SUMMER OF
1864.
417
coming to Mr, Lincoln against a collector of customs in Oregon—that
he was not a fit person to hold so important an oifice.
" My mind
is made up,'' wrote the President to Mr. Chase, " to
re-
mov(> hiin.
I do not decide
tliat the charges against him are true.
I
only declare that the degree of dissatisfaction with him
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 and find some other place foi* him."
Mr. Chase thought the President ought to have consulted with him,
CLESrENT
L. VALLANDIGHAM.
418
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
and was
so
displeased
that he
again
tendered
his
resignation.
Mr.
Lincoln called upon him, put his arm around the neck of the Secretary
and
said, " Chase, here
is a paper with which
I have nothing
to
do.
Take it back and be reasonable."
Mr. Chase did so, and things went on once more as
if nothing had
happened.
When the Republican Party came
into power there was
a
great
scramble for
offices, especially in New York.
The
strife between the
different factions gave Mr. Lincoln a great deal of trouble.
Mr. Cisco,
collector of customs, desired to resign the office.
A contest arose as to
who should succeed him.
Mr. Chase desired the aj)pointment of Mr.
Field.
Senator Morgan opposed it.
" Strained as I am," wrote Mr. Lincoln to the
Secretary, " I do not
think that I can make this appointment in the direction of a still greater
strain."
Twice had Mr. Chase tendered his resignation, and he was so
dis-
pleased that he once more asked to be relieved
of the Secretaryship.
Abraham Lincoln was not the man to go again to the residence of Mr.
Chase and ask him to remain in office.
The resignation was accepted, and David Tod, of Ohio, appointed
;
but a telegram came from him, declining the appointment on account
of his health.
Through the night the President had been thinking over the situa-
tion.
The Secretary of the Treasury must be a man of marked ability
—one who would command the confidence of the people.
The
iseV'
Gro^^ei'iiiiient must have money.
Unless it was obtained the ar-
mies
could
not
be
kept
in
the
field.
William P. Fessenden,
Senator from Maine, chairman of the Finance Committee, commanded
the confidence of the country. (')
He would appoint him,
" Mr. Fessenden
is in the anteroom and would like to see you," said
one of the secretaries in the morning.
" Here, take this to the Senate.
Mr. Fessenden is not to come in till
after you have started," said Mr. Lincoln.
After the departure of the secretar}^, Mr. Fessenden entered the ex-
ecutive chamber.
He did not know what the President had done.
" Mr.
President,"
said Mr.
Fessenden,
" allow me
to
suggest Mr.
McCulloch as a suitable person for the Treasury Department.''
He sees a smile upon Mr. Lincoln's face, and soon learns its meaning.
" Mr. Senator, I have just sent your name to the Senate."
Mr. Fessenden springs from his chair.
SUMMER OF
1864.
41 'J
WTLT-IAM
P. FESSENDEN.
" Mr. President, you must witb(lra\r
it.
I cannot, I cannot acce|)t it."
" No, Mr. Fessenden, I cannot withdraw
it.
I want you.
You must
decline
it before tlie public if you really cannot take it."
The nomination was confirmed without a dissenting voice
in
the
Senate.
Republicans and Democrats alike knew, esteemed, and honored
Mr. Fessenden.
420
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" It
is very singular," Mr. Lincoln
said, " considering
that
this
ap-
pointment
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
:
his thorough acquaintance with the business
—as chairman of the Senate Committee of Finance he knows as much
of
this
special
subject as Mr. Chase
; he possesses a national
reputa-
tion and the confidence of the country
; he
is a
radical, without the
petulant and vicious fretfulness 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
w^hich
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
ap-
pointment,
his
instantaneous
confirmation,
the
earnest
entreaties
of
everybody that he should accept, cannot but be grateful to his feelings."
Congress was to adjourn at noon on the anniversary of the birth of
the nation.
Early in the forenoon the President rode to the Capitol to
examine and sign the bills which had been passed.
A bill providing for
the readmission of the seceded States to the Union did not meet his
approval.
It had been drawm by Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland,
and vehemently advocated by Senator AVade, of Ohio
;
Senator Sumner,
of Massachusetts
; Senator Chandler, of Michigan, and others.
" Are you not going to sign it ?" Chandler asked. (')
" This bill," Mr. Lincoln replied, " has just come to me.
Congress is
about to adjourn.
It
is a matter of too great importance to be swal-
lowed that way."
" If
it
is vetoed, Mr.
President,
it
will damage us fearfully in the
coming elections.
The bill prohibits slavery in the reconstructed States.
It is a ver}^ important point."
" I am aware of it," the President replied.
" It is a very important
point.
I doubt if Congress has authority under the Constitution to act
on that point."
" Mr. President,
it is no more than you yourself have done."
" I conceive," said the President, " that in an emergency
I may do
things on military grounds
w^hich Congress cannot do under the Con-
stitution."
Senators and representatives who had earnestly advocated the pas-
sage of the bill were angry.
SUMMER OF
1864.
421
" Gentlemen," said Mr.
Lincoln, " it seems to me
in asserting that
the insurrectionary States are no longer in the Union
is to make the
fatal admission
that
States, whenever they
please, may dissolve their
connection with the Union.
We
cannot surmise
that
admission.
If
that be
true, then
I am not President.
I have earnestly favored an
amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery.
Such a
bill passed
the Senate, but failed in the House."
" I agree with you," said
Secretary Fessenden.
" I have had my
doubts as to the constitutional efficacy of your own decree of emanci-
pation where
it has
not been carried
into
effect
by the advance
of
the army."
The other members of the Cabinet expressed
their conviction that
the President had acted wisely in withholding his signature to the
bill.
Mr. Chase, no longer a member, said the bill was a condemnation of
the President's amnesty proclamation, and that Mr. Lincoln put the bill
in his pocket because he did not dare to veto
it.
"There
is," said Senator Sumner, "intense indignation against the
President."
While Mr. Lincoln was signing bills in the Capitol an animated scene
was being enacted
in the grounds around the White House.
By
his
special permission the colored Sunday-school children were holding a
festival upon the smoothly-mown lawn. A platform had been erected for
the accommodation of those who were to speak, and rows of benches for
the audience.
Swings w^ere suspended from the trees and tilts erected.
Men who but
a few months
before had been
sold upon the auction
block stood upon
the platform, and with
religious
fervor peculiar to
their
race gave
thanks
to God
for
the freedom
they had
received
from " Mars Linkum."
He was their Moses, who had brought them out
of bondage.
IST^ever
before had
there been such a gathering
in
the
grounds around the Presidential mansion.
Never before March 4, 1861,
had a colored person other than as a servant dared set his foot in that
enclosure.
As the Saviour of the world broke down the wall that sep-
arated Jew and Gentile
in the temple
of Jerusalem, so Abraham Lin-
coln, not only by proclamation but by example, overturned the wall of
prejudice, contumely, and hatred which had been erected between An-
glo-Saxon and African.
During the day a delegation
of three clergymen and two laymen,
representing the colored churches of Baltimore, called upon the Presi-
dent to present a Bible to
their benefactor.
It was a large volume,
bound in velvet, its corners protected by solid golden bands.
Upon one
422
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
ZACHAKIAH CHANDLER.
cover was a representation of the President in a cotton-field removing
shackles from the
slaves, and invoking the
blessing of God upon the
act.
Upon the other cover was the inscription
:
" To Abraham Lincoln^ President of the United States^ the friend of
tiniversal freedom.
From,
the
loyal
colored ];)eople of Baltimore.,
as a
token of respect and gratitude.
"JuZy 4,1864."
SUMMER OF
1864.
423
The Kev. Mr. Case, in presenting
it, said
:
"The loyal colored people of Baltimore have delegated to us the authority to present
this Bible as a token of their appreciation of your humane part towards the people of our
race.
AVhile
all the nations are offering tributes of
respect, we cannot
let the occasion
pass by without tendering ours.
Since we have been incorporated
in
tlie American fam-
ily we have been true and loyal, and we now stand ready to defend the country.
"We are
ready
to be armed and trained
in
military matters, in order
to protect and defend the
star-spangled banner.
"Our hearts will ever feel the most unbounded gratitude towards you. We present a
copy of
the Holy Scriptures as a token of respect to you for your active part in the cause
of emancipation.
This great event will be a matter of history.
In future, when our race
shall ask what mean these tokens, they will be told of your mighty acts, and rise up and
call you blessed.
"The loyal people will remember your Excellency at
the throne
of divine
grace.
May the King Eternal, an all-wise Providence, protect and keep you
; and when you pass
from this woild, may you be borne to the bosom of your Saviour and God
!"
Mr. Lincoln, much moved, replied
:
"It woidd be a very fitting occasion to make a response at length to the very appro-
priate address which yon have just made.
I would do so
if
I were prepared.
I would
promise you to make response in writing had not experience taught me that business will
not allow me to do so.
I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been
a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free.
"So far as I have been able, so far as came within my sphere,
I h.ave always acted as
I believed w^as right and just, and done all
I could for
tlie good of mankind.
I have, in
letters and documents sent forth from this ofHce, expressed myself better than
I can now.
"In regard to the great Book, I have only to say it is the liest gift which God has ever
given to man.
All the good from the Saviour of the world is comnumicated to us through
this book.
But for
it we could not know light from wrong.
All those things desirable
to man are contained in
it.
I return you my sincere thanks for this very elegant copy of
the great Book of God which you present."
That the people might knon^ why he did not sign the Reconstruction
Bill, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclamation.
"I am," he said, "fully satis-
fied with the system
of reconstruction contained in the
bill, as
"^1864
^^®
^ *^0' proper for the loyal people of any
State choosing to
adopt
it."
Such a course on the part of a State would be in ac-
cordance with the Constitution, and he would use
his influence
to aid
in its restoration
; but
it was needful for the people to act in their sov-
ereign capacity.
Important
military
events
were
taking
place.
General
Hunter,
with
18,000 men, advanced up the Shenandoah Valley
to Lexington.
This movement was so threatening to the Confederates that General
Lee sent General
Early with a
large
force
to
stop
them.
Hunter's
provisions were failing.
The Confederate cavalry captured one
of his
424
LIFE' OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
trains loaded with
supplies.
Early occupied a position which
obliged
Hunter to retreat down the Great Kanawha to the Ohio Kiver.
Early
saw his opportunity and advanced with 17,000 veteran
soldiers.
A di-
vision
of his cavalry under General Imboden destroyed the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad.
General Sigel with a small Union force held Maryland Heights, near
Harper's Ferry.
The
Confederate cavalry paid no
attention
to
this
force, but crossed the Potomac, dashed into Hagerstown, made requisi-
tion for $20,000, burned hay and grain, seized horses and cattle.
Early
followed
to
Boonsboro', turned
east
over
the
South
Mountain, and
entered Frederick.
It was a very rapid movement, and a surprise to
General Halleck, who at first thought it was only a small raiding party
bent on obtaining plunder.
That Washington might be protected. Gen-
eral Grant sent Ricketts'
division of the Sixth Corps from the lines in
front of Petersburg.
The troops marched to City Point and embarked
on steamboats en route for Baltimore.
The few Union troops
in Maryland, under General Wallace, were
stationed along the Monocacy River, east of Frederick.
They were only
2500.
Many of the
soldiers had
enlisted for 100 days and had never
been in battle.
Wallace kept them marching and countermarching in
sight of the Confederate
pickets, to make them think they were con-
fronted by a large force.
General Early was
in
Frederick, demanding
|200,000, which was
paid him.
He was obtaining boots, clothing, and provisions.
His cav-
alrymen w^ere gathering horses and cattle from the surrounding country.
The morning dawned with the troops under Wallace and Ricketts,
numbering 6000, posted along the eastern bank of the Monocacy.
The
Confederates, numbering
nearly
20,000, with
forty cannon, ad-
"^186^'
"^3'^<^6d to brush Wallace aside; that done, they would move on
to Washington or Baltimore.
The Union troops made a stub-
born resistance.
Nearly 2000 were
killed or wounded and more than
TOO taken prisoners before they yielded the field.
The stand thus res-
olutely taken, delaying the advance of Early, was
of incalculable ad-
vantage in saving Washington.
The
little handful
of men under Wallace retreated towards
Balti-
more, and there were no Union
troops to retard Early
in
his march
towards the nation's capital.
A division of Confederate cavalry
'^1864^' ^^'^^ sweeping around Baltimore, destroying the railroad leading
to Harrisburg and between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
As at
the beginning of the war
it was intended to prevent troops from
arriv-
SUMMER OF
1864.
425
ing
at Washington
; bnt soldiers were hastening to that city from
an-
other direction.
The four years of conflict were characterized by remarkable coinci-
dences.
When General Grant assumed command of all the armies be
determined to conduct the campaign on a general principle—he would
concentrate his forces.
He saw that the Confederate army, under Lee, in
Virginia, and the one in Georgia, under Johnston, constituted the power
of
the Kebellion.
He would
need
reinforcements, especially
in Vir-
ginia.
The Nineteenth Corps in Louisiana, under General Emory, was
holding that country, but was not in position to take aggressive action.
He therefore directed Emory to embark his troops and sail to Fortress
Monroe; and the steamers, with the veterans on board invigorated by
the sea-voyage, were ready to drop anchor at Hampton Roads on the
afternoon of the conflict at Monocacy.
The telegraph flashed the news
of the advance of Early towards the
capital; and not only the Nine-
teanth Corps but the second division of the Sixth Corps, by the orders
of Grant, were sent to Washington.
There was a scene of excitement
in that city
: a mustering of convalescents in the hospitals, soldiers on
detached service, marines and
sailors
in
the Navy-yard, clerks
in the
Quartermaster's Department, artillerymen in the
forts— nearly 20,000
in
all.
But
they
were
undisciplined, widely
scattered, unorganized.
The chances were that Early, with his 20,000 veterans, would have
lit-
tle difficulty in entering the city.
Up
the
Potomac
sailed
the
ocean
steamers
from New
Orleans
with the veterans from Louisiana, and the river steamers w^ith those of
the
Sixth
Corps.
It was nearly two
o'clock
in the afternoon
•^I'g^^^^' when
the
President, looking from
the
south windows
of the
White House, beheld the vessels off Alexandria, and experienced
a sense of
relief from the anxiety of the morning.
When the vessels
came to the wharves at the foot of Sixth Street the soldiers beheld the
President
v/aiting
to welcome them.
They rent the
air with
cheers.
Without
delay the column marched up Seventh
Street, welcomed by
hurrahs.
Mingling with the shout of welcome was the thunder of can-
non at Fort Stevens, hurling
shells upon the advancing Confederates.
The veterans had arrived just when they were greatly needed.
General
Early's opportunity had gone by.
Never was a Confederate
flag to
wave over the dome
of the Capitol
; never were his soldiers to march
in triumph
through Washington.
He
had
determined
to make
an
assault, but when he beheld the soldiers of the Sixth and Nineteenth
Corps confronting him, he hesitated to give the order.
426
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Union troops were not there to stand upon the defensive.
Gen-
eral Wright, of the Sixth Corps, in command, determined to advance.
The cannon of Fort Stevens opened fire.
Upon its rampart stood Pres-
ident Lincohi surveying the
scene.
Wheaton's
division
of the Sixth
Corps began the attack, driving the Confederate si^irmishers.
The rat-
thng
fire deepened
to volleys.
The heavy cannon
in
the
forts
sent
shells over the heads of the advancing troops.
Early had no intention
of fighting a
battle.
He had come
to
seize the capital, but had been
foiled.
He signalized
his exploit by burning the house of Mr. Blair,
member of the President's Cabinet, then crossed the Potomac with the
cattle and plunder collected in Maryland, and made his way once more
to the Shenandoah.
Mr. Lincoln had selected able men
as members of his Cabinet, but
they differed widely in opinion upon
questions of public
policy.
The
convention which renominated him passed a resolution
calling for har-
mony of action.
The Postmaster-general, Mr. Montgomery Blair, was
regarded with disfavor by many earnest Kepubhcans.
They importuned
the President to remove him.
It was known that the Postmaster-gen-
eral was hostile to Mr. Seward and Secretary Stanton.
He keenly felt
the destruction
of
his residence by the
Confederates, especially his
li-
brary, which contained valuable papers.
He commented severely upon
the inefficiency of Halleck, who wrote a letter to Stanton.
" I desire
to know,"
said
Halleck,
" whether
such
wholesale
de-
nouncement and accusation by a member of the Cabinet receives the
sanction and support of the President of the United States ?
H so, 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 accused that the slanderer
be dismissed from the Cabinet."
The
Secretary of War sent the communication
to
the
President,
making no comment upon
Halleck's
request.
Plain the reply of Mr.
Lincoln
:
" Whether the remarks were really made I do not know, nor do I
suppose such knowledge
is necessary to a correct response.
If they
were made, I do not approve them
; and yet, under the circumstances,
I would not dismiss a member of the Cabinet therefor.
I do not con-
sider 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 vindication against slander.
I propose continuing
to be myself the judge as to when a member of the Cabinet
shall be
dismissed." (')
SUMMER OF
1864.
427
The members of the Cabinet assembled
in the executive chamber
to consult upon grave questions.
They had been invited by Mr. Lin-
coln
to be
his
advisers, to aid him in administering the
affairs of the
Government.
The countrv Avas fighting for
its
life.
Harmonious ac-
tion was a duty they owed
to
the
nation.
The people demanded
it.
Abraham
Lincoln was determined
to have
it.
Before proceeding to
business they heard him say
:
''"Gentlemen^ I must myself he the best judge how long to retain in and
lohen to remove any of youfrom his position.
It would greatly pain me
to discover any ofyou endeavoring to procure another''s removal^ or in any
way to xjrejudice him hefore the puhlic.
Such endeavor would he a wrong
to me, and, much more, a wrong to the country.
My wish is that on this
suhject no remark he made nor question asked hy any of you, here or else-
where, now or hereafter. {^)
With firmness and dignity the head-master of the school had made
known the rule to his subordinates.
It was not for them to dictate his
course
of
action.
They were not the words
of an autocrat, but of a
servant of the people.
While Early was advancing towards Washington, the President re-
ceived a letter from Horace Greeley, indorsing a communication from
William
Cornell
Jewett, who was
hobnobbing wdth Thompson
and
Clay, Confederate agents
in Canada.
Mr. Jewett was an adventurer,
a busybody, who imagined
he was
of great importance
to the coun-
try.
He wrote
letters to Jefferson Davis and Mr. Lincoln, proffering
advice, of w^hich no notice was taken.
He
also wrote
letters to the
newspapers.
" I am authorized to state," he w-rote to the editor of the
" Tribune," " that two ambassadors of Davis & Co. are now
in Can-
ada, with
full and complete powers for a peace, and Mr. Saunders
re-
quests
that you come on immediately to me at Cataract House for a
private interview
;
or,
if
3'ou will send the
President's protection
for
him and two friends, they will come and meet you.
He says the whole
matter can be consummated by me, you, them, and President Lincoln."
Mr. Greeley was an able editor and writer.
Lie was impulsive and
earnest.
He wanted
to
bring
about
peace.
He knew that Jewett
was meddling with
other
people's
affairs.
A
little
reflection would
have led liim to doubt the statements of such an adventurer, but with
childish
simplicity he w^rote to Mr. Lincoln and enclosed that received
frpm Jewett.
" I venture to remind you," he
said, " that our bleeding, bankrupt,
almost dying country longs for peace, shudders at the prospect of fresh
428
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
conscriptions, of further wholesale devastations, and of new
rivers of
human blood
; and a wide-spread conviction that the Government and
its 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 harm in the approaching elec-
tion."
Mr. Greeley drew up a plan of
his own for bringing about peace.
The Union was to be perpetual.
Slavery was to be abolished.
Four
hundred million
dollars were to be paid to the Slave
States.
A na-
tional convention was to be called to settle all differences.
" Mr. President," he wrote, " I fear you do not realize how intently
the
people
desire
any
peace,
consistent w4th
national
integrity and
honor, and how joyously they w^ould hail its achievement and bless its
authors.
With United States
stocks worth about forty cents
in gold
per dollar, and drafting about to commence on the third million Union
soldiers, can this be wondered
at?
I do not say a just peace
is now
attainable, though I believe it to be so."
Mr. Greeley, accepting Jewett's statements
without
question, had
jumped
at
a
conclusion.
President
Lincoln had no
faith
in Jewett.
He did not believe any one had been authorized by Jefferson Davis to
negotiate a peace.
Were
it
so,
it was not probable that a busybody
would be
selected by the President
of the Confederacy.
The
letter,
however, was not tossed
into the waste-basket.
It should not be said
that the Administration
did not
desire peace.
Mr. Greeley had been
criticising the conduct
of the war, but the
time had come w^hen the
President could effectually demonstrate to him his sincere desire to end
the conflict.
" If you can
find," he w^rote
in reply, " any person, anywhere, pro-
fessing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis, in w^'iting, for peace,
embracing the restoration
of the Union and abandonment
of slavery,
whatever else it embraces, say to him he may come to me w4th you."
Mr. Greeley did not read
in the words " any
person, anywhere,"
" any proposition," the disbelief of Mr. Lincoln in the honest intention
of Jewett and a quiet sarcasm upon himself.
Another meddler, George N. Saundars, who took
part
in making
Greeley a dupe of the Democratic Party, wrote that he was authorized
to say that Mr. Clay,
Professor Holcombe,
of Yirginia, and himself
were ready to go to Washington to negotiate peace.
" I am," w^rote Greeley to the President, " of course quite other than
sanguine that peace can now be made, but I am quite sure that a frank,
SUMMER OF
1864.
429
earnest, anxious effort to terminate the war on honorable terms would
immensely strengthen the Government in case of
its failure, and would
help us in the eyes of the civilized world,"
The
President
wrote a second
letter
to
Greeley.
" I am
disap-
pointed," he said, " that you have not already reached here with those
commissioners.
