it 
served,  and  the  next  month  the  Union  majority 
was  greatly  increased. 

It  would  seem  strange  that  after  this  decisive 
victory  there  should  have  been  any  room  left  for 


372  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  hope  or  confidence  on  the  side  of  the  opposition  or 
for  anxiety  and  panic  among  Kepublican  politi- 
cians; but  alternating  fits  of  confidence  and  de- 
spondency are  inseparable  from  all  long-continued 
political  campaigns,  and  even  after  these  over- 
whelming successes  we  find  the  Democratic  speeches 
and  papers  full  of  boasting,  and  the  private  cor- 
respondence of  experienced  Republican  leaders 
full  of  tremor  and  apprehension.  The  Presi- 
dent, however,  had  passed  through  his  moment 
of  despondency,  and  from  this  time  to  the  end 
entertained  no  shadow  of  doubt  of  the  result.  Mr. 
Washburne  wrote  to  him  on  the  17th  of  October 
from  Galena:  "It  is  no  use  to  deceive  ourselves 
about  this  State.  .  .  Everything  is  at  sixes  and 
sevens ;  and  no  head  or  tail  to  anything.  There  is 
Ms.  imminent  danger  of  our  losing  the  State";  and 
more  in  the  same  strain.  The  President  laid  away 
the  letter,  writing  on  the  envelope  the  single  word, 
"  Stampeded."  Ten  days  later  Washburne  had 
recovered  his  spirits,  and  wrote,  "Logan  is  car- 
ms.  rying  all  before  him  in  Egypt."  Earlier  in  the 
campaign  Mr.  Washburne,  desiring  to  do  all  in 
his  power  to  forward  the  Union  cause,  had  written 
to  Grant  asking  permission  to  print  a  letter  from 
him  in  favor  of  Lincoln.  Grant  replied  that  he 
had  no  objection  to  this,  but  he  thought  that  "  for 
the  President  to  answer  all  the  charges  the  op- 
position would  bring  against  him  would  be  like 
setting  a  maiden  to  work  to  prove  her  chastity." 
A  friend  of  Mr.  Seward  communicated  to  him 
about  the  same  time  an  astonishing  mare's  nest, 
in  which  he  claimed  to  have  discovered  that  the 
opposition  policy  for  the  Presidential  campaign 


LINCOLN   REELECTED  373 

would  be  to  abstain  from  voting.  The  Secretary  chap.xvi. 
submitted  this  letter  to  the  President.  To  Mr. 
Lincoln,  with  his  lifelong  observation  of  politics, 
this  idea  of  abstention  from  voting  seemed  more 
amusing  than  threatening.  He  returned  the  letter 
to  the  Secretary  with  this  indorsement:  "More 
likely  to  abstain  from  stopping  when  once  they 
get  at  it." 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  election  in  No- 
vember a  flight  of  rumors  of  intended  secessionist 
demonstrations  in  the  principal  States  of  the  North 
covered  the  land.  The  points  of  danger  which  were 
most  clearly  indicated  were  the  cities  of  Chicago 
and  New  York.  "We  have  related  in  another  place 
the  efficient  measures  taken  to  prevent  any  outbreak 
in  Chicago,  with  the  arrest  and  punishment  of  the 
conspirators.  The  precautionary  measures  in  other 
States  prevented  any  attempt  at  disorder.  To  pre- 
serve the  public  peace  in  the  city  of  New  York  and 
to  secure  the  guarantee  of  a  fair  and  orderly  elec- 
tion there,  General  Butler  was  sent  with  a  consider- 
able force  of  troops  to  that  city.  He  issued  an 
order  on  the  5th  of  November  declaring  that  troops  lse*. 
had  been  detailed  for  duty  in  that  district  sufficient 
to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  United  States,  to  pro- 
tect public  property,  to  prevent  disorder,  and  to 
insure  calm  and  quiet.  He  referred  to  the  charge 
made  by  the  opposition  that  the  presence  of  Union 
troops  might  possibly  have  an  effect  upon  the  free 
exercise  of  the  duty  of  voting  at  the  ensuing  elec- 
tion.   He  hotly  repudiated  this  accusation. 

"  The  armies  of  the  United  States,"  he  said,  "  are 
ministers  of  good  and  not  of  evil.  .  .  Those  who  fear 
them  are  accused  by  their  own  consciences.     Let 


374  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  every  citizen  having  the  right  to  vote  act  accord- 
ing to  the  inspiration  of  his  own  judgment  freely. 
He  will  be  protected  in  that  right  by  the  whole 
power  of  the  Government  if  it  shall  become 
necessary." 

He  denounced  energetically  the  crime  of  fraudu- 
lent voting,  but  did  not  assume  to  himself  the  duty 
of  separating  the  tares  from  the  wheat.  He  simply 
warned  the  evil-intentioned  that  fraudulent  voting 
would  be  detected  and  punished  after  the  election 
was  over.  Governor  Seymour  had  been,  as  usual, 
much  exercised  for  fear  of  executive  usurpation  at 
the  polls,  and  had  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  2d 
1864.  of  November  urging  the  avoidance  of  all  measures 
which  would  tend  to  strife  or  disorder.  He  called 
upon  sheriffs  of  counties  to  take  care  that  every 
voter  should  have  a  free  ballot  in  the  manner  se- 
cured to  him  by  the  constitution  and  laws,  and  to 
exercise  the  full  force  of  the  law  and  call  forth, 
if  need  be,  the  power  of  their  districts  against  the 
interference  of  the  military  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
polling-places. 

There  was  by  no  means  a  unanimous  agreement 
among  even  the  supporters  of  the  Administration 
as  to  the  expediency  of  sending  General  Butler  to 
New  York  at  this  time.  The  action  was  taken  by 
Mr.  Stanton  on  his  own  responsibility.  Thurlow 
Weed  disapproved  of  it,  and  up  to  the  day  of  elec- 
tion thought,  on  the  whole,  the  proceeding  was 
injurious,  in  spite  of  Butler's  admirable  general 
order;  but  Butler  acted  under  the  circumstances 
with  remarkable  judgment  and  discretion.  He  de- 
voted the  days  which  elapsed  between  his  arrival 
and  the  election  to  making   himself  thoroughly 


LINCOLN   REELECTED  375 

acquainted  with  the  city,  with  its  police  arrange-  chap,  xvl 
ments,  and  the  means  at  his  disposal  to  preserve 
order.  Every  hour  was  occupied  with  a  careful 
study  of  maps,  of  police  arrangements,  of  tele- 
graphic communication  between  his  headquarters 
and  every  part  of  the  city,  and  in  consultations 
with  general  officers,  the  creation  of  an  improvised 
engineer  department,  and  the  planning  of  a  system 
of  barricades  in  case  of  widespread  insurrection. 
But  the  object  to  which  he  gave  special  attention, 
and  in  which  he  most  thoroughly  succeeded,  was 
the  avoidance  of  every  pretext  for  any  charge  of  in- 
terference with  the  rights  of  citizens  at  the  polls. 
On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  November,  although  186*. 
the  city  was  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  disci- 
plined military  force  which  had  been  sent  to  guard 
it,  not  a  soldier  was  visible  to  the  thousands  of  voters 
who  thronged  the  streets;  but  everybody  knew 
that  they  were  there,  and  the  result  was,  as  Butler 
telegraphed  to  Lincoln  at  noon  on  election  day, 
"  the  quietest  city  ever  seen." 

To  Mr.  Lincoln  this  was  one  of  the  most  solemn 
days  of  his  life.  Assured  of  his  personal  success, 
and  devoutly  confident  that  the  day  of  peace  and 
the  reestablishment  of  the  Union  was  not  far  off, 
he  felt  no  elation  and  no  sense  of  triumph  over  his 
opponents.  His  mind  seemed  filled  with  mingled 
feelings  of  deep  and  humble  gratitude  to  the  vast 
majority  of  his  fellow-citizens  who  were  this  day 
testifying  to  him  their  heartfelt  confidence  and 
affection,  and  of  a  keen  and  somewhat  surprised 
regret  that  he  should  be  an  object  in  so  many 
quarters  of  so  bitter  and  vindictive  an  opposition. 
He  said  to  one  of  his  secretaries :  "  It  is  singular 


376  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap,  xvl  that  I,  who  am  not  a  vindictive  man,  should  always, 
except  once,  have  been  before  the  people  for  elec- 
tion in  canvasses  marked  for  their  bitterness. 
When  I  came  to  Congress  it  was  a  quiet  time ;  but 
always,  except  that,  the  contests  in  which  I  have 
been  prominent  have  been  marked  with  great 
Diary,      rancor." 

In  the  evening  he  went  over,1  as  was  his  custom, 
to  the  War  Department.  The  night  was  rainy  and 
dark.  As  he  entered  the  telegraph  room  he  was 
handed  a  dispatch  from  John  W.  Forney  claiming 
Ms.  10,000  Union  majority  in  Philadelphia.  The  figures 
were  so  far  above  his  estimate  that  he  said, "Forney 
is  a  little  excitable."  A  moment  after  a  dispatch 
came  from  Mr.  Fulton  in  Baltimore,  "  15,000  in  the 
city,  5000  in  the  State.  All  hail,  free  Maryland !  * 
A  moment  after  there  came  messages  from  Boston 
announcing  majorities  for  Samuel  Hooper  and  A. 
H.  Eice  of  something  like  4000  each.  The  President, 
astonished,  asked  if  this  was  not  a  clerical  error 
for  400,  but  the  larger  figures  were  soon  confirmed. 
Mr.  Rice  afterwards,  in  speaking  of  these  astound- 
ing majorities  in  districts  where  there  was  never 
the  least  charge  made  of  irregularity  at  the  polls, 
quoted  an  explanation  made  by  a  constituent  of 
his,  with  no  irreverent  intention,  "The  Almighty 
must  have  stuffed  the  ballot-boxes." 

The  entrance  of  General  Thomas  T.  Eckert,  who 
came  in  covered  with  mud  from  a  fall  in  crossing 
the  street,  reminded  the  President  of  an  incident  of 
his  defeat  by  Douglas.  He  said:  "For  such  an 
awkward  fellow,  I  am  pretty  sure-footed.     It  used 

1  Attended  by  one  of  his  secretaries,  from  whose  manuscript  diary 
this  account  is  taken. 


LINCOLN  REELECTED  377 

to  take  a  rather  dexterous  man  to  throw  me.  I  re-  chap.  xvi. 
member  the  evening  of  the  day  in  1858  that  decided 
the  contest  for  the  Senate  between  Mr.  Douglas 
and  myself  was  something  like  this  — dark,  rain- 
ing, and  gloomy.  From  reading  the  returns  I  had 
ascertained  that  we  had  lost  the  Legislature,  and 
started  to  go  home.  The  path  had  been  worn  hog- 
backed  and  was  slippery.  Both  my  feet  slipped 
from  under  me,  but  I  recovered  myself  and  lit  clear; 
and  I  said  to  myself,  'It  is  a  slip,  and  not  a  fall.'" 
Mr.  Fox,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
indulged  in  some  not  unnatural  exultation  over 
the  complete  effacement  of  Henry  Winter  Davis 
from  Maryland  politics.  Mr.  Davis  had  assailed 
the  navy  with  a  peculiarly  malicious  opposition 
for  two  years  for  no  cause  that  Mr.  Fox  could  as- 
sign except  that  he  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Mont- 
gomery Blair.  The  President  would  not  agree  with 
him.  "  You  have  more  of  that  feeling  of  personal 
resentment  than  I,"  he  said.  "  Perhaps  I  have  too 
little  of  it ;  but  I  never  thought  it  paid.  A  man 
has  no  time  to  spend  half  his  life  in  quarrels.  If 
any  man  ceases  to  attack  me  I  never  remember  the 
past  against  him."  All  the  evening  the  dispatches 
kept  the  same  tenor  of  widespread  success  — in 
almost  all  cases  above  the  estimates.  The  October 
States  showed  increased  majorities,  and  long  before 
midnight  the  indications  were  that  the  State  of 
New  York  had  cast  her  ponderous  vote  for  Lincoln, 
and  made  the  verdict  of  the  North  almost  unani- 
mous in  his  favor,  leaving  General  McClellan  but 
twenty-one  electoral  votes,  derived  from  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky,  212  being  cast 
for  Lincoln  and  Johnson. 


378  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  before  the 
President  left  the  War  Department.  At  the  door 
he  met  a  party  of  serenaders  with  a  brass  band  who 
saluted  him  with  music  and  cheers,  and,  in  the 
American  fashion,  demanded  a  speech.  He  made 
a  brief  response,  saying  that  he  did  not  pretend 
that  those  who  had  thought  the  best  interests  of  the 
nation  were  to  be  subserved  by  the  support  of  the 
present  Administration  embraced  all  the  patriotism 
and  loyalty  of  the  country.     He  continued  : 

"I  do  believe,  and  I  trust  without  personal  in- 
terest, that  the  welfare  of  the  country  does  require 
that  such  support  and  indorsement  should  be  given. 
"I  earnestly  believe  that  the  consequences  of  this 
day's  work,  if  it  be  as  you  assume,  and  as  now  seems 
probable,  will  be  to  the  lasting  advantage,  if  not  to 
the  very  salvation,  of  the  country.  I  cannot  at  this 
hour  say  what  has  been  the  result  of  the  election. 
But,  whatever  it  may  be,  I  have  no  desire  to  modify 
this  opinion,  that  all  who  have  labored  to-day  in 
behalf  of  the  Union  have  wrought  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  country  and  the  world,  not  only  for 
the  present,  but  for  all  future  ages. 

"  I  am  thankful  to  God  for  this  approval  of  the 
people;  but,  while  deeply  grateful  for  this  mark 
of  their  confidence  in  me,  if  I  know  my  heart, 
my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  personal 
triumph.  I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one 
opposed  to  me.  It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph 
over  any  one,  but  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty 
"cycio*1    f°r  this  evidence  of  the  people's  resolution  to  stand 

uuFpSn.  by  free  government  and  the  rights  of  humanity." 
For  several  days  the  torrent  of  congratulations 
came    pouring    in.     General    Blair    wrote    from 


LINCOLN    EEELECTED  379 

Georgia,  where  he  was  leading  an  army  corps  chap.xvl 
under  Sherman  to  the  sea :  "  The  vote  in  this 
army  to-day  is  almost  unanimous  for  Lincoln. 
Give  Uncle  Abe  my  compliments  and  congratula- 
tions." Grant  paused  for  a  moment  in  his  labors  M^. 
in  the  investment  of  Richmond  to  express  his  sense 
of  the  vast  importance  and  significance  of  the  elec- 
tion. He  thought  a  tremendous  crisis  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  country  had  been  met  and  triumphantly 
passed  by  the  quiet  and  orderly  conduct  of  the 
American  people  on  the  8th  of  November. 

The  manner  in  which  the  President  received 
these  tumultuous  demonstrations  of  good-will  was  so 
characteristic  that  it  seems  to  us  worthy  of  special 
attention.  He  was  absolutely  free  from  elation  or 
self -congratulation.  He  seemed  to  deprecate  his 
own  triumph  and  to  sympathize  rather  with  the 
beaten  than  the  victorious  party.  He  received 
notice  that  on  the  night  of  the  10th  of  November 
the  various  Republican  clubs  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  would  serenade  him.  Not  wishing  to 
speak  extempore  on  an  occasion  where  his  words 
would  receive  so  wide  a  publication,  he  sat  down 
and  hastily  wrote  a  speech  which,  while  it  has  not 
received  the  world-wide  fame  of  certain  other  of 
his  utterances,  is  one  of  the  weightiest  and  wisest 
of  all  his  discourses.  He  read  it  at  the  window 
which  opens  on  the  north  portico  of  the  Executive 
Mansion,  a  secretary  standing  beside  him  lighting 
the  page  with  a  candle.  "  Not  very  graceful,"  he 
said,  "but  I  am  growing  old  enough  not  to  care 
much  for  the  manner  of  doing  things."  There  was  Diary, 
certainly  never  an  equal  compliment  paid  to  a  sere- 
nading crowd.    The  inmost  philosophy  of  republi- 


380  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  can  governments  was  in  the  President's  little  speech. 
He  said : 

It  has  long  been  a  grave  question  whetner  any  Govern- 
ment not  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of  its  people  can  be 
strong  enough  to  maintain  its  own  existence  in  great  emer- 
gencies. On  this  point  the  present  rebellion  brought  our 
republic  to  a  severe  test,  and  a  Presidential  election 
occurring  in  regular  course  during  the  rebellion  added 
not  a  little  to  the  strain.  If  the  loyal  people  united 
were  put  to  the  utmost  of  their  strength  by  the  rebel- 
lion, must  they  not  fail  when  divided  and  partially 
paralyzed  by  a  political  war  among  themselves  ?  But  the 
election  was  a  necessity.  We  can  not  have  free  Govern- 
ment without  elections ;  and  if  the  rebellion  could  force 
us  to  forego  or  postpone  a  national  election,  it  might 
fairly  claim  to  have  already  conquered  and  ruined  us. 
The  strife  of  the  election  is  but  human  nature  practically 
applied  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  What  has  occurred  in 
this  case  must  ever  recur  in  similar  cases.  Human  nature 
will  not  change.  In  any  future  great  national  trial,  com- 
pared with  the  men  of  this,  we  shall  have  as  weak  and 
as  strong,  as  silly  and  as  wise,  as  bad  and  as  good.  Let 
us,  therefore,  study  the  incidents  of  this,  as  philosophy 
to  learn  wisdom  from,  and  none  of  them  as  wrongs  to 
be  revenged.  But  the  election,  along  with  its  inci- 
dental and  undesirable  strife,  has  done  good,  too.  It  has 
demonstrated  that  a  people's  Government  can  sustain  a 
national  election  in  the  midst  of  a  great  civil  war.  Until 
now,  it  has  not  been  known  to  the  world  that  this  was  a 
possibility.  It  shows,  also,  how  sound  and  how  strong  we 
still  are.  It  shows  that,  even  among  candidates  of  the 
same  party,  he  who  is  most  devoted  to  the  Union  and 
most  opposed  to  treason  can  receive  most  of  the  people's 
votes.  It  shows,  also,  to  the  extent  yet  known,  that  we 
have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war  began. 
Gold  is  good  in  its  place ;  but  living,  brave,  patriotic 
men  are  better  than  gold. 

But  the  rebellion  continues;  and,  now  that  the  election 
is  over,  may  not  all  having  a  common  interest  reunite  in 
a  common  effort  to  save  our  common  country  ?    For  my 


tograph 


LINCOLN   REELECTED  381 

own  part,  I  have  striven  and  shall  strive  to  avoid  placing  chap.  xvi. 
any  obstacle  in  the  way.  So  long  as  I  have  been  here,  I 
have  not  willingly  planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom. 
While  I  am  deeply  sensible  to  the  high  compliment  of  a 
reelection,  and  duly  grateful,  as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God 
for  having  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right  conclu- 
sion, as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it  adds  nothing  to 
my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may  be  disappointed 
or  pained  by  the  result. 

May  I  ask  those  who  have  not  differed  with  me  to  join 
with  me  in  this  same  spirit  towards  those  who  have? 
And  now  let  me  close  by  asking  three  hearty  cheers  for 
our  brave  soldiers  and  seamen,  and  their  gallant  and 
skillful  commanders. 

In  this  lofty  and  magnanimous  spirit  he  received 
all  the  addresses  of  congratulation  that  came  in 
upon  him  in  these  days.  To  a  delegation  from 
Maryland  who  ascribed  it  to  his  rare  discretion 
that  Maryland  was  then  a  free  State  he  replied 
with  deep  appreciation  of  their  courtesy,  and 
added,  that  those  who  differed  from  and  opposed  us 
would  yet  see  that  defeat  was  better  for  their  own 
good  than  if  they  had  been  successful.  He  not 
only  had  no  feeling  of  malicious  triumph  himself, 
he  had  no  patience  with  it  in  others.  When  Mr. 
Raymond,  who  represented  his  special  friends  in 
New  York,  wrote  a  letter  breathing  fire  and  ven- 
geance against  the  officials  of  the  custom-house, 
who,  he  said,  had  come  near  defeating  him  in  the 
race  for  Congress,  the  President  merely  observed 
that  it  was  "  the  spirit  of  such  letters  as  that  which 
created  the  factious  malignity  of  which  Mr.  Ray- 
mond complained."  To  all  those  who  begged  for  a 
rigorous  and  exemplary  course  of  punishment  for 
political  derelictions  in  the  late  canvass  his  favorite 
expression  was,  "  I  am  in  favor  of  short  statutes  of 


382  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  limitation  in  politics."  He  rejected  peremptorily 
some  suggestions  of  General  Butler  and  the  War 
Department  having  in  view  the  punishment  of 
flagrant  offenders  in  New  York:  "We  must  not 
sully  victory  with  harshness."  His  thoughtful  and 
chivalrous  consideration  for  the  beaten  party  did 
not,  however,  prevent  him  from  feeling  the  deepest 
gratitude  for  those  who  had  labored  on  his  side. 
He  felt  that  the  humblest  citizen  who  had  done  his 
duty  had  claims  upon  him.  Hearing  that  Deacon 
John  Phillips  of  Sturbridge,  Massachusetts,  a  man 
who  had  already  completed  his  104th  year,  and  had 
voted  at  every  Presidential  election  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Government,  had  taken  the  pains  to  go 
to  the  polls  to  vote  for  him,  the  President  wrote 
him  a  grateful  letter  of  thanks.  "The  example," 
he  said,  "of  such  devotion  to  civic  duties  in  one 
whose  days  have  already  been  extended  an  average 
lifetime  beyond  the  Psalmist's  limit  cannot  but 
be  valuable  and  fruitful.  It  is  not  for  myself 
only,  but  for  the  country  which  you  have  in 
your  sphere  served  so  long  and  so  well,  that  I 


Lincoln  to 
Phillips, 

1864.  '     thank  you." 


The  venerable  man,  who  had  attained  his  major- 
ity in  the  midst  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
who  had  arrived  at  middle  age  before  this  century 
opened,  answered  in  a  note  which  greatly  pleased 
and  moved  the  President,  as  coming  from  one  of 
the  oldest  men  living  on  the  earth.    He  said : 

I  feel  that  I  have  no  desire  to  live  but  to  see  the  con- 
clusion of  this  wicked  rebellion  and  the  power  of  God 
displayed  in  the  conversion  of  the  nations.  I  believe,  by 
the  help  of  God,  you  will  finish  the  first,  and  also  be  the 
means  of  establishing  universal  freedom  and  restoring 


LINCOLN    REELECTED  383 

peace  to  the  Union.     That  the  God  of  mercy  will  bless  chap.xvl 

you  in  this  great  work,  and  through  life,  is  the  prayer  of 

your  unworthy  servant,  John  Phillips.  ms. 

There  is  one  phrase  of  the  President's  speech  of 
the  10th  of  November  which  we  have  quoted  which  mm. 
is  singularly  illustrative,  not  only  of  the  quick  ap- 
prehension with  which  he  seized  upon  facts  of  im- 
portance, but  also  of  the  accuracy  and  method 
with  which  he  ascertained  and  established  them. 
Within  a  few  hours  after  the  voting  had  closed  he 
was  able  to  say  that  the  election  had  shown  that 
"  we  have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war 
began."  A  great  bundle  of  papers  which  lies  before 
us  as  we  write,  filled  with  telegrams  from  every 
quarter  annotated  in  his  own  neat  handwriting, 
with  a  mass  of  figures  which  would  have  dismayed 
an  ordinary  accountant,  shows  the  importance 
which  he  attached  to  this  fact  and  the  industry 
with  which  he  investigated  it.  In  his  message  to 
Congress  a  few  weeks  later  he  elaborated  this  state- 
ment with  the  utmost  care.  He  showed  from  the 
comparative  votes  in  1860  and  in  1864  a  net  increase 
of  votes  during  the  three  years  and  a  half  of  war  of 
145,551.  The  accomplished  statisticians  of  the 
"  Tribune  "  almanac  in  the  following  month,  after 
the  closest  study  of  the  official  returns,  expressed 
their  surprise  "at  the  singular  accuracy  of  the 
President's   figures." 

An  extract  from  his  annual  message  to  Congress 
gives  the  best  summing  up  of  the  results  of  the 
election  that  has  ever  been  written. 

The  purpose  of  the  people  within  the  loyal  States  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union  was  never  more  firm 
nor  more  nearly  unanimous  than  now.    The  extraordinary 


384  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xvi.  calmness  and  good  order  with  which  the  millions  of 
voters  met  and  mingled  at  the  polls  give  strong  assurance 
of  this.  Not  only  all  those  who  supported  the  Union 
ticket  so  called,  but  a  great  majority  of  the  opposing 
party  also,  may  be  fairly  claimed  to  entertain  and  to  be 
actuated  by  the  same  purpose.  It  is  an  unanswerable 
argument  to  this  effect,  that  no  candidate  for  any  office 
whatever,  high  or  low,  has  ventured  to  seek  votes  on  the 
avowal  that  he  was  for  giving  up  the  Union.  There  have 
been  much  impugning  of  motives,  and  much  heated  con- 
troversy as  to  the  proper  means  and  best  mode  of  advanc- 
ing the  Union  cause ;  but  on  the  distinct  issue  of  Union 
or  no  Union  the  politicians  have  shown  their  instinctive 
knowledge  that  there  is  no  diversity  among  the  people. 
In  affording  the  people  the  fair  opportunity  of  showing  one 
Appendix,  to  another  and  to  the  world  this  firmness  and  unanimity 
Dec^twse*,  °^  PurP°se,  the  election  has  been  of  vast  value  to  the 
p-'3-     '  national  cause. 

On  the  day  of  election  General  McClellan  re- 
signed his  commission  in  the  army,  and  the  place 
thns  made  vacant  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of 
General  Philip  H.  Sheridan,  a  fit  type  and  illustra- 
tion of  the  turn  in  the  tide  of  affairs,  which  was  to 
sweep  from  that  time  rapidly  onward  to  the  great 
and  decisive  national  triumph. 


GENERAL    PHILIP    H.   SHERIDAN. 


CHAPTEE  XVH 

CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE 

CHIEF-JUSTICE  TANEY  died  on  the  12th  day  ch.  xvn. 
of  October,  1864,  during  the  public  rejoicings 
that  hailed  the  success  of  the  Union  party  at  the  ise*. 
autumnal  elections.  He  was  a  man  of  amiable 
character,  of  blameless  life,  of  great  learning,  of 
stainless  integrity ;  yet  such  is  the  undiscriminat- 
ing  cruelty  with  which  public  opinion  executes  its 
decrees,  that  this  aged  and  upright  judge  was 
borne  to  his  grave  with  few  expressions  of  regret, 
and  even  with  a  feeling  not  wholly  suppressed 
that  his  removal  formed  a  part  of  the  good  news 
which  the  autumn  had  brought  to  the  upholders 
of  the  Union.  Toilsome  and  irreproachable  as  his 
life  had  been,  so  far  as  purity  of  intentions  were 
concerned,  it  was  marked  by  one  of  those  mistakes 
which  are  never  forgiven.  In  a  critical  hour  of  his- 
tory he  had  made  a  decision  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  contrary  to  the  best  hopes  and  aspirations 
of  the  nation  at  large.  Before  he  had  assumed  the 
grave  responsibilities  of  chief-justice  he  had  not 
been  insensible  to  those  emotions  and  sympathies 
which  animated  the  majority  of  his  countrymen 
in  later  years.  So  early  as  1818  he  had  spoken  of 
slavery  as  a  blot  on  our  national  character,  and  ex- 
Vol.  IX.— 25  385 


386  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ch.  xvii.  pressed  the  confident  hope  that  it  would  effectually 
though  gradually  be  wiped  away.  "  Until  it  shall 
be  accomplished,  until  the  time  shall  come  when  we 
can  point  without  a  blush  to  the  language  held  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,"  he  said,  "every 
friend  of  humanity  will  seek  to  lighten  the  galling 
chain  of  slavery  and  better  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power  the  wretched  condition  of  the  slave." 

But  when  he  assumed  public  office  he  became  a 
part  of  the  machinery  of  his  party.  He  accepted  its 
tenets  and  carried  them  unflinchingly  to  their  logical 
result,  so  that  to  a  mind  so  upright  and  straight- 
forward in  its  operations  there  seemed  nothing 
revolting  in  the  enunciation  of  the  dismal  and 
inhuman  propositions  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 
His  whole  life  was  therefore  read  in  the  light  of 
that  one  act,  and  when  he  died,  the  nation  he  had 
so  faithfully  served  according  to  his  lights  looked 
upon  his  death  as  the  removal  of  a  barrier  to 
human  progress.  The  general  feeling  found  ex- 
pression in  the  grim  and  profane  witticism  of  Sena- 
tor Wade,  uttered  some  months  before,  when  it 
seemed  likely  that  the  Chief-Justice  would  survive 
the  Administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  :  "  No  man  ever 
prayed  as  I  did  that  Taney  might  outlive  James 
Buchanan's  term,  and  now  I  am  afraid  I  have 
overdone  it." 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Chase  immediately  claimed 
that  the  place  thus  vacated  belonged  to  him.  They 
not  only  insisted  that  he  was  best  fitted  of  all  the 
public  men  in  the  country  for  the  duties  of  that 
high  office ;  that  the  great  issues  of  the  war  would 
be  safest  in  his  hands  ;  that  the  rights  of  the  f reed- 
men  would  be  most  secure  with  an  ardent  and  con- 


CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE  387 

sistent  abolitionist ;  that  the  National  currency  ch.  xvii. 
would  be  best  cared  for  by  its  parent;  they  also 
claimed  that  the  place  had  been  promised  him  by 
the  President,  and  this  claim,  though  not  wholly 
true,  was  not  without  foundation.  Several  times 
during  the  past  year  or  two  the  President  had  in- 
timated in  conversation  with  various  friends  of 
Mr.  Chase  that  he  thought  favorably  of  appointing 
him  chief -justice  if  a  vacancy  should  occur.  These 
expressions  had  been  faithfully  reported  to  the 
Secretary,  and  promptly  entered  by  him  in  his 
diary  at  the  time.  When  Andrew  G.  Curtin  was  Ai8g6330' 
a  candidate  for  reelection  as  governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, John  Covode  came  to  Mr.  Chase  and 
told  him  if  Curtin  was  elected  he  would  shape 
matters  in  Pennsylvania  so  as  to  secure  its  dele- 
gates in  the  Presidential  convention,  but  that  the 
majority  of  the  loyal  men  in  Pennsylvania  pre- 
ferred Mr.  Chase.  Mr.  Chase  replied  that  no  spec- 
ulations as  to  Governor  Curtin's  future  course 
could  excuse  the  loyal  men  from  supporting  him 
now ;  that  the  future  must  take  care  of  itself ;  that 
he,  Mr.  Chase,  was  not  anxious  for  the  Presidency; 
that  there  was  but  one  position  in  the  Government 
which  he  would  really  like  to  have,  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  have  it  without  any  sacrifice  of  principle  or 
public  interest,  and  that  was  the  chief -justiceship. 
At  this  Mr.  Covode  expressed  himself  satisfied,  and 
went  away  resolved  to  permit  the  renomination  of 
Curtin,  which,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  he  could 
have  done  nothing  to  prevent. 

