Lincoln Assassinated

With the Civil War quickly winding down to a close in April, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln began to look ahead towards reconstructing the south and bringing the country back together. On April 11, he gave a speech from the balcony of the White House in celebration of the recent victories by the Union armies. He spoke in support of voting rights for the former slaves, and in supporting the loyal government that had been from in Louisiana. It would be the last public speech he would ever give, and there was a man in the crowd who would make it so – John Wilkes Booth.

Read the rest of this post on Discerning History. 

The Hampton Roads Peace Conference

Francis Blair

As the bloody Civil War raged on into 1865, nearly everyone on both sides longed for peace. There were some who believed that peace could be reached through negotiation, without one side winning a complete victory. One of these was Fancis Preston Blair, a northern politician and journalist who had close personal relations with many in the Confederate government. With Lincoln's permission, he traveled to Richmond in January, 1865 to propose a peace conference. Jefferson Davis was interested, if only to harden the Confederacy's resolve by showing that a negotiated peace was not possible. However, a major issue soon surface. Davis wrote to Lincoln that he was ready to receive a c omission “with a view to secure peace to the two countries.” Lincoln told Blair that he would receive any agent that Jefferson Davis “may informally send to me with a view to securing peace to the people of our one common country.” For Davis, the Confederacy's independence was non-negotiable, but Lincoln would only consider a proposal that resulted in a unified country.

Alexander Stephens

Blair, with help from Grant, was able to smooth over this difference, and a Peace Conference met. It was held on February 3^rd, 150 years today, on the Union steamer River Queen off Fort Monroe, Virginia. Representing the Union was Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward. From the Confederacy was vice-president Andrew Stephens, who had broken with Davis and pushed for a speedy peace, Senator Robert Hunter of Virginia and John Campbell, former US Supreme Court Justice and Confederate Assistant Secretary of War.

John Campbell

Stephens opened the meeting by discussing the French invasion of Mexico. One of Blair's suggestions was the country could be reunified if the Civil War was halted with an armistice, and north and south united in sending an expedition to repel Napoleon III's invasion of Mexico. Lincoln, however, quickly cut him off, and turned to the question of sovereignty. Would there be one country or two? It was instantly apparent that the conference was useless. As John Campbell wrote, “We learned in five minutes that [Blair's] assurances to Mr. Davis were a delusion, and that union was the condition of peace.” Neither side would yield upon this crucial point.

Seward

The conference continued some time longer, with a discussion of slavery, a proposal from Lincoln to compensate to the south for their slaves, and whether if the southern states immediately surrendered they could reject the 13^th Amendment. The one result of the convention was that Lincoln promised to recommend that Grant reopen prisoner exchanges.

The River Queen

The main product of the meeting was propaganda material for both sides. Jefferson Davis could tell the South that he had tried his best to arrange a peace with the North, but they only terms they offered was absolute surrender. The Confederacy's only hope was to fight to the end. Abraham Lincoln could say that the south still remained unwilling to compromise on their independence, and the Yankee troops needed to fight the war to the finishing, reaping the complete fruits of victory with the abolition of slavery.

Lincoln on the River Queen several weeks later

13th Amendment Passed

When Abraham Lincoln declared the southern slaves free with his Emancipation Proclamation, he did it as a war measure. The Constitution does not give the Federal government the authority to regulate or prohibit slavery, but Lincoln's argument was that he could do it, because it had to be done to win the war. This was shaky legal ground, and it was also unclear what would happen when the war ended. Since emancipation was done as a war measure, if there was no war, would they go back to being slaves?

The United States Congress determined to address this issue, and various bills were debated to determine what should be done. Several different Constitution Amendments were suggested to prohibit slavery. Eventually in early 1864 the Senate Judiciary Committee worked to merge multiple versions into one amendment. The committee introduced it to the Senate on February 10th, and it was passed with a vote of 38 to 6 on April 8, 1864. Next the amendment would have to pass the House, and there it encountered some trouble. In June the amendment failed to pass, with not enough Democrats supporting the measure to reach the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution.