If they would consent to come on being shown
•^l^'d!.?'''' mv
letter to you on the 9th
inst., show
this to them:
and
if
they will consent to come on the terms stated in the former, bring
them.
I not only intend a sincere
effort for peace, but
I intend that
you shall be a personal witness that
it is made."
The President manifested his sincerity by sending one of his secre-
taries to New York to confer with Greeley.
He was determined the
editor of the "Tribune" should personally know that he was sincere.
Mr. Greeley went
to Niagara with a paper which guaranteed
the
safety of Clay, Thompson, Holcombe, and Saunders
in
visiting Wash-
ington.
He wrote a note to those gentlemen, informing them he
"^I'sel*'' understood they were duly accredited from Richmond
as bear-
ers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace.
He
did not inform them in regard to the condition mentioned by Mr. Lin-
coln—" a proposition in writing from Jefferson Davis."
They replied that they were not accredited from Richmond to
ne-
gotiate peace.
They had no writing from Davis.
They did not doubt
he might appoint them to conduct arrangements for peace if President
Lincoln were to move in the matter.
The
editor
of
the "Tribune" was
perplexed, and
telegraphed
to
AVashington, asking what should be done.
The President concluded to send John Hay, one of his secretaries,
to Niagara with the
followino; document, which would be understood
by all
:
" To whom it ma}'^ concern
: Any proposition wliich embraces tlie restoration of peace,
the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes bj'
and with an authority that can control the armies now at war with the United States, will
be received and considered bj' the executive government of the United States, and will be
met by liberal terms and other substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers
thereof shall have safe conduct boih ways."
Mr. Greeley
crossed
to
the Canada
side, handed
the
proposition
to Mr. Holcombe, and
privately informed Jewett he would be
'^lj''g'g^"' pleased to receive through him any answer
the
Confederates
might make.
Mr. Jewett saw an opportunity to help the Peace
Democrats and disparage Mr. Lincoln.
430
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
He informed the commissioners
that he was Mr. Greeley's
confi-
dential agent.
They wrote a letter pretending ignorance of any condi-
tions attached
to the
first
letter of the President to Greeley, and ac-
cused Mr. Lincoln of having made a withdrawal
of
his
first
overture.
They said the South wanted peace, and intimated that he did not desire
it.
They appealed
to patriots and Christians in the North to " recall
the abused
authorit}^, and vindicate the outraged
civilization
of their
country."
The letter was placed in the hands of Jewett, who, besides sending
it
to
Greeley,
sent
copies
to
the Democratic newspapers.
Jewett,
Saunders, and the Confederates had used the unsuspecting editor of the
" Tribune " to
discredit Mr. Lincoln before the people.
The President
had not been deceived.
He mistrusted at the outset that a trick w^as
intended.
The Democratic newspapers declared more vehemently than ever
that Mr. Lincoln w^as a blood-thirsty tvrant, who desired only to see the
South humiliated and
crushed, the country desolated—all on account
of the negroes.
Mr. Greeley was chagrined at the outcome of his ex-
ploit.
The President, desiring to soothe
his wounded
sensibilities, in-
vited him to visit "Washington.
The invitation was not accepted.
" I
fear," he wrote
to Mr. Lincoln,
" that my chance for usefulness
has
passed.
I know that nine-tenths of the whole American people, ISTorth
and South, are anxious for peace—peace on almost any terms—and
ut-
terly 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 refuse 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 the
State of Pennsylvania would amount
to
100,000, and
that we should
lose Connecticut
also.
ISTow,
if
the Rebellion can be
crushed before November it will do to go on
;
if not, we are rushing to
certain
ruin. ... I beg you, I 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 to be opened.
Meantime let a na-
tional convention be held, and there will surely be no more war, at all
events."
Two
prominent members
of Congress, Henry Winter Davis and
Senator Wade, were chagrined at the action
of
the President
in not
signing the bill for the reconstruction of the Rebel States.
The Presi-
SUMMER OF
1864.
431
(lent had set up his opinion against a majority of both Houses.
They
gave vent to their anger by issuing a manifesto.
"Tlie 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. ... A moi^e studied outrage on the legislative
A'se/' ^^^ithority
of
the
people
has
never been perpetrated. ... If he
wishes our support, he must confine himself to his executive du-
ties
;
to obey and to execute, not make, the laws
; to suppress by arras
armed rebellion, and leave political reorganization to Congress."
In their anger the authors of the manifesto overlooked the one ques-
tion foremost in the mind of the President
: the constitutionality of the
act.
They misjudged him in concluding he preferred his own plan to
theirs, whereas he was zealous only to maintain the Constitution.
He
intended that every act of his Administration should be
in accordance
with its provisions.
He could make no reply to the misstatements and
falsehoods.
He must bear calumny and misrepresentation in silence.
It
was hard to see old-time friends and strong supporters turning their
faces away from him—condemning
his course, maligning his motives.
"Your re-election," wrote Thurlow Weed, "is an impossibility."
" The people," said Henry J. Eaymond, of the New York " Times,"
" are wild for peace.
Commissioners ought to be sent to Richmond on
the basis of peace."
" I doubt
if I shall be re-elected," said Mr, Lincoln
to
his intimate
acquaintances. ( '"
)
Just before the Cabinet entered the executive chamber August
23,
1864, the day assigned for the weekly meeting, the President wrote the
following words
:
" This morning, as for several days past, it seems probable that
this
Aclmimstratlon will not he re-elected.
Then
it loill he my duty to so co-
operate with the President-elect to save the ZTnion hetiveen the election and
the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such grounds that
he cannot 2?ossibly save
it afterwards.''^'')
What words are these!
Where
in
all history,
or
in what
biogra-
phy,
is there such a look into the future ?
No forecasting for advan-
tage to himself
!
Everything
for the country
!
The
nation must be
saved
!
The writing is placed in an envelope and sealed.
The members of the
Cabinet enter the room.
Cheerful as ever the greeting of the President.
" Gentlemen, may I ask a favor—will you
please write your names
upon
this enveloped' the request.
They do not know why he asks
it.
432
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
He makes no explanation.
They have no knowledge of
its contents.
They write their names, and the package is laid away.
Why had the President written the remarkable words?
Why had
he asked the members of the Cabinet to write their names ?
To under-
stand his action we must remember that it was one of the gloomiest hours
in the history of the country.
If we take
the premium on gold as a
standard of probabilities
it was the darkest period of the war.
In Au-
gust, 1862, when the Union army was drifting back to Washington, after
the disaster at Manassas, gold could be
purchased by paying 20 per
cent, premium.
Very soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, the fol-
lowing December, specie disappeared.
People were
hiding
it
in
safe
places.
On that summer morning, 1864, |2.60 in paper-money were re-
quired to purchase $1 in gold.
The credit of the Government was at
its lowest
ebb.
The
country
stood
aghast
at
the
slaughter
on
the
battle-fields.
The President was about to call for 300,000 men.
Seem-
ingly the sentiment of the country was for peace.
McClellan, if elected,
would succeed to the Presidency on such a basis.
Mr. Lincoln, at such
a gloomy hour, called the members of the Cabinet to witness that he
would do all in his power to aid McClellan, if possible.
The Cabinet meeting over, the members departed, and P. E. Fenton,
member of Congress from JSTew York, entered the chamber in response
to a telegram sent by the President.
'' Mr. Fenton," said Mr. Lincoln, " you are to be nominated by our
folks
for Governor
of
your
State.
Seymour, of
course, will
be the
Democratic nominee.
You will have a hard fight.
I am very desirous
you should win the battle.
'New York should be on our side by honest
possession.
There is some trouble among our folks over there which we
must try and manage—or, rather, there
is one man who may give us
trouble because of
his
indifference, if in no other way.
He has great
influence, and his feelings may be reflected in many of his friends.
We
must have his counsel and co-operation in holding friendly relations with
Mr. Weed."
We have seen Mr. Thurlow Weed meeting defeat and disappoint-
ment by the defeat of Mr. Seward in the Chicago Convention of 1860.
He was not heartily in sympathy with the Administration, and had not
been consulted in regard to the appointment of the collector of customs
and surveyor in New York, whom he regarded as
hostile to
himself.
Political patronage was dear to Mr. Weed;
in the eyes of Abraham
Lincoln
it was no more than a bauble.
If Mr. Weed could be brought
to wield his far-reaching influence for saving the nation, he would give
SUMMER OF
1864.
4:33
t'^i/.h
'm.
KEUBEN E. FENTON.
him the toy.
Mr. Fenton was sent to New York.
He brought about
the resignation of the surveyor, and the appointment of a gentleman
who coukl be of service in saving the nation—one who was agreeable to
Mr. Weed.
Such was Mr. Lincoln's statesmanship.
]^o principle had been sacrificed, but harmony essential to the wel-
fare of the nation had been attained.
Little
did
the
President
foresee how
events
beyond
his
control
would dissipate the gloom
; how through
the
obstinacy of
Jefferson
434
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Davis, throngh the blundering and malignity of the Peace Democracy,
by the heroism and steadfastness of
the great army of
the
rej)ublic
the nation was to be saved.
There were others than William Cornell Jewett and Horace Greeley
who thought themselves called upon to bring about peace.
Mr. John
R. Gilmore, of 'Nevf York, and Rev. Mr. Jacques, of Illinois, desired to
visit Richmond on an errand of peace, and were allowed by General
Grant to pass his
lines.
They reached the Confederate Capitol and
held a conference with Jefferson Davis.
They
ex23ressed a desire to
have the war ended.
The ISTorthern people longed for peace, they said.
" I desire," Mr. Davis replied, " peace as much as you do
; but I feel
that not one drop of blood
is on my hands.
I can look up to God and
say this
:
I tried all in my power to avert this war.
I saw
it coming,
and for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it
; but I could
not.
The JSTorth was mad and blind
; but
it would not
let us govern
ourselves, and so the war came
; and now it must go on
till the last
man of this
generation
falls
in
his tracks, and his children
seize
his
musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to self-
government.
We are not figJiting for slavery.
We are fighting for in-
dependence ; and that or extermination we will have.
.
.
. Say to Mr. Lin-
coln., from me, that I shall at any time he proud to receive proposals for
peace on the basis of our independence.
It will he useless to ap)X)roach us
with any otherP
The Peace Democrats maintained
that the President was waging
war solely to abolish
slavery.
Jefferson Davis by this declaration
in-
formed them that the South was not fighting to maintain slavery, but
for independence.
" "We may lose much," wrote the editor of a Southern newspaper,
" by presenting a
hostile movement to the Peace Democracy.
Live
with them under the same government we never will
; but
if they will
use the ballot-box against Mr. Lincoln while we use the cartridge-box,
each
side will help the other, and both co - operate to accomplish the
grandest work which this country has ever witnessed."
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXII,
(') Robert
J. Breckinridge was
born
in
Kentucky, March
8,
1800.
He
attended
Princeton, Yale, and Union
colleges, graduating
at
the
latter,
1819.
He studied law,
"was elected to the Legislature four successive years, but in 1832, in obedience to religious
couvictioris, studied theology, and became pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church,
SUMMER OF
1864.
435
Baltimore, where bo reiu.iiued
till elected to
tlio iiresidency of Jefiferson College, 1845.
He took great iuterest in promoting the public schools of Kentucky.
lu 1853 he accept-
ed au appointment as Professor of Polemics in Danville Theological Seminarj'.
He pub-
lished several volumes upon theological sulyects, and edited the Danville " Review."
He
was intensely loyal to the Union.
Although his sou and nepbew, John C. Breckinridge,
joined the Confederacy, he denounced secession as an unpardonable crime.—Author.
C) F. B. Carpenter, " Six Months in the White House," p. IGC.
C)
Ibid.
{*) Theodore Tiltou, in New York " ludepeudent," Juno 14, 18G4.
( = ) Clement L. Vallaudigham was of Huguenot descent. He was born in New Lisbon,
0., 1822.
He taught an academy at Snow Hill, Md., studied law, and was admitted to
the bar, 1842.
He was elected to the Legislature of Ohio, and edited a newspaper at
Dayton.
He was an intense Democrat, and secured au election to Congress, 1857.
His
sympathies were with the Secessionists to au extent which led him to oppose the prose-
cution of the war.
On the floor of Congress, at political gatherings, and through the Press
he wielded his influence against the Government, and was arrested for treasouable utter-
ances by General Buruside.
He was tried by court-martial, sentenced to imprisonment
in one of the forts in Boston Harbor
; but President Lincoln overruled the decision and
transferred him
to the
Confederate
lines.
He received scant courtesy in Richmond,
where he remained but
a short
time.
He ran the
blockade to Bermuda, went from
there to Canada, was nominated by the Democratic Party as candidate for Governor, 1863.
He was defeated by John Brough by an overwhelming majority.
He returned to Ohio,
was elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, and wrote
its
platform.
While engaged in a suit at court, and explaining the construction of a pistol,
he was mortally wounded by its accidental discharge.
He was a man of great earnest-
ness and force—an intense partisan.—Author.
(^) The Secretary of the Treasury, William P. Fessenden, appointed to succeed Mr.
Chase, was born in Boscawen, N. H., October 16, 1806.
He received his education at Bow-
doin College, studied law, began practice in Bridgeton, and subsequently in Portland.
He
was elected to the Legislature,
1832, but refused a nomination as member of Congress.
He gave his attention wholly to his profession, attaining a high position as member of
the bar.
He was elected Senator, 1854, and took conspicuous part in the debates upon the
Kansas troubles.
He was re-elected, 1859.
Upon the assembling of the Peace Congress,
1861, he was appointed a member of that body by the Governor of Maine.
Upon the ac-
cession of the Republican Party to power he was made chairman of the Committee on
Finance.
His ability in that position
elicited a glowing eulogy from Senator Sumner,
who said, " In the financial
field he
is what the best generals are on the battle-field."
Mr. Lincoln placed Senator Fessenden in charge of the finances at the darkest period
of the war, when viewed from the financial stand-point.
Mr. Chase had advertised a
loan, but there was uo
response from the public, and
it had been withdrawn.
In the
month of February, 1864, gold was at a premium of 225.
Secretary Fessenden resolved
that no more treasury notes should be issued.
He devised a loan bearing 7^ per cent,
interest.
He believed that the people, if appealed
to, would subscribe
to such a loan.
They had shown their patriotism in raising men, they would be equally patriotic iu fur-
nishing money.
He determined to appeal to the small investor and issue $50 bonds.
He
judged rightly
; and the people, having confidence in the stability of the Government, ac-
cepted the bonds, and gave the Government the needed funds to carry on the war.
Mr.
Fessenden was re-elected to the Senate in 1865, and was made chairman of the Joint Com-
mittee on Reconstruction.
He opposed the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
He died
in 1869.—Author.
C) Zachariah Chandler was born
in Bedford, N. H., 1813.
He attended the public
436
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
schools of his native town, and taught one term.
At the age of twenty he becaoie clerk
in a dry-goods store
; removed to Detroit, Mich., and engaged in business.
He was elect-
ed mayor of that city, 1851.
He was a Whig, but took an active part in the formation of
the Eepublican Party.
In 1857 he succeeded Lewis Cass as Senator from Micliigan.
He
was ever outspoken in
his denunciation of slavery.
He vehemently oj)posed the ad-
mission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution.
He had the courage of his con-
victions.
In a letter to Governor Blair, written February 11, 1861, he said that " without
a little blood-letting the Union was not worth a rush."
When the President called for
75,000 troops to put down the Eebellion, Senator Chandler regretted that he had not called
for 500,000.
He reported in 1861 a bill for the confiscation of the property of those in re-
bellion.
In July, 1862, he informed several Senators that he intended to assail McClellau
in a speech on the floor of the Senate.
He was informed that it would be fatal to his re-
election to the Senate, then joending.
He replied that the good of the country demanded
an exposure of the
inefficiency of the commander of the array, and delivered the speech
as contemplated.
It did not imperil his re-election.
He was plain, straightforward,
and intensely loyal to the Union.-—Author.
(^)
" Century Magazine," September, 1889.
(9) Ibid.
(1") "Century Magazine," August, 1889.
C^) Ibid.
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
437
CHAPTER XXIII.
PEACE DEMOCEACY.
JUST out from Chicago, at " Camp Douglas," were 5000 Confederate
prisoners.
The
officer
in command allowed some of the captives
to visit acquaintances and friends in the city on their parole.
He organ-
ized them in companies to keep the camp clean and distribute provisions.
The Confederates were ready to do all that was required.
The guards
were few in number, and belonged largely to the invalid corps.
They had
seen service, but were not sufficiently hardy to enter upon a campaign.
The War Department appointed Colonel
J. B. Sweet to command
the post.
In view of the sufferings of Union soldiers at Andersonville,
he thought
it wise to curtail the privileges that had been enjoyed by
the prisoners.
No longer were they allowed to visit the
city.
They
were permitted to write
letters to
their friends, which were
left un-
sealed, that Colonel Sweet might see they contained nothing
contra-
band.
It occurred to him
it woidd be well to hold one of the letters
over the flame of a lamp, when
lo
! and behold, writing between the
lines appeared.
He read about a " celebration " that was to be held in
Chicago. (')
He determined to keep his own counsel, and make further
discoveries about any society or organization planning a celebration.
Detectives,
disguised
as Confederate
prisoners,
soon
learned
that
something was to be done
in connection with the assembling of the
Democratic Convention.
It was known
that the "Sons
of Liberty"
were making preparations to
resist the Government
in enforcing the
draft ordered by the President.
The leaders were
in communication
with Thompson and Clay
in Canada.
It was discovered that a large
number of " Sons of Liberty " were preparing to attend the convention,
and that an attempt was to be made to release the prisoners. C)
The railroad trains from Canada, Ohio, Southern Indiana, and
Illi-
Auo-. 28, nois, entering Chicago, were filled with passengers.
Some were
186'i-
delegates to the Democratic Convention, but the great majority
were on their way to the city for a far different purpose— to act
in
438
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
concert with the Confederate prisoners for their
release.
The move-
ment was well understood in Richmond.
Among the passengers from
Canada were men holding commissions signed by Jefferson Davis as
officers in the Confederate service, who were to take command of the
prisoners.
Their fare and the expenses of the motley crowds of " Sons
of Liberty" were paid by Thompson and Clay with money from the
Confederate treasury.
" Men commanded by Mr. Vallandigham," says
a Confederate writer, " had been intrusted with the necessary funds for
perfecting
county
organizations.
Arms had been
purchased
in the
ITorth by the aid of professed friends in New York.(')
Alliances, of-
fensive and
defensive, had been made with peace
organizations, and
though we were not misled by the sanguine promises of our friends, we
were confident that with any sort of co-operation on their part success
was possible.
During the excitement that always attends a great po-
litical convention, increased, as we supposed it would
be, by the
spirit
of opposition to the Administration, we felt that we would be free to
act unobserved, and
that we could move with promptness and
effect
upon Camp Douglas.
"With 5000 prisoners
there, and over 7000 at
Springfield, joined by the dissatisfied elements in Chicago and through
Illinois, we
believed that we would have
a formidable
force, which
might be the nucleus
of more important movements.
.
.
. Arms were
ready, and information had been conveyed to the prisoners of our in-
tention.
Chicago was thronged with people from
all sections
of the
country, and among the vast crowd were many
officers of the secret
organizations on whom we relied for assistance." (*)
Had we been guests at the Kichmond House, in Chicago, we should
have seen one room carefully guarded.
All who asked to be admitted
were closely
scrutinized.
The Confederate
officers and the
" Sons of
Liberty " were holding a conference.
A large number of the " Sons "
had arrived, but they were not organized for action.
" As day after day passed," wrote an editor of one of the Chicago
newspapers, " the crowd increased till the whole city seemed alive with
a motley crew of blear-eyed, whiskey-blotched vagabonds, the very ex-
crescence and sweepings of the slums and sinks of all the cities of the
nation.
I sat at my window and saw the filthy stream of degraded hu-
manity swagger along to the wigwam on the lake shore, and wondered
how our city could be saved from burning and plunder, and our wives
and daughters from a far more dreadful fate.
They talked loudly about
the convention, cursed Abraham Lincoln, and praised Yallandigham.
They swaggered through the
streets, lounged at the corners, drank a
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
439
great deal of Avhiskey, and yelled with delight
at the mention of the
name of Jefferson Davis." (')
The conspirators
reconnoitred Camp Douglas, and beheld
vigilant
sentinels pacing
their
beats.
Cannon were planted
to sweep every
avenue of approach.
The
soldiers guarding the prisoners were veter-
ans who had faced death on the
battle-field.
The Confederates
liold-
ino; commissions from Jefferson. Davis saw that an unorganized mob
could accomplish little against a body of disciplined troops, and wisely
abandoned an attempt to release the prisoners.
Colonel Sweet was cognizant of
all their plans.
Yery quietly he
increased the force guarding the camp, and was prepared for whatever
might happen.
The Democratic Convention assembled.
The delegates came with
high expectations.
It was called to order by Mr. August Belmont, of
ISTew York.
"Four years of misrule," he
said, "by a sectional,
^1864^' f^ii^tical, and
corrupt party have brought
our country to the
verge of ruin.
.
.
. The inevitable result of the re-election of Mr.
Lincoln must be the
utter
disintegration
of
our whole
political and
social system and bloodshed and anarchy, with
the great problem
of
liberal
progress and self-government
jeopardized
for generations
to
come."
Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, was elected president of
the convention.
" The Administration," he said,
"' will not let the shed-
ding of blood cease, even for a little time, to see if Christian charity or
the wisdom of statesmanship may not work to save the country.
They
will not listen to a proposal of peace which does not offer that which the
Government has no right to ask.
.
.
. We are determined that the party
which has made the history of our country, since
its advent to power,
seem lilvc some unnatural and terrible dream, shall be overthrown."
The platform
of
the
party was
prepared by Mr. Yallandigham.
" The Constitution,"
it read, " has been disregarded in every part, and
public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material
prosperity of the countr}'^ injured.