Mr.  Chase's  eyes  seemed  pretty  constantly  fixed 
upon  the  bench  in  the  intervals  of  his  Presidential 
aspirations.    For  a  few  days  after  his  resignation 


388 


ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 


Warden, 

"Life  of 

Salmon  P. 

Chase." 

p.  627. 


Ibid. 


his  feelings  against  the  President  were  of  such 
bitterness  that  he  appears  to  have  given  up  that 
prospect.  He  was  on  the  verge  of  open  revolt  from 
the  party  with  which  he  had  been  so  long  asso- 
ciated. In  his  diary  of  the  6th  of  July  he  writes  : 
"  Pomeroy  says  he  means  to  go  on  a  buffalo  hunt 
and  then  to  Europe.  He  cannot  support  Lincoln, 
but  won't  desert  his  principles.  I  'm  much  of  the 
same  sentiments,  though  not  willing  now  to  decide 
what  duty  may  demand  next  fall.  Pomeroy  re- 
marked that,  on  the  news  of  my  resignation  reach- 
ing the  Senate,  several  of  the  Democratic  Senators 
came  to  him  and  said,  '  We  '11  go  with  you  now  for 
Chase.'  This  meant  nothing  but  a  vehement  desire 
to  overthrow  the  existing  Administration,  but 
might  mean  much  if  the  Democrats  would  only  cut 
loose  from  slavery,  and  go  for  freedom  and  the 
protection  of  labor  by  a  National  currency.  If  they 
would  do  that  I  would  cheerfully  go  for  any  man 
they  might  nominate."  A  few  days  later  he  wrote 
recounting  his  efforts  for  the  public  good,  and 
added:  "My  efforts  were  stoutly  resisted  outside, 
and  had  not  earnest  sympathy  inside  of  the  Admin- 
istration. They  were  steadily  prevailing,  however, 
when  a  sense  of  duty  to  myself  and  the  country 
also  compelled  me  to  resign." 

A  few  malignant  opponents  of  Mr.  Lincoln  still 
continued  to  write  to  Mr.  Chase  and  keep  alive  in 
his  mind  the  fancy  of  a  possible  nomination  to  the 
Presidency.  His  weakness  before  the  people  had 
been  signally  shown  by  an  ill-judged  attempt  to 
secure  him  the  nomination  for  Congress  in  Cincin- 
nati, but  in  spite  of  this  he  still  responded  readily 
to  suggestions  from  factious  partisans.    To  one 


CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE 


389 


Ch.  XVIL 


Chase  to 
May, 

Aug.  31, 
1864. 

Warden, 
Life  of 


writing  from  Michigan  he  replied  that  he  was  now 
a  private  citizen  and  expected  to  remain  such. 

"No  one,"  he  said,  "has  been  authorized  to  use 
my  name,  in  any  political  connection,  except  that  I 
said  I  should  not  feel  at  liberty  to  refuse  my  services 
to  the  citizens  of  my  congressional  district  if  spon- 
taneously and  unanimously  demanded.  I  think 
now  that  I  erred  in  saying  this ;  but  it  seemed  right 
at  the  time.  No  such  movement  as  the  one  you 
suggest  seems  to  me  expedient  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned. Whether  it  would  be  expedient  or  patriotic 
in  reference  to  some  other  name,  I  am  not  able  to 
judge.  I  see  only,  as  all  see,  that  there  is  a  deplor- 
able lack  of  harmony,  caused  chiefly,  in  my  judg- 
ment, by  the  injudicious  course  of  some  of  Mr.  saimonp, 
Lincoln's  chief  advisers,  and  his  own  action  on  p.  629. 
their  advice." 

Even  to  comparative  strangers  he  could  not  write 
without  speaking  slightingly  of  the  President.  He 
kept  up  this  habit  to  the  end  of  Lincoln's  life.  To 
one  he  said :  "  I  fear  our  good  President  is  so  anx- 
ious for  the  restoration  of  the  Union  that  he  will 
not  care  sufficiently  about  the  basis  of  representa- 
tion." To  another,  with  a  singular  and  unusual  lack 
of  dignity,  he  said :  "  Some  seem  to  think  that  a 
man  who  has  handled  millions  must  be  rich,  and  so 
I  should  be  if  I  could  have  retained  for  myself  even 
one  per  cent,  of  what  I  saved  to  the  people ;  but  I 
would  not  exchange  the  consciousness  of  having 
kept  my  hands  free  from  the  touch  of  one  cent  of 
public  treasure  for  all  the  riches  in  the  world."  Mr. 
Chase  was,  of  course,  absolutely  and  unquestionably 
honest,  but  that  virtue  is  not  so  rare  in  public  men 
that  one  should  celebrate  it  in  himself. 


Chase 
to  Gilmore, 
Feb.  23, 
1865. 
Ibid., 
p.  635. 


Ibid., 
p.  635. 


390  ABKAHAM   LINCOLN 

ch.  xvn.  He  passed  the  heat  of  the  midsummer  in  the 
White  Mountains.  During  his  absence  his  tone  of 
bitter  and  sullen  comment  towards  the  Presi- 
dent and  his  associates  in  the  Cabinet  continued,1 
but  after  the  fall  of  Atlanta,  and  the  evident  re- 
sponse of  the  country  to  the  Chicago  nomina- 
tions, his  tone  underwent  a  sudden  change.  He 
announced  himself  at  last  in  favor  of  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  his  diary  of  the  17th  of  Sep- 
i8w.  tember,  after  he  had  returned  to  Washington,  he 
said:  "I  have  seen  the  President  twice.  .  .  His 
manner  was  cordial  and  so  were  his  words ;  and  I 
hear  of  nothing  but  good- will  from  him.  But  he  is 
not  at  all  demonstrative,  either  in  speech  or  manner. 
I  feel  that  I  do  not  know  him,  and  I  found  no 
action  on  what  he  says  or  does.  .  .  It  is  my  convic- 
tion that  the  cause  I  love  and  the  general  interests 
of  the  country  will  be  best  promoted  by  his  re- 
election, and  I  have  resolved  to  join  my  efforts  to 
those  of  almost  the  whole  body  of  my  friends  in 
securing  it."  He  continues  in  his  usual  tone  of 
self -portraiture :  "  I  have  been  told  that  the  Presi- 
dent said  he  and  I  could  not  get  along  together  in 
the  Cabinet.  Doubtless  there  was  a  difference  of 
temperament,  and  on  some  points  of  judgment  I  may 
have  been  too  earnest  and  eager,  while  I  thought 
him  not  earnest  enough  and  too  slow.  On  some 
occasions,  indeed,  I  found  that  it  was  so.    But  I 

1  Samuel  Bowles  wrote  Septem-  resisting  the  President  and  mak- 

ber  4,   1864:    "Do  you  notice  ing    mischief.      Chase    is   going 

that  the    'Antislavery  Standard'  around,   peddling    his  griefs    in 

and    the    '  Liberator,'    the    rep-  private  ears  and  sowing  dissatis- 

resentatives    of    the    old    aboli-  faction  about  Lincoln.     Oh,  how 

tionists,    are    both    earnest    for  little  great  men  can  be ! " — "Life 

Lincoln  f  Yet  a  new  crop  of  Rad-  and  Times  of  Samuel  Bowles." 

icals  have  sprung  up,  who  are  Vol.  I.,  p.  413. 


CHASE  AS   CHIEF-JUSTICE  391 

never  desired  anything  else  than  his  complete  sue-   ch.  xvii. 
cess,  and  never  indulged  a  personal  feeling  incom-  schuefcers, 
patible  with  absolute  fidelity  to  his  Administration."  p-  £***>" 
He  repeats  over  and  over  again  in  his  letters  and 
diaries  that  he  never  really  desired  the  Presidency ; 
that  he  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  withdrawing 
from  the  canvass.     From  Washington  he  went  to       im. 
Ohio,  where  he  brought  himself  at  last  to  make  an 
open  declaration  of  his  preference  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  against  McClellan ;  he  voted  for  the  Republican 
ticket  at  the  election  in  October,  and  sent  a  tele- 
gram to  the  President  that  the  result  was  "  all  right 
in  Ohio  and  Indiana." 

The  death  of  Chief-Justice  Taney  occurred  im- 
mediately afterwards,  and  the  canvass  for  a  suc- 
cessor on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Chase  began 
without  a  moment's  delay.  Mr.  Sumner  was  par- 
ticularly ardent  and  pressing.  "  A  chief -justice  is 
needed,"  he  wrote  to  the  President,  "  whose  position 
on  the  slavery  question  is  already  fixed  and  will  not 
need  argument  of  counsel  to  convert  him."  A  mass 
of  solicitations  of  the  same  character  came  in  upon 
the  President  and  they  were  reenforced  inside  the 
Cabinet  by  the  earnest  influence  of  Mr.  Fessenden 
and  Mr.  Stanton;  and  although  these  and  other 
friends  of  Mr.  Chase  were  so  strongly  encouraged 
by  Mr.  Lincoln's  response  that  they  had  no  hesita- 
tion in  assuring  him  that  he  would  without  doubt 
be  made  chief-justice,  the  President  gave  no  de- 
cided intimation  of  his  purpose.  It  is  altogether 
probable  that  he  intended  from  the  first  to  appoint 
him,  but  he  resolved  at  the  same  time  to  say  noth- 
ing about  it  until  he  was  ready  to  act.  He  said  to 
his  secretary,  "  I  shall  be  very  '  shut  pan '  about 


392  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvii.  this  matter."  When  one  day  his  secretary  brought 
him  a  letter  from  Mr.  Chase  in  Ohio,  he  said,  "What 
is  it  about  ?  "  "  Simply  a  kind  and  friendly  letter," 
the  secretary  answered.  Mr.  Lincoln,  without  read- 
ing it,  replied  with  his  shrewd  smile,  "  File  it  with 
his  other  recommendations." 

So  reticent  was  Mr.  Lincoln  in  regard  to  his  pur- 
pose that  the  enemies  of  Mr.  Chase,  who  were  es- 
pecially abundant  and  active  in  Ohio,  endeavored  to 
prevent  his  nomination  by  the  presentation  of  strong 
and  numerously  signed  protests  against  it.  The 
President  received  them  not  too  affably,  and  while 
he  listened  respectfully  to  all  they  had  to  say  in 
regard  to  the  merits  of  the  case,  he  sternly  checked 
them  when  they  began  to  repeat  instances  of  Mr. 
Chase's  personal  hostility  to  himself.  He  treated 
with  the  same  contempt  a  more  serious  statement 
which  he  received  from  New  York  that  Mr.  Cisco, 
who  had  personally  declared  for  McClellan,  gave  as 
his  reason  for  such  a  course  that  Secretary  Chase 
had  told  him  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  incompetent 
and  unfit  for  the  position  he  held,  though  he  added 
that  Mr.  Chase,  on  his  return  to  Washington,  had 
informed  him  that  he  then  considered  it  his  public 
duty  to  support  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency. 

Strangely  enough,  from  the  Treasury  Department 
itself  came  an  earnest  protest  against  the  late  Sec- 
retary. The  venerable  Joseph  J.  Lewis,  Commis- 
sioner of  Internal  Revenue,  protested  that  he  was 
not  a  man  of  large  legal  or  financial  knowledge; 
that  his  selfishness  had  gradually  narrowed  and 
contracted  his  views  of  things  in  general;  that  he 
was  amazingly  ignorant  of  men ;  that  it  was  the 
opinion  in  the  department  that  he  really  desired 


CHASE   AS   CHIEF-JUSTICE  393 

towards  the  end  of  his  term  of  office  to  injure  and,  ch.  xvii. 
as  far  as  possible,  to  destroy  the  influence  and 
popularity  of  the  Administration.  By  his  constant 
denunciation  of  the  extravagance  of  disbursements, 
and  his  tone  of  malevolent  comment  against  every 
act  of  the  President,  he  clearly  indicated  his  desire 
to  excite  popular  discontent  and  grumbling  against 
the  Government.  Judge  Lewis  said  that  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  sycophants  the  entire  department 
was  relieved  by  the  change.  Even  M.  B.  Field,  for 
whose  sake  he  gave  up  his  place,  expressed  himself 
as  gratified  by  it.  \ 

To  all  these  representations  Mr.  Lincoln  made 
no  reply.  He  was  equally  silent  as  to  the  merits 
of  other  distinguished  jurists  whose  names  were 
mentioned  to  him.  He  had  the  highest  esteem  and 
regard  for  William  M.  Evarts ;  he  had  great  confi- 
dence in  the  legal  learning  and  weight  of  character 
of  Justice  Swayne;  he  had  a  feeling  of  hearty  friend- 
ship for  Montgomery  Blair,  and  although  he  had 
thought  proper  in  the  preceding  autumn  to  ask  for 
the  latter's  resignation,  the  intimate  and  even  affec- 
tionate relations  which  he  maintained  towards  the  ex- 
Postmaster-General  encouraged  him  and  his  friends 
to  believe  that  he  would  receive  the  appointment. 
The  late  Vice-President  Wilson,  shortly  before  his 
death,  said  that  Blair  met  him  one  day  near  the  ww. 
War  Department  and  solicited  his  good  word,  say- 
ing that  Chase  would  certainly  not  be  nominated. 
Wilson  was  startled  by  Blair's  confident  tone,  and 
went  at  once  to  the  President,  to  whom  he  reiterated 
the  arguments  already  used  in  favor  of  Mr.  Chase's 
nomination,  saying  that  the  President  could  well 
afford  to  overlook  the  harsh  and  indecorous  things 


394 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


April,  1874. 

Wilson, 
Conversa- 
tion with 

J.  G.  N., 
"  Personal 
Memoran- 
da." 


ch.  xvii.  which  Chase  had  said  of  him  during  the  summer. 
"  Oh !  as  to  that,"  replied  Lincoln,  "  I  care  nothing. 
Of  Mr.  Chase's  ability  and  of  his  soundness  on  the 
general  issues  of  the  war  there  is,  of  course,  no 
question.  I  have  only  one  doubt  about  his  appoint- 
ment. He  is  a  man  of  unbounded  ambition,  and 
has  been  working  all  his  life  to  become  President. 
That  he  can  never  be ;  and  I  fear  that  if  I  make 
him  chief -justice  he  will  simply  become  more 
restless  and  uneasy  and  neglect  the  place  in  his 
strife  and  intrigue  to  make  himself  President.  If 
I  were  sure  that  he  would  go  on  the  bench  and  give 
up  his  aspirations  and  do  nothing  but  make  himself 
a  great  judge,  I  would  not  hesitate  a  moment." 

So  strong  was  this  impression  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's 
mind  that  he  half  formed  the  intention  of  sending 
for  Mr.  Chase  and  saying  frankly  to  him  that  the 
way  was  open  to  him  to  become  the  greatest  chief- 
justice  the  Supreme  Court  had  ever  had  if  he 
would  dismiss  at  once  and  forever  the  subject  of 
the  Presidency  from  his  mind.  But  speaking  on 
the  subject  with  Senator  Sumner,  he  saw  in  a 
moment's  conversation  how  liable  to  misappre- 
hension such  action  would  be.  In  his  eager- 
ness to  do  what  he  thought  best  for  the  interests 
of  both  Mr.  Chase  and  the  country,  he  lost  sight 
for  an  instant  of  the  construction  which  Mr. 
Chase  would  inevitably  place  upon  such  a  proposi- 
tion coming  from  his  twice  successful  rival.  Con- 
vinced as  he  was  of  Chase's  great  powers,  and 
hoping  rather  against  his  own  convictions  that  once 
upon  the  bench  he  would  see  in  what  direction  his 
best  prospects  of  usefulness  and  fame  rested,  he 
1864.       concluded  to  take  all  risks,  and  on  the  6th  of  De- 


CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE  395 

cember  nominated  him  to  the  Senate  for  chief-  ch.  xvn. 
justice.  He  communicated  his  intention  to  no  one,  ism. 
and  wrote  out  the  nomination  in  full  with  his  own 
hand.  It  was  confirmed  at  once  without  reference 
to  a  committee.  Mr.  Chase,  on  reaching  home  the 
night  of  the  same  day,  was  saluted  at  his  door  under 
his  new  title  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Sprague.  He 
at  once  sent  the  President  a  note,  saying:  "Before 
I  sleep  I  must  thank  you  for  this  mark  of  your  con- 
fidence, and  especially  for  the  manner  in  which  the 
nomination  was  made.  I  will  never  forget  either, 
and  trust  you  will  never  regret  either.  Be  assured 
that  I  prize  your  confidence  and  good- will  more  than 
any  nomination  to  office." 

The  appointment  was  received  with  the  greatest 
satisfaction  throughout  the  Union.  Although  the 
name  of  Mr.  Chase  had  been  especially  pressed 
upon  the  President  by  the  public  men  who  repre- 
sented the  most  advanced  antislavery  sentiment  of 
the  North,  the  appointment  when  once  made  met 
with  little  opposition  from  any  quarter.  Mr.  Chase, 
in  a  long  life  of  political  prominence  and  constant 
controversy,  had  won  the  universal  respect  of  the 
country,  not  only  for  his  abilities,  but  also  for  his 
courage,  his  integrity,  and  a  certain  solid  weight  of 
character  of  which  his  great  head  and  massive  per- 
son seemed  a  fitting  embodiment.  He  had  placed 
his  portrait  on  the  lower  denominations  of  the  legal 
tender  notes,  saying  with  his  customary  heavy 
pleasantry,  "  I  had  put  the  President's  head  on  the 
higher  priced  notes,  and  my  own,  as  was  becoming, 
on  the  smaller  ones."  His  handsome  face  and  fea- 
tures had  thus  become  more  familiar  in  the  eyes  of 
the  people  than  those  of  any  other  man  in  America ; 


396  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvii.  and  though  neither  then  nor  at  any  other  period  of 
his  life  did  he  become  what  could  be  called  univer- 
sally popular,  the  image  of  him  became  fixed  in  the 
general  instinct  as  a  person  of  serious  importance 
in  the  national  life.  The  people  who  gave  them- 
selves the  trouble  to  reason  about  the  matter  said  it 
was  impossible  that  an  original  abolitionist  should 
be  untrue  to  the  principles  of  freedom,  or  that  the 
father  of  the  National  currency  should  ever  disown 
his  own  offspring;  while  those  who  thought  and 
spoke  on  impulse  took  it  for  granted  that  such  a 
man  as  Mr.  Chase  should  never  for  any  length  of 
time  be  out  of  the  highest  employment. 

After  all,  the  fears  of  the  President  in  regard 
to  the  Chief -Justice  were  better  founded  than  his 
hopes.  Mr.  Chase  took  his  place  on  the  bench 
with  a  conscientious  desire  to  do  his  whole  duty  in 
his  great  office,  to  devote  his  undoubted  powers  and 
his  prodigious  industry  to  making  himself  a  worthy 
successor  of  the  great  jurists  who  before  him  had 
illustrated  the  bench,  but  he  could  not  discharge 
the  political  affairs  of  the  country  from  his  mind. 
He  still  considered  himself  called  upon  to  counter- 
act the  mischievous  tendencies  of  the  President 
towards  conciliation  and  hasty  reconstruction.  His 
slighting  references  to  him  in  his  letters  and  diaries 
continued  from  the  hour  he  took  his  place  on  the 
bench. 

When  the  fighting  had  ended  around  Eichmond, 
and  on  the  capitulation  of  Lee  the  fabric  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  had  fallen  about  the  ears  of 
its  framers  like  a  house  of  cards,  the  Chief-Justice 
felt  himself  called  on  to  come  at  once  to  the  front, 
and  he  wrote  from  Baltimore  to  the  President :   "  I 


CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE 


397 


am  very  anxious  about  the  future,  and  most  about 
the  principles  which  are  to  govern  reconstruction, 
for  as  these  principles  are  sound  or  unsound  so 
will  be  the  work  and  its  results.  You  have  no 
time  to  read  a  long  letter,  nor  have  I  time  to  write 
one,  so  I  will  be  brief.  And  first  as  to  Virginia." 
He  advised  the  President  to  stand  by  the  Peirpoint 
government.  As  to  the  other  rebel  States,  he  sug- 
gested the  enrollment  of  the  loyal  citizens  without 
regard  to  complexion.  "  This  you  know,"  he  said, 
"  has  long  been  my  opinion.  .  .  The  application  of 
this  principle  to  Louisiana  is  made  somewhat  dif- 
ficult by  the  organization  which  has  already  taken 
place,  but  happily  the  constitution  authorizes  the 
Legislature  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage.  .  . 
What  reaches  me  of  the  condition  of  things  in 
Louisiana  impresses  me  strongly  with  the  belief  that 
this  extension  will  be  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the 
whole  population," 

He  advised,  as  to  Arkansas,  an  amendment  of  the 
constitution,  or  a  new  convention,  the  members 
to  be  elected  by  the  loyal  citizens,  without  distinction 
of  color.  "  To  all  the  other  States,"  he  continued, 
"the  general  principle  may  be  easily  applied." 
He  closed  by  saying:  "I  most  respectfully,  but 
most  earnestly,  commend  these  matters  to  your 
attention.  God  gives  you  a  great  place  and  a  great 
opportunity.  May  he  guide  you  in  the  use  of  them." 
But  ,the  same  day  the  President  delivered  from  a 
window  of  the  White  House  that  final  speech  to 
the  people  which  he  had  prepared  without  waiting 
for  the  instructions  of  the  Chief-Justice,  and  the 
day  after,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  again  from  Baltimore 
reviewing  the  record  of  both,  reminding  the  Presi- 


Ch.  xvil 


Chase  to 
Lincoln, 
April  11, 
1865. 
Schuckers, 
"  Life  of 

8.  P. 
Chase," 
p.  515. 


398 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chaae 

to  Ashley, 

April  16, 

1865. 


ch.  xvn.  dent  of  his  former  errors  from  which  Mr.  Chase 
had  tried  to  save  him,  discussing  in  full  the  Louisi- 
ana case,  of  which  the  President  had  made  so 
masterly  and  luminous  a  presentation  in  his 
speech,  insinuating  that  if  the  President  were 
only  as  well  informed  as  he  was  he  would  see 
things  very  differently.1  Almost  before  the  ink 
was  dry  on  this  unasked  and  superfluous  sermon 
the  President  was  dead.  The  Chief -Justice,  writing 
to  a  friend  in  Ohio,  said :  "  The  schemes  of  politi- 
cians will  now  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  condi- 
tions.   I  want  no  part  in  them." 

He  retained  his  attitude  at  the  head  of  the  ex- 
treme Eepublicans  until  about  the  time  of  the  im- 
peachment of  Andrew  Johnson.  Over  this  famous 
trial  he  presided  with  the  greatest  dignity  and 
impartiality ;  with  a  knowledge  of  law  which  was 
never  at  fault,  and  with  a  courage  which  rose  su- 
perior to  all  the  threats  and  all  the  entreaties  of 
his  friends.  But  his  action  during  the  trial  and  its 
result  alienated  him  at  once  from  the  great  body  of 
those  who  had  been  his  strongest  supporters,  while 
it  created  a  momentary  appearance  of  popularity 
among  his  lifelong  opponents.  His  friends  began 
to  persuade  him,  and  he  began  to  think,  that  he 
might  be  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for 
the  Presidency.  He  commenced  writing  volumi- 
nous letters  to  leading  Democrats  expressing  his 
indifference   to  the  nomination,  but  at  the  same 


*"I  most  earnestly  wish  you 
could  have  read  the  New  Orleans 
papers  for  the  past  few  months. 
Your  duties  have  not  allowed  it. 
I  have  read  them  a  good  deal ; 
quite  enough  to  be  certain  that 
if  you  had  read  what  I  have  your 


feelings  of  humanity  and  justice 
would  not  let  you  rest  till  all 
loyalists  are  made  equal  in  the 
right  of  self-protection  by  suf- 
frage."—Chase  to  Lincoln,  April 
12,  1865;  Schuckers,  "Life  of 
S.  P.  Chase,"  p.  517. 


CHASE  AS   CHIEF-JUSTICE 


399 


Chase 

to  Barney, 

May  29, 

1868. 

Schuckers, 

"  Life  of 

S.  P. 
Chase," 
p.  683. 


time  saying  he  had  always  been  a  Democrat,  was  ch.  xvlt. 
a  Democrat  still,  and  that  the  course  which  the 
Democracy  ought  to  adopt  would  be  to  embrace 
true  Democratic  principles  and  declare  for  universal 
suffrage  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Union.  He 
did  not  flinch  for  an  instant  from  his  position  on 
this  important  question.  He  said:  "I  believe  I 
could  refuse  the  throne  of  the  world  if  it  were 
offered  me  at  the  price  of  abandoning  the  cause  of 
equal  rights  and  exact  justice  to  all  men."  Follow- 
ing his  inveterate  habit  of  taking  a  subjective  view 
of  the  world  of  politics,  he  thought  it  possible  that 
the  Democratic  party  might  be  converted  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  by  virtue  of  his  broad  and 
liberal  views. 

He  cherished  this  pleasant  delusion  for  several 
months.  Whenever  an  obscure  politician  called 
upon  him  or  wrote  to  him  from  some  remote  corner 
of  the  country,  expressing  a  desire  that  he  should 
be  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  he 
would  say,  "  Such  indications  .  .  .  afford  ground 
for  hope  that  a  change  is  going  on  in  the  views  and 
policy  of  the  Democratic  party  which  warrants 
good  hopes  of  the  future."  There  was  for  a  mo-  ibid.,  p.  58*. 
ment  a  vague  impression  among  the  leading  Demo- 
crats that  as  it  was  hopeless  to  make  a  campaign  with 
one  of  their  own  party  against  the  overwhelming 
popularity  of  General  Grant,  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  try  the  experiment  of  nominating  the 
Chief -Justice  with  the  hope  of  diverting  a  portion 
of  the  Republican  vote,  and  a  correspondence  took 
place  between  August  Belmont  and  Mr.  Chase  in 
relation  to  that  subject.  Mr.  Chase  wrote:  "For 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  been,  in 


400  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

ch.  xvii.  my  political  views  and  sentiments,  a  Democrat,  and 
I  still  think  that  upon  questions  of  finance,  com- 
merce, and  administration  generally  the  old  Demo- 
cratic principles  afford  the  best  guidance."  But 
he  stoutly  asserted,  even  in  the  face  of  this  temp- 
tation, his  belief  in  universal  suffrage,  though 
he  coupled  it  with  universal  amnesty,  and  said: 
"  If  the  white  citizens  hitherto  prominent  in  affairs 
will  simply  recognize  their  [the  negroes']  right  of 
suffrage,  and  assure  them  against  future  attempts 
to  take  it  from  them,  I  am  sure  that  those  citizens 

toSimont,  "will  be  welcomed  back  to  their  old  lead  with  joy 
Mia*6830'     and  acclamation.  .  .  A  majority,  if  not  all,  the 

"Lifeo?™.'   Southern  States,  may  be  carried  for  the  Democratic 

P  Chase  " 

'p.  584. '     candidates  at  the  next  election." 

He  repeated  this  sanguine  statement  in  his  cor- 
respondence with  other  leading  Democrats,  but  the 
negotiation  came  to  nothing ;  the  Democratic  Con- 
vention met  in  New  York,  and  Mr.  Chase's  name, 
mentioned  by  accident,  gained  a  roar  of  cheers 
from  the  assembly,  and  one-half  of  one  vote  from 
a  California  delegate.  He  professed  his  entire 
indifference  to  the  result,  and  took  no  further 
interest  in  the  canvass.  An  injudicious  Republican 
politician  in  New  York  asked  him  to  address  a 
Grant  meeting.  He  declined,  of  course,  stating 
that  he  could  not  unreservedly  support  the  Repub- 
lican ticket,  and  that  this  was  not  the  time  for 
discrimination  in  a  public  address.  "The  action 
of  the  two  parties  has  obliged  me  to  resume  with 
my  old  faith  my  old  position,  .  .  that  of  Demo- 
iMd.,p.592.  crat,  by  the  grace  of  God,  free  and  independent." 
When  his  old  enemy,  General  Blair,  came  to  the 
front,  in  the  progress  of  the  canvass,  and  rather 


GENERAL  GEOKGE  CROOK. 


