The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Arnold)/Chapter XIX

The battle of Gettysburg, and the capture of Vicksburg, were in their results more decisive than any which had preceded them. The army of Lee, naturally elated by their brilliant victory at Chancellorsville, had invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, with the most sanguine hopes of success, and with the determination to carry the war into the free states. They boasted that they would water their horses in the Susquehannah and the Delaware. The rich grain fields, the stock farms, and big barns of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, should furnish them with abundant supplies. The vast stores and the wealth of the great Northern cities were passing vividly before the gloating imaginations of these soldiers. The savage threats made by Jefferson Davis, on his way to Montgomery to assume the presidency, when he said: "We will carry the war where it is easy to advance; where food for the sword and the torch wait our army in the densely populated cities," were now, they believed, to be realized. But this arrogant host, proud and elated with their successes, were met on the rocky hills of Gettysburg, and hurled back, never again in force to cross the border.

By the brilliant capture of Vicksburg the rebel territory was severed, and the "great Father of Waters, went unvexed to the sea." No rebel flag was again to float over the majestic stream. The rebel power west of the great river was broken, never to be re-established. Before the end of 1863, fully one hundred thousand negroes, emancipated slaves, were in the military service of the United States.

Lincoln entertained sanguine hopes that Lee's army would never be permitted to recross the Potomac, and its destruction, he believed, would bring the war to a close. It seems to have been quite within the power of General Meade to annihilate the enemy that he had so signally defeated at Gettysburg. He had a much larger force, and abundant supplies. Lee's three days fight had nearly exhausted his ammunition, and when he reached the Potomac he had the swollen waters of that river in his front, with no means of crossing his artillery, and another defeat must have caused the surrender of his whole army. But Meade allowed him to collect lumber from canal boats and ruined wooden houses, to construct a bridge and cross the river. On the 14th of July, Meade telegraphed to Halleck: :The enemy are all across the Potomac." It would seem as though Meade thought his duty was performed when he drove the enemy back to Virginia, forgetting that Virginia was as much a part of the republic as Pennsylvania. He displayed so little enterprise that Lee thought it safe to send Longstreet to Tennessee, to the aid of Bragg against Rosecrans.

On September 19th and 20th, was fought the battle of Chickamauga, in which the gallant Thomas, commanding the center of Rosecrans's army, firmly withstood and beat back the rebels under Bragg. He did this after the rebels had turned the Union right, and Rosecrans had been driven from the field. Thomas, the loyal Virginian, by his heroism and good conduct on this occasion saved the army, and acquired the name of the "Rock of Chickamauga." Garfield, chief of staff of Rosecrans, especially distinguished himself in this battle.

On the 19th of October, General Grant arrived at Louisville, and assumed command of the military division of the Mississippi, into which the departments of the Ohio and the Cumberland were now merged. This brought unity of action into this important field. Rosecrans was relieved, and Thomas became commander of the army of the Cumberland.

When Thomas retired to Chattanooga, after the battle of Chickamauga, the rebels advanced and occupied the passes and heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and prepared to invest Chattanooga. Longstreet had been sent to drive Burnside out of East Tennessee. In the meanwhile, Hooker had been dispatched from the East to the West with fifteen thousand men.

Grant reached Thomas on the 22d of October, and the next morning made a reconnoissance with a view of driving the enemy out of the overlooking mountains, and regaining the use of the Tennessee River, to bring to his army much needed supplies. He had ordered Sherman and his corps to join him at Chattanooga. Grant never had better lieutenants than the gallant officers who now surrounded him. Sherman, sagacious and rapid; Thomas, ever reliable, the hero of Chickamauga; Sheridan, the impetuous and indefatigable, and Hooker, who, while not equal to the command of a great army, was well able to lead a division or army corps; and now, with these and their gallant associates, and an army hardy and well disciplined, Grant determined to storm and carry the heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