Garrett Davis

Since the southern states were not participating, no one was really arguing in favor of slavery. The Democrats were simply arguing that it would violate the principles of state's rights to give the Federal government control over slavery, which was part of the internal government of the states. Senator Garrett Davis of Kentucky argued that the proposed amendment:

strikes at one of the most essential principles of our commingled system of national and of State governments. ... The absorption of the sovereignty ... to the general Government ... would be revolutionary and destructive of our system....¹

John Hale

The Republicans argued that slavery was evil, and that it stood against the principles under which the United States had been founded. They believed that the time had come to rid the nation of an evil and unchristian blot on its record. John Hale of New Hampshire said,

We have had upon the pages of our public history, our public documents, and our public records some of the sublimest truths that every fell from human lips; and there never has been in the history of the world a more striking contrast than we have presented to heaven and earth between the grandeur and sublimity of our professions and the degradation and infamy of our practice.²

After many debates, the House did not have the votes to pass the amendment. Abraham Lincoln supported it, but not publicly, as he did not want to hurt his chances in the November 1864 election. After he was safely reelected, he turned his attention to getting the amendment passed as quickly as possible. Republican politicians like Secretary of State William Seward were willing to use any means necessary to win over votes. Government jobs or even direct bribes were offered to Democrats to try to convince them to change their position. Lincoln himself worked to convince representatives to support the amendment.

The 13th Amendment, with Lincoln's signature

The final vote was held on January 31st, 150 years ago today. Neither side was sure how the vote would go. When the tally was made, the amendment passed 119-56, just over the two-thirds requirement. Sixteen Democrats joined all of the Republicans to pass it. The House and galleries broke out into celebrations when the amendment was passed. Although he had no formal role in the process, Abraham Lincoln added his signature to the joint resolution of Congress.

Congress passes the amendment

This was only the first step of the amendment process. The 13th Amendment still had to be ratified by three quarters of the states. Back in 1861 Congress had passed the Corwin Amendment, which would have guaranteed the protection of slavery to try to prevent the southern states from leaving the Union, but it was not ratified by enough states. The 13th Amendment was quickly ratified by every state remaining in the Union except for Delaware and Kentucky. Under the northern view the southern states were still in the Union, just in a state of rebellion, so they were necessary to reach the three quarters required. Reconstruction governments in Virginia and Louisiana ratified it. In the process of reconstruction the other southern states were told that to be readmitted to the Union they had to pass the amendment. Enough did so by the end of 1865 that Seward certified the amendment on December 18.

Blue: Ratified amendment
Green: Ratified amendment after it was enacted
Pink: Rejected amendment, later ratified after enactment

The 13th Amendment was a major step in the process of Reconstruction. By it the Federal government legitimized and permanently established the Emancipation Proclamation, ensuring that slavery would be outlawed in the southern states. By the way it was ratified, a precedent was set. The rebellious states would not be immediately readmitted to the Union. Conditions would be put upon the reconciliation, to ensure that the reestablished Union was upon those terms which the North believed necessary.

1. Great Debates in American History, (New York: Current Literature Publishing Company, 1915) vol. 6, p.
2. Ibid, p. 400.

Election of 1864

Lincoln

Throughout Lincoln's term as president there was significant resistance to him in the north. On one side there were the Radical Republicans who did not think Lincoln was firm enough on the issue of slavery, and on the other were the Democrats, some of whom even wanted immediate peace with the south. As the election of 1864 approached, it was clear that there would be obstacles in Lincoln's path for reelection. By the time of the election, the war had stretched on for nearly four bloody years, and there were many who did not think Lincoln was the man to end it.

Frémont's campaign poster

Early in the year Lincoln foiled plans from Salmon P. Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury, to become president. The Radical Republicans did nominate a candidate. At a convention in May, the “Radical Democrats,” as they called themselves, chose John C. Frémont, a former Union general. Frémont accepted the nomination, but offered to resign if Lincoln did not run for reelection. Lincoln did run, but Frémont dropped out anyway, in exchange for the resignation of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, a Democrat.

Lincoln and Johnson

Lincoln did not run again as a Republican. Instead his supporters held the National Union Convention, an alliance of the Republicans with some War Democrats. The idea was that they were putting aside politics, and instead focusing on winning the war. To strengthen the coalition, vice president Hannibal Hamlin, a Republican, was replaced with Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee and a Democrat.

The Democrats also ran a candidate, but their party was badly divided. Some wanted to continue fighting the war until the Union was reestablished, others wanted an immediate negotiated peace. This strife was evident in the results of the convention, held in Chicago. They nominated George B. McClellan, the general, for president, and George Pendleton, Representative from Ohio, for vice-president. The party platform was anti war, calling for immediate cessation of hostilities. But they had nominated McClellan, who was continuing the war.

Cartoon of McClellan

The division among the Democrats caused confusion in the advertising and propaganda during the campaign. The Republicans argued that McClellan's election would mean armistice, peace and despotism. Their motto was “Don't change horses in the middle of a stream,” trying to win the support of War Democrats so Lincoln could win the war. Early in the year, Lincoln did not believe that he could win reelection, and hoped to win the war before he would turn over the presidency. By November, the tide had turned. With the fall of Atlanta in September it seemed that the Union was winning battles, and that ultimate victory was in site.

