Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/455

 L1^X*0LN

LINCOLN

President called for 75,000 three-months volunteers and suuiinoned congress to assemble in extra ses- sion on July 4, 1861. On April 17, 1861, President Davis also called for 32,000 volunteers and offered " letters of marque and reprisal to owners of private armed vessels" to depredate upon U.S. commerce; on the same day Virginia seceded, and on April 19 President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the Confederate ports, which then included Soutli Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama. Mississippi and Louisana, and to which were added Xortli Carolina and Virginia April 19, and the same day the Massacliusetts troops were attacked b}' a mob in the streets of Baltimore and two soldiers were killed. On May 3, 1861, President Lincoln called for volunteers for three years; ordered the regular army increased, and directed the enlistment of additional seamen. On Marcli 5, 1861. the President had sent in his nominations for his cabinet, all of which had been confirmed. William IL Seward of New York was named as secretary of state; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio secretary of the treasury; Si- mon Cameron of Pennsylvania secretary of war; Gideon Welles of Connecticut secretary of the navy: Caleb B. Smith of Indiana secre- tary of the interior; Edward Bates of Missouri attorney-general; Montgomer}- Blair of ^Maiy- land postmaster-general. The following changes were made in the cabinet: Secretary Cameron resigned his portfolio to accept the position of U. S. minister to Russia, Jan. 11, 1862, and the port- folio of war was accepted by Edwin M. Stanton of Pennsylvania, Jan. 15, 1862; W. P. Fessenden of Maine was appointed secretary of the treasury, July 1, 186-1, to succeed Salmon P. Ciiase, made chief justice of the U.S. supreme court, and he resigned to take a seat in the U.S. senate, and was succeeded March 7, 1865, by Hugh McCuUoch of Lidiana; John P. Usher of Indiana was ap- pointed secretarj' of the interior, Jan. 8, 1863, to succeed Caleb B. Smith, appointed U.S. circuit judge of Indiana; James Speed of Kentucky was appointed attorney-general Dec. 2, 1864, to succeed Edward Bates, resigned; and William Dennison of Ohio was appointed postmaster- general to succeed Montgomery Blair, who resigned at the request of the President. During Lincoln's administrations he made the following diplomatic appointments: minister to Great Britain, Charles Francis Adams of Massachu- setts; minister to France. William L. Dayton of New Jersey, who was succeeded at his deatii in 1864 by John Bigelow of New York; minister to Austria, Anson Burlingame of Massachusetts, who was not received by that government on account of his political opinions, and was suc- ceeded by John Lothrop Motley of Massachusetts; minister to Russia, Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky,

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who was succeeded by Simon Cameron of Penn- sylvania in 1862; mmister to Italy, George P. Marsii of Vermont; and minister to Spain, Carl Sciiurzof Wisconsin, 1861-62, who was succeeded by Gustavus Werner of Illinois, 1862-64, and H. J. Perry of New Hamp- shire, who served as charge d'affaires un- til the appointment of John P. Hale of New Hampshire in 1865. The President's .Aj,,.. message delivered be-YV fore both houses of l(itH congress July 4 1861, ^^J^j went far toward re- S"^ assuring the people, y/ a large number of ^i- whom were not with- out uneasiness as to the ability of the President to meet the crisis. He briefly stated the condition of af- fairs, announced his intention of standing by the statements made in his inaugural address, and asked that congress would place at the control of the government at least 400,000 men and .$400,000,000. To his request congress pro'nptly responded by voting 500.000 men and iS500.UUO,000. The early opiMations of the Confed- erate and Federal armies were confined to Vir- ginia and ^Missouri. The first clash of arms between the two forces was at Pliilippi, Va.. June 3, 1861, in which the Confederates were defeated by the Federal army under Gen. G. B. McClellan. This was followed by the Confederate victory at Big Bethel, Va., June 10, 1861, andby the Federal victories at Romney, Va., June 11, 1861. and at Boonville, Mo., June 17, 1861; the Confederate victory at Carthage, Mo., July 5, 1861, and their defeat at Rich Mountain, Va.. July 11, 1861. On July 20 the President summoned Gen, George B. McClellan from western Virginia to Washington, and on his arrival in August, 1861, assigned him to the command of the Army of the Potomac. On July 3, 1861, the President created the department of the west, placing it under command of Gen. John C. Fremont. On Aug. 31. 1861, Fremont issued a proclamation announc- ing that lie would emancipate all slaves of those in arms against the United States. The Presi- dent considereil this premature and asked Fre- mont to withdraw the proclamation, which he declined to do, and the President annulled it in a public order, and on Nov. 21, 1861, Fremont was relieved of his command just as he had overtaken the Confederate forces at Springfield, Mo. The battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21. 1861. resulted in a Federal defeat; the battle of Dug Spring, Mo.,