Justice, humanity, liberty, and the
public welfare demand that immediate
efforts be made for a cessation
of
hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States,
that at the earliest possible moment peace may be restored."
The name of George B. McClellan was presented as a candidate for
the Presidency.
From the hour of his removal as commander of the
Army of the Potomac a portion of the Democratic Party had selected
him as the man who would
be most
likely to defeat the re-election
440
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
HORATIO SEYMOUR.
of Mr. Lincoln.
The
peace wing of the party opposed
his nomina-
tion.
" He
is a tyrant !" shouted Mr. Harris, delegate from Maryland.
" He
it was who
initiated
the
policy by which
our
liberties were
stricken down. He is the assassin of State rights, the usurper of liberty
;
and
if nominated will be beaten, as he was at Antietam."
"You have arraigned Lincoln," said Mr. Long, of Ohio, "for inter-
fering with the freedom of speech, the freedom of elections, and of ar-
bitrary arrests
; and yet you propose to nominate a man who has been
guilty of the
arrest of the Legislature of a sovereign
State.
He has
suspended the writ of habeas corpus^ and helped to enforce the odious
PEzVCE DEMOCRACY.
441
Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln, the instrument of a corrupt and
tyrannical administration.''
McClellan was almost unanimously nominated.
George
11. Pendle-
ton, of Ohio, was selected as candidate for Vice-president.
AVhile the
convention was resolving that the war was a failure, the troops under
General Sherman were making the movement which compelled the Con-
federates to evacuate Atlanta, and the flag of the Confederacy, which
had waved above Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay, was giving place to the
Stars and Stripes.
'Ho cheers rent the air when the delegates heard the
news.
The convention adjourned, not
sitie
die, but to meet again,
if
need be, to act in relation to whatever might happen.
The events of the hour were dissipating the gloom which a few days
before had settled over the country.
The flashing of Sherman's guns
at Atlanta and Farragut's in Mobile Bay, like lightning on a sultry even-
ing in midsummer, cleared the atmosphere.
The invincible host enter-
ing the Confederate stronghold in Georgia was the promise of final vic-
tory.
At Petersburg, upon the receipt of the news, the cannon of the
Army of the Potomac hurled a salute of shot and shell into the Confed-
erate trenches.
President Lincoln issued a proclamation to the country.
" The signal successes," he said, " that divine Providence has vouchsafed
call for a devout acknowledgment to the supreme Being in whose hands
are the destinies of nations."
He recommended the following Sunday
as a day of thanksgiving to God.
In behalf of the people he tendered
the thanks of the nation to Farragut and Sherman, and all the ofiicers,
soldiers, and
sailors who had achieved the victories.
lie directed that
national salutes should be fired from all arsenals and navy-yards.
So it
came about that
at the hour of noon the Peace Democrats of Boston,
New York, and Philadelphia, who were saying the war had failed, were
compelled to hear in the thunder of the salutes the reply of loyal peo-
ple to the Chicago declaration.
The first important speech of the campaign on the Republican side
was made by Secretary Seward to the citizens of Auburn, X. T.
Sept
3,
uy^i^Q can
vouch," he
asked, "for the
safetv
of
the
countrv
1864.
'
'
against the
rebels during the interval which must elapse before
the new Administration can constitutionally come into power f
He was talking of the possibility of McClellan's election.
It was a
simple and natural inquiry, but the Peace Democrats distorted the ut-
terance into a threat.
They
said Mr. Seward represented the Presi-
dent, and it was the intention of Mr. Lincoln to hold on to the office.
" It is a threat," said Governor Parker, of Xew Jerse3\ " that in case
442
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Mr. Lincoln should be
defeated
at the
polls, he would
resort to the
means usually adopted by despots, and endeavor to perpetuate his reign
by force of bayonets."
" The usurper," said Judge Comstock, of j^ew York, " now has his
heel upon the free suffrage of the people
; yet if the people be defraud-
ed by military intervention at the polls, the people must and will take
George B. McClellan in their arms and carry him to the Presidency."
Little did the Democrats know what was in the heart of Abraham
Lincoln, or what was in the sealed envelope witnessed by the members
of the Cabinet—his last will and testament, as it were, bequeathing un-
impaired to McClellan,
if elected, the country—the government of the
people.
The newspapers of the South hailed with exultation the action of
the Democratic Party.
" A new party," said the Pichmond " Examiner," " will succeed to
power, which will sheathe the sword and hold out the olive-branch.
.
.
.
The Democratic Party would have been
forever
obliged
to
General
Hood if he had managed to hold Atlanta another fortnight."
The
political campaign began with vigor and intense feeling.
Mr.
Lincoln took no
part
in
it.
He thought he had no
right
to make
speeches favoring his
re-election.
A regiment from Ohio, which had
served three years, was returning home.
The veterans wanted to
see
the man whom
they loved
and
honored.
They marched
into the
grounds of the White House.
The President came to the window and
welcomed them.
They beheld a kindly, care-worn face.
" I wish," he said, " that the country understood the meaning of this
struggle.
We have a free government, under which every man has a
right to be the equal of every other man. ... In this struggle is involved
the question whether your children and my children
shall enjoy the
privileges we have enjoyed.
.
.
. When you return to your homes
rise
to the heights of a generation of men worthy of a free government, and
we will carry out the great work we have commenced,"
The Assistant Secretary of War, Charles A. Dana, accompanied by
Pev. Joseph P. Thompson, a distinguished clergyman
of New York,
called upon the President.
" I congratulate you, Mr. President,"
' said Mr. Thompson, " on the capture of Atlanta.
I thank you
for issuing a proclamation for the observance of next Sunday as a day
for devout thanksgiving to God for the victory."
" I would be glad," the President replied, " if I could
issue such a
proclamation every week."
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
443
"The victory
at
Atlanta," continued Mr. Thompson, "has wiped
out half the Chicago platform, and
if Grant will wipe out the other
half we shall re-elect you by acclamation."
" I think," said Mr. Dana, " the Union revival of feeling in the coun-
try is quite as much due to the platform as to the victory."
" I guess," said Mr. Lincoln, " it is due to the victory.
At any rate,
it will bear repetition."
" The platform," Mr. Tliompson remarked,
" has not yet been
ac-
cepted by McClellan.
He seems
to
be
as slow as he was
in taking
Richmond."
" Perhaps he is intrenching^''' said the President, laughingly.
" It
is rumored," Mr. Thompson added,
" that he
will
decline the
nomination on that platform."
" Well," Mr. Lincoln
replied, " he does not seem to know whether
he will accept or
decline.
And he never will.
Somebody must do
it
for him.
Of all the men I have had to do with in my life, indecision is
GEORGE
H. PENDLETON.
444
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
most strongly inarlied in McClellan, if that can
Ite said to he strong which
is the essence of weakness.''^
There was no trace of personal rivahy or animosity in the tone.
It
was the utterance of deliberate judgment.
" Have you heard, Mr. President," said Dana,
'' of the death of John
Morgan ?"
" Is he dead ?
I would not
desire the death of any man, but I as-
sure you that I take
his death resignedly, as a dispensation of divine
Providence.
Morgan was a nigger-driver before the war.
You North-
ern men don't know anything about such mean, low creatures.
South-
ern slave-holders despise them.
But such a wretch has been used to
carry on the Pebellion."
The President uttered the words with an emphasis which manifested
his abhorrence of that phase of the institution of slavery.
Mr. Thompson alluded to his renomination.
" The churches, Mr. President, throughout
the Xorth
desire your
re-election."
"It
gratifies me to be assured of
it.
I rely much upon them.
I
would like to be re-elected, that I may carry out the policy of the Ad-
ministration."
"Several prominent ministers," said Mr. Thompson, "are exerting
their influence in your behalf.
Among them is Rev. Leonard Bacon, of
IsTew Haven, who is earnestly advocating your re-election,"
" Bacon
!
Let me
see.
What do I know of him ?
Didn't he once
write a book on slaver}^, which some of the abolitionists did not agree
Avith ?"
" Yes."
" Well, I read that book some years ago, and at first did not know
exactly what to make of it, but I afterwards read it more carefully, and
got hold of Dr. Bacon's distinctions, and
it had much to do with shap-
ing my own way of thinking on the subject of slavery.
He is quite a
man."
" There is a distinction," said Mr. Thompson, " between what might
be termed domiciliary subjection of captives taken in war, and the bond-
service
of paupers, as allowed under the Mosaic economy, and chattel
slavery in our own country."
" Yes," replied the President, " there is a distinction.
However, /
have somehoiu thought that Moses didnH quite xmderstand the Lord along
therey
With a warm grasp
of the hand he bade Mr. Thompson good-bye.
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
445
" 'Ko description," writes the latter, " can be given of the Imlliancy of
his repartee, the readiness of his wit, or tlie affability of his manner." (")
The month of September marks the beginning- of the closing period
of the war.
General Early with
his army was at AVinchester, in the
Shenandoah. He intended to prevent the opening of the Baltimore and
Ohio Eailroad.
He desired to hold the valley
till the harvests were
gathered.
His presence
so near Maryland was a constant menace to
that State.
The Union troops at Harper's Ferry consisted of the Sixth,
Eighth, and Nineteenth Corps, and a large force of cavalry.
General
Sheridan was in command.
General Grant, at Petersburg, extended his
lines and took possession of the Weldon Kailroad.
" I think," he said
to Sheridan, "that Lee Avill order all troops back from the valley except
what he believes will be sufficient to detain you.
Watch closely, and if
you find the thing correct, push with all vigor.
Give the enemy no rest,
and, if possible, follow to the Virginia Central Railroad. Do all the dam-
age to railroad and crops you can, carry off stock of all descriptions and
negroes, so as to prevent further planting.
If the war is to go on an-
other year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste."
General Lee did what Grant supposed he would.
He ordered Early
to send Anderson's division of troops to Richmond.
Sheridan, finding
they had started, advanced a portion of his force to Berry ville.
Early,
thinking he was to be attacked, caused Anderson to return.
In the
"West, General Sherman was resting his army
in Atlanta.
Such
the
position of troops the first week in September.
General Grant was studying the situation.
He saw it would not do
for Sheridan to risk a battle with a prospect of being defeated.
Such
a result would encourage the Confederates to continue the struggle, but
a decisive victory would have a powerful influence upon the
political
campaign in favor of the re-election of Mr. Lincoln.
If Sheridan were
defeated, the
Confederates and
their
allies
in
the Democratic Party
would push the advantage to the utmost.
He did not send his instruc-
tions by telegraph or letter, but visited Harpers Ferry.
" I knew," he
said, "it was impossible for me to get orders through Washington to
Sheridan
to make a move, because they would be stopped there, and
such orders as Halleck's caution would suggest (and that of the Secre-
tary of War) would be given instead, and would no doubt be contra-
dictory to mine.
I therefore, without stopping at Washington, went
directly through to Charlestown, some ten miles from Harper's Ferry,
and waited there to see General Sheridan, having sent a courier in ad-
vance to inform him where to meet me."
446
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The two commanders met.
Through Miss Eebecca "Wright, a loyal
young lady in Winchester, Sheridan had ascertained that Anderson's
division was on its way to Eichmond.
" Anderson has gone, and I propose to fight a battle," said Sheridan.
" Your teams and supplies are at Harper's Ferry.
How soon can
you get them up ?" Grant asked.
" This is Friday evening.
I can be ready by daylight next Monday
morning."
" Go in !"
The two words comprised all the instructions Grant had to give.
On a bright autumnal day Sheridan crossed the Opequan River and
fought the battle of Winchester.
When the sun Avent down the
Sept.
19.
' Confederates were fleeing from the field, retiring to a very strong
position at Fisher's Hill.
Two days later the Confederates were again routed, with a loss in
the two battles of twenty-one cannon and several thousand men.
(See " Freedom Triumphant.")
" God
bless you
all, officers and men
!
I am strongly inclined to
come and
see
you,'' the message
sent by the President to Sheridan.
In
cities and villages throughout
the
ISTorth
bells were
ringing and
bonfires
blazing.
The people
comprehended the
significance
of the
victories.
The malaria of the Potomac marshes affected the health of the in-
mates of the White House, necessitating the removal of the President's
family to the Soldier's Home, three miles distant.
Mr. Lincoln rode to
the executive mansion every morning to attend
to the
affairs of the
nation.
A citizen of Washington thus pictures the daily scene :(')
"He always has a company of twenty-five or
thirty cavalrymen,
with sabres drawn and held upright over their shoulders.
The party
makes no great show in uniforms or horses.
Mr. Lincoln, in the sad-
dle, generally rides a good-sized, easy-going gray horse.
He is dressed
in plain black, somewhat rusty or dusty
; wears a black stiff hat, and
looks about as ordinary in attire as the commonest man.
A lieutenant,
with yellow straps, rides at his left, and following behind, two by two,
come the cavalrymen, in their yellow striped jackets.
They are gener-
ally going at a slow trot, as that
is the pace set them by the one they
wait upon.
The sabres and accoutrements clank, and the entirely unor-
namented cortege, as
it trots towards Lafayette Square, arouses no sen-
sation, only some curious stranger stops and gazes.
I see plainly Abra-
ham Lincoln's dark brown face, with the deep -cut lines and deep -set
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
449
eyes.
There is always a latent expression
ol' sadness.
We have got so
that we exchange bows, and very cordial ones.
" Sometimes the President comes and goes
in an open
Ijarouche.
The cavalry always accompany him with drawn sabres.
Often I notice
he halts at the residence of the Secretary of War and holds conferences
there.
He does not
alight, but
sits in the carriage, and Mr. Stanton
comes out to attend him.
Sometimes his son, a boy of ten or twelve,
accompanies him, riding at his right on a pony.
Earlier in the summer
I occasionally saw the President and his wife, towards the
latter part
of the afternoon, out
in a barouche on a pleasure
ride.
Mrs. Lincoln
was dressed in complete black, with a long crape veil.
The equipage is
of the plainest kind—only two horses, and
the\^ nothing extra.
They
passed me once very close, and his
look, though
abstracted, happened
to be directed steadily in my eye.
He bowed and smiled, but beneath
his smile I noticed the sadness.
ISTone of the
artists or pictures have
caught the subtle and indirect expression of this man's face.
One of
the great portrait-painters of two or three centuries ago is needed."
Many letters threatening violence liad been received by Mr. Lincoln.
He usually referred to them jocosely, and often said that the people of
Washington might
find him some morning decorating a lamp-post or
dangling from the limb of a tree.
So many had been received that Mr.
Stanton, as a matter of precaution, detailed the cavalrymen as an escort.
Their
riding with drawn
sabres was
not
to
repel any apprehended
assault, but in accordance Avith military discipline.
In the quiet and healthful retreat of the Soldier s Home, after the
labors of the day, Mr. Lincoln gave himself to recreation.
He looked
out
upon
a
lovely landscape — hill,
dale, meadow,
forest,
field,
the
Capitol, the
spires
of the
city, the white headstones
of
tlie
soldiers'
cemetery.
On a calm summer evening Mr. Lincoln sat upon the veranda of the
Home, surrounded by friends, and as he beheld the newly-made graves
recited with tender pathos the stanzas written by the poet Collins: (*)
"Kow sleep the brave, who sink
to
rest
By
all the country's wishes
blest,
When Spring, with dewy
lingers
cold,
Returns
to deck their hallowed mold?
She then shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's
feet have ever
trod.
"By fairy hands
their knell
is rung.
By forms unseen
their dirge
is sung;
450
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Then Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay
;
And Freedom shall awhile repair
To dwell a weeping hermit
there !"
The grounds of the Home were adorned with a great variety of trees
and shrubs.
A lady plucked a fragrant evergreen.
She thought it a
species
of cedar.
Another declared
it spruce.
A third thought
it a
variety of pine.
" I know a little about
trees," said the President.
" I
lived
in the
woods once.
This
is neither cedar, spruce, nor pine, but a sort of
ille-
gitimate
cypress.
Trees
are
as
deceptive
as
certain
classes
of men,
among whom none but the eye of a physiognomist can detect dissimilar
moral features until events have developed them. Do you know I think
we ought to have a school of events ?"
'' A school of events, Mr. President !" exclaimed one of the ladies.
" Yes," he continued
;
" for
it
is only by active development that
character or ability can be tested.
Understand me.
I mean men, not
trees.
The
latter can be
tested, and an analysis of their strength ob-
tained at less expense to life and human interests than any estimate of
the strength and value of men.
Call it a whimsey, if you will.
I mean
that students, before entering public life, might pass through mimic vi-
cissitudes to bring out their strength and calibre.
You might ascertain
who was
fitted to be
a
soldier or a martyr or a cunning politician.
These things have to be
ascertained later in
life.
There
is no more
dangerous or expensive analysis than that which
consists
in trying a
man."
" Do you think, Mr. President, that all men are tried ?"
" Scarcely
; for
if they were, so many would not
fit
their places so
badly.
Our friend Henry Ward Beecher
explains
this
in
his
quaint
illustrations of men who are out of their proper sphere.
He meets cler-
ical faces in gay, rollicking life, and finds natural wits wearing ascetic
robes."
" Some men, Mr. President, seem to be able to do anything," said
the lady.
" Yersatility," Mr. Lincoln replied, " is an injurious possession, since
it never can be greatness.
It misleads you in your calculations, and it
inevitably disappoints you
in any great
trust, from
its want of depth.
A versatile man, to be
safe, should never soar.
Mediocrity
is sure of
detection."
We have seen Mr. Lincoln turning for recreation to the humor of
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
451
" Artemas Ward," but he read with greater zest the
letters
of " Rev-
erend Petroleum V. Nasby," written by David R. Locke, editor of the
"Toledo Blade."
Mr. Locke saw, in
1861, the
false position assumed
by the Democratic Party by
its sympathy with the Confederacy,
its
readiness to defend slavery, its hatred of the negro, and
its opposition
to the war.
He also comprehended that irony, sarcasm, and
ridicule
might be made far more effective than logical argument in an exposure
of
the
attitude
of
that
party.
There was irony in the title " Rev-
^
-.
"-
/
>^
erend."
It was expressive of the
position assumed by the Southern
churches
in their defence of
slav-
Reverend Mr. Naslw,"
at
ery.
the outbreak of the war, represent-
ed himself as a citizen of Kentucky
{Aneutral State), residing at " Con-
federate Cross Roads ;" but when
the people of that section declared
for the Union, he moved into south-
ern Ohio, and took up his residence
among the Peace Democrats, who
had established a church, the mem-
bers of which were wholly of that
political
faith.
"Reverend
Mr.
Nasby" was not a member of a To-
tal Abstinence Society, but drank
whiskey quite freely.
He not only kept a private demijohn, but never
declined to drink when invited by any of his parishioners, who often met
at Bascom's grocery to discuss public affairs and denounce President Lin-
coln.
They were very bitter in their denunciation of the Emancipation
Proclamation, the call for troops, and the enlistment of negroes.
When
President Lincoln issued a proclamation for drafting soldiers, " Reverend
Mr. Nasby "
fled to Windsor, Canada.
He found many negroes there,
who had escaped from slavery before the war
;
also many white men
citizens of Ohio and Indiana who, like himself, had accepted voluntary
exile to escape the draft.
" Mr. Nasby " thus described the situation of
himself and fellow-exiles
: (")
" 200 Peece men are here, and
I must acknowledge that we are not treeted with that
distinguished consideration usually accorded political eggsiles.
Fer instance, at the tav-
ern where I board the parler
is partikelerly plesent, and I wus a settiu into
it.
In trips a
DAVID
R. LOCKE (" PETKOLEUM
V. NASBY.")
452
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
girl, purty enufE fer a man, whose taste was not vishiated, 2 eat.
' Shel I shet down this
window,
sir.?' sez she.
'Wliy shet it down, jentle maid?' retorts I, lookin sweet onto her.
'Because,' replide
she,
'I
thot, perhaps, the draft was too much fer ye.'
A few slavish
Kanajens who set there laft.
The landlord required a months pay in advance, and a fur-
ther deposit uv 25 cents per eggsile, as sekoority fer the pewter spoons, wich we hev at
table.
To cap the climacks, last nite a big nigger was put into each uv our rooms, and we
were forced to sleep with em, or okkepy the floor, wich I did.
The cussid nigger laft
all
nite, in a manner trooly aggravatin to hear.
"P. S.
Tel] my wife to send sich money as she earns to me, as livin is high, and ther
aint no tick.
The township kin sujaport her and the children."
Mr. l^asby returned to Ohio, and was drafted into
tlie service, but
took an early opportunity to desert to the Confederates.
He had vari-
ous experiences in the " Loozeaner Pehkin " regiment.
He vrrites
:
*•' I endoord hunger and cold — I saw the rags drop
off my muskeler limbs wun by
wun—I murmered
not.
But wen the pantaloons wuz awl gone—wen my costoom wus
a blanket and Avun shoe—I applide fer new pants, and the Quartermaster onfeelingly re-
markt that my dress was all rite
;
that hereafter my costoom wuz to be adoptid ez the
uniform uv the rejyment—I felt that desershun wuz no longer a crime, and I deserted.
It is entirely onnessary to rekount awl I endoored in makin my eskaip.
Suffice
it to say
that
at Columbus I
stript the klose
off uv an innebryated solger and maid my way
to
Amanda township.
My old Demokratic friends did not kno me, and ez I expected
to
borry money uv them I deemed it best not to make myself knone.
"They were suspishus uv my bloo kote, at fust, until wun uv them remarkt how I
liked the serviss ?
" To wich I anserd,
' Dam the serviss
!'
" 'Don't admire fitin fer the nigger, eh ?'
" 'Not any,' sez I.
"
' Why not desert ?' sez he.
"
' I have deserted,' sez I.
"In a instant the aspeck uv things wuz changd.
A jug wuz prodoost, and they awl
shook hands.
Wun, more richer nor the
rest, handed me a treasury note uv $10, sayin,
' You may need
it.'