Republican campaign poster

Although as the election approached things were looking up for Republicans, it was still far from a sure thing. Republicans worked to get Nevada's statehood approved at the eleventh hour, as they believed those votes would go to Lincoln. Congress had voted to allow Nevada to join back in March, along with Colorado and Nebraska, but before statehood could be finalized they needed to receive state constitutions adopted by popular conventions. Nebraska voted against becoming a state and Colorado did not adopt a Constitution. Nevada, however, passed a constitution, but the copies they sent to Washington did not arrive. Finally the governor decided to telegraph the constitution to Washington. It took two days to send the more than 16,000 words. This was the longest telegraph sent up to that point. The bill for the telegraph was $4,303.27 - more than $63,000 today. With the constitution sent in, Nevada was admitted to the Union on October 31. Just a week later, Lincoln carried the state in the election.

The election was held on November 8th, 150 years ago today. In an era before electronic vote counting or instant communication, election results could take weeks or months to arrive. But by the night of November 8th, enough counts had come in to be pretty certain that Lincoln would be reelected. The result turned out to be a Lincoln landslide. He won 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21, loosing only New Jersey and Kentucky. The popular vote was significantly closer, with Lincoln winning 55% to McClellan's 45%. The Republicans also increased their majority in both the House and Senate. The voters had approved Lincoln's conduct of the war.

Late at night Lincoln gave a speech from the White House to a group of Pennsylvanians who were serenading him with a band. He said:

[A]ll who nave labored to-day in behalf of the Union organization 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. … I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand or free government and the rights of humanity.

Lincoln in 1864

Fall of Atlanta

Confederate artillery position

After John Bell Hood's disastrous attacks on Sherman's lines around the town of Atlanta, Georgia, the campaign fell into a siege. The Federals positioned artillery and began to shell the town. The Confederate artillery defending the town replied, and the bombardment continued on and off for days. Sherman also sent his cavalry on raids to try to cut the rebel supply lines south of the city. The more skillful Confederate horsemen repulsed these raids, foiling Sherman's plans. He did not want to try to storm the Confederate works. They were strong, and he knew the difficulty of attacking a well fortified position from his reverses at Vicksburg and Kennesaw Mountain. Instead he moved against the railroad in the Confederate rear with a much larger force – six of his seven corps.

A house in Atlanta used by Confederate sharpshooters and hit by Union artillery

Hood received intelligence of the Federal movement, and detached two corps under William Hardee to meet it, but he did not realize the true scale of the attack. On August 31st Hardee attacked Sherman's forces, but both corps did not engage in unison, and one of them was drive off easily by the Federals. The next day Sherman sent several of his corps against a salient in the Confederate line. The rebels fought hard, but the Federals pushed on, and after hand to hand combat broke through the Confederate line. Hardee's men fell back, and Jonesboro and the railroad fell firmly into Union hands. Back in Atlanta, John Bell Hood realized his supply line had been cut, and determined he had no hope of holding the town. The Confederates abandoned Atlanta that night, and the Federal troops occupied it the next day. As Sherman wrote triumphantly two days later, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won."

Atlanta's railroad in ruins

The fall of Atlanta signaled the end of the campaign. Sherman had captured his objective, though without completely eliminating the Confederate army. It came at a very providential time for the Union cause. Abraham Lincoln was in the midst of a reelection campaign. General George B. McClellan had just been nominated by the Democratic party to run against him. Lincoln was not hopeful about his chances for reelection. He had written just a few days before, on August 23rd, “This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected.” The victory of Atlanta was a major turning point in the campaign. For months the fighting had continued to slog along, especially between Grant and Lee in Virginia, with heavy casualty bills but little to show for it. The fall of Atlanta was a major accomplishment, and it gave the northern people hope that the war was winnable, and before long the nation would be reunified.

Lincoln campaign poster

Riot in Charleston, Illinois

Coles County

While the Federal armies were beginning the spring campaigns of 1864, trouble was brewing on the home front in Coles County, Illinois. The county was a stronghold for the Copperheads, a section of the Democrat Party that opposed Lincoln's policies and wanted an end to the war, even if it meant a division of the Union. On March 28, 1864, Judge Charles Constable was holding court in the town. The previous year he had been arrested for releasing four Union deserters. Although the judge was released, he was still meeting rough treatment at the hands of Union soldiers, who treated him as a traitor. One of the sports of the soldiers was to stop known Democrats, including Judge Constable, and force them to kneel and take an oath of loyalty to the United States.

