Chapter XXI: Presidential Campaign of 1864

Proclamation for a Fast--Speech to Soldiers--Another Speech--
“To Whom It may Concern”--Chicago Convention--Opposition
Embarrassed--Resolution No. 2--McClellan’s Acceptance--Capture
of the Mobile Forts and Atlanta--Proclamation for Thanksgiving
Remarks on Employment of Negro Soldiers--Address to Loyal
Marylanders.

On the 7th of July the following proclamation for a National Fast appeared:

“WHEREAS, The Senate and House of Representatives, at their last
session, adopted a concurrent resolution which was approved on the
third day of July instant, and which was in the words following:

“‘That the President of the United States is requested to appoint a
day of humiliation and prayer by the people of the United States;
that he request his constitutional advisers at the head of the
Executive Departments to unite with him, as Chief Magistrate of the
Nation, at the city of Washington, and the members of Congress,
and all magistrates, all civil, military and naval officers, all
soldiers, sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abiding
people, to convene at their usual places of worship, or wherever
they may be, to confess and to repent of their manifold sins; to
implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that, if
consistent with His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily
suppressed, and the supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the
United States may be established throughout all the States; to
implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of all the world, not to destroy
us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the hostility or
connivance of other nations, or by obstinate adhesion to our own
counsels, which may be in conflict with His eternal purposes, and
to implore him to enlighten the mind of the Nation to know and
to do his will, humbly believing that it is not in accord ever
with his will that our place should be maintained as a wicked
people among the family of nations; to implore him to grant to our
armed defenders and the masses of the people that courage, power
of resistance, and endurance necessary to secure that result;
to implore him in his infinite goodness to soften the hearts,
enlighten the minds, and quicken the consciences of those in
rebellion, that they may lay down their arms and speedily return to
their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly
destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity
and fraternity may be restored, and peace established throughout
all our borders.’

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States
in the penitential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid
resolution, and heartily approving of the devotional design and
purpose thereof, do hereby appoint the first Thursday of August
next, to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of
National humiliation and prayer.

“I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive
Department of this Government, together with all legislators, all
Judges and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority
in the land, whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers,
seamen and marines in the National service, and all other loyal
and law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble in their
professed places of public worship on that day, and there to render
to the Almighty and merciful Ruler of the universe such homage
and such confessions, and to offer him such supplications, as the
Congress of the United States have in their aforesaid resolution so
solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently recommended.

“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.

“Done at the City of Washington, this, the seventh day of July, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

“By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN

“WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.”

To some Ohio volunteers, about to return home at the expiration of their term of service, who had called upon the President to pay him their respects, he spoke, on the 18th of August, thus:

“SOLDIERS: You are about to return to your homes and your friends,
after having, as I learn, performed in camp a comparatively short
term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you and
to all who have come forward at the call of their country.

“I wish it might be more generally and universally understood what
the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free
Government, where every man has a right to be equal with every
other man. In this great struggle, this form of government and
every form of human rights is endangered if our enemies succeed.
There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every
one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether
your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have
enjoyed. I say this, in order to impress upon you, if you are not
already so impressed, that no small matter should divert us from
our great purpose.

“There may be some inequalities in the practical working of
our system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact
proportion for the value of his property; but if we should wait,
before collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact
proportion to every other man, we should never collect any tax at
all. There may be mistakes made somewhere; things may be done
wrong, which the officers of Government do all they can to prevent
mistakes.

“But I beg of you, as citizens of this great Republic, not to let
your minds be carried off from the great work we have before us.
This struggle is too large for you to be diverted from it by any
small matter. When you return to your homes, rise up to the height
of a generation of men, worthy of a free government, and we will
carry out the great work we have commenced. I return you my sincere
thanks, soldiers, for the honor you have done me this afternoon.”

And again, on the 22d of August, under similar circumstances:

“SOLDIERS:--I suppose you are going home to see your families and
friends. For the services you have done in this great struggle in
which we are engaged, I present you sincere thanks for myself and
the country.

“I almost always feel inclined, when I say any thing to soldiers,
to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of
success in this contest. It is not merely for to-day, but for all
time to come, that we should perpetuate for our children’s children
that great and free Government which we have enjoyed all our lives.
I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours.
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living
witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my
father’s child has.