"I replide that, as a general thing, I wood endoor
it until I cood get
it changd into
Injeany munny.
They took up a koUekshun
to wunst, fer my benefit, wich amounted
to $43.
Jest at this pint wun uv em asked me to what rejyment I belonged.
"I replide the Loozeaner Pelikins.
"
' Loozeaner!' sed another;
' why, that's a Confedracy rejyment, aint it?'
" 'To be sure,' sez I.
" 'And air yoo a deserter frum a Suthrin rejyment?' sez the benevelent old butternut
w^ho hed invested $10 in the deserter biznis.
"
' Sartin,' sez I.
" Seezin me by the throte, he ejackelated,
' Give me my money, you swindler
!'
And
with a unanimity trooly surprisin they awl yelled,
' Give me my money, j^ou swindler; you
got it under false pretences!'
"Hevin the mimny safe in my pokkit, I took these compliments with ekanimity,
sidlin out and gettin away ez soon ez possible.
PEACE DEMOCRACY.
453
"I am disappointed in Amandy.
Fnun what I liad lieard I hed supposed they were
kind to deserters.
I found tliat
it maizes a difT'rense
vvicli side you de.sert from."
Among-
the
allies of
slavery
in
the
North, use was made
of
the
Bible to prove that slavery was divinely ordained for the well-being of
the race.
Chm^ches were organized in some of the Western States on
this
basis.
" Reverend Mr. Nasby," in consequence, was invited to be-
come the pastor of the "Church uv
St. Vallandygum."
The
letters
written by the pastor were greatly enjoyed by Mr. Lincoln.
One of
them read
:
"We
lied a blessid and improvin time yisterday.
My
little flock staggered in
at
the usual hour in the mornin, every man in a heavenly frame uv mind, hevin bin ingaged
all nite in a work uv mere}',
to wit
: 2 mobbin uv 2 enrollin officers.
One uv em resisted
and they smote him hip and thigh, even ez Bohash smote Jaheel.
(Skriptooral, wich
is
nessary, bein in the ministry.)
He wuz left fer dead.
" We opened servis by singin a hym, Avicli I writ, commencin es follows:
"Shall niggers black this land possess,
And mix with us up here?
Oh uo, my friends, we rayther guess,
We'll never stand that
'ere.
"I then held forth from this text-.
' Whar hev ye laid him?'
I statid that the person
I referred
to wuz the marterd Vallandygum, and I, in bchaff uv a outraged Dimocrisy,
demanded uv the tyrant Linkin, 'Whar hev yoo
laid him?'
A unconverlid individooal
sed,
' He's laid him out!' wich remark cost him a broken head.
I went on to show why
our saint hed bin martered.
It wuz becoz he wuz a Dimocrat—becoz he dared to exercise
the rites garanteed to every American, exceptin Ablishnists and niggers, aboosin the Guv-
erment.
Fer this and nuthin else wuz he eggsiled.
' My friends,' sez
I, drawin myself
up to my full
hite, and looking ez much
like Fernandj' Wood ez
possible,
' I am willin
to be martered.
I denounce this war as unholy, uncon.stooshnel, unrighteous and uumit-
tygaled.
It
is nuthin less than a invasheu uv Dimocratik States, fer the sole purpus uv
freein niggers.
Linkin
is a tyrant, Burnside a tool, order 88 a relik uv barberism, and
I
will resist the enrollment, the conskripshen, and the tax.
Hooray fer Jeff Davis!'
"Our class meetin wuz more interestiner than
ever.
One old whiteheaded brother
sed at times his way was dark and his pathway gloomj'.
Wunst he wuz verj^ near be-
comin a infiddle.
He reely believed at one time that the nigger was human, and wunst
he voted fer a Republican road
Supervisor.
But he hed repented, and was, he trusted,
forgiven.
His mind wuz now easy, and he should vote the whole Dimocratic ticket.
"Two backsliders who scratclied their tickets last fall confest their sin publiclj'.
I
exhorted em two hours, fined em a gallen uv whisky apeece, and took em into full com-
munion.
The whisky will be devoted to the missionary service, wich is me."
It was unspeakable
relief to President Lincoln to turn from the ar-
duous and wearying duties of the day to the ISTasby letters.
He read
them aloud to those who called upon him, laughing
till the tears ran
down his cheeks, and making sententious comments upon the position
454
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
assumed by the Democratic Party.
He expressed his appreciation of
the iN^asby letters by personally writing a letter to Mr. Locke. He said
:
" For the genius to write such things I would gladly give up my office.
Why don't
you come to Washington and see me?
Is there no place you want?
Come on, and I will
give you any place you ask for
that you are capable of filling and are fit to fill. "("
)
The editor of the " Toledo Blade " did not desire any official position.
His genius was making his paper a political
j^ower.
The letters were
widely read.
" It is impossible," said Senator Charles Sumner, " to measure their
value.
Of publications during the war none had such a charm for Abra-
ham Lincoln.
He read every letter as
it appeared.
He kept them all
within reach for refreshment."
Statesmanship under a government of the people is far different from
statecraft under monarchical institutions.
He who would successfully
administer the
affairs
of a nation for
its
w^ell-being and continuance
must be actuated by loft}'' motives.
Abraham Lincoln, in the political
campaigns of 1864, thought not of himself, but ever of the needs of the
nation.
He knew, by a divine
instinct, tliat justice and righteousness
are eternal principles.
From that day, in 1857, when, against the pro-
tests of all his friends, he gave utterance to the words "A house divided
against itself cannot stand," he had been obedient to the heavenly vis-
ion.
He believed in God, in the ultimate triumph of right over wrong,
in the future greatness of the country.
He trusted the people.
NOTES TO CHAPTEE XXIII.
(1) "Atlantic Monthly," July, 1865, p. 109.
( = ) T. Henry Hiues, "Southern Bivouac," February, 1887.
(3) Ibid.
(4)
"Atlantic Monthly," July, 1865.
( = ) William Bross, "Biographical Sketch of B. J. Sweet," p. 18.
(6)
" Congregationalist," March 30, 1866.
C) Walt Whitman, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 469, note,
(8) The Nasby Papers, "Toledo Blade," 1864.
C)
Ibid.
('") D. R.. Locke, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 459.
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
455
CHAPTER XXIV.
RE-ELECTED
PRESIDENT.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, when a member of the lUinois Legislature,
^^
declared himself in favor of extending the franchise
to women.
Public sentiment did not favor the movement.
Woman's Rights con-
ventions were held up to ridicule.
Women who desired
to vote were
regarded as going beyond their proper sphere in
life.
A meeting was
held
in
a church at Akron, O., 1851.
It was attended by those who
favored and
b}^ those opposed to the movement.
Several clergymen
were
present.
The attention
of the audience was directed to a
tall,
gaunt colored woman wearing a sun-bonnet, who marched up the
aisle,
looking for a
seat.
No one offered her any civility, and she planted
herself upon the steps leading to the pulpit.
A buzz of disapprobation
was heard.
" An abohtion
affair !"
" Woman's Rights and niggers !"
the exclamations from opponents.
The colored woman was known throughout Michigan and Ohio as
Sojourner Truth, preacher and exhorter
in the religious assemblies of
her
race.
She had been
a
slave.
She did not know a
letter of the
alphabet, but was endowed with a commanding
intellect and a deep
religious nature.
The clergymen present opposed granting the franchise to women.
One claimed superior rights for men, because of superior intellect.
An-
other because Christ was a man.
If God had desired the equality of
woman with man, He would have given some token of His will through
the birth, life, and death of the Saviour.
Still another gave a theolog-
ical review of the sin of Eve in the garden of Eden.
The audience ap-
plauded the arguments.
The old colored woman
arose, walked up the
steps and stood upon
the platform, stepped to its front, removed her bonnet and laid
it delib-
erately at her feet.
Hisses greeted her.
" Sojourner Truth will address you.
I ask that you give her a re-
spectful hearing," said the president, Mrs. Frances Gage, appealing to
their sense of fair play.(')
456
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" Well, chillen," she said slowly, distinctly, and with resonant tones,
that hushed the audience upon the instant, " whar dar's so much racket
dar must be somet'ing out o' kilter.
I t'ink dat twixt de niggers of de
Souf an' de women of de
ISTorf, all a-talking about de rights, de white
men will be in a fix pretty soon.
Dat man ober dar says dat woman
needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de
best place eberywhar.
Nobody eber helps me into
carriages, or ober
mud-puddles, or gives me de
best
place.
Ar'n't I a woman?
I have
ploughed, planted, gathered, and no man could head
me.
Ar'n't
I a
woman?
I've borne thirteen chillen, and seen most
of 'em sold; and
when
I
cried, none but Jesus heard.
Ar'n't
I a woman?
Den dey
talks about
dis t'ing in de head—intellect.
What's dat got to do wid
woman's rights or nigger's rights ?
If my cup holds a pint, and yours
holds a quart, vrouldn't you be mean not to let me have my half-meas-
ure full ?"
She pointed her finger towards the minister who had made the ar-
gument in regard to the manhood of Jesus
Christ.
All eyes turned
towards him.
" Dat
little man
in
black, dar, he say woman
can't have as much
right
as man, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman.
Whar did your Christ
GOtne fromf
Frou God and woman.
Man hadnH anytHng to do wid
him.'' (
'
)
The building shook with
applause.
Those who a moment before
were ready to hustle her out-of-doors shook hands with her;
An unlet-
tered woman, once a slave, had discomfited learned graduates of colleges
and theological schools.
On a morning in October, 1864, Sojourner Truth, past eighty years
of age, entered the White House.
She had travelled from Battle Creek,
Mich., to Washington to
see the man who had given freedom to her
race.
President Lincoln had heard of her.
" This
is Sojourner Truth," said the attendant at the White House,
introducing her.
The President rose and gave her a kindly welcome.
" Mr. President," said
Sojourner, " when you fust took your seat I
feared you'd be torn
in
pieces.
You was
like Daniel 'mong de
lions.
If de lions did not tear you, I knew it would be God who would shut
their moufs.
I
tol' Him,
if He spared me, I'd come and
see you, and
here I is."
"I am pleased to see you, Sojourner, and it seems that a good Prov-
idence has spared me."
" You are de best President we eber had."
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
457
" I suppose you refer to iny giving freedom to the
slaves
;
]>ut, So-
journer, the men who have preceded me—Washington, Adams, Jeffer-
son, and others—would have done just
as I have, had the time called
for such action.
If the people over the other side of the Potomac had
behaved themselves, I would not have done what I have
; but they did
not, and I w^as compelled to do those things."
" I t'ank God, Mr. President, dat He s'lected you to do it."
" Here
is what the colored people of Baltimore gave me the other
day," said the President, taking up the Bible presented on the Fourth
of July.
" Isn't
it beautiful
'.
They have given
it to the Head of the
Government.
And yet, only a little while ago, the laws would not per-
mit the colored people to read it."
" AVill you write your name for me, Mr. President T she asked.
" Certainly."
His autograph was written
:
For Aunty Sojourner Truth.
October S9, 1864-
'
A. Lincohl.
'' I
shall be pleased to see you again, aunty," said the President, as
she departed.
Frederick Douglas, who had
also been a
slave, was once more in
Washington.
The
President,
desiring
to
talk
with him upon
some
points concerning the welfare of the colored people, invited him to the
White House.
" Come and take tea with me," read the note.
The citizens of Washington were astonished to see Mr, Douglas rid-
ino- to
tlie executive mansion
in the President's own carriage, and
still
more amazed to learn that a colored man had been a guest at Mr. Lin-
coln's table.
" The President,"
said Mr. Douglas, " is one of the few men with
whom I have passed an hour who did not remind me in some way that
I am a negro."
In several of the Northern States elections for State officers were to
be held during the months of September and October.
The Eepubli-
cans feared the draft for 500,000 men, ordered by the President, would
influence the people to vote the Democratic ticket.
They visited Wash-
ington and importuned Mr. Lincoln to withdraw tlie call, or at least to
suspend
it till after the elections.
A committee from Ohio came, asking
for its suspension.
Very plain, patriotic, and pertinent the President's
question
:
458
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" What is the Presidency worth to me if I have no country ?" (')
He comprehended what
the frightened
politicians
could not
see
:
that the
soldiers under Grant and Sherman would
lose confidence
in
him were
he
to
suspend
the
draft.
He never had
deceived them.
They trusted him.
To suspend the draft
in order to gain political ad-
vantage would be a fatal mistake.
" If the
President," said General Sherman, " modifies the draft to
the extent of one man, or wavers in its execution, he
is gone forever.
The army would vote against him."
JSTearl}^
all the IsTorthern States had
statutes enabling the soldiers
to vote in the
field.
Indiana had failed
to
enact
such
a
law.
The
" Sons of Liberty " and the Democratic Party opposed such legislation.
The draft was proceeding.
The President was being denounced as a
" tyrant,"
" butcher," who cared
nothing
for
the
soldiers.
The
In-
diana
soldiers desired
to show their patriotism and
loyalty by
their
ballots.
Atlanta had been taken, and Sherman was preparing for his
next movement.
He would not be hampered if they were allowed to
return to Indiana for a few days.
" Anything," wrote the President, " that you can safely do to let the
soldiers, or any part
of them, go home to vote, will be greatly to the
point.
They need not remain for the Presidential
election, but may
return to you at once.
This
is in no sense an order, but
is merely in-
tended to impress you with the importance to the army itself of your
doing
all you safely
can,
yourself being the judge
of what you can
safely do."
The cars rolling northward from Atlanta during the
first week
in
October were filled with veterans who had won the victories of Kesaca,
Kenesaw, and Atlanta.
They were having a furlough, and were going
home
to Indiana
to vote once more for
Oliver P. Morton, governor.
He had displayed great energy in carrying on the
affairs of State dur-
ing the war.
He had been
solicitous for their welfare.
They trusted
him.
They had no sympathy with the " Knights of the Golden Circle,"
or " Sons of Liberty," allied with the Democratic Party.
Very few ballots were cast for the Democratic candidates by the
soldiers. On the evening of the election the President visited the War
Department, and
sat by the
side of the telegraph
operator to
' learn the
results.
Gratifying the intelligence that Morton was
re-elected by 20,000 majorit}^
Pennsylvania had gained four Eepub-
lican members of Congress.
The majority in the State was more than
10,000.
Maryland had adopted an amendment to the State Constitu-
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
461
tion putting an end
to slavery.
Very cheering the news from Ohio,
where the Repubhcans had a majority of 54,000.
The Democrats had
elected two members of Congress, the Republicans seventeen—a gain
of twelve.
Notwithstanding the
results were so favorable to the Republicans,
Mr. Washburne, member of Congress, was afraid the President's own
State would vote against him in November.
'•It
is no use to deceive ourselves about
Illinois," he wrote.
"Ev-
erything is at sixes and sevens
; no head or tail to anything.
There
is
imminent danger of our losing the State."
Mr. Lincoln read
the
letter,
smiled, and wrote on
the
envelope
:
'' Stampeded r {')
Mr. Locke ("Reverend Petroleum Y. Xasby")
visited Washington
in behalf of a young soldier sentenced to be shot for desertion.
He was
warmly welcomed by the President, who kindly listened to
his story.
The soldier had given his affections to a young girl before he enlisted,
and they were engaged to be married.
Word came to him that another
was paying her especial attention.
He applied for a furlough, but
it
not being granted, deserted, made his way home, to find the re]3orts in
a measure
true.
Once more the lady plighted her troth to him, and
they were married.
The honey-moon was suddenly interrupt^ed by his
arrest, trial, and sentence.
Mr. Lincoln heard the
story, and without
solicitation signed the pardon.
"I'll punish him
another way," he
said,
his
face wreathed with
smiles.
" Probably in less than a year he will wish I had withheld the
pardon.
We can't tell, though.
I suppose when I was a young man I
should have done the same foolish thing." (')
He turned the conversation upon the political situation and the con-
fidence of the people in his administration.
" Do the masses of the people," he asked, " hold me in any way re-
sponsible for the loss of their friends in the army ?
It is a good thing,"
he added, " that there is. a Government to shoulder the acts.
The shoul-
ders of no one man are broad enough to bear what must be."'
Two prominent members were striving each to obtain a foremost
. position in the Republican Party.
"You do not," said Mr. Locke, "take any pronounced position
in
relation to the controversy."
" No.
I learned
a great many years ago that
in a fight between
man and wife a third party should never get between the woman's skil-
let and the man's axe-helve."
462
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
A member of Congress who had been drinking whiskey entered the
room.
He was in the maudlin stage of intoxication, and, hiccoughing,
said
:
"Oh, why should the
spirit of mortal be proud?"
" I see no reason whatever," the President rephed.
The conversation with Mr. Locke turned upon the avarice of those
who were accumulating fortunes.
A man who had been prominent in
pohtical
affairs was accused
of attempting to swindle the
Government
out of a
large
sum of money.
" I
cannot
understand,"
said Mr. Lincoln, " why men
should
be
so
eager
after
money.
Wealth
is simply a
superfluity of what we donH
need:\')
Although
the
October
elections
indicated
the
re-
election
of Mr. Lincoln, the
presidential
campaign
was
vigorously contested by the
Democratic Party.
General
McClellan
was
greatl}^
be-
loved
by many
of
the
offi-
cers and soldiers of the Army
of the Potomac.
General E. W. Andrews, stationed at Baltimore, being-
present at a Democratic meeting, expressed his high regard for General
McClellan, and declared his intention of voting for him.
Greatly to his
surprise, he received notice from the War Department the following
morning that he was mustered out of service by the Secretary of War.
A gentleman
laid the matter before Mr. Lincoln.
"Was the revocation
of
General Andrews's commission by your
order ?" he asked.
" I know nothing about it," the President replied.
" Of course, Stan-
ton does a thousand things of which I know nothing.
What has Gen-
eral Andrews done V
" He attended a Democratic meeting, and was called up for a speech.
He declared himself in favor of General McClellan."
OLIVER
p. MORTON.
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
4fJ3
""Well," replied Mr. Lincoln, "that's no reason why he
should
be
dismissed.
Andrews has just as good a right to hold on to his Democ-
racy, if he chooses, as Stanton had to throw his overboard.
If I should
muster
out
all my generals who avow themselves Democrats,
there
would be a sad thinning out of commanding officers of the army.
Xo
!
when the military duties of a soldier are faithfully performed, he can
manage his
politics
in
his own way
; we've no more to do with them
than with his religion.
Tell this officer he can return to his post
; and
if there
is no
better reason for the order of Stanton than the one he
suspects,
it
shall do him no harm.
The commission he holds will
re-
main
as good
as new.
Supporting General McClellan
for the Presi-
dency is no violation of army regulations
; and as a question of taste, of
choosing between him and me—wxU, I'm the longest, but he is the best
looking." (')
Of all the battles of the war, that of Cedar Creek w^as the most dra-
matic.
The
Union
troops
in
that
engagement were
surprised
and
driven, losing many prisoners and
several cannon
in the morn-
ing
; but when night came the Confederate army was fleeing in
confusion.
All the lost cannon were recaptured, together w4th twenty-
four others, and 1200 prisoners.
Sheridan was at Winchester w^hen the
battle
began, but
reached
the
field,
re-formed
the
scattered
troops,
aroused their enthusiasm, and won the victory.
President Lincoln sent
this despatch to him
:
" With great pleasure I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of the nation
and my own personal admiration and gratitude for the month's operations in the Shenan-
doah Valley, and especially for the splendid work of October 19, 1864."
The cannon captured in this battle were taken to Washington and
presented to the Government in the grounds of the War Department.
The President, members of the Cabinet, and a great gathering of people
witnessed the ceremony.
The country rang with praises of Sheridan
and liis men.
The victory had great influence upon the
political campaign.
The
people saw that the Confederates were rapidly losing ground—that the
time would come when the authority of the nation would once more be
established throughout
the South.
They knew slavery was doomed.
The policy adopted by President Lincoln in due time would bring peace
to the country.
As
the prospects
for the
re-election of Mr. Lincoln
briffhtened, those who hated him became more virulent.
More bitter
and insulting were their epithets.
464
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The day of election was bright and beautiful throughout the coun-
try.
Troops were
stationed
in
JSTew York
to preserve
order.
' They were commanded by General
Butler, who issued an
ad-
dress to the people.
" Let every citizen," he said, " having the right to vote, act accord-
ing to the inspiration
of his own judgment.
He will be protected in
that right by the whole power of the Government,
if
it
shall become
necessary."
N'o troops were seen at the polling places in that
city.
There was
no rioting or disorder anywhere.
" To Mr. Lincoln," writes one of his secretaries, " this was one of the
most solemn days of his
life..
Assured of his personal success, and de-
voutly confident that the day of peace was not far
off, he
felt no ela-
tion 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
heart-felt confidence and
affection, and of a keen and somewhat
sur-
prised regret that he should be an object in so many quarters of so bit-
ter and vindictive an opposition.
He said
:
' It
is singular that
I, who
am not a vindictive man, should alwaj^s, except once, have been before
the people for election 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
rancor.' "(')
Once more Mr. Lincoln was sitting with the telegraph operator dur-
ing the evening to
receive despatches regarding the Presidential
elec-
tion.
" The Union majority in Philadelphia will be 10,000," the message
from Mr. Forney.
This w^as much beyond w^hat Mr. Lincoln had an-
ticipated.
" I reckon Forney is a little excited," he said.
" We shall have," telegraphed Mr. Felton, " 15,000 majority in Bal-
timore, and 5000 in the State.
All hail, free Maryland !"
It came from the
city where, in
1861, the President-elect was to
have been
assassinated.
Mr. Henry Winter Davis, of
Baltimore, was
an ardent Republican, but had opposed Mr. Lincoln, and had failed of
a re-election to Congress.
" I am glad," said Mr. Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, " that
he has been defeated.
He has maliciously assailed the navy for the
last two years."
" I cannot
quite agree
with you,"
said Mr. Lincoln.