With the judge in town tensions were high between the Copperheads and Union soldiers home on leave. A Democratic rally was scheduled for the day, with Democrats John Eden, Congressman of the district, scheduled to speak, and Sheriff John O'Hair in attendance. Both soldiers and civilians were drinking heavily, and both had brought guns with them, knowing that trouble was possible.

The courthouse, around which fighting took place

The conflict broke out when Private Oliver Sallee of the 54th Illinois approached Nelson Wells and asked him if there were any Copperheads in the town. Wells replied that he was one. It is here that the accounts differ. Democrats said that Sellee at this moment drew his pistol, and shot at Wells. Republicans said that Sallee laid his hand on Wells shoulder, so he shot first. Either way shots broke out, and Sallee was hit. Partially rising, he killed Wells with a bullet from his gun. General fighting quickly broke out.

There were about sixteen Union soldiers in the square when the shooting broke out. There were many more Copperheads on hand, and they ran to their wagons to retrieve their weapons. The soldiers got the worst of the quick fight. When the smoke settled six soldiers were killed and four wounded, including the Colonel of the 54th Illinois. One Republican civilian was killed and three wounded. On the Copperhead side there were only two killed and six wounded, including the sheriff, who was nicked by a ball inside the courthouse.

As the fighting stopped, Colonel Mitchell gathered what men he could find and telegraphed for reinforcements. The Copperheads, led by Sheriff O'Hair, quickly left the town. They decided not to return and try to drive out the soldiers, or the mob, as the sheriff called them. Instead the group scattered.

For several days rumors ran wild, some saying that the sheriff was going to attack Charleston with 1,500 men. However, this was the end of the fighting in Charleston, IL. Fifty known Copperheads were rounded up by the military, and after some questioning all but fifteen of them were released. These were denied the right of habeas corpus and sent to prison at Fort Delaware. Lincoln ordered their release seven months later. Two were tried for murder and acquitted, and twelve others were indicted but never arrested or tried.

Unsurprisingly, the riot was interpreted by the press in accordance with their politics. The Republican Plain Dealer of Charleston said:

What the end. of this state of things will be, we can. not tell; but if the government does not now take the matter in hand, we fear that the terribly exasperated soldiery and citizens will. Union men have long been threatened and Union soldiers have been so bitterly cursed, and now brutally butchered, by those from whom better things had been. expected, that forbearance will cease—has ceased—to be a virtue. Loyal men here, and the soldiers at the front, are endeavoring to uphold the laws of the land; but they cannot, and will not, stand unconcernedly by. and see their fellows assassinated for so doing.

On the other side, the New York World wrote, “The troubles in the West are clearly due to an. unhealthy public sentiment among the Republicans, countenancing drunken soldiers in insulting peaceable citizens.” You can read this article for more of the history of this story.

Pomeroy Circular

Chase

One issue that loomed large in the mind of Northern politicians in 1864 was the presidential election that would be held later that year. It would be the test of whether people wanted to continue to follow the policies pursued by President Abraham Lincoln the previous four years. But there were some in the Republican party that did not even want Lincoln to get a chance at reelection. 150 years ago today a document called the Pomeroy Circular was published. It was written by Samuel Pomeroy, a Republican senator from Kansas. In this document titled, “The Next Presidential Election,” Pomeroy proposed a new Republican candidate to replace Lincoln – Salmon P. Chase. Chase was the Secretary of the Treasury. Chase was aware of the plans of men like Pomeroy and would have welcomed the opportunity to become President, but he also did not want to publicly come out against Lincoln unless he was sure the people would back him. This document was sent to many Republicans, to help build support for Chase.

Pomeroy

Unsurprisingly, it was not long before it fell into Lincoln's hands and was published in the newspapers. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, predicted that “it will be more dangerous in its recoil than its projectile,” meaning that it would do more damage to Chase than to Lincoln, at whom it was aimed. Chase wrote to Lincoln that he was not involved in writing the document, and submitted his resignation, which Lincoln refused. In the long run, Welles proved to be right. The people did not rally behind the idea of Chase for president, and even the Republicans of his own state, Ohio, responded by endorsing Lincoln for president in 1864.

Lincoln's 10% Plan

In December of 1863, the Civil War was still far from over. Major Confederate armies still remained under Bragg and Lee, but overall it had been a good year for the Federals. Lee's second invasion of the north had been defeated by Meade at Gettysburg in July, and just the next day Vicksburg fell to Grant, and the Mississippi River was captured, dividing the Confederacy in half. The Union suffered their greatest defeat in the west at Chickamauga, but when Grant arrived he turned the campaign around and broke the siege of Chattanooga.