CHASE    AS    CHIEF-JUSTICE  401 

overshadowed  the  more  conservative  Seymour,  the    ch.  xvii. 
Chief -Justice  intimated  that  men  of  his  way  of   in  a  letter 

*  to  Colonel 

thinking  would  be  constrained  to  the  support  of  ^jS*11 
General  Grant.  septk29, 

But  if  the  political  attitude  of  Mr.  Chase  in  his  sobiSlers, 
later  years  was  a  subject  of  amazement  and  sorrow  p.  cha°se,,; 
to  his  ardent  supporters,  his  decisions  upon  the 
bench  were  a  no  less  startling  surprise  to  those  who 
had  insisted  upon  his  appointment  as  the  surest 
means  of  conserving  all  the  victories  of  the  war. 
He  who  had  sustained  Mr.  Stanton  in  his  most 
energetic  and  daring  acts  during  the  war  now 
declared  such  acts  illegal ;  he  who  had  continually 
criticized,  not  always  loyally,  the  conduct  of  the 
President  for  what  he  considered  his  weak  reverence 
for  the  rights  of  States,  now  became  the  earnest 
champion  of  State  rights;  and  finally  the  man  to 
whose  personal  solicitations  a  majority  of  Congress 
had  yielded  in  passing  the  legal-tender  act,  without 
which  he  said  that  the  war  could  not  have  been 
successfully  carried  on,  from  his  place  on  the  bench 
declared  the  act  unconstitutional.  But  so  firm  was 
the  impression  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  of  the  great  powers  and  perfect 
integrity,  the  high  courage,  the  exalted  patriotism 
of  this  man,  that  when  he  died,  worn  out  by  his  May  7,  iots. 
tireless  devotion  to  the  public  welfare,  he  was 
mourned  and  praised  as,  in  spite  of  all  errors  and 
infirmities,  he  deserved  to  be.  Although  his  ap- 
pointment had  not  accomplished  all  the  good  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  hoped  for  when  he  made  it,  it  cannot 
be  called  a  mistake.  Mr.  Chase  had  deserved  well 
of  the  republic.  He  was  entitled  to  any  reward 
the  republic  could  grant  him ;  and  the  President,  in 

Vol.  IX.— 26 


402  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvil  giving  to  his  most  powerful  and  most  distinguished 
rival  the  greatest  place  which  a  President  ever  has 
it  in  his  power  to  bestow,  gave  an  exemplary  proof 
of  the  magnanimity  and  generosity  of  his  own 
spirit. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 


PETERSBURG 


DURING  all  the  summer  campaign  of  General  ch.  xviii. 
Grant,  while  he  was  intent  upon  breaking  mi. 
and  crashing  the  army  of  Lee,  he  never  lost  sight 
of  the  equally  important  work  of  breaking  his  lines 
of  communication  and  cutting  off  his  supplies. 
His  first  attempt  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
having  failed  by  the  misadventure  of  Sigel  at 
New  Market  on  the  15th  of  May,  he  asked  for 
the  removal  of  that  officer,  and  Major-General 
Hunter  was  appointed  to  supersede  him.  From 
Spotsylvania  and  Jericho  Ford  Grant  sent  orders 
for  Hunter  to  move  up  the  Valley  as  far  as  Char- 
lottesville and  Lynchburg  if  he  found  it  possible ; 
to  destroy  railroads  and  canals,  and  either  get  back 
to  his  original  base  or  join  the  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac, as  circumstances  might  decide.  Hunter 
moved  away  with  his  usual  alacrity,  and  on  the  5th 
of  June  struck  a  force  of  three  brigades  under 
General  W.  E.  Jones  at  Piedmont,  and  after  a  se- 
vere engagement  routed  it,  killing  Jones  and  cap- 
turing 1500  prisoners  and  some  guns.  Three  days 
later,  he  formed  a  junction  with  Crook  and  Averill 
at  Staunton  and  moved  towards  Lynchburg,  while 
J.  C.  Vaughn,  who  had  succeeded  to  Jones's  com- 


•404 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


PETEESBUEG  405 

mand,  fell  back  on  the  railroad  towards  Charlottes-  ch.  xviil 
ville.  General  Lee,  who  was  naturally  disturbed  by 
this  menacing  expedition,  hurried  Breckinridge  off 
with  a  division  to  meet  it,  and  on  the  13th  Early,  june.ise*. 
with  his  corps,  was  dispatched  to  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  with  orders  to  strike  Hunter's  force  in  rear 
and  destroy  it;  then  to  move  down  the  Valley, 
cross  the  Potomac,  and  threaten  Washington.  This 
force  moved  with  great  celerity  and  part  of  it 
reached  Lynchburg  in  advance  of  Hunter,  who  ar- 
rived before  the  place  on  the  16th  of  June.  There 
was  some  skirmishing  for  two  days  between  the 
opposing  forces,  but  Hunter,  owing  to  the  exhaus- 
tion of  his  ammunition,  was  unable  to  give  battle, 
and  was  forced  to  retire  by  way  of  Kanawha  over 
a  difficult  and  arduous  route  through  West  Virginia, 
which  movement  left  the  Valley  open  to  Early  in 
his  march  northward. 

But  before  these  movements  were  developed, 
General  Grant,  desiring  thoroughly  to  break  the 
enemy's  communications  and  interrupt  his  sup- 
plies north  of  the  James,  before  crossing  that 
river,  ordered  General  Sheridan  to  march  to 
Charlottesville,  join  Hunter  in  the  destruction  of 
the  Virginia  Central  Railroad  and  return  with  him 
to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  got  off  on  the 
morning  of  the  7th  of  June,  and  Lee,  as  soon  as 
the  movement  was  reported,  sent  after  him  General 
Wade  Hampton  with  two  divisions  of  cavalry,  his 
own  and  Fitzhugh  Lee's.  They  met,  and  a  sharp 
cavalry  fight  ensued  at  Trevilian  station  in  which  June  u. 
Hampton  was  worsted  and  driven  several  miles. 
But  Sheridan  learned  from  his  prisoners  that 
Hunter  had  moved  on  Lynchburg  and  that  a  con- 


406 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Ch.  xviii. 


June,  1864. 


Hum- 
phreys, 
"The 
Virginia 
Campaign 

of  '04 

and  'ds," 

p.  199. 


June.  1864. 


siderable  infantry  force  had  passed  up  the  railroad 
towards  Charlottesville ;  that  a  junction  was  there- 
fore impossible,  and  that  he  could  not  effect  the 
object  of  his  expedition  in  the  presence  of  so  large 
a  force  of  the  enemy.  There  was  some  sharp  fight- 
ing on  the  12th,  and  on  the  night  of  that  day 
Sheridan  withdrew.  He  reached  White  House 
on  the  21st,  where  he  supplied  his  troops,  and  the 
next  day  started  with  an  immense  train  to  join 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  south  of  the  James. 

Meantime  General  Grant  had  executed  the  most 
important  of  all  his  turning  movements  with 
notable  ability  and  success.  His  object  was  now 
to  get  south  of  Eichmond  and  to  destroy  the  lines 
of  supply  on  that  side  of  the  Confederate  army. 
After  the  destruction  of  the  Virginia  Central  road, 
the  capture  of  Petersburg  would  leave  but  one  rail- 
road in  their  hands,  the  Richmond  and  Danville ; 
this  would  be  ultimately  severed,  and  Richmond 
must  fall.  He  chose,  as  his  place  of  crossing  the 
James,  a  guarded  and  sheltered  spot  near  Wilcox's 
landing;  far  enough  from  Richmond  to  give  an  op- 
portunity for  attacking  Lee  out  of  his  intrenchments 
if  he  should  attempt  to  interrupt  the  passage.  All 
Grant's  dispositions  for  the  great  movement  were 
skillful  and  judicious.  Warren,  with  the  Fifth 
Corps,  preceded  by  Wilson's  cavalry,  crossed  the 
Chickahominy  before  daylight  on  the  13th,  and 
took  positions  on  roads  leading  to  Richmond, 
creating  the  impression  in  General  Lee's  mind  that 
an  advance  upon  that  city  was  in  progress.  The  rest 
of  the  army  was  then  withdrawn  from  its  works, 
and  moved  by  long  and  rapid  marches  to  Wilcox's 
landing,  where   the   battalion   of  engineers   con- 


PETEKSBUKG  407 

structed,  between  four  in  the  afternoon  and  mid-  ch.  xviil 
night,  a  bridge  which  was  one  of  the  most  notable 
triumphs  of  military  engineering  in  our  times.   The 
river  was  2100  feet  wide,  15  fathoms  deep  in  mid- 
channel,  and  there  was  a  strong  tidal  current  with      Hum- 
a  rise  and  fall  of  four  feet.    One  hundred  and  one     £***' 

i  .        ,  Virginia 

pontoons  were  required;  they  were   anchored  to   SrSJfSg? 
vessels  moored  above  and  below.  p^524. 

The  Fifth  Corps  and  Wilson's  cavalry  having 
accomplished  their  mission  with  perfect  success 
withdrew  from  their  menacing  attitude,  and  the 
whole  army  with  all  its  artillery  and  trains  was 
south  of  the  James  by  midnight  of  the  16th,  Gen-  june.i**. 
eral  Wright  covering  the  movement  and  crossing 
last.  General  Lee  was  still  holding  his  force  north 
of  the  river  to  protect  Richmond  from  the  attack 
he  thought  imminent  from  that  quarter.  The  whole 
movement  was  so  far  brilliantly  successful.  Grant 
announced  his  action  to  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington. The  President  received  the  news  with  joy 
and  gratitude.  In  spite  of  all  assertions  to  the  con- 
trary, he  had  no  apprehensions  for  the  safety  of 
Washington  while  Lee  was  kept  busy  somewhere 
else.  He  telegraphed  to  Grant  on  the  15th,  "  I  have  June,  ism. 
just  received  your  dispatch  of  1  p.  m.  yesterday.  I 
begin  to  see  it.  You  will  succeed.  God  bless  you 
all." 

The  first  great  object  of  the  movement  was  the 
seizure  of  Petersburg.  It  was  a  place  of  the  utmost 
importance,  nothing  less  than  an  outlying  bastion 
of  Richmond,  whose  possession  by  the  National 
troops  made  the  tenure  of  the  rebel  capital  impos- 
sible. An  important  expedition  to  effect  this  mo- 
mentous capture  had  been  confided  to  General  W. 


408  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvm.  F.  Smith.  "With  some  16,000  men  he  started  on  the 
June,  1864.  morning  of  the  15th,  under  verbal  orders  from  Gen- 
eral Butler,  to  "  attack  Petersburg  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible." The  work  had  been  represented  to  him  at 
Butler's  headquarters  as  very  easy;  he  was  told 
that  "  he  could  ride  over  the  fortifications  on  horse- 
back";1 that  from  the  heights  on  the  Appomattox 
his  sharp-shooters  could  clear  out  the  Confederate 
garrison,  which  consisted  only  of  a  few  militia.  On 
arriving  before  the  place,  however,  which  he  did 
about  noon,  after  sharp  skirmishing  on  the  road, 
he  found  the  works  so  much  stronger  than  he  had 
been  led  to  expect  and  the  artillery  fire  from  them  so 
well  sustained  that  he  came  to  the  erroneous  con- 
clusion that  they  must  also  be  fully  supported  by 
infantry.  He  therefore  proceeded  with  the  greatest 
caution  and  deliberation.  Having  no  engineer  on 
his  staff  he  thought  himself  compelled  to  reconnoitre 
the  enemy's  position  in  person,  and,  not  willing  to 
risk  an  assault  in  column  under  such  a  heavy  fire 
from  the  guns,  he  concluded  to  open  with  his  own 
artillery  and  then  try  to  carry  the  works  with  a 
strong  skirmish  line.  But  at  this  juncture  he  found 
his  chief  of  artillery  had  without  authority  taken 
the  horses  to  the  rear  to  water  them,  and  an  hour 
of  inestimable  value  was  thus  lost. 

It  was  seven  o'clock  and  the  sun  was  setting  when 
his  attack  was  made.  His  skirmishers  sprang  gal- 
lantly forward  to  their  work  and  captured  the  in- 
trenchments,  which  were  immediately  occupied  by 
the  lines  of  battle.    A  mile  and  a  half  of  the  rebel 

1  We  take  these  particulars  of  ator  Solomon  Foot,  dated  Decem- 
General  Smith's  operations  from  ber  12,  1864,  which  was  given 
anunpublishedletterofhistoSen-    by  the  Senator  to  the  President. 


GENERAL    WINKIELD    B.   HANCOCK. 


(pposite  page  408. 


PETERSBURG 


409 


works,  with  sixteen  guns,  were  in  his  hands  at  nine  ch.  xvhl 
o'clock ;  the  city  of  Petersburg,  defended  only  by  a 
force  of  about  2500  Confederates,  seemed  at  his  mercy. 
An  hour  more  of  daylight  might  have  hastened  the 
capture  of  Richmond  by  six  months.  Even  as  it 
was,  General  Smith  was  severely  blamed  by  General 
Grant  for  not  having  pushed  forward  in  the  dark- 
ness and  possessed  himself  of  the  town.  But  he  felt 
that  the  risk  of  a  night  march  forward  over  un- 
known obstacles,  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy,  was 
too  great ;  he  preferred  to  hold  what  he  had  gained 
rather  than  incur  the  danger  of  a  disaster  by 
groping  in  the  dark  about  the  enemy's  inner  line 
of  works.  He  had  heard  that  Lee  was  crossing  at 
Drewry's  Bluff  and  he  did  not  know  what  force 
might  be  confronting  him.  He  knew  that  Han- 
cock's corps  was  on  its  way  to  support  him,  and 
when,  late  at  night,  it  arrived,  he  asked  Hancock 
to  relieve  his  own  troops  in  the  captured  works, 
and  feeling  that  he  had  done  a  good  day's  work, 
waited  for  morning.  It  was  not  Hancock's  fault 
that  he  was  not  on  the  ground  earlier.  He  had 
been  delayed  several  hours  in  the  morning  waiting 
for  rations,  and  at  last  was  compelled  to  march 
without  them.  He  says  he  was  not  informed  until 
between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  15th  that  Petersburg  was  to  be  attacked  that  Juncise*. 
day;  and  Meade  relieved  him  of  all  censure  by 
saying,  "Had  General  Hancock  and  myself  been 
apprised  in  time  of  the  contemplated  movement 
against  Petersburg  and  the  necessity  of  his  coopera- 
tion ...  he  could  have  been  pushed  much  earlier 
to  the  scene  of  operations." 
In  the  night    the    golden    opportunity  passed 


Badeau, 

"  Military 

History  of 

U.8. 

Grant." 

Vol.  II., 

p.  377. 


410  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

ch.  xvin.  away.  Beauregard  had  acted  with  the  greatest 
energy  and  promptness.  He  saw,  far  more  plainly 
than  General  Lee,  the  point  of  danger ;  he  unhesi- 
tatingly stripped  the  Bermuda  Hundred  lines  and 
begged  for  troops  to  defend  Petersburg,  while  Lee 
was  holding  all  his  forces  in  hand  to  fight  Grant  on 
the  roads  to  Richmond  between  the  Chickahominy 
and  the  James.  Lee  sent  him,  however,  Hoke's 
division,  which  arrived  during  the  night,  and  in 
the  morning  Smith  and  Hancock  saw  in  front  of 
them  a  new  line  of  intrenchments,  manned  by 
veteran  Confederate  infantry;  though  Lee,  still 
incredulous,  so  late  as  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning 

June,  1864.  of  the  16th  telegraphed  Beauregard  that  he  did  not 
know  where  Grant  was,  and  could  not  strip  the 
north  bank.  Butler's  force  at  daylight  had  taken 
the  intrenchments  in  front  of  Bermuda  Hundred 
disgarnished  by  Beauregard,  and  captured  much  of 
the  small  force  left  to  guard  them;  but  in  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  Pickett's  division,  crossing 
from  the  north  side,  retook  the  works.  So  that 
nothing  was  lost  to  the  Confederates  by  Beaure- 
gard's bold  and  judicious  action,  and  Petersburg 
was  saved  to  them ;  for  on  the  morning  of  the  16th 
he  had  some  fourteen  thousand  effective  infantry 
supporting  the  powerful  artillery  of  his  intrench- 
ments, and  two  days  later  the  bulk  of  Lee's  army 
was  there. 

Now  that  the  last  chance  of  an  easy  victory  was 
gone,  Meade  acted  with  all  possible  energy  and 
spirit.  Hancock  was  placed  in  command  of  all 
the  troops  on  the  ground,  and  the  Second  Corps, 
supported  by  portions  of  the  Ninth  and  the 
Eighteenth  to   left  and  right,   assaulted   the  in- 


PETEKSBUEG  411 

trenchments,    carrying    three    redans  with    their  ch.  xvni. 
connecting  lines.  6  p.m., 

0  June  16. 

At  dawn  on  the  17th  R.  B.  Potter's  division  of  the 
Ninth  Corps,  forming  in  silence  in  a  deep  ravine, 
obeying  a  whispered  word  of  command,  and  with- 
out firing  a  shot,  carried  another  succession  of 
redans  and  connecting  lines,  with  many  guns  and 
prisoners.  There  was  heavy  fighting  all  this  day, 
resulting  in  constant  encroachments  by  the  Na- 
tional troops  on  the  Confederate  lines ;  and  in  the 
night  Beauregard  withdrew  500  or  1000  yards  in 
rear  of  the  line  so  hotly  disputed,  and  intrenched 
himself  in  the  new  one  with  that  rapidity  and  skill 
which  both  armies  had  attained.  In  the  morn- 
ing he  was  heavily  reenforced  by  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  with  General  Lee  in  person  at 
its  head. 

Meade,  not  knowing  the  full  extent  of  the  Con- 
federate reinforcements,  and  being  fully  impressed 
with  the  immense  importance  of  the  capture  of 
Petersburg,  ordered  another  vigorous  assault  on  the 
Confederate  works  to  take  place  at  noon  on  the  18th.  ^s^!8" 
This  was  made  with  the  utmost  spirit  and  gal- 
lantry :  Hancock's  corps,  under  Birney,  their  old 
commander  having  been  disabled  by  the  opening 
of  his  Gettysburg  wounds;  the  Fifth,  under  the 
immediate  command  of  Warren  ;  the  Ninth,  under 
General  Parke's  personal  direction,  attacked  again 
and  again  with  high  but  fruitless  valor ;  Barlow, 
Potter,  Willcox,  Griffin,  and  J.  L.  Chamberlain  did 
all  that  could  have  been  asked  of  them.  The  works 
were  too  powerful  to  be  carried  by  assault,  though 
ground  was  gained ;  the  positions  carried  close  to 
the  enemy  were  everywhere  intrenched,  and  the 


412  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xviii.  National  lines  were  established  substantially  as  they 
remained  until  the  war  ended.  Grant,  at  the  close 
of  the  day,  saw  that  all  which  was  possible  had 
been  done,  and  he  commanded  that  the  fighting 
should  cease ;  that  the  troops  should  be  put  under 
cover,  and  take  the  rest  which  had  become  indis- 
pensable. In  the  four  days'  struggle  about  ten  thou- 
sand men  had  been  lost  on  the  Union  side ;  there 
is  no  official  statement  of  the  Confederate  losses  — 
they  were,  of  course,  less,  as  they  fought  behind 
intrenchments,  but  were  still  not  inconsiderable. 
The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  exhausted  by  its 
incessant  and  protracted  exertions.  Its  long  and 
arduous  marches;  its  daily  assaults  upon  an  in- 
trenched enemy,  defended  by  entanglements  in 
front  and  guarded  by  powerful  artillery ;  its  heavy 
losses  in  brave  and  experienced  officers  and  veteran 
soldiers,  unrelieved  by  any  decided  success,  had 
begun  to  have  their  effect  not  only  on  the  strength 
but  the  spirit  of  even  that  brave  and  patient  army. 
It  was  time  to  put  them  also  behind  intrenchments, 
to  give  them  some  rest  and  protection.  General 
Grant  determined  to  invest  Petersburg  by  a  line  of 
intrenchments,  which  might  be  held  by  a  part  of 
his  troops,  leaving  the  rest  free  for  whatever  move- 
ments might  be  required.  General  Butler,  with 
the  Army  of  the  James,  was  assigned  to  the  care 
of  Bermuda  Hundred  and  Deep  Bottom  on  either 
side  of  the  river,  the  two  positions  being  connected 
by  a  pontoon  bridge.  About  Petersburg  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  was  disposed  in  this  order  from 
right  to  left:  Burnside  with  the  Ninth  Corps, 
Warren  with  the  Fifth,  Birney  with  the  Second, 
"Wright  with  the  Sixth ;  the  last  corps  holding  the 


PETEKSBUKG  413 

extreme  left  and  being  refused  to  the  west  and  ch.  xviil 
south. 

Grant's  first  attempt  at  seizing  the  Weldon  and 
South  Side  railroads  was  unsuccessful.  The  Sec- 
ond and  Sixth  Corps  were  moved  to  the  left  with 
that  purpose  on  the  22d  of  June;  but,  not  being  i«a. 
well  closed  up,  A.  P.  Hill's  corps  was  thrust  be- 
tween them,  and  inflicted  considerable  damage, 
taking  a  large  number  of  prisoners  and  some  guns. 
A  little  ground  was,  however,  gained  and  held,  and 
the  armies  remained  quiescent  for  several  weeks, 
the  Union  army  being  busily  engaged  in  intrench- 
ing and  fortifying  their  lines.  The  position  on  the 
Jerusalem  plank  road,  midway  between  the  Nor- 
folk and  Weldon  railroads,  was  made  impregnable 
by  two  strong  redoubts  by  the  middle  of  July. 

The  cavalry  in  both  armies  was  kept  busy  in 
constant  raids.  While  Sheridan  was  away  on  his 
raid  to  Trevilian's,  Wilson  was  sent  with  two  divi- 
sions to  destroy,  if  possible,  all  three  of  the  rail- 
roads connecting  Richmond  with  the  South.  He 
started  on  the  22d  of  June,  breaking  the  Weldon 
road  at  Reams's  Station,  destroying  thirty  miles  of 
the  Lynchburg  road  and  as  much  of  the  Danville 
road,  where  the  two  lines  crossed  at  Burkesville 
Junction.  He  did  not  effect  this  without  some 
keen  fighting  with  the  Confederate  cavalry,  and 
when,  the  object  of  his  expedition  being  accom- 
plished, he  started  to  return,  a  heavy  concentra- 
tion of  the  enemy's  cavalry  was  effected  against 
him.  A  severe  engagement  took  place  at  Stony 
Creek  on  the  Weldon  road,  with  indecisive  results ; 
and  at  Reams's  Station,  Wilson  found  himself  con- 
fronted by  a  strong  force  of  Confederate  infantry 


414 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


PETEESBUBG 


415 


416 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


PETERSBURG 


417 


Vol.  IX.— 27 


418 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


June,  1864. 
Hum- 
phreys, 
"The 
Virginia 
Campaign 

of '64 
and  '65," 
p.  241. 


ch.  xviii.  and  artillery  which  he  was  unable  to  dislodge.  He 
was  here  compelled  to  retire  and  make  the  best  of 
his  way  back  to  Petersburg,  with  a  heavy  loss  in 
guns  and  wagons.  His  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  only  240,  but  1261  were  reported  missing. 
Brilliant  as  these  cavalry  raids  were,  General  Grant 
in  his  "Memoirs"  intimates  that  they  cost  more 
than  they  were  worth.  Both  sides  were  very  ex- 
pert in  repairing  railroads  after  they  seemed 
utterly  destroyed;  the  Confederates,  especially, 
were  disheartened  at  the  facility  with  which  Sher- 
man would  run  his  trains  a  few  hours  after  they 
had  raided  his  tracks ;  so  that  it  came  to  be  a  say- 
ing among  them  that  Sherman  carried  duplicate 
tunnels  in  his  baggage. 

At  this  point  General  Humphreys,  in  his  admir- 
able history  of  this  campaign,  pauses  to  estimate 
the  losses  in  the  Union  Army  from  the  crossing  of 
the  Rapidan  to  the  1st  of  July.  The  Army  of  the 
Potomac  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  about  50,000, 
and  including  the  missing  61,400;  the  Army  of 
the  James  about  7000.  A  large  number  of  regi- 
ments were  mustered  out ;  great  numbers  of  sick 
were  sent  home.  The  constant  policy  of  the  Con- 
federate authorities  was  to  conceal  their  losses; 
there  are  even  at  this  day  no  trustworthy  esti- 
mates of  them.  The  steadfast  heart  of  the  Presi- 
dent sickened  at  the  slaughter.  In  a  dispatch  to 
Sherman,  on  the  16th  of  July,  Grant  announced 
his  intention  to  "make  a  desperate  effort  to  get 
a  position  here  which  will  hold  the  enemy  without 
the  necessity  of  so  many  men."  The  President, 
referring  to  this,  telegraphed  to  Grant  in  these 
words :  "  Pressed  as  we  are  by  lapse  of  time  I  am 


Ibid.,  p.  242. 


PETERSBURG  419 

glad  to  hear  you  say  this ;  and  yet  I  do  hope  you  ch.  xviii. 
may  find  a  way  that  the  effort  shall  not  be  des-     J^17, 
perate  in  the  sense  of  great  loss  of  life." 

The  dull,  dry  midsummer  passed  away  with  little 
accomplished  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.    No 
rain  fell  for  forty-six  days  together;   the  troops 
suffered  greatly  from  thirst ;  the  dust  lay  thick  on 
the  roads  and  the  barren  fields.    The  slightest   J^eJJJ° 
movement  of  troops  filled  the  air  with  suffocating     p^r™"8> 
clouds.    There  was  no  water  in  the  springs  or  the    vir^nm 
ponds ;  the  soldiers  everywhere  were  forced  to  dig    Ca^64gn 
wells  for  themselves.    But  even  amid  these  hard-     ap.  m' 
ships  they  throve  and  soon  recovered  their  spirits. 
General  Lee,  foreseeing  the  inevitable  end  if  the 
siege  of  Petersburg  was  to  endure  indefinitely,  and 
yet  unwilling  to  risk  a  conflict  in  the  open  field, 
was  anxious  for  Grant  to  attack  him  in  his  works. 
The  hope  that  threatening   Washington  with   a 
strong  detachment  might  induce  Grant  to  do  this 
was  one  of  the  motives  which  led  Lee  to  send 
Early  down  the  Valley  in  the  latter  part  of  June.       i864. 
On  the  20th  he  wrote  to  Jefferson  Davis,  "  I  still 
think  it  is  our  policy  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
enemy  to  his  own  territory.    It  may  force  Grant  to 
attack  me,  or  to  weaken  his  force."    The  move- 
ment was  made  with  results  which  are  more  partic- 
ularly mentioned  in  another  place.    Neither  the 
Administration  at  Washington  nor  General  Grant 
were  especially  disturbed.     The  Sixth  Corps  was 
sent  north  to  meet  Early  and  drive  him  south,  and 
General  Lee  reporting  the  movement  of  troops  on 
the  river  expresses  his  "  fear  that  they  are  on  the 
way  to  Washington,"  and  his  deep  disappointment  July  7,  im. 
at  such  action.    "It  is  so  repugnant  to  Grant's 


420  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvm.  principles  and  practice  to  send  troops  from  him, 
that  I  had  hoped  before  resorting  to  it  he  would 
have  preferred  attacking  me."    Four  days  later  he 
wrote  again  to  Mr.  Davis ;  his  dissatisfaction  with 
Grant's  conduct  is  confirmed.     "  I  had  hoped  that 
General  Grant  rather  than  weaken  his  army  would 
have  attempted  to  drive  us  from  our  position.    I 
fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attack  him  to  advan- 
tage."   The  menace  upon  Washington  failed  of  its 
purpose ;  the  siege  of  Petersburg  continued  with- 
out relaxation.    The  siege  train  was  on  the  ground 
lee*.       in  the  latter  days  of  June ;  on  the  9th  of  July  Meade 
Report     issued   orders  regulating  the  approaches   of  the 
ra KdSt  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  front  of  Burnside's  and 
ofi864-€5.ar'  Warren's  corps ;  days  and  nights  were  filled  with 
paW'     the  clamor  of  guns  and  the  labors  of  the  spade. 

The  most  noteworthy  incident  of  the  summer  — 
though  it  led  to  no  significant  result  —  was  that  of 
the  mine  in  front  of  Burnside.  Near  the  end  of  June 
Lieutenaut-Colonel  Henry  Pleasants  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Pennsylvania,  a  regiment  composed  chiefly 
of  coal-miners,  proposed  to  run  a  mine  under  that 
part  of  the  Confederate  works  called  Elliott's 
salient.  The  only  advantage  of  the  position  was 
that  the  entrance  to  the  gallery  was  in  a  sheltered 
ravine,  which  was  concealed  from  the  view  of  the 
enemy;  and  even  this  advantage  proved  illusory, 
as  Beauregard  soon  became  aware  of  the  work 
which  was  going  on,  and  promptly  threw  up  in- 
trenchments  at  the  gorge  of  the  salient,  and  planted 
batteries  to  give  him  a  front  and  flank  fire  on  the 
point  of  assault.  The  work  was  completed  towards 
the  end  of  July;  it  was  a  vast  gallery,  511  feet  long, 
with  lateral  branches  of  38  feet  each ;  eight  rnaga* 


PETEKSBUEG  421 

zines  were  charged  each  with  1000  pounds  of  powder,  ch.  xvm. 
While  the  excavation  was  going  on  Burnside  had       ism. 
been  drilling  Edward  Ferrero's  colored  division  to 
make  the  charge  when  the  mine  should  be  exploded ;     Rep(?rt 
but  this  arrangement  being  reported  to  General  £*cSffi& 
Meade  on  the  26th  of  July,  and  by  him  referred  to  of«r' 
General  Grant,  it  did  not  meet   their  approval.  *"%*.**' 
This  division  having  never  been  in  action,  General 
Meade  was   not   sure   of  its   steadiness;   in  case 
of  disaster  coming  to  it  he  would  naturally  ap- 
prehend severe  criticism  from  Republican  sources, 
on  the  charge  that  he  was  sacrificing  the  colored 
troops.    Burnside  seeing  his  judgment  overruled 
in    this    respect   then   took   the  deplorable   reso- 
lution of  leaving  the  decision  between  his  three 
white  divisions  to  lot ;  and  an  evil  chance,  passing 
by  the  able  and  energetic  commanders,  Potter  and 
O.  B.  Willcox,  selected  General  J.  H.  Ledlie  for  a 
work  to  which  he  was  totally  inadequate. 

On  the  night  of  the  26th  of  July,  General  Grant 
sent  the  Second  Corps  with  a  heavy  force  of  cavalry 
to  the  north  side  of  the  James  River,  to  join  with      Grant, 
Butler's  forces  in  an  attack  upon  the  enemy's  posi-  »a£mS2i.» 
tions  on  that  side.    His  object  was  twofold ;  first,      p^sS' 
to  cut,  if  possible,  the  railroads  between  Richmond 
and  the  Anna  River  and  disturb  the  enemy's  opera- 
tions in  the  Shenandoah ;  and,  second,  to  cause  the 
withdrawal  of  a  large  body  of  troops  from  Peters- 
burg at  the  time  of  the  explosion  of  the  mine.    The 
first  purpose  failed  entirely ;  though  a  large  body 
of  the  Confederates  was  moved  north  of  the  river 
it  availed  Grant  nothing  in  the  end.    Some  ground, 
it  is  true,  was  gained  on  the  27th;  but  the  enemy    jxny,im. 
reenforced  so  heavily  on  the  28th  that  no  advan- 


422  ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

ch.  xvm.  tage  resulted  to  the  Union  troops  from  the  fight- 
ing on  that  day,  and  Grant  at  once  resolved  to 
withdraw  the  Second  Corps  to  the  lines  of  Peters- 
burg, to  support  the  meditated  assault.    This  was 

juiy,  1864.   effected  on  the  nights  of  the  28th  and  29th. 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th  the  mine  was  ex- 
ploded at  a  quarter  before  five  o'clock.  The  whole 
salient  rose  in  the  air,  a  vast  mass  of  earth;  and 
as  the  smoke  and  dust  cleared  away  a  crater  200 
feet  long,  50  feet  wide,  and  25  feet  deep  was  dis- 
closed  where  the   rebel  fort  had  been.    Colonel 

Report  of    Pleasants  stood  on  the  Union  breastworks  and 

Lieut: -Col. 