" You have
NIOONID LNGUISdud 1 LONDEV) CNY = a = Zz CLL ALdVO NONNY) Z z = eA
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
467
more of the feeling of personal resentment than
I.
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 re-
member the past against him."(")
Mr. Stanton, Mr. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, and Mr. Eckert,
who had charge of the telegraph, were present.
" Dana," said Mr. Lincoln, " have you ever read any
of Eeverend
Petroleum Y. Xasby's letters?"
" No, Mr. President, I have only had time to glance at them, but
they seem to be quite funny."
" "Well, let me read a specimen."
The President thereupon took a
yellow-covered pamphlet from his pocket and read one of iSTasby's let-
ters, written some weeks before the
election.
Mr. Stanton viewed the
proceeding with an impatieiice which he
did not try to conceal
;
but
Mr. Lincoln went on reading and laughing, stopping long enough to
listen to the reading of the election returns, and then resuming Nasby.
Mr. Chase and Mr. Whitelaw Reid entered the apartment.
The Pres-
ident greeted them.
Mr. Stanton
left the room and beckoned Dana
to follow him.
" I shall," writes Mr. Dana, " never forget the fire of his indignation
at w^hat seemed to Mr. Stanton to be mere nonsense.
The idea that
when the safety of the republic was thus
at issue, when the control of
an empire was to be determined by a few figures brought in by the tel-
egraph, the leader, the man most deeply concerned, not merely for him-
self but for his country, could turn aside to read such balderdash and to
laugh at such frivolous jests, was to his mind indescribabl}^ repugnant.
He could not understand, apparently, that
it was by the rehef which
these jests afforded to the strain of mind under which Mr. Lincoln had
so long been living, and to the natural gloom of a melancholy and de-
sponding temperament, that the safety and sanity of his intelligence was
maintained and preserved." ('")
There was more than
this.
Mr. Lincoln was not so
solicitous
in
regard to the election as were Chase, Fox, Dana, and Stanton.
He had
forecast the result with unerring vision.
They Avere not so far-seeing.
His belief in the people, his
trust
in God, his unswerving faith
in the
ultimate triumph of eternal principles, his knowledge of passing events,
had enabled him to determine the probable verdict of the people upon
his administration.
Weeks before the election he had comprehended
the trend of events.
He profoundly believed divine Providence was di-
recting the affairs of the nation, and ceased to be soUcitous as to results.
468
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Before midnight he became
satisfied that
the great State
of ISTew
York had voted in his favor, though by a small majority, not exceed-
ing 7000.
Yery wisely had he brought about harmony among the lead-
ing Eepublicans in that State. Two hundred and twelve electoral votes
had been secured for him, and twenty-one for McClellan.
It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when he left the War De-
partment.
At the door he encountered a brass-band and a crowd
of
people, who called for a speech.
"I
earnestl}^ believe," said Mr. Lincoln, "that the consequences of
this day's work will be of lasting advantage,
if not the salvation of the
country.
All who have labored to-day in behalf of the Union organi-
zation have wrought
for the
best
interests of
their 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 coniidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude
is free from any taint of personal triumph.
I do not impugn the mo-
tives of any one opposed to me.
It
is no pleasure to me to triumph
over any one
; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of
the people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of
humanity." ("
)
From the day of his retirement
as commander of the army, Gen-
eral
McClellan
had been
residing
in New Jersey.
The
election
re-
turns indicating his defeat, he resigned his commission as major-general
in the regular army and became once more a private citizen.
His resig-
nation was accepted by the President, and the place thus made vacant
was filled by the appointment of Philip H. Sheridan.
On the evening of ]^ovember 10th the various Republican clubs of
Washington marched to the White House with banners and torches to
pay their respects to the President.
He had been informed of
Nov.
10.
^-
*^.
.
.
,
,
.
,.
-,
TT
-11
their intentions, and wrote a
briei
address.
He stood by an
open window to read
it, one of his secretaries holding a candle.
" It
is
not very graceful," said Mr. Lincoln, " but
I am growing old enough
not to care much for the manner of doino- thino;s."
Mr. Lincoln said in his address
:
" It is demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the
midst of a great civil
vi'ar.
Until now
it has not been known to the world that this was
a possibility.
It shows also how sound and strong we
still are.
It shows
that, even
among the 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 vote.
It shows also to an extent yet
unknown that we have more men than we had when the war began.
Gold is good in its
place, but brave, patriotic men are better than gold. ... So long as I have been here I
I{E-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
469
have not willins^ly planted a thorn in any man's bosom.
While
I am sensible to the liigli
compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having di-
rected my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for their own good,
it adds noth-
ing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the result."
Many delegations called to congi-atulatc the President.
"Those who differ from us," he remarked to one, " will yet see that
defeat was better for their own good than if they had been successful,"
A quarter of a century has passed since the words were spoken, Jind
people in the Southern as well as in the Northern States rejoice in the
fulfilment of the prophecy.
The
result of the election was an announcement to the world that
the war was to go on till the last rebel had laid down his arms.
Congress reassembled on December 6th.
In his message Mr. Lin-
coln said
:
"The
public
purpose
to
re-establish
and
maintain
the
national
authority
is
un-
changed, and, as we
believe, unchangeable.
It seems to me that no attempt at negotia-
tion with the Insurgent leader could result in any good.
He would accept nothing short
of severance of the Union—precisely what we will not and cannot give.
His declarations
to this effect are explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords
us no excuse to deceive ourselves.
Between him and us the issue
is distinct, simple, and
inflexible.
It
is an issue that can only be tried by war and decided by victory.
If we
yield, we are beaten.
If the Southern people fail him, he is beaten.
But what is true of
him who heads the insurgent cause is not necessarily true of those who follow.
Although
he cannot reaccept the Union, they can.
Some of them we know already desire peace
and reunion.
They can
at any moment have peace simply by laying down
their arms
and submitting
to national authority under the Constitution. ... I mean simply to say
tliat the war will cease on the part of the Government whenever
it shall have ceased on
the part of those who began it."
The Chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Roger
B. Taney,
died.
We have seen Mr. Lincoln referring to him, in con-
nection with
the passage
of
the Kansas - Nebraska
Bill, as a "house
builder" working in conjunction with Franklin Pierce and Stephen A.
Douglas.
His private life had been without reproach, but
his sympa-
thies had been with the slave propaganda for the extension of that in-
stitution of servitude.
His decisions upon the bench had been antago-
nistic to the spirit of the age.
Instead of going to his grave beloved,
honored, and reverenced, his death was regarded as a beneficent dispen-
sation of divine Providence, in view of the great questions growing out
of the war, which must be decided by the Supreme Court.
The future
welfare of the nation demanded decisions in correspondence with
its
new charter of liberty.
Whom should the President appoint to such a
responsible position
'.
The friends of Mr. Chase presented his name.
470
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" A chief-justice is needed," wrote Senator Charles Sumner, " whose
position on tlie slavery question is already fixed, and who will not need
argument of counsel to convert him."
Mr. Fessenden, who had succeeded Mr. Chase as Secretary of the
Treasury, and Mr. Stanton thought Mr. Chase should be appointed.
"I shall be very shut pan about this matter," ('^) said Mr. Lincoln,
using an obsolete military term in connection witli a flintlock musket,
such as he carried in the Black Hawk War.
In loading a musket, the
pan was first opened, " primed " with powder, then shut.
The friends
of Mr. Chase and the friends of other able
jurists had " primed " Mr.
Lincoln, but the " pan " would remain shut
until he was ready to an-
nounce his choice.
Mr. Chase had endeavored to secure the nomination
as President, but Abraham Lincoln had no personal resentments.
He
gave him the appointment.
While General Sherman was planning a movement from Atlanta,
General Hood, commanding the Confederate army
in the West, was
making arrangements to invade Tennessee. He thought Sherman would
be compelled to hasten northward.
One started eastward
in the
di-
rection of Savannah
;
the other at
the same time moved northward
towards E^ashville, held by Thomas.
It was a remarkable spectacle
two great armies marching in opposite directions.
On December 16th Hood suffered a disastrous
defeat.
His troops
were disheartened and scattered.
Many of his soldiers deserted to their
homes, never again to be marshalled for battle.
The army under Sherman reached the sea and opened communica-
tion with the war-ships.
On the morning of December 23d
it entered
Savannah.
Inspiring the message sent by Sherman
to President Lin-
coln:
"I beg to present j'ou a Christmas gift—the City of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns
and plenty of ammunition, also about 25,000 bales of cotton."
There was joy in the White House on Christmas Eve.
The news-
papers throughout
the
country on Christmas morning contained
the
thrilling news.
As the daAvn betokens the coming day, so the defeat
of Hood, the march of Sherman, the possession of Savannah, heralded
approaching peace.
RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.
471
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXIV.
(') Mrs. Francos D. Gago to Author,
18(>:i.
(2) Ibid.
(^) "Ceutury Magaziue," September, 1889.
C)
Ibid.
(^) D. E. Locke, "Remiuisceuccs of Abraluun Lincoln," p. 450.
(")
Ibid., p. 452.
C) E. W. Andrews, "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," p. 507.
(«) "Century Magazine," September. 1889.
C) Ibid.
{'") Charles A. Dana, " Reminiscences of Abraham Lincohi," p.
;572.
(!•) "Century Magazine," September, 1889.
('-) Ibid.
472
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE
END
OF
SLAVERY.
CONGRESS was in
session.
Tlie time had come for carrying out
the verdict of the people in regard to slavery.
Senator Trumbull,
Jan.
6, from
the Joint
Judiciary Committee, reported
the
Thirteenth
1865. Amendment to the Constitution
:
'•'Section
I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris-
diction.
^''Section II. Congress
shall have power to enforce
this
article by
appropriate legislation."
Mr. Yoorhees, member from Indiana, thought the time had not come
for such an amendment, and opposed
it.
" When the sky," he
said,
"shall again be clear over our heads, a peaceful sun illuminating the
land, and our great household of States
all at home
in harmony once
more, then will be the time to consider what changes,
if any, this gen-
eration desires to make in the work of Washington and Madison, and
the several sages of our antiquity."
Such was not the opmion of Mr. Rolhns, of Missouri.
" I have been
a slave-holder," he said, " but I am no longer an owner of slaves, and I
thank God for
it.
Missouri has adopted an amendment to her Constitu-
tion for the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the State.
If the
giving up of my slaves without complaint shall be a contribution upon
my part to promote the public good, to uphold the Constitution of the
United States, to restore peace and preserve the Union, if I had owned*
a thousand slaves they would cheerfully have been given up.
We never
can have entire peace as long as slavery remains as one of the recog-
nized institutions of the country."
" We
have,"
said Thaddeus Stevens, who had the amendment
in
charge, "suffered
for
slavery more
than
all
the
plagues
of
Egypt.
More than the first-born of every household has been taken.
We
still
tup: end of slavery.
47;i
harden our hearts and refuse to let the people go.
The scourge
still
continues
; nor do I expect
it to cease
till we obey the
Ijehests of the
Father
of men.
We
are about
to ascertain the
national
will by an
amendmeut to the Constitution.
If the gentlemen opposite will yield to
the
voice of God and humanity, and vote for
it, I
verily believe the
sword
of the destroying angel
will be
stayed, and
this people be re-
united.
If we harden our hearts, and blood must
still flow, may the
ghosts of the slaughtered victims
sit heavily upon the
souls of those
who cause it."
Two-thirds of those voting must
favor the amendment to secure
its
passage.
It was known that some of the Democratic members of
the House were ready to vote for so beneficent a measure
; but would
there be a sufficient number ?
Breathless the silence as the clerk called the roll—broken by a low
murmur of approval when Mr. English, Democratic member from Con-
necticut, responded " Aye."
The applause was repeated with increasing
emphasis as other Democrats followed his example.
The last name was
called.
One hundred and nineteen Ayes, fifty-six aSToes— two more than
the requisite number
!
The great transaction was accomplished.
The
hall rang with cheers.
Members stood upon their seats, mounted their
desks, shouted their huzzas.
The great audience in the galleries and
crowding the doorways thundered
its applause.
Outside the Capitol
cannon announced to President
Lincoln, to the
soldiers wasting away
in the hospitals, to the people of Washington, that there was to be no
more
slavery
in
the
land.
In
the evening a great crowd gathered
around
the White House.
The
President, responding
to
their
call,
said:
"I
cannot but
congratulate
you,
myself, the
country, the whole
world, upon this great moral victory."
In
God's
time and way the
blow
had
been
given, and
slavery
abolished.
President Lincoln, in 1860, cheerfully surrendered to Great Britain
the two Confederate agents—Mason and Slidell, w^rongfully seized by
Commodore Wilkes.
Mr. Mason had been courteously received in Lon-
don by Lord John
Kussell as a private
citizen, but England was not
ready to recognize him as an agent of the Confederacy.
Mr,
Slidell,
in
Paris, had been accorded
several
interviews with Louis Napoleon,
who said that his sympathies were with the South.
He considered the
re-establishment of the Union impossible, and final separation a mere
question of time.
The
difficulty before him vras to find a way
to
ex-
474
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX
PASSAGE OF THE AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION PKOHIBITING SLAVERY.
press his sympathies.
He desired
to preserve friendly relations with
England, but was not willing to
act without the co-operation
of that
countr}^.
Through the war the Emperor had keenly watched every movement
of the conflict.
He was dreaming of empire and power.
He longed to
have his name known in future ages.
He desired to see the great
re-
THE END OF SLAVERY.
475
public of the West divided, the government of the people overthrown.
Its example and
infiiience were threatening the
stability of European
gov^ernments.
The United
States, during the administration
of Presi-
dent Monroe, declared to the world that there must be no interference
on the part of European governments with affairs in the Western hemi-
sphere.
Each government must be left to itself in working out
its well-
being and destiny.
Just before the secession of the Southern States the
".Clerical " Party in the Republic of Mexico annulled the Constitution
of that
country and
elected Miramon dictator, who
seized
$G60,00(»,
which had been
set aside
for the payment of interest on bonds
held
in England.
The dictator issued $15,000,000 in bonds, which were sold
to French
brokers
for $700,000
in
gold.
The
Liberal Party
elected
Juarez President, who defeated Miramon in
battle, and compelled him
to flee the country.
The Liberals, having obtained possession of the Gov-
ernment, confiscated a portion of the estates of the Church.
Some of
the bishops, who had made themselves
verj^ obnoxious, also the Papal
Nuncio, were ordered to leave Mexico.
The people had been plundered
by the Clerical Party,
The country was poor,
Miramon had taken the
last dollar from the national treasury.
A law was passed suspending
for two years payment of interest on the bonds held
in England and
in Europe.
The
ministers
of England, France, and
Spain informed
President Juarez that unless
it was annulled in twenty-four hours they
would haul down their flags and suspend all intercourse. A convention
Avas held in London by agents of the three countries, and
it was agreed
that each country should send a fleet and troops to Yera Cruz to hold
that port, and collect the custom dues.
It probabl}?" never will be known just what inducements were brought
to bear upon Emperor Louis Xapoleon
to induce him to enter u])on
a
grand scheme for the extension of the influence and power of France in
Mexico, but on February 14, 1862, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, at Lon-
don, informed Secretary Seward that the Emperor of France intended
to
establish
a monarchy
in
Mexico, with Maximilian, brother
of the
Emperor oi Austria, and Carlotta, daughter of the King of Belgium,
upon the throne.
The
fleets
of
France
crossed
the Atlantic with
several thousand
troops, which
landed
at
Yera
Cruz, marched
inland,
but were
con-
fronted and .defeated
by the
Mexicans.
England and
Spain, seeing
Louis Napoleon had ulterior designs
in Mexico, withdrew their troops.
A form of election was held by the French commander, and Maximil-
ian
declared
to
be
the
choice
of
the
Mexicans
as
ruler of
the
na-
476
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
tion.
The Monroe Doctrine had been
set
aside by the Emperor
of
France.
At this juncture Mr. Francis P. Blair thought he could render great
service to the United States.
He was a venerable gentleman, who had
been influential in political affairs during the administrations of Jackson
and Yan Buren.
He was intimately acquainted with Jefferson Davis
and men holding high positions in the Confederate Government.
Mr.
Blair undoubtedly believed that he could bring about peace.
He applied
to President Lincoln for a pass beyond the lines of the army, which was
granted.
Mr. Blair addressed a letter to Mr. Davis, stating that when
G-eneral Early's army was in the
vicinity of Washington, the soldiers
had access to his home in the suburbs of the city, and doubtless carried
away some papers which were of value to himself, and he would like to
visit Eichmond to recover them.
The letter furnished a reason to an
inquiring public.
Far different a personal
letter to Mr. Davis, which
set forth his true desire.
He wished to explain his views upon the state
of the country— to promote
its
welfare.
He was
not an
accredited
agent from President Lincoln, but desired, as an individual and a
pri-
vate citizen, to " unbosom his heart frankly and without reserve." (
'
)
By flag of truce Mr. Blair readied Richmond, January 12, 1865, and
was kindly received.
He submitted a long communication to President
Davis.
"Slavery," Mr. Blair
said, '"no longer remains an insurmountable
obstruction to
pacification.
.
.
. The
JSTorth and South speak one lan-
guage, are educated in the same common law.
.
.
. They were coming
together again.
.
.
. The few States remaining in arms against the Gov-
ernment were ready to surrender slavery.
.
.
. Louis JSTapoleon had de-
clared he intended to make the Latin race supreme in the southern sec-
tion of the continent."
Mr. Blair told Mr. Davis he was in a position to drive Maximilian
from his American throne and baffle the designs of
JSTapoleon. (')
Mr. Blair's plan was for the Confederacy to give up the struggle,
unite with the North, and drive the French out of Mexico.
President Davis addressed a note to
Mr. Blair, which he was
at
liberty to read to President Lincoln.
" I have no disposition," said Davis, " to find obstacles in forms, and
am willing now, as heretofore, to enter into negotiations for the resto-
ration
of peace.
I am ready to send a commission whenever
I have
reason to suppose it will be received, and to receive a commission
if the
United States Government shall choose to send one."
THE END OF SLAVERY.
477
Mr. Blair roachod Washington, January 18tli, and laid tlie letter iVoiu
Davis before the President, wlio in turn wrote:
"You may say to Mr. Davis
tliat I have constantly been and am now and
sliall con-
tinue ready to receive any agent whom he or any other
inllueulial persons now resisting
the national authority may informally send to me with the view of securing peace to the
people of our common country."
Mr. Blair returned to Eichmond, and informed President Davis that
President Lincoln would not
be able
to make any
direct movement
towards peace.
Were he to do so he would be hampered by Congress.
It was Mr. Blair's excuse, not the President's,
The chief executive of the nation would receive any one accredited
from the Confederate Government, but Grant, Sherman, and the soldiers
were the agents upon whom he relied
for securing lasting peace.
He
knew that
in a few weeks the Confederacy would have no power to
continue the war.
It was known that the Confederate army had very
little
food.
Governor Brown, of
Georgia, was
refusing
to obey
the
laws
passed by the
Confederate
Congress.
The
return
of
IVfr, Blair
to Richmond created a
stir
in that
city.
The people regarded
it
as
a
sign
of
approaching
peace.
Mr.
Davis
appointed
Yice-president
Alexander H. Stephens, Judge John A. Campbell, and R, M. T. Hunter
commissioners to act under the letter written by President Lincoln
to
Mr. Blair.
" You are requested," said Mr. Davis, in his letter to them,
'' to pro-
ceed to AVashington City for informal conference with Mr. Lincoln upon
the issues involved in the existing war, and
foi' the purpose of securing
peace to the two countries." (')
President Lincoln w^as ready to receive any one coming with a view
of securing peace to the people of " our common country."
President
Davis was for securing peace to the "two countries."
That was the
difference.
The President commissioned (Januaiy 31,1865) Secretary Seward
to ]iroceed to Fortress Monroe to meet the Confederate commissioners.
Ex})licit and plain his letter of instructions.
" The following things,'* wrote Mr. Lincoln, " are indispensable
:
''''First. The
restoration
of the national
authority
throughout
all
the States.
" Second. No receding b}^ the executive of the United States on the
slavery question from the position assumed thereon
in the late annual
message to Congress and in preceding documents.
478
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" Third.
]^o cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and
the disbanding of all forces hostile to the Government.
You will inform
them that
all propositions
of
theirs, not inconsistent with the above,
will be considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality
; you
will hear
all they may choose to say and repeat to me
; you will not
assume to definitely consummate anything."
Equally explicit was the instruction of
the
President
to
General
Grant, sent by special messenger Major Eckert
:
"Let nothing which
is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your military plans."
General Grant had desired no armistice, and informed the President
that the troops were in readiness to move at the shortest
notice.
The
sentinels did not relax their vigilance.
The sharp-shooters were
still on
the alert.
The cannon of both armies thundered daily.
Secretary Seward
visited
Fortress Monroe to meet the agents
of
the Confederate Government.
It. was night when the commissioners,
under a flag of truce, reached the headquarters of General Grant
^^i^l' at City Point.
They found the commander of the Union army
in a log-cabin, busily writing at a small table.
The cabin was
lighted by a kerosene lamp.
Mr. Stephens was impressed with the sim-
plicity and naturalness of General Grant.
" There was nothing," he says, " to indicate his official rank.
There
were neither guards nor aids about him.
He furnished us comfortable
quarters on board one of his despatch-boats.
The more I became
ac-
quainted with him, the more I became thoroughly impressed with the
very extraordinary combination of rare elements of character which he
exhibited.
During the time he met us frequently, and conversed freely
upon various subjects, not much upon our mission.
I
saw, however,
very clearly that he was anxious for the proposed conference
to take
place." (•')
General Grant in turn was impressed by the
sincerity and earnest-
ness of the commissioners.
" I recognize," he telegraphed to
Stanton, " the
difficulties
in
the
way of receiving these informal commissioners at this time, and do not
know what to recommend.