Lincoln, 1863

With these new victories to his credit, Lincoln turned his mind to how to reintegrate the southern states back into the nation. This task was not without its problems. Except for a few areas like East Tennessee, the vast majority of the voters in the southern states supported the Confederate war effort, and they would not go back kindly into the country they were fighting to leave. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect January 1^st 1863, declared the slaves in the Confederacy free, which created social problems for the United States. Nearly 40% of people in the south would be freed from their slavery, overthrowing the entire culture of the south.

To address the question of how states would rejoin the USA, Lincoln released The Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, explaining what would come to be called the 10% Plan. He would fully pardon anyone who participated in the rebellion who was not a member of the government, or fell into a few other cases, if they swore to support the U.S. Constitution, the Union and the United State's new policy on slavery. He also said that a loyal southern state government would be recognized if it was formed by a group who swore the loyalty oath which numbered 10% of those who voted in 1860.

Lincoln

The terms Lincoln offered were lenient. In exchange for giving up slavery, most of those who participated in the war would be pardoned, and they could quickly rejoin the nation as a full state. But Lincoln could not unilaterally offer these terms. In his proclamation he recognized that the Constitution gives Congress the right to control their own membership. If they disagreed with Lincoln they could refuse to seat elected Congressmen from the southern states, denying recognition of those governments.

Cartoon of Lincoln rebuilding the Union

Lincoln would meet opposition in his plan for reconstruction from the radical Republicans. They believed that the southerners needed to be punished for their rebellion, and they wanted a much longer reconstruction process which would involve a reconstruction of the entire southern society and economy. This question would not be resolved before Lincoln's death, and it would continue to be debated for many years.  

The First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is the 150th annual celebration of the holiday in American history. Although the holiday is traditionally associated with the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving in the 1600s, its celebration annually by the nation begun in 1863 with a proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Before that time, Thanksgiving days were called on special occasions. To learn more about the history of Thanksgiving, watch this video from Discerning History.

The Gettysburg Address

Lincoln at Gettysburg

When the Battle of Gettysburg was fought and the armies marched away, the small town was left with thousands of dead and wounded to deal with. At first all that could be done was to bury the men in crude and shallow graves. But the Northerners wanted to do for the soldiers that had fallen on their homeland, in one of the greatest Union victories thus far in the war. A committee was formed of men from all the states who had soldiers fight there. A hilltop cemetery had been an important Union position during the battle, so it was natural that a portion of this hill would be turned into a cemetery and memorial for the Union dead. The committee moved fast. 17 acres were purchased, and less than five months later they were ready to commemorate the Soldier's Cemetery.

Lincoln's handwritten draft of the speech

The main speaker for the event was Edward Everett, an important Massachusetts figure who had served as governor, ambassador to Great Britain, Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and President of Harvard. For nearly a decade he had toured the country as an orator. When the ceremony was held, 150 years ago today, Everett gave a two hour speech, but today very few remember what he said. For after him rose President Abraham Lincoln, whose two minute speech is one of the most famous in American history. Lincoln said:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The next day Everett wrote to Lincoln, saying, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.” Reactions to the speech different, based primarily upon the politics of the commentators. The Republican Chicago Tribune wrote “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man,” while the Democratic Chicago Times said, “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”¹ The southerners, of course, thought very little of it. The Lynchburg Virginian said, “Really, the ignorance and coarseness of this man would repel and disgust any other people than the Yankees . . . What a commentary is this on the character of our enemies.”2

New York Times article on the address

Those who agreed with Lincoln would come to see it as one of the greatest statements of why the war was fought. A few years later newspaper editor Horace Greeley wrote, “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration....” ³ Republican senator Charles Sumner said, “The battle itself was less important than the speech. Ideas are more than battles."⁴

Today the Gettysburg Address is regarded by many as one of the foundational statements of American government, ranking in importance with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Some have called it the founding document of a second American revolution. In many ways these analysis are true. The Address is a concise statement that declares that American changed during the Civil War. It experienced a “new birth,” and the debate over what that birth entailed continue in the country to the present day.

1.Contemporary Reactions, Cornell University: The Gettysburg Address http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/ideas_more/reactions_p1.htm.

2.Virginians' Responses fo the Gettysburg Address, 1863-1963 by Jared Elliott Peatman, 2006. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04162006-004530/unrestricted/peatman.pdf. p. 39.