“It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free
Government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance
for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that you may all
have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable
human aspirations; it is for this that the struggle should be
maintained, that we may not lose our birthrights--not only for one,
but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, to
secure such an unquestionable jewel.”

During the excitement accompanying the rebel attempts upon the National Capitol, during the month of July, heretofore noticed, representations were made to the President that certain individuals, professing to represent the rebel leaders, were in Canada, anxious to enter into negotiations, with a view to the restoration of peace.

In response to this suggestion, Mr. Lincoln issued the following paper, which was very unsatisfactory to those who affected to believe that peace could be secured upon any basis short of the recognition of the Southern Confederacy unless the rebels in arms were thoroughly defeated, dated, Executive Mansion, Washington, July 18, 1864.

“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.--Any proposition which embraces the
restoration of peace, the integrity of the Union, and the
abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with authority
that can control the armies now at war against the United States,
will be received and considered by the Executive Government of
the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other
substantial and collateral points, and the bearers thereof shall
have safe conduct both ways.

“ABRAHAM LINCOLN.”

This ended that attempt to divide the supporters of the Administration.

On the 29th of August, 1864, assembled at Chicago the National Convention of the Democratic party. This had been preceded by a “Mass Peace Convention,” at Syracuse, on the 18th of August, at which it had been resolved, among other things, that it was the duty of the Chicago Convention to give expression to a beneficent sentiment of peace and to declare as the purpose of the Democratic party, if it should recover power, to cause the desolating war to cease by the calling of a National Convention, in which all the States should be represented in their sovereign capacity; and that, to that end, an immediate armistice should be declared of sufficient duration to give the States and the people ample time and opportunity to deliberate upon and finally conclude a form of Union.

There were two factions represented at Chicago: one, unqualifiedly in favor of peace at any price, upon any terms, with any concessions; the other, disposed to take every possible advantage of the mistakes of the Administration, but not possessed of effrontery sufficient to pronounce boldly for a cessation of hostilities in any and every event.

Thus embarrassed, what was left of the still great Democratic party--that party which had swayed the country for so many years, and whose disruption in 1860 was the immediate occasion of the war that ensued--determined to do what it never before, in all its history, had ventured upon. It essayed to ride, at one and the same time, two horses going in diametrically opposite directions.

To conciliate whatever feeling in favor of a prosecution of the war there might be in their ranks, without at the same time going too far in that direction, and to secure as many soldiers’ votes as possible, they put in nomination for the Presidency, Gen. McClellan. To neutralize this apparent tendency toward war, they associated the General with George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency--a man, who, during his entire Congressional career as member of the National House of Representatives, had avowed himself and voted as a Peace-at-any-price individual, from the very outset.

The bane and antidote having thus been blended, as only political chemists would have attempted, the candidates were placed upon a platform, the second resolution of which was as follows:

“_Resolved_, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the
sense of the American people, that, after four years of failure
to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which under
the pretence of a military necessity or war power higher than the
Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every
part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down,
and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired,
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, or other
peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment
peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the
States.”

This accomplished, the Convention adjourned, having provided for its indefinite existence by empowering its chairman to reconvene it, whenever, in his judgment, it should be thought necessary.

McClellan accepted the nomination, happy to know that when it was made, the record of his public life was kept in view. In his letter of acceptance, he talked all around the peace proposition, ignored the idea of a cessation of hostilities, and went for the whole Union. The document, though sufficiently general and indefinite to answer the purpose, failed to satisfy the ultra-peace men of his party.

Thus, in the midst of a civil war, unparalleled in the world’s history, the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a great people entering with earnestness upon a political campaign, one of whose issues--indeed, the main one--was as to the continuance of that war, with all its hardships and burdens.

Just after the adjournment of the Chicago Convention Sherman’s occupation of Atlanta and the capture of the forts in the harbor of Mobile, were announced, seeming to intimate that the war had not been, up to that time, wholly a failure. The thanks of the Nation were tendered by the President to the officers and men connected with these operations, national salutes ordered, and the following proclamation issued, dated September 3d, 1864.

“The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed
to the operations of the United States fleet and army in the
harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Fort Powell, Fort Gaines,
and Fort Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under
Major-General Sherman, in the State of Georgia, resulting in the
capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgment of
the Supreme Being in whose hands are the destinies of nations.