P1Rei>ort8,   watched  the  effect ;  his  task,  at  least,  had  been  well 
^conduct  d°ne-    The  enemy  were  for  the  moment  stupefied 
ofiSt65.ar'  by  the  catastrophe.    They  ran  in  horror  from  the 
ppTin/iw.  crater  on  both  sides;  the  breach  was  virtually 
four  hundred  yards  in  extent.    Now  was  the  mo- 
ment for  Burnside  to  pour  his  men  through  the 
gap  and  gain  the  crest  of  Cemetery  Hill,  which 
commanded  the  town  of  Petersburg.    But  the  ad- 
vance was  languid.    General  Ledlie  was  suffering 
from  sickness;  he  spent  the  morning  in  a  bomb- 
proof.   Burnside  had  neglected  to  level  his  para- 
Report     pets  and  remove  the  abatis  in  his  front,  and  his 

Committee    r  7 

o? thTwa?  fading  division  made  their  way  slowly  out  of  the 
pJrti'.  works  by  the  flank  instead  of  in  extended  front. 
p  182.  They  pushed  on,  however,  to  the  crater,  and  crowd- 
ing into  that  narrow  hole,  stayed  there,  and  no 
efforts  could  induce  them  to  leave  it.  In  the  course 
of  half  an  hour  the  enemy  recovered  from  their 
surprise  and  began  a  furious  fire  from  front  and 
both  flanks.  Potter's  division  was  sent  in  on  the 
right,  Willcox  on  the  left.  Each  of  them  made 
some  progress,  but  the  frightful  chaos  and  con- 


PETERSBURG  423 

fusion  of  the  center  division  in  the  crater  continued,  ch.  xvin. 
and  neither  of  them   could  hold  what  they  had 
gained ;  and  when  at  last  Ferrero's  colored  division     , 

&  '  .  .  July  30, 

was  sent  forward  without  their  commander,  who       1864- 
considered  it  his  duty  to  remain  in  the  rear,  they 
rushed  to  the  front  with  great  spirit,  but  under 
conditions  which  made   disaster  certain.     Being 
badly  led,  they  poured  over  the  edge  of  the  crater     Tumer 
in  great  numbers,  and  although  they  did  their  best  TReS?t y' 
to  get  through  to  the  other  side  they  emerged  with  ^conduct 
their  formation  shattered.    Advancing  towards  the  °^8e£«5ar' 

Part  I 

enemy  they  encountered  a  heavy  fire  of  infantry  pp.  119-121. 
and  artillery,  and  were  soon  stampeded  and  driven 
back  in  great  confusion. 

General  John  W.  Turner  had  by  this  time  man- 
aged to  get  a  division  of  Ord's  corps  forward 
through  the  disorder  and  charged  with  one  bri- 
gade upon  the  enemy's  works  to  the  right  of  the 
crater,  taking  possession  of  about  one  hundred 
yards  of  their  line ;  he  was  just  giving  the  order  to 
another  brigade  to  go  forward,  when  the  retrograde 
rush  of  the  stampeded  troops  swept  his  whole  com- 
mand backward  to  the  Union  lines.  Warren  on 
the  left  saw  no  opportunity  to  advance ;  the  enemy 
in  his  front  kept  their  works  strongly  manned,  and 
the  confusion  in  and  about  the  crater  was  such 
that  the  troops  already  there  were  more  than  could 
be  handled,  and  any  addition  to  their  numbers  would 
only  have  increased  the  disaster.  Grant  saw  early 
in  the  day  that  the  affair  was  not  prospering.  He 
rode  forward  as  far  as  he  could  go  on  horseback, 
and  then  went  through  to  the  front  on  foot.  He 
soon  convinced  himself  that  the  evil  was  beyond 
remedy ;  the  impulse  of  the  assault  was  gone  5  the 


424 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ch.  xviii.  enemy  had  recovered  from  the  shock  of  the  sur- 
prise and  were  sweeping  the  edges  of  the  crater  and 
its  approaches  with  a  hot  and  destructive  fire. 

The  Confederate  infantry  now  advanced  and  as- 
saulted the  position,  and  although  some  good  fight- 
ing was  still  done  by  Potter's  command  and  part 
of  Ord's,  the  huddled  mass,  in  the  intense  heat,  was 
unable  to  move,  recover  its  formation,  or  its  spirit. 

joiy 3o,i864.  At  half-past  nine  Meade  in  a  dispatch  to  Burnside 
assumed  that  his  attack  had  resulted  in  a  repulse, 
and  ordered  "  if,  in  his  judgment,  nothing  further 
could  be  effected  that  he  withdraw  to  his  own  lines, 
taking  every  precaution  to  get  the  men  back 
safely."  Burnside  on  receiving  this  order  hurried 
to  Meade's  headquarters  to  protest  against  it.  He 
thought  he  had  not  fought  long  enough;  that 
there  was  still  hope  of  carrying  the  crest;  but 
Meade  repeated  the  order  in  a  peremptory  manner 
—  leaving,  however,  the  time  and  manner  of  retir- 
ing to  Burnside's  discretion  —  and  Burnside  sent  it 
to  the  crater  at  noon.  The  lamentable  inefficiency 
which  had  marked  every  operation  of  the  day  still 
continued,  and  even  the  orders  to  retire  were  so 
languidly  executed  that  a  heavy  loss  in  prisoners 
occurred  at  the  crater  and  between  the  lines.1 

This  unhappy  day  closed  Burnside's  military 
career.    Meade,  whose  stern  and  fiery  temper  often 


Hum- 
phreys, 
"The 
Virginia 
Campaign 
of  '64  and 
'65," 
p.  265. 


!In  Confederate  accounts  of 
this  affair  the  usual  misstate- 
ments of  the  numbers  on  both 
sides  occur.  The  official  returns 
show  that  the  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac, on  the  20th  of  July, 
had  37,984  effective  infantry 
present  for  duty,  equipped,  and 
10,280  cavalry;  the  Army  of 
the   James,   by  return   of   July 


31st,  24,009;  cavalry,  1880. 
The  effective  force  of  infantry 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia (on  the  10th  of  July)  was 
39,295  ;  of  cavalry,  8436.  The 
Sixth  Corps  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  and  the  Second 
Corps  of  Lee's  army  were  de- 
tached and  not  included  in  the 
returns. 


GENERAL    ORLANDO    B.  WILLCOX. 


'pposite  page  424. 


PETEESBUEG  425 

got  control  of  him  on  the  battlefield,  had  sent  some  ch.  xvm. 
stinging  dispatches  in  the  course  of  the  fight,  to 
which  Burnside  had  returned  a  resentful  and  con- 
tumacious reply;   and  after  his  troops  had  been 
driven    from    the    crater  he   preserved   a   sullen 
silence,  making  no  reply  to  Meade's  anxious  and 
angry  questions.   It  was  possibly  this  insubordinate 
attitude,  as  much  as  the  failure  of  the  attack,  that 
induced  Meade  to  prefer  charges  against  Bumside. 
Grant  also  was  eager  for  some  process  of  censure. 
Two    days    after    the  fight    he  wrote  to  Meade 
speaking  of  "the  miserable  failure  of  Saturday. 
I  think  there  will  have  to  be  an  investigation  of 
the  matter.     So  fair  an  opportunity  will  probably 
never  occur  again  for  carrying  fortifications ;  prepa- 
rations were  good,  orders  ample,  and  everything,  so      Grant 
far  as  I  could  see,  subsequent  to  the  explosion  of  iS^f^ 
the  mine  shows  that  almost  without  loss  the  crest  ComeSee 
beyond  the  mine  could  have  been  carried;    this  mq£wS, 
would  have  given  us  Petersburg  with  all  its  artillery     ¥Sft 
and  a  large  part  of  the  garrison."  P" 

Burnside  was  relieved  from  command  a  few  days 
after  this  battle.  A  court  of  inquiry  ordered  by  the 
President,  at  the  request  of  General  Meade,  over 
which  General  Hancock  presided,  censured  General 
Burnside  for  the  neglect  of  such  preparations  as 
would  have  insured  success,  Generals  Ledlie  and 
Ferrero  and  Colonel  Z.  E.  Bliss,  for  inefficiency  and 
positive  misbehavior  in  action,  and  General  Willcox 
for  a  lack  of  energy  in  pushing  his  division  forward 
towards  the  crest;  the  court  also,  by  implication, 
blamed  Grant  and  Meade  for  not  having  put  all  the 
troops  intended  to  cooperate  under  one  command. 
Meade  preferred  charges  against  Burnside  which 


426  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xviii.  were  never  acted  upon.  The  Committee  on  the 
Conduct  of  the  War  investigated  the  same  matter, 
and  came  to  a  far  different  conclusion.  The  political 
orthodoxy  of  Burnside  outweighed  in  their  minds 
the  purely  military  judgment  of  Grant  and  Meade ; 
the  change  made  by  these  generals  in  the  plan 
of  attack,  substituting  white  for  colored  soldiers, 
was  decided  to  be  "the  first  and  great  cause  of 
disaster."  Their  report  justified  Burnside  in  every 
particular,  and  censured  Meade  for  everything  that 
went  wrong.  But  it  was  too  late  to  restore  Burn- 
side to  command.  The  war  was  ending  by  the  time 
the  committee  reported,  and  his  resignation,  ten- 

A.pLH,i865.  dered  on  the  very  day  of  Lincoln's  assassination, 
was  accepted  by  President  Johnson  among  his 
first  official  acts.  Burnside  returned  to  civil  life, 
and  entered  at  once  upon  a  career  of  unbroken  and 
eminent  popularity  and  success. 

After  this  disastrous  failure  the  engineers,  under 
General  Grant's  orders,  went  on  perfecting  the 
redoubts  and  the  lines  connecting  them  so  that  at 
the  proper  time  the  works  might  be  held  by  a  small 
force  and  the  rest  of  the  army  be  free  to  move  upon 
the  enemy's  communications.  But  the  summer 
wore  away  without  the  accomplishment  of  this 
purpose,  though  several  more  or  less  serious  at- 
tempts in  that  direction  were  made.  During  the 
summer  and  autumn  the  attention  of  both  Grant 
and  Lee  was  constantly  diverted  to  the  operations 
in  the  Shenandoah  to  the  neglect  of  important 
movements  about  Petersburg.  Sheridan  was  as- 
signed to  that  field  of  duty  in  which  he  was  to  win 
imperishable  laurels ;  two  divisions  of  cavalry 
under  Wilson  and  Torbert  were  given  him,  and 


PETEKSBUEG  427 

Lee  sent  one  of  his  best  divisions  under  Kershaw  ch.  xvin. 
to  reenforce  Early.  Grant  himself  made  two  visits 
to  that  part  of  his  command  ;  one  early  in  August,  isbl 
at  the  time  he  placed  Sheridan  in  command,  and 
one  in  September,  when  he  gave  him  the  order  to 
begin  his  glorious  campaign  in  the  Valley,  which 
resulted  in  the  victory  of  Winchester.  The  Army 
of  the  Potomac  during  this  period  was  by  no  means 
idle ;  besides  their  engineering  work,  several  partial 
movements  to  right  and  left  were  made,  with  the 
result  of  extending  the  Union  lines,  and  forcing 
the  Confederates  to  give  a  corresponding  extension 
to  theirs;  the  effect  of  which  was  in  all  cases  to 
weaken  the  inferior  force.  But  even  in  those  move- 
ments, Grant's  mind  was  occupied  rather  with 
Sheridan   and  Early  than  with   Lee. 

Near  the  middle  of  August  Grant  was  led  to 
believe  that  Lee  had  made  a  detachment  of  three 
divisions  of  infantry  and  some  cavalry  from  his  army 
to  reenforce  Early,  and  he  at  once  resolved  to  make 
a  heavy  demonstration  north  of  the  James  to  pre- 
vent the  dispatch  of  any  further  forces  to  the 
Valley,  and,  if  possible,  to  draw  back  those  already 
sent.  Hancock,  who  had  resumed  command  of  the 
Second  Corps,  and  Birney,  with  a  part  of  the  Tenth, 
crossed  the  river  and  marched,  on  the  14th,  along 
the  three  principal  roads  between  the  Chickahominy 
and  the  James,  in  the  direction  of  Richmond.  But 
they  met  the  enemy  everywhere  in  full  force,  under 
Field,  Wilcox,  and  Mahone,  and  gained  no  special 
advantage,  except  in  learning  that  no  such  force  as 
Grant  had  apprehended  had  gone  to  Early,  and  in 
detaining  a  large  body  of  troops  in  that  neighbor- 
hood.   Hancock  was  kept,   however,   for  several 


428 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Aug.,  1864. 


ch.  xvm.  days  north  of  the  James,  maintaining  a  menacing 
attitude  and  skirmishing  constantly,  but  forbidden 
to  attack  the  Confederate  works,  as  an  assault, 
under  existing  circumstances,  offered  no  probable 
chance  of  success. 

While  this  energetic  demonstration  was  going 
on,  General  Warren  was  withdrawn  from  the  lines 
before  Petersburg  (the  Ninth  Corps  being  stretched 
over  the  space  vacated  by  the  Fifth)  and  ordered 
to  seize  the  Weldon  road  at  the  Globe  Tavern, 
a  point  about  four  miles  due  south  from  Peters- 
burg, and  destroy  it  from  that  point  as  far  south  as 
possible.  In  this  movement,  also,  Grant's  constant 
preoccupation  in  regard  to  Sheridan  is  seen.  "I 
want,"  he  said,  "  to  make  such  demonstrations  as 
will  force  Lee  to  withdraw  a  portion  of  his  troops 
from  the  Valley,  so  that  Sheridan  can  strike  a  blow 
against  the  balance."  He  was  under  some  tempta- 
tion to  go  in  person  with  a  large  detachment  to 
Sheridan's  assistance,  but  wisely  concluded  to  stay 
where  he  was.  This  determination  the  President 
heartily  approved  and  applauded.  On  the  17th  he 
sent  to  Grant  this  terse  and  vehement  dispatch, 
which  indicates  in  a  singular  manner  the  close 
moral  sympathy  between  the  two  men:  "I  have 
seen  your  dispatch  expressing  your  unwillingness 
to  break  your  hold  where  you  are.  Neither  am  I 
willing.  Hold  on  with  a  bulldog  grip,  and  chew  and 
choke  as  much  as  possible. — A.  Lincoln,  President." 

Warren  moved  out  at  dawn  on  the  18th,  seized  the 
Weldon  road  at  the  place  directed,  and  immedi- 
ately began  the  work  of  destruction.  A  force  sent 
by  Beauregard  under  General  Heth  attacked  him 
about  two    o'clock,   and  a  sharp  action  ensued, 


Lincoln  to 

Grant, 

Aug.  17, 

1864.     MS. 


PETERSBURG  429 

resulting  in  the  loss  of  about  a  thousand  men  on  ch.  xvra. 
each  side,  the  Unionists  finally  holding  the  field. 
The  next  day,  both  sides  having  been  strongly 
reenforced,  an  impetuous  attack  by  the  Confeder- 
ates, now  under  the  command  of  A.  P.  Hill,  pro- 
duced for  a  time  some  confusion  on  the  right  of 
"Warren's  force ;  but  Warren  speedily  reformed  his 
troops  and  drove  the  Confederates  back  to  their 
intrenchments.  On  the  20th,  Warren,  feeling  sure 
that  Lee  would  not  willingly  acquiesce  in  the  loss 
of  the  Weldon  road,  and  that  he  would  have  to 
fight  further  to  retain  the  advantage  he  had  gained, 
took  up  a  stronger  position  a  mile  in  rear,  and 
awaited  the  attack  of  the  enemy.  This  came  on 
the  21st ;  Hill  opening  with  a  severe  artillery  fire  Aug.,  ism. 
and  assaulting  at  two  o'clock  with  great  energy. 
He  was,  however,  completely  repulsed,  leaving  his 
dead  and  wounded  and  several  hundred  prisoners 
in  Warren's  hands.  No  further  attempt  was  made 
on  his  position.  The  Weldon  road,  thus  boldly 
clutched  and  bravely  held,  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  Union  army  till  the  war  ended. 

The  mere  possession  of  a  point  on  the  road  was 
not  all  that  General  Grant  desired.  By  destroying 
the  road  to  Rowanty  Creek,  some  thirteen  miles 
beyond  Warren's  left,  he  could  force  the  Confeder- 
ates to  haul  their  supplies  a  distance  of  thirty  miles. 
General  Hancock,  with  two  divisions  of  infantry 
and  Gregg's  cavalry,  was  sent  to  accomplish  this 
work,  and  did  it  so  expeditiously  that  by  the  night 
of  the  24th  the  destruction  of  the  road  was  com- 
plete to  a  cross  road  three  miles  south  of  Eeams's 
Station,  leaving  only  five  miles  of  the  work  undone. 
But  General  Lee  could  not  afford  to  allow  this  work 


430  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xviii.  of  destruction  to  go  on  undisturbed,  and  therefore 
sent  A.  P.  Hill  with  a  large  force  of  infantry,  cav- 
alry, and  artillery  to  prevent  it.    He  attacked  Han- 

Aug.,  186*.  cock  on  the  25th,  and  in  spite  of  admirable  conduct 
of  the  Union  general  and  his  subordinates,  Miles 
and  Gibbon,  they  were  driven  from  their  position 
with  considerable  loss.  Night  coming  on,  Hill 
made  no  effort  to  pursue  his  advantage  and  both 
parties  returned  to  their  respective  intrenchments 
near  Petersburg. 

In  this  battle,  as  in  nearly  every  engagement 
since  Cold  Harbor,  there  was  apparent  a  certain 
loss  of  morale  in  the  army.  In  the  operations  of 
the  week  before,  north  of  the  James,  the  utmost 
efforts  of  such  intrepid  soldiers  as  Barlow  and 
Gibbon  could  not  get  the  requisite  work  out  of 
their  troops,  and  in  this  affair,  the  splendid  personal 
conduct  of  Hancock  and  Miles  was  not  enough  to 
inspire  their  commands.  The  causes  of  this  laxity 
were  not  difficult  to  discover.  The  weather  was 
hot  and  enervating;  the  constant  marching  and 
lack  of  repose  had  wearied  the  soldiers ;  they  were 
composed  in  great  numbers  of  raw  recruits  not 
inured  to  such  warfare ;  and,  worse  than  all,  the 
terrible  loss  in  competent  and  experienced  officers, 
which  had  been  suffered  on  the  dozen  sanguinary 
1864  fields  of  May,  June,  and  July,  had  for  the  moment 
rendered  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  no  longer  the 
elastic  and  perfect  tempered  weapon  it  had  been  in 
other  days,  and  which  it  became  once  more  after  a 
few  months  of  discipline  and  drill. 

After  Sheridan's  victory  in  the  Shenandoah,  and 
his  hot  pursuit  of  Early,  the  President  was  anxious 
lest  Lee  should  detach  a  large  force  to  reenforce 


PETEESBUKG  431 

Early;  and  Grant,  to  prevent  this,  and  hold  Lee  in  ch.  xvin 
position,  made  another  movement  against  the  Con- 
federate lines  north  of  the  James.    He  sent  Ord 
and  Birney,  with  the  Eighteenth  and  Tenth  Army 
Corps,  on  the  28th  of  September,  to  threaten  Rich-       1864. 
mond  from  that  direction  and  to  take  advantage  of 
any  favorable  opening  they  might  be  able  to  find, 
or  make,  in  the  enemy's  lines.     By  daylight  the 
next  day  the  whole  force  was  over  the  river  and  «M?££Sk" 
moving  swiftly  upon  the  Confederate  skirmishers.     ™^:' 
At  first  all  went  prosperously  with  Ord's  column. 
George  J.  Stannard's  division  captured  Fort  Har- 
rison, an  important  Confederate  work,  with  sixteen 
guns  and  some  prisoners,  after  a  gallant  fight  in 
which  General  Hiram  Burnham  was  killed.    But 
in  the  attempt  to  push  his  success  by  capturing  a 
redan  by  the  riverside,  General  Ord  was  severely 
wounded;    and  his  troops,  under  General  C.  A. 
Heckman,  met  with  a  serious  repulse  in  the  effort 
to  carry  Fort  Gilmer  by  storm. 

Birney  on  the  right  carried  the  skirmish  line  on 
the  New  Market  road,  and  then  at  the  order  of 
General  Grant,  who  had  arrived  at  Fort  Harrison, 
assaulted  Fort  Gilmer  with  Adelbert  Ames's  di- 
vision and  William  Birney's  brigade  of  colored 
troops.  The  attack  was  made  with  the  greatest 
energy;  the  colored  soldiers  rushing  to  the  ditch 
with  splendid  gallantry  and  climbing  to  the  parapet 
on  each  other's  shoulders,  only  to  be  killed  when 
they  reached  it.  General  Ewell  commanded  the 
Confederate  troops,  under  the  eye  of  Lee,  who  was 
present  on  the  field.  Though  all  efforts  to  take 
Fort  Gilmer  proved  fruitless,  the  National  troops 
established  themselves  firmly  in  the  captured  Fort 


432  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xvin  Harrison  and  with  astonishing  celerity  converted  it 
under  the  enemy's  fire  into  an  inclosed  work.  A 
heavy  force  was  concentrated  by  Lee  to  retake 
lee*.  it,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  30th  General  An- 
derson, commanding  Longstreet's  Corps,  assaulted 
the  work,  supported  by  a  heavy  fire  of  Confederate 
artillery.  Stannard,  in  the  fort,  reserved  his  mus- 
ketry until  the  rebel  columns  emerged  from  the 
underbrush,  and  then  delivered  a  deadly  volley 
which  swept  them  from  the  ground.  Three  times 
the  attack  was  made  and  as  often  repulsed,  though 
the  resolute  Stannard  lost  his  arm  in  the  second 
assault.  The  losses  in  the  two  days  were  about 
even,  some  2000  on  the  Confederate  side  and  2272 
among  the  Union  troops.  The  fort  was  never 
retaken. 

During  these  operations  General  Meade  was 
directed  to  make  such  demonstrations  to  his  left 
as  should  prevent  any  considerable  force  from 
being  sent  to  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  on 
the  30th  a  strong  reconnaissance  was  made  under 
command  of  Warren,  which  captured  the  Cop- 
federate  intrenchments  at  the  junction  of  the 
Squirrel  Level  and  Poplar  Spring  roads.  Push- 
ing on  from  that  position  in  the  direction  of  the 
Boydton  Plank  road  and  the  South  Side  Eailroad, 
the  National  troops  under  Parke  and  Potter  met 
with  a  severe  repulse  from  a  force  commanded  by 
Heth  and  C.  M.  Wilcox,  which  General  A.  P.  Hill, 
who  had  succeeded  Beauregard  in  command  at 
Petersburg,  had  thrown  out  to  meet  them.  The 
next  day,  however,  General  Parke  advanced  again, 
with  sharp  skirmishing,  and  established  a  line 
about  a  mile  from  the  enemy's,  which  was  at  once 


GENERAL    JOHN    G.   PABKE. 


PETEESBUKG  433 

firmly  connected  with  the  works   on  the  Weldon  ch.  xviii. 
road  and  was  not  thereafter  disturbed. 

The  principal  event  of  October  was  the  cam-  im. 
paign  of  Early  against  Sheridan,  which  ended  in 
the  crushing  defeat  of  the  Confederates  at  Cedar 
Creek.  Grant's  anxiety  about  the  Valley  prevented 
any  important  operations  during  the  early  part  of 
this  month.  The  Confederates  under  C.  W.  Field 
and  Hoke  made  a  violent  assault  upon  Kautz  on 
the  6th  of  October,  driving  him  from  his  position 
on  the  Darby  road  and  capturing  his  guns ;  but 
venturing  to  attack  the  intrenched  infantry  lines 
they  were  severely  repulsed.  A  week  later,  Gen- 
eral Butler  in  his  turn  assaulted  the  Confederate 
works  on  the  north  of  the  James  and  was  de- 
feated with  considerable  loss. 

On  the  27th,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  made  one 
last  effort  to  get  possession  of  the  South  Side  Bail- 
road.  A  sufficient  force  was  left  in  the  redoubts  to 
hold  them ;  all  the  available  infantry,  amounting 


«/  j    ^ 

to  some  35,000,  with  a  due  proportion  of  artillery  *g™- 

and  about  3000  horse,  under  Gregg,  on  the  27th  4-flt 

moved  to  the  left  under  the  command  of  Hancock  ^f5" 


and  Warren.  The  morning  was  dark  and  rainy;  ^S. 
there  were  unavoidable  delays  in  the  start.  The 
movement  was  not  a  surprise  and  the  enemy  was 
encountered  everywhere  in  force.  The  different 
commands  met  with  some  partial  success  during 
the  morning,  and  at  two  o'clock  the  leading  corps 
was  still  six  miles  from  the  railroad.  The  movement 
had  failed,  and  Grant  ordered  the  troops  back  to 
their  lines.  But  they  were  not  even  to  accomplish 
this  order  without  serious  disturbance.  The  roads 
were  difficult;  the  topography  unknown  to  the 
Vol.  IX.— 28 


434  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

ch.  xviii.  National  commanders.  There  was  a  considerable 
gap  between  the  forces  of  Hancock  and  those  of 
Warren,  and  through  this,  late  in  the  afternoon,  the 
Confederates  under  William  Mahone  rushed  and 
made  a  vigorous  attack  on  Hancock's  right  and 
rear.  Hancock  pulled  his  force  together  with  won- 
derful readiness  and  address,  and,  assisted  by  T. 
W.  Egan,  Gershom  Mott,  and  Gregg,  turned  upon 
Mahone  and  drove  him  from  the  field.  By  this 
time  it  was  dark,  and  the  next  day  the  troops 
were  withdrawn  to  their  lines.  This  action  is 
called  the  battle  of  Hatcher's  Run. 

In  support  of  this  movement  General  Butler  made 
a  demonstration  on  the  same  day  on  the  north  side 
of  the  James  which  was  unsuccessful.  His  forces 
under  Weitzel  were  met  by  the  local  defenses 
under  Longstreet,  who  had  recovered  from  his 
wounds  and  been  assigned  to  command  a  week 
before,  and  were  roughly  handled.  The  Union 
loss  was  over  a  thousand  men ;  that  of  the  Con- 
federates much  less.  This  ended  the  active  opera- 
tions of  the  year  so  far  as  concerned  any  grand 
movement  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  They 
were  still  employed  in  defending  and  strength- 
ening their  lines  and  in  occasional  demonstrations 
against  the  enemy's  communications;  so  that  by 
the  7th  of  February,  1865,  the  Union  lines  reached 
to  Hatcher's  Run,  and  the  Weldon  road  was  de- 
stroyed to  Hicks's  Ford.  But  the  hard  fighting  ended 
with  the  close  of  October.  The  troops  had  reached 
a  dangerous  condition  of  weariness.  The  frightful 
losses  in  competent  officers  and  veteran  soldiers 
could  not  be  compensated  by  any  number  of  raw 
recruits.  Warren  said  that  at  the  time  of  the  af- 


PETERSBURG  435 

fair  at  Hatcher's  Bun  3913  of  his  men  had  never  ch.  xviii. 
fired  a  musket  and  that  1649  of  them  were  ignor-      Hum- 
ant  of  the  manual.    Hancock  gives  the  same  sig-     ^W*' 
nificant  testimony.     General  Parke  in  his  report   ^jpgf1 
of  the  movement  of  September  30  says:   "The    &l*£'" 
large  amount  of  raw  material  in  the  ranks  has 
diminished  greatly  the  efiiciency  of  the  corps."       mm. 
The  composition  of  the  army  was  so  changed  by 
the  inferior  material  obtained  by  drafting  and  the 
heavy  bounties,  that  a  rigid  system  of  instruction 
and  discipline  was  necessary  to  make  the  new  men 
homogeneous.    It  was  no  longer  the  old  historic 
Army  of  the  Potomac.    But  the  work  of  the  winter 
wrought  a  rapid  transformation,  and  when,  in  the 
early  spring,  the  order  "  Forward  "  was  given  the 
troops  sprang  to  the  summons  and  finished  the  war.       im. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

RECONSTRUCTION 

WE  have  related  in  former  chapters  the  suc- 
cessive acts  of  President  Lincoln  on  the 
question  of  reconstruction;  the  appointment  of 
military  governors  in  insurrectionary  States;  his 
amnesty  and  reconstruction  proclamation  of  De- 
cember 8,  1863;  the  local  measures  to  organize 
loyal  State  governments  in  Arkansas,  Louisiana, 
and  Tennessee  under  that  proclamation ;  his  veto 
of  the  reconstruction  act  passed  by  Congress  in 
July,  1864 ;  and  his  announcement  in  the  procla- 
mation explaining  his  veto  that  he  declined  to 
commit  himself  inflexibly  to  any  exclusive  plan. 
The  difficulty  of  effecting  reconstruction  strictly 
in  conformity  with  any  assumed  legal  or  constitu- 
tional theories  appears  clearly  enough  in  the  case 
of  Virginia.  It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the 
spontaneously  chosen  Wheeling  Convention  of 
August,  1861,  repudiated  the  secession  ordinance 
of  the  Richmond  Convention,  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress  recognized  the  restored  State  govern- 
ment of  Virginia,  having  Governor  Peirpoint  as  its 
executive  head,  by  admitting  to  seats  the  Senators 
sent  to  Washington  by  the  reconstructed  Legisla- 
ture, and  the  Representatives  elected  by  popular 


RECONSTRUCTION  437 

vote.  Full  reconstruction  being  thus  recognized  chap.xix. 
by  both  the  Executive  and  Legislative  depart- 
ments of  the  National  Government,  within  two 
years  from  the  time  of  this  recognition  West 
Virginia  was  organized  and  admitted  to  the  Union 
as  a  separate  State,  leaving  the  remaining  territory 
of  Virginia  within  the  recognition  and  rights  ac- 
corded the  whole  of  the  original  State.  As  soon  as 
West  Virginia  was  admitted  Governor  Peirpoint, 
with  the  archives  and  personnel  of  the  recon- 
structed State  government,  removed  from  Wheel- 
ing to  Alexandria  and  continued  the  executive 
functions  which  the  President  and  Congress  had 
recognized  before  the  State  was  divided.  The 
terms  of  the  Eepresentatives  in  Congress  had  ex- 
pired, and  within  the  diminished  territorial  limits 
(with  a  single  exception) x  no  new  elections  were 
held  which  were  satisfactory  to  the  House  of  Eep- 
resentatives, under  its  constitutional  prerogative 
to  admit  or  reject.  But  the  Senators,  elected  for 
longer  terms,  remained  in  their  seats  in  unques- 
tioned exercise  of  their  functions,  representing 
in  its  full  authority  and  power  the  legislative 
presence  of  the  State  of  Virginia  in  the  Senate 
and  in  the  Union;    and  this  was  but  repeating 

1  Joseph  Segar  was  voted  for  directly  to  the  House  asking  that 
in  the  First  District  of  Virginia  the  claimant  be  seated  simply  in 
at  an  election  held  March  15,  virtue  of  the  Governor's  certifi- 
1862,  pursuant  to  writs  issued  cate,  and  without  scrutiny  into 
by  Governor  Peirpoint,  who  gave  the  circumstances  attending  the 
him  a  certificate.  The  commit-  election ;  and  the  question  being 
tee  on  elections  reported  itself  taken  on  this  amendment  it  was 
unable  to  find  any  reasons  sus-  decided  in  the  affirmative,  the 
taming  the  claim,  and  asked  to  yeas  being  71,  the  nays  47. 
be  discharged  from  its  further  Compare  D.  W.  Bartlett,  "Con- 
consideration;  but  a  more  liberal  tested  Election  Cases  in  Con- 
member,  John  W.  Noell,  appealed  gress,"  pp.  414-418. 