3.The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine: May 1891, to October 1891. (New York: The Century Co., 1891) p. 380.

4.The Life of Charles Sumner by Jeremiah Chaplin and J. D. Chaplin (Boston: D. Lothrop Company, 1874) p. 421.

New York Draft Riots

Although a majority of the people, both north and south, supported the war, that did not mean that there was no opposition. One issue that brought great resistance to Abraham Lincoln was the conscription laws. In February, 1863 a new law was passed making men aged 20 - 45 eligible to be drafted, but someone who was willing and able to pay $300 or hire a substitute was exempt from service. This exception really angered many in the north. They saw the draft as making the struggle a rich man's war and a poor man's fight since the wealthy could pay their way out.

On July 11, 1863 draft riots broke out in New York City. New York had been economically tied to the south before the war, and the mayor had called for the city's secession. A large part of the population was Irish immigrants, who did not want the slaves freed as they would enter the competition for the low paying jobs that the Irish were already having trouble finding.

When the February law began to be implemented riots quickly broke out. Crowds formed, smashing windows, cutting telegraph wires, lighting fires, and hunting down free blacks. All available troops had been sent to join the army, so the only forces available to fight the riot were the police. They were too weak to keep the rioters under control. The police superintendent himself was attacked by the mob and badly wounded. When the mob went after the offices of the New York Tribune, a Republican paper, the staff repelled the rioters with Gatling guns. The mob continued to look for blacks, lynching some and burning their houses and businesses.

Lynching

It rained and many of the fires that had been started were put out. But the mob reassembled the next morning, and continued their reign of terror. They went to the homes of the famous Republicans and attacked them. The governor tried to help the situation by speaking at City Hall and telling the crowd that the conscription act was unconstitutional.

The army attacks

Meanwhile, Lincoln had to call back troops from the army to put down the riot. The New York militia and several regiments of Federal troops made a forced march to the city. After a little fighting they were able to stop the riot over the next two days. The casualties had been very heavy for a riot. It is estimated at least 120 civilians were killed and 2,000 wounded. At least 11 blacks were lynched. 50 buildings were burnt and $1 - $5 million of dollars of damage done. The draft was resumed without further protest, and turned out to be not as bad as had been anticipated. Of the 750,000 selected only 45,000 went into the service.

Clement Vallandigham Arrested

Vallandigham

The north was not completely unified behind Abraham Lincoln and his conduct of the war. There was a significant movement for peace in the North. They were called Copperheads by their enemies as a reference to the snake, but they adopted the name, and wore the heads of Liberty cut out of copper pennies. The recognized leader of the Copperheads was Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, a U.S. Representative who had lost his seat in 1862 due to gerrymandering. He was a support of state's rights, saying the states had a right to secede and the federal government had no power under the constitution to regulate slavery. He said this in Congress on January 14th, 1863:

Soon after the war began the reign of the mob was... supplanted by the iron domination of arbitrary power. Constitutional limitation was broken down; habeas corpus fell; liberty of the press, of speech, of the person, of the mails, of travel, of one’s own house, and of religion; the right to bear arms, due process of law, judicial trial, trial by jury, trial at all ... Whatever pleases the President, that is law! Prisoners of state were then first heard of here. Midnight and arbitrary arrests commenced; travel was interdicted; trade embargoed; passports demanded; bastiles were introduced; strange oaths invented; a secret police organized; "piping" began; informers multiplied; spies now first appeared in America. The right to declare war, to raise and support armies, and to provide and maintain a navy, was usurped by the Executive.... I have denounced, from the beginning, the usurpations and the infractions, one and all, of law and Constitution, by the President and those under him; their repeated and persistent arbitrary arrests, the suspension of habeas corpus, the violation of freedom of the mails, of the private house, of the press and of speech, and all the other multiplied wrongs and outrages upon public liberty and private right, which have made this country one of the worst despotisms on earth for the past twenty months; and I will continue to rebuke and denounce them to the end.... 

And now, sir, I recur to the state of the Union to-day. What is it? Sir, twenty months have elapsed, but the rebellion is not crushed out; its military power has not been broken; the insurgents have not dispersed. The Union is not restored; nor the Constitution maintained; nor the laws enforced. Twenty, sixty, ninety, three hundred, six hundred days have passed; a thousand millions been expended; and three hundred thousand lives lost or bodies mangled; and to-day the Confederate flag is still near the Potomac and the Ohio, and the Confederate Government stronger, many times, than at the beginning.... You have not conquered the South. You never will. It is not in the nature of things possible; much less under your auspices. But money you have expended without limit, and blood poured out like water. Defeat, debt, taxation, sepulchers, these are your trophies.... The war for the Union is, in your hands, a most bloody and costly failure. The President confessed it on the 22d of September.... War for the Union was abandoned; war for the negro openly begun, and with stronger battalions than before. With what success? Let the dead at Fredericksburg and Vicksburg answer....