“It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places
of worship in the United States, thanksgiving be offered to Him
for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the
insurgent rebels who have been waging a cruel war against the
Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that
prayer be made for Divine protection to our brave soldiers and
their leaders in the field, who have so often and so gallantly
perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessing
and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, wounded, and
prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen
in the service of their country, and that He will continue to
uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts
of public enemies and secret foes.

“ABRAHAM LINCOLN.”

Mr. Lincoln’s views relative to the employment of negroes as soldiers were again and fully expressed about this time in a conversation with leading gentlemen from the West. On that occasion he said:

“The slightest knowledge of arithmetic will prove to any man that
the rebel armies cannot be destroyed by Democratic strategy. It
would sacrifice all the white men of the North to do it. There
are now in the service of the United States nearly two hundred
thousand able-bodied colored men, most of them under arms,
defending and acquiring Union territory. The Democratic strategy
demands that these forces be disbanded, and that the masters be
conciliated by restoring them to slavery. The black men, who
now assist Union prisoners to escape, are to be converted into
our enemies, in the vain hope of gaining the good-will of their
masters. We shall have to fight two nations instead of one.

“You can not conciliate the South, if you guarantee to them
ultimate success; and the experience of the present war proves
their success is inevitable, if you fling the compulsory labor of
millions of black men into their side of the scale. Will you give
our enemies such military advantages as insure success, and then
depend upon coaxing, flattery, and concession to get them back
into the Union? Abandon all the forts now garrisoned by black men,
take two hundred thousand men from our side and put them in the
battle-field or corn-field against us, and we would be compelled to
abandon the war in three weeks.

“We have to hold territory in inclement and sickly places; where
are the Democrats to do this? It was a free fight; and the field
was open to the War Democrats to put down this rebellion by
fighting against both master and slave, long before the present
policy was inaugurated.

“There have been men base enough to propose to me to return to
slavery our black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win
the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should
deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will
keep my faith with friend and foe. My enemies pretend I am now
carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long
as I am President, it shall be carried on for the sole purpose of
restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion
without the use of the Emancipation policy, and every other policy
calculated to weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebellion.

“Freedom has given us two hundred thousand men raised on Southern
soil. It will give us more yet. Just so much it has subtracted
from the enemy; and, instead of checking the South, there are now
evidences of a fraternal feeling growing up between our men and the
rank and file of the rebel soldiers. Let my enemies prove to the
country that the destruction of slavery is not necessary to the
restoration of the Union. I will abide the issue.”

On the 19th of October, the President having been serenaded by the loyal Marylanders of the District of Columbia, said:

“I am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal
Marylanders resident in this district. I infer that the adoption of
the new Constitution for the State furnishes the occasion, and that
in your view the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit
of the new Constitution.

“Most heartily do I congratulate you, and Maryland, and the Nation,
and the world upon the event. I regret that it did not occur two
years sooner, which, I am sure, would have saved to the nation more
money than would have met all the private loss incident to the
measure; but it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends
may fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, and that
its opponents may, by its effects, be agreeably and profitably
disappointed.

“A word upon another subject: Something said by the Secretary of
State in his recent speech at Auburn, has been construed by some
into a threat that, if I shall be beaten at the election, I will
between then and the end of my constitutional term do what I may
be able to ruin the Government. Others regard the fact that the
Chicago Convention adjourned, not _sine die_, but to meet again,
if called to do so by a particular individual, as the ultimatum of
a purpose that, if the nominee shall be elected, he will at once
seize control of the Government.

“I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no
uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the
Government, not to overthrow it. I therefore say that, if I shall
live, I shall remain President until the fourth of March. And
whoever shall be constitutionally elected, therefore, in November,
shall be duly installed as President on the fourth of March; and
that, in the interval, I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold
the helm for the next voyage, shall start with the best possible
chance to save the ship.

“This is due to our people, both on principle and under the
Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the
ultimate law for all. If they should deliberately resolve to have
immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their
liberties, I know not the power or the right to resist them. It is
their own business, and they must do as they please with their own.

“I believe, however, that they are all resolved to preserve their
country and their liberty; and in this, in office or out of it, I
am resolved to stand by them. I may add, that in this purpose--to
save the country and its liberties--no class of people seem so
nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and the seamen
afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? Who shall quail, when
they do not? God bless the soldiers and seamen and all their brave
commanders!”