It was a bold and difficult undertaking. Sherman's forces crossed the Tennessee, and, on the 24th of November, gained possession of the north end of Missionary Ridge. Thomas attacked in the center, and drove the enemy back to the hills. Hooker pushed round Lookout Mountain, and drove the enemy up its western slope, capturing their rifle pits, and following them with impetuous ardor through the forests and up the sides of the mountain, until he reached the summit, above the smoke and vapor of the hills, and then the spectators from the valley beheld the dramatic spectacle of Hooker's battle-flags waving in triumph from the top of the mountain and above the clouds. The next day, the army of the Cumberland assailed the field works at the foot of Missionary Ridge, captured them at the point of the bayonet, and then pressed bravely up the ridge and captured the summit; while Sherman and Hooker pressed the enemy so vigorously, that long before the day was spent, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge were in possession of the Union troops, and Bragg was in rapid retreat. Many prisoners and guns were captured. Thomas pursued Bragg, fought him again at Ringgold, and drove him to Tunnel Hill, twenty miles from Chattanooga.

Meanwhile, Burnside was at Knoxville, confronted by Longstreet, and Sherman was sent by forced marches to his relief. His approach sent Longstreet retreating back to Virginia, and thus closed in triumph the campaign in Tennessee. The relief of Western Tennessee, where, among the mountains, attachment to the Union had been general and strong, and where, in the absence of national protection, the loyal people had been most cruelly persecuted, was very grateful to the President. He issued a proclamation appointing a day of thanksgiving and gratitude to God for this signal triumph of the national cause.

It will be remembered that on the 3d of March, 1863, a law was passed for the enrollment of the entire military force of the United States. The enrollment having been completed, in June a draft for three hundred thousand men was ordered. Time was, however, given to each state to fill up its quota, and thus prevent a resort to drafting. While there was in the loyal states a considerable party opposed to the war, and many who openly or secretly opposed volunteering to fill up the ranks of the army, the great majority were loyal, and active in promoting the success of the national cause. There had been, and there was still, great pride and emulation in the towns, cities, and states, as to which should fill up its quota of troops first, and there was everywhere manifested a desire that each locality should fill its quota without the draft. Large local bounties were offered, and much the larger proportion of the men called for were obtained without drafting. All who were opposed to the war, and all who sympathized with the rebels, availed themselves of the draft to excite prejudice against and opposition to the administration. Every means was resorted to to oppose enlistments and to stir up, if possible, resistance to the draft.

But the loyalty and patriotism of the people were too strong to be subdued, and no formidable opposition to the law was manifested, except in the city of New York. Here were a large number of Southern immigrants and Southern sympathizers, and a large population foreign by birth, whose attachment to the republic was so slight that the emissaries of the rebellion succeeded in creating a formidable opposition to the law. When orders were issued to proceed with the draft, on the 11th of July, threats of opposition were made, and, on the 13th, the proceedings were arrested by a furious mob, which broke into and set fire to the building in which the marshal's office was situated. The mob prevented the firemen from extinguishing the flames, and a whole block was burned. The police were attacked and overpowered. There was no considerable force of regular troops on hand, and many of the state militia were absent in Pennsylvania, to aid in resisting the invasion of Lee, so that it was found difficult immediately to raise a force adequate to suppress the riot. It was joined by the criminal classes, and the worst elements of a great city, and for a time it went from street to street, murdering, pillaging, and burning. Hatred of the negro was the animus of the infuriated mob. They set fire to the half-orphan asylum for colored children, and, with the spirit of devils, abused and scattered the orphans, burned the building, and caught and hung every negro they could find. The police did their duty manfully, but were overpowered. Governor Seymour, of New York, was in the city, and addressed the rioters in the park, eloquently urging forbearance. But musket balls, grape shot, and cold steel, rather than civil words, were needed. Troops were recalled from Pennsylvania and elsewhere and the riot suppressed, but not until the most cruel outrages had been perpetrated.

When the President first heard of the disturbance, and before it had assumed formidable proportions, he was told that there was danger of an Irish riot in New York, in opposition to the draft, and it was suggested that he should send an efficient officer there to preserve order. He said: "I think I will send General Kilpatrick," a dashing cavalry officer. "His very name may be sufficient." But he soon learned that something more stern than words or names was needed to put down the frenzied mob.