His arrest

The government could not let Vallandigham remain free to express his opinion. 150 years ago today he was arrested for violating Burnside's General Order Number 38. The charges against him were that he criticized the war, and said that the government was despotic and was violating the people's rights. Vallandingham was denied the writ of habeas corpus, and tried by a military tribunal, which caused many to say that his civil rights were violated. He was convicted and sentenced to prison for two years for attempting to hinder the war effort. Lincoln upheld the conviction, but changed it to banishment to the Confederacy. He went there against his will, and traveled to Canada. From there he ran for Governor of Ohio. He was nominated by the Democrats but lost the election in a landslide. Nonetheless he remained an active part of the Democratic party.

Politicians including Vallandigham

Lincoln Approves the Lieber Code

Francis Lieber

 150 years ago today, Lincoln issued General Order No. 100, implementing the Lieber Code for the humane treatment of prisoners. The Lieber Code is named after Francis Lieber, a German philosopher who immigrated to America. He was the first self-titled political scientist, as a professor at Columbia College. He sided with the North, and helped Lincoln draft the orders defining the laws of war.

Although the code was issued as only an order for the United States army, it was eventually adopted by the Confederacy, and other armies across the world. It became one of the foundational expressions of the international laws of war. It said that war was between societies, so that civilians of the opposing nation were indeed enemies, but it also said that they should be spared whenever militarily possible. It also established rules for dealing with captured property, both public and private, spies, deserters. You can read the entire order here.

US Congress Passes a Banking System

150 years ago the United States Congress passed the National Banking Act. It established a system of chartered national banks and required the currency that the banks issued to be backed by government securities. The act was to create a national paper currency that the government printed and controlled, rather than many different state or private banks printing the bank notes. It established the Comptroller of the Currency, who inspected the national banks and was responsible for the printing of bank notes. These new bank notes would help finance the Civil War, because the banks had to buy Treasury securities to issue the national bank notes. This banking system was the foundation of the modern Federal Reserve.

Joe Hooker Takes Command

Hooker

Ambrose Burnside's Mud March, as it was called, was the last straw for Lincoln. Burnside had been disastrously defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, and with the latest debacle he had to be replaced. He was moved to the Department of the Ohio and replaced with Joseph Hooker on January 26th.

Hooker was a West Pointer from Massachusetts. He had fought in the Mexican-American War and served the staffs of the leading American generals. In the Civil War, he had quickly risen to prominence, and was known as Fighting Joe because of a typo in a newspaper article, but the name stuck because of his aggressiveness. Hooker was also famous for his hard drinking. One officer recorded that “the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac was a place to which no self-respecting man like to go, and no decent woman could go. It was a combination of bar-room and brothel."

Hooker

Lincoln wrote a letter to Hooker upon giving him the command giving him his instructions:

I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac... And yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which, I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and a skillful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm. But I think that during Gen. Burnside's command of the Army, you have taken counsel of your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of it's ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticizing their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army, while such a spirit prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories.

Burnside's Mud March

After his disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg in December, Burnside looked for a new way launch an offensive. He did not plan to put his army in winter quarters, as would normally be done, but instead strike to restore his reputation and the morale of the army and the nation. He planned to move in the first days of January. Feinting at the fords upstream of Fredericksburg, the main army would cross seven miles downstream. At the same time, he would send the cavalry on a large scale raid. Up to this point in the war, the Confederate cavalry under JEB Stuart literally rode circles around the Union cavalry, which was of a much lesser quality. However, as soon as Burnside was prepared to move, he received a message from Lincoln, saying that “no major army movements are to be made without first informing the White House."

Burnside

Burnside had only told his plans to a few close confidants, so he knew someone had told the President. He was right. Brigadier Generals John Newton and John Cochrane had taken leave and gone to Washington. There they had the opportunity to meet with the President. They told him that the Army of the Potomac had no confidence in Burnside and that if Burnside attempted to move, the army would fall apart. It was this meeting which inspired Lincoln's telegram. Burnside came to the White House to investigate. He wanted to court marshal the generals, but Lincoln would not reveal their identities. Burnside resigned, “to relieve you from all embarrassment in my case,” but Lincoln did not accept it. Although Burnside was in many ways incompetent as a general, unlike McClellan he recognized his mistakes and accepted responsibility for them.