438  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  the  action  which  the  Senate  had  taken  in  the 
case  of  Tennessee  and  of  Andrew  Johnson  as  its 
loyal  United  States  Senator,  and  by  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  the  cases  of  Horace  May- 
nard  and  Andrew  J.  Clements. 

But  while  constitutional  theory  was  thus  ful- 
filled and  perfect,  the  practical  view  of  the  matter 
certainly  presented  occasion  for  serious  criticism. 
The  State  government  which  Governor  Peirpoint 
brought  from  Wheeling  to  Alexandria  could  make 
no  very  imposing  show  of  personal  influence,  offi- 
cial emblems,  or  practical  authority.  The  terri- 
torial limits  in  which  it  could  pretend  to  exercise 
its  functions  were  only  such  as  lay  within  the 
Union  military  lines :  a  few  counties  contiguous  to 
Washington,  two  counties  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
the  vicinage  of  Fort  Monroe,  and  the  cities  of  Nor- 
folk and  Portsmouth.  The  bulk  of  what  remained 
of  the  original  State  lay  south  and  west  of  Rich- 
mond, subordinate  and  tributary  to  the  rebel 
capital  and  Government.  Nevertheless  Governor 
Peirpoint  made  the  best  of  his  diminished  juris- 
diction ;  gathered  a  little  Legislature  about  him  at 
Alexandria,  which  went  through  the  forms  of  en- 
acting laws,  and  even  ventured  upon  the  expedient 
of  authorizing  the  election  of  a  State  Convention, 
by  an  act  passed  December  21,  1863,  under  which 
act  delegates  were  elected  who  assembled  in  con- 
vention on  February  13,  1864.  This  Convention 
186*.  remained  in  session  until  April  7,  on  which  day 
they  adopted  and  published  an  amended  con- 
stitution for  the  State  of  Virginia,  which  among 
other  changes  declared  that  "  slavery  and  involun- 
tary servitude  (except  for  crime)  is  hereby  abol- 


[RECONSTRUCTION  439 

ished  and  prohibited  in  this  State  forever."1  An  chap.xix. 
ordinance  was  also  adopted  on  April  4,  providing  ium; 
for  the  establishment  of  the  restored  government 
of  Virginia.  Under  this  ordinance  and  amended 
constitution  Governor  Peirpoint  carried  on  his 
administration,  clearly  not  with  the  normal  health 
and  vigor  of  an  average  State  government,  and  yet 
showing  within  its  circumscribed  and  fluctuating 
limits  a  degree  of  popular  acceptance,  or,  to  say 
the  least,  of  popular  toleration,  that  justified  its 
continued  recognition  under  the  constitutional 
theory  under  which  the  President  and  the  Con- 
gress had  acknowledged  and  recognized  it  before 
the  division  of  the  State. 

The  details  of  Governor  Peirpoint's  administra- 
tion are  of  interest  to  general  history  only  so  far  as 
they  touch  the  questions  of  constitutional  authority 
which  were  raised,  and  in  one  of  which  the  opinion 
and  interference  of  President  Lincoln  were  directly 
invoked.  During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1864  the 
city  of  Norfolk  lay  within  the  command  of  General 
B.  F.  Butler,  and,  under  him,  of  Brigadier-General 
G.  F.  Shepley ;  and  a  question  arose  between  the 
civil  authorities  under  Governor  Peirpoint,  and  the 
military  authorities  under  Butler,  about  the  regu- 
lation of  the  liquor  traffic  in  Norfolk  and  vicinity. 
The  civil  authorities  wished  to  continue  the  collec- 

1  This  same  Legislature,  which  wound,  "  not  so  deep  as  a  well, 

Henry  Winter  Davis  sneered  at  nor  so  wide  as  a  church  door,"  it 

in  the  House  of  Representatives  effectually  served  to  help  make 

as    the     "Common    Council    of  up    the    necessary     number    of 

Alexandria,"    ratified  the  Thir-  twenty-seven  States    whose  ac- 

teenth  Amendment  on  the   9th  tion  made  the  amendment  a  vital 

day    of    February,    1865;    and  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the 

while  this    ratification    may  be  United  States.    "  Constitution  of    Pamphlet, 

said  to  have  been  like  Mercutio's  the  State  of  Virginia,"  etc. 


440  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  tion  of  licenses  imposed  by  existing  Virginia  laws ; 
the  military  authorities  undertook  to  give  a  few 
firms  a  monopoly  of  the  importation,  in  order  to 
keep  it  under  better  control.  When  the  small 
retailers  refused  to  pay  their  licenses  under  Vir- 
ginia laws,  they  were  indicted  in  the  local  courts ; 
and  to  circumvent  these  indictments,  General 
Shepley  issued  an  order  on  June  22, 1864,  providing 
that  "  on  the  day  of  the  ensuing  municipal  election 
in  the  city  of  Norfolk  a  poll  will  be  opened  at  the 
several  places  of  voting,  and  separate  ballot-boxes 
will  be  kept  open  during  the  hours  of  voting,  in 
which  voters  may  deposit  their  ballots,  'yes'  or 
1  no,'  upon  the  following  question :  Those  in  favor 
of  continuing  the  present  form  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment during  the  existence  of  military  occupa- 
speciai     tion  will  vote  '  yes.'    Those  opposed  to  it  will  vote 

Orders,  ,  „ 

No.  50.        '  110.'  " 

Naturally  enough,  Governor  Peirpoint  resented 

this  action,  and  immediately  issued  a  proclamation 

protesting  against  it  as  a  revolutionary  proceeding 

peirpoint,   in  violation  of   the  Constitution  of  the  United 

rotion?a"    States,   adding,    "No  loyal  citizen,   therefore,  is 

1864.  '  expected  to  vote  on  the  proposed  question  " ;  and  re- 
peated his  criticism  in  a  vigorous  pamphlet,  in  which 
he  descanted  upon  the  "  abuses  of  military  power." 
Upon  this  General  Butler  took  up  the  cudgel  in  be- 
half of  his  subordinate,  and  in  a  general  order,  dated 

lew.  June  30,  discussed  the  incident  at  some  length  in  the 
pungent  phraseology  which  he  knew  how  to  use 
upon  occasion,  alluding  to  Peirpoint  as  "  a  person 
who  calls  himself  Governor, .  .  .  pretending  to  be  the 
head  of  the  restored  government  of  Virginia,  which 
government  is  unrecognized  by  the  Congress,  laws, 


RECONSTRUCTION 


441 


and  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  The  gen- 
eral's order  further  recited  that  as  the  loyal  citizens 
of  Norfolk  had  voted  against  the  further  trial  of 
the  experiment  of  municipal  government,  "  there- 
fore it  is  ordered  that  all  attempts  to  exercise  civil 
office  and  power,  under  any  supposed  city  election, 
within  the  city  of  Norfolk  and  its  environs,  must 
cease,  and  the  persons  pretending  to  be  elected  to 
civil  offices  at  the  late  election,  and  those  hereto- 
fore elected  to  municipal  offices  since  the  rebellion, 
must  no  longer  attempt  to  exercise  such  func- 
tions; and  upon  any  pretense  or  attempt  so  to 
do,  the  military  commandant  at  Norfolk  will  see 
to  it  that  the  persons  so  acting  are  stayed  and 
quieted." 

Meanwhile  Governor  Peirpoint  had  appealed  by  a 
memorial  to  the  President,  and  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathy and  assistance  of  the  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States,  who,  on  July  11,  wrote  the 
President  a  long  official  letter  setting  forth  his 
sense  of  the  serious  military  encroachment  by 
General  Butler  upon  civil  law  and  the  authority  of 
Peirpoint  as  the  Governor  of  Virginia.  To  this  in 
turn,  under  date  of  August  1,  General  Butler 
responded  with  a  letter  of  forty  pages  in  caustic 
criticism  of  Peirpoint's  government  and  admin- 
istration as  a  "useless,  expensive,  and  ineffi- 
cient thing,  unrecognized  by  Congress,  unknown 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
such  character  that  there  is  no  command  in  the 
Decalogue  against  worshiping  it,  it  being  the  like- 
ness of  nothing  in  the  heavens  above,  the  earth 
beneath,  or  the  waters  under  the  earth."  The 
general  then  extended  his  animadversion  to  At- 


General 

Orders, 

June  30, 

1864. 


Bates 

to  Lincoln, 

July  11, 

1864. 
M8. 


442  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  torney-G-eneral  Bates,  accusing  him  of  a  plot  to 
Scoin0  create  a  conflict  between  the  civil  and  military 
Augivis!864'  authorities.  In  the  quarrel  each  party  accused  the 
other  of  aiding  and  being  aided  by  only  secession- 
ists and  traitors,  and  the  argument  of  each,  passing 
beyond  questions  of  fact,  entered  on  the  discussion 
of  theory  and  constitutional  law. 

It  was  easy  for  President  Lincoln  to  see  that  the 
controversy,  though  involving  a  grave  constitu- 
tional principle,  was  begun  in  anger  and  spite,  and 
had  degenerated  into  an  interchange  of  epithets. 
He  did  not  allow  it  to  ruffle  his  temper,  occupied 
as  he  was  at  the  time  with  vastly  more  serious 
matters.  The  contention  had  already  pretty  well 
tee*.  exhausted  itself  when,  on  the  9th  of  August,  he 
drafted  with  his  own  hand  the  following  reply  to 
General  Butler: 

Your  paper  of  the about  Norfolk  matters  is  re- 
ceived, as  also  was  your  other  on  the  same  general 
subject,  dated,  I  believe,  some  time  in  February  last. 
This  subject  has  caused  considerable  trouble,  forcing  me 
to  give  a  good  deal  of  time  and  reflection  to  it.  I  regret 
that  crimination  and  recrimination  are  mingled  in  it.  I 
surely  need  not  to  assure  you  that  I  have  no  doubt  of 
your  loyalty  and  devoted  patriotism  ;  and  I  must  tell  you 
that  I  have  no  less  confidence  in  those  of  Governor  Peir- 
point  and  the  Attorney-General.  The  former,  at  first,  as 
the  loyal  Governor  of  all  Virginia,  including  that  which  is 
now  West  Virginia,  in  organizing  and  furnishing  troops, 
and  in  all  other  proper  matters,  was  as  earnest,  honest, 
and  efficient,  to  the  extent  of  his  means,  as  any  other  loyal 
governor. 

The  inauguration  of  West  Virginia  as  a  new  State  left 
to  him,  as  he  assumed,  the  remainder  of  the  old  State ; 
and  the  insignificance  of  the  parts  which  are  outside  of 
the  rebel  lines  and  consequently  within  his  reach,  cer- 
tainly gives  a  somewhat  farcical  air  to  his  dominion ;  and 
I  suppose  he,  as  well  as  I,  has  considered  that  it  could  be 


RECONSTRUCTION  443 

useful  for  little  else  than  as  a  nucleus  to  add  to.    The  chap.  xix. 

Attorney-General  only  needs  to  be  known  to  be  relieved 

from  all  question  as  to  loyalty  and  thorough  devotion  to 

the  National  cause ;  constantly  restraining  as  he  does  my 

tendency  to  clemency  for  rebels  and  rebel  sympathizers. 

But  he  is  the  law  officer  of  the  Government,  and  a  believer 

in  the  virtue  of  adhering  to  law. 

Coming  to  the  question  itself,  the  military  occupancy 
of  Norfolk  is  a  necessity  with  us.  If  you,  as  depart- 
ment commander,  find  the  cleansing  of  the  city  necessary 
to  prevent  pestilence  in  your  army ;  street  lights  and  a 
fire  department  necessary  to  prevent  assassinations  and 
incendiarism  among  your  men  and  stores;  wharfage 
necessary  to  land  and  ship  men  and  supplies;  a  large 
pauperism,  badly  conducted,  at  a  needlessly  large  ex- 
pense to  the  Government,  and  find  also  that  these  things, 
or  any  of  them,  are  not  reasonably  well  attended  to  by  the 
civil  Government,  you  rightfully  may  and  must  take  them 
into  your  own  hands.  But  you  should  do  so  on  your  own 
avowed  judgment  of  a  military  necessity,  and  not  seem 
to  admit  that  there  is  no  such  necessity,  by  taking  a  vote 
of  the  people  on  the  question. 

Nothing  justifies  the  suspending  of  the  civil  by  the 
military  authority  but  military  necessity,  and  of  the 
existence  of  that  necessity  the  military  commander,  and 
not  a  popular  vote,  is  to  decide.  And  whatever  is  not 
within  such  necessity  should  be  left  undisturbed. 

In  your  paper  of  February  you  fairly  notified  me  that 
you  contemplated  taking  a  popular  vote ;  and  if  fault 
there  be,  it  was  my  fault  that  I  did  not  object  then,  which 
I  probably  should  have  done  had  I  studied  the  subject  as 
closely  as  I  have  since  done.  I  now  think  you  would  bet- 
ter place  whatever  you  feel  is  necessary  to  be  done  on  this 
distinct  ground  of  military  necessity,  openly  discarding 
all  reliance  for  what  you  do  on  any  election.  I  also  think 
you  should  so  keep  accounts  as  to  show  every  item  of 
money  received  and  how  expended. 

The  course  here  indicated  does  not  touch  the  case  when 
the  military  commander,  finding  no  friendly  civil  govern- 
ment existing,  may,  under  the  sanction  or  direction  of    . 

Autotrrapti 

the  President,  give  assistance  to  the  people  to  inaugurate        Ms. 
one. 


444  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  One  is  always  surprised  at  the  ease  with  which 
the  President  took  up  these  cases  of  contention  be- 
tween his  officials,  and  by  a  few  sentences  pointed 
out  the  law  and  the  remedy  with  such  clearness  as  to 
make  it  seem  that  a  child  ought  not  to  have  erred 
in  the  original  decision.  But  more  admirable  still 
is  the  benignant  and  charitable  spirit  with  which 
he  overlooks  and  excuses  the  vanity  and  petulance 
which  so  frequently  produced  them.  In  this  case 
he  only  expressed  blame  to  himself  for  the  annoy- 
ance and  labor  growing  out  of  the  defective  judg- 
ment obscured  by  bad  temper  of  those  whose  duty 
it  was  to  have  relieved  him  from  burdens  of  this 
character.  But  even  after  Mr.  Lincoln  had  written 
this  generous  correction  he  felt  it  wiser  not  imme- 
diately to  send  it,  and  delayed  doing  so  until  he 
learned  that  General  Butler  was  about  to  repeat 
1864.  his  error.  On  the  21st  of  December  following  the 
President  again  wrote  him: 

On  the  9th  of  August  last  I  began  to  write  you  a  letter, 
the  inclosed  being  a  copy  of  so  much  as  I  then  wrote.  So 
far  as  it  goes,  it  embraces  the  views  I  then  entertained, 
and  still  entertain.  A  little  relaxation  of  complaints  made 
to  me  on  the  subject,  occurring  about  that  time,  the  letter 
was  not  finished  and  sent.  I  now  learn,  correctly  I  sup- 
pose, that  you  have  ordered  an  election  similar  to  the  one 

Lincoln  mentioned,  to  take  place  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia, 
to  Butier,    Let  this  be  suspended,  at  least,  until  conference  with  me, 

u  $8.ap     and  obtaining  my  approval. 

The  main  interest  to  history  in  these  letters  of 
the  President  to  General  Butler  consists  in  the 
direction  that  he  must  keep  his  acts  and  orders 
clearly  within  the  authority  of  military  necessity, 
and  leave  undisturbed  the  existing  structure  of 
civil  government,   except  where  the  former  was 


RECONSTRUCTION  445 

imperatively  needed  to  transcend  or  temporarily  chap.xix. 
supersede  the  latter.  But  quite  as  distinctly  as 
this  positive  direction  to  the  general  is  the  silent 
but  significant  implication  in  these  letters  that  in 
the  absence  of  such  military  necessity  the  civil  au- 
thority of  Governor  Peirpoint  must  continue  to  be 
recognized  as  the  executive  authority  of  the  State 
of  Virginia.  Or,  in  other  words,  that,  so  far  as 
the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  was  concerned,  Virginia  was  a 
State  in  the  Union,  notwithstanding  her  pretended 
secession,  notwithstanding  the  division  of  the  State 
by  the  erection  and  admission  of  West  Virginia 
into  the  Union,  notwithstanding  the  limited  terri- 
tory controlled  by  Federal  troops,  notwithstanding 
the  limited  power  exercised  by  Governor  Peirpoint. 
Though  the  Governor's  dominion  might  have  a 
"farcical  air,"  and  be  "useful  for  little  else  than 
as  a  nucleus  to  add  to,"  it  nevertheless  was  such  a 
nucleus,  and  useful  for  that  purpose,  and  was  there- 
fore neither  to  be  ignored  nor  destroyed. 

The  President  exhibited  the  same  consistency  of 
opinion  and  tenacity  of  purpose  in  regard  to  the 
other  States  which  had  begun  the  work  of  recon- 
struction. His  letter  to  General  Steele  to  give  the 
government  and  people  of  Arkansas  support  and 
protection  notwithstanding  Congress  had  refused 
to  admit  her  Senators  and  Representatives  to  seats  Ante 
has  been  quoted,  and  he  applied  the  same  policy  V,J;SE' 
to  Louisiana,  the  question  of  whose  restoration 
to  the  Union  remained  a  prominent  issue  before 
Congress.  As  in  the  case  of  Virginia,  it  was  not 
alone  the  malcontents  in  Congress  and  in  politics 
who  gave  the  President  annoyance  in  this  matter. 


446  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. xix.  General  S.  A.  Hurlbut  had  temporarily  succeeded 
Banks  in  command  at  New  Orleans,  and  to  him 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  forced  to  send  an  admonition 
somewhat  more  peremptory  in  its  tone  than  was 
habitual  with  him.  Under  date  of  November  14, 
1864,  he  wrote: 

Few  things,  since  I  have  been  here,  have  impressed  me 
more  painfully  than  what,  for  four  or  five  months  past, 
has  appeared  as  bitter  military  opposition  to  the  new 
State  government  of  Louisiana,  I  still  indulged  some 
hope  that  I  was  mistaken  in  the  fact ;  but  copies  of  a  cor- 
respondence on  the  subject  between  General  Canby  and 
yourself,  and  shown  me  to-day,  dispel  that  hope.  A 
very  fair  proportion  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  have  in- 
augurated a  new  State  government,  making  an  excellent 
new  constitution  —  better  for  the  poor  black  man  than 
we  have  in  Illinois.  This  was  done  under  military  pro- 
tection, directed  by  me,  in  the  belief,  still  sincerely  enter- 
tained, that  with  such  a  nucleus  around  which  to  build 
we  could  get  the  State  into  position  again  sooner  than 
otherwise.  In  this  belief  a  general  promise  of  protection 
and  support,  applicable  alike  to  Louisiana  and  other 
States,  was  given  in  the  last  annual  message.  During 
the  formation  of  the  new  government  and  constitution 
they  were  supported  by  nearly  every  loyal  person,  and 
opposed  by  every  secessionist.  And  this  support  and 
this  opposition,  from  the  respective  standpoints  of  the 
parties,  was  perfectly  consistent  and  logical.  Every 
Unionist  ought  to  wish  the  new  government  to  succeed ; 
and  every  disunionist  must  desire  it  to  fail.  Its  failure 
would  gladden  the  heart  of  Slidell  in  Europe,  and  of 
every  enemy  of  the  old  flag  in  the  world.  Every  advocate 
of  slavery  naturally  desires  to  see  blasted  and  crushed  the 
liberty  promised  the  black  man  by  the  new  constitution. 
But  why  General  Canby  and  General  Hurlbut  should  join 
on  the  same  side  is  to  me  incomprehensible. 

Of  course,  in  the  condition  of  things  at  New  Orleans, 
the  military  must  not  be  thwarted  by  the  civil  authority ; 
but  when  the  Constitutional  Convention,  for  what  it 
deems  a  breach  of  privilege,  arrests  an  editor  in  no  way 


RECONSTRUCTION  447 

connected  with  the  military,  the  military  necessity  for  chap.xix 
insulting  the  Convention  and  forcibly  discharging  the 
editor  is  difficult  to  perceive.    Neither  is  the  military 
necessity  for  protecting  the  people  against  paying  large 
salaries  fixed  by  a  legislature  of  their  own  choosing  very 
apparent.    Equally  difficult  to  perceive  is  the  military 
necessity  for  forcibly  interposing  to  prevent  a  bank  from 
loaning  its  own  money  to  the  State.     These  things,  if 
they  have  occurred,  are,  at  the  best,  no  better  than  gra- 
tuitous hostility.    I  wish  I  could  hope  that  they  may  be 
shown  to  not  have  occurred.     To  make  assurance  against 
misunderstanding,  I  repeat  that  in  the  existing  condition 
of  things  in  Louisiana,  the  military  must  not  be  thwarted 
by  the  civil  authority ;  and  I  add  that  on  points  of  dif- 
ference the  commanding  general  must  be  judge  and  mas- 
ter.    But  I  also  add  that  in  the  exercise  of  this  judgment     Lincoll, 
and  control,  a  purpose,  obvious,  and  scarcely  unavowed,  to  Huribut, 
to  transcend  all  military  necessity,  in  order  to  crush  out    i86°7'  ms. 
the  civil  government,  will  not  be  overlooked. 

And  a  similar  admonition,  though  in  somewhat 
less  imperative  phrases,  the  President  felt  impelled 
to  send  to  General  E.  R.  S.  Canby,  who  had  been 
placed  in  command  of  the  Military  Division  of 
West  Mississippi.  He  wrote  him  as  follows,  under 
date  of  December  12,  1864 : 

I  think  it  is  probable  that  you  are  laboring  under  some 
misapprehension  as  to  the  purpose,  or  rather  the  motive, 
of  the  Government  on  two  points  —  cotton,  and  the  new 
Louisiana  State  government. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  military  operations  are  the  first 
in  importance ;  and  as  to  what  is  indispensable  to  these 
operations  the  department  commander  must  be  judge 
and  master. 

But  the  other  matters  mentioned  I  suppose  to  be  of 
public  importance  also ;  and  what  I  have  attempted  in 
regard  to  them  is  not  merely  a  concession  to  private  in- 
terest and  pecuniary  greed. 

As  to  cotton.  By  the  external  blockade,  the  price  is 
made  certainly  six  times  as  great  as  it  was.    And  yet  the 


448  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  enemy  gets  through  at  least  one-sixth  part  as  much  in  a 
given  period,  say  a  year,  as  if  there  were  no  blockade, 
and  receives  as  much  for  it  as  he  would  for  a  full  crop  in 
time  of  peace.  The  effect,  in  substance,  is,  that  we  give 
him  six  ordinary  crops,  without  the  trouble  of  producing 
any  but  the  first ;  and  at  the  same  time  leave  his  fields  and 
his  laborers  free  to  produce  provisions.  You  know  how 
this  keeps  up  his  armies  at  home  and  procures  supplies 
from  abroad.  For  other  reasons  we  cannot  give  up  the 
blockade,  and  hence  it  becomes  immensely  important  to 
us  to  get  the  cotton  away  from  him.  Better  give  him 
guns  for  it  than  let  him,  as  now,  get  both  guns  and  am- 
munition for  it.  But  even  this  only  presents  part  of  the 
public  interest  to  get  out  cotton.  Our  finances  are 
greatly  involved  in  the  matter.  The  way  cotton  goes 
now  carries  so  much  gold  out  of  the  country  as  to  leave 
us  paper  currency  only,  and  that  so  far  depreciated  as 
that  for  every  hard  dollar's  worth  of  supplies  we  obtain, 
we  contract  to  pay  two  and  a  half  hard  dollars  hereafter. 
This  is  much  to  be  regretted ;  and,  while  I  believe  we  can 
live  through  it,  at  all  events  it  demands  an  earnest  effort 
on  the  part  of  all  to  correct  it.  And  if  pecuniary  greed 
can  be  made  to  aid  us  in  such  effort,  let  us  be  thankful 
that  so  much  good  can  be  got  out  of  pecuniary  greed. 

As  to  the  new  State  government  of  Louisiana.  Most 
certainly  there  is  no  worthy  object  in  getting  up  a  piece 
of  machinery  merely  to  pay  salaries  and  give  political 
consideration  to  certain  men.  But  it  is  a  worthy  object 
to  again  get  Louisiana  into  proper  practical  relations  with 
the  nation,  and  we  can  never  finish  this  if  we  never  begin 
it.  Much  good  work  is  already  done,  and  surely  nothing 
can  be  gained  by  throwing  it  away. 

I  do  not  wish  either  cotton  or  the  new  State  govern- 
ment to  take  precedence  of  the  military  while  the  neces- 

Lincoin  to    s^7  for  the  military  remains ;  but  there  is  a  strong  public 
canby,      reason  for  treating  each  with  so  much  favor  as  may  not 
1864.  '     be  substantially  detrimental  to  the  military. 

1864.  Meanwhile  Congress  had  met  on  December  5,  in 

its  annual  session,  and  the  question  of  reconstruc- 
tion was  occupying  in  various  forms  the  thoughts 


GENERAL    EDWARD    R.   S.   CANBT. 


RECONSTKUCTION  449 

of  Members  and  Senators,  though  not  with  the  chap.xix. 
same  earnestness  as  during  the  summer  session, 
when  personal  and  factional  politics  bore  so  large 
an  influence.  Henry  Winter  Davis,  whose  recon- 
struction bill  Lincoln  had  declined  to  sign,  was, 
since  that  action  had  been  sustained  by  the  Presi- 
dent's triumphant  reelection,  nursing  his  vindictive 
wrath  in  quiet,  and  allowed  another  member  of  the 
Special  Committee  on  Rebellious  States,  Repre- 
sentative J.  M.  Ashley,  to  introduce  a  new  bill  in 
the  House  on  the  15th  of  December.  The  bill 
was  open  to  the  principal  objection  for  which  the 
President  had  vetoed  Mr.  Davis's  bill,  in  declaring 
a  wholesale  emancipation  of  slavery  in  rebellious 
States  by  act  of  Congress.  But  it  contained  a  few 
modifications  designed  to  conciliate  opposition  to 
it,  one  of  them  being  a  direct  recognition  of  the 
reconstructed  government  in  Louisiana;  though, 
with  singular  inconsistency,  it  failed  to  embrace 
that  of  Arkansas,  which  could  make  at  least  as 
good  a  showing. 

It  soon  became  evident  to  the  committee  that 
it  could  not  be  passed  in  this  form,  nor  if  passed 
approved  by  the  President;  and  on  the  16th  of 
January,  1865,  Mr.  Ashley  offered  a  substitute  for 
it,  in  which  the  committee  tendered  a  further 
compromise  by  including  Arkansas  and  Louisiana 
under  certain  conditions.  The  measure  again 
meeting  opposition  from  Republicans  in  this  form, 
its  consideration  was  postponed  to  February  1,  pamphlet. 
and  again  delayed  until  February  18,  before  which 
day  Mr.  Ashley  gave  notice  of  further  modification, 
induced  as  he  explained  by  the  passage  of  the 
Thirteenth  Amendment.    But  the  rapidly  chang- 

Vol.  IX.— 29 


450 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


»*  Globe," 

Feb.  20, 

1865,  p.  937 


ing  political  conditions  were  with  equal  rapidity 
changing  political  opinions.  On  February  20,  Rep- 
resentative Henry  L.  Dawes,  whose  position  as 
Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Elections 
had  enabled  him  to  study  the  reconstruction  ques- 
tion with  particular  care,  attacked  Mr.  Ashley's 
bill  in  a  vigorous  speech,  declaring  that  "  no 
form  can  be  prescribed,  no  law  laid  down  here,  no 
unbending  iron  rule  fixed  by  the  central  Govern- 
ment for  the  governing  of  that  people,  or  prescrib- 
ing the  method  in  which  they  shall  make  their 
organic  law.  Each  of  them  shall  work  out  that 
problem  for  itself  and  in  its  own  way.  That  form 
and  system  which  is  best  adapted  to  Louisiana  and 
Arkansas  is  quite  different  from  that  which  is  ul- 
timately to  be  adopted  in  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia."  Commenting  on  the  difficulties  which 
the  committee  had  encountered  in  coming  to  a  con- 
clusion satisfactory  to  themselves,  he  stated  that 
this  was  not  only  the  fourth  regular  draft  sub- 
mitted by  them,  but  that  a  fifth  draft  had  been 
ibid.,  p.  934.  prepared  and  already  printed  by  the  House.  After 
a  strong  plea  in  favor  of  the  voluntary  action  of 
the  people  in  their  own  localities,  he  urged  that  re- 
construction should  be  recognized  "  whenever  any 
one  of  these  States  comes  up  here,  presenting  a 
constitution  republican  in  form,  the  workmanship 
of  the  loyal  men  of  the  State,  and  which  is  gen- 
erally acquiesced  in  by  them,  and  they  have  power 
enough  within  themselves  to  maintain  it  against 
all  domestic  violence." 

After  further  discussion  Mr.  Ashley  offered  still 
another  substitute,  apparently  the  committee's 
"  fifth  draft,"  which  contained  the  most  sweeping 


Ibid.,  p.  937. 