I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln can-
not have an interview with the two named in this despatch (Stephens
and Hunter), if not with all three now within our lines."
President Lincoln read the despatch.
If the Confederates
sincere-
ly desired peace he was ready to see them, although they had
' been appointed by Jefferson Davis on a basis different from what
he himself had stipulated.
He did not know that Davis had charged
THE END OF SLAVERY.
479
the commissioners to demand his recognition as President of a separate
nationahty. (')
" Say
to
the
gentlemen,"
Mr. Lincobi
telegraphed, " I
will meet
them personally at Fortress Monroe."
It was midwinter—the mercury nearly down to zero.
Mr. Stephens,
small of
stature, in feeble
health, Avrapped himself in three overcoats
ALEXANDER
II. STEPHENS.
480
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
and. a woollen muffler.
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward were in the cabin
of the steamer River
Queeii^ awaiting the arrival
of the com-
^j^^gl' missioners.
They
saw,
at the
farther
end
of the
saloon, Mr.
Stephens laying aside his overcoats one by one.
When the dis-
robing was finished they beheld a shrivelled, boyish-looking little man.
"Seward,"
said Mr. Lincoln, "that
is the
largest shucking
for
so
small a nubbin that I ever saw."
There were
friendly greetings, hearty hand-shakings, pleasant talk
of old times.
Mr. Stephens asked if there was no way of restoring hap-
piness and harmony.
" I know
of but one way," Mr. Lincoln
replied.
" Those who are
resisting the laws of the Union must cease their resistance."
" We have been induced to believe," said Mr. Stephens, " that both
parties might cease present
strife and take up a Continental question,
which would give time for their anger to cool."
"I suppose," the
President
replied, "you refer
to something Mr.
Blair has said.
Now
it
is proper for me to state that Mr. Blair had no
authority from me to make an}^ statement.
When he applied to me for
a pass to go to Richmond with certain ideas he wished to make known
to me, I told him flatly I did not want to hear them.
When he returned
and brought me Mr. Davis's letter, I gave him the one to which you
allude in your application to pass the lines.
I was always willing to
hear propositions for peace, on the conditions of this letter and on no
others.
The restoration of the Union
is a 8ine qua non with me, and
hence my instructions that no conference was to be held except on that
basis." (")
Mr. Stephens possibly thought Mr. Lincoln could be influenced by
argument.
He urged an armistice, and a joint expedition of Union and
Confederate
troops
to drive the French out of Mexico.
This would
establish the right
of self-government to
all countries
in the western
hemisphere
against
any
interference
from
European
nations.
The
Confederate Yice-president underrated the logical powers of Mr. Lin-
coln if he thought to hoodwink him by such sophistry.
Consenting to
a joint expedition would be an acknowledgment of the Confederacy as
a separate nation.
" I cannot," Mr. Lincoln replied, " entertain a proposition for an ar-
mistice on any terras while the vital question of reunion
is undisposed
of.
That
is the
first question with me.
I can enter into no treaty,
convention, or
stipulation or agreement with the Confederate
States,
jointly or separately, upon any other subject but upon the basis
first
THE END OF SLAVERY.
481
R. M.
T. HUNTER.
settled—that the Union is to be restored.
Any such agreement or stipu-
lation would be a quasi recognition of the States then in arms against
the ]^ational Government as a separate power.
That
I never will do.
.
.
. Even
if the Confederate States should entertain the proposition to
return to the Union, I could not enter into any agreement in regard to
reconstruction, or upon any other matters of that sort, while there were
parties in arms against the Government." (')
" But," interposed Mr. Hunter, " there are instances where a
chief
executive has entered
into agreements even when
tliere were parties
in
arms
against
acknowledged
authority.
Charles
I.,
of
England,
did it."
"I do not
profess
to be posted
in
history," Mr. Lincoln
replied.
" On such matters I will turn you over to Mr. Seward.
All that I dis-
tinctly recollect about Charles
I.
is that he lost his head." (*)
The Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery was read.
" The slaves," said
INlr. Hunter, " have alwa3"s
been accustomed to
an overseer.
If you suddenly free them on the basis of the Emancipa.
482
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
tion Proclamation, you
will not only precipitate them, but the
entire
Southern people, into irredeemable ruin."
"Mr. Hunter,"
the
President
replied, "you ought
to know more
about this matter than I, for you have always lived under the slave sys-
tem.
I can only say that your statement brings to mind Farmer Case,
out in Illinois, who undertook to raise a lot of hogs.
It was no small
job to feed them.
He had a large field of potatoes, and he concluded
to turn the hogs
loose and
let them have
full swing.
It would save
digging the potatoes.
He was looking at the critters one day when a
neighbor came along.
' Case,' said he,
' your hogs are doing well just
now, but what will become of them when the ground freezes?'
' Well,'
said Case,
'it may come rather hard on their snouts, but it will be root,
hog, or die."'C')
"Mr. President," said Mr. Seward, "I think we may as well inform
the gentlemen
that
the Amendment
to
tlie
Constitution
abolishing
slavery was acted on by Congress
yesterday, and
it doubtless
will
be
ratified by the requisite number of States."
" That is
true, gentlemen," said Mr. Lincoln.
" I suggest that the
States which have seceded return and vote for its ratification.
It is de-
sirable to have the consent of the people as soon as possible.
I do not
doubt they will be ready to make liberal compensation for your slaves
—possibly ^400,000,000.
You would be surprised, gentlemen, were
I
to give you the names of those who favor it."
Mr. Lincoln spoke of the position of individuals who had taken part
in the Rebellion.
" According to your view of the case," said Mr. Stephens, " we are
all guilty of treason and liable to be hanged."
" Yes, that
is so," Mr. Lincoln replied.
"Well, I have no fear of being executed so long as you are Presi-
dent," said Mr. Stephens.
Hampered by the conditions imposed by Jefferson Davis, the com-
missioners could not make any definite proposition for ending the war.
Mr. Lincoln stated
frankly and decidedly that
there was one
course
they could pursue which would end the struggle at once—submission to
Federal authority.
" I'll
tell you," he said to Mr. Stephens, " what I would do, were I
a citizen of Georgia, as you
are.
I would go home and get the Gov-
ernor to call the Legislature together, recall the troops, elect Senators
and Representatives to Congress, and ratify the Amendment to the Con-
stitution abolishing slavery." ('")
THE END OF SLAVERY.
483
Both the meeting and parting were
friendly.
On the
trip up the
Potomac the President was looking into the future.
lie knew the time
was near when the people must deal with the question of reconstruc-
tion.
If there was to be a true restoration of the Union, there must be
concihation on
the
part
of
the
North
towards
the
defeated
South.
Would not an offer of compensation for the slaves freed go far towards
bringing about harmony
i
Upon his arrival at Washington the matter
was brought to the attention of the Cabinet.
The President pro-
posed to submit a message to Congress recommending an appro-
priation of $400,000,000, and that all political offences be condoned.
The Cabinet did not take kindly to the proposition.
The President
was surprised.
" How long will the war last ?" he asked. No one answered.
It was
a painful
silence.
The President continued
:
" Let us suppose
it will
last 100 days.
We are spending $3,000,000 a day, which will amount
to all the money, besides all the lives.
But I see you are all opposed to
me, and I will not send the message."
It was laid aside and never again taken up.
In his
desire to save
life, his earnestness to secure peace, in the greatness of his charity, Mr.
Lincoln had gone to the extreme verge of magnanimity.
"The earnest desire of the President," wrote Mr. Welles in his diary,
" to conciliate and effect peace was manifest, but there may be such an
overdoing
as
to cause
distrust or adverse
feeling.
The
rebels would
misconstrue it
if the offer were made." (")
The Confederate commissioners had not manifested any
desire
to
return to the Union.
Jefferson Davis had stipulated for his recognition
as chief executive of an independent nation.
There was no evidence
that the slave-holding States could be conciliated by the proposed offer.
A noble
desire had taken possession
of the great-hearted
President.
The longing for peace, the restoration of the Union, and the saving of
life for the moment outweighed
his judgment.
Had he waited a few
hours we may be sure the matter never would have been
laid
before
the Cabinet.
The Confederate commissioners
returned
to Richmond, chagrined
over their
failure.
While they were making their way up the James
and through the Union lines under their safe conduct, the Con-
^1865*' federate Congress was considering the question
of adopting a
new flag for the Confederacy, as
if
it was
to wave forever as
an emblem
of sovereignty, oblivious as was Belshazzar of approaching
doom.
The commissioners reported to Jefferson Davis that the Con-
484
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
federaoy must disappear before there could be any peace.
A clerk
in
the Confederate War Department wrote the following in his diary
:
"As I supposed, the peace commissioners have returned from their fruitless errand.
President Lincohi and Mr. Seward,
it appears, had nothing to propose, and would listen
to
nothino; but unconditional submission.
The Congress of the United States has
Feb. 6.
just
passed, by
a
two-thirds vote, an amendment
to
the
Constitution abolishing
slavery.
Now, the South w^ill soon be fired up again, perhaps with a new impulse, and
the war will rage with
greater fury than ever.
Mr. Stephens will go into Georgia and
reanimate his people.
General Wise spoke at length for independence at the Capitol on
Saturday night amid applauding listeners, and Governor Smith spoke to-night.
Every effort
will be made to popularize the cause again.
General Wise's brigade has sent up resolu-
tions consenting to a gradual emancipation, but never for reunion with the North.
All
hope of peace with independence is extinct, and valor alone
is now relied on for our sal-
vation.
Every one thinks the Confederacy will
at once gather up
its military strength
and strike such blows as will astonish the world." (
'^
)
Mr. Campbell had comprehended the situation of affairs more clearly
than
either Stephens or Hunter.
He saw the impracticability of the
scheme devised by Mr. Blair, which had been made the basis of the con-
ference.
He advised that the reason for its failure be kept secret.
Jef-
ferson Davis, in
his anger, refused to accept such
advice.
He sent a
message to Congress, in which he said that the enemy had refused
all
terms except those which a conqueror might grant.
The newspapers
of Richmond reflected the general sentiment of the hour.
"We have had," said the
'Sentinel,' "some peace men among
us,
but there are no peace men now.
Xot realizing the
full enormity of
our enemies, they have deemed
it impossible that their devilish
thirst
for our blood was not yet slaked
; that their rapacious designs upon our
homes and property, and their desire to destroy our liberties were not
yet abandoned or abated
; and hence they have been anxious that our
government should extend the olive-branch.
These questions are
set-
tled now. We have been pressed to the wall, and told plainly there was
no escape except such as we
shall hew out with our manful swords.
There is literally no retreat except in chains and slavery."
The Governor of Virginia, William Smith, called a public meeting,
which was held in the African Baptist Church, the largest in Richmond.
He presented a series of resolutions denouncing and spurning as a gross
insult the terms offered by President Lincoln.
" Men who grumble now
deserve a lamp-post," he said.
" If the
spirit which animates you to-night," said Jefferson Davis,
" shall meet with a general response, as I have no doubt
it will, I shall
feel that we are on the verge of success. We shall not again be insulted
THE END OF SLAVERY.
485
by such terms of peace as the arrogance of the enem}^ lias
lately pro-
posed, but ere many months have elapsed our successes will cause them
to feel that when talking to us they are talking to their masters."
Jefferson Davis was confronted by
a puzzling question.
He had
transmitted a message to Congress relating to the enlistment of slaves
as
soldiers.
He thought the
slaves would
fight for the Confederacy.
The Government ought
to
purchase them from
their masters.
But
ought not the negroes to have their freedom ?
Would they fight unless
some inducement were held out to them ?
" The policy," he said, "of engaging to liberate the negro on his dis-
charge after service faithfully rendered, seems to me to be preferable to
that
of granting immediate manumission or that
of retaining him
in
servitude."
The Southern people were greatly astonished when they
read the
message.
Arm
slaves
!
Give them their freedom
!
Was not slavery
the corner-stone of the Confederacy?
A meeting was held
to consider the question.
Mr. Benjamin said
that slaves who volunteered to fight for the Confederacy ought to have
their freedom.
Other speakers said the white soldiers would re-
sent the enlistment of negroes.
General Lee, in
a
letter,
said
that
negroes would make good
soldiers.
The Confederate Congress
passed a law for the employment of 200,000 slaves as soldiers, and au-
thorized President Davis to accept slaves which might be given to the
Confederacy by their owners.
No reward was promised to the
slaves.
The master was
still
to be master and owner.
Such half-hearted, in-
sincere, death-bed repentance could be
of no
avail.
The
slaves knew
that Abraham Lincoln had given them their freedom.
They knew that
200,000
of their race were marshalled under the
Stars and
Stripes as
free men, citizens of the Republic.
The passage of the bill Avas a humil-
iating confession of wrong-doing and failure.
The
Confederate
Congress
also passed a
resolution
that
if Rich-
mond were evacuated, all public property should be destroyed, especial-
ly the great warehouses filled with tobacco owned by the Government.
General Lee was made military
dictator.
Having passed these
bills,
Congress adjourned.
General Lee was making great efforts to recruit his army and obtain
supplies.
He knew that General Grant had brought a large force from
Tennessee to North Carolina; that Sherman was advancing from
Sa-
vannah; that Sheridan with
15,000 cavalry would soon be moving
in
the Shenandoah.
With the several Union armies closing around him,
486
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
the struggle must
eventuallj^ end.
There would be humiliation in de-
feat.
It would be far better to secure peace by coming to an agree-
ment with Grant.
A flag of truce brought a letter to the Union com-
mander proposing a conference.
President Lincoln was at the Capitol
in Washington, signing
bills
which Congress had
passed, when a
despatch from Grant to
' Stanton announced the
proposition
of
Lee.
Mr. Lincoln
laid
aside for a moment the
bills, and wrote
this
reply, purporting
to be
from Mr. Stanton
:
" The President directs me to say that he wishes you to have no conference with Gen-
eral Lee, unless it be for capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor or purely
political matters.
He instructs me to say that you are not
to decide, discuss, or confer
upon any political questions.
Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and
will submit them to no military conference or convention.
Meanwhile you are to press to
the utmost your military advantages."
Abraham Lincoln, servant
of the
people, to begin on the morrow
another term
of service, determined no mistake should be made in the
closing of the conflict.
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXV.
(
) " Century Magazine," October, 1889.
(2) Ibid.
(2) Jefferson Davis, "Rise and Fall of the Confederate States/' vol.
ii., p. 612.
(4) A. H. Stephens, "War Between the States," vol.
ii., p. 597.
(^) "Augusta Chronicle," January
17, 1865.
(^) John A. Campbell, "Southern Magazine," December, 1874.
(
'' ) A. H. Stephens, " War Between the States," vol.
ii., p. 608.
( 8 )
" Century Magazine," October, 1889.
C) F. B. Carpenter, " Six Mouths in the White House," p. 210.
(1°) "Century Magazine," October, 1889.
('^) "Century Magazine," November, 1889.
(12) J. B. Jones, " Rebel War Clerk's Diary," vol.
ii., p. 710.
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
487
CHAPTER XXYI.
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
A
SECOND time Abraham Lincoln stands upon the portico of the
Capitol to take the oath of
office as President of the Republic.
Far
different the outlook from that of the
first
inauguration.
Then,
uncertainty,
darkness, gloom
; now, the dawn
of
a
brighter
day, the
rising sun of a new era.
Then, an unfinished edifice
; now, the
^^'Y^Q-
*'
statue of Liberty crowning the world's most
beautiful halls of
legislation.
Then, war about
to begin
; now, the prospect
of
its end.
Then, 4,000,000 bondmen
; now, slavery abolished.
The
na-
tion then as helpless as a child
; now a giant, astonishing the world by
the majesty of its power.
In the month of August preceding the November election the Peace
Democracy, seemingly, were about
to take possession
of the Govern-
ment.
Mr. Lincoln had doubted his re-election, but the people indorsed
his
administration by giving him
212
electoral
votes, against 21
for
McClellan.
None in the Presidential office ever had greater cause for
elation, but those nearest Mr. Lincoln noticed a growing sense of
re-
sponsibihty, and a consciousness that he was an agent
of divine Prov-
idence to promote the well-being
of his fellow-men.
It is manifest in
his reply to the Committee of Congress apprising him
officially of his
re-election.
" With deep gratitude," said Mr. Lincoln, " to my countrymen for
this mark of their confidence
; with a distrust of my own ability to per-
form the duty required under the most favorable
circumstances, and
now rendered doubly difficult by exciting national
perils; yet with a
firm reliance on the strength of our free government and the eventual
loyalty of the people to
just principles upon which
it
is founded, and,
above
all, with an unbroken faith in the Supreme Ruler of Nations,
I
accept this trust."
Never had any nation or people heard such words as were uttered
by Mr. Lincoln as he stood upon the portico of the Capitol before tak-
ing the oath of office for a second term
:
488
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" Fellow-COUNTKYMEN,—At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential
office, there
is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the
first.
Then, a
statement, somewhat
in
detail, of
a
course
to be
pursued, seemed
fitting and
proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been con-
stantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the
attention
and
engrosses
the
energies
of the
nation,
little
that
is new
could be
pre-
sented.
The
progress
of
our
arms, upon which
all
else
chiefly
depends,
is
as
well
known
to
the
public
as
to
myself; and
it
is,
I
trust, reasonably
satisfactory and
en-
couraging
to
all.
With
high hope
for
the
future, no
prediction
in
regard
to
it
is
ventured.
"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously
directed to an impending
civil
war.
All
dreaded
it— all
sought
to
avert
it.
While
the
inaugural
address
was
being
delivered
from
this
place,
devoted
altogether
to
saving
the Union without war,
insurgent
agents were
in
the
city
seeking
to destroy
it without war — seeking
to
dissolve
the Union,
and
divide
effects,
by
negotiation.
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than
let the na-
tion survive; and the other would accept war rather than
let
it
perish.
And the war
came.
"One-eighth of the whole population were colored
slaves, not distributed generally
over the Union, but localized in the southern part of
it.
These slaves constituted a pecul-
iar and powerful
interest.
All knew that this
interest was, somehow, the cause of
the
war.
To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the in-
surgents would rend the Union, even by war
; while the Government claimed no right to
do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of
it.
Neither party expected for the
war the magnitude or the duration which
it has already attained.
Neither anticipated
that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict
itself should
cease.
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.
Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against
the other.
It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance
in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we
be not judged.
The prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been an-
swered fully.
The Almighty has His own purposes.
' Woe unto the world because of
offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the of-
fence cometh.'
If we shall suppose that American slavery
is one of those offences which,
in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His ap-
pointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this ter-
rible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any
departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe
to Him?
Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that
this mighty scourge of war
may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that
it continue until
all the wealth piled by
the bondman's two hundred and
fifty years of unrequited
toil shall be sunk, and
until
every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,
as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said,
' The judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice towards none; with charity for all;
witli firmness in the right, as God
gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in;
to bind up the na-
tion's wounds; to cai'e for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
his orphan
16 do
all ^vhich may achieve and
cherish a just and a lasting peace among
ourselves, and with all nations."
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
489
The address has no parallel
in
political literature.
To tJie great au-
dience listening in
breathless attention
it was like a transcription of a
portion of the Sermon on the Mount.
From the hour when Lucy Gil-
man Speed talked with Mr, Lincoln about eternal truths, there had been
within him a growing recognition
of divine Providence
in human
af-
fairs.
It appears in many of his State papers and private letters.
" Every one
likes a compliment," he wrote to Mr. Weed.
" Thank
you for yours, and on my little notification speech and on the recent in-
augural address.
I expect the latter to wear as well, or perhaps better,
than anything I have produced, but I believe it
is not immediately pop-
ular.
Men are not
flattered by being shown there
is a difference of
purpose between the Almighty and themselves.
To deny
it, however,
in this case is to deny there is a God governing the world.
It is a truth
which
I thought needed to be told, and as to whatever of humihation
there
is in
it falls most directly on myself, I thought others might
af-
ford for me to tell it."('
)
The great drama was about to close.
The army under Sherman was
in North Carohna.
Union troops were in Charleston and Wilmington.
Sheridan with the cavalry was on
his way from the Shenandoah to
Petersburg.
A few more weeks, and the final blow would be given.
General Grant, desiring to have an interview with the
President,
invited him to visit City Point.
The invitation was accepted.
He was
accompanied bv Mrs. Lincoln and " Tad," on the steamer River
Mar
o')
Queen, protected by
a
small gunboat.
Upon
the
President's
arrival General Grant and the members of his staff went on board the
steamer to pay their respects to their commander-in-chief.
They were
cordially received.
" I am not feeling very
well,"
said the President.
" I got pretty
well shaken up on the bay coming down, and am not altogether over
it."(^)
" Let me send," said a staff-officer, " for a bottle of champagne for
you, Mr. President
; that is the best remedy I know of for sea-sickness."
" No, no, my young friend
;
I have seen many a man
in my time
sea-sick ashore from drinking that very article," the President replied.
In the evening a pitch-pine camp-fire was kindled
at the military
headquarters.
It was a pleasure
to the President to
sit before
it, as-
suming any attitude he pleased.
He was regardless of etiquette.
With
his legs at
full length or
doubled
up, the
bright
flames illuming his
countenance, he gave free play to fancy, and entertained General Grant
and
his
staff with anecdote and
story.
He listened with
interest to
490
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
what others said.
He inquired in regard to new inventions relating to
military art.
" I have here," said General Horace Porter, member of the staiT, " a
specimen of the new powder for the fifteen-inch guns at Fortress Mon-
roe.
The kernel is nearly as large as a walnut."
" Well," the President replied, " that
is a little larger than the pow-
der I used in my shooting days.
It reminds me of what once occurred
in a country meeting-house in Sangamon County.
You see, there were
very few newspapers then, and the country store-keepers had to resort
to some other means of advertising their wares.