On the 3d of September, 1863, a great meeting of the Union men of all parties was called to meet at the Capitol of Illinois. The President was most earnestly and affectionately invited to attend, "to meet his old friends at his old home." He had left that old home in February, 1861, conscious that he had a task before him far more difficult than that which had devolved upon "any other man since the days of Washington," and, in parting from his neighbors, he had humbly, sincerely, and hopefully asked his old friends to pray that he might receive the "divine assistance of that Almighty Being," in whom he placed his reliance. Two and a half years had passed in the midst of the convulsions of this tremendous civil war. The young men of Illinois and the Northwest, the sons of his old friends, were in the Union armies; some of them in soldiers' graves. It had become very obvious that his task was far more difficult than that which had devolved upon Washington. His comrades, the pioneers of Illinois, had watched his career with deep solicitude and anxiety. Could he succeed in saving his country, and redeeming it from the curse of slavery? They had talked of him around their firesides. In their log cabins and humble chapels they had prayed for his success; they had freely sent their sons to the field to fight, and now they yearned to see him again face to face, to see how he bore himself, and to hear his familiar voice.

To this meeting Lincoln wished very much to go, but he could not leave the helm, and so he sent them a kind letter. This letter to his neighbors contains such a simple, clear, and frank exposition of his policy, and is so characteristic, that it is inserted here in full. He says:

Executive Mansion, Washington, August 26, 1863.

Hon. James C. Conkling.-- My Dear Sir: Your letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of unconditional Union men, to be held at the capital of Illinois, on the 3d day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable for me thus to meet my old friends at my own home; but I cannot just now be absent from here so long as a visit there would require.

The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion to the Union; and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan hope can make false to the nation's life.

There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First--to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise.

I do not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military, its army. That army dominates all the country, and all the people within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the present; because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one were made with them.

To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of the North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that compromise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper compromise to which the controllers of Lee's army are not agreed, can at all affect that army. In an effort at such compromise we would waste time, which the enemy would improve to our disadvantage; and that would be all.

A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first liberated from the domination of that army by the success of our own army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the people, according to the bond of service, the United States Constitution; and that, as such, I am responsible to them.

But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view, provided that you are for the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation; to which you replied you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such a way as to save you from greater taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means.

You dislike the emancipation proclamation, and perhaps would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think the Constitution invests its Commander in Chief with the law of war in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the enemy? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it; and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female.

But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. Why better after the retraction than before the issue? There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation was issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the issue of the proclamation as before.

I know as fully as one can know the opinion of others, that some of the commanders of our armies in the field, who have given us our most important victories. believe the emancipation policy and the use of colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of the black soldiers.

Among the commanders who hold these views are some who have never had an affinity with what is called "abolitionism," or with "republican party politics," but who hold them purely as military opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight against the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures, and were not adopted as such in good faith.

You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then exclusively, to save the Union. I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting. it will be an apt time then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes. I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the negroes shall cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people. act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motives, even the promise of freedom. And the promise, being made, must be kept.

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

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they have striven to hinder it.

Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result.

Yours, very truly, A. LINCOLN.

This honest and manly explanation of his policy was received with the most enthusiastic satisfaction and applause. His reasons for the emancipation proclamation, and all other acts for which he had been criticised, were approved, and when his words of hope and faith in final success were read, beginning: "The signs look better. The Father of Waters goes unvexed to the sea, thanks to the great Northwest, nor yet not wholly to them," etc., the people felt that nature itself, the great rivers and prairies of the West, were rejoicing in the triumphs of the Union cause. The people had such faith in his sagacity and honesty that they felt assured of final victory, and were ready to make any sacrifice which he should ask to secure it. And so Illinois sent back her greetings and congratulations to the White House. The people joined with the President in thanks to God that no longer did any rebel flag float over any part of the Mississippi; that the national capital and all national territories were now free; that the border states were all becoming free states, and that the triumph of the national arms would, under the influence of the proclamation of emancipation, abolish slavery everywhere throughout the republic. The people rejoiced that as slavery had drawn the sword, it was doomed to die by the sword; that having plunged the nation into war, slavery was to perish by the laws of war.

The elections in the autumn of 1863 indicated the confidence of the people in the President, and their unanimity in support of his administration. Every state in which elections were held, except New Jersey, gave great majorities for the administration; and in Ohio, where the democrats had nominated Vallandigham for governor, he was in a minority of nearly one hundred thousand votes.