RECONSTRUCTION  451 

concession  the  special  committee  had  yet  made  to  chap.  xrx. 
the  varying  currents  of  political  thought.  Its  last 
section  provided :  "  That  if  the  persons  exercising 
the  functions  of  governor  and  legislature  under 
the  rebel  usurpation  in  any  State  heretofore  de- 
clared to  be  in  rebellion  shall,  before  armed  resist- 
ance to  the  National  Government  is  suppressed  in 
such  State,  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  and  take  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  adopt  by  law  the 
third  provision  prescribed  in  the  eighth  section  of 
this  act,  and  ratify  the  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  proposed  by  Congress  to  the 
Legislatures  of  the  several  States  on  the  31st  day  of 
January,  a.  d.  1865,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  recognize  the  said  gov- 
ernor and  legislature  as  the  lawful  State  government 
of  such  State,  and  to  certify  the  fact  to  Congress  for 
its  recognition :  Provided,  That  nothing  herein  con- 
tained shall  operate  to  disturb  the  boundary  lines 
of  any  State  heretofore  recognized  by  and  now  «Giobe," 
represented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States."  lees!  i>.  %a 
This  section,  which  under  the  supposed  miraculous 
conversion  would  have  required  the  President,  in 
Tennessee  for  instance,  to  recognize  the  Govern- 
ment of  Governor  Harris  and  his  rebel  Legislature, 
instead  of  Governor  Johnson  and  his  loyal  Conven- 
tion, as  the  legal  Government  of  Tennessee,  was 
certainly  a  strange  proposal  from  a  faction  which 
had  denounced  the  President's  plan,  among  other 
reasons,  on  the  score  of  its  dangerous  leniency.  It 
was  the  exact  result  which  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  letter 
to  Governor  Johnson,  of  September  11,  1863,  had  ms. 
declared  "  must  not  be." 


452  ABEAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  The  little  speech  which  Mr.  Ashley  made  in  sup- 
port of  his  changeling  was  spiritless  and  perfunc- 
tory. He  said,  with  evident  frankness:  "It  is 
very  clear  to  my  mind  that  no  bill  providing  for 
the  reorganization  of  loyal  State  governments  in 
the  Rebel  States  can  pass  this  Congress.  I  am 
pretty  sure  that  this  bill,  and  all  the  amendments 
»Giobe,"    and  substitutes  offered,  will  fail  to  command  a 

is£bp.2969.  majority  of  this  House."  Henry  Winter  Davis  ral- 
lied but  feebly  to  the  support  of  his  discomfited 
colleague.  His  short  speech  was  noticeable  only 
for  its  continued  accusation  of  the  President  as 
a  selfish  usurper,  and  for  his  ill-natured  flings  at 
his  Republican  colleagues  of  the  House,  who  had 
changed  their  minds  or  refused  to  vote  with  him, 
as  being  influenced  by  the  will  of  the  President, 
ibid.  and  "  prone  to  act  upon  the  winking  of  authority." 
With  all  his  recognized  logic  and  eloquence  Mr. 
Davis  was  one  of  those  men  who  possessed  the 
comforting  faculty  of  seeing  that  everybody  but 
himself  was  arbitrary,  selfish,  and  subservient. 

The  undecided,  vacillating,  and  shifting  proposi- 
tions of  the  committee  demonstrated  even  more 
than  discussion  the  impolicy,  if  not  the  impossibil- 
ity, of  effecting  reconstruction  upon  any  rigid  pre- 
conceived theory.  The  House  was  unwilling  to 
follow  a  leadership  either  of  the  committee  as  a 
whole,  or  of  Henry  Winter  Davis  as  its  inspiring 
genius,  since  neither  could  apparently  frame  a 
plan  to  suit  itself  for  a  single  week  —  scarcely  a 
single  day  at  a  time.  But  even  had  there  been 
unity  of  opinion,  the  session  was  too  near  its  end 
for  legislation  of  this  character  and  gravity,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  debate  the  bill  and  amendments 


RECONSTRUCTION  453 

were  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  91  to  64,  with  chap.  xix. 
27  not  voting.    The  subject  was  momentarily  re-     F^521« 
vived  on  the  following  day,  by  a  substitute  for  a 
House  bill,  reported  from  the  judiciary  committee, 
providing   that  no  insurrectionary    State   should 
elect  Representatives    to   Congress  until    among 
other  conditions  "  by  a  law  of  Congress  such  State 
shall  have  been  declared  to  be  entitled  to  represen-    "Glow 
tation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States."    A  lses.p.  997 
spirited  debate  followed,  and  Mr.  Ashley  again  en- 
deavored to  substitute  for  it  his  defeated  bill  of 
the  day  before,  slightly  altered.    But  the  House 
had  had  enough  of  the  topic,  and  once  more,  by  a 
vote  of  yeas  80,  nays  65,  not  voting  37,  laid  the  bill     P.  1002. 
and  its  amendment  on  the  table. 

In  the  Senate  the  question  came  up  in  a  some- 
what different  form.  The  Legislature  of  Louisiana 
had,  in  October,  1864,  elected  United  States  Sena- 
tors who  presented  their  credentials  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  session,  and  their  claim  was  referred  to 
the  judiciary  committee  of  the  Senate.  The  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  Lyman  Trumbull,  appears 
to  have  conferred  with  the  President,  and,  as  was 
natural,  to  have  asked  his  opinion.  Mr.  Lincoln 
wrote  him  the  following  reply,  on  January  9, 1865, 
which,  considering  the  accusations  of  dictatorial 
intentions  leveled  at  him  by  radical  Senators  and 
Representatives  of  the  Wade-Davis  type,  is  most  re- 
markable in  its  entire  omission  of  any  intimation  that 
might  even  savor  of  attempted  Executive  influence 
on  the  Legislative  Department  of  the  Government : 

The  paper  relating  to  Louisiana,  submitted  to  the  ju- 
diciary committee  of  the  Senate  by  General  Banks,  is 
herewith  returned.    The  whole  of  it  is  in  accordance  with 


454 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


chap.  xix.  my  general  impression,  and  I  believe  it  is  true ;  but  much 
the  larger  part  is  beyond  my  absolute  knowledge,  as 
in  its  nature  it  must  be.  All  the  statements  which  lie 
within  the  range  of  my  knowledge  are  strictly  true ;  and 
I  think  of  nothing  material  which  has  been  omitted. 

Even  before  General  Banks  went  to  Louisiana  I  was 
anxious  for  the  loyal  people  there  to  move  for  reorgani- 
zation, and  restoration  of  proper  practical  relations  with 
the  Union ;  and  when  he  at  last  expressed  his  decided 
conviction  that  the  thing  was  practicable,  I  directed  him 
to  give  his  official  cooperation  to  effect  it.  On  the  sub* 
ject,  I  have  sent  and  received  many  letters  to  and  from 
General  Banks,  and  many  other  persons.  These  letters, 
as  you  remember,  were  shown  to  you  yesterday,  as  they 
will  be  again,  if  you  desire. 

If  I  shall  neither  take  sides  nor  argue,  will  it  be  out  of 
place  for  me  to  make  what  I  think  is  the  true  statement 
of  your  question  as  to  the  proposed  Louisiana  Senators  ? 

"  Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper  practical  rela- 
tions with  the  Union,  sooner,  by  admitting  or  by  rejecting 
the  proposed  Senators  ?  ■ 

On  the  18th  of  February  Senator  Trumbull  made 
a  report  from  his  committee  submitting  a  joint 
resolution  "that  the  United  States  do  hereby 
recognize  the  Government  of  the  State  of  Louisi- 
ana, inaugurated  under  and  by  the  Convention 
which  assembled  on  the  6th  day  of  April,  a.  d. 
1864,  at  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  as  the  legitimate 
government  of  said  State,  entitled  to  the  guarantee 
and  all  other  rights  of  a  State  government,  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  He  stated 
that  though  the  facts  in  the  cases  of  Louisiana  and 
Arkansas  were  very  similar,  the  committee  had 
thought  it  more  advisable  to  act  upon  the  case  of 
Louisiana  separately,  and,  if  the  joint  resolution 
were  agreed  to,  the  same  course  could  be  applied 
to  any  other  State. 


Lincoln  to 
Trumbull, 
Jan.  9, 1865. 

MS. 


"  Globe," 

Feb.  23, 

1865,  p.  1011. 


RECONSTRUCTION  455 

Though  the  session  was  nearing  its  end,  there  chap.xix. 
was  an  evident  desire  by  nearly  all  the  Republican 
Senators  to  pass  the  resolution ;  but  a  violent  oppo- 
sition to  the  measure  on  the  part  of  a  small  minority 
of  them  developed  itself  at  the  very  outset.  As  the 
parliamentary  custom  of  the  Senate  does  not  em- 
brace the  use  of  the  previous  question,  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  for  this  minority  to  postpone  debate 
and  action.  This  opposition  was  led  by  Senator 
Sumner,  whom  Trumbull  openly  charged  in  the 
Senate  with  being  "in  a  combination  here  of  a 
fraction  of  the  Senate  to  delay  the  important  busi- 
ness of  the  country,  .  .  .  associating  himself  with 
those  whom  he  so  often  denounces  for  the  purpose 
of  calling  the  yeas  and  nays  and  making  dilatory 
motions  to  postpone  the  action  of  this  body  upon  «Giobe," 
what  he  says  is  a  very  great  public  measure."  lses.p.uk 
Sumner  practically  admitted  the  charge,  answering, 
"  The  question  between  the  Senator  from  Illinois 
and  myself  is  simply  this :  he  wishes  to  pass  the 
measure,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  pass  it.  He  thinks 
the  measure  innocent ;  I  think  it  dangerous ;  and, 
thinking  it  dangerous,  I  am  justified  in  opposing  it ; 
and  justified,  too,  in  employing  all  the  instruments 
that  I  can  find  in  the  arsenal  of  parliamentary  war- 
fare." Senator  James  R.  Doolittle  further  defined  P.  uos. 
the  situation  by  stating,  "  there  are  but  five  who 
usually  act  with  the  Administration  who  are  mak- 
ing and  voting  for  these  dilatory  motions,  and  there 
are  eighteen  of  the  friends  of  the  Administration 
opposed  to  them."  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  p.  nw. 
that  in  the  pressure  of  public  business  then  exist- 
ing this  minority  of  five,  at  least  three  of  whom  — 
Sumner,  Wade,  and  Chandler — were  second  to  no 


456  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  one  in  obstinacy  of  purpose,  were  able  to  defeat  the 
measure.    The  journal  of  the  Senate  shows  that  on 

1865.  February  27  the  subject,  by  a  vote  of  34  to  12, 
was  postponed  "to  to-morrow";  and  its  "to- 
morrow "  did  not  come  during  the  remainder  of 
the  session,  which  closed  at  noon  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1865,  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  second  inaugu- 
ration. 

Though  Representatives  could  be  querulous  and 
Senators  obstinate  the  President  could  be  persis- 
tent, as  he  had  shown  by  his  treatment  of  the  re- 
construction act,  and  his  correspondence  with  his 
generals;  and  continued  persistence  on  his  part 
was  plainly  justified  by  the  rapidly  waning  oppo- 
sition to  his  views  in  both  Houses  of  Congress. 
But  new  and  important  events  were  also  daily 
strengthening  his  attitude.  Since  the  adjournment 
of  Congress  he  had  visited  the  army  under  Grant, 
witnessed  its  start  on  its  final  campaign,  and  taken 
part  in  the  first  step  of  its  triumph  by  his  personal 
visit  to  the  conquered  rebel  capital.  He  had  barely 
returned  from  that  visit  to  his  duties  at  Washington 

1865.  when,  on  Sunday,  the  9th  of  April,  there  came  to 
him  the  culminating  news  of  Lee's  surrender.  The 
end  of  the  rebellion  was  obviously  so  near  that  it 
would  soon  be  necessary  to  take  up  the  question  of 
reconstruction  in  a  form  more  practical  and  more 
urgent  than  had  yet  confronted  him.  The  popular 
excitement  over  the  victory  was  such  that  on  Mon- 
day, the  10th,  crowds  gathered  before  the  Executive 
Mansion  several  times  during  the  day,  and  called 
out  the  President  for  speeches.  Twice  he  re- 
sponded by  coming  to  the  window  and  saying  a 
few  words,  which,  however,  indicated  that  his  mind 


RECONSTRUCTION  457 

was  more  occupied  with,  work  than  exuberant  re-  chap.xix. 
joicing.    As  briefly  as  lie  could  he  excused  himself, 
but  promised  that  on  the  following  evening,  for 
which  a  more  formal   demonstration  was  being 
arranged,  he  would  be  prepared  to  say  something. 

Accordingly,  on  Tuesday  evening,  April  11,  Mr.  lses. 
Lincoln  made  his  last  public  address,  reading  to  his 
listeners  a  carefully  written  paper,  which  was  al- 
most entirely  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion of  reconstruction  as  recommended  in  his 
various  official  documents,  and  as  practically  tried 
in  the  Louisiana  experiment.  We  quote  almost 
the  whole  of  it,  as  furnishing  the  shortest  and 
clearest  explanation  of  both  his  past  and  future 
intentions.  But  these  intentions  were  not  des- 
tined to  be  realized.  Before  the  lapse  of  a  week 
the  nation  was  in  sorrow  over  his  death,  and  the 
subject  and  experiment  of  reconstruction  were  re- 
sumed and  carried  on  under  widely  different  con- 
ditions and  influences,  which  it  is  not  the  province 
of  this  work  to  bring  into  comment  or  comparison. 
After  a  few  words  of  joyous  congratulation  the 
President  said: 

"By  these  recent  successes  the  reinauguration 
of  the  National  authority — reconstruction — which 
has  had  a  large  share  of  thought  from  the  first, 
is  pressed  much  more  closely  upon  our  attention. 
It  is  fraught  with  great  difficulty.  Unlike  a 
case  of  war  between  independent  nations,  there 
is  no  authorized  organ  for  us  to  treat  with  —  no 
one  man  has  authority  to  give  up  the  rebellion 
for  any  other  man.  We  simply  must  begin  with 
and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discordant  ele- 
ments.   Nor  is  it  a  small  additional  embarrassment 


458  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  that  we,  the  loyal  people,  differ  among  ourselves  as 
to  the  mode,  manner,  and  measure  of  reconstruc- 
tion. As  a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the 
reports  of  attacks  upon  myself,  wishing  not  to  be 
provoked  by  that  to  which  I  cannot  properly  offer 
an  answer.  In  spite  of  this  precaution,  however, 
it  comes  to  my  knowledge  that  I  am  much  cen- 
sured for  some  supposed  agency  in  setting  up  and 
seeking  to  sustain  the  new  State  government  of 
Louisiana. 

"  In  this  I  have  done  just  so  much  as,  and  no 
more  than,  the  public  knows.  In  the  annual  mes- 
sage of  December,  1863,  and  in  the  accompanying 
proclamation,  I  presented  a  plan  of  reconstruction, 
as  the  phrase  goes,  which  I  promised,  if  adopted  by 
any  State,  should  be  acceptable  to  and  sustained  by 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  nation.  I  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  this  was  not  the  only  plan  which 
might  possibly  be  acceptable,  and  I  also  distinctly 
protested  that  the  Executive  claimed  no  right  to  say 
when  or  whether  Members  should  be  admitted  to 
seats  in  Congress  from  such  States.  This  plan 
was  in  advance  submitted  to  the  then  Cabinet, 
and  distinctly  approved  by  every  member  of  it. 
One  of  them  suggested  that  I  should  then  and 
in  that  connection  apply  the  emancipation  proc- 
lamation to  the  theretofore  excepted  parts  of 
Virginia  and  Louisiana;  that  I  should  drop  the 
suggestion  about  apprenticeship  for  freed  people, 
and  that  I  should  omit  the  protest  against  my  own 
power  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  Members  to 
Congress.  But  even  he  approved  every  part  and 
parcel  of  the  plan  which  has  since  been  employed 
or  touched  by  the  action  of  Louisiana 


KECONSTEUCTION  459 

"The  new  constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring  chap.xix. 
emancipation  for  the  whole  State,  practically  ap- 
plies the  proclamation  to  the  part  previously  ex- 
cepted. It  does  not  adopt  apprenticeship  for  freed 
people,  and  it  is  silent,  as  it  could  not  well  be  other- 
wise, about  the  admission  of  Members  to  Congress. 
So  that,  as  it  applies  to  Louisiana,  every  member 
of  the  Cabinet  fully  approved  the  plan.  The  mes- 
sage went  to  Congress,  and  I  received  many  com- 
mendations of  the  plan,  written  and  verbal,  and 
not  a  single  objection  to  it  from  any  professed 
emancipationist  came  to  my  knowledge  until  after 
the  news  reached  Washington  that  the  people  of 
Louisiana  had  begun  to  move  in  accordance  with 
it.  From  about  July,  1862,  I  had  corresponded 
with  different  persons  supposed  to  be  interested  [in] 
seeking  a  reconstruction  of  a  State  government  for 
Louisiana.  When  the  message  of  1863,  with  the 
plan  before  mentioned,  reached  New  Orleans,  Gen- 
eral Banks  wrote  me  that  he  was  confident  that  the 
people,  with  his  military  cooperation,  would  recon- 
struct substantially  on  that  plan.  I  wrote  to  him 
and  some  of  them  to  try  it.  They  tried  it,  and 
the  result  is  known.  Such  only  has  been  my  agency 
in  getting  up  the  Louisiana  government. 

"  As  to  sustaining  it,  my  promise  is  out,  as  before 
stated.  But  as  bad  promises  are  better  broken  than 
kept,  I  shall  treat  this  as  a  bad  promise,  and  break 
it  whenever  I  shall  be  convinced  that  keeping  it  is 
adverse  to  the  public  interest ;  but  I  have  not  yet 
been  so  convinced.  I  have  been  shown  a  letter  on 
this  subject,  supposed  to  be  an  able  one,  in  which 
the  writer  expresses  regret  that  my  mind  has  not 
seemed   to   be   definitely  fixed   on   the   question 


460  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xix.  whether  the  seceded  States,  so  called,  are  in  the 
Union  or  out  of  it.  It  would  perhaps  add  astonish- 
ment to  his  regret  were  he  to  learn  that  since  I 
have  found  professed  Union  men  endeavoring  to 
make  that  question  I  have  purposely  forborne  any- 
public  expression  upon  it.  As  appears  to  me,  that 
question  has  not  been  nor  yet  is  a  practically 
material  oue,  and  that  any  discussion  of  it,  while  it 
thus  remains  practically  immaterial,  could  have  no 
effect  other  than  the  mischievous  one  of  dividing 
our  friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it  may  hereafter  be- 
come, that  question  is  bad  as  the  basis  of  a  con- 
troversy, and  good  for  nothing  at  all  —  a  merely 
pernicious  abstraction. 

"  We  all  agree  that  the  seceded  States,  so  called, 
are  out  of  their  proper  practical  relation  with 
the  Union,  and  that  the  sole  object  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, civil  and  military,  in  regard  to  those 
States,  is  to  again  get  them  into  that  proper 
practical  relation.  I  believe  that  it  is  not  only 
possible,  but  in  fact  easier,  to  do  this  without  de- 
ciding or  even  considering  whether  these  States 
have  ever  been  out  of  the  Union,  than  with  it. 
Finding  themselves  safely  at  home,  it  would  be 
utterly  immaterial  whether  they  had  ever  been 
abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in  doing  the  acts  necessary 
to  restoring  the  proper  practical  relations  between 
these  States  and  the  Union,  and  each  forever  after 
innocently  indulge  his  own  opinion  whether  in 
doing  the  acts  he  brought  the  States  from  without 
into  the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper  assistance, 
they  never  having  been  out  of  it.  The  amount  of 
constituency,  so  to  speak,  on  which  the  new  Louisi- 
ana government  rests,  would  be  more  satisfactory 


RECONSTRUCTION  461 

to  all  if  it  contained  50,000,  or  30,000,  or  even  20,000,  chap.xix. 
instead  of  only  about  12,000,  as  it  does.  It  is  also 
unsatisfactory  to  some  that  the  elective  franchise 
is  not  given  to  the  colored  man.  I  would  myself 
prefer  that  it  were  now  conferred  on  the  very  intel- 
ligent, and  on  those  who  serve  our  cause  as  soldiers. 

"  Still,  the  question  is  not  whether  the  Louisiana 
government,  as  it  stands,  is  quite  all  that  is  desir- 
able. The  question  is,  will  it  be  wiser  to  take  it  as 
it  is  and  help  to  improve  it,  or  to  reject  and  dis- 
perse it?  Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper 
practical  relation  with  the  Union  sooner  by  sustain- 
ing or  by  discarding  her  new  State  government  ? 
Some  twelve  thousand  voters  in  the  heretofore 
slave  State  of  Louisiana  have  sworn  allegiance 
to  the  Union,  assumed  to  be  the  rightful  politi- 
cal power  of  the  State,  held  elections,  organized 
a  State  government,  adopted  a  free  State  consti- 
tution, giving  the  benefit  of  public  schools  equally 
to  black  and  white,  and  empowering  the  Legis- 
lature to  confer  the  elective  franchise  upon  the  col- 
ored man.  Their  Legislature  has  already  voted 
to  ratify  the  constitutional  amendment,  recently 
passed  by  Congress,  abolishing  slavery  throughout 
the  nation.  These  twelve  thousand  persons  are 
thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union  and  to  perpet- 
ual freedom  in  the  State  —  committed  to  the  very 
things,  and  nearly  all  the  things,  the  nation  wants — 
and  they  ask  the  nation's  recognition  and  its  assist- 
ance to  make  good  their  committal. 

"Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our 
utmost  to  disorganize  and  disperse  them.  We,  in 
effect,  say  to  the  white  man :  You  are  worthless  or 
worse ;  we  will  neither  help  you,  nor  be  helped  by 


462  ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap. xix.  you.  To  the  blacks  we  say:  This  cup  of  liberty 
which  these,  your  old  masters,  hold  to  your  lips  we 
will  dash  from  you,  and  leave  you  to  the  chances  of 
gathering  the  spilled  and  scattered  contents  in  some 
vague  and  undefined  when,  where,  and  how.  If 
this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing  both  white 
and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana  into 
proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have 
so  far  been  unable  to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, we  recognize  and  sustain  the  new  govern- 
ment of  Louisiana,  the  converse  of  all  this  is  made 
true.  We  encourage  the  hearts  and  nerve  the  arms 
of  the  twelve  thousand  to  adhere  to  their  work,  and 
argue  for  it,  and  proselyte  for  it,  and  fight  for  it, 
and  feed  it,  and  grow  it,  and  ripen  it  to  a  complete 
success.  The  colored  man,  too,  in  seeing  all  united 
for  him,  is  inspired  with  vigilance  and  energy  and 
daring  to  the  same  end.  Grant  that  he  desires  the 
elective  franchise,  will  he  not  attain  it  sooner  by 
saving  the  already  advanced  steps  towards  it  than 
by  running  backward  over  them?  Concede  that 
the  new  government  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what 
it  should  be  as  the  egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall 
sooner  have  the  fowl  by  hatching  the  egg  than 
by  smashing  it. 

"  Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana,  we  also  reject 
one  vote  in  favor  of  the  proposed  amendment  to 
the  national  Constitution.  To  meet  this  propo- 
sition it  has  been  argued  that  no  more  than 
three-fourths  of  those  States  which  have  not  at- 
tempted secession  are  necessary  to  validly  ratify 
the  amendment.  I  do  not  commit  myself  against 
this  further  than  to  say  that  such  a  ratification  would 
be  questionable,  and  sure  to  be  persistently  ques- 


RECONSTRUCTION  463 

tioned,  while  a  ratification  by  three-fourths  of  all  the  chap.  xix. 
States  would  be  unquestioned  and  unquestionable. 
I  repeat  the  question:  Can  Louisiana  be  brought 
into  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union 
sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  State 
government  ?  What  has  been  said  of  Louisiana  will 
apply  generally  to  other  States.  And  yet  so  great 
peculiarities  pertain  to  each  State,  and  such  im- 
portant and  sudden  changes  occur  in  the  same 
State,  and  withal  so  new  and  unprecedented  is 
the  whole  case  that  no  exclusive  and  inflexible 
plan  can  safely  be  prescribed  as  to  details  and 
collaterals.  Such  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan 
would  surely  become  a  new  entanglement.  Im- 
portant principles  may  and  must  be  inflexible.  In 
the  present  situation,  as  the  phrase  goes,  it  may  be 
my  duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to  the 
people  of  the  South.  I  am  considering,  and  shall 
not  fail  to  act  when  satisfied  that  action  will  be  t>?Ms. 
proper." 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


chap.  xx.    O  HERMAN  saw  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to 
O   attack    Hood's    intrenchments    at    Lovejoy's 
Station.    He  said  to  Halleck  on  the  4th  of  Sep- 
tember, "  The  enemy  hold  a  line  facing  us,  with 
front  well  covered  by  parapets  "  —  and  both  flanks 
protected  by  streams  of  water.     The  position  was 
too  strong  to  attack  in  front  and  to  turn  it  he 
thought  would  carry  him  too  far  from  his  base. 
Sherman  to  He  was  not  at  that  moment  prepared  for  a  long 
seS'SwM.  journey,  and  concluded  to  go  back  to  Atlanta  to 
committee  give  his  army  the  rest  it  had  so  nobly  earned,  and 
of  the  war,  himself  a  little  time  for  reflection  as  to  his  next 

1865-66. 

*£*$£  move.  He  marched  back  with  great  deliberation, 
"feeding  high  on  the  cornfields  of  the  Confeder- 
acy." There  was  a  certain  ostentation  in  his  lei- 
sure. He  wanted  to  show  the  enemy  that  he  was 
not  in  a  hurry.   He  burned  some  cotton  on  the  way, 

stanton,  but  saved  enough,  he  says,  to  pay  the  expenses 
ibki. '  0f  the  National  salute.  The  salutes  were  all  fired, 
and  the  National  rejoicings  were  over,  before,  on 
the  8th  of  September,  he  rode  into  the  city  which 
was  the  magnificent  prize  of  his  summer's  work.  He 
immediately  put  into  execution  a  plan  he  had  al- 
ready formed  of  converting  the  ruined  city  into  a 


ment, 
Vol.  I., 
p.  192. 


GENERAL    JOHN    M.    CORSE. 


THE    MAECH    TO    THE    SEA  465 

military  post.      Before  leaving  Lovejoy's  he  had  chap.xx. 

informed  Halleck  that  he  intended  to  move  all  the  sept.Mse*. 

inhabitants  of  Atlanta,  sending  those  committed  to 

the  Union  cause  to  the  rear,  and  the  rebel  families 

to  the  front.    He  foresaw  the  passionate  criticism 

which  this  action  would  provoke  and  was  prepared 

for  it.     "If  the   people,"  he   said,  "raise  a  howl 

against  my  barbarity  and  cruelty,  I  will  answer 

that  war  is  war,  and  not  popularity  seeking.     If  ,MeeS» 

they  want  peace,  they  and  their  relatives  must  stop      P°  in." 

the  war." 

On  arriving  at  Atlanta  he  at  once  announced 
this  intention  to  the  local  and  municipal  author- 
ities. He  had  already  notified  his  purpose  to  Gen- 
eral Hood  and  proposed  to  him  a  truce  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Rough-and-Eeady,  where  each 
side  could  send  an  officer  with  a  small  guard  to 
maintain  order  and  oversee  the  deportation  of  the 
citizens  with  their  effects.  Hood  accepted  this  sept.9,186*. 
proposition,  saying  he  would  render  all  assistance 
in  his  power  to  expedite  the  transportation  of  citi- 
zens south.  He  could  not  close  his  letter,  however, 
without  remarking  "  that  the  unprecedented  meas- 
ure you  propose  transcends,  in  studied  and  in- 
genious cruelty,  all  acts  ever  before  brought  to  "Memoirs,'" 
my  attention  in  the  dark  history  of  war";  from  p.u».' 
which  it  would  seem  either  that  General  Hood  was 
a  very  reckless  writer,  or  that  his  historical  reading 
had  been  limited.  Sherman  replied  in  his  usual 
spirited  fashion,  showing  that  such  acts  were  by  no 
means  unprecedented,  even  in  the  recent  history  of 
the  Confederate  army,  and  then  administered  a 
sincere  and  searching  sermon  to  General  Hood  in 
regard  to  the  crime  of  rebellion  and  treason  against 
Vol.  IX.— 30 


466  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  XX. 


the  Government,  and  counseled  him  to  drop  his 

"hypocritical  appeals  to  God  and  humanity"  and 

sept.,  1864.    "  if  we  must  be  enemies  let  us  be  men  and  fight  it 

out.  .  .  God  will  judge  us  in  due  time,"  he  said, 

"  and  he  will  pronounce  whether  it  be  more  humane 

to  fight  with  a  town  full  of  women  and  the  families 

of  a  brave  people  at  our  back,  or  to  remove  them 

,8MeS'."  hi  time  to  places  of  safety  among  their  own  friends 

^>01i2o."     and  people." 

General  Hood  answered  in  a  long  letter  full 
of  florid  declamation,  and  concluded  by  expressing 
his  personal  preference  to  "  die  a  thousand  deaths 
than  submit  to  live  under  you  or  your  Govern- 
ibid.,  p.  124.  ment  and  your  negro  allies  " — though  in  the  sequel 
he  did  all  this  before  dying  the  one  death  which  is 
allotted  to  men.  The  mayor  and  council  of  Atlanta 
also  protested  against  the  measures  adopted  by 
Sherman.  To  them  he  replied  with  equal  firm- 
ness but  in  a  tone  of  far  greater  kindness.  "The 
use  of  Atlanta,"  he  said,  "for  warlike  purposes 
is  inconsistent  with  its  character  as  a  home  for 
families.  There  will  be  no  manufactures,  com- 
merce, or  agriculture  here,  for  the  maintenance 
of  families,  and  sooner  or  later  want  will  compel 
the  inhabitants  to  go.  Why  not  go  now  when 
all  the  arrangements  are  completed  for  the  trans- 
fer, instead  of  waiting  till  the  plunging  shot  of 
contending  armies  will  renew  the  scenes  of  the 
ibid., p.  126.  past  month?"  He  could  not  give,  either  to  Hood 
or  the  citizens,  the  real  reason  for  his  action,  which 
was  that  the  Confederate  works  about  Atlanta  were 
so  extensive  that  they  would  require  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  to  guard  them.  He  had  resolved  to 
build  a  compact  inner  line  which  could  be  held  by 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


467 


one-fifth  that  number,  and  he  thought  the  removal 
of  the  citizens,  independent  of  the  question  of  sup- 
plying their  wants  in  time  of  active  operations,  was 
a  military  necessity. 