If, for instance, the
preacher happened to be late in coming to a prayer-meeting of an even-
ing, the shopkeeper would often put in the time while the people were
waiting by notifying them of any new arrival of an attractive line of
goods.
One evening a man
said
:
' Brethren, let me take occasion to
say, while w're
a-wa'tin', that
I have
just
received
a new
inv'ice
of
sportin' powder.
The grains
is so small you kin scarcely see 'em with
the naked eye.
They are polished so fine you kin stand up and comb
your ha'r in front
of 'em jes' like
it was a lookin' -glass.
Ho^pe you'll
come down to my store at the cross-roads, and examine that powder for
yourselves.'
" When he had got about thus far a rival merchant, who had been
boiling with indignation at the amount of advertising, got up and said
:
'Bretherin, I hope you'll not believe a single word Brother Jones has
been saying about that powder.
I've been down thar and seen
it for
myself, and I pledge you my word, brethren, that the grains
is bigger
than the lumps in a coal-pile, and any one of you brethren in your fut-
ure state could put a bar'l of that powder on your shoulder and march
square through the sulphurious flames of the world below without the
least danger of an explosion.'
(')
Mr. Lincoln desired to see the army, and on the following morning,
mounted on General Grant's favorite horse, " Cincinnati," he rode along
the
lines.
The
soldiers tossed their caps and
cheered
lustily for the
man in whom they had unswerving confidence.
Again, as evening came, the President sat by the glowing camp-fire.
He spoke of the events of the war—of the changes that had taken place,
the patriotism of the people, the attitude of England and France.
" Have you ever doubted, Mr, President," one asked, " of the
final
success of our cause ?"
" Kever
for
a moment.
Mr. Seward has
said
that
there
is
just
enough virtue in the Eepublic to save
it—not much to spare, but
suffi-
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
491
cient for any emergency.
I agree with
him.
The capture of Mason
and Slidell made me uneasy,"
" Was it not hard to surrender them T
" Yes, it was a pretty bitter pill to swallow
; but I contented myself
with believing that England's triumph in the matter would be
short-
lived, and that after the war we should be so powerful that we could
call her to account for all the embarrassments she has inflicted on
us.
I felt a good deal like the sick man in Illinois who was told he hadn't
probably many days
to
live, and he ought
to make
peace with any
enemies he might have.
He said the man he hated most of
all was a
fellow named Brown in the next village, and he guessed he had better
commence with him first
; so Brown was sent for, and when he came the
sick man began to say in a voice
as meek as Moses that he "wanted to
die
in peace with
all
his fellow -creatures, and hoped he and Brown
could now shake hands and bury
all their enmity.
The scene was
be-
coming very pathetic.
Brown had to get out his handkerchief and wipe
his tears.
He finall}^ melted and reached out his hand, and they had a
regular love - feast.
It was an affecting parting.
Brown had about
reached the door when the sick man raised himself, and said,
' See here,
Brown, if I ever should get well that old grudge
is going to stand,' so
I thought that
if this nation should happen to get well we might want
that old grudge to stand against John Bull."(')
It was a season of delightful recreation to the President.
For the
moment he forgot the great questions confronting him relating to the
reconstruction of the seceded States—the future status of the liberated
slaves, the pardon of the Confederate leaders.
For four
j^ears he had
been burdened with the nation's welfare.
The lines had deepened ujDon
his face.
He had endured anxious days, passed
sleepless
nights.
The
grief
of the nation had been his grief.
But as the storm-tossed sailor
beholds the headlands of the 'harbor where he may ride in safety, so he
looked forwai-d to a haven of peace and rest.
He could rejoice
in the
thought that the people trusted him as they had trusted no other man
since George Washington.
They were sustaining his administration
manifesting their patriotism and confidence by subscribing for the new
loan of $500,000,000, bearing Tt^ per cent, interest.
It had been placed
upon the market
just before the
election.
Mr. Lincoln believed that
the people would
sustain the Government
in financial as they had in
military
affairs.
The bankers
of Great Britain were not appealed to.
They trusted
the Confederate Government, subscribed to the Confed-
erate cotton loan, but distrusted the United States.
Their sjmipathies
492
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
were
with
the
Confederacy.
The people
of Holland and Germany,
with truer
instinct and clearer vision, had purcliased the bonds
of the
United States.
The new loan might have been negotiated at Frank-
fort, Hamburg, and Amsterdam, but President Lincoln and his Cabinet
determined to
call upon the
people for money
to carry on the war.
The appeal had not been in vain.
In forty-three days $161,000,000 was
subscribed, not by bankers as a speculation, but by the people in every
section of the country. (')
The army under Sherman had reached Goldsboro'.
Its commander,
wishing to confer with General Grant, proceeded
to Wilmington, and
from
that
port
to
City Point.
I had witnessed
his
departure
^imT' from Savannah, beheld the Stars and Stripes floating once more
over
Suniter, and was
again with
the Army
of
the Potomac.
While at headquarters, near the cabin which General Grant had occu-
GENERA.L GRANT S HEADQUARTJEES.
pied during
the
winter, I saw him
step from
the
door, followed by
President Lincoln, Generals Sherman, Meade, Ord, and Crook.
" Good-morning.
What news have you ?" said the
President, shak-
ing my hand as he entered the headquarters.
" I have just arrived, Mr. President, from Savannah and Charleston."
" Indeed
!
Well, I am right glad to see you.
How do the people
down there like being back in the Union again ?"
" I think some of them are reconciled, if we may draw conclusions
from the action of one planter, who came down Savannah Elver on a
flat-boat loaded with cotton, bringing wife and children, a negro wom-
an and her children, of whom he was the father.
Of course he was
anxious to sell his cotton."
The eyes of the President sparkled as he
replied, " Oh yes, I
see,
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
493
patriarchal times once morel
A Imaham, Sarah, TIagar, Isaac, and
Ish-
mael, all in one boat."
General Sherman laughed heartily, and General
Grant's countenance was ilhiminated by a smile.
The President added,
" I reckon they will accept the situation now they can sell their cotton
at a price never dreamed of before the war."(')
All present turned to a map lying on a table.
" We are in a position to catch Lee between our thumb and finger,"
said Sherman, pointing to Grant's position at Petersburg, and his own
at Goldsboro',
In the cabin of the Rher Queen the next advance of the armies was
discussed by the President, Gi-ant, and Sherman.
The last named thus
narrates the conversation
:
" Mr. Lincoln made many inquiries about the events which attended
the march
from
Savannah
to
Goldsboro', and seemed
to
enjoy
the
humorous
stories about
our bummers which he had heard.
When in
lively conversation his face brightened wonderfully, but if the conversa-
tion flagged it assumed a sad and sorrowful expression.
General Grant
and
I explained
to him that my next move would bring my army of
80,000 men
in
close communication with
Gi'ant's arn\y, and that un-
less Lee could escape, and make junction with Johnston in IS^orth Caro-
lina, he would
soon
be
sliut up
in Kichmond, with
no
possibility
of
supplies, and would have to surrender.
Mr. Lincoln seemed unusually
impressed with this.
General Grant said that Sheridan was passing his
cavalry across James River, and he Avould extend his left to the, south
side road.
If Lee let go his fortified lines he (Grant) would follow him
so close that Lee could not possibly fall on me alone in Xoi'tli Carolina.
I expressed the
fullest confidence that my army was
willing to cope
Avith Lee and Johnston combined
till Grant could come up.
We both
agreed that one more bloody battle probably would be fought before
the close
of the war.
.
.
. More than once he exclaimed,
' Must more
blood be shed?
Cannot this
last bloody battle be avoided?'
We ex-
plained that we had to presume Lee must see that Johnston alone was
no barrier to my progress, and
if my army should reach Burksville he
was lost in Ilichmond.
We were forced to believe he Avould not await
that inevitable conclusion, but make one more desperate effort.
.
.
. AVe
talked generally about what was to be done when Lee's and Johnston's
armies were beaten and dispersed.
On this point Mr. Lincoln was very
full.
He said he had long thought of
it, and he hoped
tliis end could
be reached without more bloodshed, but in any event he wanted us to
get the deluded men of the
rebel armies disbanded and back to their
494
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
homes.
He contemplated no revenge, no harsh measures, but quite the
contrary.
Their sufferings and hardships during the war would make
them submissive to law." (')
General Grant was not disposed to wait
till Sherman should reach
Burksville.
He desired to compel Lee to meet him in the open
field.
If he were to wait, the soldiers from the Western States might become
unduly elated by a feeling
of
superior prowess over those from the
Eastern States.
He determined the Army of the Potomac should have
an opportunity of finishing the work it had thus far maintained against
the
strongest of the Confederate armies.
He made the Fifth Corps
and the cavalry a movable force to operate on his left, and changed his
headquarters to be near the scene of action.
" I
feel
like ending the
matter, if possible, before going back," he said to Sheridan.
The cavalry of General Lee and three brigades of Pickett's division
of infantry confronted Sheridan at Dinwiddle Court-house.
The bat-
tle ended in the retirement
of the Confederates to Five Forks,
towards which the Fifth Corps and the cavalry advanced.
It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when I reached General
Sheridan's
headquarters.
Ayer's
division
of infantry was advancing
through
the
woods.
The
cavalry
had
dismounted, and were
April 1
' fighting as infantry.
The movement of the Fifth Corps threat-
ened to separate Pickett from the main body of Lee's army.
The Con-
federate soldiers lost heart at the moment when they needed the most
courage.
The troops under Sheridan swept over the Confederate
in-
trenchments
and
captured
6000
prisoners,
six
cannon, and
thirteen
battle-flags.
General
Grant was
at Dabney's
Mill, six
miles
away.
Lie had
listened to the cannonade and the volleys of musketry, which suddenly
ceased.
What
its meaning ?
The battle was over, but which side was
victorious ?
Llorace Porter, of his own staff, brought the news.
Grant
stepped into his tent and wrote an order to Meade
:
" Assault along the
whole line !"
He sent a second telegram to President Lincoln at City Point
:
" I
have ordered everything to advance, to prevent concentration against
Sheridan."
He telegraphed to Meade
:
" I believe that with a bombardment be-
forehand the enemy will abandon his works."
The time had arrived when the whole army was to take part.
In
the evening at ten
o'clock
the cannonade
began.
It was continued
through the night, from James Kiver to the extreme left of the Union
SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
495
line.
President Lincoln
heard the deep reverberations.
lie compre-
hended that the decisive hour was near, and was turning over tlie pro-
found questions that presented themselves to his mind.
On what ijasis
ought the conquered States to be restored to the Union ?
What clem-
ency ought he to show the men who had led the Southern
States into
the Rebellion
i
What should be done with Jefferson Davis
?
Would it
not be well for the country
if the leaders were to
escaj)e to some
for-
eign land
?
Conoress would not be in session before December.
Such
questions as were likely to
arise must not be
left to the military au-
thorities for settlement.
He alone must deal with them.
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXYI.
(') Weed's "Memoirs," vol.
ii., p. 449.
(2) Horace Porter, "Century Magazine/' October, 1885.
(3) Ibid.
(•')
Ibid.
(*) Jay Cooke to Author.
C^) Author's Note-book, 1865.
C) Sheriuau to I.N. Arnold, AruoUl's "Life of Abraham Lincohi," p. 421.
496
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CHAPTEE XXYII.
IN EICHMOND.
THE stars were shining from a cloudless sky and day was dawning
when the troops of the I^inth Army Corps rushed upon the Con-
federate intrenchments east of Petersburg, captured twelve cannon and
800 prisoners.
The
Sixth
and Second
corps were
in
motion.
Sunday, President Lincoln knew Grant had determined to make the most
April 2
1865.
' of the advantage gained at Five Forks.
A little later came the
information that the Second and Sixth corps were engaged.
I
watched the varied movements, saw the white battle-clouds above the
contending forces, beheld the last charge—compact lines rising like an
ocean billow over the fortifications—and then the
flag of the Union
waving in triumph.
Yery gratifying the telegram from Grant to the President
:
"The whole captures are not less than twelve thousand, and probably fifty pieces of
artillery."
To the Union armies
it was a day of \ictories.
The people of Richmond
in
the
early morning heard the church
bells summoning the corps of citizen soldiers to the rendezvous.
Many
times during the siege had the tocsin sounded—so often that the clang-
ing created no alarm.
The corps was organized for guard duty, or to
hold some unimportant point, that Lee might have the
entire army in
an emergency.
No information had been received of the battle at Five
Forks.
During the night Longstreet's corps had been passing through
the city to attack Sheridan.
Before Lee could execute the
plan
his
whole line was being assailed.
Again the church bells— not
clanging,
but solemnly and sweetly ringing the hour for public worship.
"What news have 3^ou?" asked a lady of an officer, as they walked
to Kev. Mr. Hoge's church.
"AH quiet.
The croakers are peaceful," the reply..
" Do you think Richmond safe ?"
" ]Srever safer.
We had a narrow escape from being starved out a
IN RICHMOND.
497
few Aveeks ago.
It frightened people into crowding provisions into the
citv.
I am assured
this morning- that we
liave not been
so
safe for
many months."^
'
)
Secretary Breckinridge was sitting
in his office when
tliis
startling
despatch came to him from General Lee
:
"My lines are broken.
Richmond must be evacuated to-niglit."
The worshippers in
St. Paul's Church had
finished the devotional
service and the rector was preaching, when an
officer walked up the
aisle and handed a slip of paper to Jefferson Davis.
The people saw
he was much agitated as he hastily left the church.
The service closed
abruptly.
The news that the city was to be evacuated quickly spread.
There
was hurrying to and fro, and activity everywhere.
A Southern historian has thus pictured the scene
:
" Tlie disorder increased every
liour, the
streets were thronged.
Pale women and
little shoeless children struggled in the crowd.
Oaths and blasphemous shouts smote tlie
ear.
Wagons were being hastily loaded at the departments with boxes and trunks, which
were taken
to the Danville depot.
All
the departments were in confusion.
There was
no system, no answer to inquiries.
Important officers were invisible, and every one felt
like taking care of himself." (
'-'
)
The mayor
of the
city was informed by General Ewell that the
tobacco warehouses were to be set on fire
;
it would endanger the
en-
tire
city, but he must obey
orders.
The mayor and a deputation
of
citizens called upon President Davis, and protested against the execu-
tion of the order,
" Your statement," said Davis,
'' that the burning of the warehouses
will endanger the city is only a cowardly pretext to save your property
from the Yankees." (')
General Ewell endeavored to impress upon the
authorities the necessity of providing protection against the mob after
the withdrawal of the troops.
A half-dozen members of the council
hastily assembled, and decided
that the liquor
in
the
cit}' should be
destroyed.
The railroad to Danville and the James Elver Canal were the only
avenues by which the Confederate Government could leave.
Coaches,
Avagons, carts, vehicles of every
description, were brought
into use
to
convey to
the
railroad
station
chests and boxes packed
with
public
documents and the personal baggage of Jefferson Davis and his Cabi-
net.
An excited crowd gathered.
"Women gave way to lamentations,
men cursed and blasphemed,
as
soldiers with
fixed
bayonets
pushed
498
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
back all except a favored tew.
From Lumpkins's prison came a gang
of
fifty negroes with clanking chains—the
last slave
coffle
of
ISTorth
America.
From the day when cotton became " king," in the estimation of the
propagandists of slavery, Yirginia had been purchasing human flesh for
southern markets.
The Kichmond mart with
its iron-grated cells was
scarcely a stone's-throw from the mansion purchased by the Confeder-
ate Government for Jefferson Davis.
There was no room on the train
for Lumpkins's chattels.
What loss
!
In 1861 those
fifty men and women
would have brought $50,000, but on
that Sunday evening they were utter-
ly valueless.
There was no longer a
KEY OF THE RICHMOND SLAVE PKisoK.
^^^^^ mart
iu
the United Statcs—
[In possession of the author.]
no lougcr a
slave.
Lumpkins could
only turn his chattels loose amid the
surging crowd.
The prison, whip, shackles, driver, auction block— rel-
ics of barbarism— were of the past.
The excited multitude saw cars
provided for the horses, coach, and coachman of Jefferson Davis.
Oaths
and curses
fell upon the ears
of the departing President and Cabinet,
when at
p.m. the train moved away from the
station.
Later in the
evening the Governor of the State and members of the Legislature took
their departure on a canal-boat. (
*
)
Day had not dawned when there came a series of thunder -like peals
which awakened President Lincoln and the army, caused by the blow-
ing up of the war-vessels of the Confederate navy.
The soldiers
^ise/' ^^ ^^^^ Ninth Corps, with whom
I had passed the night, were in-
stantly alert.
They needed no other reveille.
General Wilcox,
commanding the division nearest Petersburg, found only deserted forti-
fications where a few hours before Confederate cannon had flashed defi-
ance.
I traversed the trenches, surveyed the almost impregnable works,
and passed on with the troops into the city.
The army was compelled
to wait for the arrival of pontoons and the laying of a bridge across
the Appomattox, before
it could begin the pursuit
of
Lee.
General
Grant made
his headquarters at the mansion of Mr. Wallace.
I saw
him a few moments, and then, comprehending that Richmond was the
objective point for a correspondent, hastened to Meade station, on the
military railroad.
A train came from City Point
bringing President
Lincoln.
Just
before reaching the station
it was stopped by a procession of several
“S1v0 OY] YOO) upoour'] yuapiserd oto] AYY ‘“ENIOd ALIO ‘GVOWTIVYU AUVALITN [Fost ‘soquas0g Ur opr YoROYS B MOI
IN RICHMOND.
501
thousand Confederate prisoners crossing- the track.
They were mostly
boys, who had been forced into the army by the remorseless Confed-
erate Conscription.
They were in
rags, and had no
blankets.
Alany
had
neither
shoes
nor
hats.
Mr. Lincoln watched them
in
silence
a while, then said, as if in soliloquy
: " Poor boys
! poor boys
!
If they
only knew what we are trying to do for them they woukl not have-
fought us, and they would not look as they do."(')
An escort awaited tlio President at the station.
The Union soldiers
gave a
cheer.
He thanked them
for what
they had
accomplished,
mounted a hoi'se and rode to Petersburg.
He dismounted at the man-
sion of Mr. Wallace, with whom he had been acquainted when member
of Congress.
Mr. Wallace's young son, fired by Southern patriotism
and prejudice, saw Mr, Lincoln entering the grounds.
" You are not going to let him come into the house, are you, father?"
he said.
" I don't think
it will be best to try to stop a man who has such an
army," the father replied.
" I think we have met before.
May I take a seat on your piazza V
said
]\[r. Lincoln.
" I am pleased to see you.
Will not 3'on and General Grant take
seats in the parlor V said Mr. AYallace.
The President accepted the courteous invitation.
When seated, Mr.
Wallace
narrated
the
conversation
between
himself and
his
son, at
which Mr. Lincoln laughed heartily.
They talked of former times, re-
calling the days before the war.
Mr. Wallace was much impressed by
the quiet, unassuming, ways of the President and General Grant.
The
latter, while the troops were passing, sat quietly on the piazza smoking
a cigar. (
°
)
More dramatic the scenes
in Richmond during the early morning
hours.
The Confederate troops were leaving the city.
Stragglers and
citizens, men and women, were breaking open stores and shops.
One
who participated
in the
plundering has
thus described
the events of
the morning
:
"I turned into Thirteenth
Street, and from thence into Cary.
A
strong odor of whiskey greeted my nasal organ.
A voice cried,
' Look
out below !'
A moment later a barrel of whiskey was hurled from the
third story of a warehouse.
It was dashed to pieces against the pave-
ment, the liquor running
in streams down
the gutter.
A crowd was
gathered around the door of the medical purveyor's office, where stood
a guard with fixed bayonets.
From this building barrels of Hquor were
502
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
PARKE STATION.
rolled into the streets and knocked to pieces.
The streets literally ran
with whiskey.
A lieutenant told me that it was to prevent the Yankees
from getting tight when they should enter the
city.
Unfortunately,
the Confederate officers were allowed to
fill their canteens.
Drunken
officers were unable to maintain any authority over the excited men,
who roamed at will over the city."(')
The blowing up of the
vessels increased the frenzy.
Long trains
of wagons and
artillery were
crossing
the
bridges
at
the moment.
After the wagons came the infantry.
A spectator has vividly pictured
the scene
:
" Custis Lee's division came
first, many of the men singing, others
joking, but the majority tramped on silently, evidently depressed by the
great
disaster.
Lee's forces were about forty-five minutes in passing,
and then came Kershaw's division, a much larger body of troops.
Old
women and
girls were
constantly passing and
repassing, their backs
bending low beneath the weight of heavy sacks of
flour, meal, sugar,
butts of cloth and cotton goods.
Some loaded their carts with plunder,
some returned again with
their wheelbarrows, while many more were
rolling barrels of bread-stufi" or meat.
.
.
.
" While Kershaw's division was passing, General Ewell came over
from Richmond.
The appearance of this distinguished veteran was by
IN KICIBIOND.
503
no means prepossessing as he
sat on his horse with his old black hat
pulled over his brows.
lie rode an old gray horse, wore a faded cloak,
and carried a stout walking-stick.
Shortly after I recognized the well-
known form of J. C. Breckinridge.
He, too, halted, and for a moment
viewed the passing troops.
He wore a suit of plain black, Avith a cape
or talma thrown over his shoulders.
He was attended by several
offi-
cers
in
dress
uniform.
My
soldiers
recognized
the
familiar
face
of
' Old Breck,' and acknowledged
his presence by hearty cheers, which
the secretary returned by touching his cap. ... At length the last strag-
gler crossed, and as delay now seemed dangerous, the order to
lire the
bridge was given, and
in a few moments the whole structure was en-
veloped in a broad sheet of flame. ... As we mounted our horses, flames
suddenly burst from the windows and roof of one of the
tallest build-
ings.
Haxall's
mills w^ere burning, and a moment
after w^e perceived
that Crenshaw's mills and a great tobacco warehouse were wrapped in
flames.