Lincoln

After this altercation with Lincoln, Burnside revised his plan. He switched the locations, feinting to the downstream of Fredericksburg, and crossing at the United States Ford upstream. The move began on January 20th, 150 years ago. The weather had been good up to this point, but once the army started moving this quickly changed. On the night of the 20th, it began to rain. The rain continued to fall over the next days, turning the roads into quagmires, streams into rivers and rivers into rushing torrents. For several days, the soldiers foundered in the mud, making no progress. Burnside finally ordered the army to return to its camps, as by now he knew Lee had been alerted to his move. The soldiers remembered the march with a ditty:

Now I lay me down to sleep 

In mud that's many fathoms deep. 

If I'm not here when you awake 

Just hunt me up with an oyster rake

Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect

Back in September, after the Union army had won the victory (or near victory) at Antietam, Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In it he said that the slaves in the states in rebellion would be freed if the states were still in rebellion on January 1st, 1863. That day had come, the war was still continuing, and so the Proclamation went into effect. However, only a small number of slaves were actually freed on this day. The Proclamation was declaring the slaves free in areas over which the government had no control, so until the armies pushed forward and recaptured the southern states, they would remain in slavery. However, there was a fraction of slaves that were immediately effected by the proclamation. The status of the “contraband of war,” slaves which had either escaped their masters or been released as the Union armies advanced, was made clear. They would be free. It appears that about 20,000 to 50,000 of the 4,000,000 slaves of the south were officially freed by this proclamation.

Not everyone in the north was pleased by this course of events. The war had begun as a fight to restore the Union. Although it was given as a war measure, Lincoln, with this proclamation, turned the purpose of the war to ending slavery. Many Northern Democrats disagreed with this measure, and some state legislatures even officially condemned Lincoln's course. However, the Republicans retained political power, so they would be the ones who would prosecute the war as they saw fit.

Civil War Thanksgivings of 1862

Thanksgiving in Camp

 Although Thanksgiving as we know it on the fourth Thursday of November. did not come into being until 1863, during 1862 Presidents Davis and Lincoln both appointed times of thanksgiving, although on different days than those to which we are accustomed.

Abraham Lincoln declared a day of thanksgiving on April 10th, 1862, with this proclamation:

It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion.
It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall be have been received they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Fathers for these inestimable blessings, that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the divine guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries of the earth.
In witness 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 10th day of April A.D. 1862, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

 Davis did the same a few months later, on September 4th, 1862, after the great victory at Manassas:

Once more upon the plains of Manassas have our armies been blessed by the Lord of Hosts with a triumph over our enemies.  It is my privilege to invite you once more to His footstool, not now in the garb of fasting and sorrow, but with joy and gladness, to render thanks for the great mercies received at His hand.  A few months since, and our enemies poured forth their invading legions upon our soil.  They laid waste our fields, polluted our altars and violated the sanctity of our homes.  Around our capital they gathered their forces, and with boastful threats, claimed it as already their prize.  The brave troops which rallied to its defense have extinguished these vain hopes, and, under the guidance of the same almighty hand, have scattered our enemies and driven them back in dismay.  Uniting these defeated forces and the various armies which had been ravaging our coasts with the army of invasion in Northern Virginia, our enemies have renewed their attempt to subjugate us at the very place where their first effort was defeated, and the vengeance of retributive justice has overtaken the entire host in a second and complete overthrow.
To this signal success accorded to our arms in the East has been graciously added another equally brilliant in the West.  On the very day on which our forces were led to victory on the Plains of Manassas, in Virginia, the same Almighty arm assisted us to overcome our enemies at Richmond, in Kentucky.  Thus, at one and the same time, have two great hostile armies been stricken down, and the wicked designs of their armies been set at naught.
In such circumstances, it is meet and right that, as a people, we should bow down in adoring thankfulness to that gracious God who has been our bulwark and defense, and to offer unto him the tribute of thanksgiving and praise.  In his hand is the issue of all events, and to him should we, in an especial manner, ascribe the honor of this great deliverance.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Thursday, the 18th day of September inst., as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our arms at Richmond and Manassas; and I do hereby invite the people of the Confederate States to meet on that day at their respective places of public worship, and to unite in rendering thanks and praise to God for these great mercies, and to implore Him to conduct our country safely through the perils which surround us, to the final attainment of the blessings of peace and security.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this fourth day of September, A.D.1862. 
JEFFERSON DAVIS