This  action  of  Sherman  was  approved  by  the 
War  Department.  Halleck  wrote  on  the  28th  of 
September:  "Not  only  are  you  justified  by  the 
laws  and  usages  of  war  in  removing  these  people, 
but  I  think  it  was  your  duty  to  your  own  army  to 
do  so.  .  .  We  certainly  are  not  required  to  treat  the 
so-called  non-combatant  rebels  better  than  they 
themselves  treat  each  other.  Even  here  in  Virginia, 
within  fifty  miles  of  Washington,  they  strip  their 
own  families  of  provisions,  leaving  them,  as  our 
army  advances,  to  be  fed  by  us  or  to  starve  within 
our  lines."  Sherman  also  arranged  with  Hood  an 
exchange  of  two  thousand  prisoners  from  those  cap- 
tured at  Jonesboro,  and  the  business  connected  with 
this  exchange  and  the  deportation  of  the  citizens 
was  satisfactorily  transacted  at  Rough-and-Ready, 
the  Confederate  officers  and  men  harmonizing 
perfectly  with  their  courteous  adversaries,  and 
parting  good  friends.  Hood  continued  his  solemn 
admonitions  to  Sherman  in  regard  to  the  laws  of 
God  and  the  laws  of  nations,  and  Sherman  dryly 
answered,  "  I  think  I  understand  the  laws  of  civi- 
lized nations,  and  the  '  customs  of  war,'  but  if  at  a 
loss  at  any  time  I  know  where  to  seek  for  informa- 
tion to  refresh  my  memory." 

Sherman  had  no  idea  of  spending  the  winter  or 
even  the  autumn  in  Atlanta.  Even  while  he  was 
watching  the  intrenchments  of  Hood  at  Lovejoy's 
his  mind  was  already  full  of  his  next  move.  He 
telegraphed  to  Halleck  asking  for  his  share  of  the 


Chap.  XX. 

Sherman  to 
Halleck, 
Sept.  13, 

1864. 

Report 

Committee 

on  Conduct 

of  the  War, 


Supple- 
ment, 

Vol.  I., 
p.  196. 


Sherman, 

'Memoirs. 

Vol.  II., 

p.  128. 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 
1865-66. 
Supple- 
ment, 
Vol.  I., 
p.  196. 


468 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  XX. 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 


Supple- 
ment, 
Vol.  I., 
p.  194. 


Sept.  10, 
1864. 


Ibid. 


Ibid. 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 

1865-66. 

Supple- 
ment, 

Vol.  L, 

p.  198. 


proceeds  of  the  pending  draft  and  suggesting  a 
campaign  in  cooperation  with  Canby  in  Alabama. 
A  few  days  later  he  told  him  that  he  would  have 
Atlanta  a  pure  Gibraltar  by  the  1st  of  October. 
On  the  10th  of  September  he  wrote  to  General 
Canby,  "I  will  be  ready  to  sally  forth  again  in 
October,  but  ought  to  have  some  assurance  that 
in  case  of  necessity  I  can  swing  into  Appalachicola 
or  Montgomery  and  find  friends."  On  the  same 
day  Grant  was  telegraphing  to  Sherman  to  give  the 
enemy  no  peace  while  the  war  lasted.  "  Now  that 
we  have  all  of  Mobile  Bay  that  is  valuable  I  do 
not  know  but  it  will  be  the  best  move  for  Major- 
General  Canby's  troops  to  act  upon  Savannah 
whilst  you  move  on  Augusta.  I  should  like  to  hear 
from  you,  however,  on  this  matter  " ;  and  Sherman 
at  once  replied,  "  If  you  can  manage  to  take  the 
Savannah  liver  as  high  as  Augusta,  or  the  Chatta- 
hoochee as  far  up  as  Columbus,  I  can  sweep  the 
whole  State  of  Georgia ;  otherwise  I  would  risk  our 
whole  army  by  going  too  far  from  Atlanta " ;  and 
in  all  of  his  letters  and  dispatches  of  this  month 
the  control  of  the  Savannah  River  is  assumed  by 
him  as  a  condition  precedent  to  his  march  to  the 
seacoast. 

All  this  while  Wheeler's  cavalry  was  busy  in  his 
rear,  and  Forrest  held  a  threatening  attitude  in 
Middle  Tennessee ;  but  Sherman  paid  little  atten- 
tion to  them  and  none  at  all  for  the  moment  to 
Hood.  On  the  19th  of  September  he  telegraphed 
to  Grant,  "  I  can  quickly  bounce  him  out  of  Love- 
joy's,  but  think  him  better  there,  where  I  can  watch 
him,  than  further  off."  Finally,  on  the  20th  of 
September,  Colonel  Porter  having  visited  him  di- 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA  469 

rectly  from  Grant,  and  having  given  him  the  chap.xx. 
latest  tidings  and  views  which  Grant  could  send, 
Sherman  wrote  a  careful  letter  to  the  General- 
in-Chief,  discussing  the  entire  situation,  and  con- 
cluded by  saying,  "  The  more  I  study  the  game 
the  more  am  I  convinced  that  it  would  be  wrong 
for  me  to  penetrate  much  further  into  Georgia 
without  an  objective  beyond.  It  would  not  be 
productive  of  much  good.  I  can  start  east  and 
make  a  circuit  south  and  back,  doing  vast  damage 
to  the  State,  but  resulting  in  no  permanent  good ; 
but  by  mere  threatening  to  do  so,  I  hold  a  rod 
over  the  Georgians,  who  are  not  over  loyal  to  the 
South."  He,  therefore,  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that 
Grant's  army  and  Canby's  should  be  reenforced  to 
the  maximum ;  that  after  the  capture  of  Wilming- 
ton Grant  should  strike  for  Savannah;  that  Canby 
should  send  a  force  to  Columbus,  Georgia;  that 
he  himself  should  keep  Hood  employed  and  put 
his  army  in  fine  order  for  a  march  on  Columbus,   committee 

"'.._.,,  ,  ,  i  on  Conduct 

Augusta,  and  Charleston ;  and  be  ready  as  soon  as  of  Mar, 
Wilmington  is  sealed  to  commerce  and  the  city  of     *J»gj- 
Savannah  in  the  possession  of  the  National  armies,     voll. 

Before  Sherman  had  been  a  week  in  Atlanta  two 
prominent  Georgians  named  Hill  and  Nelson  came 
through  the  lines  to  his  headquarters,  representing 
themselves  as  having  been  friends  in  Congress  of 
the  general's  brother,  John  Sherman.  Mr.  Hill's 
explanation  of  his  visit  was  that  he  was  in  quest 
of  the  body  of  his  son  who  had  been  killed  in  bat- 
tle. They  were  kindly  received  and  invited  to 
dinner  by  the  general  and,  as  was  inevitable  with 
so  genial  a  host  and  so  good  a  talker,  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  unrestrained  conversation.    The 


470 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Sherman, 

'Memoirs." 

Vol.  II., 

p.  138. 


Southerners  admitted  their  belief  that  further  re- 
sistance was  madness  and  suggested  the  possibility 
of  State  action  being  initiated  by  Governor  Joseph 
E.  Brown  to  withdraw  Georgia  from  the  Con- 
federacy. Through  these  gentlemen  and  through 
Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  King,  also  men  of  prom- 
inence in  the  State,  Sherman  sent  messages  to 
Governor  Brown  offering,  if  he  would  issue  his 
proclamation  withdrawing  his  State  troops  from 
the  army  of  the  Confederacy,  that  Sherman 
would,  instead  of  devastating  the  land  as  he  went 
forward,  keep  his  men  to  the  high  roads  and 
commons  and  pay  for  the  corn  and  meat  which 
he  needed  and  should  take.  He  also  authorized 
the  visitors  to  invite  Governor  Brown  to  visit 
Atlanta ;  he  would  give  him  a  safeguard,  and  if  he 
wanted  to  make  a  speech  he  would  guarantee  him 
as  full  and  respectable  an  audience  as  any  he  had 
ever  spoken  to.  On  the  15th  of  September  Sher- 
man telegraphed  Halleck  that  Governor  Brown  had 
disbanded  his  militia  to  gather  the  corn  and  sor- 
ghum of  the  State.  "  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  he 
and  Stephens  want  to  visit  me  and  have  sent  them 
a  hearty  invitation."  l    This  telegram  being  shown 


Sherman, 

"Memoirs." 

Vol.  II., 

p.  139. 


1  Governor  Joseph  E.  Brown, 
by  a  letter  of  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, sent  the  following  notifi- 
cation to  General  Hood:  "As 
the  militia  of  the  State  were 
called  out  for  the  defense  of 
Atlanta  during  the  campaign 
against  it,  which  has  terminated 
by  the  fall  of  the  city  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and  as  many 
of  these  left  their  homes  without 
preparation  (expecting  to  be 
gone  but  a  few  weeks)  who 
have  remained  in  service   over 


three  months  (most  of  the  time 
in  the  trenches),  justice  requires 
that  they  be  permitted,  while  the 
enemy  are  preparing  for  the 
winter  campaign,  to  return  to 
their  homes,  and  look  for  a  time 
after  important  interests  and 
prepare  themselves  for  such  ser- 
vice as  may  be  required  when 
another  campaign  commences 
against  other  important  points 
in  the  State.  I,  therefore,  hereby 
withdraw  said  organization  from 
your  command." 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


471 


to  President  Lincoln  was,  of  course,  read  with  the 
liveliest  concern,  and  he  at  once  telegraphed  to 
Sherman,  "  I  feel  great  interest  in  the  subjects  of 
your  dispatch  mentioning  corn  and  sorghum  and 
the  contemplated  visit  to  you."  Sherman  replied, 
giving  the  details  of  the  negotiations  he  had  initi- 
ated with  Governor  Brown,  saying,  "I  am  fully 
conscious  of  the  delicate  nature  of  such  assertions, 
but  it  would  be  a  magnificent  stroke  of  policy  if 
we  could,  without  surrendering  principle  or  a  foot 
of  ground,  arouse  the  latent  enmity  of  Georgia 
against  Davis."  Sherman  had  no  doubt  at  the  time 
that  Brown  seriously  entertained  his  proposition ; 
but  he  took  no  action  further  than  that  of  with- 
drawing the  State  troops  from  Hood's  army. 

He  wrote  a  long  letter  to  William  King,  filled 
with  words  to  no  purpose  breathing  defiance  to- 
wards the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  an 
almost  equal  contumacy  towards  that  of  Richmond, 
but  holding  out  no  hope  of  separate  negotiations. 
A.  H.  Stephens  wrote  more  briefly,  saying  that  the 
lack,  on  both  sides,  of  authority  to  treat,  would 
preclude  any  conference  between  himself  and 
General    Sherman. 

Hood,  on  the  3d  of  September,  had  telegraphed 
to  Jefferson  Davis  representing  his  pressing  need  of 
reinforcements.  Mr.  Davis  answered  that  no  re- 
sources for  that  purpose  were  at  hand.  Hood  there- 
upon decided  to  begin  operations,  at  the  earliest 
moment  possible,  in  rear  of  Sherman.  He  had  found 
that  his  troops  were  so  disheartened  that  he  dared 
not  trust  them  in  direct  conflict  with  Sherman's 
victorious  army.  He  telegraphed  to  Richmond  on 
the  6th  of  September  asking  that  the  prisoners  at 


Lincoln  to 
Sherman, 
Sept.  17, 

1864. 

Sherman, 

"Memoirs," 

p.  139. 


"  Annual 
Cyclo- 
pedia," 
1864, 
pp.  405,  406. 


Hood, 
Advance 

and 
Retreat," 

p  245. 


472  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  Andersonville  should  be  so  disposed  of  that  his 
army  might  be  free  to  move  where  he  thought  best. 
He  continued,  in  his  bewildered  way,  "  According 
to  all  human  calculations  we  should  have  saved 
Hood,  Atlanta  had  the  officers  and  men  of  the  army  done 
andce  what  was  expected  of  them.  It  has  been  God's 
p.  248.'  will  for  it  to  be  otherwise."  Feeling,  however,  the 
necessity  of  blaming  some  of  the  human  instru- 
mentalities, he  asked  that  General  Hardee  should 

ibid.,  p.  249.  be  removed  from  duty  under  him.  In  response  to 
an  urgent  invitation  from  Hood,  Mr.  Davis  himself 
resolved  to  visit  the  Confederate  army  in  Georgia, 

sept.,  1864.  and  he  arrived  on  the  25th  at  Palmetto  where 
Hood  had  by  this  time  encamped,  being  the  first 
stage  of  his  progress  in  his  movement  to  Sherman's 
rear.  The  next  morning  the  Confederate  general 
and  President  rode  to  the  front  to  review  the 
troops,  and  Hood  was  subjected  to  the  unspeak- 
able humiliation  of  hearing  brigade  after  brigade 
welcoming  the  Executive  with  the  shout,  "  Give  us 
General  Johnston."  In  the  evening  Mr.  Davis  was 
serenaded  and  the  usual  florid  and  defiant  speeches 
were  made  by  himself,  by  Howell  Cobb,  and  by 
Isham  G.  Harris,  Governor  of  Tennessee  inpartibus. 
The  next  day  was  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 
Hood's  plan  and  the  reorganization  of  his  army. 
The  question  of  the  removal  of  Hardee  from  the 
command  gave  Mr.  Davis  considerable  embarrass- 
ment. He  had  known  him  too  long  and  well  to 
share  Hood's  prejudice  against  him,  and  had  prob- 
ably by  this  time  learned  that  he  had  overrated 
Hood's  own  capacity.  He  solved  the  difficulty 
finally  by  giving  Hardee  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  South  Carolina  and  Florida,  which  was 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


473 


nominally  a  promotion,  and  by  placing  Beauregard 
over  Hood  in  the  command  both  of  his  department 
and  of  that  of  General  Richard  Taylor.  He  ap- 
parently made  no  objection  to  Hood's  scheme  of 
cutting  Sherman's  communications,  selecting  a  po- 
sition on  or  near  the  Alabama  line,  in  proximity 
to  the  Blue  Mountain  Railroad,  and  there  giving  him 
battle.  Hood  urged  that  an  offensive  movement 
would  improve  the  morale  of  his  army  to  a  degree 
that  would  render  it  equal  to  fighting  the  enemy, 
but  that  at  the  moment  it  was  totally  unfit  for 
pitched  battle,  and  that  the  plan  in  question  offered 
the  sole  chance  to  avert  disaster. 

The  supersession  of  Hood  by  Beauregard  in- 
volved at  first  no  modification  of  his  plans,  and 
he  at  once  pushed  forward  to  strike  the  railroad 
in  Sherman's  rear.  Sherman  became  aware  of  his 
plan  shortly  after  its  execution  had  begun.  He 
told  Halleck,  on  the  25th  of  September,  that  Hood 
seemed  to  be  moving  to  the  Alabama  line;  an 
announcement  which  drew  from  Grant  the  query 
whether  it  would  not  be  impossible  for  Hood  to 
subsist  his  army  on  that  line.  Sherman  put  a 
strong  garrison  in  Chattanooga  and  one  in  Rome, 
and  with  much  reluctance,  for  he  was  anxious 
to  start  on  his  Southern  enterprise,  moved  north 
of  the  Chattahoochee  himself  with  a  great  portion  of 
his  army  to  see  if  he  could  bring  Hood  to  battle. 
Hood,  marching  in  light  order,  moved  his  force 
with  expedition  to  the  railroad,  which  Stewart's 
corps  struck  at  Big  Shanty  and  at  Ackworth, 
destroying  several  miles  of  the  road.  A  division 
under  General  S.  G.  French  was  sent  to  capture 
Allatoona,   at  which  important   post   there  were 


Hood, 
'Advance 

and 
Retreat," 

p.  254. 


Grant  to 
Sherman, 

Sept.  26. 
Sherman, 
'Memoirs." 

Vol.  II., 
p.  141. 


474  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  stored  some  three  million  rations.  Sherman  had 
sufficient  notice  of  this  intention  to  order  General 
John  M.  Corse  from  Rome  to  Allatoona.  His 
timely  arrival  increased  the  garrison  to  nearly 
186*.  two  thousand  men.  French  arrived  before  the 
place  at  daybreak  on  the  5th  of  October,  and 
after  a  furious  cannonade  demanded  its  surrender, 
to  which  Corse  made  the  plucky  reply  which  might 
have  been  expected  from  his  character. 

One  of  the  most  stubborn  engagements  of  the  war 
now  took  place  between  the  Confederate  division 
outside  and  the  little  garrison.  All  the  commanding 
officers  were  badly  wounded.  Lieut.-Colonel  James 
Redfield  was  killed;  Lieut.-Colonel  J.  E.Tourtellotte 
and  Colonel  Richard  Rowett  fell  with  disabling 
wounds ;  Corse  was  knocked  senseless  for  nearly  an 
hour  by  a  rifle  bullet  in  the  face,  but  rallied  and  con- 
ducted the  defense  the  rest  of  the  day.     Sherman, 
from  the  crest  of  Kenesaw,  eighteen  miles  away, 
conversed  by  means  of  signal  flags  with  the  gallant 
Report      defenders  of  the  fort,  and  received  from  Corse,  at 
^conduct  two  o'clock,  the  famous  dispatch,  over  whose  pro- 
ofi86^66.ar'  fanity  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  recording  angel 
mentT     wept  or  smiled,  "  I  am  short  a  cheek-bone  and  one 
p,  2i8-      ear,  but  am  able  to  whip  all  hell  yet."    Whether  the 
powers  of  darkness  did  or  did  not  recognize  the 
uselessness  of   attempting  to  conquer  such  men, 
General  French  at  least  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  more  than  he  could  manage,  and  at  three 
o'clock  retired.    Lieutenant  McKensie,  command- 
ing the  signal  squad,  himself  signaled  the  news  to 
Sherman  that  the   attack  had   failed,   amid   the 
whistling  of  a  storm  of  bullets  fired  at  him  by  the 
sharpshooters  in  the  Confederate  rear. 


THE    MAECH    TO    THE    SEA 


475 


Chap.  XX. 


Hood, 
Advance 

and 
Retreat," 

p.  258. 


In  spite  of  this  check,  however,  Hood  was  so 
elated  by  his  rapid  progress  and  his  work  on  the 
railroad  that  he  decided  to  move  further  north  and 
again  strike  the  road  between  Resaca  and  Tunnel 
Hill,  to  destroy  it  thoroughly,  and  then  move  in 
the  direction  of  the  Tennessee.  He  imagined  in 
this  way  he  might  entice  Sherman  as  near  the 
Tennessee  line  as  possible,  and  there  turn  upon 
him  and  defeat  him.  He  therefore  marched  through 
Dallas  to  Coosaville,  crossed  the  Coosa  Eiver  on 
the  11th  of  October,  and  marched  upon  Resaca  and 
Dalton.  Sherman,  who  always  found  it  difficult  to 
comprehend  the  eccentric  movements  and  to  de- 
duce from  them  the  intentions  of  Hood,  was  more 
annoyed  than  disturbed  by  this  manoeuvre.  He 
telegraphed  Grant  on  the  9th  of  October :  "  It  will 
be  a  physical  impossibility  to  protect  the  roads 
now  that  Hood,  Forrest,  Wheeler,  and  the  whole 
batch  of  devils  are  turned  loose,  without  home  or 
habitation  " ;  and  proposed  to  break  up  the  railroad 
from  Chattanooga  and  start  out  with  wagons  for  his 
Southern  trip.  "  Until  we  can  repopulate  Georgia," 
he  said,  "  it  is  useless  for  us  to  occupy  it ;  but  the 
utter  destruction  of  its  roads,  houses,  and  people 
will  cripple  their  military  resources.  .  .  I  can 
make  this  march  and  make  Georgia  howl ! " 

He  took,  however,  the  most  energetic  means  to 
find  Hood,  and,  if  possible,  to  fight  him,  but  could 
not  effect  this  purpose.  S.  D.  Lee,  with  his  corps, 
moved  on  Resaca,  and  in  Hood's  name  demanded  Oct.  12,1864 
its  surrender,  adding,  "  If  the  place  is  carried  by 
assault  no  prisoners  will  be  taken."  This  barbar- 
ous threat,  however,  did  not  intimidate  the  gar- 
rison and  its  commander,  Colonel  Clark  R.  Wever, 


Sherman, 

'Memoirs." 

Vol.  II., 

p.  152. 


476 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Chap.  XX. 


"  Advance 

and 

Retreat," 

p.  266. 


Oct.  16, 
1864. 

Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 

1865-66. 

Supple- 
ment, 

Vol.   I., 

p.  230. 


Sherman 

to  Thomas, 

Oct.  17, 

1864. 

Ibid,  p.  232. 


and  Lee,  failing  to  take  the  place,  was  not  put  to 
the  painful  necessity  of  slaughtering  its  defenders. 
On  the  13th,  Hood  in  person  demanded  and  re- 
ceived the  surrender  of  Dalton.  He  then  quickly 
retired  from  the  railroad,  and,  moving  towards 
Villanow,  he  passed  through  the  gaps  in  the 
mountains,  and  halted  for  two  days  at  the  Cross 
Roads  in  a  beautiful  valley  nine  miles  south  of 
Lafayette.  He  says  it  was  his  intention  there  to 
select  a  position  and  deliver  battle,  but,  upon  con- 
sulting his  officers,  the  opinion  was  unanimous  that 
his  army  was  not  in  condition  to  risk  a  fight.  He 
passed  a  day  in  deep  doubt  and  perplexity,  and  at 
last  resolved  to  march  into  Tennessee.  Sherman 
desired  nothing  better  than  this.  At  the  very 
moment  that  Hood  says  he  conceived  this  resolu- 
tion, Sherman  was  telegraphing  to  Schofield:  "I 
want  the  first  positive  fact  that  Hood  contemplates 
an  invasion  of  Tennessee.  Invite  him  to  do  so. 
Send  him  a  free  pass  in."  Hood  moved  to  Gads- 
den on  the  20th  of  October,  at  which  point  Beau- 
regard joined  him,  and  gave  his  approval  to  the 
proposed  Tennessee  campaign. 

Sherman  thought  it  useless  to  follow  him.  It 
was  hard  to  make  him  believe  that  Hood  really 
dared  to  go  into  Tennessee.  He  thought  so  ill 
of  his  adversary's  capacity  that  he  was  sure  that 
General  Thomas,  who  was  at  Nashville,  with  the 
small  and  imperfectly  equipped  force  then  at  his 
disposal,  could  handle  Hood  and  his  army,  while 
Sherman  marched  southward.  He  made  no  pur- 
suit of  Hood  after  he  started  westward,  but  devoted 
himself  at  once  to  preparations  for  his  march  to 
the  sea.    "This  movement,"  he  said  to  Halleck, 


THE    MAKCH    TO    THE    SEA  477 

October  19th,  "is  not  purely  military  or  strategic;   chap.xx. 
but  it  will  illustrate  the  vulnerability  of  the  South.       im. 
They  don't  know  what  war  means ;  but  when  the 
rich  planters  of  the  Oconee   and  Savannah  see 
their  fences  and  corn,  and  hogs  and  sheep,  vanish 
before  their  eyes,  they  will  have  something  more  c<£Stee 
than  a  mean  opinion  of  the  '  Yanks.'    Even  now  rfffitj 
our  poor  mules  laugh  at  the  fine  corn-fields,  and     suSS- 
our  soldiers  riot  on  chestnuts,  sweet  potatoes,  pigs,     voieni.', 
and  chickens." 

On  the  next  day  he  sent  Thomas  full  orders 
as  to  the  general  plan  of  action  for  the  rest  of 
the  season;  "to  pursue  Hood  is  folly,"  he  said, 
"for  he  can  twist  and  turn  like  a  fox  and  wear 
out  any  army  in  pursuit;  to  continue  to  occupy 
long  lines   of  railroads  simply  exposes  our  small 
detachments  to  be  picked  up  in  detail,  and  forces 
me  to    make    counter-marches    to    protect   lines 
of  communication."     He    therefore    proposed    to       ibid, 
take  General  Howard  and  his  army,  Schofield  and 
his,  and  two  corps  of  Thomas's,  for  the  southern 
trip,  leaving  Thomas  only  the  Fourth  Corps  under 
Stanley;  though  afterwards,  when  Hood's  inten- 
tions were    more   fully    developed,  he   also  sent 
Schofield  with  the  Twenty-third  Corps  to  Thomas. 
Serious  as  the  movement  of  Hood  and  Beauregard 
appeared  in  the  latter  part  of  October  it  never       1864- 
shook  Sherman's  serenity.     Even  while  the  rail- 
road was  broken  behind  him,  he  enjoyed  the  com-  Sherman  to 
fort  and  plenty  which  came  with  his  perfect  system     Oct.  23,' 
of  foraging  on  the  enemy,  among  the  "corn  and  Co^P£fee 
potatoes,"  which  "cost  nothing  a  bushel."      "If  SfSTwS 
Georgia,"  he  said,  "can  afford  to  break  our  rail-     Sent6" 
road,  she  can  afford  to  feed  us.    Please  preach  this     y£  m' 


478 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Sherman, 

'Memoirs.' 

Vol.  II., 

p.  164. 


Ibid., 
pp.  165,  166. 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 
1865-66. 
Supple- 
ment, 
Vol.  I., 
p.  256. 

Nov.,  1864. 


doctrine  to  men  who  go  forth  and  are  likely  to 
spread  it." 

Grant,  however,  was  not  so  entirely  at  his  ease 
in  regard  to  Hood.  On  the  1st  of  November  he 
asked  Sherman,  "Do  you  not  think  it  advisable, 
now  that  Hood  has  gone  so  far  north,  to  entirely 
ruin  him  before  starting  on  your  proposed  cam- 
paign ?  With  Hood's  army  destroyed,  you  can  go 
where  you  please  with  impunity.  I  believed,  and 
still  believe,  if  you  had  started  south  while  Hood 
was  in  the  neighborhood  of  you,  he  would  have 
been  forced  to  go  after  you.  Now  that  he  is  far 
away  he  might  look  upon  the  chase  as  useless,  and 
he  will  go  in  one  direction  while  you  are  pushing 
in  the  other.  If  you  can  see  a  chance  of  destroy- 
ing Hood's  army  attend  to  that  first,  and  make 
your  other  move  secondary."  Sherman  replied, 
giving  it  as  his  opinion  that  if  he  turned  against 
Hood  with  his  whole  force  he  would  retreat  to  the 
southwest  and  insisted  that  he  regarded  the  pur- 
suit of  Hood  as  useless.  "  If  I  turn  back,"  he  con- 
tinued in  a  second  dispatch,  "the  whole  effect  of 
my  campaign  will  be  lost."  Grant  next  day  as- 
sented to  this  view  and  said,  "Go  on  as  you 
propose." 

On  the  3d  of  November  Sherman  reported  to 
Halleck  the  situation  of  affairs  announcing  his 
settled  intention  to  move  forward  as  soon  as  he 
could  send  back  all  rubbish  to  the  rear  and  get 
forward  the  necessary  supplies  with  which  to  start ; 
advised  cooperative  movements  from  Thomas's  and 
Can  by 's  front  which,  he  said,  would  completely 
bewilder  Beauregard  and  make  him  "burst  with 
French  despair."    On  the  6th  he  issued  orders  to 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


479 


all  commanding  officers  of  forts  directing  prepara-  chap.xx. 
tions  to  go  forward  with  as  much  speed  as  possible, 
but  intimated  that  time  would  be  allowed  in  pres- 
ent camps  for  the  complete  payment  of  all  troops, 
the  sending  home  of  the  soldiers'  money,  and  the 
voting  of  the  soldiers  in  their  camp  for  President. 
He  found  time  on  the  same  day  to  write  a  long 
letter  to  Grant  explaining  and  justifying  his  con- 
duct in  the  October  movement,  expressing  his  con- 
fidence that  with  Stanley  and  Schofield  Thomas 
would  be  able  to  take  care  of  Hood,  and  enlarging 
upon  the  vast  moral  benefit  to  be  derived  from  the 
contemplated  march.  "If  we  can  march  a  well- 
appointed  army  right  through  his  territory  it  is  a 
demonstration  to  the  world,  foreign  and  domestic, 
that  we  have  a  power  which  Davis  cannot  resist.  .  . 
There  are  thousands  of  people  abroad  and  in  the 
South  who  will  reason  thus:  If  the  North  can 
march  an  army  right  through  the  South  it  is  proof 
positive  that  the  North  can  prevail  in  this  contest. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  which  is  assured,  coupled 
with  the  conclusion  thus  reached,  makes  a  complete 
logical  whole."  He  then  discusses  the  three  routes 
open  to  him,  decides  in  favor  of  that  having  its 
terminus  at  Charleston  or  Savannah,  but  leaves 
himself  open  to  adopt  either  alternative. 

All  preparations  being  completed  he  caused  the 
foundries,  mills,  and  shops  of  every  kind  in  Rome 
to  be  destroyed  on  the  10th  of  November.  The  im. 
next  day  he  telegraphed  to  Halleck,  "  All  appear- 
ances still  indicate  that  Beauregard  has  got  back 
to  his  old  hole  at  Corinth  and  I  hope  he  will  enjoy 
it.  My  army  prefers  to  enjoy  the  fresh  sweet-  ibid.,  P.  264. 
potato  fields  of  the  Ocmulgee."    He  started  o»  the 


Report 
Committee 
on  Conduct 
of  the  War, 
1865-66. 
Supple- 
ment, 
Vol.  I., 
p.  261. 


480  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.   12th  with  his  full  staff  from  Kingston  to  Atlanta. 

Nov.,  1864.  Resting  at  noon,  his  telegraphic  operator,  with  a 
small  pocket  instrument  which  he  held  in  his  lap, 
called  the  Chattanooga  office,  and  received  this 
last  message  from  General  Thomas.  The  "Eock 
of  Chickamauga "  had  not  been  especially  pleased 
with  his  assignment  to  defend  Tennessee,  but  he 
accepted  it  as  he  did  every  duty  ever  confided  him 
with  modest  confidence  and  devotion.  "  I  have  no 
fears,"  he  said,  "that  Beauregard  can  do  us  any 
harm  now,  and  if  he  attempts  to  follow  you  I  will 
follow  him  as  far  as  possible.  If  he  does  not  fol- 
low you,  I  will  then  thoroughly  organize  my  troops 
and,  I  believe,  shall  have  men  enough  to  ruin  him 
unless  he  gets  out  of  the  way  very  rapidly.  .  .  I 
Re  am  now  convinced  that  the  greater  part  of  Beaure- 

racandiict  gar(i's  army  is  near  Florence  and  Tuscumbia  and 

of  lsS-Sf1'  that  you  will  at  least  have  a  clear  road  before  you 
meSr  f°r  several  days,  and  that  your  success  will  fully 
p0^".'  equal  your  expectations."  Sherman  began  to  reply, 
"  Dispatch  received.  All  right,"  and  at  that  instant 
the  wires  were  cut  and  communications  ceased. 
As  Sherman  rode  towards  Atlanta  that  night  he 
met  railroad  trains  going  to  the  rear  with  furious 
speed.  He  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
strange  aspect  of  affairs :  two  hostile  armies  march- 
ing in  opposite  directions,  each  in  the  full  belief 
that  it  was  achieving  a  final  and  conclusive  result 
in  the  great  war.  "  I  was  strongly  inspired,"  he 
writes,  "  with  a  feeling  that  the  movement  on  our 
part  was  a  direct  attack  upon  the  rebel  army  and 
the  rebel  capital  at  Richmond,  though  a  full  thou- 

•Memoirs.'"  sand  miles  of  hostile  country  intervened ;  and  that 

Vol.  II., 

p.  no."'     for  better  or  worse  it  would  end  the  war."    The  re- 


GENERAL    JUDSON    KILFATKIC'K. 