The laboratory was now on
fire, and explosion followed ex-
plosion in quick succession." (")
By mid-forenoon
800
buildings
w^ere burning.
A
few^
citizens
at-
tempted
to work
the
fire - engines, but
to no
purpose.
The
panic-
stricken crowd was powerless to stay the progress of the flames.
A
little
past
four
o'clock
in
the
morning Major Atherton H. Stevens,
with two companies of the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, reconnoitred
the Confederate
lines
east of the
cit}^
He found the intrenchments
evacuated and the cannon spiked.
He met a carriage containing the
mayor and Judge Meredith of the Confederate State Court, who
ten-
dered the surrender
of Richmond.
Major Stevens
proceeded
to
the
Capitol, ascended the roof, pulled down the State flag which was fljing,
and hoisted a guidon
of
his troop
in
its
place.
It was
nearly eight
o'clock when the infantry, with General Weitzel at the head of the col-
umn, entered the city.
The colored soldiers sang,
"Johu Browu's bod}^
lies a mouldering
in
the grave.
His soul
is marching on."
With even
ranks, steady
steps, colors
waving, drums
beating, the
column passed up Main Street to the grounds surrounding the Capitol,
laid aside arms and equipments, manned the fire-engines, mounted the
roofs, poured buckets of water upon the kindling shingles, tore down
buildings, and fought the destroying flames.
These the benign acts of
the men who, through the four years of conflict, had been stigmatized
as a " vandal horde."
504
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
It was past Tloon when, after a ride from City Point, I entered Rich-
mond.
The city was a sea of flame.
A great cloud of smoke ascended
heavenward.
A division of
the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, was then
entering the city.
On Main Street
I came upon a company of negro
soldiers working a fire-engine.
I dismounted at the Spotswood Hotel.
No one welcomed me.
Its
spacious
hall was
deserted
save by the
clerk, who stood by a window
watching
the flames
at that moment
threatening the building.
" Can I have a room ?" my question.
" You can have the
entire hotel, but you will be burned out
in a
few minutes," the reply.
Upon the desk lay the open register with a long list of names having
the prefix of colonel, major, captain, and affix C.S. A.
I wrote my name
—the first from the " foreign country," as the newspapers had been ac-
customed to speak of the United States, and took possession of a commo-
dious room and looked out upon the scene.
The fire at that moment
was leaping from a building
so near that a
biscuit could have been
tossed across the intervening space.
From the arsenal came explosions
of bursting
shells.
The grounds around
the Capitol were piled with
furniture.
Old men leaning heavily upon their staves, weeping women,
haggard and woe -begone, with barefooted
children, were huddled
in
groups, enduring indescribable agony.
The
cause they had espoused
had gone down never
to
rise again.
The money in their possession
was as valueless as last year's withered forest leaves.
A thousand dol-
lars would not purchase a mouthful
of
food.
Their homes were
in
ashes—burned by the action of Jefferson Davis.
He could have pre-
vented the destruction of the
city, but had been deaf to the entreaties
of the mayor and
citizens.
Kegro
soldiers—men who had been
sold
on
the
auction
block, who had
been
freed by the
act
of Abraham
Lincoln—-were dividing their rations with the homeless and famishing
multitude.
President Lincoln had returned from Petersburg, and was once more
at City Point.
It was natural that he should desire to visit Richmond,
not to enter the Confederate capital as
victor, neither to witness the
desolation, but to begin the work of reconstruction.
Might he not put
himself in communication with some one holding official position and
bring about a restoration of civil authority?
He intuitively distrusted
military government as being antagonistic to the best
interests of the
people.
He comprehended the meaning of the
brilliant apothegm
of
Wendell Phillips—that one can do many things with a bayonet, but
IN RICHMOND.
505
cannot sit on
it.
A civil government recognizing the authority of the
United States must be established at the
earliest possible moment
in
Virginia.
Impelled by such
a
motive, arrangements were made for a
visit to Richmond.
The President, his son "Tad," Admiral
Porter, and Captain A.
II.
Adams, of the navy
; Captain Penrose, of the arm}^ detailed by Secre-
tary Stanton
to attend the President;
and
Lieutenant W. W.
^iseV' Clemens, of the signal corps—ascended the James on the River
Queen, accompanied by a tug and the gunboat Bat.
Obstruc-
tions prevented the vessels from going beyond Drewry's Bluff.
I was standing on the bank of the river, not far from Libby Prison,
when a barge approached rowed by twelve
sailors.
The
President,
recognizing me, inquired
if
I could
direct him to the headquarters of
General Weitzel.
I replied
in the affirmative.
Near at hand a dozen
or more negroes were at work under the direction of a lieutenant con-
structing a bridge across the canal.
" You were a slave, I suppose," I said to one.
" Yes, mars."
" Would you like to see the man who made you free ?"
" What, mars V
" Would you like to see Abraham Lincoln
?
There he
is, that taU
man."
" Be dat President Linkum V
" Yes."
" Mars Linkum has come
!
Mars Linkum !" he shouted.
The
boat
reached
the
landing.
Captain Adams stepped ashore
;
then six sailors in blue jackets and caps, armed with carbines, followed
by the President, " Tad," and other members of the party, and, lastly,
six other
sailors.
A negro led the way, and the procession began
its
march towards
Capitol
Hill.
I transcribe from
the columns
of
the
Boston " Journal," April, 1865, my account of the event, written during
the evening of that day
:
"What a spectacle!
Such
a hurly-burly— such wild, indescribable, ecstatic joy
I
never before have wituessed.
A colored man acted
as guide
; six
sailors, wearing their
round blue caps, short jackets, and bagging pants, with uavj^ carbines, Avere the advance
guard.
Then came the President and Admiral Porter, flanked by the oflScers accompany-
ing him, and the correspondent of the Boston ".Journal ;" then six more sailors—twenty
of us all told—amid a surging mass of men, women, and children, black. Avhite, and yel-
low, running, shouting, dancing, swinging their caps, bonnets, and
liandkcrchicfs.
Sol-
diers saw tlie President, and swelled the increasing crowd, cheering with wild enthusiasm.
506
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLK
One colored woman, standing in a doorway as the President passed along
tlie sidewalk,
shouted:
' Thank you, dear Jesus, for this
! thank you, Jesus
!'
Another by her side "was
clapping her hands and shouting
' Bress de Lord
!'
A colored woman
snatched her
bonnet from her head, whirled
it in the
air, screaming, 'God bress you, Mars Liukum!'
A few white women looking out from the houses waved their handkerchiefs.
One lady,
in a large and elegant building, looked and turned away as if from a disgusting exhibi-
tion.
President Lincoln walked
in
silence, acknowledging
the salutations
of
officers,
soldiers, and
citizens, black and white, alike.
It was the man of the people among the
people.
It was the great deliverer meeting the delivered.
Yesterday morning the majority
of the thousands who crowded the streets and hindered our advance were slaves.
Now
they were free, beholding him who had given them liberty.
"The procession advanced
at
a rapid pace.
The President
manifested weariness,
and halted for a moment near the railroad station on Broad Street.
He was wearing his
overcoat.
The sun was shining from a cloudless sky.
Cavalrymen with gleaming sabres
were clattering down the hill from the Capitol, having been informed that the Pi'esident
was on his way.
While thus halting, an aged negro without a coat, his tattered garments
made from cotton bagging, whose crisp hair appeared through his almost crownless straw-
hat, half kneeling, invoked God's blessing upon the man who had given him freedom
:
'May de good Lord bress and keep j^ou safe. Mars Linkum!'
"The President lifted his own hat from his head, bowed, wiped the gathering moist-
ure from his eyes, and then the procession moved on to the mansion from which
Jeffer-
son Davis had taken his departure on Sunday evening.
The sailors formed in two lines,
presented arms, and the President and party entered the building.
Mr. Lincoln dropped
wearily into
a chair, before which
stood a writing-table—a chair often occupied by the
Confederate President." (°)
The President manifested no signs of exultation.
In Petersburg his
countenance had been radiant and joyful, but at that moment it was
one of indescribable sadness.
A
great column
of smoke was
still
as-
cending from the burnt buildings.
He had caught a glimpse of the
desolation, the misery and woe, bequeathed by the departed Confeder-
ate
authorities.
He was confronted by great questions.
How could
he best exercise the powers given him to
relieve
suffering, and bring
about a restoration of civil authority ?
A few moments later the mayor of the
city and Judge Campbell,
one
of the commissioners
in the Hampton Poads conference, arrived.
They were cordially welcomed.
The President, accompanied by Admiral Porter, General Weitzel,
and General Shepley, rode through the
city,
escorted by cavalry, fol-
lowed
by thousands
of
colored
people.
Mr. Lincoln was much
af-
fected
as they crowded around the carriage
to touch
liis
hands.
A
clergyman who was serving in the Christian Commission has pictured
the scene
:
" I was standing upon the open square before the Court-house at
IN RICHMOND.
509
Richmond.
Until the preceding afternoon no black person had been
permitted to
set
foot upon that ground.
But now
it swarmed with
emancipated slaves.
They were frantic with excitement.
They sang,
they danced, they shouted hallelujah
!
They were expecting something,
but what I did not know.
Suddenly a great hush fell upon us all, and
the President, in an open carriage, Avas driven into the square.
Slowly
his
vehicle moved
as he bowed
and threw
his
salutations
to
those
who were ready to worship him.
The carriage crossed the open space
and halted in the street beyond.
Mr. Lincoln arose from the back seat,
on which he had been
sitting, turned half round, faced the great mul-
titude of blacks who thronged the area behind his carriage, and reached
out his hands till he stood in the attitude of a minister pronouncing the
benediction.
Thus he remained, without speaking a word, for more than
a minute, while the carriage stood
still
;
and, when the horses moved
forward, in the same attitude he was driven out of sight." ('")
The President made a second visit to Richmond on April 5, and held
a conference with Mr. Campbell.
"I
had,"
said
Mr. Campbell
to Mr.
Lincoln, "an interview with
Jefferson Davis, Benjamin, and Breckinridge just before they left the
city.
I
said to them
:
' The military power of the Confederacy is bro-
ken
;
its independence
is hopeless.
It only remains for us to make the
best terms we can.
The trouble
is, the President of the United States
cannot enter into negotiations with 3'ou, but he recognizes the States.
The troops of Virginia will recognize the authority of the Legislature.'
If you, Mr. President, will permit that bod}^ to convene, it will doubtless
recall them."
" Judge Campbell," the President replied,
'* let us have no misunder-
standing.
I will give you in black and white my only terms
:
" 1. The territorial integrity of the Republic.
" 2. N"o change of Executive or Congressional action on the subject
of slavery.
" 3. No armistice."
" Could you not make a modification of the third point
in relation
to an armistice ?" Campbell asked.
" I will not," the President replied, " negotiate with men so long as
they are fighting against us.
The last election established the deliber-
ate determination of the countr3\"
He was lenient, charitable, but
inflexible
in
his decision
to
secure
abiding peace.
No further attempt was made to secure a modification
of the terms.
510
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CONFEDERATE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION.
The President
returned
to Fortress Monroe, and
visited the hos-
pitals.
Although weary and burdened with
care, he spent sev-
^?rL^' eral hours with the sick and
suffering, informing them that the
1865.
'-'^
'-'
war would soon be over, and thanking them for what they had
accomplished.
NOTES TO CHAPTER XXVH.
(') Mary Tucker Magill, "Independent,'' Januarj', 1886.
(-) E. A. Pollard, "Lost Cause," p. 694.
(') General Ewell to J. B. Lossing, "Independent," March 11, 1866.
C) Ibid.
(^) William Burnett Wright, " Cougregationalist," vol. xl.. No. 22.
(*) Mr. Wallace to C. C. Carpenter, " Century Magazine," June, 1890, p. 306.
C) A Confederate Courier's Experience, "Watchman," February 3, 1866.
(8) Ibid.
(°) Author's account in Boston "Journal," written April 4, 1865.
('") William Burnett Wright, " Cougregationalist," vol. xl., No. 22.
THE CLOSING tSCENE.
511
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CLOSING SCENE.
IN the farm-house of WilHam McLean, at Appomattox, General Lee
surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to General
Grant.
The thrilling news ran along the lines of the Union army.
A
mighty shout rent the
air.
Men cheered and yelled with irre-
^Pg'g^' pressible
delight.
No more
fighting nor weary marches.
No
ghastly wounds
;
but home,
wife, and
children awaited them.
Thenceforth joy, peace, and rest
!
President Lincoln had returned to Washington.
Lie had been but a
short time in the executive mansion when the following despatch came
from General Grant
:
"General Lee
surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia
this afternoon on terms
proposed by myself."
It was the supreme moment of Mr. Lincoln's life.
The countrj^ was
saved, the nation redeemed.
All he had labored
for, lived for, prayed
for, had been
accomplished.
Bells
rang, cannon
thundered,
thanks
ascended to God in every city, town, and hamlet.
A multitude gathered
in the grounds around the White House to
express
their
congratulations.
Beneficent the countenance of
^P^i-^^' the President as he looked into the radiant faces of his fellow-
18bo.
citizens.
"We meet this evening in gladness
of heart," he
said.
"The
sur-
render of the insurgent army gives hope of righteousness and peace.
... In the midst of this. He from whom all blessings flow must not be
forgotten."
During
the war
there had
been much
apprehension among
the
people for the safety of the President.
" You are not suificiently careful of yourself," said a member of the
Cabinet
to Mr. Lincoln,
just
before
his
re-election.
"There
are bad
men in Washington."
The President took a package of letters from his desk.
512
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
" Every one of these letters," lie said, " contains a threat of assassi-
nation.
I might be nervous
if I were to dwell upon the subject, but I
have come to the conclusion there are opportunities enough to kill me
every day of my life
if there are persons disposed to do
it.
It
is not
possible to avoid exposure.
I shall not trouble myself about it."
Solicitude for the President's safety was not confined to the City of
Washington.
General Van Allen, of New York, the day after Mr. Lin-
coln returned from Richmond, addressed a letter to him expressing his
apprehensions.
" I intend to adopt the advice of my
friends and use due precau-
tions," the President wrote in reply.
The day commemorating the entombment of the World's Redeemer
was not celebrated by fasting and solemn
reflections, but by thanks-
giving and hallelujahs.
It was Good Friday, and also the anni-
Friday,
vcrsarv of the surrender of Sumter.
Four years had passed.
April 14
^
i.
1865.
' The time had come when the emblem of
national authority
was to
float again
in
beauty where
it had
been dishonored.
General Robert Anderson was to
raise the same
flag which he had
lowered when surrendering the fort.
On that December morning, 1860,
when he took possession of Sumter, the voice of Rev. Matthias Harris
was heard in prayer.
Once more he kneeled and
led the assembled
multitude in devotion.
Selections from the Bible were read alternately
by Rev. Richard S. Storrs and the people
:
" 'The Lord hath done-great things for us; whereof we are glad.'
"
' Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.'
"
' They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.'
"
' He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'
"
' Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will rernember the name of the
Lord our God.'
"'We
will
rejoice
in thy
salvation, and
in
the name of our God we will
set up
our banners.'"
With orchestra, choir, and congregation joining in the " Gloria of
the Church Universal," the Stars and Stripes floated once more where
it had been humiliated by treason.
An address was given by Henry Ward Beecher which breathed the
spirit of brotherhood and charity.
" We offer," he said, in conclusion, " to the President of these United
States our solemn congratulations that God has sustained
his
life and
health under the unparalleled burdens and sufferings
of four bloody
THE CLOSING SCENE.
*
513
years, and permitted him to behold
this auspicious consummation
of
that national unity for Avhich he has waited with so much patience and
fortitude, and for which he has labored with such disinterested wisdom."
It was
a day of
joy and gladness in the White House.
Captain
Robert Lincoln, w^ho had witnessed the surrender of
Lee, arrived
in
season to breakfast with his father and mother.
He narrated the last
scene at Appomattox.
Breakfast finished, the President passed a pleas-
ant hour with Mr. Colfax, speaker of the House, who was about to
make a journey across the continent.
At eleven o'clock the Cabinet
met in regular session.
General Grant arrived, and was Avarmly wel-
comed.
" I am somewhat
anxious
in
regard
to
Sherman,"
said
General
Grant.
" We shall have news from him soon," said Mr. Lincoln, " for I had
my usual dream last night—the one I have had just before the occur-
rence of several important events."
" What
are
the
particular
features
of
your dream ?"
asked
Mr.
Welles.
" I might say that
it
relates to your department," the President
replied.
" I am always in a
vessel which
I cannot describe, and am
moving rapidly towards a dark and undefined shore*.
I had the dream
before the
firing on
Sumter, before the
Bull Run
battles, Antietam,
Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, and Wilmington,"
" Stone River was no victory, Mr. President," said General Grant.
"A few such victories as that would have ruined
us.
I do not know
that anything of importance resulted from that battle."
" I might not wholly agree with you about that," said the President,
" but
I had
this dream
before
that
engagement.
Victory has
not
always followed my dream.
I have no doubt that a battle has been, or
is soon to be fought, between Sherman and Johnston, for my thoughts
were in that direction, and I know of no other important event likely
to occur."
At the moment
of this conversation a Confederate
officer w^as ap-
proaching General Sherman's
lines with a letter from General John-
ston asking for a conference, with the view of surrendering his army.
Richly endowed
natures
behold
at times by mental
vision
w^hat
others may not see. The Bible tells us that by the eastern wall of Jeru-
salem the first martyr of the Christian. Church, wiiile laying down his
life for his faith, beheld heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at
the right hand of God.
Saul, fierce persecutor, beheld a blinding light,
514
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
talked with Jesus, and became like a child in
spirit.
John saw a new
heaven and a new earth descending from God out of heaven.
Upon a
house-top in Joppa, Peter, in mid-day slumbers, beheld phenomena far
more mysterious than that dreamed by President Lincoln, and heard
from one unseen a truth never before announced—that they who fear
God and work
righteousness
in
every nation
are
accepted
of Him.
Thrice that
vision.
More than three times
sailed the ship that was
bearing President Lincoln to the shadowy shore.
At that noon hour
the nation and himself were approaching a haven of peace.
We
are
not
to
conclude
that the
President
believed
in
omens,
l^either may we say that what he had seen was a hallucination or the
phantasm of a disordered imagination.
The
reality of
his dreaming
cannot be questioned.
We may conclude that philosophy has not as
yet fully comprehended mental and psychic conditions.
The Cabinet took up the great questions of the hour— the restora-
tion
of
the revolted
States, and what should be done with the Con-
federate leaders.
" I have no desire," said the President, " to kill or hang them.
Let
us frighten them out of the country—open the gates, let down the bars,
scare them off.
Enough lives have been sacrificed
; we must extinguish
our resentments if we expect to live in harmony and peace."
In the afternoon the President, with Mrs.
Lincoln, drove
in
his
carriage through the suburbs of
the
city.
He was welcomed every-
where by affectionate recognition.
He was very happy, and talked of
the past and also of the future.
" When these four years are over, Mary," he said, " we will go back
to Illinois, and I will again be a country lawyer.
God has been very
good to us."
Mr. Lincoln occasionally sought rest and recreation by attending the
theatre.
On that evening the drama of " Our American Cousin" was to
be enacted at Ford's Theatre.
Miss Laura Keene, a favorite
actress,
had chosen
it on the occasion of her benefit.
It was known that the
President and Mrs. Lincoln, and possibly General and Mrs. Grant, would
be present.
The desire to see the two men foremost in the affections
of the people
filled the theatre.
General and Mrs. Grant, desiring to
leave the city, informed the President that they could not accept the
proffered invitation to accompany himself and Mrs. Lincoln.
Invita-
tions were accordingly sent to Miss Harris and Major Rathburn, daugh-
ter and stepson of Senator Harris.
Early in the evening Mr. Colfax called again at the White House to
THE CLOSING SCENE.
515
say farewell.
He was accompanied by Mr. Ashman, who* was president
of the Republican Convention which nominated
]\[r. Lincoln in 1860.
" Was it not," asked Mr. Ashman,
'' rather imprudent for you to ex-
pose yourself in Richmond ? We were much concerned for your safety."
" I would have been alarmed myself
if any other person had been
President and gone there, but I did not find any danger whatever," Mr.
Lincoln replied.
Upon a matter of business the President made a remark which he
saw disturbed Mr. Ashman.
" You did not understand me," Mr. Lincoln quickly said.
'' I did not
mean it.
I take it all back.
I apologize for it."
The carriage was waiting to convey the President to the theatre.
He desired to see Mr. Ashman again early the next morning, and wrote
upon a card
:
Allow Mr. Ashman
to come
at 9 o'clock a.m. to-morrow.
A. Lincoln.
At the door of the White House the President said to Colfax
: " Sen
ator Sumner has the gavel of the Confederate Congress, which he got
at Richmond to hand to the Secretary of War; but
I maintained he
must give it to you.
You tell him to hand
it over.
You are going to
the Pacific Coast.
Do not forget to tell the people in the mining region
what I told 3^ou this morning about their development.
Good-bye."
The audience crowding the theatre rose and cheered as the
presi-
dential party entered the box assigned
them.
The orchestra played
" Hail to the Chief."
The President acknowledged the kind reception,
and the performance went
on.
Mr. Lincoln greatly enjoyed
it.
The
curtain rose upon the second scene of the last
act.
Miss Keene, per-
sonating Mrs. Montchessington, was sa3nng to Asa Trenchard
:
" You don't understand good
society.
That alone can excuse the impertinence of
which you are guilty."
" I guess I know enough to turn j^ou inside out," the reply of Trenchard.
A pistol report startles the laughing audience.
A man leaps from
the President's box, falls upon the stage, rises, flourishing a knife drip-
ping with blood.
" Sic semper
tyrannis !
The
South
is avenged !" he
shouts, and
disappears.
" John Wilkes Booth !" some one exclaims.
There
is instant com-
motion—a rush towards the stage and the box.