THE    MAECH    TO    THE    SEA  481 

suit  was  a  magnificent  vindication  of  this  soldierly   chap.xx. 
intuition. 

His  army  consisted  in  round  numbers  of  sixty 
thousand  men,  the  most  perfect  in  strength,  health, 
and  intelligence  that  ever  went  to  war.  He  had 
thoroughly  purged  it  of  all  inefficient  material, 
sending  to  the  rear  all  organizations  and  even  all 
individuals  that  he  thought  would  be  a  drag  upon 
his  celerity  or  strength.  His  right  wing,  under 
Howard,  consisted  of  the  Fifteenth  Corps,1  com- 
manded by  Osterhaus,  in  the  absence  of  John  A. 
Logan;  and  the  Seventeenth  Corps,  commanded  by 
Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.  The  left  wing,  commanded  by 
Slocum,  comprised  the  Fourteenth  Corps  under  Jeff. 
C.  Davis,  and  the  Twentieth  Corps  under  A.  S.  Wil- 
liams. In  his  general  orders  he  had  not  intimated 
to  the  army  the  object  of  their  march.  "  It  is  suf- 
ficient for  you  to  know,"  he  said,  "  that  it  involves 
a  departure  from  our  present  base  and  a  long,  nov.8,1864. 
difficult  march  to  a  new  one."  His  special  field 
orders  are  a  model  of  clearness  and  conciseness. 

The  habitual  order  of  march  was  to  be,  wherever 
practicable,  by  four  roads  as  nearly  parallel  as 
possible,  and  converging  at  points  to  be  indicated 
from  time  to  time.     There  was  to  be  no  general 

1  There  were  four  divisions  of  Morgan,    and    Absalom    Baird ; 

the  Fifteenth   Corps  command-  three   in  the    Twentieth   Corps, 

ed  by  Brigadier-Generals  C.  R.  under  Brigadier-Generals   N.  J. 

Woods,  W.  B.  Haze  a,   John  E.  Jackson,  J.  W.  Geary,  and  W.  T. 

Smith,  and  John  M.  Corse.   There  Ward.     General    Sherman  held 

were  three  divisions  in  the  Sev-  the    cavalry    division    separate, 

enteenth  Corps,  commanded  by  subject   to  his    own   orders.    It 

Major-General  J.  A.  Mower  and  was  commanded  by  General  Jud- 

Brigadier-Generals  M.  D.  Leggett  son  Kilpatrick,  and  was  composed 

and  Giles  A.  Smith.     There  were  of  two  brigades  under  Colonel 

three  divisions  in  the  Fourteenth  E.  H.  Murray  of  Kentucky  and 

Corps,  commanded  by  Brigadier-  Colonel    Smith    D.     Atkins    of 

Generals  W.  P.  Carlin,  James  D.  Illinois. 

Vol.  IX.— 31 


482 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


FROM  GENERAL   BADEALTS   "MILITARY  HISTORY  OF  ULYSSES  8.   GRANT  "         D.   APPLETON  4  I 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA 


483 


484  ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap. xx.  tram  of  supplies;  behind  each  regiment  should 
follow  one  wagon  and  one  ambulance ;  a  due  pro- 
portion of  wagons  for  ammunition  and  provision 
behind  each  brigade ;  the  separate  columns  were  to 
start  at  seven  in  the  morning  and  make  about  fifteen 
miles  a  day.  The  army  was  to  subsist  liberally  on 
the  country;  forage  parties,  under  the  command 
of  discreet  officers,  were  to  gather  near  the  routes 
traveled  whatever  was  needed  by  the  command, 
aiming  to  keep  in  the  wagons  a  reserve  of  at  least 
ten  days'  provisions ;  soldiers  were  strictly  for- 
bidden to  enter  dwellings  of  inhabitants  or  commit 
trespasses;  the  power  to  destroy  mills,  houses, 
cotton  gins,  etc.,  was  intrusted  to  corps  com- 
manders alone.  No  destruction  of  property  was  to 
be  permitted  in  districts  where  the  army  was  un- 
molested ;  but  relentless  devastation  was  ordered 
in  case  of  the  manifestation  of  local  hostility  by 
the  shooting  of  soldiers  or  the  burning  of  bridges. 
The  cavalry  were  ordered  to  appropriate,  freely, 
horses,  mules,  and  wagons  from  the  country  passed 
through.  It  was  strictly  enjoined  that  the  negroes 
should  not  be  encouraged  to  follow  the  army,  and 
that  none  but  a  certain  proportion  of  able-bodied 
young  men,  whose  services  were  needed,  should  be 
allowed  to  follow. 

Precisely  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
we*.  16th  of  November  the  great  army  started  on  its 
march.  A  band  struck  up  the  anthem  of  "  John 
Brown's  body  lies  a-moldering  in  the  grave  " ;  the 
soldiers  caught  up  the  refrain,  and,  to  the  swelling 
chorus  of  "  Glory,  Hallelujah,"  the  great  march  was 
begun.  The  month  that  followed  will  always 
remain   to   those   sixty   thousand    men  the   most 


THE    MAKCH    TO    THE    SEA  485 

romantic  and  inspiring  memory  of  their  lives,  chap.xx. 
The  weather  was  favorable  all  the  way ;  to  veterans  wu. 
the  marches  were  of  reasonable  length ;  the  work  of 
destroying  the  Southern  railroads  was  so  easy  to 
their  experienced  hands  that  it  hardly  delayed  the 
day's  march.  With  the  exception  of  the  affair  on 
the  22d  of  November,  when  P.  J.  Phillips  with  a  divi- 
sion of  Smith's  Georgia  troops  attacked  C.  C.  Wal- 
cutt's  Brigade,  which  was  marching  as  the  rear-guard 
of  the  right  wing  at  Griswoldville,  and  met  with  a 
severe  repulse,  and  a  series  of  cavalry  fights  be- 
tween Wheeler  and  Kilpatrick  near  Waynesboro', 
there  was  no  fighting  to  do  between  Atlanta  and 
Savannah.  A  swarm  of  militia  and  irregular  cav- 
alry hung,  it  is  true,  about  the  front  and  flank  of 
the  marching  army,  but  were  hardly  a  source  of 
more  annoyance  than  so  many  mosquitoes  would 
have  been.  The  foragers  brought  in  every  evening 
their  heterogeneous  supplies  from  the  outlying 
plantations,  and  although  they  had  to  defend 
themselves  every  day  from  scattered  forces  of  the 
enemy,  the  casualties  which  they  reported  each 
evening  were  insignificant.  The  utmost  efforts  of 
Sherman  and  his  officers  to  induce  the  negroes  to 
remain  quietly  at  home  were  not  entirely  successful. 
The  promise  of  freedom  which  was  to  come  to  them 
from  the  victory  of  the  Union  cause  was  too  vague 
and  indefinite  to  content  them.  When  they  saw 
this  vast  army  moving  by  before  their  cabins,  with 
flaunting  banners,  which  were  to  them  the  visible 
sign  and  symbol  of  emancipation,  in  spite  of  every 
effort  made  to  drive  them  away,  the  simple-hearted 
freedmen  gathered  in  an  ever-increasing  cloud  in 
rear  of  the  army ;  and  when  the  campaign  was  over 


4:86  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  they  peopled  the  sea-islands  of  Georgia  and  fur- 
nished, after  the  war,  the  principal  employment  of 
the  Freedmen's  Commission. 

The  march  produced  an  extraordinary  efferves- 
cence throughout  the  Confederacy.  If  words  could 
avail  anything  against  heavy  battalions,  Sherman 
would  have  been  annihilated  in  his  first  day's 
march.  Beauregard  fulminated  his  proclamations, 
filled  with  lurid  Creole  rhetoric,  to  the  people  of 
Georgia,  calling  them  to  rally  around  their  "  patri- 
otic Governor  "  —  an  adjective  which  hardly  agreed 
with  Jefferson  Davis's  recent  characterization  of 
Governor  Brown.  He  called  on  them  to  obstruct 
and  destroy  all  the  roads  in  Sherman's  front,  flank, 
and  rear,  promising  that  his  army  should  soon 
starve  in  their  midst.  From  Eichmond  the  same 
vehement  proclamations  were  rained  upon  Georgia. 
The  people  were  assured  that  President  Davis  and 
the  Secretary  of  War  had  done  and  were  still  doing 
all  that  could  be  done  to  meet  the  emergency.  "  Let 
every  man  fly  to  arms !  "  shouted  the  Georgia  mem- 
bers of  Congress.  "Remove  your  negroes,  horses, 
cattle,  and  provisions  from  Sherman's  army,  and 
burn  what  you  cannot  carry.  .  .    Assail  the  in- 

''MeS-  vader  in  front,  flank,  and  rear,  by  night  and  by  day. 

pp.  189. 190.  Let  him  have  no  rest." 

As  Sherman  drew  near  to  Milledgeville  on  the 
23d  of  November  the  Georgia  Legislature  passed 
an  act  to  levy  the  population  en  masse ;  but  this 
act  of  desperate  legislation  had  no  effect  in 
checking  the  march  of  the  "Yankees,"  and  the 
Governor,  State  officers,  and  Legislature  fled  in 
the  utmost  confusion  as  Sherman  entered  the 
place.    The  Union   general  occupied  the  Execu- 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA  487 

tive  Mansion  for  a  day;  some  of  the  soldiers  chap.xx. 
went  to  the  State  House,  organized  themselves  into 
a  constituent  assembly,  and  after  a  spirited  mock- 
serious  debate,  repealed  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
Sherman  took  the  greatest  possible  pains  to  pre- 
vent any  damage  to  the  city  and  marched  out  on 
the  24th  on  the  way  to  Millen.  He  ordered  his  nov.,186*. 
force  of  cavalry  in  the  direction  of  Augusta,  but 
pushed  steadily  forward  with  his  main  body,  and 
on  the  3d  of  December  entered  Millen  with 
Blair's  corps  and  paused  there  a  day  to  bring  the 
army  together.  Finding  it  impossible  to  stop  him, 
the  G-eorgia  State  troops  by  sharp  marching  had 
made  their  way  directly  to  the  vicinity  of  Savannah, 
where  Sherman  himself  arrived  and  invested  the 
city  from  the  Savannah  to  the  little  Ogeechee 
River,  on  the  10th  of  December. 

General  Hardee  had  found  it  impossible  to  hold 
his  outer  line  of  works.  He  destroyed  the  Charles- 
ton and  Savannah  Railroad  bridge  over  the  Savan- 
nah River  and  withdrew  to  his  inner  line.  He  had 
had  in  the  last  days  of  November  a  piece  of  singu- 
lar good  fortune.  The  Georgia  militia  under  Gen- 
eral G.  W.  Smith  had  arrived  at  Grahamsville  on  the 
Charleston  Railroad  exactly  at  the  proper  time  to 
repulse  an  attack  of  a  division  of  National  troops 
under  General  John  P.  Hatch,  which  had  been  sent 
by  General  J.  G\  Foster  to  occupy  that  important 
road  in  the  rear  of  Hardee.  Several  spirited  assaults 
were  made  by  Hatch's  troops,  but  they  were  all  un- 
successful ;  so  that  this  inestimable  route  of  retreat 
by  way  of  the  Union  causeway  and  the  Charleston 
road,  was  saved  to  Hardee.  He  had  no  confidence 
in   his    ability   to    hold    Savannah    permanently 


488  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  against  Sherman.  He  and  Richard  Taylor,  who 
had  hurried  across  the  Confederacy  from  the  west 
to  join  him,  agreed  that  Hardee  ought  to  be  ready 
to  abandon  Savannah  before  it  could  be  thoroughly 
invested.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  his 
army  and  the  garrison  of  Charleston  should  be 
saved  and  united  to  oppose  the  northward  march 
of  Sherman  after  Savannah  should  be  taken,  and 
the  repulse  of  Hatch  made  this  most  desirable  con- 
summation entirely  practicable.  The  Union  cause- 
way was  so  protected  by  inundated  rice  fields  that 
it  was  impossible,  or  at  least  exceedingly  difficult, 
for  Sherman  to  close  this  avenue  of  retreat  without 
making  a  large  detachment  from  his  army  and  a 
long  detour  to  the  north. 

But  the  first  necessity  of  the  situation  to  Sherman 
was  to  establish  his  communicatioDS  with  the  sea. 

••Memoirs.'"  Howard  had  sent  an  intelligent  scout,  Captain 
P.  195.*'  William  Duncan,  down  the  Ogeechee  in  a  canoe,  but 
had  heard  no  report  as  to  his  success  in  communica- 
ting with  the  fleet.  The  way  to  the  sea  was  barred 
by  a  formidable  work  called  Fort  McAllister,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ogeechee  Eiver.  Sherman  de- 
termined to  reduce  this  work  by  assault,  and 
assigned  for  the  purpose  his  own  favorite  division 
of  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  the  same  which  he  had 
commanded  at  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg.  His  engi- 
neers, to  whom  nothing  now  seemed  difficult, 
speedily  built  a  bridge  over  the  river,  and  at  sun- 
rise Hazen's  division  passed  over  with  orders  to 
march  rapidly  down  the  right  bank  of  the  Ogeechee 
and  to  assault  and  carry  the  fort  by  storm.  Sher- 
man reasoned  that  the  strongest  side  of  the  work 
would  be  that  which  was  constructed  to  resist  an 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA  489 

attack  by  sea,  and  that  the  gorge  would  be  com-  chap.xx. 
paratively  weak.  Hazen,  however,  found  so  many 
and  such  formidable  obstacles  in  his  way,  that  it 
was  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  he  was  Dec.w.isw. 
ready  for  the  assault.  Sherman  waited  with  in- 
tense anxiety,  on  a  signal  station,  in  full  sight  of 
the  work ;  finally  he  received  from  Hazen  a  signal 
message  that  he  was  ready,  and  at  that  moment 
a  small  steamer  approached  from  the  sea  whose 
officers  inquired  by  signal  whether  Fort  McAllister 
was  taken.  Sherman  answered,  "  Not  yet ;  but  it 
will  be  in  a  minute."  Never  was  a  promise  more 
promptly  and  perfectly  kept.  "  At  that  instant,"  as 
Sherman  says,  "  we  saw  Hazen's  troops  come  out 
of  the  dark  fringe  of  woods  that  encompassed  the 
fort,  the  lines  dressed  as  on  parade,  with  colors 
flying,  and  moving  forward  with  a  quick,  steady 
pace.  Fort  McAllister  was  then  all  alive,  its  big 
guns  belching  forth  dense  clouds  of  smoke,  which 
soon  enveloped  our  assaulting  lines.  One  color 
went  down,  but  was  up  in  a  moment.  On  the  lines 
advanced,  faintly  seen  in  the  white,  sulphurous 
smoke  ;  there  was  a  pause,  a  cessation  of  fire ;  the 
smoke  cleared  away,  and  the  parapets  were  blue 
with  our  men,  who  fired  their  muskets  in  the  air,    ou 

7  '      Sherman, 

and  shouted  so  that  we  actually  heard  them,  or  felt  "Memoirs." 
that  we  did.    Fort  McAllister  was  taken."  »• 19'7' ik 

Sherman,  without  losing  a  moment's  time,  took  a 
boat  and  pushed  out  to  sea  to  visit  General  Foster, 
who,  on  account  of  the  breaking  out  of  an  old 
wound,  was  unable  to  visit  him.  He  also  visited 
Admiral  Dahlgren  on  his  flagship,  the  Harvest 
Moon,  and  having  arranged  with  these  officers  for 
assistance  and  supplies,  he  returned  to  Fort  Mc- 


490 


ABKAHAM    LINCOLN 


Dec.  13,1864. 


Sherman, 

'Memoirs. 

Vol.  II., 

p.  205. 


Allister.  The  capture  of  this  important  work  had 
placed  his  right  wing  upon  impregnable  ground, 
and  assured  permanently  and  perfectly  his  com- 
munications with  the  fleet. 

At  this  moment,  when  all  his  energies  and  all  his 
resources  should  have  been  free  for  operations  on 
his  left  against  Savannah,  he  was  thrown  into  great 
perplexity  by  dispatches  from  General  Grant.  An 
aide-de-camp  arrived  on  the  14th  with  a  letter  from 
the  Lieutenant-General,  somewhat  indefinite  in 
terms ;  but  it  was  followed,  on  the  next  day,  by  one 
written  on  the  6th,  saying :  "  I  have  concluded  that 
the  most  important  operation  toward  closing  out 
ibid.,  P.  20",.  the  rebellion  will  be  to  close  out  Lee  and  his  army." 
He  therefore  suggested  that  Sherman  should  estab- 
lish a  base  on  the  seacoast,  leaving  there  all  his 
artillery  and  cavalry,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  army 
come  north,  by  water,  with  all  dispatch.  "The 
contents  of  these  letters,"  says  Sherman,  "  gave  me 
great  uneasiness,  for  I  had  set  my  heart  on  the 
capture  of  Savannah,  which  I  believed  to  be  prac- 
ticable and  to  be  near ;  for  me  to  embark  for  Vir- 
ginia by  sea  was  so  complete  a  change  from  what 
I  had  supposed  would  be  the  course  of  events 
n>id.  that  I  was  very  much  concerned."  Slocum  had 
already  occupied  Argyle  Island  and  the  upper  end 
of  Hutchison  Island,  and  had  a  brigade  on  the 
South  Carolina  shore  opposite,  and  was  urging  that 
he  might  be  permitted  to  pass  one  of  his  corps  to 
the  north  side  of  the  Savannah  to  operate  against 
Hardee's  communications  with  South  Carolina. 

But  Sherman,  feeling  hampered  by  Grant's  or- 
ders, supposing  that  a  fleet  of  vessels  would  soon 
be  pouring  in  ready  to  convey  his  army  to  Virginia, 


THE    MAECH    TO    THE    SEA  491 

instead  of  acting  at  once  with  his  usual  energy  chap.xx. 
against  Hardee,  set  about  preparing  the  ground 
around  Fort  McAllister  for  the  fortified  camp  which 
Grant  had  directed  him  to  establish.  Betaking 
himself  to  his  pen,  which  he  handled  with  as  much 
ease  and  alacrity  as  his  sword,  he  wrote,  on  the 
17th  of  December,  a  summons  to  Hardee  for  the 
surrender  of  Savannah.  He  assured  him  that  he 
had  sufficient  means  for  the  reduction  of  Savannah, 
that  he  had  guns  that  could  cast  heavy  and  de- 
structive shot  to  the  heart  of  the  city ;  that  he  held 
and  controlled  every  avenue  by  which  Savannah 
could  be  supplied,  and  was,  therefore,  justified  in 
demanding  its  surrender.  Had  his  note  ended 
there,  it  would  have  been  liable  to  no  criticism, 
except  ineffectiveness ;  but  he  closed  by  the 
threat,  that  if  forced  to  assault,  he  should  feel 
justified  in  resorting  to  the  harshest  measures,  and  "Menmabs." 
should  make  little  effort  to  restrain  his  army.  He  pp-  210> 2"- 
inclosed,  as  a  final  blunder,  a  copy  of  Hood's  demand 
for  the  surrender  of  Resaca,  in  which,  it  will  be 
remembered,  that  indiscreet  warrior  had  threatened 
to  put  the  garrison  to  the  sword,  and  on  his  demand 
being  refused  had  marched  away  from  the  place ; 
Sherman  thus  suggesting  a  historical  parallel  which 
he  should  have  avoided  at  any  cost. 

Hardee  answered  with  great  calmness  and  pro- 
priety, denying  all  General  Sherman's  premises, 
and  refusing  to  surrender  the  town.  In  reply  to 
the  menace  of  Sherman,  Hardee  said :  "  I  have 
hitherto  conducted  the  military  operations  in- 
trusted to  my  direction  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  and  I  should  deeply 
regret  the  adoption  of  any  course  by  you  that  may  raid.,  P.  211. 


492  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  force  me  to  deviate  from  them  in  future."  Sherman 
now  resolved,  in  consideration  of  the  short  time 
allowed  him  by  his  understanding  of  Grant's  orders, 
to  assault  the  place ;  but,  in  view  of  the  difficulty  of 
the  ground,  the  only  avenues  of  approach  being 
narrow  causeways,  running  across  inundated  rice- 
fields,  he  determined  to  make  a  final  effort  to  invest 
the  city  completely,  so  that  in  case  of  success  Har- 
dee's entire  army  might  be  captured.  The  only 
avenue  by  which  Hardee  remained  in  communica- 
tion with  South  Carolina  was  the  Union  causeway, 
connecting  his  pontoon  bridge  with  the  outlying 
works  at  Grahamsville,  which  had  been  thus  far 
held  successfully  against  Foster  by  the  Georgia 
militia. 

Sherman  visited  Foster  again  to  request  him 
to  move  Hatch's  division  down  to  Bluffton,  a 
point  from  which  it  might  reach  the  Union  cause- 
way, fortify,  and  hold  it.  Foster  at  once  engaged 
to  perform  this  work,  and  Sherman  returned,  after 
a  tedious  trip,  so  delayed  by  contrary  winds  and 
low  tides  that  it  was  evening  on  the  21st  of 
1864.  December  before  he  arrived  at  his  camp.  The 
startling  news  that  awaited  him  was  that  Hardee 
had  successfully  evacuated  Savannah.  During  the 
night  of  the  20th  and  the  morning  of  the  21st,  he 
had  marched  his  garrison  over  the  pontoon  bridge 
and  northward  along  the  Union  causeway,  undis- 
turbed by  Foster's  troops.  He  had  carried  away 
his  men  and  his  light  artillery,  but  had  destroyed 
his  ironclads  and  the  navy  yard,  leaving,  however, 
Savannah,  a  rich  prize  in  itself,  and  made  still 
richer  in  spoil  of  every  kind.  So  quietly  was  the 
change  in  the  government  of  the  city  effected,  that 


THE    MARCH    TO    THE    SEA  493 

a  blockade  runner,  which  had  eluded  the  fleet  out-   chap.xx. 
side,   steamed   up   to  the  wharf    unconscious  of 
danger,  and  its  captain  did  not  learn  he  had  lost 
his  vessel  until  he  presented  his  papers  at  the 
Custom-House. 

Though  somewhat  disappointed  at  Hardee's  es- 
cape, whatever  chagrin  Sherman  may  have  felt 
speedily  passed  away  in  view  of  the  enormous  im- 
portance of  the  acquisition  he  had  made.  Eiding 
into  Savannah  he  sent  a  brief  dispatch  to  the  Presi- 
dent in  these  words :  "I  beg  to  present  to  you  as  a 
Christmas  gift  the  city  of  Savannah,  with  150  heavy 
guns  and  plenty  of  ammunition ;  also  about  25,000  8lS!° 
bales  of  cotton."  His  gratification  was  increased  by  is**.0'  ms. 
the  receipt  a  few  days  later  of  letters  from  Grant  and 
Halleck,  full  of  generous  and  unqualified  praise  for 
his  great  campaign,  and  what  was  still  more  grate- 
ful to  his  feelings,  an  absolute  revocation  of  the 
orders  to  proceed  North  by  sea.  General  Halleck 
said :  "  General  Grant's  wishes  .  .  .  are  that  this  Haiieck  to 
whole  matter  of  your  future  actions  should  be  left  en-     Dec"™. ' 

J  1864. 

tirely  to  your  own  discretion."    Grant  said,  "  If  you  Co^P°$ee 
capture  the  garrison  of  Savannah  it  certainly  will  of  thenar* 
compel  Lee  to  detach  from  Richmond  or  give  us     SmeS?" 
nearly  the  whole  South.   My  own  opinion  is  that  Lee      p^se.' 
is  averse  to  going  out  of  Virginia;  and  if  the  cause  of 
the  South  is  lost  he  wants  Richmond  to  be  the  last 
place  surrendered.    If  he  has  such  views,  it  may  be 
well  to  indulge  him  until  we  get  everything  else  in 
our  hands."    He  closed  by  congratulating  Sherman     Grant  to 
upon  the  splendid  results  of  his  campaign,  "the     dI™*?' 
like  of  which  is  not  read  of  in  past  history."    To  ibid.,  P.' 287. 
crown  the  year's  work  with  the  most  transcendent 
gratification  possible  to  a  soldier,  came  also  letters 


494  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  detailing  the  check  inflicted  upon  Hood  at  Franklin, 
and  the  glorious  victory  at  Nashville,  where  Thomas 
had  utterly  broken  in  pieces  the  last  invading  army 
of  the  Confederates  in  the  West.  This  was  to 
Sherman  the  final  vindication  of  his  great  cam- 
paign, proving,  as  he  held,  that  "  his  army  had 
been  properly  divided,  and  that  each  part  was  duly 
proportioned  to  its  work." 

Congress  passed  at  once  a  joint  resolution  tender- 
ing the  thanks  of  the  nation  "to  Major-Gen eral  Wil- 
liam T.  Sherman,  and  through  him  to  the  officers  and 
men  under  his  command  for  their  gallantry  and  good 
conduct  in  their  late  campaign  from  Chattanooga 
to  Atlanta,  and  the  triumphal  march  thence  through 
^PGio°?"'  Georgia  to  Savannah  terminating  in  the  capture 
i865,np.  158.  and  occupation  of  that  city."  But  no  expression  of 
appreciation  and  of  gratitude  equaled  in  the  mind 
of  Sherman  the  letter  with  which  the  President 
acknowledged  the  receipt,  on  Christmas  Eve,  of  his 
dispatch  from  Savannah,  for  Mr.  Lincoln  in  this  re- 
markable letter  gave  to  Sherman,  as  he  had  given 
to  Grant  after  Vicksburg,  the  inestimable  assurance 
that  the  credit  of  the  victory  was  exclusively  his 
own ;  that  the  Government  claimed  no  part  in  it. 
"  My  dear  General  Sherman:  Many,  many  thanks 
for  your  Christmas  gift,  the  capture  of  Savannah. 
When  you  were  about  leaving  Atlanta  for  the 
Atlantic  coast  I  was  anxious,  if  not  fearful;  but 
feeling  that  you  were  the  better  judge,  and  re- 
membering that  'nothing  risked,  nothing  gained,' 
I  did  not  interfere.  Now,  the  undertaking  being  a 
success,  the  honor  is  all  yours,  for  I  believe  none 
of  us  went  farther  than  to  acquiesce.  And  taking 
the  work  of  General  Thomas  into  the  count,  as  it 


THE    MAKCH    TO    THE    SEA 


495 


Lincoin  to 
Sherman, 
Dec.  26, 

1864.     MS. 


should  be  taken,  it  is,  indeed,  a  great  success.  Not  chap.xx 
only  does  it  afford  the  obvious  and  immediate  mili- 
tary advantages,  but  in  showing  to  the  world  that 
your  army  could  be  divided,  putting  the  stronger 
part  to  an  important  new  service,  and  yet  leaving 
enough  to  vanquish  the  old  opposing  force  of  the 
whole  —  Hood's  army  —  it  brings  those  who  sat  in 
darkness  to  see  a  great  light.  But  what  next  ?  I 
suppose  it  will  be  safe  if  I  leave  General  Grant 
and  yourself  to  decide.  Please  make  my  grateful 
acknowledgments  to  your  whole  army,  officers 
and  men." 

Upon  this  letter  General  Sherman  may  safely 
rest  his  claim  to  the  glory  of  the  march  to  the 
sea.  It  would  be  a  fruitless  toil  to  examine  and 
refute  the  claims  which  are  made  by  the  friends 
of  other  generals  that  Sherman  only  adopted  and 
executed  the  original  thought  of  somebody  else. 
It  is  not  to  be  questioned  that  many  other  people 
had  thought  of  marching  through  the  center  of  the 
Confederacy.  Hunter  had  proposed  to  march  a 
column  westward  from  Hilton  Head;  Burnside, 
while  at  Knoxville,  had  suggested  to  Halleck  that 
he  should  be  allowed  to  move  by  Bragg's  flank  to 
Atlanta,  "  destroy  the  enemy's  communications,  .  .  . 
and  thence  move  to  such  a  place  on  the  coast, 
where  cover  can  be  obtained,  as  shall  be  agreed 
upon  with  you.  It  is  proposed  to  take  no  trains, 
but  live  upon  the  country.  .  .  "  But  it  is  idle  to 
multiply  these  quotations  from  the  men  who  im- 
agined such  a  march.  There  were  men  before 
Columbus  who  dreamed  of  sailing  west  to  find 
India.  The  glory  and  honor  belong  of  right  to  the 
man  who  translates  the  vague  thought  into  sub- 


Sept.  30, 
1863. 


496  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chap.  xx.  stantial  achievement.  General  Sherman  has  the 
right  to  have  his  own  account  of  the  ripening  of 
this  plan  in  his  mind  implicitly  accepted.  He  says : 
"As  soon  as  Hood  had  shifted  across  from  Lovejoy's 
to  Palmetto,  I  saw  the  move  in  my  'mind's  eye,' 
and  after  Jeff.  Davis's  speech  at  Palmetto  of  Sep- 
tember 26, 1  was  more  positive  in  my  conviction, 
but  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  time  and  manner. 
When  General  Hood  first  struck  our  railroad  above 
Marietta  we  were  not  ready,  and  I  was  forced  to 
watch  his  movements  further  till  he  had '  carromed ' 
off  to  the  west  of  Decatur.  Then  I  was  perfectly 
convinced,  and  had  no  longer  a  shadow  of  doubt. 
The  only  possible  question  was  as  to  Thomas's 
strength  and  ability  to  meet  Hood  in  the  open  field. 
I  did  not  suppose  that  General  Hood,  though  rash, 
would  venture  to  attack  fortified  places  like  Alla- 
toona,  Eesaca,   Decatur,   and    Nashville;    but  he 

•Memoirs.'"  did  so,  and  in  so  doing  he  played  into  our  hands 

Vol.  ii.,  I  O         V    J 

p.  167.      perfectly." 


END    OF  VOL.  IX 


1.1.  Jloo?.  OSH    CJ  12^