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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1815-h.zip b/1815-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf8e734 --- /dev/null +++ b/1815-h.zip diff --git a/1815-h/1815-h.htm b/1815-h/1815-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..268611d --- /dev/null +++ b/1815-h/1815-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5960 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln + +Author: Helen Nicolay + +Release Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1815] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Helen Nicolay + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. A PRESIDENT'S CHILDHOOD </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. CAPTAIN LINCOLN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. LAWYER LINCOLN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. CONGRESSMAN LINCOLN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. THE CHAMPION OF FREEDOM </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI. THE NEW PRESIDENT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII. LINCOLN AND THE WAR </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII. UNSUCCESSFUL GENERALS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> IX. FREEDOM FOR THE SLAVES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> X. THE MAN WHO WAS PRESIDENT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> XI. THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XII. THE CONQUEROR OF A GREAT REBELLION + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XIII. THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + I. A PRESIDENT'S CHILDHOOD + </h2> + <p> + Abraham Lincoln's forefathers were pioneers—men who left their homes + to open up the wilderness and make the way plain for others to follow + them. For one hundred and seventy years, ever since the first American + Lincoln came from England to Massachusetts in 1638, they had been moving + slowly westward as new settlements were made in the forest. They faced + solitude, privation, and all the dangers and hardships that beset men who + take up their homes where only beasts and wild men have had homes before; + but they continued to press steadily forward, though they lost fortune and + sometimes even life itself, in their westward progress. Back in + Pennsylvania and New Jersey some of the Lincolns had been men of wealth + and influence. In Kentucky, where the future President was born on + February 12, 1809, his parents lived in deep poverty Their home was a + small log cabin of the rudest kind, and nothing seemed more unlikely than + that their child, coming into the world in such humble surroundings, was + destined to be the greatest man of his time. True to his race, he also was + to be a pioneer—not indeed, like his ancestors, a leader into new + woods and unexplored fields, but a pioneer of a nobler and grander sort, + directing the thoughts of men ever toward the right, and leading the + American people, through difficulties and dangers and a mighty war, to + peace and freedom. + </p> + <p> + The story of this wonderful man begins and ends with a tragedy, for his + grandfather, also named Abraham, was killed by a shot from an Indian's + rifle while peaceably at work with his three sons on the edge of their + frontier clearing. Eighty-one years later the President himself met death + by an assassin's bullet. The murderer of one was a savage of the forest; + the murderer of the other that far more cruel thing, a savage of + civilization. + </p> + <p> + When the Indian's shot laid the pioneer farmer low, his second son, + Josiah, ran to a neighboring fort for help, and Mordecai, the eldest, + hurried to the cabin for his rifle. Thomas, a child of six years, was left + alone beside the dead body of his father; and as Mordecai snatched the gun + from its resting-place over the door of the cabin, he saw, to his horror, + an Indian in his war-paint, just stooping to seize the child. Taking quick + aim at a medal on the breast of the savage, he fired, and the Indian fell + dead. The little boy, thus released, ran to the house, where Mordecai, + firing through the loopholes, kept the Indians at bay until help arrived + from the fort. + </p> + <p> + It was this child Thomas who grew up to be the father of President Abraham + Lincoln. After the murder of his father the fortunes of the little family + grew rapidly worse, and doubtless because of poverty, as well as by reason + of the marriage of his older brothers and sisters, their home was broken + up, and Thomas found himself, long before he was grown, a wandering + laboring boy. He lived for a time with an uncle as his hired servant, and + later he learned the trade of carpenter. He grew to manhood entirely + without education, and when he was twenty-eight years old could neither + read nor write. At that time he married Nancy Hanks, a good-looking young + woman of twenty-three, as poor as himself, but so much better off as to + learning that she was able to teach her husband to sign his own name. + Neither of them had any money, but living cost little on the frontier in + those days, and they felt that his trade would suffice to earn all that + they should need. Thomas took his bride to a tiny house in Elizabethtown, + Kentucky, where they lived for about a year, and where a daughter was born + to them. + </p> + <p> + Then they moved to a small farm thirteen miles from Elizabethtown, which + they bought on credit, the country being yet so new that there were places + to be had for mere promises to pay. Farms obtained on such terms were + usually of very poor quality, and this one of Thomas Lincoln's was no + exception to the rule. A cabin ready to be occupied stood on it, however; + and not far away, hidden in a pretty clump of trees and bushes, was a fine + spring of water, because of which the place was known as Rock Spring Farm. + In the cabin on this farm the future President of the United States was + born on February 12, 1809, and here the first four years of his life were + spent. Then the Lincolns moved to a much bigger and better farm on Knob + Creek, six miles from Hodgensville, which Thomas Lincoln bought, again on + credit, selling the larger part of it soon afterward to another purchaser. + Here they remained until Abraham was seven years old. + </p> + <p> + About this early part of his childhood almost nothing is known. He never + talked of these days, even to his most intimate friends. To the pioneer + child a farm offered much that a town lot could not give him—space; + woods to roam in; Knob Creek with its running water and its deep, quiet + pools for a playfellow; berries to be hunted for in summer and nuts in + autumn; while all the year round birds and small animals pattered across + his path to people the solitude in place of human companions. The boy had + few comrades. He wandered about playing his lonesome little games, and + when these were finished returned to the small and cheerless cabin. Once, + when asked what he remembered about the War of 1812 with Great Britain, he + replied: "Only this: I had been fishing one day and had caught a little + fish, which I was taking home. I met a soldier in the road, and having + always been told at home that we must be good to soldiers, I gave him my + fish." It is only a glimpse into his life, but it shows the solitary, + generous child and the patriotic household. + </p> + <p> + It was while living on this farm that Abraham and his sister Sarah first + began going to A-B-C schools. Their earliest teacher was Zachariah Riney, + who taught near the Lincoln cabin; the next was Caleb Hazel, four miles + away. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the tragedy that darkened his childhood, Thomas Lincoln seems + to have been a cheery, indolent, good-natured man. By means of a little + farming and occasional jobs at his trade, he managed to supply his family + with the absolutely necessary food and shelter, but he never got on in the + world. He found it much easier to gossip with his friends, or to dream + about rich new lands in the West, than to make a thrifty living in the + place where he happened to be. The blood of the pioneer was in his veins + too—the desire to move westward; and hearing glowing accounts of the + new territory of Indiana, he resolved to go and see it for himself. His + skill as a carpenter made this not only possible but reasonably cheap, and + in the fall of 1816 he built himself a little flatboat, launched it half a + mile from his cabin, at the mouth of Knob Creek on the waters of the + Rolling Fork, and floated on it down that stream to Salt River, down Salt + River to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to a landing called Thompson's Ferry + on the Indiana shore. + </p> + <p> + Sixteen miles out from the river, near a small stream known as Pigeon + Creek, he found a spot in the forest that suited him; and as his boat + could not be made to float up-stream, he sold it, stored his goods with an + obliging settler, and trudged back to Kentucky, all the way on foot, to + fetch his wife and children—Sarah, who was now nine years old, and + Abraham, seven. This time the journey to Indiana was made with two horses, + used by the mother and children for riding, and to carry their little + camping outfit for the night. The distance from their old home was, in a + straight line, little more than fifty miles, but they had to go double + that distance because of the very few roads it was possible to follow. + </p> + <p> + Reaching the Ohio River and crossing to the Indiana shore, Thomas Lincoln + hired a wagon which carried his family and their belongings the remaining + sixteen miles through the forest to the spot he had chosen—a piece + of heavily wooded land, one and a half miles east of what has since become + the village of Gentryville in Spencer County. The lateness of the autumn + made it necessary to put up a shelter as quickly as possible, and he built + what was known on the frontier as a half-faced camp, about fourteen feet + square. This differed from a cabin in that it was closed on only three + sides, being quite open to the weather on the fourth. A fire was usually + made in front of the open side, and thus the necessity for having a + chimney was done away with. Thomas Lincoln doubtless intended this only + for a temporary shelter, and as such it would have done well enough in + pleasant summer weather; but it was a rude provision against the storms + and winds of an Indiana winter. It shows his want of energy that the + family remained housed in this poor camp for nearly a whole year; but, + after all, he must not be too hastily blamed. He was far from idle. A + cabin was doubtless begun, and there was the very heavy work of clearing + away the timber—cutting down large trees, chopping them into + suitable lengths, and rolling them together into great heaps to be burned, + or of splitting them into rails to fence the small field upon which he + managed to raise a patch of corn and other things during the following + summer. + </p> + <p> + Though only seven years old, Abraham was unusually large and strong for + his age, and he helped his father in all this heavy labor of clearing the + farm. In after years, Mr. Lincoln said that an ax "was put into his hands + at once, and from that till within his twenty-third year he was almost + constantly handling that most useful instrument—less, of course, in + ploughing and harvesting seasons." At first the Lincolns and their seven + or eight neighbors lived in the unbroken forest. They had only the tools + and household goods they brought with them, or such things as they could + fashion with their own hands. There was no sawmill to saw lumber. The + village of Gentryville was not even begun. Breadstuff could be had only by + sending young Abraham seven miles on horseback with a bag of corn to be + ground in a hand grist-mill. + </p> + <p> + About the time the new cabin was ready relatives and friends followed from + Kentucky, and some of these in turn occupied the half-faced camp. During + the autumn a severe and mysterious sickness broke out in their little + settlement, and a number of people died, among them the mother of young + Abraham. There was no help to be had beyond what the neighbors could give + each other. The nearest doctor lived fully thirty miles away. There was + not even a minister to conduct the funerals. Thomas Lincoln made the + coffins for the dead out of green lumber cut from the forest trees with a + whip-saw, and they were laid to rest in a clearing in the woods. Months + afterward, largely through the efforts of the sorrowing boy, a preacher + who chanced to come that way was induced to hold a service and preach a + sermon over the grave of Mrs. Lincoln. + </p> + <p> + Her death was indeed a serious blow to her husband and children. Abraham's + sister, Sarah, was only eleven years old, and the tasks and cares of the + little household were altogether too heavy for her years and experience. + Nevertheless they struggled bravely through the winter and following + summer; then in the autumn of 1819 Thomas Lincoln went back to Kentucky + and married Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he had known, and it is said + courted, when she was only Sally Bush. She had married about the time + Lincoln married Nancy Hanks, and her husband had died, leaving her with + three children. She came of a better station in life than Thomas, and was + a woman with an excellent mind as well as a warm and generous heart. The + household goods that she brought with her to the Lincoln home filled a + four-horse wagon, and not only were her own children well clothed and + cared for, but she was able at once to provide little Abraham and Sarah + with comforts to which they had been strangers during the whole of their + young lives. Under her wise management all jealousy was avoided between + the two sets of children; urged on by her stirring example, Thomas Lincoln + supplied the yet unfinished cabin with floor, door, and windows, and life + became more comfortable for all its inmates, contentment if not happiness + reigning in the little home. + </p> + <p> + The new stepmother quickly became very fond of Abraham, and encouraged him + in every way in her power to study and improve himself. The chances for + this were few enough. Mr. Lincoln has left us a vivid picture of the + situation. "It was," he once wrote, "a wild region, with many bears and + other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some + schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher + beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin' to the Rule of Three. If a + straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the + neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard." + </p> + <p> + The school-house was a low cabin of round logs, with split logs or + "puncheons" for a floor, split logs roughly leveled with an ax and set up + on legs for benches, and holes cut out in the logs and the space filled in + with squares of greased paper for window-panes. The main light came in + through the open door. Very often Webster's "Elementary Spelling-book" was + the only text-book. This was the kind of school most common in the middle + West during Mr. Lincoln's boyhood, though already in some places there + were schools of a more pretentious character. Indeed, back in Kentucky, at + the very time that Abraham, a child of six, was learning his letters from + Zachariah Riney, a boy only a year older was attending a Catholic seminary + in the very next county. It is doubtful if they ever met, but the + destinies of the two were strangely interwoven, for the older boy was + Jefferson Davis, who became head of the Confederate government shortly + after Lincoln was elected President of the United States. + </p> + <p> + As Abraham had been only seven years old when he left Kentucky, the little + beginnings he learned in the schools kept by Riney and Hazel in that State + must have been very slight, probably only his alphabet, or at most only + three or four pages of Webster's "Elementary Spelling-book." The + multiplication-table was still a mystery to him, and he could read or + write only the words he spelled. His first two years in Indiana seem to + have passed without schooling of any sort, and the school he attended + shortly after coming under the care of his stepmother was of the simplest + kind, for the Pigeon Creek settlement numbered only eight or ten poor + families, and they lived deep in the forest, where, even if they had had + the money for such luxuries, it would have been impossible to buy books, + slates, pens, ink, or paper. It is worthy of note, however, that in our + western country, even under such difficulties, a school-house was one of + the first buildings to rise in every frontier settlement. Abraham's second + school in Indiana was held when he was fourteen years old, and the third + in his seventeenth year. By that time he had more books and better + teachers, but he had to walk four or five miles to reach them. We know + that he learned to write, and was provided with pen, ink, and a copy-book, + and a very small supply of writing-paper, for copies have been printed of + several scraps on which he carefully wrote down tables of long measure, + land measure, and dry measure, as well as examples in multiplication and + compound division, from his arithmetic. He was never able to go to school + again after this time, and though the instruction he received from his + five teachers—two in Kentucky and three in Indiana—extended + over a period of nine years, it must be remembered that it made up in all + less than one twelve-month; "that the aggregate of all his schooling did + not amount to one year." The fact that he received this instruction, as he + himself said, "by littles," was doubtless an advantage. A lazy or + indifferent boy would of course have forgotten what was taught him at one + time before he had opportunity at another; but Abraham was neither + indifferent nor lazy, and these widely separated fragments of instruction + were precious steps to self-help. He pursued his studies with very unusual + purpose and determination not only to understand them at the moment, but + to fix them firmly in his mind. His early companions all agree that he + employed every spare moment in keeping on with some one of his studies. + His stepmother tells us that "When he came across a passage that struck + him, he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, and keep it + there until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look at it, repeat + it. He had a copy-book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he put down all + things, and thus preserved them." He spent long evenings doing sums on the + fire-shovel. Iron fire-shovels were a rarity among pioneers. Instead they + used a broad, thin clapboard with one end narrowed to a handle, arranging + with this the piles of coals upon the hearth, over which they set their + "skillet" and "oven" to do their cooking. It was on such a wooden shovel + that Abraham worked his sums by the flickering firelight, making his + figures with a piece of charcoal, and, when the shovel was all covered, + taking a drawing-knife and shaving it off clean again. + </p> + <p> + The hours that he was able to devote to his penmanship, his reading, and + his arithmetic were by no means many; for, save for the short time that he + was actually in school, he was, during all these years, laboring hard on + his father's farm, or hiring his youthful strength to neighbors who had + need of help in the work of field or forest. In pursuit of his knowledge + he was on an up-hill path; yet in spite of all obstacles he worked his way + to so much of an education as placed him far ahead of his schoolmates and + quickly abreast of his various teachers. He borrowed every book in the + neighborhood. The list is a short one: "Robinson Crusoe," "Aesop's + Fables," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," Weems's "Life of Washington," and + a "History of the United States." When everything else had been read, he + resolutely began on the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which Dave Turnham, + the constable, had in daily use, but permitted him to come to his house + and read. + </p> + <p> + Though so fond of his books; it must not be supposed that he cared only + for work and serious study. He was a social, sunny-tempered lad, as fond + of jokes and fun as he was kindly and industrious. His stepmother said of + him: "I can say, what scarcely one mother in a thousand can say, Abe never + gave me a cross word or look, and never refused... to do anything I asked + him.... I must say.. that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or expect to + see." + </p> + <p> + He and John Johnston, his stepmother's son, and John Hanks, a relative of + his own mother's, worked barefoot together in the fields, grubbing, + plowing, hoeing, gathering and shucking corn, and taking part, when + occasion offered, in the practical jokes and athletic exercises that + enlivened the hard work of the pioneers. For both work and play Abraham + had one great advantage. He was not only a tall, strong country boy: he + soon grew to be a tall, strong, sinewy man. He early reached the unusual + height of six feet four inches, and his long arms gave him a degree of + power as an axman that few were able to rival. He therefore usually led + his fellows in efforts of muscle as well as of mind. That he could outrun, + outlift, outwrestle his boyish companions, that he could chop faster, + split more rails in a day, carry a heavier log at a "raising," or excel + the neighborhood champion in any feat of frontier athletics, was doubtless + a matter of pride with him; but stronger than all else was his eager + craving for knowledge. He felt instinctively that the power of using the + mind rather than the muscles was the key to success. He wished not only to + wrestle with the best of them, but to be able to talk like the preacher, + spell and cipher like the school-master, argue like the lawyer, and write + like the editor. Yet he was as far as possible from being a prig. He was + helpful, sympathetic, cheerful. In all the neighborhood gatherings, when + settlers of various ages came together at corn-huskings or house-raisings, + or when mere chance brought half a dozen of them at the same time to the + post-office or the country store, he was able, according to his years, to + add his full share to the gaiety of the company. By reason of his reading + and his excellent memory, he soon became the best story-teller among his + companions; and even the slight training gained from his studies greatly + broadened and strengthened the strong reasoning faculty with which he had + been gifted by nature. His wit might be mischievous, but it was never + malicious, and his nonsense was never intended to wound or to hurt the + feelings. It is told of him that he added to his fund of jokes and stories + humorous imitations of the sermons of eccentric preachers. + </p> + <p> + Very likely too much is made of all these boyish pranks. He grew up very + like his fellows. In only one particular did he differ greatly from the + frontier boys around him. He never took any pleasure in hunting. Almost + every youth of the backwoods early became an excellent shot and a + confirmed sportsman. The woods still swarmed with game, and every cabin + depended largely upon this for its supply of food. But to his strength was + added a gentleness which made him shrink from killing or inflicting pain, + and the time the other boys gave to lying in ambush, he preferred to spend + in reading or in efforts at improving his mind. + </p> + <p> + Only twice during his life in Indiana was the routine of his employment + changed. When he was about sixteen years old he worked for a time for a + man who lived at the mouth of Anderson's Creek, and here part of his duty + was to manage a ferry-boat which carried passengers across the Ohio River. + It was very likely this experience which, three years later, brought him + another. Mr. Gentry, the chief man of the village of Gentryville that had + grown up a mile or so from his father's cabin, loaded a flatboat on the + Ohio River with the produce his store had collected—corn, flour, + pork, bacon, and other miscellaneous provisions—and putting it in + charge of his son Allen Gentry and of Abraham Lincoln, sent them with it + down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to sell its cargo at the plantations + of the lower Mississippi, where sugar and cotton were the principal crops, + and where other food supplies were needed to feed the slaves. No better + proof is needed of the reputation for strength, skill, honesty, and + intelligence that this tall country boy had already won for himself, than + that he was chosen to navigate the flatboat a thousand miles to the + "sugar-coast" of the Mississippi River, sell its load, and bring back the + money. Allen Gentry was supposed to be in command, but from the record of + his after life we may be sure that Abraham did his full share both of work + and management. The elder Gentry paid Lincoln eight dollars a month and + his passage home on a steamboat for this service. The voyage was made + successfully, although not without adventure; for one night, after the + boat was tied up to the shore, the boys were attacked by seven negroes, + who came aboard intending to kill and rob them. There was a lively + scrimmage, in which, though slightly hurt, they managed to beat off their + assailants, and then, hastily cutting their boat adrift, swung out on the + stream. The marauding band little dreamed that they were attacking the man + who in after years was to give their race its freedom; and though the + future was equally hidden from Abraham, it is hard to estimate the vistas + of hope and ambition that this long journey opened to him. It was his + first look into the wide, wide world. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. CAPTAIN LINCOLN. + </h2> + <p> + By this time the Lincoln homestead was no longer on the frontier. During + the years that passed while Abraham was growing from a child, scarcely + able to wield the ax placed in his hands, into a tall, capable youth, the + line of frontier settlements had been gradually but steadily pushing on + beyond Gentryville toward the Mississippi River. Every summer + canvas-covered moving wagons wound their slow way over new roads into + still newer country; while the older settlers, left behind, watched their + progress with longing eyes. It was almost as if a spell had been cast over + these toil-worn pioneers, making them forget, at sight of such new + ventures, all the hardships they had themselves endured in subduing the + wilderness. At last, on March 1, 1830, when Abraham was just twenty-one + years old, the Lincolns, yielding to this overmastering frontier impulse + to "move" westward, left the old farm in Indiana to make a new home in + Illinois. "Their mode of conveyance was wagons drawn by ox-teams," Mr. + Lincoln wrote in 1860; "and Abraham drove one of the teams." They settled + in Macon County on the north side of the Sangamon River, about ten miles + west of Decatur, where they built a cabin, made enough rails to fence ten + acres of ground, fenced and cultivated the ground, and raised a crop of + corn upon it that first season. It was the same heavy labor over again + that they had endured when they went from Kentucky to Indiana; but this + time the strength and energy of young Abraham were at hand to inspire and + aid his father, and there was no miserable shivering year of waiting in a + half-faced camp before the family could be suitably housed. They were not + to escape hardship, however. They fell victims to fever and ague, which + they had not known in Indiana, and became greatly discouraged; and the + winter after their arrival proved one of intense cold and suffering for + the pioneers, being known in the history of the State as "the winter of + the deep snow." The severe weather began in the Christmas holidays with a + storm of such fatal suddenness that people who were out of doors had + difficulty in reaching their homes, and not a few perished, their fate + remaining unknown until the melting snows of early spring showed where + they had fallen. + </p> + <p> + In March, 1831, at the end of this terrible winter, Abraham Lincoln left + his father's cabin to seek his own fortune in the world. It was the + frontier custom for young men to do this when they reached the age of + twenty-one. Abraham was now twenty-two, but had willingly remained with + his people an extra year to give them the benefit of his labor and + strength in making the new home. + </p> + <p> + He had become acquainted with a man named Offut, a trader and speculator, + who pretended to great business shrewdness, but whose chief talent lay in + boasting of the magnificent things he meant to do. Offut engaged Abraham, + with his stepmother's son, John D. Johnston, and John Hanks, to take a + flatboat from Beardstown, on the Illinois River, to New Orleans; and all + four arranged to meet at Springfield as soon as the snow should melt. + </p> + <p> + In March, when the snow finally melted, the country was flooded and + traveling by land was utterly out of the question. The boys, therefore, + bought a large canoe, and in it floated down the Sangamon River to keep + their appointment with Offut. It was in this somewhat unusual way that + Lincoln made his first entry into the town whose name was afterward to be + linked with his own. + </p> + <p> + Offut was waiting for them, with the discouraging news that he had been + unable to get a flatboat at Beardstown. The young men promptly offered to + make the flatboat, since one was not to be bought; and they set to work, + felling the trees for it on the banks of the stream. Abraham's father had + been a carpenter, so the use of tools was no mystery to him; and during + his trip to New Orleans with Allen Gentry he had learned enough about + flatboats to give him confidence in this task of shipbuilding. Neither + Johnston nor Hanks was gifted with skill or industry, and it is clear that + Lincoln was, from the start, leader of the party, master of construction, + and captain of the craft. + </p> + <p> + The floods went down rapidly while the boat was building, and when they + tried to sail their new craft it stuck midway across the dam of Rutledge's + mill at New Salem, a village of fifteen or twenty houses not many miles + from their starting-point. With its bow high in air, and its stern under + water, it looked like some ungainly fish trying to fly, or some bird + making an unsuccessful attempt to swim. The voyagers appeared to have + suffered irreparable shipwreck at the very outset of their venture, and + men and women came down from their houses to offer advice or to make fun + of the young boatmen as they waded about in the water, with trousers + rolled very high, seeking a way out of their difficulty. Lincoln's + self-control and good humor proved equal to their banter, while his + engineering skill speedily won their admiration. The amusement of the + onlookers changed to gaping wonder when they saw him deliberately bore a + hole in the bottom of the boat near the bow, after which, fixing up some + kind of derrick, he tipped the boat so that the water she had taken in at + the stern ran out in front, and she floated safely over the dam. This + novel method of bailing a boat by boring a hole in her bottom fully + established his fame at New Salem, and so delighted the enthusiastic Offut + that, on the spot, he engaged its inventor to come back after the voyage + to New Orleans and act as clerk for him in a store. + </p> + <p> + The hole plugged up again, and the boat's cargo reloaded, they made the + remainder of the journey in safety. Lincoln returned by steamer from New + Orleans to St. Louis, and from there made his way to New Salem on foot. He + expected to find Offut already established in the new store, but neither + he nor his goods had arrived. While "loafing about," as the citizens of + New Salem expressed it, waiting for him, the newcomer had a chance to + exhibit another of his accomplishments. An election was to be held, but + one of the clerks, being taken suddenly ill, could not be present. Penmen + were not plenty in the little town, and Mentor Graham, the other election + clerk, looking around in perplexity for some one to fill the vacant place, + asked young Lincoln if he knew how to write. Lincoln answered, in the lazy + speech of the country, that he "could make a few rabbit tracks," and that + being deemed quite sufficient, was immediately sworn in, and set about + discharging the duties of his first office. The way he performed these not + only gave general satisfaction, but greatly interested Mentor Graham, who + was the village schoolmaster, and from that time on proved a most helpful + friend to him. + </p> + <p> + Offut finally arrived with a miscellaneous lot of goods, which Lincoln + opened and put in order, and the storekeeping began. Trade does not seem + to have been brisk, for Offut soon increased his venture by renting the + Rutledge and Cameron mill, on whose historic dam the flatboat had come to + grief. For a while the care of this mill was added to Lincoln's other + duties. He made himself generally useful besides, his old implement, the + ax, not being entirely discarded. We are told that he cut down trees and + split rails enough to make a large hogpen adjoining the mill, a + performance not at all surprising when it is remembered that up to this + time the greater part of his life had been spent in the open air, and that + his still growing muscles must have eagerly welcomed tasks like this, + which gave him once more the exercise that measuring calico and weighing + out groceries failed to supply. Young Lincoln's bodily vigor stood him in + good stead in many ways. In frontier life strength and athletic skill + served as well for popular amusement as for prosaic toil, and at times, + indeed, they were needed for personal defence. Every community had its + champion wrestler, a man of considerable local importance, in whose + success the neighbors took a becoming interest. There was, not far from + New Salem, a settlement called Clary's Grove, where lived a set of + restless, rollicking young backwoodsmen with a strong liking for frontier + athletics and rough practical jokes. Jack Armstrong was the leader of + these, and until Lincoln's arrival had been the champion wrestler of both + Clary's Grove and New Salem. He and his friends had not the slightest + personal grudge against Lincoln; but hearing the neighborhood talk about + the newcomer, and especially Offut's extravagant praise of his clerk, who, + according to Offut's statement, knew more than any one else in the United + States, and could beat the whole county at running, jumping or + "wrastling," they decided that the time had come to assert themselves, and + strove to bring about a trial of strength between Armstrong and Lincoln. + Lincoln, who disapproved of all this "woolling and pulling," as he called + it, and had no desire to come to blows with his neighbors, put off the + encounter as long as possible. At length even his good temper was + powerless to avert it, and the wrestling-match took place. Jack Armstrong + soon found that he had tackled a man as strong and skilful as himself; and + his friends, seeing him likely to get the worst of it, swarmed to his + assistance, almost succeeding, by tripping and kicking, in getting Lincoln + down. At the unfairness of this Lincoln became suddenly and furiously + angry, put forth his entire strength, lifted the pride of Clary's Grove in + his arms like a child, and holding him high in the air, almost choked the + life out of him. It seemed for a moment as though a general fight must + follow; but even while Lincoln's fierce rage compelled their respect, his + quickly returning self-control won their admiration, and the crisis was + safely passed. Instead of becoming enemies and leaders in a neighborhood + feud, as might have been expected, the two grew to be warm friends, the + affection thus strangely begun lasting through life. They proved useful to + each other in various ways, and years afterward Lincoln made ample amends + for his rough treatment of the other's throat by saving the neck of Jack + Armstrong's son from the halter in a memorable trial for murder. The + Clary's Grove "boys" voted Lincoln "the cleverest fellow that had ever + broke into the settlement," and thereafter took as much pride in his + peaceableness and book-learning as they did in the rougher and more + questionable accomplishments of their discomfited leader. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln himself was not so easily satisfied. His mind as well as his + muscles hungered for work, and he confided to Mentor Graham, possibly with + some diffidence, his "notion to study English grammar." Instead of + laughing at him, Graham heartily encouraged the idea, saying it was the + very best thing he could do. With quickened zeal Lincoln announced that if + he had a grammar he would begin at once at this the schoolmaster was + obliged to confess that he knew of no such book in New Salem. He thought, + however, that there might be one at Vaner's, six miles away. Promptly + after breakfast the next morning Lincoln set out in search of it. He + brought the precious volume home in triumph, and with Graham's occasional + help found no difficulty in mastering its contents. Indeed, it is very + likely that he was astonished, and even a bit disappointed, to find so + little mystery in it. He is reported to have said that if this was a + "science," he thought he would like to begin on another one. In the eyes + of the townspeople, however, it was no small achievement, and added + greatly to his reputation as a scholar. There is no record of any other + study commenced at this time, but it is certain that he profited much by + helpful talks with Mentor Graham, and that he borrowed every book the + schoolmaster's scanty library was able to furnish. + </p> + <p> + Though outwardly uneventful, this period of his life was both happy and + profitable. He was busy at useful labor, was picking up scraps of + schooling, was making friends and learning to prize them at their true + worth; was, in short, developing rapidly from a youth into a young man. + Already he began to feel stirrings of ambition which prompted him to look + beyond his own daily needs toward the larger interests of his county and + his State. An election for members of the Illinois legislature was to take + place in August, 1832. Sangamon County was entitled to four + representatives. Residents of the county over twenty-one years of age were + eligible to election, and audacious as it might appear, Lincoln determined + to be a candidate. + </p> + <p> + The people of New Salem, like those of all other Western towns, took a + keen interest in politics; "politics" meaning, in that time and place, not + only who was to be President or governor, but concerning itself with + questions which came much closer home to dwellers on the frontier. + "Internal improvements," as they were called—the building of roads + and clearing out of streams so that men and women who lived in remote + places might be able to travel back and forth and carry on trade with the + rest of the world—became a burning question in Illinois. There was + great need of such improvements; and in this need young Lincoln saw his + opportunity. + </p> + <p> + It was by way of the Sangamon River that he entered politics. That + uncertain watercourse had already twice befriended him. He had floated on + it in flood-time from his father's cabin into Springfield. A few weeks + later its rapidly falling waters landed him on the dam at Rutledge's mill, + introducing him effectively if unceremoniously to the inhabitants of New + Salem. Now it was again to play a part in his life, starting him on a + political career that ended only in the White House. Surely no + insignificant stream has had a greater influence on the history of a + famous man. It was a winding and sluggish creek, encumbered with driftwood + and choked by sand-bars; but it flowed through a country already filled + with ambitious settlers, where the roads were atrociously bad, becoming in + rainy seasons wide seas of pasty black mud, and remaining almost + impassable for weeks at a time. After a devious course the Sangamon found + its way into the Illinois River, and that in turn flowed into the + Mississippi. Most of the settlers were too new to the region to know what + a shallow, unprofitable stream the Sangamon really was, for the deep snows + of 183031 and of the following winter had supplied it with an unusual + volume of water. It was natural, therefore, that they should regard it as + the heaven-sent solution of their problem of travel and traffic with the + outside world. If it could only be freed from driftwood, and its channel + straightened a little, they felt sure it might be used for small + steamboats during a large part of the year. + </p> + <p> + The candidates for the legislature that summer staked their chances of + success on the zeal they showed for "internal improvements." Lincoln was + only twenty-three. He had been in the county barely nine months. Sangamon + County was then considerably larger than the whole State of Rhode Island, + and he was of course familiar with only a small part of it or its people; + but he felt that he did know the river. He had sailed on it and been + shipwrecked by it; he had, moreover, been one of a party of men and boys, + armed with long-handled axes, who went out to chop away obstructions and + meet a small steamer that, a few weeks earlier, had actually forced its + way up from the Illinois River. + </p> + <p> + Following the usual custom, he announced his candidacy in the local + newspaper in a letter dated March 9, addressed "To the People of Sangamon + County." It was a straightforward, manly statement of his views on + questions of the day, written in as good English as that used by the + average college-bred man of his years. The larger part of it was devoted + to arguments for the improvement of the Sangamon River. Its main interest + for us lies in the frank avowal of his personal ambition that is contained + in the closing paragraph. + </p> + <p> + "Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition," he wrote. "Whether it + be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that + of being truly esteemed of my fellowmen by rendering myself worthy of + their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet + to be developed. I am young, and unknown to many of you. I was born, and + have ever remained, in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or + popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown + exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and if elected, + they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be unremitting + in my labors to compensate. But if the good people in their wisdom shall + see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with + disappointments to be very much chagrined." + </p> + <p> + He soon had an opportunity of being useful to his fellow-men, though in a + way very different from the one he was seeking. About four weeks after he + had published his letter "To the People of Sangamon County," news came + that Black Hawk, the veteran war-chief of the Sac Indians, was heading an + expedition to cross the Mississippi River and occupy once more the lands + that had been the home of his people. There was great excitement among the + settlers in Northern Illinois, and the governor called for six hundred + volunteers to take part in a campaign against the Indians. He met a quick + response; and Lincoln, unmindful of what might become of his campaign for + the legislature if he went away, was among the first to enlist. When his + company met on the village green to choose their officers, three-quarters + of the men, to Lincoln's intense surprise and pleasure, marched over to + the spot where he was standing and grouped themselves around him, + signifying in this way their wish to make him captain. We have his own + word for it that no success of his after life gave him nearly as much + satisfaction. On April 21, two days after the call for volunteers had been + printed, the company was organized. A week later it was mustered into + service, becoming part of the Fourth Illinois Mounted Volunteers, and + started at once for the hostile frontier. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's soldiering lasted about three months. He was in no battle, but + there was plenty of "roughing it," and occasionally real hardship, as when + the men were obliged to go for three days without food. The volunteers had + not enlisted for any definite length of time, and seeing no prospect of + fighting, they soon became clamorous to return home. Accordingly his and + other companies were mustered out of service on May 27, at the mouth of + Fox River. At the same time the governor, not wishing to weaken his forces + before the arrival of other soldiers to take their places, called for + volunteers to remain twenty days longer. Lincoln had gone to the frontier + to do real service, not for the glory of being captain. Accordingly, on + the day on which he was mustered out as an officer he re-enlisted, + becoming Private Lincoln in Captain Iles's company of mounted volunteers, + sometimes known as the Independent Spy Battalion. This organization + appears to have been very independent indeed, not under the control of any + regiment or brigade, but receiving orders directly from the + commander-in-chief, and having many unusual privileges, such as freedom + from all camp duties, and permission to draw rations as much and as often + as they pleased. After laying down his official dignity and joining this + band of privileged warriors, the campaign became much more of a holiday + for the tall volunteer from New Salem. He entered with enthusiasm into all + the games and athletic sports with which the soldiers beguiled the tedium + of camp, and grew in popularity from beginning to end of his service. + When, at length, the Independent Spy Battalion was mustered out on June + 16, 1832, he started on the journey home with a merry group of his + companions. He and his messmate, George M. Harrison, had the misfortune to + have their horses stolen the very day before, but Harrison's record says: + </p> + <p> + "I laughed at our fate, and he joked at it, and we all started of merrily. + The generous men of our company walked and rode by turns with us, and we + fared about equal with the rest. But for this generosity, our legs would + have had to do the better work, for in that day this dreary route + furnished no horses to buy or to steal, and whether on horse or afoot, we + always had company, for many of the horses' backs were too sore for + riding." + </p> + <p> + Lincoln reached New Salem about the first of August, only ten days before + the election. He had lost nothing in popular esteem by his prompt + enlistment to defend the frontier, and his friends had been doing manful + service for him; but there were by this time thirteen candidates in the + field, with a consequent division of interest. When the votes were + counted, Lincoln was found to be eighth on the list—an excellent + showing when we remember that he was a newcomer in the county, and that he + ran as a Whig, which was the unpopular party. In his own home town of New + Salem only three votes had been cast against him. Flattering as all this + was, the fact remained that he was defeated, and the result of the + election brought him face to face with a very serious question. He was + without means and without employment. Offut had failed and had gone away. + What was he to do next? He thought of putting his strong muscles to + account by learning the blacksmith trade; thought also of trying to become + a lawyer, but feared he could not succeed at that without a better + education. It was the same problem that has confronted millions of young + Americans before and since. In his case there was no question which he + would rather be—the only question was what success he might + reasonably hope for if he tried to study law. + </p> + <p> + Before his mind was fully made up, chance served to postpone, and in the + end greatly to increase his difficulty. Offut's successors in business, + two brothers named Herndon, had become discouraged, and they offered to + sell out to Lincoln and an acquaintance of his named William F. Berry, on + credit, taking their promissory notes in payment. Lincoln and Berry could + not foresee that the town of New Salem had already lived through its best + days, and was destined to dwindle and grow smaller until it almost + disappeared from the face of the earth. Unduly hopeful, they accepted the + offer, and also bought out, on credit, two other merchants who were + anxious to sell. It is clear that the flattering vote Lincoln had received + at the recent election, and the confidence New Salem felt in his personal + character, alone made these transactions possible, since not a dollar of + actual money changed hands during all this shifting of ownership. In the + long run the people's faith in him was fully justified; but meantime he + suffered years of worry and harassing debt. Berry proved a worthless + partner; the business a sorry failure. Seeing this, Lincoln and Berry sold + out, again on credit, to the Trent brothers, who soon broke up the store + and ran away. Berry also departed and died; and in the end all the notes + came back upon Lincoln for payment. Of course he had not the money to meet + these obligations. He did the next best thing: he promised to pay as soon + as he could, and remaining where he was, worked hard at whatever he found + to do. Most of his creditors, knowing him to be a man of his word, + patiently bided their time, until, in the course of long years, he paid, + with interest, every cent of what he used to call, in rueful satire upon + his own folly, his "National Debt." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. LAWYER LINCOLN + </h2> + <p> + Unlucky as Lincoln's attempt at storekeeping had been, it served one good + purpose. Indeed, in a way it may be said to have determined his whole + future career. He had had a hard struggle to decide between becoming a + blacksmith or a lawyer; and when chance seemed to offer a middle course, + and he tried to be a merchant, the wish to study law had certainly not + faded from his mind. + </p> + <p> + There is a story that while cleaning up the store, he came upon a barrel + which contained, among a lot of forgotten rubbish, some stray volumes of + Blackstone's "Commentaries," and that this lucky find still further + quickened his interest in the law. Whether this tale be true or not it + seems certain that during the time the store was running its downward + course from bad to worse, he devoted a large part of his too abundant + leisure to reading and study of various kinds. People who knew him then + have told how he would lie for hours under a great oak-tree that grew just + outside the store door, poring over his book, and "grinding around with + the shade" as it shifted from north to east. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's habit of reading was still further encouraged by his being + appointed postmaster of New Salem on May 7, 1833, an office he held for + about three years—until New Salem grew too small to have a + post-office of its own, and the mail was sent to a neighboring town. The + office was so insignificant that according to popular fable it had no + fixed abiding-place, Lincoln being supposed to carry it about with him in + his hat! It was, however, large enough to bring him a certain amount of + consideration, and, what pleased him still better, plenty of newspapers to + read—newspapers that just then were full of the exciting debates of + Clay and Webster, and other great men in Congress. + </p> + <p> + The rate of postage on letters was still twenty-five cents, and small as + the earnings of the office undoubtedly were, a little change found its way + now and then into his hands. In the scarcity of money on the frontier, + this had an importance hard for us to realize. A portion of this money, of + course, belonged to the government. That he used only what was rightfully + his own we could be very sure, even if a sequel to this post office + experience were not known which shows his scrupulous honesty where + government funds were concerned. Years later, after he had become a + practising lawyer in Springfield, an agent of the Post-office Department + called upon him in his office one day to collect a balance due from the + New Salem post-office, amounting to about seventeen dollars. A shade of + perplexity passed over his face, and a friend, sitting by, offered to lend + him the money if he did not at the moment have it with him. Without + answering, Lincoln rose, and going to a little trunk that stood by the + wall, opened it and took out the exact sum, carefully done up in a small + package. "I never use any man's money but my own," he quietly remarked, + after the agent had gone. + </p> + <p> + Soon after he was raised to the dignity of postmaster another piece of + good fortune came in his way. Sangamon County covered a territory some + forty miles long by fifty wide, and almost every citizen in it seemed + intent on buying or selling land, laying out new roads, or locating some + future city. John Calhoun, the county surveyor, therefore, found himself + with far more work than he could personally attend to, and had to appoint + deputies to assist him. Learning the high esteem in which Lincoln was held + by the people of New Salem, he wisely concluded to make him a deputy, + although they differed in politics. It was a flattering offer, and Lincoln + accepted gladly. Of course he knew almost nothing about surveying, but he + got a compass and chain, and, as he tells us, "studied Flint and Gibson a + little, and went at it." The surveyor, who was a man of talent and + education, not only gave Lincoln the appointment, but, it is said, lent + him the book in which to study the art. Lincoln carried the book to his + friend Mentor Graham, and "went at it" to such purpose that in six weeks + he was ready to begin the practice of his new profession. Like Washington, + who, it will be remembered, followed the same calling in his youth, he + became an excellent surveyor. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's store had by this time "winked out," to use his own quaint + phrase; and although the surveying and his post-office supplied his daily + needs, they left absolutely nothing toward paying his "National Debt." + Some of his creditors began to get uneasy, and in the latter part of 1834 + a man named Van Bergen, who held one of the Lincoln-Berry notes, refusing + to trust him any longer, had his horse, saddle, and surveying instruments + seized by the sheriff and sold at public auction, thus sweeping away the + means by which, as he said, he "procured bread and kept soul and body + together." Even in this strait his known honesty proved his salvation. Out + of pure friendliness, James Short bought in the property and gave it back + to the young surveyor, allowing him time to repay. + </p> + <p> + It took Lincoln seventeen years to get rid of his troublesome "National + Debt," the last instalment not being paid until after his return from his + term of service in Congress at Washington; but it was these seventeen + years of industry, rigid economy, and unflinching fidelity to his promises + that earned for him the title of "Honest Old Abe," which proved of such + inestimable value to himself and his country. + </p> + <p> + During all this time of trial and disappointment he never lost his + courage, his steady, persevering industry, or his determination to + succeed. He was not too proud to accept any honest employment that offered + itself. He would go into the harvest-field and work there when other tasks + were not pressing, or use his clerkly hand to straighten up a neglected + ledger; and his lively humor, as well as his industry, made him a welcome + guest at any farm-house in the county. Whatever he might be doing, he was + never too busy to help a neighbor. His strong arm was always at the + service of the poor and needy. + </p> + <p> + Two years after his defeat for the legislature there was another election. + His friends and acquaintances in the county had increased, and, since he + had received such a flattering vote the first time, it was but natural + that he should wish to try again. He began his campaign in April, giving + himself full three months for electioneering. It was customary in those + days for candidates to attend all manner of neighborhood gatherings—"raisings" + of new cabins, horseraces, shooting-matches, auctions—anything that + served to call the settlers together; and it was social popularity, quite + as much as ability to discuss political questions, that carried weight + with such assemblies. Lincoln, it is needless to say, was in his element. + He might be called upon to act as judge in a horse-race, or to make a + speech upon the Constitution! He could do both. As a laughing peacemaker + between two quarrelsome patriots he had no equal; and as contestant in an + impromptu match at quoit-throwing, or lifting heavy weights, his native + tact and strong arm served him equally well. Candidates also visited farms + and outlying settlements, where they were sometimes unexpectedly called + upon to show their mettle and muscle in more useful labor. One farmer has + recorded how Lincoln "came to my house near Island Grove during harvest. + There were some thirty men in the field. He got his dinner, and went out + in the field where the men were at work. I gave him an introduction, and + the boys said that they could not vote for a man unless he could make a + hand. 'Well, boys,' said he, 'if that is all, I am sure of your votes.' He + took hold of the cradle and led the way all the round with perfect ease. + The boys were satisfied, and I don't think he lost a vote in the crowd." + </p> + <p> + Sometimes two or more candidates would meet at such places, and short + speeches would be called for and given, the harvesters throwing down their + scythes meanwhile to listen, and enlivening the occasion with keen + criticisms of the method and logic of the rival orators. Altogether the + campaign was more spirited than that of two years before. Again there were + thirteen candidates for the four places; but this time, when the election + was over, it was found that only one man in the long list had received + more votes than Abraham Lincoln. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's election to the legislature of Illinois in August, 1834, marks + the end of the pioneer period of his life. He was done now with the wild + carelessness of the woods, with the rough jollity of Clary's Grove, with + odd jobs for his daily bread—with all the details of frontier + poverty. He continued for years to be a very poor man, harassed by debts + he was constantly laboring to pay, and sometimes absolutely without money: + but from this time on he met and worked with men of wider knowledge and + better-trained minds than those he had known in Gentryville and New Salem, + while the simple social life of Vandalia, where he went to attend the + sessions of the legislature, was more elegant than anything he had yet + seen. + </p> + <p> + It must be frankly admitted that his success at this election was a most + important event in his life. Another failure might have discouraged even + his hopeful spirit, and sent him to the blacksmith-shop to make + wagon-tires and shoe horses for the balance of his days. With this + flattering vote to his credit, however, he could be very sure that he had + made a wise choice between the forge and the lawyer's desk. At first he + did not come into special notice in the legislature. He wore, according to + the custom of the time, a decent suit of blue jeans, and was known simply + as a rather quiet young man, good-natured and sensible. Soon people began + to realize that he was a man to be reckoned with in the politics of the + county and State. He was reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840, and thus for + eight years had a full share in shaping the public laws of Illinois. The + Illinois legislature may indeed be called the school wherein he learned + that extraordinary skill and wisdom in statesmanship which he exhibited in + later years. In 1838 and 1840 all the Whig members of the Illinois House + of Representatives gave him their vote for Speaker, but, the Democrats + being in a majority, could not elect him. + </p> + <p> + His campaign expenses were small enough to suit the most exacting. It is + recorded that at one time some of the leading Whigs made up a purse of two + hundred dollars to pay his personal expenses. After the election he + returned the sum of $199.25, with the request that it be given back to the + subscribers. "I did not need the money," he explained. "I made the canvass + on my own horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of friends, cost me + nothing; and my only outlay was seventy-five cents for a barrel of cider, + which some farm-hands insisted I should treat them to." + </p> + <p> + One act of his while a member of the legislature requires special mention + because of the great events of his after-life. Even at that early date, + nearly a quarter of a century before the beginning of the Civil War, + slavery was proving a cause of much trouble and ill-will. The + "abolitionists," as the people were called who wished the slaves to be + free, and the "pro-slavery" men, who approved of keeping them in bondage, + had already come to wordy war. Illinois was a free State, but many of its + people preferred slavery, and took every opportunity of making their + wishes known. In 1837 the legislature passed a set of resolutions "highly + disapproving abolition societies." Lincoln and five others voted against + it; but, not content with this, Lincoln also drew up a paper protesting + against the passage of such a resolution and stating his views on slavery. + They were not extreme views. Though declaring slavery to be an evil, he + did not insist that the black people ought to be set free. But so strong + was the popular feeling against anything approaching "abolitionism" that + only one man out of the five who voted against the resolution had the + courage to sign this protest with him. Lincoln was young, poor, and in + need of all the good-will at his command. Nobody could have blamed him for + leaving it unwritten; yet he felt the wrong of slavery so keenly that he + could not keep silent merely because the views he held happened to be + unpopular; and this protest, signed by him and Dan Stone, has come down to + us, the first notable public act in the great career that made his name + immortal. + </p> + <p> + During the eight years that he was in the legislature he had been working + away at the law. Even before his first election his friend John T. Stuart, + who had been major of volunteers in the Black Hawk War while Lincoln was + captain, and who, like Lincoln, had reenlisted in the Independent Spy + Battalion, had given him hearty encouragement. Stuart was now practising + law in. Springfield. After the campaign was over, Lincoln borrowed the + necessary books of Stuart, and entered upon the study in good earnest. + According to his own statement, "he studied with nobody. ... In the autumn + of 1836 he obtained a law license, and on April 15, 1837, removed to + Springfield and commenced the practice, his old friend Stuart taking him + into partnership." + </p> + <p> + Lincoln had already endeared himself to the people of Springfield by + championing a project they had much at heart—the removal of the + State capital from Vandalia to their own town. This was accomplished, + largely through his efforts, about the time he went to Springfield to + live. This change from New Salem, a village of fifteen or twenty houses, + to a "city" of two thousand inhabitants, placed him once more in striking + new relations as to dress, manners, and society. Yet, as in the case of + his removal from his father's cabin to New Salem six years earlier, the + change was not so startling as would at first appear. In spite of its + larger population and its ambition as the new State capital, Springfield + was at that time in many ways no great improvement upon New Salem. It had + no public buildings, its streets and sidewalks were still unpaved, and + business of all kinds was laboring under the burden of hard times. + </p> + <p> + As for himself, although he now owned a license to practise law, it was + still a question how well he would succeed—whether his rugged mind + and firm purpose could win him the livelihood he desired, or whether, + after all, he would be forced to turn his strong muscles to account in + earning his daily bread. Usually so hopeful, there were times when he was + greatly depressed. His friend William Butler relates how, as they were + riding together on horseback from Vandalia to Springfield at the close of + a session of the legislature, Lincoln, in one of these gloomy moods, told + him of the almost hopeless prospect that lay immediately before him. The + session was over, his salary was all drawn, the money all spent; he had no + work, and did not know where to turn to earn even a week's board. Butler + bade him be of good cheer, and, kind practical friend that he was, took + him and his belongings to his own home, keeping him there for a time as + his guest. His most intimate friend of those days, Joshua F. Speed, tells + us that soon after riding into the new capital on a borrowed horse, with + all his earthly possessions packed in a pair of saddle-bags, Lincoln + entered the store owned by Speed, the saddle-bags over his arm, to ask the + price of a single bed with its necessary coverings and pillows. His + question being answered, he remarked that very likely that was cheap + enough, but, small as the price was, he was unable to pay it; adding that + if Speed was willing to credit him until Christmas, and his experiment as + a lawyer proved a success, he would pay then. "If I fail in this," he said + sadly, "I do not know that I can ever pay you." Speed thought he had never + seen such a sorrowful face. He suggested that instead of going into debt, + Lincoln might share his own roomy quarters over the store, assuring him + that if he chose to accept the offer, he would be very welcome. "Where is + your room?" Lincoln asked quickly. "Upstairs," and the young merchant + pointed to a flight of winding steps leading from the store to the room + overhead. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln picked up the saddle-bags, went upstairs, set them down on the + floor, and reappeared a moment later, beaming with pleasure. "Well, + Speed," he exclaimed, "I am moved!" It is seldom that heartier, truer + friendships come to a man than came to Lincoln in the course of his life. + On the other hand, no one ever deserved better of his fellow-men than he + did; and it is pleasant to know that such brotherly aid as Butler and + Speed were able to give him, offered in all sincerity and accepted in a + spirit that left no sense of galling obligation on either side, helped the + young lawyer over present difficulties and made it possible for him to + keep on in the career he had marked out for himself. + </p> + <p> + The lawyer who works his way up from a five-dollar fee in a suit before a + justice of the peace, to a five-thousand-dollar fee before the Supreme + Court of his State, has a long and hard path to climb. Lincoln climbed + this path for twenty-five years, with industry, perseverance, patience—above + all, with that self-control and keen sense of right and wrong which always + clearly traced the dividing line between his duty to his client and his + duty to society and truth. His perfect frankness of statement assured him + the confidence of judge and jury in every argument. His habit of fully + admitting the weak points in his case gained him their close attention to + his strong ones, and when clients brought him questionable cases his + advice was always not to bring suit. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," he once said to a man who offered him such a case; "there is no + reasonable doubt but that I can gain your case for you. I can set a whole + neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed mother and her six + fatherless children, and thereby gain for you six hundred dollars, which + rightfully belongs, it appears to me, as much to them as it does to you. I + shall not take your case, but I will give you a little advice for nothing. + You seem a sprightly, energetic man. I would advise you to try your hand + at making six hundred dollars in some other way." + </p> + <p> + He would have nothing to do with the "tricks" of the profession, though he + met these readily enough when practised by others. He never knowingly + undertook a case in which justice was on the side of his opponent. That + same inconvenient honesty which prompted him, in his store-keeping days, + to close the shop and go in search of a woman he had innocently defrauded + of a few ounces of tea while weighing out her groceries, made it + impossible for him to do his best with a poor case. "Swett," he once + exclaimed, turning suddenly to his associate, "the man is guilty; you + defend him—I can't," and gave up his share of a large fee. + </p> + <p> + After his death some notes were found, written in his own hand, that had + evidently been intended for a little lecture or talk to law students. They + set forth forcibly, in a few words, his idea of what a lawyer ought to be + and to do. He earnestly commends diligence in study, and, after diligence, + promptness in keeping up the work. "As a general rule, never take your + whole fee in advance," he says, "nor any more than a small retainer. When + fully paid beforehand you are more than a common mortal if you can feel + the same interest in the case as if something were still in prospect for + you as well as for your client." Speech-making should be practised and + cultivated. "It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and + faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him + business if he cannot make a speech. And yet, there is not a more fatal + error to young lawyers than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, + upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the + drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance." Discourage going + to law. "Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out + to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser—in fees, + expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior + opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough." + "There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. + Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the + popular belief. Resolve to be honest at all events; and if, in your own + judgment, you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without + being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation rather than one in the + choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave." + </p> + <p> + While becoming a lawyer, Lincoln still remained a politician. In those + early days in the West, the two occupations went hand in hand, almost of + necessity. Laws had to be newly made to fit the needs of the new + settlements, and therefore a large proportion of lawyers was sent to the + State legislature. In the summer these same lawyers went about the State, + practising before the circuit courts, Illinois being divided into what + were called judicial circuits, each taking in several counties, and + sometimes covering territory more than a hundred miles square. Springfield + and the neighboring towns were in the eighth judicial circuit. Twice a + year the circuit judge traveled from one county-seat to another, the + lawyers who had business before the court following also. As newspapers + were neither plentiful nor widely read, members of the legislature were + often called upon, while on these journeys, to explain the laws they had + helped to make during the previous winter, and thus became the political + teachers of the people. They had to be well informed and watchful. When, + like Mr. Lincoln, they were witty, and had a fund of interesting stories + besides, they were sure of a welcome and a hearing in the courtroom, or in + the social gatherings that roused the various little towns during + "court-week" into a liveliness quite put of the common. The tavern would + be crowded to its utmost—the judge having the best room, and the + lawyers being put in what was left, late comers being lucky to find even a + sleeping-place on the floor. When not occupied in court, or preparing + cases for the morrow, they would sit in the public room, or carry their + chairs out on the sidewalk in front, exchanging stories and anecdotes, or + pieces of political wisdom, while men from the town and surrounding farms, + dropping in on one pretext or another, found excuse to linger and join in + the talk. At meal-times the judge presided at the head of the long hotel + table, on which the food was abundant if not always wholesome, and around + which lawyers, jurors, witnesses, prisoners out on bail, and the men who + drove the teams, gathered in friendly equality. Stories of what Mr. + Lincoln did and said on the eighth judicial circuit are still quoted + almost with the force of law; for in this close companionship men came to + know each other thoroughly, and were judged at their true value + professionally, as well as for their power to entertain. + </p> + <p> + It was only in worldly wealth that Lincoln was poor. He could hold his own + with the best on the eighth judicial circuit, or anywhere else in the + State. He made friends wherever he went. In politics, in daily + conversation, in his work as a lawyer, his life was gradually broadening. + Slowly but surely, too, his gifts as an attractive public speaker were + becoming known. In 1837 he wrote and delivered an able address before the + Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield. In December, 1839, Stephen A. Douglas, + the most brilliant of the young Democrats then in Springfield, challenged + the young Whigs of the town to a tournament of political speech-making, in + which Lincoln bore a full and successful share. + </p> + <p> + The man who could not pay a week's board bill was again elected to the + legislature, was invited to public banquets and toasted by name, became a + popular speaker, moved in the best society of the new capital, and made, + as his friends and neighbors declared, a brilliant marriage. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. CONGRESSMAN LINCOLN + </h2> + <p> + Hopeful and cheerful as he ordinarily seemed, there was in Mr. Lincoln's + disposition a strain of deep melancholy. This was not peculiar to him + alone, for the pioneers as a race were somber rather than gay. Their lives + had been passed for generations under the most trying physical conditions, + near malaria-infested streams, and where they breathed the poison of + decaying vegetation. Insufficient shelter, storms, the cold of winter, + savage enemies, and the cruel labor that killed off all but the hardiest + of them, had at the same time killed the happy-go-lucky gaiety of an + easier form of life. They were thoughtful, watchful, wary; capable indeed + of wild merriment: but it has been said that although a pioneer might + laugh, he could not easily be made to smile. Lincoln's mind was unusually + sound and sane and normal. He had a cheerful, wholesome, sunny nature, yet + he had inherited the strongest traits of the pioneers, and there was in + him, moreover, much of the poet, with a poet's great capacity for joy and + pain. It is not strange that as he developed into manhood, especially when + his deeper nature began to feel the stirrings of ambition and of love, + these seasons of depression and gloom came upon him with overwhelming + force. + </p> + <p> + During his childhood he had known few women, save his mother, and that + kind, God-fearing woman his stepmother, who did so much to make his + childhood hopeful and happy. No man ever honored women more truly than did + Abraham Lincoln; while all the qualities that caused men to like him—his + strength, his ambition, his kindliness—served equally to make him a + favorite with them. In the years of his young manhood three women greatly + occupied his thoughts. The first was the slender, fair-haired Ann + Rutledge, whom he very likely saw for the first time as she stood with the + group of mocking people on the river-bank, near her father's mill, the day + Lincoln's flatboat stuck on the dam at New Salem. It was her death, two + years before he went to live at Springfield, that brought on the first + attack of melancholy of which we know, causing him such deep grief that + for a time his friends feared his sorrow might drive him insane. + </p> + <p> + Another friend was Mary Owens, a Kentucky girl, very different from the + gentle, blue-eyed Ann Rutledge, but worthy in every way of a man's + affections. She had visited her sister in New Salem several years before, + and Lincoln remembered her as a tall, handsome, well-educated young woman, + who could be serious as well as gay, and who was considered wealthy. In + the autumn of 1836, her sister, Mrs. Able, then about to start on a visit + to Kentucky, jokingly offered to bring Mary back if Lincoln would promise + to marry her. He, also in jest, agreed to do so. Much to his astonishment, + he learned, a few months later, that she had actually returned with Mrs. + Able, and his sensitive conscience made him feel that the jest had turned + into real earnest, and that he was in duty bound to keep his promise if + she wished him to do so. They had both changed since they last met; + neither proved quite pleasing to the other, yet an odd sort of courtship + was kept up, until, some time after Lincoln went to live in Springfield, + Miss Owens put an end to the affair by refusing him courteously but + firmly. Meantime he lived through much unhappiness and uncertainty of + spirit, and made up his mind "never again to think of marrying": a + resolution which he kept—until another Kentucky girl drove it from + his thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Springfield had by this time become very lively and enterprising. There + was a deal of "flourishing around in carriages," as Lincoln wrote Miss + Owens, and business and politics and society all played an active part in + the life of the little town. The meetings of the legislature brought to + the new capital a group of young men of unusual talent and ability. There + was friendly rivalry between them, and party disputes ran high, but social + good-humor prevailed, and the presence of these brilliant young people, + later to become famous as Presidential candidates, cabinet ministers, + senators, congressmen, orators, and battle heroes, lent to the social + gatherings of Springfield a zest rarely found in larger places. + </p> + <p> + Into the midst of this gaiety came Mary Todd of Kentucky, twenty-one years + old, handsome, accomplished and witty—a dashing and fascinating + figure in dress and conversation. She was the sister of Mrs. Ninian W. + Edwards, whose husband was a prominent Whig member of the legislature—one + of the "Long Nine," as these men were known. Their added height was said + to be fifty-five feet, and they easily made up in influence what they + lacked in numbers. Lincoln was the "tallest" of them all in body and in + mind, and although as poor as a church mouse, was quite as welcome + anywhere as the men who wore ruffled shirts and could carry gold watches. + Miss Todd soon singled out and held the admiration of such of the + Springfield beaux as pleased her somewhat wilful fancy, and Lincoln, being + much at the Edwards house, found himself, almost before he knew it, + entangled in a new love-affair. In the course of a twelvemonth he was + engaged to marry her, but something, nobody knows what or how, happened to + break the engagement, and to plunge him again in a very sea of + wretchedness. Nor is it necessary that we should know about it further + than that a great trouble came upon him, which he bore nobly, after his + kind. Few men have had his stern sense of duty, his tenderness of heart, + his conscience, so easy toward others, so merciless toward himself. The + trouble preyed upon his mind until he could think of nothing else. He + became unable to attend to business, or to take any part in the life + around him. Fearing for his reason as well as for his health if this + continued, his good friend Joshua F. Speed carried him off, whether he + wished or no, for a visit to his own home in Kentucky. Here they stayed + for some time, and Lincoln grew much better, returning to Springfield + about midsummer, almost his old self, though far from happy. + </p> + <p> + An affair that helped to bring the lovers together again is so out of + keeping with the rest of his life, that it would deserve mention for that + reason, if for no other. This is nothing less than Lincoln's first and + only duel. It happened that James Shields, afterward a general in two wars + and a senator from two States, was at that time auditor of the State of + Illinois, with his office at Springfield. He was a Democrat, and an + Irishman by birth, with an Irishman's quick temper and readiness to take + offense. He had given orders about collecting certain taxes which + displeased the Whigs, and shortly after Lincoln came back from Kentucky a + series of humorous letters ridiculing the auditor and his order appeared + in the Springfield paper, to the great amusement of the townspeople and + the fury of Shields. These letters were dated from the "Lost Townships," + and were supposed to be written by a farmer's widow signing herself "Aunt + Rebecca." The real writers were Miss Todd and a clever friend, who + undertook them more for the purpose of poking fun at Shields than for + party effect. In framing the political part of their attack, they had + found it necessary to consult Lincoln, and he obligingly set them a + pattern by writing the first letter himself. + </p> + <p> + Shields sent to the editor of the paper to find out the name of the real + "Rebecca." The editor, as in duty bound, consulted Lincoln, and was told + to give Lincoln's name, but not to mention the ladies. Shields then sent + Lincoln an angry challenge; and Lincoln, who considered the whole affair + ridiculous, and would willingly have explained his part in it if Shields + had made a gentlemanly inquiry, chose as weapons "broadswords of the + largest size," and named as conditions of the duel that a plank ten feet + long be firmly fixed on edge in the ground, as a line over which neither + combatant was to pass his foot upon forfeit of his life. Next, lines were + to be drawn upon the ground on each side of the plank, parallel with it, + at the distance of the whole length of the sword and three feet + additional. The passing of his own line by either man was to be deemed a + surrender of the fight. + </p> + <p> + It is easy to see from these conditions that Lincoln refused to consider + the matter seriously, and determined to treat it as absurdly as it + deserved. He and Shields, and their respective seconds, with the + broadswords, hurried away to an island in the Mississippi River, opposite + Alton; but long before the plank was set up, or swords were drawn, mutual + friends took the matter out of the hands of the seconds, and declared a + settlement of the difficulty. + </p> + <p> + The affair created much talk and merriment in Springfield, but Lincoln + found in it more than comedy. By means of it he and Miss Todd were again + brought together in friendly interviews, and on November 4, they were + married at the house of Mr. Edwards. Four children were born of this + marriage: Robert Todd Lincoln, August 1, 1843; Edward Baker Lincoln, March + 10, 1846; William Wallace Lincoln, December 21, 1850; and Thomas Lincoln, + April 4, 1853. Edward died while a baby; William, in the White House, + February 20, 1862; Thomas in Chicago, July 15, 1871; and the mother, Mary + Lincoln, in Springfield, July 16, 1882. Robert Lincoln was graduated from + Harvard during the Civil War, serving afterward on the staff of General + Grant. He has since been Secretary of War and Minister to England, and has + held many other important positions of trust. + </p> + <p> + His wedding over, Lincoln took up again the practical routine of daily + life. He and his bride were so poor that they could not make the visit to + Kentucky that both would so much have enjoyed. They could not even set up + a little home of their own. "We are not keeping house," he wrote to a + friend, "but boarding at the Globe Tavern," where, he added, their room + and board only cost them four dollars a week. His "National Debt" of the + old New Salem days was not yet all paid off, and patiently and resolutely + he went on practising the economy he had learned in the hard school of + experience. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's law partnership with John T. Stuart had lasted four years. Then + Stuart was elected to Congress, and another one was formed with Judge + Stephen T. Logan. It was a well-timed and important change. Stuart had + always cared more for politics than for law. With Logan law was the main + object, and under his guidance and encouragement Lincoln entered upon the + study and practical work of his profession in a more serious spirit than + ever before. His interest in politics continued, however, and in truth his + practice at that time was so small as to leave ample time for both. Stuart + had been twice elected to Congress, and very naturally Lincoln, who served + his party quite as faithfully, and was fully as well known, hoped for a + similar honor. He had profited greatly by the companionship and friendly + rivalry of the talented young men of Springfield, but their talent made + the prize he wished the harder to gain. Twice he was disappointed, the + nomination going to other men; but in May, 1846, he was nominated, and in + August of the same year elected, to the Thirtieth Congress. He had the + distinction of being the only Whig member from his State, the other + Illinois congressmen at that time all being Democrats; but he proved no + exception to the general rule that a man rarely comes into notice during + his first term in the National House of Representatives. A new member has + much to learn, even when, like Lincoln, long service in a State + legislature has taught him how the business of making laws is carried on. + He must find out what has been done and is likely to be done on a + multitude of subjects new to him, must make the acquaintance of his + fellow-members, must visit the departments of government almost daily to + look after the interests of people from his State and congressional + district. Legally he is elected for a term of two years. Practically a + session of five or six months during the first year, and of three months + during the second, further reduce his opportunities more than one-half. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln did not attempt to shine forth in debate, either by a stinging + retort, or burst of inspired eloquence. He went about his task quietly and + earnestly, performing his share of duty with industry and a hearty + admiration for the ability of better-known members. "I just take my pen," + he wrote enthusiastically to a friend after listening to a speech which + pleased him much, "to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, is a little slim, + pale-faced consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's, has just concluded + the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My old withered, + dry eyes are full of tears yet." + </p> + <p> + During the first session of his term Lincoln made three long speeches, + carefully prepared and written out beforehand. He was neither elated nor + dismayed at the result. "As to speech-making," he wrote William H. + Herndon, who had now become his law partner, "I find speaking here and + elsewhere about the same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no worse, + as I am when I speak in court." + </p> + <p> + The next year he made no set speeches, but in addition to the usual work + of a congressman occupied himself with a bill that had for its object the + purchase and freeing of all slaves in the District of Columbia. Slavery + was not only lawful at the national capital at that time: there was, to + quote Mr. Lincoln's own graphic words, "in view from the windows of the + Capitol a sort of negro livery-stable, where droves of negroes were + collected, temporarily kept, and finally taken to Southern markets, + precisely like droves of horses." + </p> + <p> + To Lincoln and to other people who disapproved of slavery, the idea of + human beings held in bondage under the very shadow of the dome of the + Capitol seemed indeed a bitter mockery. As has already been stated, he did + not then believe Congress had the right to interfere with slavery in + States that chose to have it; but in the District of Columbia the power of + Congress was supreme, and the matter was entirely different. His bill + provided that the Federal Government should pay full value to the + slave-holders of the District for all slaves in their possession, and + should at once free the older ones. The younger ones were to be + apprenticed for a term of years, in order to make them self-supporting, + after which they also were to receive their freedom. The bill was very + carefully thought out, and had the approval of residents of the District + who held the most varied views upon slavery; but good as it was, the + measure was never allowed to come to a vote, and Lincoln went back to + Springfield, at the end of his term, feeling doubtless that his efforts in + behalf of the slaves had been all in vain. + </p> + <p> + While in Washington he lived very simply and quietly, taking little part + in the social life of the city, though cordially liked by all who made his + acquaintance. An inmate of the modest boarding-house where he had rooms + has told of the cheery atmosphere he seemed to bring with him into the + common dining-room, where political arguments were apt to run high. He + never appeared anxious to insist upon his own views; and when others, less + considerate, forced matters until the talk threatened to become too + furious, he would interrupt with an anecdote or a story that cleared the + air and ended the discussion in a general laugh. Sometimes for exercise he + would go into a bowling-alley close by, entering into the game with great + zest, and accepting defeat and victory with equal good-nature. By the time + he had finished a little circle would be gathered around him, enjoying his + enjoyment, and laughing at his quaint expressions and sallies of wit. + </p> + <p> + His gift for jest and story-telling has become traditional. Indeed, almost + every good story that has been invented within a hundred years has been + laid at his door. As a matter of fact, though he was fond of telling them, + and told them well, he told comparatively few of the number that have been + credited to him. He had a wonderful memory, and a fine power of making his + hearers see the scene he wished to depict; but the final charm of his + stories lay in their aptness, and in the kindly humor that left no sting + behind it. + </p> + <p> + During his term in Congress the Presidential campaign of 1848 came on. + Lincoln took an active part in the nomination and election of General + Zachary Taylor—"Old Rough and Ready," as he was called—making + speeches in Maryland and Massachusetts, as well as in his own home + district of Illinois. Two letters that he wrote during this campaign have + special interest for young readers, for they show the sympathetic + encouragement he gave to young men anxious to make a place and a name for + themselves in American politics. + </p> + <p> + "Now as to the young men," he wrote. "You must not wait to be brought + forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I should ever + have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed forward by + older men? You young men get together and form a 'Rough and Ready' club, + and have regular meetings and speeches.... Let every one play the part he + can play best—some speak, some sing, and all 'holler.' Your meetings + will be of evenings; the older men, and the women, will go to hear you; so + that it will not only contribute to the election of 'Old Zach,' but will + be an interesting pastime, and improving to the intellectual faculties of + all engaged." + </p> + <p> + In another letter, answering a young friend who complained of being + neglected, he said: + </p> + <p> + "Nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you and + others of my young friends at home are doing battle in the contest and + taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach.... I cannot + conceive that other old men feel differently. Of course I cannot + demonstrate what I say; but I was young once, and I am sure I was never + ungenerously thrust back. I hardly know what to say. The way for a young + man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that + anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion and + jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may sometimes be + ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, + if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over + the attempted injury. Cast about and see if this feeling has not injured + every person you have ever known to fall into it." + </p> + <p> + He was about forty years old when he wrote this letter. By some people + that is not considered a very great age; but he doubtless felt himself + immensely older, as he was infinitely wiser, than his petulant young + correspondent. + </p> + <p> + General Taylor was triumphantly elected, and it then became Lincoln's + duty, as Whig member of Congress from Illinois, to recommend certain + persons to fill government offices in that State. He did this after he + returned to Springfield, for his term in Congress ended on March 4, 1849, + the day that General Taylor became President. The letters that he sent to + Washington when forwarding the papers and applications of people who + wished appointment were both characteristic and amusing; for in his desire + not to mislead or to do injustice to any man, they were very apt to say + more in favor of the men he did not wish to see appointed than in + recommendation of his own particular candidates. + </p> + <p> + This absolute and impartial fairness to friend and foe alike was one of + his strongest traits, governing every action of his life. If it had not + been for this, he might possibly have enjoyed another term in Congress, + for there had been talk of reelecting him. In spite of his confession to + Speed that "being elected to Congress, though I am very grateful to our + friends for having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected," + this must have been flattering. But there were many able young men in + Springfield who coveted the honor, and they had entered into an agreement + among themselves that each would be content with a single term. Lincoln of + course remained faithful to this promise. His strict keeping of promises + caused him also to lose an appointment from President Taylor as + Commissioner of the General Land Office, which might easily have been his, + but for which he had agreed to recommend some other Illinois man. A few + weeks later the President offered to make him governor of the new + Territory of Oregon. This attracted him much more than the other office + had done, but he declined because his wife was unwilling to live in a + place so far away. + </p> + <p> + His career in Congress, while adding little to his fame at the time, + proved of great advantage to him in after life, for it gave him a close + knowledge of the workings of the Federal Government, and brought him into + contact with political leaders from all parts of the Union. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. THE CHAMPION OF FREEDOM + </h2> + <p> + For four or five years after his return from Congress, Lincoln remained in + Springfield, working industriously at his profession. He was offered a law + partnership in Chicago, but declined on the ground that his health would + not stand the confinement of a great city. His business increased in + volume and importance as the months went by; and it was during this time + that he engaged in what is perhaps the most dramatic as well as the best + known of all his law cases—his defense of Jack Armstrong's son on a + charge of murder. A knot of young men had quarreled one night on the + outskirts of a camp-meeting, one was killed, and suspicion pointed + strongly toward young Armstrong as the murderer. Lincoln, for old + friendship's sake, offered to defend him—an offer most gratefully + accepted by his family. The principal witness swore that he had seen young + Armstrong strike the fatal blow—had seen him distinctly by the light + of a bright moon. Lincoln made him repeat the statement until it seemed as + if he were sealing the death-warrant of the prisoner. Then Lincoln began + his address to the jury. He was not there as a hired attorney, he told + them, but because of friendship. He told of his old relations with Jack + Armstrong, of the kindness the prisoner's mother had shown him in New + Salem, how he had himself rocked the prisoner to sleep when the latter was + a little child. Then he reviewed the testimony, pointing out how + completely everything depended on the statements of this one witness; and + ended by proving beyond question that his testimony was false, since, + according to the almanac, which he produced in court and showed to judge + and jury, THERE WAS NO MOON IN THE SKY THAT NIGHT at the hour the murder + was committed. The jury brought in a verdict of "Not guilty," and the + prisoner was discharged. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln was always strong with a jury. He knew how to handle men, and he + had a direct way of going to the heart of things. He had, moreover, + unusual powers of mental discipline. It was after his return from + Congress, when he had long been acknowledged one of the foremost lawyers + of the State, that he made up his mind he lacked the power of close and + sustained reasoning, and set himself like a schoolboy to study works of + logic and mathematics to remedy the defect. At this time he committed to + memory six books of the propositions of Euclid; and, as always, he was an + eager reader on many subjects, striving in this way to make up for the + lack of education he had had as a boy. He was always interested in + mechanical principles and their workings, and in May, 1849, patented a + device for lifting vessels over shoals, which had evidently been dormant + in his mind since the days of his early Mississippi River experiences. The + little model of a boat, whittled out with his own hand, that he sent to + the Patent Office when he filed his application, is still shown to + visitors, though the invention itself failed to bring about any change in + steamboat architecture. + </p> + <p> + In work and study time slipped away. He was the same cheery companion as + of old, much sought after by his friends, but now more often to be found + in his office surrounded by law-books and papers than had been the case + before his term in Congress. His interest in politics seemed almost to + have ceased when, in 1854, something happened to rouse that and his sense + of right and justice as they had never been roused before. This was the + repeal of the "Missouri Compromise," a law passed by Congress in the year + 1820, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave State, but + positively forbidding slavery in all other territory of the United States + lying north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes, which was the southern + boundary-line of Missouri. + </p> + <p> + Up to that time the Southern States, where slavery was lawful, had been as + wealthy and quite as powerful in politics as the Northern or free States. + The great unoccupied territory lying to the west, which, in years to come, + was sure to be filled with people and made into new States, lay, however, + mostly north of 36 degrees 30 minutes; and it was easy to see that as new + free States came one after the other into the Union the importance of the + South must grow less and less, because there was little or no territory + left out of which slave States could be made to offset them. The South + therefore had been anxious to have the Missouri Compromise repealed. + </p> + <p> + The people of the North, on the other hand, were not all wise or + disinterested in their way of attacking slavery. As always happens, + self-interest and moral purpose mingled on both sides; but, as a whole, it + may be said that they wished to get rid of slavery because they felt it to + be wrong, and totally out of place in a country devoted to freedom and + liberty. The quarrel between them was as old as the nation, and it had + been gaining steadily in intensity. At first only a few persons in each + section had been really interested. By the year 1850 it had come to be a + question of much greater moment, and during the ten years that followed + was to increase in bitterness until it absorbed the thoughts of the entire + people, and plunged the country into a terrible civil war. + </p> + <p> + Abraham Lincoln had grown to manhood while the question was gaining in + importance. As a youth, during his flatboat voyages to New Orleans he had + seen negroes chained and beaten, and the injustice of slavery had been + stamped upon his soul. The uprightness of his mind abhorred a system that + kept men in bondage merely because they happened to be black. The + intensity of his feeling on the subject had made him a Whig when, as a + friendless boy, he lived in a town where Whig ideas were much in disfavor. + The same feeling, growing stronger as he grew older, had inspired the + Lincoln-Stone protest and the bill to free the slaves in the District of + Columbia, and had caused him to vote at least forty times against slavery + in one form or another during his short term in Congress. The repeal of + the Missouri Compromise, throwing open once more to slavery a vast amount + of territory from which it had been shut out, could not fail to move him + deeply. His sense of justice and his strong powers of reasoning were + equally stirred, and from that time until slavery came to its end through + his own act, he gave his time and all his energies to the cause of + freedom. + </p> + <p> + Two points served to make the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of special + interest to Lincoln. The first was personal, in that the man who + championed the measure, and whose influence in Congress alone made it + possible, was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who had been his neighbor in + Illinois for many years. + </p> + <p> + The second was deeper. He realized that the struggle meant much more than + the freedom or bondage of a few million black men: that it was in reality + a struggle for the central idea of our American republic—the + statement in our Declaration of Independence that "all men are created + equal." He made no public speeches until autumn, but in the meantime + studied the question with great care, both as to its past history and + present state. When he did speak it was with a force and power that + startled Douglas and, it is said, brought him privately to Lincoln with + the proposition that neither of them should address a public meeting again + until after the next election. + </p> + <p> + Douglas was a man of great ambition as well as of unusual political skill. + Until recently he had been heartily in favor of keeping slavery out of the + Northwest Territory; but he had set his heart upon being President of the + United States, and he thought that he saw a chance of this if he helped + the South to repeal the Missouri Compromise, and thus gained its gratitude + and its votes. Without hesitation he plunged into the work and labored + successfully to overthrow this law of more than thirty years' standing. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln's speech against the repeal had made a deep impression in + Illinois, where he was at once recognized as the people's spokesman in the + cause of freedom. His statements were so clear, his language so eloquent, + the stand he took so just, that all had to acknowledge his power. He did + not then, nor for many years afterward, say that the slaves ought to be + immediately set free. What he did insist upon was that slavery was wrong, + and that it must not be allowed to spread into territory already free; but + that, gradually, in ways lawful and just to masters and slaves alike, the + country should strive to get rid of it in places where it already existed. + He never let his hearers lose sight of the great underlying moral fact. + "Slavery," he said, "is founded in the selfishness of man's nature; + opposition to it in his love of justice." Even Senator Douglas was not + prepared to admit that slavery was right. He knew that if he said that he + could never be President, for the whole North would rise against him. He + wished to please both sides, so he argued that it was not a question for + him or for the Federal Government to decide, but one which each State and + Territory must settle for itself. In answer to this plea of his that it + was not a matter of morals, but of "State rights"—a mere matter of + local self-government—Mr. Lincoln replied, "When the white man + governs himself that is self-government; but when he governs himself and + also governs another man, that is more than self-government—that is + despotism." + </p> + <p> + It was on these opposing grounds that the two men took their stand for the + battle of argument and principle that was to continue for years, to + outgrow the bounds of the State, to focus the attention of the whole + country upon them, and, in the end, to have far-reaching consequences of + which neither at that time dreamed. At first the field appeared much + narrower, though even then the reward was a large one. Lincoln had entered + the contest with no thought of political gain; but it happened that a new + United States senator from Illinois had to be chosen about that time. + Senators are not voted for by the people, but by the legislatures of their + respective States and as a first result of all this discussion about the + right or wrong of slavery it was found that the Illinois legislature, + instead of having its usual large Democratic majority, was almost evenly + divided. Lincoln seemed the most likely candidate; and he would have + undoubtedly been chosen senator, had not five men, whose votes were + absolutely necessary, stoutly refused to vote for a Whig, no matter what + his views upon slavery might be. Keeping stubbornly aloof, they cast their + ballots time after time for Lyman Trumbull, who was a Democrat, although + as strongly opposed to slavery as Lincoln himself. + </p> + <p> + A term of six years in the United States Senate must have seemed a large + prize to Lincoln just then—possibly the largest he might ever hope + to gain; and it must have been a hard trial to feel it so near and then + see it slipping away from him. He did what few men would have had the + courage or the unselfishness to do. Putting aside all personal + considerations, and intent only on making sure of an added vote against + slavery in the Senate, he begged his friends to cease voting for him and + to unite with those five Democrats to elect Trumbull. + </p> + <p> + "I regret my defeat moderately," he wrote to a sympathizing friend, "but I + am not nervous about it." Yet it must have been particularly trying to + know that with forty-five votes in his favor, and only five men standing + between him and success, he had been forced to give up his own chances and + help elect the very man who had defeated him. + </p> + <p> + The voters of Illinois were quick to realize the sacrifice he had made. + The five stubborn men became his most devoted personal followers; and his + action at this time did much to bring about a great political change in + the State. All over the country old party lines were beginning to break up + and re-form themselves on this one question of slavery. Keeping its old + name, the Democratic party became the party in favor of slavery, while the + Northern Whigs and all those Democrats who objected to slavery joined in + what became known as the Republican party. It was at a great mass + convention held in Bloomington in May, 1856, that the Republican party of + Illinois took final shape; and it was here that Lincoln made the wonderful + address which has become famous in party history as his "lost speech." + There had been much enthusiasm. Favorite speakers had already made + stirring addresses that had been listened to with eagerness and heartily + applauded; but hardly a man moved from his seat until Lincoln should be + heard. It was he who had given up the chance of being senator to help on + the cause of freedom. He alone had successfully answered Douglas. Every + one felt the fitness of his making the closing speech—and right + nobly did he honor the demand. The spell of the hour was visibly upon him. + Standing upon the platform before the members of the convention, his tall + figure drawn up to its full height, his head thrown back, and his voice + ringing with earnestness, he denounced the evil they had to fight in a + speech whose force and power carried his hearers by storm, ending with a + brilliant appeal to all who loved liberty and justice to + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Come as the winds come when forests are rended; + Come as the waves come when navies are stranded; +</pre> + <p> + and unite with the Republican party against this great wrong. + </p> + <p> + The audience rose and answered him with cheer upon cheer. Then, after the + excitement had died down, it was found that neither a full report nor even + trustworthy notes of his speech had been taken. The sweep and magnetism of + his oratory had carried everything before it—even the reporters had + forgotten their duty, and their pencils had fallen idle. So it happened + that the speech as a whole was lost. Mr. Lincoln himself could never + recall what he had said; but the hundreds who heard him never forgot the + scene or the lifting inspiration of his words. + </p> + <p> + Three weeks later the first national convention of the Republican party + was held. John C. Fremont was nominated for President, and Lincoln + received over a hundred votes for Vice-President, but fortunately, as it + proved, was not selected, the honor falling to William L. Dayton of New + Jersey. The Democratic candidate for President that year was James + Buchanan, "a Northern man with Southern principles," very strongly in + favor of slavery. Lincoln took an active part in the campaign against him, + making more than fifty speeches in Illinois and the adjoining States. The + Democrats triumphed, and Buchanan was elected President; but Lincoln was + not discouraged, for the new Republican party had shown unexpected + strength throughout the North. Indeed, Lincoln was seldom discouraged. He + had an abiding faith that the people would in the long run vote wisely; + and the cheerful hope he was able to inspire in his followers was always a + strong point in his leadership. + </p> + <p> + In 1858, two years after this, another election took place in Illinois, on + which the choice of a United States senator depended. This time it was the + term of Stephen A. Douglas that was drawing to a close. He greatly desired + reelection. There was but one man in the State who could hope to rival + him, and with a single voice the Republicans of Illinois called upon + Lincoln to oppose him. Douglas was indeed an opponent not to be despised. + His friends and followers called him the "Little Giant." He was plausible, + popular, quick-witted, had winning manners, was most skilful in the use of + words, both to convince his hearers and, at times, to hide his real + meaning. He and Lincoln were old antagonists. They had first met in the + far-away Vandalia days of the Illinois legislature. In Springfield, + Douglas had been the leader of the young Democrats, while Lincoln had been + leader of the younger Whigs. Their rivalry had not always been confined to + politics, for gossip asserted that Douglas had been one of Miss Todd's + more favored suitors. Douglas in those days had no great opinion of the + tall young lawyer; while Lincoln is said to have described Douglas as "the + least man I ever saw"—although that referred to his rival's small + stature and boyish figure, not to his mental qualities. Douglas was not + only ambitious to be President: he had staked everything on the repeal of + the Missouri Compromise and his statement that this question of slavery + was one that every State and Territory must settle for itself, but with + which the Federal Government had nothing to do. Unfortunately, his own + party no longer agreed with him. Since Buchanan had become President the + Democrats had advanced their ground. They now claimed that while a State + might properly say whether or not it would tolerate slavery, slavery ought + to be lawful in all the Territories, no matter whether their people liked + it or not. + </p> + <p> + A famous law case, called the Dred Scott case, lately decided by the + Supreme Court of the United States, went far toward making this really the + law of the land. In its decision the court positively stated that neither + Congress nor a territorial legislature had power to keep slavery out of + any United States Territory. This decision placed Senator Douglas in a + most curious position. It justified him in repealing the Missouri + Compromise, but at the same time it absolutely denied his statement that + the people of a Territory had a right to settle the slavery question to + suit themselves. Being a clever juggler with words, he explained away the + difference by saying that a master might have a perfect right to his slave + in a Territory, and yet that right could do him no good unless it were + protected by laws in force where his slave happened to be. Such laws + depended entirely on the will of the people living in the Territory, and + so, after all, they had the deciding voice. This reasoning brought upon + him the displeasure of President Buchanan and all the Democrats who + believed as he did, and Douglas found himself forced either to deny what + he had already told the voters of Illinois, or to begin a quarrel with the + President. He chose the latter, well knowing that to lose his reelection + to the Senate at this time would end his political career. His fame as + well as his quarrel with the President served to draw immense crowds to + his meetings when he returned to Illinois and began speech-making, and his + followers so inspired these meetings with their enthusiasm that for a time + it seemed as though all real discussion would be swallowed up in noise and + shouting. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln, acting on the advice of his leading friends, sent Douglas a + challenge to joint debate. Douglas accepted, though not very willingly; + and it was agreed that they should address the same meetings at seven + towns in the State, on dates extending through August, September, and + October. The terms were that one should speak an hour in opening, the + other an hour and a half in reply, and the first again have half an hour + to close. Douglas was to open the meeting at one place, Lincoln at the + next. + </p> + <p> + It was indeed a memorable contest. Douglas, the most skilled and plausible + speaker in the Democratic party, was battling for his political life. He + used every art, every resource, at his command. Opposed to him was a + veritable giant in stature—a man whose qualities of mind and of body + were as different from those of the "Little Giant"—as could well be + imagined. Lincoln was direct, forceful, logical, and filled with a purpose + as lofty as his sense of right and justice was strong. He cared much for + the senatorship, but he cared far more to right the wrong of slavery, and + to warn people of the peril that menaced the land. Already in June he had + made a speech that greatly impressed his hearers. "A house divided against + itself cannot stand," he told them. "I believe this government cannot + endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to + be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it + will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other"; + and he went on to say that there was grave danger it might become all + slave. He showed how, little by little, slavery had been gaining ground, + until all it lacked now was another Supreme Court decision to make it + alike lawful in all the States, North as well as South. The warning came + home to the people of the North with startling force, and thereafter all + eyes were fixed upon the senatorial campaign in Illinois. + </p> + <p> + The battle continued for nearly three months. Besides the seven great + joint debates, each man spoke daily, sometimes two or three times a day, + at meetings of his own. Once before their audiences, Douglas's dignity as + a senator afforded him no advantage, Lincoln's popularity gave him little + help. Face to face with the followers of each, gathered in immense numbers + and alert with jealous watchfulness, there was no escaping the rigid test + of skill in argument and truth in principle. The processions and banners, + the music and fireworks, of both parties were stilled and forgotten while + the people listened to the three hours' battle of mind against mind. + </p> + <p> + Northern Illinois had been peopled largely from the free States, and + southern Illinois from the slave States; thus the feeling about slavery in + the two parts was very different. To take advantage of this, Douglas, in + the very first debate, which took place at Ottawa, in northern Illinois, + asked Lincoln seven questions, hoping to make him answer in a way that + would be unpopular farther south. In the second debate Lincoln replied to + these very frankly, and in his turn asked Douglas four questions, the + second of which was whether, in Douglas's opinion, the people of any + Territory could, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the + United States, bar out slavery before that Territory became a State. Mr. + Lincoln had long and carefully studied the meaning and effect of this + question. If Douglas said, "No," he would please Buchanan and the + administration Democrats, but at the cost of denying his own words. If he + said, "Yes," he would make enemies of every Democrat in the South. + Lincoln's friends all advised against asking the question. They felt sure + that Douglas would answer, "Yes," and that this would win him his + election. "If you ask it, you can never be senator," they told Lincoln. + "Gentlemen," he replied, "I am killing larger game. If Douglas answers he + can never be President, and the battle of 1860 is worth a hundred of + this." + </p> + <p> + Both prophecies were fulfilled. Douglas answered as was expected; and + though, in actual numbers, the Republicans of Illinois cast more votes + than the Democrats, a legislature was chosen that rejected him to the + Senate. Two years later, Lincoln, who in 1858 had not the remotest dream + of such a thing, found himself the successful candidate of the Republican + party for President of the United States. + </p> + <p> + To see how little Lincoln expected such an outcome it is only necessary to + glance at the letters he wrote to friends at the end of his campaign + against Douglas. Referring to the election to be held two years later, he + said, "In that day I shall fight in the ranks, but I shall be in no one's + way for any of the places." To another correspondent he expressed himself + even more frankly: "Of course I wished, but I did not much expect, a + better result... . I am glad I made the late race. It gave me a hearing on + the great and durable question of the age, which I could have had in no + other way; and though I now sink out of view and shall be forgotten, I + believe I have made some marks which will tell for the cause of civil + liberty long after I am gone." + </p> + <p> + But he was not to "sink out of view and be forgotten." Douglas himself + contributed not a little toward keeping his name before the public; for + shortly after their contest was ended the reelected senator started on a + trip through the South to set himself right again with the Southern + voters, and in every speech that he made he referred to Lincoln as the + champion of "abolitionism." In this way the people were not allowed to + forget the stand Lincoln had taken, and during the year 1859 they came to + look upon him as the one man who could be relied on at all times to answer + Douglas and Douglas's arguments. + </p> + <p> + In the autumn of that year Lincoln was asked to speak in Ohio, where + Douglas was again referring to him by name. In December he was invited to + address meetings in various towns in Kansas, and early in 1860 he made a + speech in New York that raised him suddenly and unquestionably to the + position of a national leader. + </p> + <p> + It was delivered in the hall of Cooper Institute, on the evening of + February 27, 1860, before an audience of men and women remarkable for + their culture, wealth and influence. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln's name and words had filled so large a space in the Eastern + newspapers of late, that his listeners were very eager to see and hear + this rising Western politician. The West, even at that late day, was very + imperfectly understood by the East. It was looked upon as a land of + bowie-knives and pistols, of steamboat explosions, of mobs, of wild + speculation and wilder adventure. What, then, would be the type, the + character, the language of this speaker? How would he impress the great + editor Horace Greeley, who sat among the invited guests; David Dudley + Field, the great lawyer, who escorted him to the platform; William Cullen + Bryant, the great poet, who presided over the meeting? + </p> + <p> + The audience quickly forgot these questioning doubts. They had but time to + note Mr. Lincoln's unusual height, his rugged, strongly marked features, + the clear ring of his high-pitched voice, the commanding earnestness of + his manner. Then they became completely absorbed in what he was saying. He + began quietly, soberly, almost as if he were arguing a case before a + court. In his entire address he uttered neither an anecdote nor a jest. If + any of his hearers came expecting the style or manner of the Western + stump-speaker, they met novelty of an unlooked-for kind; for such was the + apt choice of words, the simple strength of his reasoning, the fairness of + every point he made, the force of every conclusion he drew, that his + listeners followed him, spellbound. He spoke on the subject that he had so + thoroughly mastered and that was now uppermost in men's minds—the + right or wrong of slavery. He laid bare the complaints and demands of the + Southern leaders, pointed out the injustice of their threat to break up + the Union if their claims were not granted, stated forcibly the stand + taken by the Republican party, and brought his speech to a close with the + short and telling appeal: + </p> + <p> + "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to + the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." + </p> + <p> + The attention with which it was followed, the applause that greeted its + telling points, and the enthusiasm of the Republican journals next morning + showed that Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech had taken New York by storm. + It was printed in full in four of the leading daily papers of the city, + and immediately reprinted in pamphlet form. From New York Mr. Lincoln made + a tour of speech-making through several of the New England States, where + he was given a hearty welcome, and listened to with an eagerness that + showed a marked result at the spring elections. The interest of the + working-men who heard these addresses was equaled, perhaps excelled, by + the pleased surprise of college professors and men of letters when they + found that the style and method of this self-taught popular Western orator + would stand the test of their most searching professional criticism. + </p> + <p> + One other audience he had during this trip, if we may trust report, which, + while neither as learned as the college professors, nor perhaps as + critical as the factory-men, was quite as hard to please, and the winning + of whose approval shows another side of this great and many-sided man. A + teacher in a Sunday-school in the Five Points district of New York, at + that time one of the worst parts of the city, has told how, one morning, a + tall, thin, unusual-looking man entered and sat quietly listening to the + exercises. His face showed such genuine interest that he was asked if he + would like to speak to the children. Accepting the invitation with evident + pleasure, he stepped forward and began a simple address that quickly + charmed the roomful of youngsters into silence. His language was + singularly beautiful, his voice musical with deep feeling. The faces of + his little listeners drooped into sad earnestness at his words of warning, + and brightened again when he spoke of cheerful promises. "Go on! Oh, do go + on!" they begged when at last he tried to stop. As he left the room + somebody asked his name. "Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois," was the + courteous reply. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. THE NEW PRESIDENT + </h2> + <p> + Lincoln's great skill and wisdom in his debate with Douglas turned the + eyes of the whole country upon him; and the force and logic of his Cooper + Institute speech convinced every one that in him they had discovered a new + national leader. He began to be mentioned as a possible candidate for + President in the election which was to take place that fall to choose a + successor to President Buchanan. Indeed, quite a year earlier, an editor + in Illinois had written to him asking permission to announce him as a + candidate in his newspaper. At that time Lincoln had refused, thanking him + for the compliment, but adding modestly: "I must in candor say that I do + not think myself fit for the Presidency." About Christmas time, 1859, + however, a number of his stanchest Illinois friends urged him to let them + use his name, and he consented, not so much in the hope of being chosen, + as of perhaps receiving the nomination for Vice-President, or at least of + making a show of strength that would aid him at some future time to become + senator. The man most talked about as the probable Republican candidate + for President was William H. Seward, who was United States senator from + New York, and had also been governor of that State. + </p> + <p> + The political unrest continued. Slavery was still the most absorbing + topic, and it was upon their stand for or against slavery that all the + Presidential candidates were chosen. The pretensions and demands of the + Southern leaders had by this time passed into threats. They declared + roundly that they would take their States out of the Union if slavery were + not quickly made lawful all over the country, or in case a "Black + Republican" President should be elected. The Democrats, unable to agree + among themselves, split into two sections, the Northerners nominating + Stephen A. Douglas for President, while delegates who had come to their + National Convention from what were called the Cotton States chose John C. + Breckinridge. A few men who had belonged to the old Whig party, but felt + themselves unable to join the Republicans or either faction of the + Democrats, met elsewhere and nominated John Bell. + </p> + <p> + This breaking up of their political enemies into three distinct camps + greatly cheered the Republicans, and when their National Convention came + together in Chicago on May 16, 1860, its members were filled with the most + eager enthusiasm. Its meetings were held in a huge temporary wooden + building called the Wigwam, so large that 10,000 people could easily + assemble in it to watch the proceedings. Few conventions have shown such + depth of feeling. Not only the delegates on the central platform, but even + the spectators seemed impressed with the fact that they were taking part + in a great historical event. The first two days were taken up in seating + delegates, adopting a "platform" or statement of party principles, and in + other necessary routine matters. On the third day, however, it was certain + that balloting would begin, and crowds hurried to the Wigwam in a fever of + curiosity. The New York men, sure that Seward would be the choice of the + convention, marched there in a body, with music and banners. The friends + of Lincoln arrived before them, and while not making so much noise or + show, were doing good work for their favorite. The long nominating + speeches of later years had not then come into fashion. "I take the + liberty," simply said Mr. Evarts of New York, "to name as a candidate to + be nominated by this convention for the office of President of the United + States, William H. Seward," and at Mr. Seward's name a burst of applause + broke forth, so long and loud that it seemed fairly to shake the great + building. Mr. Judd, of Illinois, performed the same office of friendship + for Mr. Lincoln, and the tremendous cheering that rose from the throats of + his friends echoed and dashed itself against the sides of the Wigwam, died + down, and began anew, until the noise that had been made by Seward's + admirers dwindled to comparative feebleness. Again and again these + contests of lungs and enthusiasm were repeated as other names were + presented to the convention. + </p> + <p> + At last the voting began. Two names stood out beyond all the rest on the + very first ballot—Seward's and Lincoln's. The second ballot showed + that Seward had lost votes while Lincoln had gained them. The third ballot + was begun in almost painful suspense, delegates and spectators keeping + count upon their tally-sheets with nervous fingers. It was found that + Lincoln had gained still more, and now only needed one and a half votes to + receive the nomination. Suddenly the Wigwam became as still as a church. + Everybody leaned forward to see who would break the spell. A man sprang + upon a chair and reported a change of four votes to Lincoln. Then a teller + shouted a name toward the skylight, and the boom of a cannon from the roof + announced the nomination and started the cheering down the long Chicago + streets; while inside delegation after delegation changed its votes to the + victor in a whirlwind of hurrahs. That same afternoon the convention + finished its labors by nominating Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for + Vice-President, and adjourned—the delegates, speeding homeward on + the night trains, realizing by the bonfires and cheering crowds at every + little station that a memorable Presidential campaign was already begun. + </p> + <p> + During this campaign there were, then, four Presidential candidates in the + field. In the order of strength shown at the election they were: + </p> + <p> + 1. The Republican party, whose "platform," or statement of party + principles, declared that slavery was wrong, and that its further spread + should be prevented. Its candidates were Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for + President, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice-President. + </p> + <p> + 2. The Douglas wing of the Democratic party, which declared that it did + not pretend to decide whether slavery was right or wrong, and proposed to + allow the people of each State and Territory to choose for themselves + whether they would or would not have it. Its candidates were Stephen A. + Douglas of Illinois for President, and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia for + Vice-President. + </p> + <p> + 3. The Buchanan wing of the Democratic party, which declared that slavery + was right, and whose policy was to extend it, and to make new slave + States. Its candidates were John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for + President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President. + </p> + <p> + 4. The Constitutional Union party, which ignored slavery in its platform, + declaring that it recognized no political principles other than "the + Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement + of the laws." Its candidates were John Bell of Tennessee for President, + and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. + </p> + <p> + In enthusiasm the Republicans quickly took the lead. "Wide Awake" clubs of + young men, wearing caps and capes of glazed oilcloth to protect their + clothing from the dripping oil of their torches, gathered in torchlight + processions miles in length. Fence rails, supposed to have been made by + Lincoln in his youth, were set up in party headquarters and trimmed with + flowers and lighted tapers. Lincoln was called the "Rail-splitter + Candidate," and this telling name, added to the equally telling "Honest + Old Abe," by which he had long been known in Illinois, furnished country + and city campaign orators with a powerful appeal to the sympathy and trust + of the working-people of the United States. Men and women read in + newspaper and pamphlet biographies the story of his humble beginnings: how + he had risen by simple, earnest work and native genius, first to fame and + leadership in his own State, and then to fame and leadership in the + nation; and these titles quickly grew to be much more than mere party + nicknames—to stand for a faith and trust destined to play no small + part in the history of the next few years. + </p> + <p> + After the nominations were made Douglas went on a tour of speech-making + through the South. Lincoln, on the contrary, stayed quietly at home in + Springfield. His personal habits and surroundings varied little during the + whole of this campaign summer. Naturally he gave up active law practice, + leaving his office in charge of his partner, William H. Herndon. He spent + the time during the usual business hours of each day in the governor's + room of the State-house at Springfield, attended only by his private + secretary, Mr. Nicolay. Friends and strangers alike were able to visit him + freely and without ceremony, and few went away without being impressed by + the sincere frankness of his manner and conversation. + </p> + <p> + All sorts of people came to see him: those from far-away States, East and + West, as well as those from nearer home. Politicians came to ask him for + future favors, and many whose only motives were friendliness or curiosity + called to express their good wishes and take the Republican candidate by + the hand. + </p> + <p> + He wrote no public letters, and he made no speeches beyond a few words of + thanks and greeting to passing street parades. Even the strictly private + letters in which he gave his advice on points in the campaign were not + more than a dozen in number; but all through the long summer, while + welcoming his throngs of visitors, listening to the tales of old settlers, + making friends of strangers, and binding old friends closer by his ready + sympathy, Mr. Lincoln watched political developments very closely, not + merely to note the progress of his own chances, but with an anxious view + to the future in case he should be elected. Beyond the ever-changing + circle of friendly faces near him he saw the growing unrest and anger of + the South, and doubtless felt the uncertainty of many good people in the + North, who questioned the power of this untried Western man to guide the + country through the coming perils. + </p> + <p> + Never over-confident of his own powers, his mind must at times have been + full of misgivings; but it was only on the night of the election, November + 6, 1860, when, sitting alone with the operators in the little + telegraph-office at Springfield, he read the messages of Republican + victory that fell from the wires until convinced of his election, that the + overwhelming, almost crushing weight of his coming duties and + responsibilities fell upon him. In that hour, grappling resolutely and + alone with the problem before him, he completed what was really the first + act of his Presidency—the choice of his cabinet, of the men who were + to aid him. People who doubted the will or the wisdom of their + Rail-splitter Candidate need have had no fear. A weak man would have + chosen this little band of counselors—the Secretary of State, the + Secretary of the Treasury, and the half-dozen others who were to stand + closest to him and to be at the head of the great departments of the + government—from among his personal friends. A man uncertain of his + own power would have taken care that no other man of strong nature with a + great following of his own should be there to dispute his authority. + Lincoln did the very opposite. He had a sincere belief in public opinion, + and a deep respect for the popular will. In this case he felt that no men + represented that popular will so truly as those whose names had been + considered by the Republican National Convention in its choice of a + candidate for President. So, instead of gathering about him his friends, + he selected his most powerful rivals in the Republican party. William H. + Seward, of New York, was to be his Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, of + Ohio, his Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, his + Secretary of War; Edward Bates, of Missouri, his Attorney-General. The + names of all of these men had been before the Convention. Each one had + hoped to be President in his stead. For the other three members of his + Cabinet he had to look elsewhere. Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, for + Secretary of the Navy; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, for + Postmaster-General; and Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, for Secretary of the + Interior, were finally chosen. When people complained, as they sometimes + did, that by this arrangement the cabinet consisted of four men who had + been Democrats in the old days, and only three who had been Whigs, Lincoln + smiled his wise, humorous smile and answered that he himself had been a + Whig, and would always be there to make matters even. It is not likely + that this exact list was in his mind on the night of the November + election; but the principal names in it most certainly were. To some of + these gentlemen he offered their appointments by letter. Others he asked + to visit him in Springfield to talk the matter over. Much delay and some + misunderstanding occurred before the list was finally completed: but when + he sent it to the Senate, on the day after his inauguration, it was + practically the one he had in his mind from the beginning. + </p> + <p> + A President is elected by popular vote early in November, but he is not + inaugurated until the following fourth of March. Until the day of his + inauguration, when he takes the oath of office and begins to discharge his + duties, he is not only not President—he has no more power in the + affairs of the Government than the humblest private citizen. It is easy to + imagine the anxieties and misgivings that beset Mr. Lincoln during the + four long months that lay between his election and his inauguration. True + to their threats never to endure the rule of a "Black Republican" + President, the Cotton States one after the other withdrew their senators + and representatives from Congress, passed what they called "Ordinances of + Secession," and declared themselves to be no longer a part of the United + States. One after another, too, army and navy officers stationed in the + Southern States gave up to the Southern leaders in this movement the + forts, navy-yards, arsenals, mints, ships, and other government property + under their charge. President Buchanan, in whose hands alone rested the + power to punish these traitors and avenge their insults to the government + he had sworn to protect and defend, showed no disposition to do so; and + Lincoln, looking on with a heavy heart, was unable to interfere in any + way. No matter how anxiously he might watch the developments at Washington + or in the Cotton States, no matter what appeals might be made to him, no + action of any kind was possible on his part. + </p> + <p> + The only bit of cheer that came to him and other Union men during this + anxious season of waiting, was in the conduct of Major Robert Anderson at + Charleston Harbor, who, instead of following the example of other officers + who were proving unfaithful, boldly defied the Southern "secessionists," + and moving his little handful of soldiers into the harbor fort best fitted + for defense, prepared to hold out against them until help could reach him + from Washington. + </p> + <p> + In February the leaders of the Southern people met at Montgomery, Alabama, + adopted a Constitution, and set up a government which they called the + Confederate States of America, electing Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, + President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. Stephens + was the "little, slim pale-faced consumptive man" whose speech in Congress + had won Lincoln's admiration years before. Davis had been the child who + began his schooling so near to Lincoln in Kentucky. He had had a far + different career. Good fortune had carried him to West Point, into the + Mexican War, into the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce, and twice into + the Senate. He had had money, high office, the best education his country + could give him—everything, it seemed, that had been denied to + Lincoln. Now the two men were the chosen heads of two great opposing + factions, one bent on destroying the government that had treated him so + kindly; the other, for whom it had done so little, willing to lay down his + life in its defense. + </p> + <p> + It must not be supposed that Lincoln remained idle during these four + months of waiting. Besides completing his cabinet, and receiving his many + visitors, he devoted himself to writing his inaugural address, withdrawing + himself for some hours each day to a quiet room over the store of his + brother-in-law, where he could think and write undisturbed. The newspaper + correspondents who had gathered at Springfield, though alert for every + item of news, and especially anxious for a sight of his inaugural address, + seeing him every day as usual, got not the slightest hint of what he was + doing. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln started on his journey to Washington on February 11, 1861 two + days after Jefferson Davis had been elected President of the Confederate + States of America. He went on a special train, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln + and their three children, his two private secretaries, and about a dozen + personal friends. Mr. Seward had suggested that because of the unsettled + condition of public affairs it would be better for the President-elect to + come a week earlier; but Mr. Lincoln allowed himself only time comfortably + to fill the engagements he had made to visit the State capitals and + principal cities that lay on his way, to which he had been invited by + State and town officials, regardless of party. The morning on which he + left Springfield was dismal and stormy, but fully a thousand of his + friends and neighbors assembled to bid him farewell. The weather seemed to + add to the gloom and depression of their spirits, and the leave-taking was + one of subdued anxiety, almost of solemnity. Mr. Lincoln took his stand in + the waiting-room while his friends filed past him, often merely pressing + his hand in silent emotion. The arrival of the rushing train broke in upon + this ceremony, and the crowd closed about the car into which the + President-elect and his party made their way. Just as they were starting, + when the conductor had his hand upon the bell-rope, Mr. Lincoln stepped + out upon the front platform and made the following brief and pathetic + address. It was the last time his voice was to be heard in the city which + had so long been his home: + </p> + <p> + "My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of + sadness at this parting. To this place and the kindness of these people I + owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed + from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is + buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a + task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the + assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. + With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, + and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope + that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your + prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." + </p> + <p> + The conductor gave the signal, the train rolled slowly out of the station, + and the journey to Washington was begun. It was a remarkable progress. At + almost every station, even the smallest, crowds had gathered to catch a + glimpse of the face of the President-elect, or at least to see the flying + train. At the larger stopping-places these crowds swelled to thousands, + and in the great cities to almost unmanageable throngs. Everywhere there + were calls for Mr. Lincoln, and if he showed himself; for a speech. + Whenever there was time, he would go to the rear platform of the car and + bow as the train moved away, or utter a few words of thanks and greeting. + At the capitals of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, + and in the cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, and + Philadelphia, halts of one or two days were made, the time being filled + with formal visits and addresses to each house of the legislature, street + processions, large evening receptions, and other ceremonies. + </p> + <p> + Party foes as well as party friends made up these expectant crowds. Every + eye was eager, every ear strained, to get some hint of the thoughts and + purposes of the man who was to be the guide and head of the nation in the + crisis that every one now knew to be upon the country, but the course and + end of which the wisest could not foresee. In spite of all the cheers and + the enthusiasm, there was also an under-current of anxiety for his + personal safety, for the South had openly boasted that Lincoln would never + live to be inaugurated President. He himself paid no heed to such + warnings; but the railroad officials, and others who were responsible for + his journey, had detectives on watch at different points to report any + suspicious happenings. Nothing occurred to change the program already + agreed upon until the party reached Philadelphia; but there Mr. Lincoln + was met by Frederick W. Seward, the son of his future Secretary of State, + with an important message from his father. A plot had been discovered to + do violence to, and perhaps kill, the President-elect as he passed through + the city of Baltimore. Mr. Seward and General Scott, the venerable hero of + the Mexican War, who was now at the head of the army, begged him to run no + risk, but to alter his plans so that a portion of his party might pass + through Baltimore by a night train without previous notice. The + seriousness of the warning was doubled by the fact that Mr. Lincoln had + just been told of a similar, if not exactly the same, danger, by a Chicago + detective employed in Baltimore by one of the great railroad companies. + Two such warnings, coming from entirely different sources, could not be + disregarded; for however much Mr. Lincoln might dislike to change his + plans for so shadowy a danger, his duty to the people who had elected him + forbade his running any unnecessary risk. Accordingly, after fulfilling + all his engagements in Philadelphia and Harrisburg on February 22, he and + a single companion took a night train, passed quietly through Baltimore, + and arrived in Washington about daylight on the morning of February 23. + This action called forth much talk, ranging from the highest praise to + ridicule and blame. A reckless newspaper reporter telegraphed all over the + country the absurd story that he had traveled disguised in a Scotch cap + and a long military cloak. There was, of course, not a word of truth in + the absurd tale. The rest of the party followed Mr. Lincoln at the time + originally planned. They saw great crowds in the streets of Baltimore, but + there was now no occasion for violence. + </p> + <p> + In the week that passed between his arrival and the day of his + inauguration Mr. Lincoln exchanged the customary visits of ceremony with + President Buchanan, his cabinet, the Supreme Court, the two houses of + Congress, and other dignitaries. + </p> + <p> + Careful preparations for the inauguration had been made under the personal + direction of General Scott, who held the small military force in the city + ready instantly to suppress any attempt to disturb the peace and quiet of + the day. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the fourth of March President Buchanan and Citizen + Lincoln, the outgoing and incoming heads of the government, rode side by + side in a carriage from the Executive Mansion, or White House, as it is + more commonly called, to the Capitol, escorted by an imposing procession; + and at noon a great throng of people heard Mr. Lincoln read his inaugural + address as he stood on the east portico of the Capitol, surrounded by all + the high officials of the government. Senator Douglas, his unsuccessful + rival, standing not an arm's length away from him, courteously held his + hat during the ceremony. A cheer greeted him as he finished his address. + Then the Chief Justice arose, the clerk opened his Bible, and Mr. Lincoln, + laying his hand upon the book, pronounced the oath: + </p> + <p> + "I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the + office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my + ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United + States." + </p> + <p> + Amid the thundering of cannon and the applause of all the spectators, + President Lincoln and Citizen Buchanan again entered their carriage and + drove back from the Capitol to the Executive Mansion, on the threshold of + which Mr. Buchanan, warmly shaking the hand of his successor, expressed + his wishes for the personal happiness of the new President, and for the + national peace and prosperity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. LINCOLN AND THE WAR + </h2> + <p> + It is one thing to be elected President of the United States,—that + means triumph, honor, power: it is quite another thing to perform the + duties of President,—for that means labor, disappointment, + difficulty, even danger. Many a man envied Abraham Lincoln when, in the + stately pomp of inauguration and with the plaudits of the spectators + ringing about him, he took the oath of office which for four years + transforms an American citizen into the ruler of these United States. Such + envy would have been changed to deepest sympathy if they could have known + what lay before him. After the music and cannon were dumb, after the flags + were all furled and the cheering crowds had vanished, the shadows of war + fell about the Executive Mansion, and its new occupant remained face to + face with his heavy task—a task which, as he had truly said in his + speech at Springfield, was greater than that which rested upon Washington. + </p> + <p> + Then, as never before, he must have realized the peril of the nation, with + its credit gone, its laws defied, its flag insulted. The South had carried + out its threat, and seven million Americans were in revolt against the + idea that "all men are created equal," while twenty million other + Americans were bent upon defending that idea. For the moment both sides + had paused to see how the new President would treat this attempt at + secession. It must be constantly borne in mind that the rebellion in the + Southern States with which Mr. Lincoln had to deal was not a sudden + revolution, but a conspiracy of slow growth and long planning. As one of + its actors frankly admitted, it was "not an event of a day. It is not + anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election.... It is a matter which has + been gathering head for thirty years." Its main object, it must also be + remembered, was the spread of slavery. Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech + made shortly after he became the Confederate Vice-President, openly + proclaimed slavery to be the "corner-stone" of the new government. For + years it had been the dream of southern leaders to make the Ohio River the + northern boundary of a great slave empire, with everything lying to the + south of that, even the countries of South and Central America, as parts + of their system. Though this dream was never to be realized, the + Confederacy finally came to number eleven States (Alabama, Mississippi, + Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, + Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia), and to cover a territory of more than + 750,000 square miles—larger than England, Scotland, Ireland, France, + Spain, Germany and Switzerland put together, with a coast line 3,500 miles + long, and a land frontier of over 7,000 miles. + </p> + <p> + President Buchanan's timidity and want of spirit had alone made this great + rebellion possible, for although it had been "gathering head for thirty + years" it was only within the last few months that it had come to acts of + open treason and rebellion. President Buchanan had opportunity and ample + power to crush it when the conspirators first began to show their hands. + Instead he wavered, and delayed, while they grew bold under his lack of + decision, imagining that they would have a bloodless victory, and even + boasting that they would take Washington for their capital; or, if the new + President should thwart them and make them fight, that they would capture + Philadelphia and dictate the peace they wanted from Independence Hall. + </p> + <p> + By the time Mr. Lincoln came into office the conspiracy had grown beyond + control by any means then in the hands of a President, though men on both + sides still vainly hoped that the troubles of the country might be settled + without fighting. Mr. Lincoln especially wished to make very sure that if + it ever came to a matter of war, the fault should not lie with the North. + </p> + <p> + In his inaugural address he had told the South that he would use the power + confided to him to hold and occupy the places belonging to the Government, + and to collect the taxes; but beyond what might be necessary for these + objects, he would not use force among the people anywhere. His peaceful + policy was already harder to follow than he realized. Before he had been + President twenty-four hours word came from Major Anderson, still defying + the conspirators from Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, that his little + garrison was short of food, and must speedily surrender unless help + reached them. The rebels had for weeks been building batteries to attack + the fort, and with Anderson's report came the written opinions of his + officers that it would require an army of 20,000 men to relieve it. They + might as well have asked for twenty thousand archangels, for at that time + the entire army of the United States numbered but 17,113 men, and these + were doing duty, not only in the Southern and Eastern States, but were + protecting settlers from Indians on the great western frontier, and + guarding the long Canadian and Mexican boundaries as well. Yet Anderson + and his men could not be left to their fate without even an attempt to + help them, though some of the high military and naval officers hastily + called into council by the new President advised this course. It was + finally decided to notify the Confederates that a ship carrying food, but + no soldiers, would be sent to his relief. If they chose to fire upon that + it would be plainly the South, and not the North, that began the war. + </p> + <p> + Days went on, and by the middle of April the Confederate government found + itself forced to a fatal choice. Either it must begin war, or allow the + rebellion to collapse. All its claims to independence were denied; the + commissioner it sent to Washington on the pretense that they were agents + of a foreign country were politely refused a hearing, yet not one angry + word, or provoking threat, or a single harmful act had come from the + "Black Republican" President. In his inaugural he had promised the people + of the South peace and protection, and offered them the benefit of the + mails. Even now, all he proposed to do was to send bread to Anderson and + his hungry soldiers. His prudent policy placed them where, as he had told + them, they could have no war unless they themselves chose to begin it. + </p> + <p> + They did choose to begin it. The rebellion was the work of ambitious men, + who had no mind to stop at that late day and see their labor go for + nothing. The officer in charge of their batteries was ordered to open fire + on Fort Sumter if Anderson refused to surrender; and in the dim light of + dawn on April 12, 1861, just as the outline of Fort Sumter began to show + itself against a brightening sky, the shot that opened the Civil War rose + from a rebel battery and made its slow and graceful curve upon Sumter. + Soon all the batteries were in action, and the fort was replying with a + will. Anderson held out for a day and a half, until his cartridges were + all used up, his flagstaff had been shot away, and the wooden buildings + inside the fort were on fire. Then, as the ships with supplies had not yet + arrived, and he had neither food nor ammunition, he was forced to + surrender. + </p> + <p> + The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter changed the mood of the country as + if by magic. By deliberate act of the Confederate government its attempt + at peaceable secession had been changed to active war. The Confederates + gained Fort Sumter, but in doing so they roused the patriotism of the + North to a firm resolve that this insult to the flag should be redressed, + and that the unrighteous experiment of a rival government founded upon + slavery as its "cornerstone," should never succeed. In one of his speeches + on the journey to Washington Mr. Lincoln had said that devoted as he was + to peace, it might become necessary to "put the foot down firmly." That + time had now come. On April 15, the day after the fall of Fort Sumter, all + the newspapers of the country printed the President's call to arms, + ordering out 75,000 militia for three months, and directing Congress to + meet in special session on July 4, 1861. The North rallied instantly to + the support of the Government, and offered him twice the number of + soldiers he asked for. + </p> + <p> + Nothing more clearly shows the difference between President Lincoln and + President Buchanan than the way in which the two men met the acts of the + Southern Rebellion. President Buchanan temporized and delayed when he had + plenty of power. President Lincoln, without a moment's hesitation accepted + the great and unusual responsibility thrust upon him, and at once issued + orders for buying ships, moving troops, advancing money to Committees of + Safety, and for other military and naval measures for which at the moment + he had no express authority from Congress. As soon as Congress came + together on July 4, he sent a message explaining his action, saying: "It + became necessary for me to choose whether, using only the existing + means.... which Congress had provided, I should let the Government fall at + once into ruin, or whether availing myself of the broader powers conferred + by the Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to + save it with all its blessings for the present age and for posterity." + Congress, it is needless to say, not only approved all that he had done, + but gave him practically unlimited powers for dealing with the rebellion + in future. + </p> + <p> + It soon became evident that no matter how ready and willing to fight for + their country the 75,000 volunteers might be, they could not hope to put + down the rebellion, because the time for which they had enlisted would be + almost over before they could receive the training necessary to change + them from valiant citizens into good soldiers. Another call was therefore + issued, this time for men to serve three years or during the war, and also + for a large number of sailors to man the new ships that the Government was + straining every nerve to buy, build and otherwise make ready. + </p> + <p> + More important, however, than soldiers trained or untrained, was the + united will of the people of the North; and most important of all the + steadfast and courageous soul of the man called to direct the struggle. + Abraham Lincoln, the poor frontier boy, the struggling young lawyer, the + Illinois politician, whom many, even among the Republicans who voted to + elect him President, thought scarcely fit to hold a much smaller office, + proved beyond question the man for the task gifted above all his + associates with wisdom and strength to meet the great emergencies as they + arose during the four years' war that had already begun. + </p> + <p> + Since this is the story of Mr. Lincoln's life, and not of the Civil War, + we cannot attempt to follow the history of the long contest as it unfolded + itself day by day and month by month, or even to stop to recount a list of + the great battles that drenched the land in blood. It was a mighty + struggle, fought by men of the same race and kindred, often by brother + against brother. Each fought for what he felt to be right; and their + common inheritance of courage and iron will, of endurance and splendid + bravery and stubborn pluck, made this battle of brothers the more bitter + as it was the more prolonged. It ranged over an immense extent of country; + but because Washington was the capital of the Union, and Richmond, + Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, and the desire of each side was + to capture the chief city of the other, the principal fighting ground, + during the whole war, lay between these two towns, with the Alleghany + Mountains on the west, and Chesapeake Bay on the east. Between the + Alleghanies and the Mississippi River another field of warfare developed + itself, on which some of the hardest battles were fought, and the greatest + victories won. Beyond the Mississippi again stretched another great field, + bounded only by the Rocky Mountains and the Rio Grande. But the principal + fighting in this field was near or even on the Mississippi, in the efforts + made by both Unionists and Confederates to keep and hold the great highway + of the river, so necessary for trade in time of peace, and for moving + armies in time of war. + </p> + <p> + On this immense battle-ground was fought one of the most costly wars of + modern times, with soldiers numbering a million men on each side; in + which, counting battles and skirmishes small and great, an average of two + engagements a day were fought for four long years, two millions of money + were used up every twenty-four hours, and during which the unholy prize of + slavery, for which the Confederate States did battle, was completely swept + away. + </p> + <p> + Though the tide of battle ebbed and flowed, defeat and victory may be said + to have been nearly evenly divided. Generally speaking, success was more + often on the side of the South during the first half of the war; with the + North, during the latter half. The armies were equally brave; the North + had the greater territory from which to draw supplies; and the end came, + not when one side had beaten the other, man for man, but when the South + had been drained of fighting men and food and guns, and slavery had + perished in the stress of war. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately for all, nobody at the beginning dreamed of the length of the + struggle. Even Lincoln's stout heart would have been dismayed if he could + have foreseen all that lay before him. The task that he could see was hard + and perplexing enough. Everything in Washington was in confusion. No + President ever had such an increase of official work as Lincoln during the + early months of his administration. The halls and ante-rooms of the + Executive Mansion were literally crowded with people seeking appointment + to office; and the new appointments that were absolutely necessary were + not half finished when the firing on Fort Sumter began active war. This + added to the difficulty of sifting the loyal from the disloyal, and the + yet more pressing labor of organizing an immense new army. + </p> + <p> + Hundreds of clerks employed in the Government Departments left their desks + and hurried South, crippling the service just at the time when the sudden + increase of work made their presence doubly needed. A large proportion of + the officers of the Army and Navy, perhaps as many as one-third, gave + their skill and services to the Confederacy, feeling that their allegiance + was due to their State or section rather than to the general government. + Prominent among these was Robert E. Lee, who had been made a colonel by + Lincoln, and whom General Scott had recommended as the most promising + officer to command the new force of 75,000 men called out by the + President's proclamation. He chose instead to resign and cast his fortunes + with the South, where he became the head of all the Confederate armies. + The loss to the Union and gain to the Confederate cause by his action is + hard to measure, since in him the Southern armies found a commander whose + surpassing courage and skill inspired its soldiers long after all hope of + success was gone. Cases such as this gave the President more anxiety than + all else. It seemed impossible to know whom to trust. An officer might + come to him in the morning protesting devotion to the Union, and by night + be gone to the South. Mr. Lincoln used to say at this time that he felt + like a man letting rooms at one end of his house while the other end was + on fire. + </p> + <p> + The situation grew steadily worse. Maryland refused to allow United States + soldiers to cross her territory, and the first attempt to bring troops + through Baltimore from the North ended in a bloody riot, and the burning + of railroad bridges to prevent help from reaching Washington. For three + days Washington was entirely cut off from the North, either by telegraph + or mail. General Scott hastily prepared the city for a siege, taking + possession of all the large supplies of flour and provisions in town, and + causing the Capitol and other public buildings to be barricaded. Though + President Lincoln did not doubt the final arrival of help, he, like + everyone else, was very anxious, and found it hard to understand the long + delay. He knew that troops had started from the North. Why did they not + arrive? They might not be able to go through Baltimore, but they could + certainly go around it. The distance was not great. What if twenty miles + of railroad had been destroyed, were the soldiers unable to march? Always + calm and self-controlled, he gave no sign in the presence of others of the + anxiety that weighed so heavily upon him. Very likely the visitors who saw + him during those days thought that he hardly realized the plight of the + city; yet an inmate of the White House, passing through the President's + office when the day's work was done and he imagined himself alone, saw him + pause in his absorbed walk up and down the floor, and gaze long out of the + window in the direction from which the troops were expected to appear. + Then, unconscious of any hearer, and as if the words were wrung from him + by anguish, he exclaimed, "Why don't they come, why don't they come?" + </p> + <p> + The New York Seventh Regiment was the first to "come." By a roundabout + route it reached Washington on the morning of April 25, and, weary and + travel-worn, but with banners flying and music playing, marched up + Pennsylvania Avenue to the big white Executive Mansion, bringing cheer to + the President and renewed courage to those timid citizens whose fright + during this time had almost paralyzed the life of the town. Taking renewed + courage they once more opened their houses and the shops that had been + closed since the beginning of the blockade, and business began anew. + </p> + <p> + The greater part of the three months' regiments had been ordered to + Washington, and the outskirts of the capital soon became a busy military + camp. The great Departments of the Government, especially of War and Navy, + could not immediately handle the details of all this sudden increase of + work. Men were volunteering rapidly enough, but there was sore need of + rations to feed them, money to pay them, tents to shelter them, uniforms + to clothe them, rifles to arm them, officers to drill them, and of + transportation to carry them to the camps of instruction where they must + receive their training and await further orders. In this carnival of + patriotism and hurly-burly of organization the weaknesses as well as the + virtues of human nature quickly showed themselves; and, as if the new + President had not already enough to distress and harass his mind, almost + every case of confusion and delay was brought to him for complaint and + correction. On him also fell the delicate and serious task of deciding + hundreds of novel questions as to what he and his cabinet ministers had + and had not the right to do under the Constitution. + </p> + <p> + The month of May slipped away in all these preparatory vexations; but the + great machine of war, once started, moved on as it always does, from + arming to massing of troops, and from that to skirmish and battle. In June + small fights began to occur between the Union and Confederate armies. The + first large battle of the war took place at Bull Run, about thirty-two + miles southwest of Washington, on July 21, 1861. It ended in a victory for + the Confederates, though their army was so badly crippled by. its losses + that it made no further forward movement during the whole of the next + autumn and winter. + </p> + <p> + The shock of this defeat was deep and painful to the people of the North, + not yet schooled to patience, or to the uncertainties of war. For weeks + the newspapers, confident of success, had been clamoring for action, and + the cry, "Forward to Richmond," had been heard on every hand. At first the + people would not believe the story of a defeat; but it was only too true. + By night the beaten Union troops were pouring into the fortifications + around Washington, and the next day a horde of stragglers found their way + across the bridges of the Potomac into the city. + </p> + <p> + President Lincoln received the news quietly, as was his habit, without any + visible sign of distress or alarm, but he remained awake and in his office + all that Sunday night, listening to the excited tales of congressmen and + senators who, with undue curiosity, had followed the army and witnessed + some of the sights and sounds of battle; and by dawn on Monday he had + practically made up his mind as to the probable result and what he must do + in consequence. + </p> + <p> + The loss of the battle of Bull Run was a bitter disappointment to him. He + saw that the North was not to have the easy victory it anticipated; and to + him personally it brought a great and added care that never left him + during the war. Up to that time the North had stood by him as one man in + its eager resolve to put down the rebellion. From this time on, though + quite as determined, there was division and disagreement among the people + as to how this could best be done. Parties formed themselves for or + against this or that general, or in favor of this or that method and no + other of carrying on the war. In other words, the President and his + "administration"—the cabinet and other officers under him—became, + from this time on, the target of criticism for all the failures of the + Union armies, and for all the accidents and mistakes and unforeseen delays + of war. The self-control that Mr. Lincoln had learned in the hard school + of his boyhood, and practised during all the long struggle of his young + manhood, had been severe and bitter training, but nothing else could have + prepared him for the great disappointments and trials of the crowning + years of his life. He had learned to endure patiently, to reason calmly, + never to be unduly sure of his own opinion; but, having taken counsel of + the best advice at his command, to continue in the path that he felt to be + right, regardless of criticism or unjust abuse. He had daily and hourly to + do all this. He was strong and courageous, with a steadfast belief that + the right would triumph in the end; but his nature was at the same time + sensitive and tender, and the sorrows and pain of others hurt him more + than did his own. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. UNSUCCESSFUL GENERALS + </h2> + <p> + So far Mr. Lincoln's new duties as President had not placed him at any + disadvantage with the members of his cabinet. On the old question of + slavery he was as well informed and had clearer ideas than they. On the + new military questions that had come up since the inauguration, they, like + himself, had to rely on the advice of experienced officers of the army and + navy; and since these differed greatly, Mr. Lincoln's powerful mind was as + able to reach true conclusions as were men who had been governors and + senators. Yet the idea lingered that because he had never before held high + office, and because a large part of his life had been passed in the rude + surroundings of the frontier, he must of necessity be lacking in power to + govern—be weaker in will, without tact or culture—must in + every way be less fitted to cope with the difficult problems so rapidly + coming upon the administration. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning even Secretary Seward shared this view. Mr. Lincoln must + have been surprised indeed, when, on the first day of April, exactly four + weeks after his inauguration, his Secretary of State, the man he justly + looked upon as the chief member of his cabinet, handed him a paper on + which were written "Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration." It + was most grave and dignified in language, but in substance bluntly told + Mr. Lincoln that after a month's trial the Administration was without a + policy, domestic or foreign, and that this must be remedied at once. It + advised shifting the issue at home from slavery to the question of Union + or disunion; and counseled the adoption of an attitude toward Europe which + could not have failed to rouse the anger of the principal foreign nations. + It added that the President or some member of his cabinet must make it his + constant duty to pursue and direct whatever policy should be adopted, and + hinted very plainly that although he, Mr. Seward, did not seek such + responsibility, he was willing to assume it. The interest of this + remarkable paper for us lies in the way Mr. Lincoln treated it, and the + measure that treatment gives us of his generosity and self-control. An + envious or a resentful man could not have wished a better opportunity to + put a rival under his feet; but though Mr. Lincoln doubtless thought the + incident very strange, it did not for a moment disturb his serenity or his + kindly judgment. He answered in a few quiet sentences that showed no trace + of passion or even of excitement; and on the central suggestion that some + one person must direct the affairs of the government, replied with dignity + "if this must be done, I must do it," adding that on affairs of importance + he desired and supposed he had a right to have the advice of all the + members of his cabinet. This reply ended the matter, and as far as is + known, neither of them ever mentioned the subject again. Mr. Lincoln put + the papers away in an envelope, and no word of the affair came to the + public until years after both men were dead. In one mind at least there + was no longer a doubt that the cabinet had a master. Mr. Seward recognized + the President's kindly forbearance, and repaid it by devotion and personal + friendship until the day of his tragic death. + </p> + <p> + If, after this experience, the Secretary of State needed any further proof + of Mr. Lincoln's ability to rule, it soon came to him, for during the + first months of the war matters abroad claimed the attention of the + cabinet, and with these also the untried western man showed himself better + fitted to deal than his more experienced advisers. Many of the countries + of Europe, especially France and England, wished the South to succeed. + France because of plans that Emperor Napoleon III had for founding French + colonies on American soil, and England because such success would give her + free cotton for her mills and factories. England became so friendly toward + the rebels that Mr. Seward, much irritated, wrote a despatch on May 21, + 1861, to Charles Francis Adams, the American Minister at London, which, if + it had been sent as he wrote it, would almost certainly have brought on + war between the two countries. It set forth justly and with courage what + the United States government would and would not endure from foreign + powers during the war with the South, but it had been penned in a heat of + indignation, and was so blunt and exasperating as to suggest intentional + disrespect. When Mr. Seward read it to the President the latter at once + saw this, and taking it from his Secretary of State kept it by him for + further consideration. A second reading showed him that his first + impression was correct. Thereupon the frontier lawyer, taking his pen, + went carefully over the whole dispatch, and by his corrections so changed + the work of the trained and experienced statesman as entirely to remove + its offensive tone, without in the least altering its force or courage. + </p> + <p> + Once again during 1861 the country was in serious danger of war with + England, and the action of President Lincoln at this time proved not only + that he had the will to be just, even when his own people were against + him, but had the skill to gain real advantage from what seemed very like + defeat. One of the earliest and most serious tasks of the Government had + been to blockade the southern ports, in order to prevent supplies from + foreign countries reaching the southern people, especially the southern + armies. Considering the great length of coast to be patrolled, and the + small size of the navy at the commencement of the struggle, this was done + with wonderful quickness, and proved in the main effective, though + occasionally a rebel boat managed to slip in or out without being + discovered and fired upon by the ships on guard. + </p> + <p> + In November Captain Charles Wilkes learned that Ex-Senators J. M. Mason + and John Slidell, two prominent Confederates bound on an important mission + to Europe, had succeeded in reaching Cuba, and from there had taken + passage for England on the British mail steamer Trent. He stopped the + Trent and took Mason and Slidell prisoners, afterward allowing the steamer + to proceed on her way. The affair caused intense excitement both in + England and in the United States, and England began instant preparations + for war. Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington, was instructed to + demand the release of the prisoners and a suitable apology within one + week, and if this were refused, to close his legation and come home. It + was fortunate that Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were close personal friends, + and could, in spite of the excitement of both countries, discuss the + matter calmly and without anger. Their conferences were brought to an end + by Mr. Lincoln's decision to give up the prisoners. In the North their + capture had been greeted with extravagant joy. Newspapers rang with + praises of Captain Wilkes; his act was officially approved by the + Secretary of the Navy, and the House of Representatives passed a + resolution thanking him for his "brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct." In + the face of all this it must have been hard indeed for Mr. Lincoln to + order that Mason and Slidell be given up; but though he shared the first + impulse of rejoicing, he soon became convinced that this must be done. War + with England must certainly be avoided; and Captain Wilkes, by allowing + the Trent to proceed on her voyage, instead of bringing her into port with + the prisoners, had put it out of the power of his Government to prove, + under international law, that the capture was justified. Besides all else, + the President's quick mind saw, what others failed to note, that by giving + up the prisoners as England demanded, the United States would really gain + an important diplomatic victory. For many years England had claimed the + right to stop and search vessels at sea when she had reason to believe + they carried men or goods hostile to her interests. The United States + denied the right, and yet this was exactly what Captain Wilkes had done in + stopping the Trent. By giving up the prisoners the United States would + thus force England to admit that her own claim had been unjust, and bind + her in future to respect the rights of other ships at sea. Excited + American feeling was grievously disappointed, and harsh criticism of the + Administration for thus yielding to a foreign country was not wanting; but + American good sense soon saw the justice of the point taken and the wisdom + of Mr. Lincoln's course. + </p> + <p> + "He that is slow to anger," says the proverb, "is better than the mighty, + and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Great as was + his self-control in other matters, nowhere did Mr. Lincoln's slowness to + anger and nobility of spirit show itself more than in his dealings with + the generals of the Civil War. He had been elected President. Congress had + given him power far exceeding that which any President had ever exercised + before. As President he was also Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy + of the United States. By proclamation he could call forth great armies and + he could order those armies to go wherever he chose to send them; but even + he had no power to make generals with the genius and the training + necessary to lead them instantly to success. He had to work with the + materials at hand, and one by one he tried the men who seemed best fitted + for the task, giving each his fullest trust and every aid in his power. + They were as eager for victory and as earnest of purpose as himself, but + in every case some misfortune or some fault marred the result, until the + country grew weary with waiting; discouragement overshadowed hope, and + misgiving almost engulfed his own strong soul. Then, at last, the right + men were found, the battles were all fought, and the war was at an end. + </p> + <p> + His kindness and patience in dealing with the generals who did not succeed + is the wonder of all who study the history of the Civil War. The letters + he wrote to them show better than whole volumes of description could do + the helpful and forbearing spirit in which he sought to aid them. First + among these unsuccessful generals was George B. McClellan, who had been + called to Washington after the battle of Bull Run and placed in charge of + the great new army of three years' volunteers that was pouring so rapidly + into the city. McClellan proved a wonderful organizer. Under his skilful + direction the raw recruits went to their camps of instruction, fell + without confusion or delay into brigades and divisions, were supplied with + equipments, horses and batteries, and put through a routine of drill, + tactics and reviews that soon made this Army of the Potomac, as it was + called, one of the best prepared armies the world has ever seen—a + perfect fighting machine of over 150,000 men and more than 200 guns. + General McClellan excelled in getting soldiers ready to fight, but he did + not succeed in leading them to fruitful victory. At first the + administration had great hopes of him as a commander. He was young, + enthusiastic, winning, and on arriving in Washington seemed amazed and + deeply touched by the confidence reposed in him. "I find myself," he wrote + to his wife, "in a new and strange position here, President, cabinet, + General Scott, and all, deferring to me. By some strange operation of + magic I seem to have become the power of the land." His rise in military + rank had equaled the inventions of fairy tales. He had been only a captain + during the Mexican war. Then he resigned. Two months after volunteering + for the Civil War he found himself a Major General in the Regular Army. + For a short time his zeal and activity seemed to justify this amazing good + fortune. In a fortnight however he began to look upon himself as the + principal savior of his country. He entered upon a quarrel with General + Scott which soon drove that old hero into retirement and out of his + pathway. He looked upon the cabinet as a set of "geese," and seeing that + the President was kind and unassuming in discussing military affairs, he + formed the habit of expressing contempt for him in letters to confidential + friends. This feeling grew until it soon reached a mark of open + disrespect, but the President's conduct toward him did not change. Mr. + Lincoln's nature was too forgiving, and the responsibility that lay upon + him was too heavy for personal resentment. For fifteen months he strove to + make McClellan succeed even in spite of himself. He gave him help, + encouragement, the most timely suggestions. He answered his + ever-increasing complaints with unfailing self-control. It was not that he + did not see McClellan's faults. He saw them, and felt them keenly. "If + Gen. McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it," + he said one day, stung by the General's inactivity into a sarcasm he + seldom allowed himself to use. But his patience was not exhausted. + McClellan had always more soldiers than the enemy, at Antietam nearly + double his numbers, yet his constant cry was for re-enforcements. + Regiments were sent him that could ill be spared from other points. Even + when his fault-finding reached the height of telegraphing to the Secretary + of War, "If I save this army now I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks + to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to + sacrifice this army," the President answered him kindly and gently, + without a sign of resentment, anxious only to do everything in his power + to help on the cause of the war. It was of no avail. Even the great luck + of finding a copy of General Lee's orders and knowing exactly what his + enemy meant to do, at a time when the Confederate general had only about + half as many troops as he had, and these were divided besides, did not + help him to success. All he could do even then was to fight the drawn + battle of Antietam, and allow Lee to get away safely across the Potomac + River into Virginia. After this the President's long-suffering patience + was at an end, but he did not remove McClellan until he had visited the + Army of the Potomac in person. What he saw on that visit assured him that + it could never succeed under such a general. "Do you know what that is?" + he asked a friend, waving his arm towards the white tents of the great + army. "It is the Army of the Potomac, I suppose," was the wondering + answer. "So it is called," replied the President, in a tone of suppressed + indignation. "But that is a mistake. It is only McClellan's bodyguard." On + November 5, 1862, McClellan was relieved from command, and this ended his + military career. + </p> + <p> + There were others almost equally trying. There was General Fremont, who + had been the Republican candidate for President in 1856. At the beginning + of the war he was given a command at St. Louis and charged with the + important duty of organizing the military strength of the northwest, + holding the State of Missouri true to the Union, and leading an expedition + down the Mississippi River. Instead of accomplishing all that had been + hoped for, his pride of opinion and unwillingness to accept help or take + advice from those about him, caused serious embarrassment and made + unending trouble. The President's kindness and gentleness in dealing with + his faults were as marked as they were useless. + </p> + <p> + There was the long line of commanders who one after the other tried and + failed in the tasks allotted to them, while the country waited and lost + courage, and even Mr. Lincoln's heart sank. His care and wisdom and sorrow + dominated the whole long persistent struggle. That first sleepless night + of his after the battle of Bull Run was but the beginning of many nights + and days through which he kept unceasing watch. From the time in June, + 1861, when he had been called upon to preside over the council of war that + decided upon the Bull Run campaign, he devoted every spare moment to the + study of such books upon the art of war as would aid him in solving the + questions that he must face as Commander-in-Chief of the armies. With his + quick mind and unusual power of logic he made rapid progress in learning + the fixed and accepted rules on which all military writers agree. His + mastery of the difficult science became so thorough, and his understanding + of military situations so clear, that he has been called, by persons well + fitted to judge, "the ablest strategist of the war." Yet he never thrust + his knowledge upon his generals. He recognized that it was their duty, not + his, to fight the battles, and since this was so, they ought to be allowed + to fight them in their own way. He followed their movements with keenest + interest and with a most astonishing amount of knowledge, giving a hint + here, and a suggestion there, when he felt that he properly could, but he + rarely gave a positive order. + </p> + <p> + There is not space to quote the many letters in which he showed his + military wisdom, or his kindly interest in the welfare and success of the + different generals. One of the most remarkable must however be quoted. It + is the letter he wrote to General Joseph Hooker on placing him in command + of the Army of the Potomac in January, 1863, after McClellan's many + failures had been followed by the crushing defeat of the army under + General McClellan's successor, General Burnside, at the battle of + Fredericksburg, on December 13, 1862. + </p> + <p> + "I have placed you," he wrote on giving General Hooker the command, "at + the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what + appear to me to be sufficient reasons, 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 skilful 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 General Burnside's command of the army you have taken council 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 a 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 its + 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 criticising 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." + </p> + <p> + Perhaps no other piece of his writing shows as this does how completely + the genius of the President rose to the full height of his duties and + responsibilities. From beginning to end it speaks the language and + breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure in popular confidence and + in official authority. + </p> + <p> + Though so many of the great battles during the first half of the war were + won by the Confederates, military successes came to the North of course + from time to time. With such fine armies and such earnest generals the + tide of battle could not be all one way; and even when the generals made + mistakes, the heroic fighting and endurance of the soldiers and + under-officers gathered honor out of defeat, and shed the luster of renown + over results of barren failure. But it was a weary time, and the outlook + was very dark. The President never despaired. On the most dismal day of + the whole dismal summer of 1862 he sent Secretary Seward to New York with + a confidential letter full of courage, to be shown such of the governors + of free States as could be hastily summoned to meet him there. In it he + said: "I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, + or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsake + me," and he asked for 100,000 fresh volunteers with which to carry on the + war. His confidence was not misplaced. The governors of eighteen free + States offered him three times the number, and still other calls for + troops followed. Soon a popular song, "We are coming, Father Abraham, + three hundred thousand strong," showed the faith and trust of the people + in the man at the head of the Government, and how cheerfully they met the + great calls upon their patriotism. + </p> + <p> + So, week after week and month after month, he faced the future, never + betraying a fear that the Union would not triumph in the end, but grieving + sorely at the long delay. Many who were not so sure came to him with their + troubles. He was beset by night and by day by people who had advice to + give or complaints to make. They besought him to dismiss this or that + General, to order such and such a military movement; to do a hundred + things that he, in his great wisdom, felt were not right, or for which the + time had not yet come. Above all, he was implored to take some decided and + far-reaching action upon slavery. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. FREEDOM FOR THE SLAVES + </h2> + <p> + By no means the least of the evils of slavery was a dread which had + haunted every southern household from the beginning of the government that + the slaves might one day rise in revolt and take sudden vengeance upon + their masters. This vague terror was greatly increased by the outbreak of + the Civil War. It stands to the lasting credit of the negro race that the + wrongs of their long bondage provoked them to no such crime, and that the + war seems not to have suggested, much less started any such attempt. + Indeed, even when urged to violence by white leaders, as the slaves of + Maryland had been in 1859 during John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, they + had refused to respond. Nevertheless it was plain from the first that + slavery was to play an important part in the Civil War. Not only were the + people of the South battling for the principle of slavery; their slaves + were a great source of military strength. They were used by the + Confederates in building forts, hauling supplies, and in a hundred ways + that added to the effectiveness of their armies in the field. On the other + hand the very first result of the war was to give adventurous or + discontented slaves a chance to escape into Union camps, where, even + against orders to the contrary, they found protection for the sake of the + help they could give as cooks, servants, or teamsters, the information + they brought about the movements of the enemy, or the great service they + were able to render as guides. Practically therefore, at the very start, + the war created a bond of mutual sympathy between the southern negro and + the Union volunteer; and as fast as Union troops advanced and secession + masters fled, a certain number found freedom in Union camps. + </p> + <p> + At some points this became a positive embarrassment to Union commanders. A + few days after General Butler took command of the Union troops at Fortress + Monroe in May, 1861, the agent of a rebel master came to insist on the + return of three slaves, demanding them under the fugitive-slave law. + Butler replied that since their master claimed Virginia to be a foreign + country and no longer a part of the United States, he could not at the + same time claim that the fugitive slave law was in force, and that his + slaves would not be given up unless he returned and took the oath of + allegiance to the United States. In reporting this, a newspaper pointed + out that as the breastworks and batteries which had risen so rapidly for + Confederate defense were built by slave labor, negroes were undoubtedly + "contraband of war," like powder and shot, and other military supplies, + and should no more be given back to the rebels than so many cannon or + guns. The idea was so pertinent, and the justice of it so plain that the + name "contraband" sprang at once into use. But while this happy + explanation had more convincing effect on popular thought than a volume of + discussion, it did not solve the whole question. By the end of July + General Butler had on his hands 900 "contrabands," men, women and children + of all ages, and he wrote to inquire what was their real condition. Were + they slaves or free? Could they be considered fugitive slaves when their + masters had run away and left them? How should they be disposed of? It was + a knotty problem, and upon its solution might depend the loyalty or + secession of the border slave States of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky + and Missouri, which, up to that time, had not decided whether to remain in + the Union or to cast their fortunes with the South. + </p> + <p> + In dealing with this perplexing subject. Mr. Lincoln kept in mind one of + his favorite stories: the one on the Methodist Presiding Elder who was + riding about his circuit during the spring freshets. A young and anxious + companion asked how they should ever be able to cross the swollen waters + of Fox River, which they were approaching, and the elder quieted him by + saying that he made it the rule of his life never to cross Fox River until + he came to it. The President, following this rule, did not immediately + decide the question, but left it to be treated at the discretion of each + commander. Under this theory some commanders admitted black people to + their camps, while others refused to receive them. The curt formula of + General Orders: "We are neither negro stealers nor negro catchers," was + easily read to justify either course. Congress greatly advanced the + problem, shortly after the battle of Bull Run, by passing a law which took + away a master's right to his slave, when, with his consent, such slave was + employed in service or labor hostile to the United States. + </p> + <p> + On the general question of slavery, the President's mind was fully made + up. He felt that he had no right to interfere with slavery where slavery + was lawful, just because he himself did not happen to like it; for he had + sworn to do all in his power to "preserve, protect and defend" the + government and its laws, and slavery was lawful in the southern States. + When freeing the slaves should become necessary in order to preserve the + Government, then it would be his duty to free them; until that time came, + it was equally his duty to let them alone. + </p> + <p> + Twice during the early part of the war military commanders issued orders + freeing slaves in the districts over which they had control, and twice he + refused to allow these orders to stand. "No commanding general should do + such a thing upon his responsibility, without consulting him," he said; + and he added that whether he, as Commander-in-Chief, had the power to free + slaves, and whether at any time the use of such power should become + necessary, were questions which he reserved to himself. He did not feel + justified in leaving such decisions to commanders in the field. He even + refused at that time to allow Secretary Cameron to make a public + announcement that the government might find it necessary to arm slaves and + employ them as soldiers. He would not cross Fox River until he came to it. + He would not take any measure until he felt it to be absolutely necessary. + </p> + <p> + Only a few months later he issued his first proclamation of emancipation; + but he did not do so until convinced that he must do this in order to put + down the rebellion. Long ago he had considered and in his own mind adopted + a plan of dealing with the slavery question—the simple, easy plan + which, while a member of Congress, he had proposed for the District of + Columbia—that on condition of the slave-owners voluntarily giving up + their slaves, they should be paid a fair price for them by the Federal + government. Delaware was a slave State, and seemed an excellent place in + which to try this experiment of "compensated emancipation," as it was + called; for there were, all told, only 1798 slaves left in the State. + Without any public announcement of his purpose he offered to the citizens + of Delaware, through their representative in Congress, four hundred + dollars for each of these slaves, the payment to be made, not all at once, + but yearly, during a period of thirty-one years. He believed that if + Delaware could be induced to accept this offer, Maryland might follow her + example, and that afterward other States would allow themselves to be led + along the same easy way. The Delaware House of Representatives voted in + favor of the proposition, but five of the nine members of the Delaware + senate scornfully repelled the "abolition bribe," as they chose to call + it, and the project withered in the bud. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln did not stop at this failure, but, on March 6, 1862, sent a + special message to the Senate and House of Representatives recommending + that Congress adopt a joint resolution favoring and practically offering + gradual compensated emancipation to any State that saw fit to accept it; + pointing out at the same time that the Federal government claimed no right + to interfere with slavery within the States, and that if the offer were + accepted it must be done as a matter of free choice. + </p> + <p> + The Republican journals of the North devoted considerable space to + discussing the President's plan, which, in the main, was favorably + received; but it was thought that it must fail on the score of expense. + The President answered this objection in a private letter to a Senator, + proving that less than one-half day's cost of war would pay for all the + slaves in Delaware at four hundred dollars each, and less than + eighty-seven days' cost of war would pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, + the District of Columbia, Kentucky and Missouri. "Do you doubt," he asked, + that taking such a step "on the part of those States and this District + would shorten the war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be an actual + saving of expense?" + </p> + <p> + Both houses of Congress favored the resolution, and also passed a bill + immediately freeing the slaves in the District of Columbia on the payment + to their loyal owners of three hundred dollars for each slave. This last + bill was signed by the President and became a law on April 16, 1862. So, + although he had been unable to bring it about when a member of Congress + thirteen years before, it was he, after all, who finally swept away that + scandal of the "negro livery-stable" in the shadow of the dome of the + Capitol. + </p> + <p> + Congress as well as the President was thus pledged to compensated + emancipation, and if any of the border slave States had shown a + willingness to accept the generosity of the government, their people might + have been spared the loss that overtook all slave-owners on the first of + January, 1863. The President twice called the representatives and senators + of these States to the White House, and urged his plan most eloquently, + but nothing came of it. Meantime, the military situation continued most + discouraging. The advance of the Army of the Potomac upon Richmond became + a retreat; the commanders in the West could not get control of the + Mississippi River; and worst of all, in spite of their cheering assurance + that "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand strong," the + people of the country were saddened and filled with the most gloomy + forebodings because of the President's call for so many new troops. + </p> + <p> + "It had got to be midsummer, 1862," Mr. Lincoln said, in telling an artist + friend the history of his most famous official act. "Things had gone on + from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on + the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our + last card, and must change our tactics or lose the game. I now determined + upon the adoption of the emancipation policy, and without consultation + with, or the knowledge of the cabinet, I prepared the original draft of + the proclamation, and after much anxious thought, called a cabinet meeting + upon the subject.... I said to the cabinet that I had resolved upon this + step, and had not called them together to ask their advice, but to lay the + subject-matter of a proclamation before them, suggestions as to which + would be in order after they had heard it read." + </p> + <p> + It was on July 22 that the President read to his cabinet the draft of this + first emancipation proclamation, which, after announcing that at the next + meeting of Congress he would again offer compensated emancipation to such + States as chose to accept it, went on to order as Commander-in-Chief of + the Army and Navy of the United States, that the slaves in all States + which should be in rebellion against the government on January 1, 1863, + should "then, thenceforward and forever be free." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln had given a hint of this intended step to Mr. Seward and Mr. + Welles, but to all the other members of the cabinet it came as a complete + surprise. One thought it would cost the Republicans the fall elections. + Another preferred that emancipation should be proclaimed by military + commanders in their several military districts. Secretary Seward, while + approving the measure, suggested that it would better be postponed until + it could be given to the country after a victory, instead of issuing it, + as would be the case then, upon the greatest disasters of the war. "The + wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me with very great + force," Mr. Lincoln's recital continues. "It was an aspect of the case + that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The + result was that I put the draft of the proclamation aside, as you do your + sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory." + </p> + <p> + The secrets of the administration were well kept, and no hint came to the + public that the President had proposed such a measure to his cabinet. As + there was at the moment little in the way of war news to attract + attention, newspapers and private individuals turned a sharp fire of + criticism upon Mr. Lincoln. For this they seized upon the ever-useful text + of the slavery question. Some of them protested indignantly that the + President was going too fast; others clamored as loudly that he had been + altogether too slow. His decision, as we know, was unalterably taken, + although he was not yet ready to announce it. Therefore, while waiting for + a victory he had to perform the difficult task of restraining the + impatience of both sides. This he did in very positive language. To a man + in Louisiana, who complained that Union feeling was being crushed out by + the army in that State, he wrote: + </p> + <p> + "I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of + repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. Still, I must save + this government if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will not do; + but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall not surrender + this game leaving any available card unplayed." Two days later he answered + another Louisiana critic. "What would you do in my position? Would you + drop the war where it is? Or would you prosecute it in future with + elder-stalk squirts charged with rosewater? Would you deal lighter blows + rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest leaving any + available means unapplied? I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more + than I can, and I shall do all I can, to save the government, which is my + sworn duty, as well as my personal inclination. I shall do nothing in + malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing." + </p> + <p> + The President could afford to overlook the abuse of hostile newspapers, + but he also had to meet the criticisms of over-zealous Republicans. The + prominent Republican editor, Horace Greeley, printed in his paper, the + "New York Tribune," a long "Open Letter," ostentatiously addressed to Mr. + Lincoln, full of unjust accusations, his general charge being that the + President and many army officers were neglecting their duty through a + kindly feeling for slavery. The open letter which Mr. Lincoln wrote in + reply is remarkable not alone for the skill with which he answered this + attack, but also for its great dignity. + </p> + <p> + "As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to + leave anyone in doubt.... My paramount object in this struggle is to save + the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could + save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could + save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by + freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do + about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to + save the Union, and what I forbear I forbear because I do not believe it + would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe + what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall + believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when + shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall + appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my + view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed + personal wish that all men everywhere could be free." + </p> + <p> + He was waiting for victory, but victory was slow to come. Instead the + Union army suffered another defeat at the second battle of Bull Run on + August 30, 1862. After this the pressure upon him to take some action upon + slavery became stronger than ever. On September 13 he was visited by a + company of ministers from the churches of Chicago, who came expressly to + urge him to free the slaves at once. In the actual condition of things he + could of course neither safely satisfy them nor deny them, and his reply, + while perfectly courteous, had in it a tone of rebuke that showed the + state of irritation and high sensitiveness under which he was living: + </p> + <p> + "I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by + religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine + will.... I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is + probable that God would reveal his will to others on a point so connected + with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me.... + What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as + we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole + world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull + against the comet." "Do not misunderstand me.... I have not decided + against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves; but hold the matter under + advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind by day and + night more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will + do." + </p> + <p> + Four days after this interview the battle of Antietam was fought, and + when, after a few days of uncertainty it was found that it could be + reasonably claimed as a Union victory, the President resolved to carry out + his long-matured purpose. Secretary Chase in his diary recorded very fully + what occurred on that ever-memorable September 22, 1862. After some + playful talk upon other matters, Mr. Lincoln, taking a graver tone, said: + </p> + <p> + "Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about the + relation of this war to slavery, and you all remember that several weeks + ago I read to you an order I had prepared on this subject, which, on + account of objections made by some of you, was not issued. Ever since then + my mind has been much occupied with this subject, and I have thought, all + along, that the time for acting on it might probably come. I think the + time has come now. I wish it was a better time. I wish that we were in a + better condition. The action of the army against the rebels has not been + quite what I should have best liked. But they have been driven out of + Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion. When the + rebel army was at Frederick I determined, as soon as it should be driven + out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation of emancipation, such as I + thought most likely to be useful. I said nothing to anyone, but I made the + promise to myself, and—[hesitating a little]—to my Maker. The + rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfil that promise. I + have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your + advice about the main matter, for that I have determined for myself. This + I say, without intending anything but respect for any one of you. But I + already know the views of each on this question.... I have considered them + as thoroughly and carefully as I can. What I have written is that which my + reflections have determined me to say. If there is anything in the + expressions I use, or in any minor matter which any one of you thinks had + best be changed, I shall be glad to receive the suggestions. One other + observation I will make. I know very well that many others might, in this + matter as in others, do better than I can; and if I was satisfied that the + public confidence was more fully possessed by any one of them than by me, + and knew of any constitutional way in which he could be put in my place, + he should have it. I would gladly yield it to him. But, though I believe + that I have not so much of the confidence of the people as I had some time + since, I do not know that, all things considered, any other person has + more; and however this may be, there is no way in which I can have any + other man put where I am. I am here; I must do the best I can, and bear + the responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take." + </p> + <p> + It was in this humble spirit, and with this firm sense of duty that the + great proclamation was given to the world. One hundred days later he + completed the act by issuing the final proclamation of emancipation. + </p> + <p> + It has been a long-established custom in Washington for the officials of + the government to go on the first day of January to the Executive Mansion + to pay their respects to the President and his wife. The judges of the + courts go at one hour, the foreign diplomats at another, members of + Congress and senators and officers of the Army and Navy at still another. + One by one these various official bodies pass in rapid succession before + the head of the nation, wishing him success and prosperity in the New + Year. The occasion is made gay with music and flowers and bright uniforms, + and has a social as well as an official character. Even in war times such + customs were kept up, and in spite of his load of care, the President was + expected to find time and heart for the greetings and questions and + hand-shakings of this and other state ceremonies. Ordinarily it was not + hard for him. He liked to meet people, and such occasions were a positive + relief from the mental strain of his official work. It is to be + questioned, however, whether, on this day, his mind did not leave the + passing stream of people before him, to dwell on the proclamation he was + so soon to sign. + </p> + <p> + At about three o'clock in the afternoon, after full three hours of such + greetings and handshakings, when his own hand was so weary it could + scarcely hold a pen, the President and perhaps a dozen friends, went up to + the Executive Office, and there, without any pre-arranged ceremony, he + signed his name to the greatest state paper of the century, which banished + the curse of slavery from our land, and set almost four million people + free. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. THE MAN WHO WAS PRESIDENT + </h2> + <p> + The way Mr. Lincoln signed this most important state paper was thoroughly + in keeping with his nature. He hated all shams and show and pretense, and + being absolutely without affectation of any kind, it would never have + occurred to him to pose for effect while signing the Emancipation + Proclamation or any other paper. He never thought of himself as a + President to be set up before a multitude and admired, but always as a + President charged with duties which he owed to every citizen. In + fulfilling these he did not stand upon ceremony, but took the most direct + way to the end he had in view. + </p> + <p> + It is not often that a President pleads a cause before Congress. Mr. + Lincoln did not find it beneath his dignity at one time to go in person to + the Capitol, and calling a number of the leading senators and + representatives around him, explain to them, with the aid of a map, his + reasons for believing that the final stand of the Confederates would be + made in that part of the South where the seven States of Virginia, North + Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia + come together; and strive in this way to interest them in the sad plight + of the loyal people of Tennessee who were being persecuted by the + Confederate government, but whose mountainous region might, with a little + help, be made a citadel of Union strength in the very heart of this + stronghold of rebellion. + </p> + <p> + In his private life he was entirely simple and unaffected. Yet he had a + deep sense of what was due his office, and took part with becoming dignity + in all official or public ceremonies. He received the diplomats sent to + Washington from the courts of Europe with a formal and quiet reserve which + made them realize at once that although this son of the people had been + born in a log cabin, he was ruler of a great nation, and more than that, + was a prince by right of his own fine instincts and good breeding. + </p> + <p> + He was ever gentle and courteous, but with a few quiet words he could + silence a bore who had come meaning to talk to him for hours. For his + friends he had always a ready smile and a quaintly turned phrase. His + sense of humor was his salvation. Without it he must have died of the + strain and anxiety of the Civil War. There was something almost pathetic + in the way he would snatch a moment from his pressing duties and gravest + cares to listen to a good story or indulge in a hearty laugh. Some people + could not understand this. To one member of his cabinet, at least, it + seemed strange and unfitting that he should read aloud to them a chapter + from a humorous book by Artemus Ward before taking up the weighty matter + of the Emancipation Proclamation. From their point of view it showed lack + of feeling and frivolity of character, when, in truth, it was the very + depth of his feeling, and the intensity of his distress at the suffering + of the war, that led him to seek relief in laughter, to gather from the + comedy of life strength to go on and meet its sternest tragedy. + </p> + <p> + He was a social man. He could not fully enjoy even a jest alone. He wanted + somebody to share the pleasure with him. Often when care kept him awake + late at night he would wander through the halls of the Executive Mansion, + and coming to the room where his secretaries were still at work, would + stop to read to them some poem, or a passage from Shakspere, or a bit from + one of the humorous books in which he found relief. No one knew better + than he what could be cured, and what must be patiently endured. To every + difficulty that he could remove he gave cheerful and uncomplaining thought + and labor. The burdens he could not shake off he bore with silent courage, + lightening them whenever possible with the laughter that he once described + as the "universal joyous evergreen of life." + </p> + <p> + It would be a mistake to suppose that he cared only for humorous reading. + Occasionally he read a scientific book with great interest, but his duties + left him little time for such indulgences. Few men knew the Bible more + thoroughly than he did, and his speeches are full of scriptural + quotations. The poem beginning "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be + proud?" was one of his favorites, and Dr. Holmes's "Last Leaf" was + another. Shakespere was his constant delight. A copy of Shakespere's works + was even to be found in the busy Executive Office, from which most books + were banished. The President not only liked to read the great poet's + plays, but to see them acted; and when the gifted actor Hackett came to + Washington, he was invited to the White House, where the two discussed the + character of Falstaff, and the proper reading of many scenes and passages. + </p> + <p> + While he was President, Mr. Lincoln did not attempt to read the + newspapers. His days were long, beginning early and ending late, but they + were not long enough for that. One of his secretaries brought him a daily + memorandum of the important news they contained. His mail was so enormous + that he personally read only about one in every hundred of the letters + sent him. + </p> + <p> + His time was principally taken up with interviews with people on matters + of importance, with cabinet meetings, conferences with his generals, and + other affairs requiring his close and immediate attention. If he had + leisure he would take a drive in the late afternoon, or perhaps steal away + into the grounds south of the Executive Mansion to test some new kind of + gun, if its inventor had been fortunate enough to bring it to his notice. + He was very quick to understand mechanical contrivances, and would often + suggest improvements that had not occurred to the inventor himself. + </p> + <p> + For many years it has been the fashion to call Mr. Lincoln homely. He was + very tall, and very thin. His eyes were deep-sunken, his skin of a sallow + pallor, his hair coarse, black, and unruly. Yet he was neither ungraceful, + nor awkward, nor ugly. His large features fitted his large frame, and his + large hands and feet were but right on a body that measured six feet four + inches. His was a sad and thoughtful face, and from boyhood he had carried + a load of care. It was small wonder that when alone, or absorbed in + thought, the face should take on deep lines, the eyes appear as if seeing + something beyond the vision of other men, and the shoulders stoop, as + though they too were bearing a weight. But in a moment all would be + changed. The deep eyes could flash, or twinkle merrily with humor, or look + out from under overhanging brows as they did upon the Five Points children + in kindliest gentleness. In public speaking, his tall body rose to its + full height, his head was thrown back, his face seemed transfigured with + the fire and earnestness of his thought, and his voice took on a high + clear tenor tone that carried his words and ideas far out over the + listening crowds. At such moments, when answering Douglas in the heat of + their joint-debate, or later, during the years of war, when he pronounced + with noble gravity the words of his famous addresses, not one in the + throngs that heard him could say with truth that he was other than a + handsome man. + </p> + <p> + It has been the fashion, too, to say that he was slovenly, and careless in + his dress. This also is a mistake. His clothes could not fit smoothly on + his gaunt and bony frame. He was no tailor's figure of a man; but from the + first he clothed himself as well as his means allowed, and in the fashion + of the time and place. In reading the grotesque stories of his boyhood, of + the tall stripling whose trousers left exposed a length of shin, it must + be remembered not only how poor he was, but that he lived on the frontier, + where other boys, less poor, were scarcely better clad. In Vandalia, the + blue jeans he wore was the dress of his companions as well, and later, + from Springfield days on, clear through his presidency, his costume was + the usual suit of black broadcloth, carefully made, and scrupulously neat. + He cared nothing for style. It did not matter to him whether the man with + whom he talked wore a coat of the latest cut, or owned no coat at all. It + was the man inside the coat that interested him. + </p> + <p> + In the same way he cared little for the pleasures of the table. He ate + most sparingly. He was thankful that food was good and wholesome and + enough for daily needs, but he could no more enter into the mood of the + epicure for whose palate it is a matter of importance whether he eats + roast goose or golden pheasant, than he could have counted the grains of + sand under the sea. + </p> + <p> + In the summers, while he was President, he spent the nights at a cottage + at the Soldiers' Home, a short distance north of Washington, riding or + driving out through the gathering dusk, and returning to the White House + after a frugal breakfast in the early morning. Ten o'clock was the hour at + which he was supposed to begin receiving visitors, but it was often + necessary to see them unpleasantly early. Occasionally they forced their + way to his bedroom before he had quite finished dressing. Throngs of + people daily filled his office, the ante-rooms, and even the corridors of + the public part of the Executive Mansion. He saw them all, those he had + summoned on important business, men of high official position who came to + demand as their right offices and favors that he had no right to give; + others who wished to offer tiresome if well-meant advice; and the + hundreds, both men and women, who pressed forward to ask all sorts of + help. His friends besought him to save himself the weariness of seeing the + people at these public receptions, but he refused. "They do not want much, + and they get very little," he answered. "Each one considers his business + of great importance, and I must gratify them. I know how I would feel if I + were in their place." And at noon on all days except Tuesday and Friday, + when the time was occupied by meetings of the cabinet, the doors were + thrown open, and all who wished might enter. That remark of his, "I know + how I would feel if I were in their place," explained it all. His early + experience of life had drilled him well for these ordeals. He had read + deeply in the book of human nature, and could see the hidden signs of + falsehood and deceit and trickery from which the faces of some of his + visitors were not free; but he knew, too, the hard, practical side of + life, the hunger, cold, storms, sickness and misfortune that the average + man must meet in his struggle with the world. More than all, he knew and + sympathized with that hope deferred which makes the heart sick. + </p> + <p> + Not a few men and women came, sad-faced and broken-hearted, to plead for + soldier sons or husbands in prison, or under sentence of death by + court-martial. An inmate of the White House has recorded the eagerness + with which the President caught at any fact that would justify him in + saving the life of a condemned soldier. He was only merciless when + meanness or cruelty were clearly proved. Cases of cowardice he disliked + especially to punish with death. "It would frighten the poor devils too + terribly to shoot them," he said. On the papers in the case of one soldier + who had deserted and then enlisted again, he wrote: "Let him fight, + instead of shooting him." + </p> + <p> + He used to call these cases of desertion his "leg cases," and sometimes + when considering them, would tell the story of the Irish soldier, + upbraided by his captain, who replied: "Captain, I have a heart in me + breast as brave as Julius Caesar, but when I go into battle, Sor, these + cowardly legs of mine will run away with me." + </p> + <p> + As the war went on, Mr. Lincoln objected more and more to approving + sentences of death by court-martial, and either pardoned them outright, or + delayed the execution "until further orders," which orders were never + given by the great-hearted, merciful man. Secretary Stanton and certain + generals complained bitterly that if the President went on pardoning + soldiers he would ruin the discipline of the army; but Secretary Stanton + had a warm heart, and it is doubtful if he ever willingly enforced the + justice that he criticized the President for tempering with so much mercy. + </p> + <p> + Yet Mr. Lincoln could be sternly just when necessary. A law declaring the + slave trade to be piracy had stood on the statute books of the United + States for half a century. Lincoln's administration was the first to + convict a man under it, and Lincoln himself decreed that the well-deserved + sentence be carried out. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln sympathized keenly with the hardships and trials of the + soldier boys, and found time, amid all his labors and cares, to visit the + hospitals in and around Washington where they lay ill. His afternoon drive + was usually to some camp in the neighborhood of the city; and when he + visited one at a greater distance, the cheers that greeted him as he rode + along the line with the commanding general showed what a warm place he + held in their hearts. + </p> + <p> + He did not forget the unfortunate on these visits. A story is told of his + interview with William Scott, a boy from a Vermont farm, who, after + marching forty-eight hours without sleep, volunteered to stand guard for a + sick comrade. Weariness overcame him, and he was found asleep at his post, + within gunshot of the enemy. He was tried, and sentenced to be shot. Mr. + Lincoln heard of the case, and went himself to the tent where young Scott + was kept under guard. He talked to him kindly, asking about his home, his + schoolmates, and particularly about his mother. The lad took her picture + from his pocket, and showed it to him without speaking. Mr. Lincoln was + much affected. As he rose to leave he laid his hand on the prisoner s + shoulder. "My boy," he said, "you are not going to be shot to-morrow. I + believe you when you tell me that you could not keep awake. I am going to + trust you, and send you back to your regiment. Now, I want to know what + you intend to pay for all this?" The lad, overcome with gratitude, could + hardly say a word, but crowding down his emotions, managed to answer that + he did not know. He and his people were poor, they would do what they + could. There was his pay, and a little in the savings bank. They could + borrow something by a mortgage on the farm. Perhaps his comrades would + help. If Mr. Lincoln would wait until pay day possibly they might get + together five or six hundred dollars. Would that be enough? The kindly + President shook his head. "My bill is a great deal more than that," he + said. "It is a very large one. Your friends cannot pay it, nor your + family, nor your farm. There is only one man in the world who can pay it, + and his name is William Scott. If from this day he does his duty so that + when he comes to die he can truly say 'I have kept the promise I gave the + President. I have done my duty as a soldier,' then the debt will be paid." + Young Scott went back to his regiment, and the debt was fully paid a few + months later, for he fell in battle. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln's own son became a soldier after leaving college. The letter + his father wrote to General Grant in his behalf shows how careful he was + that neither his official position nor his desire to give his boy the + experience he wanted, should work the least injustice to others: + </p> + <p> + Executive Mansion, + </p> + <p> + Washington, January 19th, 1865. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant-General Grant: + </p> + <p> + Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only + a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated at + Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not wish + to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission, to which those + who have already served long are better entitled, and better qualified to + hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, + go into your military family with some nominal rank, I and not the public + furnishing the necessary means? If no, say so without the least + hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested that you + shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself. + </p> + <p> + Yours truly, + </p> + <p> + A. Lincoln. + </p> + <p> + His interest did not cease with the life of a young soldier. Among his + most beautiful letters are those he wrote to sorrowing parents who had + lost their sons in battle; and when his personal friend, young Ellsworth, + one of the first and most gallant to fall, was killed at Alexandria, the + President directed that his body be brought to the White House, where his + funeral was held in the great East Room. + </p> + <p> + Though a member of no church, Mr. Lincoln was most sincerely religious and + devout. Not only was his daily life filled with acts of forbearance and + charity; every great state paper that he wrote breathes his faith and + reliance on a just and merciful God. He rarely talked, even with intimate + friends, about matters of belief, but it is to be doubted whether any + among the many people who came to give him advice and sometimes to pray + with him, had a better right to be called a Christian. He always received + such visitors courteously, with a reverence for their good intention, no + matter how strangely it sometimes manifested itself. A little address that + he made to some Quakers who came to see him in September, 1862, shows both + his courtesy to them personally, and his humble attitude toward God. + </p> + <p> + "I am glad of this interview, and glad to know that I have your sympathy + and prayers. We are indeed going through a great trial, a fiery trial. In + the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a + humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father as I am, and as we + all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my works + and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so I have + sought His aid; but if, after endeavoring to do my best in the light which + he affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that for some + purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had my way, this + war would never have been commenced. If I had been allowed my way, this + war would have been ended before this; but we find it still continues, and + we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of His own, + mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings + we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe that He who + made the world still governs it." + </p> + <p> + Children held a warm place in the President's affections. He was not only + a devoted father; his heart went out to all little folk. He had been kind + to babies in his boyish days, when, book in hand, and the desire for study + upon him, he would sit with one foot on the rocker of a rude frontier + cradle, not too selfishly busy to keep its small occupant lulled and + content, while its mother went about her household tasks. After he became + President many a sad-eyed woman carrying a child in her arms went to see + him, and the baby always had its share in gaining her a speedy hearing, + and if possible a favorable answer to her petition. + </p> + <p> + When children came to him at the White House of their own accord, as they + sometimes did, the favors they asked were not refused because of their + youth. One day a small boy, watching his chance, slipped into the + Executive Office between a governor and a senator, when the door was + opened to admit them. They were as much astonished at seeing him there as + the President was, and could not explain his presence; but he spoke for + himself. He had come, he said, from a little country town, hoping to get a + place as page in the House of Representatives. The President began to tell + him that he must go to Captain Goodnow, the doorkeeper of the House, for + he himself had nothing to do with such appointments. Even this did not + discourage the little fellow. Very earnestly he pulled his papers of + recommendation out of his pocket, and Mr. Lincoln, unable to resist his + wistful face, read them, and sent him away happy with a hurried line + written on the back of them, saying: "If Captain Goodnow can give this + good little boy a place, he will oblige A. Lincoln." + </p> + <p> + It was a child who persuaded Mr. Lincoln to wear a beard. Up to the time + he was nominated for President he had always been smooth-shaven. A little + girl living in Chautauqua County, New York, who greatly admired him, made + up her mind that he would look better if he wore whiskers, and with + youthful directness wrote and told him so. He answered her by return mail: + </p> + <p> + Springfield, ILL., Oct. 19, 1860. + </p> + <p> + Miss Grace Bedelt, + </p> + <p> + My dear little Miss: Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth is + received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter. I have + three sons, one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age. They, + with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, never + having worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly + affectation if I were to begin now? + </p> + <p> + Your very sincere well-wisher, + </p> + <p> + A. Lincoln. + </p> + <p> + Evidently on second thoughts he decided to follow her advice. On his way + to Washington his train stopped at the town where she lived. He asked if + she were in the crowd gathered at the station to meet him. Of course she + was, and willing hands forced a way for her through the mass of people. + When she reached the car Mr. Lincoln stepped from the train, kissed her, + and showed her that he had taken her advice. + </p> + <p> + The Secretary who wrote about the President's desire to save the lives of + condemned soldiers tells us that "during the first year of the + administration the house was made lively by the games and pranks of Mr. + Lincoln's two younger children, William and Thomas. Robert the eldest was + away at Harvard, only coming home for short vacations. The two little + boys, aged eight and ten, with their western independence and enterprise, + kept the house in an uproar. They drove their tutor wild with their + good-natured disobedience. They organized a minstrel show in the attic; + they made acquaintance with the office-seekers and became the hot + champions of the distressed. William was, with all his boyish frolic, a + child of great promise, capable of close application and study. He had a + fancy for drawing up railway time-tables, and would conduct an imaginary + train from Chicago to New York with perfect precision. He wrote childish + verses, which sometimes attained the unmerited honors of print. But this + bright, gentle and studious child sickened and died in February, 1862. His + father was profoundly moved by his death, though he gave no outward sign + of his trouble, but kept about his work, the same as ever. His bereaved + heart seemed afterwards to pour out its fulness on his youngest child. + 'Tad' was a merry, warm-blooded, kindly little boy, perfectly lawless, and + full of odd fancies and inventions, the 'chartered libertine' of the + Executive Mansion." He ran constantly in and out of his father's office, + interrupting his gravest labors. Mr. Lincoln was never too busy to hear + him, or to answer his bright, rapid, imperfect speech, for he was not able + to speak plainly until he was nearly grown. "He would perch upon his + father's knee, and sometimes even on his shoulder, while the most weighty + conferences were going on. Sometimes, escaping from the domestic + authorities, he would take refuge in that sanctuary for the whole evening, + dropping to sleep at last on the floor, when the President would pick him + up, and carry him tenderly to bed." + </p> + <p> + The letters and even the telegrams Mr. Lincoln sent his wife had always a + message for or about Tad. One of them shows that his pets, like their + young master, were allowed great liberty. It was written when the family + was living at the Soldiers' Home, and Mrs. Lincoln and Tad had gone away + for a visit. "Tell dear Tad," he wrote, "that poor Nanny Goat is lost, and + Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it. The day you left, Nanny was + found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad's + bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she destroyed + the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to the White House. + This was done, and the second day she had disappeared and has not been + heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny." + </p> + <p> + Tad was evidently consoled by, not one, but a whole family of new goats, + for about a year later Mr. Lincoln ended a business telegram to his wife + in New York with the words: "Tell Tad the goats and Father are very well." + Then, as the weight of care rolled back upon this greathearted, patient + man, he added, with humorous weariness, "especially the goats." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln was so forgetful of self as to be absolutely without personal + fear. He not only paid no attention to the threats which were constantly + made against his life, but when, on July 11, 1864, the Confederate General + Early appeared suddenly and unexpectedly before the city with a force of + 17,000 men, and Washington was for two days actually in danger of assault + and capture, his unconcern gave his friends great uneasiness. On the tenth + he rode out, as was his custom, to spend the night at the Soldiers' Home, + but Secretary Stanton, learning that Early was advancing, sent after him, + to compel his return. Twice afterward, intent upon watching the fighting + which took place near Fort Stevens, north of the city, he exposed his tall + form to the gaze and bullets of the enemy, utterly heedless of his own + peril; and it was not until an officer had fallen mortally wounded within + a few feet of him, that he could be persuaded to seek a place of greater + safety. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR + </h2> + <p> + In the summer of 1863 the Confederate armies reached their greatest + strength. It was then that, flushed with military ardor, and made bold by + what seemed to the southern leaders an unbroken series of victories on the + Virginia battlefields, General Lee again crossed the Potomac River, and + led his army into the North. He went as far as Gettysburg in Pennsylvania; + but there, on the third of July, 1863, suffered a disastrous defeat, which + shattered forever the Confederate dream of taking Philadelphia and + dictating peace from Independence Hall. This battle of Gettysburg should + have ended the war, for General Lee, on retreating southward, found the + Potomac River so swollen by heavy rains that he was obliged to wait + several days for the floods to go down. In that time it would have been + quite possible for General Meade, the Union commander, to follow him and + utterly destroy his army. He proved too slow, however, and Lee and his + beaten Confederate soldiers escaped. President Lincoln was inexpressibly + grieved at this, and in the first bitterness of his disappointment sat + down and wrote General Meade a letter. Lee "was within your easy grasp," + he told him, "and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our + other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be + prolonged indefinitely. ... Your golden opportunity is gone and I am + distressed immeasurably because of it." But Meade never received this + letter. Deeply as the President felt Meade's fault, his spirit of + forgiveness was so quick, and his thankfulness for the measure of success + that had been gained, so great, that he put it in his desk, and it was + never signed or sent. + </p> + <p> + The battle of Gettysburg was indeed a notable victory, and coupled with + the fall of Vicksburg, which surrendered to General Grant on that same + third of July, proved the real turning-point of the war. It seems + singularly appropriate, then, that Gettysburg should have been the place + where President Lincoln made his most beautiful and famous address. After + the battle the dead and wounded of both the Union and Confederate armies + had received tender attention there. Later it was decided to set aside a + portion of the battlefield for a great national military cemetery in which + the dead found orderly burial. It was dedicated to its sacred use on + November 19, 1863. At the end of the stately ceremonies President Lincoln + rose and said: + </p> + <p> + "Fourscore 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. + </p> + <p> + "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. + </p> + <p> + "But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we + cannot 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." + </p> + <p> + With these words, so brief, so simple, so full of reverent feeling, he set + aside the place of strife to be the resting place of heroes, and then went + back to his own great task—for which he, too, was to give "the last + full measure of devotion." + </p> + <p> + Up to within a very short time little had been heard about Ulysses S. + Grant, the man destined to become the most successful general of the war. + Like General McClellan, he was a graduate of West Point; and also like + McClellan, he had resigned from the army after serving gallantly in the + Mexican war. There the resemblance ceased, for he had not an atom of + McClellan's vanity, and his persistent will to do the best he could with + the means the government could give him was far removed from the younger + general's faultfinding and complaint. He was about four years older than + McClellan, having been born on April 27, 1822. On offering his services to + the War Department in 1861 he had modestly written: "I feel myself + competent to command a regiment if the President in his judgment should + see fit to intrust one to me." For some reason this letter remained + unanswered, although the Department, then and later, had need of trained + and experienced officers. Afterward the Governor of Illinois made him a + colonel of one of the three years' volunteer regiments; and from that time + on he rose in rank, not as McClellan had done, by leaps and bounds, but + slowly, earning every promotion. All of his service had been in the West, + and he first came into general notice by his persistent and repeated + efforts to capture Vicksburg, on whose fall the opening of the Mississippi + River depended. Five different plans he tried before he finally succeeded, + the last one appearing utterly foolhardy, and seeming to go against every + known rule of military science. In spite of this it was successful, the + Union army and navy thereby gaining control of the Mississippi River and + cutting off forever from the Confederacy a great extent of rich country, + from which, up to that time, it had been drawing men and supplies. + </p> + <p> + The North was greatly cheered by these victories, and all eyes were turned + upon the successful commander. No one was more thankful than Mr. Lincoln. + He gave Grant quick promotion, and crowned the official act with a most + generous letter. "I do not remember that you and I ever met personally," + he wrote. "I write this now as a grateful acknowledgement for the almost + inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word + further." Then, summing up the plans that the General had tried, + especially the last one, he added: "I feared it was a mistake. I now wish + to make the personal acknowledgement that you were right and I was wrong." + </p> + <p> + Other important battles won by Grant that same fall added to his growing + fame, and by the beginning of 1864 he was singled out as the greatest + Union commander. As a suitable reward for his victories it was determined + to make him Lieutenant-General. This army rank had, before the Civil War, + been bestowed on only two American soldiers—on General Washington, + and on Scott, for his conquest of Mexico. In 1864 Congress passed and the + President signed an act to revive the grade, and Grant was called to + Washington to receive his commission. He and Mr. Lincoln met for the first + time at a large public reception held at the Executive Mansion on the + evening of March 8. A movement and rumor in the crowd heralded his + approach, and when at last the short, stocky, determined soldier and the + tall, care-worn, deep-eyed President stood face to face the crowd, moved + by a sudden impulse of delicacy, drew back, and left them almost alone to + exchange a few words. Later, when Grant appeared in the great East Room, + the enthusiasm called forth by his presence could no longer be restrained, + and cheer after cheer went up, while his admirers pressed about him so + closely that, hot and blushing with embarrassment, he was forced at last + to mount a sofa, and from there shake hands with the eager people who + thronged up to him from all sides. + </p> + <p> + The next day at one o'clock the President, in the presence of the cabinet + and a few other officials, made a little speech, and gave him his + commission. Grant replied with a few words, as modest as they were brief, + and in conversation afterward asked what special duty was required of him. + The President answered that the people wanted him to take Richmond, and + asked if he could do it. Grant said that he could if he had the soldiers, + and the President promised that these would be furnished him. Grant did + not stay in Washington to enjoy the new honors of his high rank, but at + once set about preparations for his task. It proved a hard one. More than + a year passed before it was ended, and all the losses in battle of the + three years that had gone before seemed small in comparison with the + terrible numbers of killed and wounded that fell during these last months + of the war. At first Grant had a fear that the President might wish to + control his plans, but this was soon quieted; and his last lingering doubt + on the subject vanished when, as he was about to start on his final + campaign, Mr. Lincoln sent him a letter stating his satisfaction with all + he had done, and assuring him that in the coming campaign he neither knew, + for desired to know, the details of his plans. In his reply Grant + confessed the groundlessness of his fears, and added, "Should my success + be less than I desire and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not + with you." + </p> + <p> + He made no complicated plan for the problem before him, but proposed to + solve it by plain, hard, persistent fighting. "Lee's army will be your + objective point," he instructed General Meade. "Where Lee goes there you + will go also." Nearly three years earlier the opposing armies had fought + their first battle of Bull Run only a short distance north of where they + now confronted each other. Campaign and battle between them had swayed to + the north and the south, but neither could claim any great gain of ground + or of advantage. The final struggle was before them. Grant had two to one + in numbers; Lee the advantage in position, for he knew by heart every + road, hill and forest in Virginia, had for his friendly scout every white + inhabitant, and could retire into prepared fortifications. Perhaps the + greatest element of his strength lay in the conscious pride of his army + that for three years it had steadily barred the way to Richmond. To offset + this there now menaced it what had always been absent before—the + grim, unflinching will of the new Union commander, who had rightly won for + himself the name of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. + </p> + <p> + On the night of May 4, 1864, his army entered upon the campaign which, + after many months, was to end the war. It divided itself into two parts. + For the first six weeks there was almost constant swift marching and hard + fighting, a nearly equally matched contest of strategy and battle between + the two armies, the difference being that Grant was always advancing, and + Lee always retiring. Grant had hoped to defeat Lee outside of his + fortifications, and early in the campaign had expressed his resolution "to + fight it out on this line if it takes all summer"; but the losses were so + appalling, 60,000 of his best troops melting away in killed and wounded + during the six weeks, that this was seen to be impossible. Lee's army was + therefore driven into its fortifications around the Confederate capital + and then came the siege of Richmond, lasting more than nine months, but + pushed forward all that time with relentless energy, in spite of Grant's + heavy losses. + </p> + <p> + In the West, meanwhile, General William T. Sherman, Grant's closest friend + and brother officer, pursued a task of almost equal importance, taking + Atlanta, Georgia, which the Confederates had turned into a city of + foundries and workshops for the manufacture and repair of guns; then, + starting from Atlanta, marching with his best troops three hundred miles + to the sea, laying the country waste as they went; after which, turning + northward, he led them through South and North Carolina to bring his army + in touch with Grant. + </p> + <p> + Against this background of fighting the life of the country went on. The + end of the war was approaching, surely, but so slowly that the people, + hoping for it, and watching day by day, could scarcely see it. They + schooled themselves to a dogged endurance, but there was no more + enthusiasm. Many lost courage. Volunteering almost ceased, and the + government was obliged to begin drafting men to make up the numbers of + soldiers needed by Grant in his campaign against Richmond. + </p> + <p> + The President had many things to dishearten him at this time, many + troublesome questions to settle. For instance, there were new loyal State + governments to provide in those parts of the South which had again come + under control of the Union armies—no easy matter, where every man, + woman and child harbored angry feelings against the North, and no matter + how just and forbearing he might be, his plans were sure to be thwarted + and bitterly opposed at every step. + </p> + <p> + There were serious questions, too, to be decided about negro soldiers, for + the South had raised a mighty outcry against the Emancipation + Proclamation, especially against the use of the freed slaves as soldiers, + vowing that white officers of negro troops would be shown small mercy, if + ever they were taken prisoners. No act of such vengeance occurred, but in + 1864 a fort manned by colored soldiers was captured by the Confederates, + and almost the entire garrison was put to death. Must the order that the + War Department had issued some time earlier, to offset the Confederate + threats, now be put in force? The order said that for every negro prisoner + killed by the Confederates a Confederate prisoner in the hands of the + Union armies would be taken out and shot. It fell upon Mr. Lincoln to + decide. The idea seemed unbearable to him, yet, on the other hand, could + he afford to let the massacre go unavenged and thus encourage the South in + the belief that it could commit such barbarous acts and escape unharmed? + Two reasons finally decided him against putting the order in force. One + was that General Grant was about to start on his campaign against + Richmond, and that it would be most unwise to begin this by the tragic + spectacle of a military punishment, however merited. The other was his + tender-hearted humanity. He could not, he said, take men out and kill them + in cold blood for crimes committed by other men. If he could get hold of + the persons who were guilty of killing the colored prisoners in cold + blood, the case would be different; but he could not kill the innocent for + the guilty. Fortunately the offense was not repeated, and no one had cause + to criticize his clemency. + </p> + <p> + Numbers of good and influential men, dismayed at the amount of blood and + treasure that the war had already cost, and disheartened by the calls for + still more soldiers that Grant's campaign made necessary, began to clamor + for peace—were ready to grant almost anything that the Confederates + chose to ask. Rebel agents were in Canada professing to be able to + conclude a peace. Mr. Lincoln, wishing to convince these northern "Peace + men" of the groundlessness of their claim, and of the injustice of their + charges that the government was continuing the war unnecessarily, sent + Horace Greeley, the foremost among them, to Canada, to talk with the + self-styled ambassadors of Jefferson Davis. Nothing came of it, of course, + except abuse of Mr. Lincoln for sending such a messenger, and a lively + quarrel between Greeley and the rebel agents as to who was responsible for + the misunderstandings that arose. + </p> + <p> + The summer and autumn of 1864 were likewise filled with the bitterness and + high excitement of a presidential campaign; for, according to law, Mr. + Lincoln's successor had to be elected on the "Tuesday after the first + Monday" of November in that year. The great mass of Republicans wished Mr. + Lincoln to be reelected. The Democrats had long ago fixed upon General + McClellan, with his grievances against the President, as their future + candidate. It is not unusual for Presidents to discover would-be rivals in + their own cabinets. Considering the strong men who formed Mr. Lincoln's + cabinet, and the fact that four years earlier more than one of them had + active hopes of being chosen in his stead, it is remarkable that there was + so little of this. + </p> + <p> + The one who developed the most serious desire to succeed him was Salmon P. + Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury. Devoted with all his powers to the + cause of the Union, Mr. Chase was yet strangely at fault in his judgment + of men. He regarded himself as the friend of Mr. Lincoln, but nevertheless + held so poor an opinion of the President's mind and character, compared + with his own, that he could not believe people blind enough to prefer the + President to himself. He imagined that he did not want the office, and was + anxious only for the public good; yet he listened eagerly to the critics + of the President who flattered his hopes, and found time in spite of his + great labors to write letters to all parts of the country, which, although + protesting that he did not want the honor, showed his entire willingness + to accept it. Mr. Lincoln was well aware of this. Indeed, it was + impossible not to know about it, though he refused to hear the matter + discussed or to read any letters concerning it. He had his own opinion of + the taste displayed by Mr. Chase, but chose to take no notice of his + actions. "I have determined," he said, "to shut my eyes, so far as + possible, to everything of the sort. Mr. Chase makes a good Secretary, and + I shall keep him where he is. If he becomes President, all right. I hope + we may never have a worse man," and he not only kept him where he was, but + went on appointing Chase's friends to office. + </p> + <p> + There was also some talk of making General Grant the Republican candidate + for President, and an attempt was even made to trap Mr. Lincoln into + taking part in a meeting where this was to be done. Mr. Lincoln refused to + attend, and instead wrote a letter of such hearty and generous approval of + Grant and his army that the meeting naturally fell into the hands of Mr. + Lincoln's friends. General Grant, never at that time or any other, gave + the least encouragement to the efforts which were made to array him + against the President. Mr. Lincoln, on his part, received all warnings to + beware of Grant in the most serene manner, saying tranquilly, "If he takes + Richmond, let him have it." It was not so with General Fremont. At a + poorly attended meeting held in Cleveland he was actually nominated by a + handful of people calling themselves the "Radical Democracy," and taking + the matter seriously, accepted, although, three months later, having found + no response from the public, he withdrew from the contest. + </p> + <p> + After all, these various attempts to discredit the name of Abraham Lincoln + caused hardly a ripple on the great current of public opinion, and death + alone could have prevented his choice by the Republican national + convention. He took no measures to help on his own candidacy. With + strangers he would not talk about the probability of his reelection; but + with friends he made no secret of his readiness to continue the work he + was engaged in if such should be the general wish. "A second term would be + a great honor and a great labor; which together, perhaps, I would not + decline," he wrote to one of them. He discouraged officeholders, either + civil or military, who showed any special zeal in his behalf. To General + Schurz, who wrote asking permission to take an active part in the campaign + for his reelection, he answered: "I perceive no objection to your making a + political speech when you are where one is to be made; but quite surely, + speaking in the North and fighting in the South at the same time are not + possible, nor could I be justified to detail any officer to the political + campaign... and then return him to the army." + </p> + <p> + He himself made no long speeches during the summer, and in his short + addresses, at Sanitary Fairs, in answer to visiting delegations, and on + similar occasions where custom and courtesy obliged him to say a few + words, he kept his quiet ease and self-command, speaking heartily and to + the point, yet avoiding all the pitfalls that beset the candidate who + talks. + </p> + <p> + When the Republican national convention came together in Baltimore on June + 7, 1864, it had very little to do, for its delegates were bound by rigid + instructions to vote for Abraham Lincoln. + </p> + <p> + He was chosen on the first ballot, every State voting for him except + Missouri, whose representatives had been instructed to vote for Grant. + Missouri at once changed its vote, and the secretary of the convention + read the grand total of 506 for Lincoln, his announcement being greeted by + a storm of cheers that lasted several minutes. + </p> + <p> + It was not so easy to choose a Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln had been + besieged by many people to make known his wishes in the matter, but had + persistently refused. He rightly felt that it would be presumptuous in him + to dictate who should be his companion on the ticket, and, in case of his + death, his successor in office. This was for the delegates to the + convention to decide, for they represented the voters of the country. He + had no more right to dictate who should be selected than the Emperor of + China would have had. It is probable that Vice-President Hamlin would have + been renominated, if it had not been for the general feeling both in and + out of the convention that, under all the circumstances, it would be wiser + to select some man who had been a Democrat, and had yet upheld the war. + The choice fell upon Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was not only a + Democrat, but had been appointed by Mr. Lincoln military governor of + Tennessee in 1862. + </p> + <p> + The Democrats at first meant to have the national convention of their + party meet on the fourth of July; but after Fremont had been nominated at + Cleveland and Lincoln at Baltimore, they postponed it to a later date, + hoping that something in the chapter of accidents might happen to their + advantage. At first it appeared as if this might be the case. The outlook + for the Republicans was far from satisfactory. The terrible fighting and + great losses of Grant's army in Virginia had profoundly shocked and + depressed the country. The campaign of General Sherman, who was then in + Georgia, showed as yet no promise of the brilliant results it afterward + attained. General Early's sudden raid into Maryland, when he appeared so + unexpectedly before Washington and threatened the city, had been the cause + of much exasperation; and Mr. Chase, made bitter by his failure to receive + the coveted nomination for President, had resigned from the cabinet. This + seemed, to certain leading Republicans, to point to a breaking up of the + government. The "Peace" men were clamoring loudly for an end of the war; + and the Democrats, not having yet formally chosen a candidate, were free + to devote all their leisure to attacks upon the administration. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln realized fully the tremendous issues at stake. He looked worn + and weary. To a friend who urged him to go away for a fortnight's rest, he + replied, "I cannot fly from my thoughts. My solicitude for this great + country follows me wherever I go. I do not think it is personal vanity or + ambition, though I am not free from these infirmities, but I cannot but + feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in + November. There is no program offered by any wing of the Democratic party + but that must result in the permanent destruction of the Union." + </p> + <p> + The political situation grew still darker. Toward the end of August the + general gloom enveloped even the President himself. Then what he did was + most original and characteristic. Feeling that the campaign was going + against him, he made up his mind deliberately the course he ought to + pursue, and laid down for himself the action demanded by his strong sense + of duty. He wrote on August 23 the following memorandum: "This morning, as + for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration + will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate with the + President-elect as to save the Union between the election and the + inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such ground that he + cannot possibly save it afterward." + </p> + <p> + He folded and pasted the sheet of paper in such a way that its contents + could not be seen, and as the cabinet came together handed it to each + member successively, asking him to write his name across the back of it. + In this peculiar fashion he pledged himself and his administration to + accept loyally the verdict of the people if it should be against them, and + to do their utmost to save the Union in the brief remainder of his term of + office. He gave no hint to any member of his cabinet of the nature of the + paper thus signed until after his reelection. + </p> + <p> + The Democratic convention finally came together in Chicago on August 29. + It declared the war a failure, and that efforts ought to be made at once + to bring it to a close, and nominated General McClellan for President + McClellan's only chance of success lay in his war record. His position as + a candidate on a platform of dishonorable peace would have been no less + desperate than ridiculous. In his letter accepting the nomination, + therefore, he calmly ignored the platform, and renewed his assurances of + devotion to the Union, the Constitution, and the flag of his country. But + the stars in their courses fought against him. Even before the Democratic + convention met, the tide of battle had turned. The darkest hour of the war + had passed, and dawn was at hand, and amid the thanksgivings of a grateful + people, and the joyful salute of great guns, the real presidential + campaign began. The country awoke to the true meaning of the Democratic + platform; General Sherman's successes in the South excited the enthusiasm + of the people; and when at last the Unionists, rousing from their + midsummer languor, began to show their faith in the Republican candidate, + the hopelessness of all efforts to undermine him became evident. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. THE CONQUEROR OF A GREAT REBELLION + </h2> + <p> + The presidential election of 1864 took place on November 8. The diary of + one of the President's secretaries contains a curious record of the way + the day passed at the Executive Mansion. "The house has been still and + almost deserted. Everybody in Washington and not at home voting seems + ashamed of it, and stays away from the President. While I was talking with + him to-day he said: 'It is a little singular that I, who am not a + vindictive man, should always have been before the people for election in + canvasses marked for their bitterness. Always but once. When I came to + Congress it was a quiet time; but always besides that the contests in + which I have been prominent have been marked with great rancor.'" + </p> + <p> + Early in the evening the President made his way through rain and darkness + to the War Department to receive the returns. The telegrams came, thick + and fast, all pointing joyously to his reelection. He sent the important + ones over to Mrs. Lincoln at the White House, remarking, "She is more + anxious that I am." The satisfaction of one member of the little group + about him was coupled with the wish that the critics of the administration + might feel properly rebuked by this strong expression of the popular will. + Mr. Lincoln looked at him in kindly surprise. "You have more of that + feeling of personal resentment than I," he said. "Perhaps I have too + little of it, but I never thought it paid. A man has not time to spend + half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack me, I never + remember the past against him." This state of mind might well have been + called by a higher name than "lack of personal resentment." + </p> + <p> + Lincoln and Johnson received a popular majority of 411,281, and 212 out of + 233 electoral votes—only those of New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky, + twenty-one in all, being cast for McClellan. + </p> + <p> + For Mr. Lincoln this was one of the most solemn days of his life. Assured + of his personal success, and made devoutly confident by the military + victories of the last few weeks that the end of the war was at hand, he + felt no sense of triumph over his opponents. The thoughts that filled his + mind found expression in the closing sentences of the little speech that + he made to some serenaders who greeted him in the early morning hours of + November 9, as he left the War Department to return to the White House: + </p> + <p> + "I am thankful to God for this approval of the people; but while deeply + grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my heart, my + gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph.... It is no pleasure + to me to triumph over anyone, but I give thanks to the Almighty for this + evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and the + rights of humanity." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Lincoln's inauguration for his second term as President took place at + the time appointed, on March 4, 1865. There is little variation in the + simple but impressive pageantry with which the ceremony is celebrated. The + principal novelty commented on by the newspapers was the share which the + people who had up to that time been slaves, had for the first time in this + public and political drama. Associations of negro citizens joined in the + procession, and a battalion of negro soldiers formed part of the military + escort. The central act of the occasion was President Lincoln's second + inaugural address, which enriched the political literature of the nation + with another masterpiece. He said: + </p> + <p> + "Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the + presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than + there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course + to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four + years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth + on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the + attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new + could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly + depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, + reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the + future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. + </p> + <p> + "On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were + anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it—all + sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from + this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent + agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to + dissolve the Union and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties + deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation + survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the + war came. + </p> + <p> + "One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed + generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These + slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this + interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate and + extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend + the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more + than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. + </p> + <p> + "Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it + has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict + might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each + looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and + astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each + invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should + dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat + of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The + prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been + answered fully. + </p> + <p> + "The Almighty has his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of + offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by + whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one + of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but + which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to + remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as + the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein + any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living + God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that + this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet; if God wills that + it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and + fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of + blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, + as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The + judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' + </p> + <p> + "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the + right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the + work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall + have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all + which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, + and with all nations." + </p> + <p> + The address ended, the Chief Justice arose, and the listeners who, for the + second time, heard Abraham Lincoln repeat the solemn words of his oath of + office, went from the impressive scene to their several homes in + thankfulness and confidence that the destiny of the nation was in safe + keeping. + </p> + <p> + Nothing would have amazed Mr. Lincoln more than to hear himself called a + man of letters; and yet it would be hard to find in all literature + anything to excel the brevity and beauty of his address at Gettysburg or + the lofty grandeur of this Second Inaugural. In Europe his style has been + called a model for the study and imitation of princes, while in our own + country many of his phrases have already passed into the daily speech of + mankind. + </p> + <p> + His gift of putting things simply and clearly was partly the habit of his + own clear mind, and partly the result of the training he gave himself in + days of boyish poverty, when paper and ink were luxuries almost beyond his + reach, and the words he wished to set down must be the best words, and the + clearest and shortest to express the ideas he had in view. This training + of thought before expression, of knowing exactly what he wished to say + before saying it, stood him in good stead all his life; but only the mind + of a great man, with a lofty soul and a poet's vision; one who had + suffered deeply and felt keenly; who carried the burden of a nation on his + heart, whose sympathies were as broad and whose kindness was as great as + his moral purpose was strong and firm, could have written the deep, + forceful, convincing words that fell from his pen in the later years of + his life. It was the life he lived, the noble aim that upheld him, as well + as the genius with which he was born, that made him one of the greatest + writers of our time. + </p> + <p> + At the date of his second inauguration only two members of Mr. Lincoln's + original cabinet remained in office; but the changes had all come about + gradually and naturally, never as the result of quarrels, and with the + single exception of Secretary Chase, not one of them left the cabinet + harboring feelings of resentment or bitterness toward his late chief. Even + when, in one case, it became necessary for the good of the service, for + Mr. Lincoln to ask a cabinet minister to resign, that gentleman not only + unquestioningly obeyed, but entered into the presidential campaign + immediately afterward, working heartily and effectively for his + reelection. As for Secretary Chase, the President was so little disturbed + by his attitude that, on the death of Roger B. Taney, the Chief Justice of + the United States Supreme Court, he made him his successor, giving him the + highest judicial office in the land, and paying him the added compliment + of writing out his nomination with his own hand. + </p> + <p> + The keynote of the President's young life had been persevering industry. + That of his mature years was self-control and generous forgiveness. And + surely his remark on the night of his second election for President, that + he did not think resentment "paid," and that no man had time to spend half + his life in quarrels, was well borne out by the fruit of his actions. It + was this spirit alone which made possible much that he was able to + accomplish. His rule of conduct toward all men is summed up in a letter of + reprimand that it became his duty, while he was President, to send to one + young officer accused of quarreling with another. It deserves to be + written in letters of gold on the walls of every school and college + throughout the land: + </p> + <p> + "The advice of a father to his son, 'beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, + being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee,' is good, but not + the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself + can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take + all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss + of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than + equal right; and yield lesser ones though clearly your own. Better give + your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even + killing the dog would not cure the bite." + </p> + <p> + It was this willingness of his to give up the "lesser things," and even + the things to which he could claim an equal right, which kept peace in his + cabinet, made up of men of strong wills and conflicting natures. Their + devotion to the Union, great as it was, would not have sufficed in such a + strangely assorted official family; but his unfailing kindness and good + sense led him to overlook many things that another man might have regarded + as deliberate insults; while his great tact and knowledge of human nature + enabled him to bring out the best in people about him, and at times to + turn their very weaknesses into sources of strength. It made it possible + for him to keep the regard of every one of them. Before he had been in + office a month it had transformed Secretary Seward from his rival into his + lasting friend. It made a warm friend out of the blunt, positive, + hot-tempered Edwin M. Stanton, who became Secretary of War in place of Mr. + Cameron. He was a man of strong will and great endurance, and gave his + Department a record for hard and effective work that it would be difficult + to equal. Many stories are told of the disrespect he showed the President, + and the cross-purposes at which they labored. The truth is, that they + understood each other perfectly on all important matters, and worked + together through three busy trying years with ever-increasing affection + and regard. The President's kindly humor forgave his Secretary many blunt + speeches. "Stanton says I am a fool?" he is reported to have asked a + busy-body who came fleet-footed to tell him of the Secretary's hasty + comment on an order of little moment. "Stanton says I am a fool? Well"—with + a whimsical glance at his informant—"then I suppose I must be. + Stanton is nearly always right." Knowing that Stanton was "nearly always + right" it made little difference to his chief what he might say in the + heat of momentary annoyance. + </p> + <p> + Yet in spite of his forbearance he never gave up the "larger things" that + he felt were of real importance; and when he learned at one time that an + effort was being made to force a member of the cabinet to resign, he + called them together, and read them the following impressive little + lecture: + </p> + <p> + "I must myself be the judge how long to retain in, and when to remove any + of you from his position. It would greatly pain me to discover any of you + endeavoring to procure another's removal, or in any way to prejudice him + before the public. Such endeavor would be a wrong to me, and much worse, a + wrong to the country. My wish is that on this subject no remark be made, + nor question asked by any of you, here, or elsewhere, now, or hereafter." + </p> + <p> + This is one of the most remarkable speeches ever made by a President. + Washington was never more dignified; Jackson was never more peremptory. + </p> + <p> + The President's spirit of forgiveness was broad enough to take in the + entire South. The cause of the Confederacy had been doomed from the hour + of his reelection. The cheering of the troops which greeted the news had + been heard within the lines at Richmond, and the besieged town lost hope, + though it continued the struggle bravely if desperately. Although Horace + Greeley's peace mission to Canada had come to nothing, and other volunteer + efforts in the same direction served only to call forth a declaration from + Jefferson Davis that he would fight for the independence of the South to + the bitter end, Mr. Lincoln watched longingly for the time when the first + move could be made toward peace. Early in January, 1865, as the country + was about to enter upon the fifth year of actual war, he learned from Hon. + Francis P. Blair, Sr., who had been in Richmond, how strong the feeling of + discouragement at the Confederate capital had become. Mr. Blair was the + father of Lincoln's first Postmaster-General, a man of large acquaintance + in the South, who knew perhaps better than anyone in Washington the + character and temper of the southern leaders. He had gone to Richmond + hoping to do something toward bringing the war to a close, but without + explaining his plans to anyone, and with no authority from the government, + beyond permission to pass through the military lines and return. His + scheme was utterly impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested in the + report of his visit only because it showed that the rebellion was nearing + its end. This was so marked that he sent Mr. Blair back again to Richmond + with a note intended for the eye of Jefferson Davis, saying that the + government had constantly been, was then, and would continue to be ready + to receive any agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace + to the people of our one common country." + </p> + <p> + Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates had no + mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence of the southern + States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such straits that they could + not afford to leave Mr. Lincoln's offer untested. Mr. Davis therefore sent + north his Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, with two other high + officials of the Confederate government, armed with instructions which + aimed to be liberal enough to gain them admittance to the Union lines, and + yet distinctly announced that they came "for the purpose of securing peace + to the two countries." This difference in the wording of course doomed + their mission in advance, for the government at Washington had never + admitted that there were "two countries," and to receive the messengers of + Jefferson Davis on any such terms would be to concede practically all that + the South asked. + </p> + <p> + When they reached the Union lines the officer who met them informed them + that they could go no farther unless they accepted the President's + conditions. They finally changed the form of their request, and were taken + to Fortress Monroe. Meantime Mr. Lincoln had sent Secretary Seward to + Fortress Monroe with instructions to hear all they might have to say, but + not to definitely conclude anything. On learning the true nature of their + errand he was about to recall him, when he received a telegram from + General Grant, regretting that Mr. Lincoln himself could not see the + commissioners, because, to Grant's mind, they seemed sincere. + </p> + <p> + Anxious to do everything he could in the interest of peace, Mr. Lincoln, + instead of recalling Secretary Seward, telegraphed that he would himself + come to Fortress Monroe, and started that same night. The next morning, + February 3, 1865, he and the Secretary of State received the rebel + commissioners on board the President's steamer, the River Queen. + </p> + <p> + This conference between the two highest officials of the United States + government, and three messengers from the Confederacy, bound, as the + President well knew beforehand, by instructions which made any practical + outcome impossible, brings out, in strongest relief, Mr. Lincoln's kindly + patience, even toward the rebellion. He was determined to leave no means + untried that might, however remotely, lead to peace. For four hours he + patiently answered the many questions they asked him, as to what would + probably be done on various subjects if the South submitted; pointing out + always the difference between the things that he had the power to decide, + and those that must be submitted to Congress; and bringing the discussion + back, time and again, to the three points absolutely necessary to secure + peace—Union, freedom for the slaves, and complete disbandment of the + Confederate armies. He had gone to offer them, honestly and frankly, the + best terms in his power, but not to give up one atom of official dignity + or duty. Their main thought, on the contrary, had been to postpone or to + escape the express conditions on which they were admitted to the + conference. + </p> + <p> + They returned to Richmond and reported the failure of their efforts to + Jefferson Davis, whose disappointment equalled their own, for all had + caught eagerly at the hope that this interview would somehow prove a means + of escape from the dangers of their situation. President Lincoln, full of + kindly thoughts, on the other hand, went back to Washington, intent on + making yet one more generous offer to hasten the day of peace. He had told + the commissioners that personally he would be in favor of the government + paying a liberal amount for the loss of slave property, on condition that + the southern States agree of their own accord to the freedom of the + slaves. (*) This was indeed going to the extreme of liberality, but Mr. + Lincoln remembered that notwithstanding all their offenses the rebels were + American citizens, members of the same nation and brothers of the same + blood. He remembered, too, that the object of the war, equally with peace + and freedom, was to preserve friendship and to continue the Union. Filled + with such thoughts and purposes he spent the day after his return in + drawing up a new proposal designed as a peace offering to the States in + rebellion. On the evening of February 5 he read this to his cabinet. It + offered the southern States $400,000,000 or a sum equal to the cost of war + for two hundred days, on condition that all fighting cease by the first of + April, 1865. He proved more liberal than any of his advisers; and with the + words, "You are all against me," sadly uttered, the President folded up + the paper, and ended the discussion. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Mr. Lincoln had freed the slaves two years before as a + military necessity, and as such it had been accepted by all. + Yet a question might arise, when the war ended, as to + whether this act of his had been lawful. He was therefore + very anxious to have freedom find a place in the + Constitution of the United States. This could only be done + by an amendment to the Constitution, proposed by Congress, + and adopted by the legislatures of three-fourths of the + States of the Union. Congress voted in favor of such an + amendment on January 31, 1865. Illinois, the President's own + State, adopted it on the very next day, and though Mr. + Lincoln did not live to see it a part of the Constitution, + Secretary Seward, on December 18, 1865, only a few months + after Mr. Lincoln's death, was able to make official + announcement that 29 States, constituting a majority of + three-fourths of the 36 States of the Union, had adopted it, + and that therefore it was the law of the land. +</pre> + <p> + Jefferson Davis had issued a last appeal to "fire the southern heart," but + the situation at Richmond was becoming desperate Flour cost a thousand + dollars a barrel in Confederate money, and neither the flour nor the money + were sufficient for their needs. Squads of guards were sent into the + streets with directions to arrest every able-bodied man they met, and + force him to work in defense of the town. It is said that the medical + boards were ordered to excuse no one from military service who was well + enough to bear arms for even ten days. Human nature will not endure a + strain like this, and desertion grew too common to punish. Nevertheless + the city kept up its defense until April 3. Even then, although hopelessly + beaten, the Confederacy was not willing to give in, and much needless and + severe fighting took place before the final end came. The rebel government + hurried away toward the South, and Lee bent all his energies to saving his + army and taking it to join General Johnston, who still held out against + Sherman. Grant pursued him with such energy that he did not even allow + himself the pleasure of entering the captured rebel capital. The chase + continued six days. On the evening of April 8 the Union army succeeded in + planting itself squarely across Lee's line of retreat; and the marching + and fighting of his army were over for ever. On the next morning the two + generals met in a house on the edge of the village of Appomattox, + Virginia, Lee resplendent in a new uniform and handsome sword, Grant in + the travel-stained garments in which he had made the campaign—the + blouse of a private soldier, with the shoulder-straps of a + Lieutenant-General. Here the surrender took place. Grant, as courteous in + victory as he was energetic in war, offered Lee terms that were liberal in + the extreme; and on learning that the Confederate soldiers were actually + suffering with hunger, ordered that rations be issued to them at once. + </p> + <p> + Fire and destruction attended the flight of the Confederates from + Richmond. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, carrying with them their more + important state papers, left the doomed city on one of the crowded and + overloaded railroad trains on the night of April 2, beginning a southward + flight that ended only with Mr. Davis's capture about a month later. The + legislature of Virginia and the governor of the State departed hurriedly + on a canal-boat in the direction of Lynchburg, while every possible + carriage or vehicle was pressed into service by the inhabitants, all + frantic to get away before their city was "desecrated" by the presence of + the Yankees. By the time the military left, early on the morning of April + 3, the town was on fire. The Confederate Congress had ordered all + government tobacco and other public property to be burned. The rebel + General Ewell, who was in charge of the city, asserts that he took the + responsibility of disobeying, and that the fires were not started by his + orders. Be that as it may, they broke out in various places, while a mob, + crazed with excitement, and wild with the alcohol that had run freely in + the gutters the night before, rushed from store to store, breaking in the + doors, and indulging in all the wantonness of pillage and greed. Public + spirit seemed paralyzed; no real effort was made to put out the flames, + and as a final horror, the convicts from the penitentiary, overpowering + their guards, appeared upon the streets, a maddened, shouting, leaping + crowd, drunk with liberty. + </p> + <p> + It is quite possible that the very size and suddenness of the disaster + served in a measure to lessen its evil effects; for the burning of seven + hundred buildings, the entire business portion of Richmond, all in the + brief space of a day, was a visitation so sudden, so stupefying and + unexpected as to overawe and terrorize even evildoers. Before a new danger + could arise help was at hand. Gen. Weitzel, to whom the city surrendered, + took up his headquarters in the house lately occupied by Jefferson Davis, + and promptly set about the work of relief; fighting the fire, issuing + rations to the poor, and restoring order and authority. That a regiment of + black soldiers assisted in this work of mercy must have seemed to the + white inhabitants of Richmond the final drop in their cup of misery. + </p> + <p> + Into the rebel capital, thus stricken and laid waste, came President + Lincoln on the morning of April 4. Never in the history of the world has + the head of a mighty nation and the conqueror of a great rebellion entered + the captured chief city of the insurgents in such humbleness and + simplicity. He had gone two weeks before to City Point for a visit to + General Grant, and to his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, who was serving on + Grant's staff. Making his home on the steamer that brought him, and + enjoying what was probably the most restful and satisfactory holiday in + which he had been able to indulge during his whole presidential service, + he had visited the various camps of the great army, in company with the + General, cheered everywhere by the loving greetings of the soldiers. He + had met Sherman when that commander hurried up fresh from his victorious + march from Atlanta; and after Grant had started on his final pursuit of + Lee the President still lingered. It was at City Point that the news came + to him of the fall of Richmond. + </p> + <p> + Between the receipt of this news and the following forenoon, before any + information of the great fire had reached them, a visit to the rebel + capital was arranged for the President and Rear Admiral Porter. Ample + precautions for their safety were taken at the start. The President went + in his own steamer, the River Queen, with her escort, the Bat, and a tug + used at City Point in landing from the steamer. Admiral Porter went in his + flagship; while a transport carried a small cavalry escort, as well as + ambulances for the party. Barriers in the river soon made it impossible to + proceed in this fashion, and one unforeseen accident after another + rendered it necessary to leave behind the larger and even the smaller + boats; until finally the party went on in the Admiral's barge rowed by + twelve sailors, without escort of any kind. In this manner the President + made his entry into Richmond, landing near Libby Prison. As the party + stepped ashore they found a guide among the contrabands who quickly + crowded the streets, for the possible coming of the President had already + been noised through the city. Ten of the sailors armed with carbines were + formed as a guard, six in front, and four in rear, and between them the + President and Admiral Porter, with the three officers who accompanied + them, walked the long distance, perhaps a mile and a half, to the centre + of the town. + </p> + <p> + Imagination can easily fill in the picture of a gradually increasing + crowd, principally of negroes, following the little group of marines and + officers with the tall form of the President in its centre; and, when they + learned that it was indeed "Massa Lincum," expressing their joy and + gratitude in fervent blessings and in the deep emotional cries of the + colored race. It is easy also to imagine the sharp anxiety of those who + had the President's safety in their charge during this tiresome and even + foolhardy march through a town still in flames, whose white inhabitants + were sullenly resentful at best, and whose grief and anger might at any + moment break out against the man they looked upon as the chief author of + their misfortunes. No accident befell him. He reached General Weitzel's + headquarters in safety, rested in the house Jefferson Davis had occupied + while President of the Confederacy; and after a day of sightseeing + returned to his steamer and to Washington, there to be stricken down by an + assassin's bullet, literally "in the house of his friends." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL + </h2> + <p> + Refreshed in body by his visit to City Point and greatly cheered by the + fall of Richmond, and unmistakable signs that the war was over, Mr. + Lincoln went back to Washington intent on the new task opening before him—that + of restoring the Union, and of bringing about peace and good will again + between the North and the South. His whole heart was bent on the work of + "binding up the nation's wounds" and doing all which lay in his power to + "achieve a just and lasting peace." Especially did he desire to avoid the + shedding of blood, or anything like acts of deliberate punishment. He + talked to his cabinet in this strain on the morning of April 14, the last + day of his life. "No one need expect that he would take any part in + hanging or killing these men, even the worst of them," he exclaimed. + Enough lives had been sacrificed already. Anger must be put aside. The + great need now was to begin to act in the interest of peace. With these + words of clemency and kindness in their ears they left him, never again to + come together under his wise chairmanship. + </p> + <p> + Though it was invariably held in check by his vigorous common-sense, there + was in Mr. Lincoln's nature a strong vein of poetry and mysticism. That + morning he told his cabinet a strange story of a dream that he had had the + night before—a dream which he said came to him before great events. + He had dreamed it before the battles of Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg + and Vicksburg. This time it must foretell a victory by Sherman over + Johnston's army, news of which was hourly expected, for he knew of no + other important event likely to occur. The members of the cabinet were + deeply impressed; but General Grant, who had come to Washington that + morning and was present, remarked with matter-of-fact exactness that + Murfreesboro was no victory and had no important results. Not the wildest + imagination of skeptic or mystic could have pictured the events under + which the day was to close. + </p> + <p> + It was Good Friday, a day observed by a portion of the people with fasting + and prayer, but even among the most devout the great news of the week just + ended changed this time of traditional mourning into a season of general + thanksgiving. For Mr. Lincoln it was a day of unusual and quiet happiness. + His son Robert had returned from the field with General Grant, and the + President spent an hour with the young captain in delighted conversation + over the campaign. He denied himself generally to visitors, admitting only + a few friends. In the afternoon he went for a long drive with Mrs. + Lincoln. His mood, as it had been all day, was singularly happy and + tender. He talked much of the past and future. After four years of trouble + and tumult he looked forward to four years of quiet and normal work; after + that he expected to go back again to Illinois and practice law. He was + never more simple or more gentle than on this day of triumph. His heart + overflowed with sentiments of gratitude to Heaven, which took the shape, + usual to generous natures, of love and kindness to all men. + </p> + <p> + From the very beginning there had been threats to kill him. He was + constantly receiving letters of warning from zealous or nervous friends. + The War Department inquired into these when there seemed to be ground for + doing so, but always without result. Warnings that appeared most definite + proved on examination too vague and confused for further attention. The + President knew that he was in some danger. Madmen frequently made their + way to the very door of the Executive Office; sometimes into Mr. Lincoln's + presence; but he himself had so sane a mind, and a heart so kindly even to + his enemies, that it was hard for him to believe in political hatred + deadly enough to lead to murder. He summed up the matter by saying that + since he must receive both friends and strangers every day, his life was + of course within the reach of any one, sane or mad, who was ready to + murder and be hanged for it, and that he could not possibly guard against + all danger unless he shut himself up in an iron box, where he could + scarcely perform the duties of a President. + </p> + <p> + He therefore went in and out before the people, always unarmed, generally + unattended. He received hundreds of visitors in a day, his breast bare to + pistol or knife. He walked at midnight, with a single Secretary or alone, + from the Executive Mansion to the War Department and back. In summer he + rode through lonely roads from the White House to the Soldiers' Home in + the dusk of the evening, and returned to his work in the morning before + the town was astir. He was greatly annoyed when it was decided that there + must be a guard at the Executive Mansion, and that a squad of cavalry must + accompany him on his daily drive; but he was always reasonable, and + yielded to the best judgment of others. + </p> + <p> + Four years of threats and boastings that were unfounded, and of plots that + came to nothing passed away, until precisely at the time when the triumph + of the nation seemed assured, and a feeling of peace and security settled + over the country, one of the conspiracies, seemingly no more important + than the others, ripened in a sudden heat of hatred and despair. + </p> + <p> + A little band of desperate secessionists, of which John Wilkes Booth, an + actor of a family of famous players, was the head, had their usual + meeting-place at the house of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, the mother of one of + the number. Booth was a young man of twenty-six, strikingly handsome, with + an ease and grace of manner which came to him of right from his theatrical + ancestors. He was a fanatical southerner, with a furious hatred against + Lincoln and the Union. After Lincoln's reelection he went to Canada, and + associated with the Confederate agents there; and whether or not with + their advice, made a plan to capture the President and take him to + Richmond. He passed a great part of the autumn and winter pursuing this + fantastic scheme, but the winter wore away, and nothing was done. On March + 4 he was at the Capitol, and created a disturbance by trying to force his + way through the line of policemen who guarded the passage through which + the President walked to the East front of the building to read his Second + Inaugural. His intentions at this time are not known. He afterwards said + he lost an excellent chance of killing the President that day. + </p> + <p> + After the surrender of Lee, in a rage akin to madness, he called his + fellow-conspirators together and allotted to each his part in the new + crime which had risen in his mind. It was as simple as it was horrible. + One man was to kill Secretary Seward, another to make way with Andrew + Johnson, at the same time that he murdered the President. The final + preparations were made with feverish haste. It was only about noon of the + fourteenth that Booth learned that Mr. Lincoln meant to go to Ford's + Theatre that night to see the play "Our American Cousin." The President + enjoyed the theatre. It was one of his few means of recreation, and as the + town was then thronged with soldiers and officers all eager to see him, he + could, by appearing in public, gratify many whom he could not personally + meet. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Lincoln asked General and Mrs. Grant to accompany her. They accepted, + and the announcement that they would be present was made in the evening + papers, but they changed their plans and went north by an afternoon train. + Mrs. Lincoln then invited in their stead Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, + daughter and stepson of Senator Ira Harris. Being detained by visitors, + the play had made some progress when the President appeared.. The band + struck up "Hail to the Chief," the actors ceased playing, the audience + rose and cheered, the President bowed in acknowledgment, and the play went + on again. + </p> + <p> + From the moment he learned of the President's intention Booth's actions + were alert and energetic. He and his confederates were seen in every part + of the city. Booth was perfectly at home in Ford's Theatre. He counted + upon audacity to reach the small passage behind the President's box. Once + there, he guarded against interference by arranging a wooden bar, to be + fastened by a simple mortice in the angle of the wall and the door by + which he entered, so that once shut, the door could not be opened from the + outside. He even provided for the chance of not gaining entrance to the + box by boring a hole in the door, through which he might either observe + the occupants, or take aim and shoot. He hired at a livery stable a small + fleet horse. + </p> + <p> + A few moments before ten o'clock, leaving his horse at the rear of the + theatre, in charge of a call-boy, he entered the building, passing rapidly + to the little hallway leading to the President's box. Showing a card to + the servant in attendance, he was allowed to enter, closed the door + noiselessly, and secured it with the wooden bar he had made ready, without + disturbing any of the occupants of the box, between whom and himself yet + remained the partition and the door through which he had bored the hole. + </p> + <p> + No one, not even the actor who uttered them, could ever remember the last + words of the piece that were spoken that night—the last that Abraham + Lincoln heard upon earth; for the tragedy in the box turned play and + players alike to the most unsubstantial of phantoms. For weeks hate and + brandy had kept Booth's brain in a morbid state. He seemed to himself to + be taking part in a great play. Holding a pistol in one hand and a knife + in the other, he opened the box door, put the pistol to the President's + head, and fired. Major Rathbone sprang to grapple with him, and received a + savage knife wound in the arm. Then, rushing forward, Booth placed his + hand on the railing of the box and vaulted to the stage. It was a high + leap, but nothing to such a trained athlete. He would have got safely + away, had not his spur caught in the flag that draped the front of the + box. He fell, the torn flag trailing on his spur; but though the fall had + broken his leg, he rose instantly brandishing his knife and shouting, "Sic + Semper Tyrannis!" fled rapidly across the stage and out of sight. Major + Rathbone shouted, "Stop him!" The cry, "He has shot the President!" rang + through the theatre, and from the audience, stupid at first with surprise, + and wild afterward with excitement and horror, men jumped upon the stage + in pursuit of the assassin. But he ran through the familiar passages, + leaped upon his horse, rewarding with a kick and a curse the boy who held + him, and escaped into the night. + </p> + <p> + The President scarcely moved. His head drooped forward slightly, his eyes + closed. Major Rathbone, not regarding his own grievous hurt, rushed to the + door to summon aid. He found it barred, and someone on the outside beating + and clamoring to get in. It was at once seen that the President's wound + was mortal. He was carried across the street to a house opposite, and laid + upon a bed. Mrs. Lincoln followed, tenderly cared for by Miss Harris. + Rathbone, exhausted by loss of blood, fainted, and was taken home. + Messengers were sent for the cabinet, for the Surgeon-General, for Dr. + Stone the President's family physician, and for others whose official or + private relations with Mr. Lincoln gave them the right to be there. A + crowd of people rushed instinctively to the White House, and bursting + through the doors shouted the dreadful news to Robert Lincoln and Major + Hay who sat together in an upper room. + </p> + <p> + The President had been shot a few minutes after ten o'clock. The wound + would have brought instant death to most men. He was unconscious from the + first moment, but he breathed throughout the night, his gaunt face + scarcely paler than those of the sorrowing men around him. At twenty-two + minutes past seven in the morning he died. Secretary Stanton broke the + silence by saying, "Now he belongs to the ages." + </p> + <p> + Booth had done his work thoroughly. His principal accomplice had acted + with equal audacity and cruelty, but with less fatal result. Under pretext + of having a package of medicine to deliver, he forced his way to the room + of the Secretary of State, who lay ill, and attacked him, inflicting three + terrible knife wounds on his neck and cheek, wounding also the Secretary's + two sons, a servant, and a soldier nurse who tried to overpower him. + Finally breaking away, he ran downstairs, reached the door unhurt, and + springing upon his horse rode off. It was feared that neither the + Secretary nor his eldest son would live, but both in time recovered. + </p> + <p> + Although Booth had been recognized by dozens of people as he stood before + the footlights brandishing his dagger, his swift horse soon carried him + beyond any hap-hazard pursuit. He crossed the Navy Yard bridge and rode + into Maryland, being joined by one of his fellow-conspirators. A surgeon + named Mudd set Booth's leg and sent him on his desolate way. For ten days + the two men lived the lives of hunted animals. On the night of April 25 + they were surrounded as they lay sleeping in a barn in Caroline County, + Virginia. Booth refused to surrender. The barn was fired, and while it was + burning he was shot by Boston Corbett, a sergeant of cavalry. He lingered + for about three hours in great pain, and died at seven in the morning. The + remaining conspirators were tried by military commission. Four were + hanged, including the assailant of Secretary Seward, and the others were + sentenced to imprisonment for various lengths of time. + </p> + <p> + Upon the hearts of a people glowing with the joy of victory the news of + the President's death fell as a great shock. In the unspeakable calamity + the country lost sight of the great national successes of the past week; + and thus it came to pass that there was never any organized celebration in + the North over the downfall of the rebellion. It was unquestionably best + that it should be so. Lincoln himself would not have had it otherwise, for + he hated the arrogance of triumph. As it was, the South could take no + offense at a grief so genuine; and the people of that section even shared, + to a certain extent, in the mourning for one who, in their inmost hearts, + they knew to have wished them well. + </p> + <p> + Within an hour after Mr. Lincoln's body was taken to the White House the + town was shrouded in black. Not only the public buildings, the shops, and + the better class of dwellings were draped in funeral decorations; still + more touching proof of affection was shown in the poorest class of homes, + where laboring men of both colors found means in their poverty to afford + some scanty bit of mourning. The interest and veneration of the people + still centered at the White House, where, under a tall catafalque in the + East Room the late chief lay in the majesty of death, rather than in the + modest tavern on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the new President had his + lodgings, and where the Chief Justice administered the oath of office to + him at eleven o'clock on the morning of April 15. + </p> + <p> + It was determined that the funeral ceremonies in Washington should be held + on Wednesday, April 19, and all the churches throughout the country were + invited to join at the same time in appropriate observances. The + ceremonies in the East Room were simple and brief, while all the pomp and + circumstance that the government could command were employed to give a + fitting escort from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol, where the body + of the President lay in state. The procession moved to the booming of + minute guns, and the tolling of all the bells in Washington, Georgetown + and Alexandria; while, to associate the pomp of the day with the greatest + work of Lincoln's life, a detachment of colored troops marched at the head + of the line. + </p> + <p> + When it was announced that he was to be buried at Springfield every town + and city on the way begged that the train might halt within its limits, to + give its people opportunity of showing their grief and reverence. It was + finally arranged that the funeral cortege should follow substantially the + same route over which Lincoln had come in 1861 to take possession of the + office to which he added a new dignity and value for all time. On April + 21, accompanied by a guard of honor, and in a train decked with somber + trappings, the journey was begun. At Baltimore, through which, four years + before, it was a question whether the President-elect could pass with + safety to his life, the coffin was taken with reverent care to the great + dome of the Exchange, where, surrounded with evergreens and lilies, it lay + for several hours, the people passing by in mournful throngs. The same + demonstration was repeated, gaining constantly in depth of feeling and + solemn splendor of display in every city through which the procession + passed. In New York came General Scott, pale and feeble, but resolute, to + pay his tribute of respect to his departed friend and commander. + </p> + <p> + Springfield was reached on the morning of May 3. The body lay in state in + the Capitol, which was richly draped from roof to basement in black velvet + and silver fringe, while within it was a bower of bloom and fragrance. For + twenty-four hours an unbroken stream of people passed through, bidding + their friend and neighbor welcome home and farewell. At ten o'clock on the + morning of May 4 the coffin lid was closed, and vast procession moved out + to Oak Ridge, where the town had set apart a lovely spot for his grave. + Here the dead President was committed to the soil of the State which had + so loved and honored him. The ceremonies at the grave were simple and + touching. Bishop Simpson delivered a pathetic oration, prayers were + offered, and hymns were sung, but the weightiest and most eloquent words + uttered anywhere that day were those of the Second Inaugural, which the + Committee had wisely ordained to be read over his grave, as centuries + before, the friends of the painter Raphael chose the incomparable canvas + of "The Transfiguration" to be the chief ornament of his funeral. + </p> + <p> + Though President Lincoln lived to see the real end of the war, various + bodies of Confederate troops continued to hold out for some time longer. + General Johnston faced Sherman's army in the Carolinas until April 26, + while General E. Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi River, did not + surrender until May 26. + </p> + <p> + As rapidly as possible Union volunteer regiments were disbanded, and soon + the mighty host of 1,000,000 men was reduced to a peace footing of only + 25,000. Before the great army melted away into the greater body of + citizens its soldiers enjoyed one final triumph—a march through the + capital of the nation, undisturbed by death or danger, under the eyes of + their highest commanders and the representatives of the people whose + country they had saved. Those who witnessed the solemn yet joyous pageant + will never forget it; and pray that their children may never see its like. + For two days this formidable host marched the long stretch of Pennsylvania + Avenue, starting from the shadow of the Capitol and filling the wide + street as far as Georgetown, its serried ranks moving with the easy yet + rapid pace of veterans in cadence step. As a mere spectacle this march of + the mightiest host the continent has ever seen was grand and imposing, but + it was not as a spectacle alone that it affected the beholder. It was no + holiday parade. It was an army of citizens on their way home after a long + and terrible war. Their clothes were worn, and pierced with bullets, their + banners had been torn with shot and shell, and lashed in the winds of many + battles. The very drums and fifes had called out the troops to night + alarms, and sounded the onset on historic fields. The whole country + claimed these heroes as part of themselves. They were not soldiers by + profession or from love of fighting; they had become soldiers only to save + their country's life. Now, done with war, they were going joyously and + peaceably back to their homes to take up the tasks they had willingly laid + down in the hour of their country's need. + </p> + <p> + Friends loaded them with flowers as they swung down the Avenue—both + men and officers, until some were fairly hidden under their fragrant + burden. Grotesque figures were not absent, as Sherman's legions passed + with their "bummers" and their regimental pets. But with all the shouting + and the joy there was, in the minds of all who saw it, one sad and + ever-recurring thought—the memory of the men who were absent, and + who had, nevertheless, so richly earned the right to be there. The + soldiers in their shrunken companies thought of the brave comrades who had + fallen by the way; and through the whole vast army there was passionate + unavailing regret for their wise, gentle and powerful friend Abraham + Lincoln, gone forever from the big white house by the Avenue—who had + called the great host into being, directed the course of the nation during + the four years that they had been battling for its life, and to whom, more + than to any other, this crowning peaceful pageant would have been full of + deep and happy meaning. + </p> + <p> + Why was this man so loved that his death caused a whole nation to forget + its triumph, and turned its gladness into mourning? Why has his fame grown + with the passing years until now scarcely a speech is made or a newspaper + printed that does not have within it somewhere a mention of his name or + some phrase or sentence that fell from his lips? Let us see if we can, + what it was that made Abraham Lincoln the man that he became. + </p> + <p> + A child born to an inheritance of want; a boy growing into a narrow world + of ignorance; a youth taking up the burden of coarse and heavy labor; a + man entering on the doubtful struggle of a local backwoods career—these + were the beginnings of Abraham Lincoln if we look at them only in the hard + practical spirit which takes for its motto that "Nothing succeeds but + success." If we adopt a more generous as well as a truer view, then we see + that it was the brave hopeful spirit, the strong active mind, and the + great law of moral growth that accepts the good and rejects the bad, which + Nature gave this obscure child, that carried him to the service of mankind + and the admiration of the centuries as certainly as the acorn grows to be + the oak. + </p> + <p> + Even his privations helped the end. Self-reliance, the strongest trait of + the pioneer was his by blood and birth and training, and was developed by + the hardships of his lot to the mighty power needed to guide our country + through the struggle of the Civil War. + </p> + <p> + The sense of equality was his also, for he grew from childhood to manhood + in a state of society where there were neither rich to envy nor poor to + despise, and where the gifts and hardships of the forest were distributed + without favor to each and all alike. In the forest he learned charity, + sympathy, helpfulness—in a word neighborliness—for in that + far-off frontier life all the wealth of India, had a man possessed it, + could not have bought relief from danger or help in time of need, and + neighborliness became of prime importance. Constant opportunity was found + there to practice the virtue which Christ declared to be next to the love + of God—to love one's neighbor as oneself. + </p> + <p> + In such settlements, far removed from courts and jails, men were brought + face to face with questions of natural right. The pioneers not only + understood the American doctrine of self-government—they lived it. + It was this understanding, this feeling, which taught Lincoln to write: + "When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he + governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than + self-government that is despotism;" and also to give utterance to its twin + truth: "He who would be no slave must consent to have no slave." + </p> + <p> + Lincoln was born in the slave State of Kentucky. He lived there only a + short time, and we have reason to believe that wherever he might have + grown up, his very nature would have spurned the doctrine and practice of + human slavery. Yet, though he hated slavery, he never hated the + slave-holder. His feeling of pardon and sympathy for Kentucky and the + South played no unimportant part in his dealings with grave problems of + statesmanship. It is true that he struck slavery its death blow with the + hand of war, but at the same time he offered the slaveowner golden payment + with the hand of peace. + </p> + <p> + Abraham Lincoln was not an ordinary man. He was, in truth, in the language + of the poet Lowell, a "new birth of our new soil." His greatness did not + consist in growing up on the frontier. An ordinary man would have found on + the frontier exactly what he would have found elsewhere—a + commonplace life, varying only with the changing ideas and customs of time + and place. But for the man with extraordinary powers of mind and body—for + one gifted by Nature as Abraham Lincoln was gifted, the pioneer life with + its severe training in self-denial, patience and industry, developed his + character, and fitted him for the great duties of his after life as no + other training could have done. + </p> + <p> + His advancement in the astonishing career that carried him from obscurity + to world-wide fame—from postmaster of New Salem village to President + of the United States, from captain of a backwoods volunteer company to + Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, was neither sudden nor + accidental, nor easy. He was both ambitious and successful, but his + ambition was moderate, and his success was slow. And, because his success + was slow, it never outgrew either his judgment or his powers. Between the + day when he left his father's cabin and launched his canoe on the + headwaters of the Sangamon River to begin life on his own account, and the + day of his first inauguration, lay full thirty years of toil, self-denial, + patience; often of effort baffled, of hope deferred; sometimes of bitter + disappointment. Even with the natural gift of great genius it required an + average lifetime and faithful unrelaxing effort, to transform the raw + country stripling into a fit ruler for this great nation. + </p> + <p> + Almost every success was balanced—sometimes overbalanced, by a + seeming failure. He went into the Black Hawk war a captain, and through no + fault of his own, came out a private. He rode to the hostile frontier on + horseback, and trudged home on foot. His store "winked out." His + surveyor's compass and chain, with which he was earning a scanty living, + were sold for debt. He was defeated in his first attempts to be nominated + for the legislature and for Congress; defeated in his application to be + appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office; defeated for the Senate + when he had forty-five votes to begin with by a man who had only five + votes to begin with; defeated again after his joint debates with Douglas; + defeated in the nomination for Vice-President, when a favorable nod from + half a dozen politicians would have brought him success. + </p> + <p> + Failures? Not so. Every seeming defeat was a slow success. His was the + growth of the oak, and not of Jonah's gourd. He could not become a master + workman until he had served a tedious apprenticeship. It was the quarter + of a century of reading, thinking, speech-making and lawmaking which + fitted him to be the chosen champion of freedom in the great + Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. It was the great moral victory won in + those debates (although the senatorship went to Douglas) added to the + title "Honest Old Abe," won by truth and manhood among his neighbors + during a whole lifetime, that led the people of the United States to trust + him with the duties and powers of President. + </p> + <p> + And when, at last, after thirty years of endeavor, success had beaten down + defeat, when Lincoln had been nominated, elected and inaugurated, came the + crowning trial of his faith and constancy. When the people, by free and + lawful choice, had placed honor and power in his hands, when his name + could convene Congress, approve laws, cause ships to sail and armies to + move, there suddenly came upon the government and the nation a fatal + paralysis. Honor seemed to dwindle and power to vanish. Was he then after + all not to be President? Was patriotism dead? Was the Constitution only a + bit of waste paper? Was the Union gone? + </p> + <p> + The outlook was indeed grave. There was treason in Congress, treason in + the Supreme Court, treason in the army and navy. Confusion and discord + were everywhere. To use Mr. Lincoln's forcible figure of speech, sinners + were calling the righteous to repentance. Finally the flag, insulted and + fired upon, trailed in surrender at Sumter; and then came the humiliation + of the riot at Baltimore, and the President for a few days practically a + prisoner in the capital of the nation. + </p> + <p> + But his apprenticeship had been served, and there was to be no more + failure. With faith and justice and generosity he conducted for four long + years a war whose frontiers stretched from the Potomac to the Rio Grande; + whose soldiers numbered a million men on each side. The labor, the + thought, the responsibility, the strain of mind and anguish of soul that + he gave to this great task, who can measure? "Here was place for no + holiday magistrate, no fair weather sailor," as Emerson justly said of + him. "The new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado. In four years—four + years of battle days—his endurance, his fertility of resources, his + magnanimity, were sorely tried and never found wanting." "By his courage, + his justice, his even temper, his humanity, he stood a heroic figure in + the centre of a heroic epoch." + </p> + <p> + What but a lifetime's schooling in disappointment, what but the pioneer's + self-reliance and freedom from prejudice, what but the clear mind, quick + to see natural right and unswerving in its purpose to follow it; what but + the steady self-control, the unwarped sympathy, the unbounded charity of + this man with spirit so humble and soul so great, could have carried him + through the labors he wrought to the victory he attained? + </p> + <p> + With truth it could be written, "His heart was as great as the world, but + there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong." So, "with malice + toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gave + him to see the right" he lived and died. We who have never seen him yet + feel daily the influence of his kindly life, and cherish among our most + precious possessions the heritage of his example. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN *** + +***** This file should be named 1815-h.htm or 1815-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1815/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln + +Author: Helen Nicolay + +Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1815] +Release Date: July, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean + + + + + +THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +by Helen Nicolay + + + + +I. A PRESIDENT'S CHILDHOOD + +Abraham Lincoln's forefathers were pioneers--men who left their homes to +open up the wilderness and make the way plain for others to follow them. +For one hundred and seventy years, ever since the first American Lincoln +came from England to Massachusetts in 1638, they had been moving +slowly westward as new settlements were made in the forest. They faced +solitude, privation, and all the dangers and hardships that beset men +who take up their homes where only beasts and wild men have had homes +before; but they continued to press steadily forward, though they lost +fortune and sometimes even life itself, in their westward progress. +Back in Pennsylvania and New Jersey some of the Lincolns had been men of +wealth and influence. In Kentucky, where the future President was born +on February 12, 1809, his parents lived in deep poverty Their home was +a small log cabin of the rudest kind, and nothing seemed more +unlikely than that their child, coming into the world in such humble +surroundings, was destined to be the greatest man of his time. True to +his race, he also was to be a pioneer--not indeed, like his ancestors, +a leader into new woods and unexplored fields, but a pioneer of a nobler +and grander sort, directing the thoughts of men ever toward the right, +and leading the American people, through difficulties and dangers and a +mighty war, to peace and freedom. + +The story of this wonderful man begins and ends with a tragedy, for his +grandfather, also named Abraham, was killed by a shot from an Indian's +rifle while peaceably at work with his three sons on the edge of their +frontier clearing. Eighty-one years later the President himself met +death by an assassin's bullet. The murderer of one was a savage of the +forest; the murderer of the other that far more cruel thing, a savage of +civilization. + +When the Indian's shot laid the pioneer farmer low, his second son, +Josiah, ran to a neighboring fort for help, and Mordecai, the eldest, +hurried to the cabin for his rifle. Thomas, a child of six years, was +left alone beside the dead body of his father; and as Mordecai snatched +the gun from its resting-place over the door of the cabin, he saw, +to his horror, an Indian in his war-paint, just stooping to seize the +child. Taking quick aim at a medal on the breast of the savage, he +fired, and the Indian fell dead. The little boy, thus released, ran +to the house, where Mordecai, firing through the loopholes, kept the +Indians at bay until help arrived from the fort. + +It was this child Thomas who grew up to be the father of President +Abraham Lincoln. After the murder of his father the fortunes of the +little family grew rapidly worse, and doubtless because of poverty, as +well as by reason of the marriage of his older brothers and sisters, +their home was broken up, and Thomas found himself, long before he was +grown, a wandering laboring boy. He lived for a time with an uncle as +his hired servant, and later he learned the trade of carpenter. He grew +to manhood entirely without education, and when he was twenty-eight +years old could neither read nor write. At that time he married Nancy +Hanks, a good-looking young woman of twenty-three, as poor as himself, +but so much better off as to learning that she was able to teach her +husband to sign his own name. Neither of them had any money, but living +cost little on the frontier in those days, and they felt that his trade +would suffice to earn all that they should need. Thomas took his bride +to a tiny house in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where they lived for about a +year, and where a daughter was born to them. + +Then they moved to a small farm thirteen miles from Elizabethtown, which +they bought on credit, the country being yet so new that there were +places to be had for mere promises to pay. Farms obtained on such terms +were usually of very poor quality, and this one of Thomas Lincoln's +was no exception to the rule. A cabin ready to be occupied stood on it, +however; and not far away, hidden in a pretty clump of trees and bushes, +was a fine spring of water, because of which the place was known as +Rock Spring Farm. In the cabin on this farm the future President of the +United States was born on February 12, 1809, and here the first four +years of his life were spent. Then the Lincolns moved to a much bigger +and better farm on Knob Creek, six miles from Hodgensville, which Thomas +Lincoln bought, again on credit, selling the larger part of it soon +afterward to another purchaser. Here they remained until Abraham was +seven years old. + +About this early part of his childhood almost nothing is known. He never +talked of these days, even to his most intimate friends. To the pioneer +child a farm offered much that a town lot could not give him--space; +woods to roam in; Knob Creek with its running water and its deep, quiet +pools for a playfellow; berries to be hunted for in summer and nuts in +autumn; while all the year round birds and small animals pattered across +his path to people the solitude in place of human companions. The boy +had few comrades. He wandered about playing his lonesome little games, +and when these were finished returned to the small and cheerless cabin. +Once, when asked what he remembered about the War of 1812 with Great +Britain, he replied: "Only this: I had been fishing one day and had +caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I met a soldier in +the road, and having always been told at home that we must be good to +soldiers, I gave him my fish." It is only a glimpse into his life, but +it shows the solitary, generous child and the patriotic household. + +It was while living on this farm that Abraham and his sister Sarah +first began going to A-B-C schools. Their earliest teacher was Zachariah +Riney, who taught near the Lincoln cabin; the next was Caleb Hazel, four +miles away. + +In spite of the tragedy that darkened his childhood, Thomas Lincoln +seems to have been a cheery, indolent, good-natured man. By means of a +little farming and occasional jobs at his trade, he managed to supply +his family with the absolutely necessary food and shelter, but he never +got on in the world. He found it much easier to gossip with his friends, +or to dream about rich new lands in the West, than to make a thrifty +living in the place where he happened to be. The blood of the pioneer +was in his veins too--the desire to move westward; and hearing glowing +accounts of the new territory of Indiana, he resolved to go and see it +for himself. His skill as a carpenter made this not only possible but +reasonably cheap, and in the fall of 1816 he built himself a little +flatboat, launched it half a mile from his cabin, at the mouth of Knob +Creek on the waters of the Rolling Fork, and floated on it down that +stream to Salt River, down Salt River to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to +a landing called Thompson's Ferry on the Indiana shore. + +Sixteen miles out from the river, near a small stream known as Pigeon +Creek, he found a spot in the forest that suited him; and as his boat +could not be made to float up-stream, he sold it, stored his goods with +an obliging settler, and trudged back to Kentucky, all the way on foot, +to fetch his wife and children--Sarah, who was now nine years old, +and Abraham, seven. This time the journey to Indiana was made with two +horses, used by the mother and children for riding, and to carry their +little camping outfit for the night. The distance from their old home +was, in a straight line, little more than fifty miles, but they had to +go double that distance because of the very few roads it was possible to +follow. + +Reaching the Ohio River and crossing to the Indiana shore, Thomas +Lincoln hired a wagon which carried his family and their belongings the +remaining sixteen miles through the forest to the spot he had chosen--a +piece of heavily wooded land, one and a half miles east of what has +since become the village of Gentryville in Spencer County. The lateness +of the autumn made it necessary to put up a shelter as quickly as +possible, and he built what was known on the frontier as a half-faced +camp, about fourteen feet square. This differed from a cabin in that it +was closed on only three sides, being quite open to the weather on the +fourth. A fire was usually made in front of the open side, and thus +the necessity for having a chimney was done away with. Thomas Lincoln +doubtless intended this only for a temporary shelter, and as such it +would have done well enough in pleasant summer weather; but it was a +rude provision against the storms and winds of an Indiana winter. It +shows his want of energy that the family remained housed in this poor +camp for nearly a whole year; but, after all, he must not be too hastily +blamed. He was far from idle. A cabin was doubtless begun, and there +was the very heavy work of clearing away the timber--cutting down large +trees, chopping them into suitable lengths, and rolling them together +into great heaps to be burned, or of splitting them into rails to fence +the small field upon which he managed to raise a patch of corn and other +things during the following summer. + +Though only seven years old, Abraham was unusually large and strong for +his age, and he helped his father in all this heavy labor of clearing +the farm. In after years, Mr. Lincoln said that an ax "was put into his +hands at once, and from that till within his twenty-third year he was +almost constantly handling that most useful instrument--less, of course, +in ploughing and harvesting seasons." At first the Lincolns and their +seven or eight neighbors lived in the unbroken forest. They had only the +tools and household goods they brought with them, or such things as they +could fashion with their own hands. There was no sawmill to saw lumber. +The village of Gentryville was not even begun. Breadstuff could be had +only by sending young Abraham seven miles on horseback with a bag of +corn to be ground in a hand grist-mill. + +About the time the new cabin was ready relatives and friends followed +from Kentucky, and some of these in turn occupied the half-faced camp. +During the autumn a severe and mysterious sickness broke out in their +little settlement, and a number of people died, among them the mother +of young Abraham. There was no help to be had beyond what the neighbors +could give each other. The nearest doctor lived fully thirty miles away. +There was not even a minister to conduct the funerals. Thomas Lincoln +made the coffins for the dead out of green lumber cut from the forest +trees with a whip-saw, and they were laid to rest in a clearing in the +woods. Months afterward, largely through the efforts of the sorrowing +boy, a preacher who chanced to come that way was induced to hold a +service and preach a sermon over the grave of Mrs. Lincoln. + +Her death was indeed a serious blow to her husband and children. +Abraham's sister, Sarah, was only eleven years old, and the tasks and +cares of the little household were altogether too heavy for her years +and experience. Nevertheless they struggled bravely through the winter +and following summer; then in the autumn of 1819 Thomas Lincoln went +back to Kentucky and married Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he had known, and +it is said courted, when she was only Sally Bush. She had married about +the time Lincoln married Nancy Hanks, and her husband had died, leaving +her with three children. She came of a better station in life than +Thomas, and was a woman with an excellent mind as well as a warm and +generous heart. The household goods that she brought with her to the +Lincoln home filled a four-horse wagon, and not only were her own +children well clothed and cared for, but she was able at once to provide +little Abraham and Sarah with comforts to which they had been strangers +during the whole of their young lives. Under her wise management all +jealousy was avoided between the two sets of children; urged on by her +stirring example, Thomas Lincoln supplied the yet unfinished cabin with +floor, door, and windows, and life became more comfortable for all its +inmates, contentment if not happiness reigning in the little home. + +The new stepmother quickly became very fond of Abraham, and encouraged +him in every way in her power to study and improve himself. The chances +for this were few enough. Mr. Lincoln has left us a vivid picture of the +situation. "It was," he once wrote, "a wild region, with many bears and +other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some +schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher +beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin' to the Rule of Three. If +a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the +neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard." + +The school-house was a low cabin of round logs, with split logs or +"puncheons" for a floor, split logs roughly leveled with an ax and set +up on legs for benches, and holes cut out in the logs and the space +filled in with squares of greased paper for window-panes. The main +light came in through the open door. Very often Webster's "Elementary +Spelling-book" was the only text-book. This was the kind of school most +common in the middle West during Mr. Lincoln's boyhood, though already +in some places there were schools of a more pretentious character. +Indeed, back in Kentucky, at the very time that Abraham, a child of six, +was learning his letters from Zachariah Riney, a boy only a year +older was attending a Catholic seminary in the very next county. It is +doubtful if they ever met, but the destinies of the two were strangely +interwoven, for the older boy was Jefferson Davis, who became head of +the Confederate government shortly after Lincoln was elected President +of the United States. + +As Abraham had been only seven years old when he left Kentucky, the +little beginnings he learned in the schools kept by Riney and Hazel in +that State must have been very slight, probably only his alphabet, or at +most only three or four pages of Webster's "Elementary Spelling-book." +The multiplication-table was still a mystery to him, and he could read +or write only the words he spelled. His first two years in Indiana seem +to have passed without schooling of any sort, and the school he attended +shortly after coming under the care of his stepmother was of the +simplest kind, for the Pigeon Creek settlement numbered only eight or +ten poor families, and they lived deep in the forest, where, even if +they had had the money for such luxuries, it would have been impossible +to buy books, slates, pens, ink, or paper. It is worthy of note, +however, that in our western country, even under such difficulties, a +school-house was one of the first buildings to rise in every frontier +settlement. Abraham's second school in Indiana was held when he was +fourteen years old, and the third in his seventeenth year. By that time +he had more books and better teachers, but he had to walk four or five +miles to reach them. We know that he learned to write, and was +provided with pen, ink, and a copy-book, and a very small supply of +writing-paper, for copies have been printed of several scraps on which +he carefully wrote down tables of long measure, land measure, and dry +measure, as well as examples in multiplication and compound division, +from his arithmetic. He was never able to go to school again after this +time, and though the instruction he received from his five teachers--two +in Kentucky and three in Indiana--extended over a period of nine years, +it must be remembered that it made up in all less than one twelve-month; +"that the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year." +The fact that he received this instruction, as he himself said, "by +littles," was doubtless an advantage. A lazy or indifferent boy would +of course have forgotten what was taught him at one time before he had +opportunity at another; but Abraham was neither indifferent nor lazy, +and these widely separated fragments of instruction were precious steps +to self-help. He pursued his studies with very unusual purpose and +determination not only to understand them at the moment, but to fix +them firmly in his mind. His early companions all agree that he employed +every spare moment in keeping on with some one of his studies. His +stepmother tells us that "When he came across a passage that struck him, +he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, and keep it there +until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look at it, repeat +it. He had a copy-book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he put down all +things, and thus preserved them." He spent long evenings doing sums on +the fire-shovel. Iron fire-shovels were a rarity among pioneers. Instead +they used a broad, thin clapboard with one end narrowed to a handle, +arranging with this the piles of coals upon the hearth, over which they +set their "skillet" and "oven" to do their cooking. It was on such a +wooden shovel that Abraham worked his sums by the flickering firelight, +making his figures with a piece of charcoal, and, when the shovel was +all covered, taking a drawing-knife and shaving it off clean again. + +The hours that he was able to devote to his penmanship, his reading, and +his arithmetic were by no means many; for, save for the short time that +he was actually in school, he was, during all these years, laboring hard +on his father's farm, or hiring his youthful strength to neighbors +who had need of help in the work of field or forest. In pursuit of his +knowledge he was on an up-hill path; yet in spite of all obstacles he +worked his way to so much of an education as placed him far ahead of +his schoolmates and quickly abreast of his various teachers. He borrowed +every book in the neighborhood. The list is a short one: "Robinson +Crusoe," "Aesop's Fables," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," Weems's "Life +of Washington," and a "History of the United States." When everything +else had been read, he resolutely began on the "Revised Statutes of +Indiana," which Dave Turnham, the constable, had in daily use, but +permitted him to come to his house and read. + +Though so fond of his books; it must not be supposed that he cared only +for work and serious study. He was a social, sunny-tempered lad, as fond +of jokes and fun as he was kindly and industrious. His stepmother said +of him: "I can say, what scarcely one mother in a thousand can say, Abe +never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused... to do anything +I asked him.... I must say.. that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or +expect to see." + +He and John Johnston, his stepmother's son, and John Hanks, a relative +of his own mother's, worked barefoot together in the fields, grubbing, +plowing, hoeing, gathering and shucking corn, and taking part, when +occasion offered, in the practical jokes and athletic exercises that +enlivened the hard work of the pioneers. For both work and play Abraham +had one great advantage. He was not only a tall, strong country boy: he +soon grew to be a tall, strong, sinewy man. He early reached the unusual +height of six feet four inches, and his long arms gave him a degree of +power as an axman that few were able to rival. He therefore usually +led his fellows in efforts of muscle as well as of mind. That he could +outrun, outlift, outwrestle his boyish companions, that he could chop +faster, split more rails in a day, carry a heavier log at a "raising," +or excel the neighborhood champion in any feat of frontier athletics, +was doubtless a matter of pride with him; but stronger than all else was +his eager craving for knowledge. He felt instinctively that the power of +using the mind rather than the muscles was the key to success. He wished +not only to wrestle with the best of them, but to be able to talk like +the preacher, spell and cipher like the school-master, argue like the +lawyer, and write like the editor. Yet he was as far as possible +from being a prig. He was helpful, sympathetic, cheerful. In all the +neighborhood gatherings, when settlers of various ages came together +at corn-huskings or house-raisings, or when mere chance brought half a +dozen of them at the same time to the post-office or the country store, +he was able, according to his years, to add his full share to the gaiety +of the company. By reason of his reading and his excellent memory, he +soon became the best story-teller among his companions; and even +the slight training gained from his studies greatly broadened and +strengthened the strong reasoning faculty with which he had been gifted +by nature. His wit might be mischievous, but it was never malicious, and +his nonsense was never intended to wound or to hurt the feelings. It +is told of him that he added to his fund of jokes and stories humorous +imitations of the sermons of eccentric preachers. + +Very likely too much is made of all these boyish pranks. He grew up very +like his fellows. In only one particular did he differ greatly from the +frontier boys around him. He never took any pleasure in hunting. Almost +every youth of the backwoods early became an excellent shot and a +confirmed sportsman. The woods still swarmed with game, and every cabin +depended largely upon this for its supply of food. But to his strength +was added a gentleness which made him shrink from killing or inflicting +pain, and the time the other boys gave to lying in ambush, he preferred +to spend in reading or in efforts at improving his mind. + +Only twice during his life in Indiana was the routine of his employment +changed. When he was about sixteen years old he worked for a time for +a man who lived at the mouth of Anderson's Creek, and here part of his +duty was to manage a ferry-boat which carried passengers across the +Ohio River. It was very likely this experience which, three years +later, brought him another. Mr. Gentry, the chief man of the village +of Gentryville that had grown up a mile or so from his father's cabin, +loaded a flatboat on the Ohio River with the produce his store +had collected--corn, flour, pork, bacon, and other miscellaneous +provisions--and putting it in charge of his son Allen Gentry and of +Abraham Lincoln, sent them with it down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +to sell its cargo at the plantations of the lower Mississippi, where +sugar and cotton were the principal crops, and where other food supplies +were needed to feed the slaves. No better proof is needed of the +reputation for strength, skill, honesty, and intelligence that this +tall country boy had already won for himself, than that he was chosen +to navigate the flatboat a thousand miles to the "sugar-coast" of the +Mississippi River, sell its load, and bring back the money. Allen Gentry +was supposed to be in command, but from the record of his after life we +may be sure that Abraham did his full share both of work and management. +The elder Gentry paid Lincoln eight dollars a month and his passage +home on a steamboat for this service. The voyage was made successfully, +although not without adventure; for one night, after the boat was tied +up to the shore, the boys were attacked by seven negroes, who came +aboard intending to kill and rob them. There was a lively scrimmage, in +which, though slightly hurt, they managed to beat off their assailants, +and then, hastily cutting their boat adrift, swung out on the stream. +The marauding band little dreamed that they were attacking the man who +in after years was to give their race its freedom; and though the future +was equally hidden from Abraham, it is hard to estimate the vistas of +hope and ambition that this long journey opened to him. It was his first +look into the wide, wide world. + + + + +II. CAPTAIN LINCOLN. + +By this time the Lincoln homestead was no longer on the frontier. During +the years that passed while Abraham was growing from a child, scarcely +able to wield the ax placed in his hands, into a tall, capable youth, +the line of frontier settlements had been gradually but steadily +pushing on beyond Gentryville toward the Mississippi River. Every summer +canvas-covered moving wagons wound their slow way over new roads into +still newer country; while the older settlers, left behind, watched +their progress with longing eyes. It was almost as if a spell had been +cast over these toil-worn pioneers, making them forget, at sight of such +new ventures, all the hardships they had themselves endured in subduing +the wilderness. At last, on March 1, 1830, when Abraham was just +twenty-one years old, the Lincolns, yielding to this overmastering +frontier impulse to "move" westward, left the old farm in Indiana to +make a new home in Illinois. "Their mode of conveyance was wagons drawn +by ox-teams," Mr. Lincoln wrote in 1860; "and Abraham drove one of the +teams." They settled in Macon County on the north side of the Sangamon +River, about ten miles west of Decatur, where they built a cabin, made +enough rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and cultivated the +ground, and raised a crop of corn upon it that first season. It was the +same heavy labor over again that they had endured when they went from +Kentucky to Indiana; but this time the strength and energy of young +Abraham were at hand to inspire and aid his father, and there was no +miserable shivering year of waiting in a half-faced camp before the +family could be suitably housed. They were not to escape hardship, +however. They fell victims to fever and ague, which they had not known +in Indiana, and became greatly discouraged; and the winter after their +arrival proved one of intense cold and suffering for the pioneers, being +known in the history of the State as "the winter of the deep snow." +The severe weather began in the Christmas holidays with a storm of such +fatal suddenness that people who were out of doors had difficulty in +reaching their homes, and not a few perished, their fate remaining +unknown until the melting snows of early spring showed where they had +fallen. + +In March, 1831, at the end of this terrible winter, Abraham Lincoln +left his father's cabin to seek his own fortune in the world. It was the +frontier custom for young men to do this when they reached the age of +twenty-one. Abraham was now twenty-two, but had willingly remained +with his people an extra year to give them the benefit of his labor and +strength in making the new home. + +He had become acquainted with a man named Offut, a trader and +speculator, who pretended to great business shrewdness, but whose chief +talent lay in boasting of the magnificent things he meant to do. Offut +engaged Abraham, with his stepmother's son, John D. Johnston, and John +Hanks, to take a flatboat from Beardstown, on the Illinois River, to +New Orleans; and all four arranged to meet at Springfield as soon as the +snow should melt. + +In March, when the snow finally melted, the country was flooded and +traveling by land was utterly out of the question. The boys, therefore, +bought a large canoe, and in it floated down the Sangamon River to keep +their appointment with Offut. It was in this somewhat unusual way that +Lincoln made his first entry into the town whose name was afterward to +be linked with his own. + +Offut was waiting for them, with the discouraging news that he had been +unable to get a flatboat at Beardstown. The young men promptly offered +to make the flatboat, since one was not to be bought; and they set to +work, felling the trees for it on the banks of the stream. Abraham's +father had been a carpenter, so the use of tools was no mystery to him; +and during his trip to New Orleans with Allen Gentry he had learned +enough about flatboats to give him confidence in this task of +shipbuilding. Neither Johnston nor Hanks was gifted with skill or +industry, and it is clear that Lincoln was, from the start, leader of +the party, master of construction, and captain of the craft. + +The floods went down rapidly while the boat was building, and when +they tried to sail their new craft it stuck midway across the dam of +Rutledge's mill at New Salem, a village of fifteen or twenty houses not +many miles from their starting-point. With its bow high in air, and its +stern under water, it looked like some ungainly fish trying to fly, or +some bird making an unsuccessful attempt to swim. The voyagers appeared +to have suffered irreparable shipwreck at the very outset of their +venture, and men and women came down from their houses to offer advice +or to make fun of the young boatmen as they waded about in the water, +with trousers rolled very high, seeking a way out of their difficulty. +Lincoln's self-control and good humor proved equal to their banter, +while his engineering skill speedily won their admiration. The amusement +of the onlookers changed to gaping wonder when they saw him deliberately +bore a hole in the bottom of the boat near the bow, after which, fixing +up some kind of derrick, he tipped the boat so that the water she had +taken in at the stern ran out in front, and she floated safely over the +dam. This novel method of bailing a boat by boring a hole in her +bottom fully established his fame at New Salem, and so delighted the +enthusiastic Offut that, on the spot, he engaged its inventor to come +back after the voyage to New Orleans and act as clerk for him in a +store. + +The hole plugged up again, and the boat's cargo reloaded, they made the +remainder of the journey in safety. Lincoln returned by steamer from New +Orleans to St. Louis, and from there made his way to New Salem on foot. +He expected to find Offut already established in the new store, but +neither he nor his goods had arrived. While "loafing about," as the +citizens of New Salem expressed it, waiting for him, the newcomer had a +chance to exhibit another of his accomplishments. An election was to +be held, but one of the clerks, being taken suddenly ill, could not be +present. Penmen were not plenty in the little town, and Mentor Graham, +the other election clerk, looking around in perplexity for some one +to fill the vacant place, asked young Lincoln if he knew how to write. +Lincoln answered, in the lazy speech of the country, that he "could +make a few rabbit tracks," and that being deemed quite sufficient, was +immediately sworn in, and set about discharging the duties of his first +office. The way he performed these not only gave general satisfaction, +but greatly interested Mentor Graham, who was the village schoolmaster, +and from that time on proved a most helpful friend to him. + +Offut finally arrived with a miscellaneous lot of goods, which Lincoln +opened and put in order, and the storekeeping began. Trade does not seem +to have been brisk, for Offut soon increased his venture by renting the +Rutledge and Cameron mill, on whose historic dam the flatboat had come +to grief. For a while the care of this mill was added to Lincoln's other +duties. He made himself generally useful besides, his old implement, the +ax, not being entirely discarded. We are told that he cut down trees +and split rails enough to make a large hogpen adjoining the mill, a +performance not at all surprising when it is remembered that up to this +time the greater part of his life had been spent in the open air, and +that his still growing muscles must have eagerly welcomed tasks like +this, which gave him once more the exercise that measuring calico and +weighing out groceries failed to supply. Young Lincoln's bodily vigor +stood him in good stead in many ways. In frontier life strength and +athletic skill served as well for popular amusement as for prosaic +toil, and at times, indeed, they were needed for personal defence. +Every community had its champion wrestler, a man of considerable local +importance, in whose success the neighbors took a becoming interest. +There was, not far from New Salem, a settlement called Clary's Grove, +where lived a set of restless, rollicking young backwoodsmen with a +strong liking for frontier athletics and rough practical jokes. Jack +Armstrong was the leader of these, and until Lincoln's arrival had been +the champion wrestler of both Clary's Grove and New Salem. He and his +friends had not the slightest personal grudge against Lincoln; but +hearing the neighborhood talk about the newcomer, and especially Offut's +extravagant praise of his clerk, who, according to Offut's statement, +knew more than any one else in the United States, and could beat the +whole county at running, jumping or "wrastling," they decided that the +time had come to assert themselves, and strove to bring about a trial of +strength between Armstrong and Lincoln. Lincoln, who disapproved of all +this "woolling and pulling," as he called it, and had no desire to come +to blows with his neighbors, put off the encounter as long as possible. +At length even his good temper was powerless to avert it, and the +wrestling-match took place. Jack Armstrong soon found that he had +tackled a man as strong and skilful as himself; and his friends, seeing +him likely to get the worst of it, swarmed to his assistance, almost +succeeding, by tripping and kicking, in getting Lincoln down. At the +unfairness of this Lincoln became suddenly and furiously angry, put +forth his entire strength, lifted the pride of Clary's Grove in his arms +like a child, and holding him high in the air, almost choked the life +out of him. It seemed for a moment as though a general fight must +follow; but even while Lincoln's fierce rage compelled their respect, +his quickly returning self-control won their admiration, and the +crisis was safely passed. Instead of becoming enemies and leaders in a +neighborhood feud, as might have been expected, the two grew to be warm +friends, the affection thus strangely begun lasting through life. They +proved useful to each other in various ways, and years afterward Lincoln +made ample amends for his rough treatment of the other's throat by +saving the neck of Jack Armstrong's son from the halter in a memorable +trial for murder. The Clary's Grove "boys" voted Lincoln "the cleverest +fellow that had ever broke into the settlement," and thereafter took +as much pride in his peaceableness and book-learning as they did in +the rougher and more questionable accomplishments of their discomfited +leader. + +Lincoln himself was not so easily satisfied. His mind as well as his +muscles hungered for work, and he confided to Mentor Graham, possibly +with some diffidence, his "notion to study English grammar." Instead of +laughing at him, Graham heartily encouraged the idea, saying it was the +very best thing he could do. With quickened zeal Lincoln announced that +if he had a grammar he would begin at once at this the schoolmaster +was obliged to confess that he knew of no such book in New Salem. He +thought, however, that there might be one at Vaner's, six miles away. +Promptly after breakfast the next morning Lincoln set out in search of +it. He brought the precious volume home in triumph, and with Graham's +occasional help found no difficulty in mastering its contents. Indeed, +it is very likely that he was astonished, and even a bit disappointed, +to find so little mystery in it. He is reported to have said that if +this was a "science," he thought he would like to begin on another one. +In the eyes of the townspeople, however, it was no small achievement, +and added greatly to his reputation as a scholar. There is no record +of any other study commenced at this time, but it is certain that he +profited much by helpful talks with Mentor Graham, and that he borrowed +every book the schoolmaster's scanty library was able to furnish. + +Though outwardly uneventful, this period of his life was both happy +and profitable. He was busy at useful labor, was picking up scraps of +schooling, was making friends and learning to prize them at their true +worth; was, in short, developing rapidly from a youth into a young man. +Already he began to feel stirrings of ambition which prompted him to +look beyond his own daily needs toward the larger interests of +his county and his State. An election for members of the Illinois +legislature was to take place in August, 1832. Sangamon County +was entitled to four representatives. Residents of the county over +twenty-one years of age were eligible to election, and audacious as it +might appear, Lincoln determined to be a candidate. + +The people of New Salem, like those of all other Western towns, took a +keen interest in politics; "politics" meaning, in that time and place, +not only who was to be President or governor, but concerning itself +with questions which came much closer home to dwellers on the frontier. +"Internal improvements," as they were called--the building of roads and +clearing out of streams so that men and women who lived in remote places +might be able to travel back and forth and carry on trade with the rest +of the world--became a burning question in Illinois. There was great +need of such improvements; and in this need young Lincoln saw his +opportunity. + +It was by way of the Sangamon River that he entered politics. That +uncertain watercourse had already twice befriended him. He had floated +on it in flood-time from his father's cabin into Springfield. A +few weeks later its rapidly falling waters landed him on the dam at +Rutledge's mill, introducing him effectively if unceremoniously to the +inhabitants of New Salem. Now it was again to play a part in his life, +starting him on a political career that ended only in the White House. +Surely no insignificant stream has had a greater influence on the +history of a famous man. It was a winding and sluggish creek, encumbered +with driftwood and choked by sand-bars; but it flowed through a country +already filled with ambitious settlers, where the roads were atrociously +bad, becoming in rainy seasons wide seas of pasty black mud, and +remaining almost impassable for weeks at a time. After a devious course +the Sangamon found its way into the Illinois River, and that in turn +flowed into the Mississippi. Most of the settlers were too new to the +region to know what a shallow, unprofitable stream the Sangamon really +was, for the deep snows of 183031 and of the following winter had +supplied it with an unusual volume of water. It was natural, therefore, +that they should regard it as the heaven-sent solution of their problem +of travel and traffic with the outside world. If it could only be freed +from driftwood, and its channel straightened a little, they felt sure it +might be used for small steamboats during a large part of the year. + +The candidates for the legislature that summer staked their chances of +success on the zeal they showed for "internal improvements." Lincoln +was only twenty-three. He had been in the county barely nine months. +Sangamon County was then considerably larger than the whole State of +Rhode Island, and he was of course familiar with only a small part of it +or its people; but he felt that he did know the river. He had sailed on +it and been shipwrecked by it; he had, moreover, been one of a party of +men and boys, armed with long-handled axes, who went out to chop away +obstructions and meet a small steamer that, a few weeks earlier, had +actually forced its way up from the Illinois River. + +Following the usual custom, he announced his candidacy in the local +newspaper in a letter dated March 9, addressed "To the People of +Sangamon County." It was a straightforward, manly statement of his views +on questions of the day, written in as good English as that used by the +average college-bred man of his years. The larger part of it was +devoted to arguments for the improvement of the Sangamon River. Its main +interest for us lies in the frank avowal of his personal ambition that +is contained in the closing paragraph. + +"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition," he wrote. "Whether +it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as +that of being truly esteemed of my fellowmen by rendering myself worthy +of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is +yet to be developed. I am young, and unknown to many of you. I was born, +and have ever remained, in the most humble walks of life. I have no +wealthy or popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is +thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and if +elected, they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be +unremitting in my labors to compensate. But if the good people in their +wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too +familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined." + +He soon had an opportunity of being useful to his fellow-men, though in +a way very different from the one he was seeking. About four weeks after +he had published his letter "To the People of Sangamon County," news +came that Black Hawk, the veteran war-chief of the Sac Indians, was +heading an expedition to cross the Mississippi River and occupy once +more the lands that had been the home of his people. There was great +excitement among the settlers in Northern Illinois, and the governor +called for six hundred volunteers to take part in a campaign against the +Indians. He met a quick response; and Lincoln, unmindful of what might +become of his campaign for the legislature if he went away, was among +the first to enlist. When his company met on the village green to choose +their officers, three-quarters of the men, to Lincoln's intense surprise +and pleasure, marched over to the spot where he was standing and grouped +themselves around him, signifying in this way their wish to make him +captain. We have his own word for it that no success of his after life +gave him nearly as much satisfaction. On April 21, two days after the +call for volunteers had been printed, the company was organized. A week +later it was mustered into service, becoming part of the Fourth Illinois +Mounted Volunteers, and started at once for the hostile frontier. + +Lincoln's soldiering lasted about three months. He was in no battle, but +there was plenty of "roughing it," and occasionally real hardship, +as when the men were obliged to go for three days without food. The +volunteers had not enlisted for any definite length of time, and seeing +no prospect of fighting, they soon became clamorous to return home. +Accordingly his and other companies were mustered out of service on +May 27, at the mouth of Fox River. At the same time the governor, not +wishing to weaken his forces before the arrival of other soldiers to +take their places, called for volunteers to remain twenty days longer. +Lincoln had gone to the frontier to do real service, not for the glory +of being captain. Accordingly, on the day on which he was mustered out +as an officer he re-enlisted, becoming Private Lincoln in Captain Iles's +company of mounted volunteers, sometimes known as the Independent Spy +Battalion. This organization appears to have been very independent +indeed, not under the control of any regiment or brigade, but receiving +orders directly from the commander-in-chief, and having many unusual +privileges, such as freedom from all camp duties, and permission to +draw rations as much and as often as they pleased. After laying down +his official dignity and joining this band of privileged warriors, the +campaign became much more of a holiday for the tall volunteer from New +Salem. He entered with enthusiasm into all the games and athletic +sports with which the soldiers beguiled the tedium of camp, and grew in +popularity from beginning to end of his service. When, at length, the +Independent Spy Battalion was mustered out on June 16, 1832, he started +on the journey home with a merry group of his companions. He and his +messmate, George M. Harrison, had the misfortune to have their horses +stolen the very day before, but Harrison's record says: + +"I laughed at our fate, and he joked at it, and we all started of +merrily. The generous men of our company walked and rode by turns with +us, and we fared about equal with the rest. But for this generosity, our +legs would have had to do the better work, for in that day this dreary +route furnished no horses to buy or to steal, and whether on horse or +afoot, we always had company, for many of the horses' backs were too +sore for riding." + +Lincoln reached New Salem about the first of August, only ten days +before the election. He had lost nothing in popular esteem by his prompt +enlistment to defend the frontier, and his friends had been doing manful +service for him; but there were by this time thirteen candidates in +the field, with a consequent division of interest. When the votes +were counted, Lincoln was found to be eighth on the list--an excellent +showing when we remember that he was a newcomer in the county, and that +he ran as a Whig, which was the unpopular party. In his own home town of +New Salem only three votes had been cast against him. Flattering as all +this was, the fact remained that he was defeated, and the result of the +election brought him face to face with a very serious question. He was +without means and without employment. Offut had failed and had gone +away. What was he to do next? He thought of putting his strong muscles +to account by learning the blacksmith trade; thought also of trying +to become a lawyer, but feared he could not succeed at that without a +better education. It was the same problem that has confronted millions +of young Americans before and since. In his case there was no question +which he would rather be--the only question was what success he might +reasonably hope for if he tried to study law. + +Before his mind was fully made up, chance served to postpone, and in the +end greatly to increase his difficulty. Offut's successors in business, +two brothers named Herndon, had become discouraged, and they offered to +sell out to Lincoln and an acquaintance of his named William F. Berry, +on credit, taking their promissory notes in payment. Lincoln and Berry +could not foresee that the town of New Salem had already lived through +its best days, and was destined to dwindle and grow smaller until it +almost disappeared from the face of the earth. Unduly hopeful, they +accepted the offer, and also bought out, on credit, two other merchants +who were anxious to sell. It is clear that the flattering vote Lincoln +had received at the recent election, and the confidence New Salem felt +in his personal character, alone made these transactions possible, since +not a dollar of actual money changed hands during all this shifting +of ownership. In the long run the people's faith in him was fully +justified; but meantime he suffered years of worry and harassing debt. +Berry proved a worthless partner; the business a sorry failure. +Seeing this, Lincoln and Berry sold out, again on credit, to the Trent +brothers, who soon broke up the store and ran away. Berry also departed +and died; and in the end all the notes came back upon Lincoln for +payment. Of course he had not the money to meet these obligations. He +did the next best thing: he promised to pay as soon as he could, and +remaining where he was, worked hard at whatever he found to do. Most +of his creditors, knowing him to be a man of his word, patiently bided +their time, until, in the course of long years, he paid, with interest, +every cent of what he used to call, in rueful satire upon his own folly, +his "National Debt." + + + + +III. LAWYER LINCOLN + +Unlucky as Lincoln's attempt at storekeeping had been, it served one +good purpose. Indeed, in a way it may be said to have determined his +whole future career. He had had a hard struggle to decide between +becoming a blacksmith or a lawyer; and when chance seemed to offer a +middle course, and he tried to be a merchant, the wish to study law had +certainly not faded from his mind. + +There is a story that while cleaning up the store, he came upon a barrel +which contained, among a lot of forgotten rubbish, some stray volumes +of Blackstone's "Commentaries," and that this lucky find still further +quickened his interest in the law. Whether this tale be true or not it +seems certain that during the time the store was running its downward +course from bad to worse, he devoted a large part of his too abundant +leisure to reading and study of various kinds. People who knew him then +have told how he would lie for hours under a great oak-tree that grew +just outside the store door, poring over his book, and "grinding around +with the shade" as it shifted from north to east. + +Lincoln's habit of reading was still further encouraged by his being +appointed postmaster of New Salem on May 7, 1833, an office he held for +about three years--until New Salem grew too small to have a post-office +of its own, and the mail was sent to a neighboring town. The office +was so insignificant that according to popular fable it had no fixed +abiding-place, Lincoln being supposed to carry it about with him in +his hat! It was, however, large enough to bring him a certain amount of +consideration, and, what pleased him still better, plenty of newspapers +to read--newspapers that just then were full of the exciting debates of +Clay and Webster, and other great men in Congress. + +The rate of postage on letters was still twenty-five cents, and small as +the earnings of the office undoubtedly were, a little change found +its way now and then into his hands. In the scarcity of money on the +frontier, this had an importance hard for us to realize. A portion of +this money, of course, belonged to the government. That he used only +what was rightfully his own we could be very sure, even if a sequel to +this post office experience were not known which shows his scrupulous +honesty where government funds were concerned. Years later, after he had +become a practising lawyer in Springfield, an agent of the Post-office +Department called upon him in his office one day to collect a balance +due from the New Salem post-office, amounting to about seventeen +dollars. A shade of perplexity passed over his face, and a friend, +sitting by, offered to lend him the money if he did not at the moment +have it with him. Without answering, Lincoln rose, and going to a little +trunk that stood by the wall, opened it and took out the exact sum, +carefully done up in a small package. "I never use any man's money but +my own," he quietly remarked, after the agent had gone. + +Soon after he was raised to the dignity of postmaster another piece of +good fortune came in his way. Sangamon County covered a territory some +forty miles long by fifty wide, and almost every citizen in it seemed +intent on buying or selling land, laying out new roads, or locating some +future city. John Calhoun, the county surveyor, therefore, found himself +with far more work than he could personally attend to, and had to +appoint deputies to assist him. Learning the high esteem in which +Lincoln was held by the people of New Salem, he wisely concluded to make +him a deputy, although they differed in politics. It was a flattering +offer, and Lincoln accepted gladly. Of course he knew almost nothing +about surveying, but he got a compass and chain, and, as he tells us, +"studied Flint and Gibson a little, and went at it." The surveyor, +who was a man of talent and education, not only gave Lincoln the +appointment, but, it is said, lent him the book in which to study the +art. Lincoln carried the book to his friend Mentor Graham, and "went at +it" to such purpose that in six weeks he was ready to begin the practice +of his new profession. Like Washington, who, it will be remembered, +followed the same calling in his youth, he became an excellent surveyor. + +Lincoln's store had by this time "winked out," to use his own quaint +phrase; and although the surveying and his post-office supplied his +daily needs, they left absolutely nothing toward paying his "National +Debt." Some of his creditors began to get uneasy, and in the latter part +of 1834 a man named Van Bergen, who held one of the Lincoln-Berry notes, +refusing to trust him any longer, had his horse, saddle, and surveying +instruments seized by the sheriff and sold at public auction, thus +sweeping away the means by which, as he said, he "procured bread and +kept soul and body together." Even in this strait his known honesty +proved his salvation. Out of pure friendliness, James Short bought in +the property and gave it back to the young surveyor, allowing him time +to repay. + +It took Lincoln seventeen years to get rid of his troublesome "National +Debt," the last instalment not being paid until after his return +from his term of service in Congress at Washington; but it was these +seventeen years of industry, rigid economy, and unflinching fidelity to +his promises that earned for him the title of "Honest Old Abe," which +proved of such inestimable value to himself and his country. + +During all this time of trial and disappointment he never lost his +courage, his steady, persevering industry, or his determination to +succeed. He was not too proud to accept any honest employment that +offered itself. He would go into the harvest-field and work there when +other tasks were not pressing, or use his clerkly hand to straighten up +a neglected ledger; and his lively humor, as well as his industry, made +him a welcome guest at any farm-house in the county. Whatever he might +be doing, he was never too busy to help a neighbor. His strong arm was +always at the service of the poor and needy. + +Two years after his defeat for the legislature there was another +election. His friends and acquaintances in the county had increased, +and, since he had received such a flattering vote the first time, it was +but natural that he should wish to try again. He began his campaign +in April, giving himself full three months for electioneering. It +was customary in those days for candidates to attend all manner +of neighborhood gatherings--"raisings" of new cabins, horseraces, +shooting-matches, auctions--anything that served to call the settlers +together; and it was social popularity, quite as much as ability to +discuss political questions, that carried weight with such assemblies. +Lincoln, it is needless to say, was in his element. He might be called +upon to act as judge in a horse-race, or to make a speech upon the +Constitution! He could do both. As a laughing peacemaker between two +quarrelsome patriots he had no equal; and as contestant in an impromptu +match at quoit-throwing, or lifting heavy weights, his native tact and +strong arm served him equally well. Candidates also visited farms and +outlying settlements, where they were sometimes unexpectedly called upon +to show their mettle and muscle in more useful labor. One farmer has +recorded how Lincoln "came to my house near Island Grove during harvest. +There were some thirty men in the field. He got his dinner, and went out +in the field where the men were at work. I gave him an introduction, and +the boys said that they could not vote for a man unless he could make a +hand. 'Well, boys,' said he, 'if that is all, I am sure of your votes.' +He took hold of the cradle and led the way all the round with perfect +ease. The boys were satisfied, and I don't think he lost a vote in the +crowd." + +Sometimes two or more candidates would meet at such places, and short +speeches would be called for and given, the harvesters throwing down +their scythes meanwhile to listen, and enlivening the occasion with keen +criticisms of the method and logic of the rival orators. Altogether the +campaign was more spirited than that of two years before. Again there +were thirteen candidates for the four places; but this time, when the +election was over, it was found that only one man in the long list had +received more votes than Abraham Lincoln. + +Lincoln's election to the legislature of Illinois in August, 1834, marks +the end of the pioneer period of his life. He was done now with the wild +carelessness of the woods, with the rough jollity of Clary's Grove, with +odd jobs for his daily bread--with all the details of frontier poverty. +He continued for years to be a very poor man, harassed by debts he was +constantly laboring to pay, and sometimes absolutely without money: +but from this time on he met and worked with men of wider knowledge +and better-trained minds than those he had known in Gentryville and New +Salem, while the simple social life of Vandalia, where he went to attend +the sessions of the legislature, was more elegant than anything he had +yet seen. + +It must be frankly admitted that his success at this election was a most +important event in his life. Another failure might have discouraged +even his hopeful spirit, and sent him to the blacksmith-shop to make +wagon-tires and shoe horses for the balance of his days. With this +flattering vote to his credit, however, he could be very sure that he +had made a wise choice between the forge and the lawyer's desk. At +first he did not come into special notice in the legislature. He wore, +according to the custom of the time, a decent suit of blue jeans, and +was known simply as a rather quiet young man, good-natured and sensible. +Soon people began to realize that he was a man to be reckoned with in +the politics of the county and State. He was reelected in 1836, 1838, +and 1840, and thus for eight years had a full share in shaping the +public laws of Illinois. The Illinois legislature may indeed be called +the school wherein he learned that extraordinary skill and wisdom in +statesmanship which he exhibited in later years. In 1838 and 1840 all +the Whig members of the Illinois House of Representatives gave him their +vote for Speaker, but, the Democrats being in a majority, could not +elect him. + +His campaign expenses were small enough to suit the most exacting. It is +recorded that at one time some of the leading Whigs made up a purse of +two hundred dollars to pay his personal expenses. After the election he +returned the sum of $199.25, with the request that it be given back to +the subscribers. "I did not need the money," he explained. "I made +the canvass on my own horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of +friends, cost me nothing; and my only outlay was seventy-five cents for +a barrel of cider, which some farm-hands insisted I should treat them +to." + +One act of his while a member of the legislature requires special +mention because of the great events of his after-life. Even at that +early date, nearly a quarter of a century before the beginning of the +Civil War, slavery was proving a cause of much trouble and ill-will. The +"abolitionists," as the people were called who wished the slaves to +be free, and the "pro-slavery" men, who approved of keeping them in +bondage, had already come to wordy war. Illinois was a free State, but +many of its people preferred slavery, and took every opportunity of +making their wishes known. In 1837 the legislature passed a set of +resolutions "highly disapproving abolition societies." Lincoln and five +others voted against it; but, not content with this, Lincoln also drew +up a paper protesting against the passage of such a resolution and +stating his views on slavery. They were not extreme views. Though +declaring slavery to be an evil, he did not insist that the black people +ought to be set free. But so strong was the popular feeling against +anything approaching "abolitionism" that only one man out of the five +who voted against the resolution had the courage to sign this protest +with him. Lincoln was young, poor, and in need of all the good-will at +his command. Nobody could have blamed him for leaving it unwritten; yet +he felt the wrong of slavery so keenly that he could not keep silent +merely because the views he held happened to be unpopular; and this +protest, signed by him and Dan Stone, has come down to us, the first +notable public act in the great career that made his name immortal. + +During the eight years that he was in the legislature he had been +working away at the law. Even before his first election his friend John +T. Stuart, who had been major of volunteers in the Black Hawk War +while Lincoln was captain, and who, like Lincoln, had reenlisted in the +Independent Spy Battalion, had given him hearty encouragement. Stuart +was now practising law in. Springfield. After the campaign was over, +Lincoln borrowed the necessary books of Stuart, and entered upon the +study in good earnest. According to his own statement, "he studied with +nobody. ... In the autumn of 1836 he obtained a law license, and on +April 15, 1837, removed to Springfield and commenced the practice, his +old friend Stuart taking him into partnership." + +Lincoln had already endeared himself to the people of Springfield by +championing a project they had much at heart--the removal of the State +capital from Vandalia to their own town. This was accomplished, largely +through his efforts, about the time he went to Springfield to live. +This change from New Salem, a village of fifteen or twenty houses, to a +"city" of two thousand inhabitants, placed him once more in striking new +relations as to dress, manners, and society. Yet, as in the case of +his removal from his father's cabin to New Salem six years earlier, the +change was not so startling as would at first appear. In spite of its +larger population and its ambition as the new State capital, Springfield +was at that time in many ways no great improvement upon New Salem. It +had no public buildings, its streets and sidewalks were still unpaved, +and business of all kinds was laboring under the burden of hard times. + +As for himself, although he now owned a license to practise law, it was +still a question how well he would succeed--whether his rugged mind and +firm purpose could win him the livelihood he desired, or whether, after +all, he would be forced to turn his strong muscles to account in earning +his daily bread. Usually so hopeful, there were times when he was +greatly depressed. His friend William Butler relates how, as they were +riding together on horseback from Vandalia to Springfield at the close +of a session of the legislature, Lincoln, in one of these gloomy moods, +told him of the almost hopeless prospect that lay immediately before +him. The session was over, his salary was all drawn, the money all +spent; he had no work, and did not know where to turn to earn even a +week's board. Butler bade him be of good cheer, and, kind practical +friend that he was, took him and his belongings to his own home, keeping +him there for a time as his guest. His most intimate friend of those +days, Joshua F. Speed, tells us that soon after riding into the new +capital on a borrowed horse, with all his earthly possessions packed +in a pair of saddle-bags, Lincoln entered the store owned by Speed, +the saddle-bags over his arm, to ask the price of a single bed with +its necessary coverings and pillows. His question being answered, he +remarked that very likely that was cheap enough, but, small as the price +was, he was unable to pay it; adding that if Speed was willing to credit +him until Christmas, and his experiment as a lawyer proved a success, he +would pay then. "If I fail in this," he said sadly, "I do not know that +I can ever pay you." Speed thought he had never seen such a sorrowful +face. He suggested that instead of going into debt, Lincoln might share +his own roomy quarters over the store, assuring him that if he chose +to accept the offer, he would be very welcome. "Where is your room?" +Lincoln asked quickly. "Upstairs," and the young merchant pointed to a +flight of winding steps leading from the store to the room overhead. + +Lincoln picked up the saddle-bags, went upstairs, set them down on the +floor, and reappeared a moment later, beaming with pleasure. "Well, +Speed," he exclaimed, "I am moved!" It is seldom that heartier, truer +friendships come to a man than came to Lincoln in the course of his +life. On the other hand, no one ever deserved better of his fellow-men +than he did; and it is pleasant to know that such brotherly aid as +Butler and Speed were able to give him, offered in all sincerity and +accepted in a spirit that left no sense of galling obligation on either +side, helped the young lawyer over present difficulties and made it +possible for him to keep on in the career he had marked out for himself. + +The lawyer who works his way up from a five-dollar fee in a suit before +a justice of the peace, to a five-thousand-dollar fee before the Supreme +Court of his State, has a long and hard path to climb. Lincoln +climbed this path for twenty-five years, with industry, perseverance, +patience--above all, with that self-control and keen sense of right and +wrong which always clearly traced the dividing line between his duty to +his client and his duty to society and truth. His perfect frankness +of statement assured him the confidence of judge and jury in every +argument. His habit of fully admitting the weak points in his case +gained him their close attention to his strong ones, and when clients +brought him questionable cases his advice was always not to bring suit. + +"Yes," he once said to a man who offered him such a case; "there is +no reasonable doubt but that I can gain your case for you. I can set a +whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed mother +and her six fatherless children, and thereby gain for you six hundred +dollars, which rightfully belongs, it appears to me, as much to them as +it does to you. I shall not take your case, but I will give you a little +advice for nothing. You seem a sprightly, energetic man. I would advise +you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some other way." + +He would have nothing to do with the "tricks" of the profession, though +he met these readily enough when practised by others. He never knowingly +undertook a case in which justice was on the side of his opponent. That +same inconvenient honesty which prompted him, in his store-keeping +days, to close the shop and go in search of a woman he had innocently +defrauded of a few ounces of tea while weighing out her groceries, made +it impossible for him to do his best with a poor case. "Swett," he once +exclaimed, turning suddenly to his associate, "the man is guilty; you +defend him--I can't," and gave up his share of a large fee. + +After his death some notes were found, written in his own hand, that had +evidently been intended for a little lecture or talk to law students. +They set forth forcibly, in a few words, his idea of what a lawyer ought +to be and to do. He earnestly commends diligence in study, and, after +diligence, promptness in keeping up the work. "As a general rule, never +take your whole fee in advance," he says, "nor any more than a small +retainer. When fully paid beforehand you are more than a common mortal +if you can feel the same interest in the case as if something were still +in prospect for you as well as for your client." Speech-making should +be practised and cultivated. "It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. +However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow +to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. And yet, there is +not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on +speech-making. If any one, upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim +an exemption from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure +in advance." Discourage going to law. "Persuade your neighbors to +compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner +is often a real loser--in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a +peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. +There will still be business enough." "There is a vague popular belief +that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. Let no young man choosing the +law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief. Resolve to +be honest at all events; and if, in your own judgment, you cannot be an +honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some +other occupation rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in +advance, consent to be a knave." + +While becoming a lawyer, Lincoln still remained a politician. In those +early days in the West, the two occupations went hand in hand, almost +of necessity. Laws had to be newly made to fit the needs of the new +settlements, and therefore a large proportion of lawyers was sent to +the State legislature. In the summer these same lawyers went about the +State, practising before the circuit courts, Illinois being divided into +what were called judicial circuits, each taking in several counties, +and sometimes covering territory more than a hundred miles square. +Springfield and the neighboring towns were in the eighth judicial +circuit. Twice a year the circuit judge traveled from one county-seat to +another, the lawyers who had business before the court following also. +As newspapers were neither plentiful nor widely read, members of the +legislature were often called upon, while on these journeys, to explain +the laws they had helped to make during the previous winter, and +thus became the political teachers of the people. They had to be well +informed and watchful. When, like Mr. Lincoln, they were witty, and had +a fund of interesting stories besides, they were sure of a welcome and +a hearing in the courtroom, or in the social gatherings that roused the +various little towns during "court-week" into a liveliness quite put of +the common. The tavern would be crowded to its utmost--the judge having +the best room, and the lawyers being put in what was left, late comers +being lucky to find even a sleeping-place on the floor. When not +occupied in court, or preparing cases for the morrow, they would sit +in the public room, or carry their chairs out on the sidewalk in front, +exchanging stories and anecdotes, or pieces of political wisdom, while +men from the town and surrounding farms, dropping in on one pretext or +another, found excuse to linger and join in the talk. At meal-times the +judge presided at the head of the long hotel table, on which the food +was abundant if not always wholesome, and around which lawyers, jurors, +witnesses, prisoners out on bail, and the men who drove the teams, +gathered in friendly equality. Stories of what Mr. Lincoln did and said +on the eighth judicial circuit are still quoted almost with the force +of law; for in this close companionship men came to know each other +thoroughly, and were judged at their true value professionally, as well +as for their power to entertain. + +It was only in worldly wealth that Lincoln was poor. He could hold his +own with the best on the eighth judicial circuit, or anywhere else +in the State. He made friends wherever he went. In politics, in +daily conversation, in his work as a lawyer, his life was gradually +broadening. Slowly but surely, too, his gifts as an attractive public +speaker were becoming known. In 1837 he wrote and delivered an able +address before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield. In December, 1839, +Stephen A. Douglas, the most brilliant of the young Democrats then in +Springfield, challenged the young Whigs of the town to a tournament of +political speech-making, in which Lincoln bore a full and successful +share. + +The man who could not pay a week's board bill was again elected to the +legislature, was invited to public banquets and toasted by name, became +a popular speaker, moved in the best society of the new capital, and +made, as his friends and neighbors declared, a brilliant marriage. + + + + +IV. CONGRESSMAN LINCOLN + +Hopeful and cheerful as he ordinarily seemed, there was in Mr. Lincoln's +disposition a strain of deep melancholy. This was not peculiar to him +alone, for the pioneers as a race were somber rather than gay. Their +lives had been passed for generations under the most trying physical +conditions, near malaria-infested streams, and where they breathed the +poison of decaying vegetation. Insufficient shelter, storms, the cold of +winter, savage enemies, and the cruel labor that killed off all but the +hardiest of them, had at the same time killed the happy-go-lucky gaiety +of an easier form of life. They were thoughtful, watchful, wary; capable +indeed of wild merriment: but it has been said that although a pioneer +might laugh, he could not easily be made to smile. Lincoln's mind was +unusually sound and sane and normal. He had a cheerful, wholesome, sunny +nature, yet he had inherited the strongest traits of the pioneers, +and there was in him, moreover, much of the poet, with a poet's great +capacity for joy and pain. It is not strange that as he developed into +manhood, especially when his deeper nature began to feel the stirrings +of ambition and of love, these seasons of depression and gloom came upon +him with overwhelming force. + +During his childhood he had known few women, save his mother, and that +kind, God-fearing woman his stepmother, who did so much to make his +childhood hopeful and happy. No man ever honored women more truly than +did Abraham Lincoln; while all the qualities that caused men to like +him--his strength, his ambition, his kindliness--served equally to make +him a favorite with them. In the years of his young manhood three women +greatly occupied his thoughts. The first was the slender, fair-haired +Ann Rutledge, whom he very likely saw for the first time as she stood +with the group of mocking people on the river-bank, near her father's +mill, the day Lincoln's flatboat stuck on the dam at New Salem. It was +her death, two years before he went to live at Springfield, that brought +on the first attack of melancholy of which we know, causing him such +deep grief that for a time his friends feared his sorrow might drive him +insane. + +Another friend was Mary Owens, a Kentucky girl, very different from +the gentle, blue-eyed Ann Rutledge, but worthy in every way of a man's +affections. She had visited her sister in New Salem several years +before, and Lincoln remembered her as a tall, handsome, well-educated +young woman, who could be serious as well as gay, and who was considered +wealthy. In the autumn of 1836, her sister, Mrs. Able, then about to +start on a visit to Kentucky, jokingly offered to bring Mary back if +Lincoln would promise to marry her. He, also in jest, agreed to do so. +Much to his astonishment, he learned, a few months later, that she had +actually returned with Mrs. Able, and his sensitive conscience made him +feel that the jest had turned into real earnest, and that he was in +duty bound to keep his promise if she wished him to do so. They had both +changed since they last met; neither proved quite pleasing to the other, +yet an odd sort of courtship was kept up, until, some time after Lincoln +went to live in Springfield, Miss Owens put an end to the affair by +refusing him courteously but firmly. Meantime he lived through much +unhappiness and uncertainty of spirit, and made up his mind "never +again to think of marrying": a resolution which he kept--until another +Kentucky girl drove it from his thoughts. + +Springfield had by this time become very lively and enterprising. There +was a deal of "flourishing around in carriages," as Lincoln wrote Miss +Owens, and business and politics and society all played an active part +in the life of the little town. The meetings of the legislature brought +to the new capital a group of young men of unusual talent and ability. +There was friendly rivalry between them, and party disputes ran high, +but social good-humor prevailed, and the presence of these brilliant +young people, later to become famous as Presidential candidates, cabinet +ministers, senators, congressmen, orators, and battle heroes, lent +to the social gatherings of Springfield a zest rarely found in larger +places. + +Into the midst of this gaiety came Mary Todd of Kentucky, twenty-one +years old, handsome, accomplished and witty--a dashing and fascinating +figure in dress and conversation. She was the sister of Mrs. Ninian +W. Edwards, whose husband was a prominent Whig member of the +legislature--one of the "Long Nine," as these men were known. Their +added height was said to be fifty-five feet, and they easily made up in +influence what they lacked in numbers. Lincoln was the "tallest" of them +all in body and in mind, and although as poor as a church mouse, was +quite as welcome anywhere as the men who wore ruffled shirts and could +carry gold watches. Miss Todd soon singled out and held the admiration +of such of the Springfield beaux as pleased her somewhat wilful fancy, +and Lincoln, being much at the Edwards house, found himself, almost +before he knew it, entangled in a new love-affair. In the course of a +twelvemonth he was engaged to marry her, but something, nobody knows +what or how, happened to break the engagement, and to plunge him again +in a very sea of wretchedness. Nor is it necessary that we should know +about it further than that a great trouble came upon him, which he bore +nobly, after his kind. Few men have had his stern sense of duty, his +tenderness of heart, his conscience, so easy toward others, so merciless +toward himself. The trouble preyed upon his mind until he could think +of nothing else. He became unable to attend to business, or to take any +part in the life around him. Fearing for his reason as well as for his +health if this continued, his good friend Joshua F. Speed carried him +off, whether he wished or no, for a visit to his own home in Kentucky. +Here they stayed for some time, and Lincoln grew much better, returning +to Springfield about midsummer, almost his old self, though far from +happy. + +An affair that helped to bring the lovers together again is so out of +keeping with the rest of his life, that it would deserve mention for +that reason, if for no other. This is nothing less than Lincoln's first +and only duel. It happened that James Shields, afterward a general in +two wars and a senator from two States, was at that time auditor of the +State of Illinois, with his office at Springfield. He was a Democrat, +and an Irishman by birth, with an Irishman's quick temper and readiness +to take offense. He had given orders about collecting certain taxes +which displeased the Whigs, and shortly after Lincoln came back from +Kentucky a series of humorous letters ridiculing the auditor and his +order appeared in the Springfield paper, to the great amusement of the +townspeople and the fury of Shields. These letters were dated from the +"Lost Townships," and were supposed to be written by a farmer's widow +signing herself "Aunt Rebecca." The real writers were Miss Todd and a +clever friend, who undertook them more for the purpose of poking fun at +Shields than for party effect. In framing the political part of +their attack, they had found it necessary to consult Lincoln, and he +obligingly set them a pattern by writing the first letter himself. + +Shields sent to the editor of the paper to find out the name of the real +"Rebecca." The editor, as in duty bound, consulted Lincoln, and was told +to give Lincoln's name, but not to mention the ladies. Shields then sent +Lincoln an angry challenge; and Lincoln, who considered the whole affair +ridiculous, and would willingly have explained his part in it if Shields +had made a gentlemanly inquiry, chose as weapons "broadswords of the +largest size," and named as conditions of the duel that a plank ten feet +long be firmly fixed on edge in the ground, as a line over which neither +combatant was to pass his foot upon forfeit of his life. Next, lines +were to be drawn upon the ground on each side of the plank, parallel +with it, at the distance of the whole length of the sword and three feet +additional. The passing of his own line by either man was to be deemed a +surrender of the fight. + +It is easy to see from these conditions that Lincoln refused to consider +the matter seriously, and determined to treat it as absurdly as it +deserved. He and Shields, and their respective seconds, with the +broadswords, hurried away to an island in the Mississippi River, +opposite Alton; but long before the plank was set up, or swords were +drawn, mutual friends took the matter out of the hands of the seconds, +and declared a settlement of the difficulty. + +The affair created much talk and merriment in Springfield, but Lincoln +found in it more than comedy. By means of it he and Miss Todd were again +brought together in friendly interviews, and on November 4, they were +married at the house of Mr. Edwards. Four children were born of this +marriage: Robert Todd Lincoln, August 1, 1843; Edward Baker Lincoln, +March 10, 1846; William Wallace Lincoln, December 21, 1850; and Thomas +Lincoln, April 4, 1853. Edward died while a baby; William, in the White +House, February 20, 1862; Thomas in Chicago, July 15, 1871; and the +mother, Mary Lincoln, in Springfield, July 16, 1882. Robert Lincoln was +graduated from Harvard during the Civil War, serving afterward on the +staff of General Grant. He has since been Secretary of War and Minister +to England, and has held many other important positions of trust. + +His wedding over, Lincoln took up again the practical routine of daily +life. He and his bride were so poor that they could not make the visit +to Kentucky that both would so much have enjoyed. They could not even +set up a little home of their own. "We are not keeping house," he wrote +to a friend, "but boarding at the Globe Tavern," where, he added, their +room and board only cost them four dollars a week. His "National Debt" +of the old New Salem days was not yet all paid off, and patiently and +resolutely he went on practising the economy he had learned in the hard +school of experience. + +Lincoln's law partnership with John T. Stuart had lasted four years. +Then Stuart was elected to Congress, and another one was formed with +Judge Stephen T. Logan. It was a well-timed and important change. Stuart +had always cared more for politics than for law. With Logan law was the +main object, and under his guidance and encouragement Lincoln entered +upon the study and practical work of his profession in a more serious +spirit than ever before. His interest in politics continued, however, +and in truth his practice at that time was so small as to leave ample +time for both. Stuart had been twice elected to Congress, and very +naturally Lincoln, who served his party quite as faithfully, and was +fully as well known, hoped for a similar honor. He had profited greatly +by the companionship and friendly rivalry of the talented young men of +Springfield, but their talent made the prize he wished the harder to +gain. Twice he was disappointed, the nomination going to other men; but +in May, 1846, he was nominated, and in August of the same year elected, +to the Thirtieth Congress. He had the distinction of being the only Whig +member from his State, the other Illinois congressmen at that time all +being Democrats; but he proved no exception to the general rule that a +man rarely comes into notice during his first term in the National House +of Representatives. A new member has much to learn, even when, like +Lincoln, long service in a State legislature has taught him how the +business of making laws is carried on. He must find out what has been +done and is likely to be done on a multitude of subjects new to him, +must make the acquaintance of his fellow-members, must visit the +departments of government almost daily to look after the interests of +people from his State and congressional district. Legally he is elected +for a term of two years. Practically a session of five or six months +during the first year, and of three months during the second, further +reduce his opportunities more than one-half. + +Lincoln did not attempt to shine forth in debate, either by a stinging +retort, or burst of inspired eloquence. He went about his task quietly +and earnestly, performing his share of duty with industry and a hearty +admiration for the ability of better-known members. "I just take my +pen," he wrote enthusiastically to a friend after listening to a speech +which pleased him much, "to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, is a +little slim, pale-faced consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's, has +just concluded the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My +old withered, dry eyes are full of tears yet." + +During the first session of his term Lincoln made three long speeches, +carefully prepared and written out beforehand. He was neither elated +nor dismayed at the result. "As to speech-making," he wrote William H. +Herndon, who had now become his law partner, "I find speaking here and +elsewhere about the same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no +worse, as I am when I speak in court." + +The next year he made no set speeches, but in addition to the usual work +of a congressman occupied himself with a bill that had for its object +the purchase and freeing of all slaves in the District of Columbia. +Slavery was not only lawful at the national capital at that time: there +was, to quote Mr. Lincoln's own graphic words, "in view from the windows +of the Capitol a sort of negro livery-stable, where droves of negroes +were collected, temporarily kept, and finally taken to Southern markets, +precisely like droves of horses." + +To Lincoln and to other people who disapproved of slavery, the idea of +human beings held in bondage under the very shadow of the dome of the +Capitol seemed indeed a bitter mockery. As has already been stated, he +did not then believe Congress had the right to interfere with slavery in +States that chose to have it; but in the District of Columbia the power +of Congress was supreme, and the matter was entirely different. His +bill provided that the Federal Government should pay full value to the +slave-holders of the District for all slaves in their possession, +and should at once free the older ones. The younger ones were to be +apprenticed for a term of years, in order to make them self-supporting, +after which they also were to receive their freedom. The bill was very +carefully thought out, and had the approval of residents of the District +who held the most varied views upon slavery; but good as it was, the +measure was never allowed to come to a vote, and Lincoln went back to +Springfield, at the end of his term, feeling doubtless that his efforts +in behalf of the slaves had been all in vain. + +While in Washington he lived very simply and quietly, taking little part +in the social life of the city, though cordially liked by all who made +his acquaintance. An inmate of the modest boarding-house where he had +rooms has told of the cheery atmosphere he seemed to bring with him into +the common dining-room, where political arguments were apt to run high. +He never appeared anxious to insist upon his own views; and when others, +less considerate, forced matters until the talk threatened to become too +furious, he would interrupt with an anecdote or a story that cleared the +air and ended the discussion in a general laugh. Sometimes for exercise +he would go into a bowling-alley close by, entering into the game with +great zest, and accepting defeat and victory with equal good-nature. By +the time he had finished a little circle would be gathered around him, +enjoying his enjoyment, and laughing at his quaint expressions and +sallies of wit. + +His gift for jest and story-telling has become traditional. Indeed, +almost every good story that has been invented within a hundred years +has been laid at his door. As a matter of fact, though he was fond of +telling them, and told them well, he told comparatively few of the +number that have been credited to him. He had a wonderful memory, and a +fine power of making his hearers see the scene he wished to depict; but +the final charm of his stories lay in their aptness, and in the kindly +humor that left no sting behind it. + +During his term in Congress the Presidential campaign of 1848 came on. +Lincoln took an active part in the nomination and election of General +Zachary Taylor--"Old Rough and Ready," as he was called--making speeches +in Maryland and Massachusetts, as well as in his own home district of +Illinois. Two letters that he wrote during this campaign have special +interest for young readers, for they show the sympathetic encouragement +he gave to young men anxious to make a place and a name for themselves +in American politics. + +"Now as to the young men," he wrote. "You must not wait to be brought +forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I should +ever have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed +forward by older men? You young men get together and form a 'Rough and +Ready' club, and have regular meetings and speeches.... Let every one +play the part he can play best--some speak, some sing, and all 'holler.' +Your meetings will be of evenings; the older men, and the women, will go +to hear you; so that it will not only contribute to the election of +'Old Zach,' but will be an interesting pastime, and improving to the +intellectual faculties of all engaged." + +In another letter, answering a young friend who complained of being +neglected, he said: + +"Nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you and +others of my young friends at home are doing battle in the contest and +taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach.... I +cannot conceive that other old men feel differently. Of course I cannot +demonstrate what I say; but I was young once, and I am sure I was never +ungenerously thrust back. I hardly know what to say. The way for a young +man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting +that anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion +and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may +sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will +succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel +to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about and see if this feeling +has not injured every person you have ever known to fall into it." + +He was about forty years old when he wrote this letter. By some people +that is not considered a very great age; but he doubtless felt himself +immensely older, as he was infinitely wiser, than his petulant young +correspondent. + +General Taylor was triumphantly elected, and it then became Lincoln's +duty, as Whig member of Congress from Illinois, to recommend certain +persons to fill government offices in that State. He did this after +he returned to Springfield, for his term in Congress ended on March 4, +1849, the day that General Taylor became President. The letters that he +sent to Washington when forwarding the papers and applications of people +who wished appointment were both characteristic and amusing; for in his +desire not to mislead or to do injustice to any man, they were very apt +to say more in favor of the men he did not wish to see appointed than in +recommendation of his own particular candidates. + +This absolute and impartial fairness to friend and foe alike was one of +his strongest traits, governing every action of his life. If it had not +been for this, he might possibly have enjoyed another term in Congress, +for there had been talk of reelecting him. In spite of his confession to +Speed that "being elected to Congress, though I am very grateful to our +friends for having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected," +this must have been flattering. But there were many able young men +in Springfield who coveted the honor, and they had entered into an +agreement among themselves that each would be content with a single +term. Lincoln of course remained faithful to this promise. His strict +keeping of promises caused him also to lose an appointment from +President Taylor as Commissioner of the General Land Office, which might +easily have been his, but for which he had agreed to recommend some +other Illinois man. A few weeks later the President offered to make him +governor of the new Territory of Oregon. This attracted him much more +than the other office had done, but he declined because his wife was +unwilling to live in a place so far away. + +His career in Congress, while adding little to his fame at the time, +proved of great advantage to him in after life, for it gave him a close +knowledge of the workings of the Federal Government, and brought him +into contact with political leaders from all parts of the Union. + + + + +V. THE CHAMPION OF FREEDOM + +For four or five years after his return from Congress, Lincoln remained +in Springfield, working industriously at his profession. He was offered +a law partnership in Chicago, but declined on the ground that his health +would not stand the confinement of a great city. His business increased +in volume and importance as the months went by; and it was during this +time that he engaged in what is perhaps the most dramatic as well as the +best known of all his law cases--his defense of Jack Armstrong's son on +a charge of murder. A knot of young men had quarreled one night on +the outskirts of a camp-meeting, one was killed, and suspicion pointed +strongly toward young Armstrong as the murderer. Lincoln, for old +friendship's sake, offered to defend him--an offer most gratefully +accepted by his family. The principal witness swore that he had seen +young Armstrong strike the fatal blow--had seen him distinctly by the +light of a bright moon. Lincoln made him repeat the statement until it +seemed as if he were sealing the death-warrant of the prisoner. Then +Lincoln began his address to the jury. He was not there as a hired +attorney, he told them, but because of friendship. He told of his old +relations with Jack Armstrong, of the kindness the prisoner's mother had +shown him in New Salem, how he had himself rocked the prisoner to sleep +when the latter was a little child. Then he reviewed the testimony, +pointing out how completely everything depended on the statements +of this one witness; and ended by proving beyond question that his +testimony was false, since, according to the almanac, which he produced +in court and showed to judge and jury, THERE WAS NO MOON IN THE SKY +THAT NIGHT at the hour the murder was committed. The jury brought in a +verdict of "Not guilty," and the prisoner was discharged. + +Lincoln was always strong with a jury. He knew how to handle men, and +he had a direct way of going to the heart of things. He had, moreover, +unusual powers of mental discipline. It was after his return from +Congress, when he had long been acknowledged one of the foremost lawyers +of the State, that he made up his mind he lacked the power of close and +sustained reasoning, and set himself like a schoolboy to study works of +logic and mathematics to remedy the defect. At this time he committed to +memory six books of the propositions of Euclid; and, as always, he was +an eager reader on many subjects, striving in this way to make up for +the lack of education he had had as a boy. He was always interested in +mechanical principles and their workings, and in May, 1849, patented a +device for lifting vessels over shoals, which had evidently been dormant +in his mind since the days of his early Mississippi River experiences. +The little model of a boat, whittled out with his own hand, that he sent +to the Patent Office when he filed his application, is still shown to +visitors, though the invention itself failed to bring about any change +in steamboat architecture. + +In work and study time slipped away. He was the same cheery companion as +of old, much sought after by his friends, but now more often to be found +in his office surrounded by law-books and papers than had been the case +before his term in Congress. His interest in politics seemed almost +to have ceased when, in 1854, something happened to rouse that and his +sense of right and justice as they had never been roused before. This +was the repeal of the "Missouri Compromise," a law passed by Congress +in the year 1820, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave State, +but positively forbidding slavery in all other territory of the United +States lying north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes, which was the +southern boundary-line of Missouri. + +Up to that time the Southern States, where slavery was lawful, had been +as wealthy and quite as powerful in politics as the Northern or free +States. The great unoccupied territory lying to the west, which, in +years to come, was sure to be filled with people and made into new +States, lay, however, mostly north of 36 degrees 30 minutes; and it was +easy to see that as new free States came one after the other into the +Union the importance of the South must grow less and less, because there +was little or no territory left out of which slave States could be +made to offset them. The South therefore had been anxious to have the +Missouri Compromise repealed. + +The people of the North, on the other hand, were not all wise or +disinterested in their way of attacking slavery. As always happens, +self-interest and moral purpose mingled on both sides; but, as a whole, +it may be said that they wished to get rid of slavery because they felt +it to be wrong, and totally out of place in a country devoted to freedom +and liberty. The quarrel between them was as old as the nation, and it +had been gaining steadily in intensity. At first only a few persons in +each section had been really interested. By the year 1850 it had come +to be a question of much greater moment, and during the ten years that +followed was to increase in bitterness until it absorbed the thoughts of +the entire people, and plunged the country into a terrible civil war. + +Abraham Lincoln had grown to manhood while the question was gaining in +importance. As a youth, during his flatboat voyages to New Orleans he +had seen negroes chained and beaten, and the injustice of slavery had +been stamped upon his soul. The uprightness of his mind abhorred a +system that kept men in bondage merely because they happened to be +black. The intensity of his feeling on the subject had made him a Whig +when, as a friendless boy, he lived in a town where Whig ideas were much +in disfavor. The same feeling, growing stronger as he grew older, had +inspired the Lincoln-Stone protest and the bill to free the slaves in +the District of Columbia, and had caused him to vote at least forty +times against slavery in one form or another during his short term in +Congress. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, throwing open once more +to slavery a vast amount of territory from which it had been shut out, +could not fail to move him deeply. His sense of justice and his strong +powers of reasoning were equally stirred, and from that time until +slavery came to its end through his own act, he gave his time and all +his energies to the cause of freedom. + +Two points served to make the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of +special interest to Lincoln. The first was personal, in that the man who +championed the measure, and whose influence in Congress alone made it +possible, was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who had been his neighbor in +Illinois for many years. + +The second was deeper. He realized that the struggle meant much more +than the freedom or bondage of a few million black men: that it was in +reality a struggle for the central idea of our American republic--the +statement in our Declaration of Independence that "all men are created +equal." He made no public speeches until autumn, but in the meantime +studied the question with great care, both as to its past history and +present state. When he did speak it was with a force and power that +startled Douglas and, it is said, brought him privately to Lincoln with +the proposition that neither of them should address a public meeting +again until after the next election. + +Douglas was a man of great ambition as well as of unusual political +skill. Until recently he had been heartily in favor of keeping slavery +out of the Northwest Territory; but he had set his heart upon being +President of the United States, and he thought that he saw a chance of +this if he helped the South to repeal the Missouri Compromise, and thus +gained its gratitude and its votes. Without hesitation he plunged into +the work and labored successfully to overthrow this law of more than +thirty years' standing. + +Lincoln's speech against the repeal had made a deep impression in +Illinois, where he was at once recognized as the people's spokesman +in the cause of freedom. His statements were so clear, his language so +eloquent, the stand he took so just, that all had to acknowledge his +power. He did not then, nor for many years afterward, say that the +slaves ought to be immediately set free. What he did insist upon was +that slavery was wrong, and that it must not be allowed to spread into +territory already free; but that, gradually, in ways lawful and just to +masters and slaves alike, the country should strive to get rid of it in +places where it already existed. He never let his hearers lose sight of +the great underlying moral fact. "Slavery," he said, "is founded in the +selfishness of man's nature; opposition to it in his love of justice." +Even Senator Douglas was not prepared to admit that slavery was right. +He knew that if he said that he could never be President, for the whole +North would rise against him. He wished to please both sides, so he +argued that it was not a question for him or for the Federal Government +to decide, but one which each State and Territory must settle for +itself. In answer to this plea of his that it was not a matter +of morals, but of "State rights"--a mere matter of local +self-government--Mr. Lincoln replied, "When the white man governs +himself that is self-government; but when he governs himself and +also governs another man, that is more than self-government--that is +despotism." + +It was on these opposing grounds that the two men took their stand for +the battle of argument and principle that was to continue for years, +to outgrow the bounds of the State, to focus the attention of the whole +country upon them, and, in the end, to have far-reaching consequences +of which neither at that time dreamed. At first the field appeared +much narrower, though even then the reward was a large one. Lincoln had +entered the contest with no thought of political gain; but it happened +that a new United States senator from Illinois had to be chosen +about that time. Senators are not voted for by the people, but by the +legislatures of their respective States and as a first result of all +this discussion about the right or wrong of slavery it was found that +the Illinois legislature, instead of having its usual large Democratic +majority, was almost evenly divided. Lincoln seemed the most likely +candidate; and he would have undoubtedly been chosen senator, had not +five men, whose votes were absolutely necessary, stoutly refused to +vote for a Whig, no matter what his views upon slavery might be. Keeping +stubbornly aloof, they cast their ballots time after time for Lyman +Trumbull, who was a Democrat, although as strongly opposed to slavery as +Lincoln himself. + +A term of six years in the United States Senate must have seemed a large +prize to Lincoln just then--possibly the largest he might ever hope to +gain; and it must have been a hard trial to feel it so near and then +see it slipping away from him. He did what few men would have had +the courage or the unselfishness to do. Putting aside all personal +considerations, and intent only on making sure of an added vote against +slavery in the Senate, he begged his friends to cease voting for him and +to unite with those five Democrats to elect Trumbull. + +"I regret my defeat moderately," he wrote to a sympathizing friend, "but +I am not nervous about it." Yet it must have been particularly trying to +know that with forty-five votes in his favor, and only five men standing +between him and success, he had been forced to give up his own chances +and help elect the very man who had defeated him. + +The voters of Illinois were quick to realize the sacrifice he had made. +The five stubborn men became his most devoted personal followers; and +his action at this time did much to bring about a great political change +in the State. All over the country old party lines were beginning to +break up and re-form themselves on this one question of slavery. Keeping +its old name, the Democratic party became the party in favor of slavery, +while the Northern Whigs and all those Democrats who objected to slavery +joined in what became known as the Republican party. It was at a great +mass convention held in Bloomington in May, 1856, that the Republican +party of Illinois took final shape; and it was here that Lincoln made +the wonderful address which has become famous in party history as his +"lost speech." There had been much enthusiasm. Favorite speakers had +already made stirring addresses that had been listened to with eagerness +and heartily applauded; but hardly a man moved from his seat until +Lincoln should be heard. It was he who had given up the chance of being +senator to help on the cause of freedom. He alone had successfully +answered Douglas. Every one felt the fitness of his making the closing +speech--and right nobly did he honor the demand. The spell of the hour +was visibly upon him. Standing upon the platform before the members of +the convention, his tall figure drawn up to its full height, his head +thrown back, and his voice ringing with earnestness, he denounced the +evil they had to fight in a speech whose force and power carried his +hearers by storm, ending with a brilliant appeal to all who loved +liberty and justice to + + Come as the winds come when forests are rended; + Come as the waves come when navies are stranded; + +and unite with the Republican party against this great wrong. + +The audience rose and answered him with cheer upon cheer. Then, after +the excitement had died down, it was found that neither a full report +nor even trustworthy notes of his speech had been taken. The sweep and +magnetism of his oratory had carried everything before it--even the +reporters had forgotten their duty, and their pencils had fallen idle. +So it happened that the speech as a whole was lost. Mr. Lincoln himself +could never recall what he had said; but the hundreds who heard him +never forgot the scene or the lifting inspiration of his words. + +Three weeks later the first national convention of the Republican party +was held. John C. Fremont was nominated for President, and Lincoln +received over a hundred votes for Vice-President, but fortunately, as it +proved, was not selected, the honor falling to William L. Dayton of +New Jersey. The Democratic candidate for President that year was James +Buchanan, "a Northern man with Southern principles," very strongly in +favor of slavery. Lincoln took an active part in the campaign against +him, making more than fifty speeches in Illinois and the adjoining +States. The Democrats triumphed, and Buchanan was elected President; +but Lincoln was not discouraged, for the new Republican party had shown +unexpected strength throughout the North. Indeed, Lincoln was seldom +discouraged. He had an abiding faith that the people would in the long +run vote wisely; and the cheerful hope he was able to inspire in his +followers was always a strong point in his leadership. + +In 1858, two years after this, another election took place in Illinois, +on which the choice of a United States senator depended. This time +it was the term of Stephen A. Douglas that was drawing to a close. He +greatly desired reelection. There was but one man in the State who could +hope to rival him, and with a single voice the Republicans of Illinois +called upon Lincoln to oppose him. Douglas was indeed an opponent not to +be despised. His friends and followers called him the "Little Giant." +He was plausible, popular, quick-witted, had winning manners, was most +skilful in the use of words, both to convince his hearers and, at times, +to hide his real meaning. He and Lincoln were old antagonists. They had +first met in the far-away Vandalia days of the Illinois legislature. In +Springfield, Douglas had been the leader of the young Democrats, while +Lincoln had been leader of the younger Whigs. Their rivalry had not +always been confined to politics, for gossip asserted that Douglas had +been one of Miss Todd's more favored suitors. Douglas in those days had +no great opinion of the tall young lawyer; while Lincoln is said to have +described Douglas as "the least man I ever saw"--although that referred +to his rival's small stature and boyish figure, not to his mental +qualities. Douglas was not only ambitious to be President: he had staked +everything on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and his statement +that this question of slavery was one that every State and Territory +must settle for itself, but with which the Federal Government had +nothing to do. Unfortunately, his own party no longer agreed with him. +Since Buchanan had become President the Democrats had advanced their +ground. They now claimed that while a State might properly say whether +or not it would tolerate slavery, slavery ought to be lawful in all the +Territories, no matter whether their people liked it or not. + +A famous law case, called the Dred Scott case, lately decided by the +Supreme Court of the United States, went far toward making this really +the law of the land. In its decision the court positively stated that +neither Congress nor a territorial legislature had power to keep slavery +out of any United States Territory. This decision placed Senator Douglas +in a most curious position. It justified him in repealing the Missouri +Compromise, but at the same time it absolutely denied his statement that +the people of a Territory had a right to settle the slavery question to +suit themselves. Being a clever juggler with words, he explained away +the difference by saying that a master might have a perfect right to his +slave in a Territory, and yet that right could do him no good unless +it were protected by laws in force where his slave happened to be. +Such laws depended entirely on the will of the people living in +the Territory, and so, after all, they had the deciding voice. This +reasoning brought upon him the displeasure of President Buchanan and all +the Democrats who believed as he did, and Douglas found himself forced +either to deny what he had already told the voters of Illinois, or to +begin a quarrel with the President. He chose the latter, well knowing +that to lose his reelection to the Senate at this time would end his +political career. His fame as well as his quarrel with the President +served to draw immense crowds to his meetings when he returned to +Illinois and began speech-making, and his followers so inspired these +meetings with their enthusiasm that for a time it seemed as though all +real discussion would be swallowed up in noise and shouting. + +Mr. Lincoln, acting on the advice of his leading friends, sent Douglas a +challenge to joint debate. Douglas accepted, though not very willingly; +and it was agreed that they should address the same meetings at seven +towns in the State, on dates extending through August, September, and +October. The terms were that one should speak an hour in opening, the +other an hour and a half in reply, and the first again have half an hour +to close. Douglas was to open the meeting at one place, Lincoln at the +next. + +It was indeed a memorable contest. Douglas, the most skilled and +plausible speaker in the Democratic party, was battling for his +political life. He used every art, every resource, at his command. +Opposed to him was a veritable giant in stature--a man whose qualities +of mind and of body were as different from those of the "Little +Giant"--as could well be imagined. Lincoln was direct, forceful, +logical, and filled with a purpose as lofty as his sense of right and +justice was strong. He cared much for the senatorship, but he cared far +more to right the wrong of slavery, and to warn people of the peril +that menaced the land. Already in June he had made a speech that greatly +impressed his hearers. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," +he told them. "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half +slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not +expect the house to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. +It will become all one thing or all the other"; and he went on to say +that there was grave danger it might become all slave. He showed how, +little by little, slavery had been gaining ground, until all it lacked +now was another Supreme Court decision to make it alike lawful in all +the States, North as well as South. The warning came home to the people +of the North with startling force, and thereafter all eyes were fixed +upon the senatorial campaign in Illinois. + +The battle continued for nearly three months. Besides the seven great +joint debates, each man spoke daily, sometimes two or three times a day, +at meetings of his own. Once before their audiences, Douglas's dignity +as a senator afforded him no advantage, Lincoln's popularity gave +him little help. Face to face with the followers of each, gathered +in immense numbers and alert with jealous watchfulness, there was no +escaping the rigid test of skill in argument and truth in principle. The +processions and banners, the music and fireworks, of both parties were +stilled and forgotten while the people listened to the three hours' +battle of mind against mind. + +Northern Illinois had been peopled largely from the free States, and +southern Illinois from the slave States; thus the feeling about slavery +in the two parts was very different. To take advantage of this, Douglas, +in the very first debate, which took place at Ottawa, in northern +Illinois, asked Lincoln seven questions, hoping to make him answer in a +way that would be unpopular farther south. In the second debate Lincoln +replied to these very frankly, and in his turn asked Douglas four +questions, the second of which was whether, in Douglas's opinion, the +people of any Territory could, in any lawful way, against the wish of +any citizen of the United States, bar out slavery before that Territory +became a State. Mr. Lincoln had long and carefully studied the meaning +and effect of this question. If Douglas said, "No," he would please +Buchanan and the administration Democrats, but at the cost of denying +his own words. If he said, "Yes," he would make enemies of every +Democrat in the South. Lincoln's friends all advised against asking the +question. They felt sure that Douglas would answer, "Yes," and that this +would win him his election. "If you ask it, you can never be senator," +they told Lincoln. "Gentlemen," he replied, "I am killing larger game. +If Douglas answers he can never be President, and the battle of 1860 is +worth a hundred of this." + +Both prophecies were fulfilled. Douglas answered as was expected; and +though, in actual numbers, the Republicans of Illinois cast more votes +than the Democrats, a legislature was chosen that rejected him to the +Senate. Two years later, Lincoln, who in 1858 had not the remotest +dream of such a thing, found himself the successful candidate of the +Republican party for President of the United States. + +To see how little Lincoln expected such an outcome it is only necessary +to glance at the letters he wrote to friends at the end of his campaign +against Douglas. Referring to the election to be held two years later, +he said, "In that day I shall fight in the ranks, but I shall be in no +one's way for any of the places." To another correspondent he expressed +himself even more frankly: "Of course I wished, but I did not much +expect, a better result... . I am glad I made the late race. It gave me +a hearing on the great and durable question of the age, which I could +have had in no other way; and though I now sink out of view and shall +be forgotten, I believe I have made some marks which will tell for the +cause of civil liberty long after I am gone." + +But he was not to "sink out of view and be forgotten." Douglas himself +contributed not a little toward keeping his name before the public; for +shortly after their contest was ended the reelected senator started on +a trip through the South to set himself right again with the Southern +voters, and in every speech that he made he referred to Lincoln as the +champion of "abolitionism." In this way the people were not allowed to +forget the stand Lincoln had taken, and during the year 1859 they came +to look upon him as the one man who could be relied on at all times to +answer Douglas and Douglas's arguments. + +In the autumn of that year Lincoln was asked to speak in Ohio, where +Douglas was again referring to him by name. In December he was invited +to address meetings in various towns in Kansas, and early in 1860 he +made a speech in New York that raised him suddenly and unquestionably to +the position of a national leader. + +It was delivered in the hall of Cooper Institute, on the evening of +February 27, 1860, before an audience of men and women remarkable for +their culture, wealth and influence. + +Mr. Lincoln's name and words had filled so large a space in the Eastern +newspapers of late, that his listeners were very eager to see and hear +this rising Western politician. The West, even at that late day, was +very imperfectly understood by the East. It was looked upon as a land +of bowie-knives and pistols, of steamboat explosions, of mobs, of wild +speculation and wilder adventure. What, then, would be the type, the +character, the language of this speaker? How would he impress the great +editor Horace Greeley, who sat among the invited guests; David Dudley +Field, the great lawyer, who escorted him to the platform; William +Cullen Bryant, the great poet, who presided over the meeting? + +The audience quickly forgot these questioning doubts. They had but +time to note Mr. Lincoln's unusual height, his rugged, strongly marked +features, the clear ring of his high-pitched voice, the commanding +earnestness of his manner. Then they became completely absorbed in what +he was saying. He began quietly, soberly, almost as if he were arguing +a case before a court. In his entire address he uttered neither an +anecdote nor a jest. If any of his hearers came expecting the style or +manner of the Western stump-speaker, they met novelty of an unlooked-for +kind; for such was the apt choice of words, the simple strength of +his reasoning, the fairness of every point he made, the force of every +conclusion he drew, that his listeners followed him, spellbound. He +spoke on the subject that he had so thoroughly mastered and that was now +uppermost in men's minds--the right or wrong of slavery. He laid bare +the complaints and demands of the Southern leaders, pointed out the +injustice of their threat to break up the Union if their claims were not +granted, stated forcibly the stand taken by the Republican party, and +brought his speech to a close with the short and telling appeal: + +"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to +the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." + +The attention with which it was followed, the applause that greeted +its telling points, and the enthusiasm of the Republican journals next +morning showed that Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech had taken New York +by storm. It was printed in full in four of the leading daily papers of +the city, and immediately reprinted in pamphlet form. From New York Mr. +Lincoln made a tour of speech-making through several of the New England +States, where he was given a hearty welcome, and listened to with an +eagerness that showed a marked result at the spring elections. The +interest of the working-men who heard these addresses was equaled, +perhaps excelled, by the pleased surprise of college professors and men +of letters when they found that the style and method of this self-taught +popular Western orator would stand the test of their most searching +professional criticism. + +One other audience he had during this trip, if we may trust report, +which, while neither as learned as the college professors, nor perhaps +as critical as the factory-men, was quite as hard to please, and +the winning of whose approval shows another side of this great and +many-sided man. A teacher in a Sunday-school in the Five Points district +of New York, at that time one of the worst parts of the city, has told +how, one morning, a tall, thin, unusual-looking man entered and sat +quietly listening to the exercises. His face showed such genuine +interest that he was asked if he would like to speak to the children. +Accepting the invitation with evident pleasure, he stepped forward and +began a simple address that quickly charmed the roomful of youngsters +into silence. His language was singularly beautiful, his voice musical +with deep feeling. The faces of his little listeners drooped into sad +earnestness at his words of warning, and brightened again when he spoke +of cheerful promises. "Go on! Oh, do go on!" they begged when at last +he tried to stop. As he left the room somebody asked his name. "Abraham +Lincoln, from Illinois," was the courteous reply. + + + + +VI. THE NEW PRESIDENT + +Lincoln's great skill and wisdom in his debate with Douglas turned +the eyes of the whole country upon him; and the force and logic of +his Cooper Institute speech convinced every one that in him they had +discovered a new national leader. He began to be mentioned as a possible +candidate for President in the election which was to take place that +fall to choose a successor to President Buchanan. Indeed, quite a year +earlier, an editor in Illinois had written to him asking permission to +announce him as a candidate in his newspaper. At that time Lincoln had +refused, thanking him for the compliment, but adding modestly: "I must +in candor say that I do not think myself fit for the Presidency." +About Christmas time, 1859, however, a number of his stanchest Illinois +friends urged him to let them use his name, and he consented, not so +much in the hope of being chosen, as of perhaps receiving the nomination +for Vice-President, or at least of making a show of strength that would +aid him at some future time to become senator. The man most talked +about as the probable Republican candidate for President was William H. +Seward, who was United States senator from New York, and had also been +governor of that State. + +The political unrest continued. Slavery was still the most absorbing +topic, and it was upon their stand for or against slavery that all the +Presidential candidates were chosen. The pretensions and demands of the +Southern leaders had by this time passed into threats. They declared +roundly that they would take their States out of the Union if slavery +were not quickly made lawful all over the country, or in case a "Black +Republican" President should be elected. The Democrats, unable to agree +among themselves, split into two sections, the Northerners nominating +Stephen A. Douglas for President, while delegates who had come to their +National Convention from what were called the Cotton States chose John +C. Breckinridge. A few men who had belonged to the old Whig party, but +felt themselves unable to join the Republicans or either faction of the +Democrats, met elsewhere and nominated John Bell. + +This breaking up of their political enemies into three distinct camps +greatly cheered the Republicans, and when their National Convention came +together in Chicago on May 16, 1860, its members were filled with the +most eager enthusiasm. Its meetings were held in a huge temporary wooden +building called the Wigwam, so large that 10,000 people could easily +assemble in it to watch the proceedings. Few conventions have shown such +depth of feeling. Not only the delegates on the central platform, but +even the spectators seemed impressed with the fact that they were taking +part in a great historical event. The first two days were taken up +in seating delegates, adopting a "platform" or statement of party +principles, and in other necessary routine matters. On the third day, +however, it was certain that balloting would begin, and crowds hurried +to the Wigwam in a fever of curiosity. The New York men, sure that +Seward would be the choice of the convention, marched there in a body, +with music and banners. The friends of Lincoln arrived before them, and +while not making so much noise or show, were doing good work for their +favorite. The long nominating speeches of later years had not then come +into fashion. "I take the liberty," simply said Mr. Evarts of New York, +"to name as a candidate to be nominated by this convention for the +office of President of the United States, William H. Seward," and at Mr. +Seward's name a burst of applause broke forth, so long and loud that +it seemed fairly to shake the great building. Mr. Judd, of Illinois, +performed the same office of friendship for Mr. Lincoln, and the +tremendous cheering that rose from the throats of his friends echoed +and dashed itself against the sides of the Wigwam, died down, and began +anew, until the noise that had been made by Seward's admirers dwindled +to comparative feebleness. Again and again these contests of lungs +and enthusiasm were repeated as other names were presented to the +convention. + +At last the voting began. Two names stood out beyond all the rest on the +very first ballot--Seward's and Lincoln's. The second ballot showed that +Seward had lost votes while Lincoln had gained them. The third ballot +was begun in almost painful suspense, delegates and spectators keeping +count upon their tally-sheets with nervous fingers. It was found that +Lincoln had gained still more, and now only needed one and a half votes +to receive the nomination. Suddenly the Wigwam became as still as a +church. Everybody leaned forward to see who would break the spell. A man +sprang upon a chair and reported a change of four votes to Lincoln. Then +a teller shouted a name toward the skylight, and the boom of a cannon +from the roof announced the nomination and started the cheering down the +long Chicago streets; while inside delegation after delegation changed +its votes to the victor in a whirlwind of hurrahs. That same afternoon +the convention finished its labors by nominating Hannibal Hamlin +of Maine for Vice-President, and adjourned--the delegates, speeding +homeward on the night trains, realizing by the bonfires and cheering +crowds at every little station that a memorable Presidential campaign +was already begun. + +During this campaign there were, then, four Presidential candidates in +the field. In the order of strength shown at the election they were: + +1. The Republican party, whose "platform," or statement of party +principles, declared that slavery was wrong, and that its further spread +should be prevented. Its candidates were Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for +President, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice-President. + +2. The Douglas wing of the Democratic party, which declared that it did +not pretend to decide whether slavery was right or wrong, and proposed +to allow the people of each State and Territory to choose for themselves +whether they would or would not have it. Its candidates were Stephen A. +Douglas of Illinois for President, and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia +for Vice-President. + +3. The Buchanan wing of the Democratic party, which declared that +slavery was right, and whose policy was to extend it, and to make new +slave States. Its candidates were John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for +President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President. + +4. The Constitutional Union party, which ignored slavery in its +platform, declaring that it recognized no political principles other +than "the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and the +enforcement of the laws." Its candidates were John Bell of Tennessee for +President, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. + +In enthusiasm the Republicans quickly took the lead. "Wide Awake" clubs +of young men, wearing caps and capes of glazed oilcloth to protect their +clothing from the dripping oil of their torches, gathered in torchlight +processions miles in length. Fence rails, supposed to have been made by +Lincoln in his youth, were set up in party headquarters and trimmed +with flowers and lighted tapers. Lincoln was called the "Rail-splitter +Candidate," and this telling name, added to the equally telling "Honest +Old Abe," by which he had long been known in Illinois, furnished country +and city campaign orators with a powerful appeal to the sympathy and +trust of the working-people of the United States. Men and women read in +newspaper and pamphlet biographies the story of his humble beginnings: +how he had risen by simple, earnest work and native genius, first to +fame and leadership in his own State, and then to fame and leadership +in the nation; and these titles quickly grew to be much more than mere +party nicknames--to stand for a faith and trust destined to play no +small part in the history of the next few years. + +After the nominations were made Douglas went on a tour of speech-making +through the South. Lincoln, on the contrary, stayed quietly at home in +Springfield. His personal habits and surroundings varied little during +the whole of this campaign summer. Naturally he gave up active law +practice, leaving his office in charge of his partner, William H. +Herndon. He spent the time during the usual business hours of each day +in the governor's room of the State-house at Springfield, attended only +by his private secretary, Mr. Nicolay. Friends and strangers alike were +able to visit him freely and without ceremony, and few went away without +being impressed by the sincere frankness of his manner and conversation. + +All sorts of people came to see him: those from far-away States, East +and West, as well as those from nearer home. Politicians came to ask +him for future favors, and many whose only motives were friendliness or +curiosity called to express their good wishes and take the Republican +candidate by the hand. + +He wrote no public letters, and he made no speeches beyond a few words +of thanks and greeting to passing street parades. Even the strictly +private letters in which he gave his advice on points in the campaign +were not more than a dozen in number; but all through the long summer, +while welcoming his throngs of visitors, listening to the tales of old +settlers, making friends of strangers, and binding old friends closer +by his ready sympathy, Mr. Lincoln watched political developments very +closely, not merely to note the progress of his own chances, but with +an anxious view to the future in case he should be elected. Beyond +the ever-changing circle of friendly faces near him he saw the growing +unrest and anger of the South, and doubtless felt the uncertainty of +many good people in the North, who questioned the power of this untried +Western man to guide the country through the coming perils. + +Never over-confident of his own powers, his mind must at times have +been full of misgivings; but it was only on the night of the election, +November 6, 1860, when, sitting alone with the operators in the little +telegraph-office at Springfield, he read the messages of Republican +victory that fell from the wires until convinced of his election, that +the overwhelming, almost crushing weight of his coming duties and +responsibilities fell upon him. In that hour, grappling resolutely and +alone with the problem before him, he completed what was really the +first act of his Presidency--the choice of his cabinet, of the men who +were to aid him. People who doubted the will or the wisdom of their +Rail-splitter Candidate need have had no fear. A weak man would have +chosen this little band of counselors--the Secretary of State, the +Secretary of the Treasury, and the half-dozen others who were to stand +closest to him and to be at the head of the great departments of the +government--from among his personal friends. A man uncertain of his own +power would have taken care that no other man of strong nature with a +great following of his own should be there to dispute his authority. +Lincoln did the very opposite. He had a sincere belief in public +opinion, and a deep respect for the popular will. In this case he felt +that no men represented that popular will so truly as those whose names +had been considered by the Republican National Convention in its choice +of a candidate for President. So, instead of gathering about him his +friends, he selected his most powerful rivals in the Republican party. +William H. Seward, of New York, was to be his Secretary of State; Salmon +P. Chase, of Ohio, his Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, of +Pennsylvania, his Secretary of War; Edward Bates, of Missouri, his +Attorney-General. The names of all of these men had been before the +Convention. Each one had hoped to be President in his stead. For the +other three members of his Cabinet he had to look elsewhere. Gideon +Welles, of Connecticut, for Secretary of the Navy; Montgomery Blair, of +Maryland, for Postmaster-General; and Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, for +Secretary of the Interior, were finally chosen. When people complained, +as they sometimes did, that by this arrangement the cabinet consisted of +four men who had been Democrats in the old days, and only three who had +been Whigs, Lincoln smiled his wise, humorous smile and answered that he +himself had been a Whig, and would always be there to make matters even. +It is not likely that this exact list was in his mind on the night of +the November election; but the principal names in it most certainly +were. To some of these gentlemen he offered their appointments by +letter. Others he asked to visit him in Springfield to talk the matter +over. Much delay and some misunderstanding occurred before the list was +finally completed: but when he sent it to the Senate, on the day after +his inauguration, it was practically the one he had in his mind from the +beginning. + +A President is elected by popular vote early in November, but he is not +inaugurated until the following fourth of March. Until the day of his +inauguration, when he takes the oath of office and begins to discharge +his duties, he is not only not President--he has no more power in the +affairs of the Government than the humblest private citizen. It is easy +to imagine the anxieties and misgivings that beset Mr. Lincoln during +the four long months that lay between his election and his inauguration. +True to their threats never to endure the rule of a "Black Republican" +President, the Cotton States one after the other withdrew their senators +and representatives from Congress, passed what they called "Ordinances +of Secession," and declared themselves to be no longer a part of the +United States. One after another, too, army and navy officers stationed +in the Southern States gave up to the Southern leaders in this movement +the forts, navy-yards, arsenals, mints, ships, and other government +property under their charge. President Buchanan, in whose hands alone +rested the power to punish these traitors and avenge their insults to +the government he had sworn to protect and defend, showed no disposition +to do so; and Lincoln, looking on with a heavy heart, was unable +to interfere in any way. No matter how anxiously he might watch the +developments at Washington or in the Cotton States, no matter what +appeals might be made to him, no action of any kind was possible on his +part. + +The only bit of cheer that came to him and other Union men during this +anxious season of waiting, was in the conduct of Major Robert Anderson +at Charleston Harbor, who, instead of following the example of other +officers who were proving unfaithful, boldly defied the Southern +"secessionists," and moving his little handful of soldiers into the +harbor fort best fitted for defense, prepared to hold out against them +until help could reach him from Washington. + +In February the leaders of the Southern people met at Montgomery, +Alabama, adopted a Constitution, and set up a government which they +called the Confederate States of America, electing Jefferson Davis, +of Mississippi, President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, +Vice-President. Stephens was the "little, slim pale-faced consumptive +man" whose speech in Congress had won Lincoln's admiration years before. +Davis had been the child who began his schooling so near to Lincoln in +Kentucky. He had had a far different career. Good fortune had carried +him to West Point, into the Mexican War, into the cabinet of President +Franklin Pierce, and twice into the Senate. He had had money, high +office, the best education his country could give him--everything, it +seemed, that had been denied to Lincoln. Now the two men were the +chosen heads of two great opposing factions, one bent on destroying the +government that had treated him so kindly; the other, for whom it had +done so little, willing to lay down his life in its defense. + +It must not be supposed that Lincoln remained idle during these four +months of waiting. Besides completing his cabinet, and receiving his +many visitors, he devoted himself to writing his inaugural address, +withdrawing himself for some hours each day to a quiet room over the +store of his brother-in-law, where he could think and write undisturbed. +The newspaper correspondents who had gathered at Springfield, though +alert for every item of news, and especially anxious for a sight of his +inaugural address, seeing him every day as usual, got not the slightest +hint of what he was doing. + +Mr. Lincoln started on his journey to Washington on February 11, +1861 two days after Jefferson Davis had been elected President of the +Confederate States of America. He went on a special train, accompanied +by Mrs. Lincoln and their three children, his two private secretaries, +and about a dozen personal friends. Mr. Seward had suggested that +because of the unsettled condition of public affairs it would be better +for the President-elect to come a week earlier; but Mr. Lincoln allowed +himself only time comfortably to fill the engagements he had made to +visit the State capitals and principal cities that lay on his way, to +which he had been invited by State and town officials, regardless of +party. The morning on which he left Springfield was dismal and stormy, +but fully a thousand of his friends and neighbors assembled to bid him +farewell. The weather seemed to add to the gloom and depression of their +spirits, and the leave-taking was one of subdued anxiety, almost of +solemnity. Mr. Lincoln took his stand in the waiting-room while his +friends filed past him, often merely pressing his hand in silent +emotion. The arrival of the rushing train broke in upon this ceremony, +and the crowd closed about the car into which the President-elect and +his party made their way. Just as they were starting, when the conductor +had his hand upon the bell-rope, Mr. Lincoln stepped out upon the front +platform and made the following brief and pathetic address. It was the +last time his voice was to be heard in the city which had so long been +his home: + +"My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of +sadness at this parting. To this place and the kindness of these people +I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have +passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, +and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I +may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested +upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever +attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. +Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be +everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. +To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend +me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." + +The conductor gave the signal, the train rolled slowly out of the +station, and the journey to Washington was begun. It was a remarkable +progress. At almost every station, even the smallest, crowds had +gathered to catch a glimpse of the face of the President-elect, or +at least to see the flying train. At the larger stopping-places +these crowds swelled to thousands, and in the great cities to almost +unmanageable throngs. Everywhere there were calls for Mr. Lincoln, and +if he showed himself; for a speech. Whenever there was time, he would +go to the rear platform of the car and bow as the train moved away, or +utter a few words of thanks and greeting. At the capitals of Indiana, +Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and in the cities of +Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia, halts of +one or two days were made, the time being filled with formal visits and +addresses to each house of the legislature, street processions, large +evening receptions, and other ceremonies. + +Party foes as well as party friends made up these expectant crowds. +Every eye was eager, every ear strained, to get some hint of the +thoughts and purposes of the man who was to be the guide and head of the +nation in the crisis that every one now knew to be upon the country, but +the course and end of which the wisest could not foresee. In spite of +all the cheers and the enthusiasm, there was also an under-current of +anxiety for his personal safety, for the South had openly boasted that +Lincoln would never live to be inaugurated President. He himself paid no +heed to such warnings; but the railroad officials, and others who were +responsible for his journey, had detectives on watch at different points +to report any suspicious happenings. Nothing occurred to change the +program already agreed upon until the party reached Philadelphia; but +there Mr. Lincoln was met by Frederick W. Seward, the son of his future +Secretary of State, with an important message from his father. A +plot had been discovered to do violence to, and perhaps kill, the +President-elect as he passed through the city of Baltimore. Mr. Seward +and General Scott, the venerable hero of the Mexican War, who was now at +the head of the army, begged him to run no risk, but to alter his plans +so that a portion of his party might pass through Baltimore by a night +train without previous notice. The seriousness of the warning was +doubled by the fact that Mr. Lincoln had just been told of a similar, +if not exactly the same, danger, by a Chicago detective employed in +Baltimore by one of the great railroad companies. Two such warnings, +coming from entirely different sources, could not be disregarded; +for however much Mr. Lincoln might dislike to change his plans for so +shadowy a danger, his duty to the people who had elected him forbade +his running any unnecessary risk. Accordingly, after fulfilling all +his engagements in Philadelphia and Harrisburg on February 22, he and a +single companion took a night train, passed quietly through Baltimore, +and arrived in Washington about daylight on the morning of February 23. +This action called forth much talk, ranging from the highest praise to +ridicule and blame. A reckless newspaper reporter telegraphed all over +the country the absurd story that he had traveled disguised in a Scotch +cap and a long military cloak. There was, of course, not a word of truth +in the absurd tale. The rest of the party followed Mr. Lincoln at +the time originally planned. They saw great crowds in the streets of +Baltimore, but there was now no occasion for violence. + +In the week that passed between his arrival and the day of his +inauguration Mr. Lincoln exchanged the customary visits of ceremony with +President Buchanan, his cabinet, the Supreme Court, the two houses of +Congress, and other dignitaries. + +Careful preparations for the inauguration had been made under the +personal direction of General Scott, who held the small military force +in the city ready instantly to suppress any attempt to disturb the peace +and quiet of the day. + +On the morning of the fourth of March President Buchanan and Citizen +Lincoln, the outgoing and incoming heads of the government, rode side by +side in a carriage from the Executive Mansion, or White House, as it +is more commonly called, to the Capitol, escorted by an imposing +procession; and at noon a great throng of people heard Mr. Lincoln read +his inaugural address as he stood on the east portico of the Capitol, +surrounded by all the high officials of the government. Senator Douglas, +his unsuccessful rival, standing not an arm's length away from him, +courteously held his hat during the ceremony. A cheer greeted him as he +finished his address. Then the Chief Justice arose, the clerk opened his +Bible, and Mr. Lincoln, laying his hand upon the book, pronounced the +oath: + +"I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute +the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of +my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United +States." + +Amid the thundering of cannon and the applause of all the spectators, +President Lincoln and Citizen Buchanan again entered their carriage and +drove back from the Capitol to the Executive Mansion, on the threshold +of which Mr. Buchanan, warmly shaking the hand of his successor, +expressed his wishes for the personal happiness of the new President, +and for the national peace and prosperity. + + + + +VII. LINCOLN AND THE WAR + +It is one thing to be elected President of the United States,--that +means triumph, honor, power: it is quite another thing to perform the +duties of President,--for that means labor, disappointment, difficulty, +even danger. Many a man envied Abraham Lincoln when, in the stately pomp +of inauguration and with the plaudits of the spectators ringing about +him, he took the oath of office which for four years transforms an +American citizen into the ruler of these United States. Such envy would +have been changed to deepest sympathy if they could have known what lay +before him. After the music and cannon were dumb, after the flags were +all furled and the cheering crowds had vanished, the shadows of war fell +about the Executive Mansion, and its new occupant remained face to face +with his heavy task--a task which, as he had truly said in his speech at +Springfield, was greater than that which rested upon Washington. + +Then, as never before, he must have realized the peril of the nation, +with its credit gone, its laws defied, its flag insulted. The South +had carried out its threat, and seven million Americans were in revolt +against the idea that "all men are created equal," while twenty million +other Americans were bent upon defending that idea. For the moment both +sides had paused to see how the new President would treat this attempt +at secession. It must be constantly borne in mind that the rebellion in +the Southern States with which Mr. Lincoln had to deal was not a sudden +revolution, but a conspiracy of slow growth and long planning. As one +of its actors frankly admitted, it was "not an event of a day. It is not +anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election.... It is a matter which has +been gathering head for thirty years." Its main object, it must also +be remembered, was the spread of slavery. Alexander H. Stephens, in +a speech made shortly after he became the Confederate Vice-President, +openly proclaimed slavery to be the "corner-stone" of the new +government. For years it had been the dream of southern leaders to +make the Ohio River the northern boundary of a great slave empire, with +everything lying to the south of that, even the countries of South and +Central America, as parts of their system. Though this dream was never +to be realized, the Confederacy finally came to number eleven States +(Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, +Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia), and to cover +a territory of more than 750,000 square miles--larger than England, +Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland put together, +with a coast line 3,500 miles long, and a land frontier of over 7,000 +miles. + +President Buchanan's timidity and want of spirit had alone made this +great rebellion possible, for although it had been "gathering head for +thirty years" it was only within the last few months that it had come to +acts of open treason and rebellion. President Buchanan had opportunity +and ample power to crush it when the conspirators first began to show +their hands. Instead he wavered, and delayed, while they grew bold +under his lack of decision, imagining that they would have a bloodless +victory, and even boasting that they would take Washington for their +capital; or, if the new President should thwart them and make them +fight, that they would capture Philadelphia and dictate the peace they +wanted from Independence Hall. + +By the time Mr. Lincoln came into office the conspiracy had grown beyond +control by any means then in the hands of a President, though men on +both sides still vainly hoped that the troubles of the country might +be settled without fighting. Mr. Lincoln especially wished to make very +sure that if it ever came to a matter of war, the fault should not lie +with the North. + +In his inaugural address he had told the South that he would use the +power confided to him to hold and occupy the places belonging to the +Government, and to collect the taxes; but beyond what might be necessary +for these objects, he would not use force among the people anywhere. His +peaceful policy was already harder to follow than he realized. Before +he had been President twenty-four hours word came from Major Anderson, +still defying the conspirators from Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, +that his little garrison was short of food, and must speedily surrender +unless help reached them. The rebels had for weeks been building +batteries to attack the fort, and with Anderson's report came the +written opinions of his officers that it would require an army of 20,000 +men to relieve it. They might as well have asked for twenty thousand +archangels, for at that time the entire army of the United States +numbered but 17,113 men, and these were doing duty, not only in the +Southern and Eastern States, but were protecting settlers from Indians +on the great western frontier, and guarding the long Canadian and +Mexican boundaries as well. Yet Anderson and his men could not be left +to their fate without even an attempt to help them, though some of the +high military and naval officers hastily called into council by the +new President advised this course. It was finally decided to notify the +Confederates that a ship carrying food, but no soldiers, would be sent +to his relief. If they chose to fire upon that it would be plainly the +South, and not the North, that began the war. + +Days went on, and by the middle of April the Confederate government +found itself forced to a fatal choice. Either it must begin war, or +allow the rebellion to collapse. All its claims to independence were +denied; the commissioner it sent to Washington on the pretense that they +were agents of a foreign country were politely refused a hearing, yet +not one angry word, or provoking threat, or a single harmful act had +come from the "Black Republican" President. In his inaugural he had +promised the people of the South peace and protection, and offered them +the benefit of the mails. Even now, all he proposed to do was to send +bread to Anderson and his hungry soldiers. His prudent policy placed +them where, as he had told them, they could have no war unless they +themselves chose to begin it. + +They did choose to begin it. The rebellion was the work of ambitious +men, who had no mind to stop at that late day and see their labor go for +nothing. The officer in charge of their batteries was ordered to open +fire on Fort Sumter if Anderson refused to surrender; and in the dim +light of dawn on April 12, 1861, just as the outline of Fort Sumter +began to show itself against a brightening sky, the shot that opened the +Civil War rose from a rebel battery and made its slow and graceful curve +upon Sumter. Soon all the batteries were in action, and the fort was +replying with a will. Anderson held out for a day and a half, until his +cartridges were all used up, his flagstaff had been shot away, and the +wooden buildings inside the fort were on fire. Then, as the ships with +supplies had not yet arrived, and he had neither food nor ammunition, he +was forced to surrender. + +The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter changed the mood of the country +as if by magic. By deliberate act of the Confederate government its +attempt at peaceable secession had been changed to active war. The +Confederates gained Fort Sumter, but in doing so they roused the +patriotism of the North to a firm resolve that this insult to the flag +should be redressed, and that the unrighteous experiment of a rival +government founded upon slavery as its "cornerstone," should never +succeed. In one of his speeches on the journey to Washington Mr. Lincoln +had said that devoted as he was to peace, it might become necessary to +"put the foot down firmly." That time had now come. On April 15, the day +after the fall of Fort Sumter, all the newspapers of the country printed +the President's call to arms, ordering out 75,000 militia for three +months, and directing Congress to meet in special session on July 4, +1861. The North rallied instantly to the support of the Government, and +offered him twice the number of soldiers he asked for. + +Nothing more clearly shows the difference between President Lincoln and +President Buchanan than the way in which the two men met the acts of the +Southern Rebellion. President Buchanan temporized and delayed when he +had plenty of power. President Lincoln, without a moment's hesitation +accepted the great and unusual responsibility thrust upon him, and at +once issued orders for buying ships, moving troops, advancing money +to Committees of Safety, and for other military and naval measures for +which at the moment he had no express authority from Congress. As soon +as Congress came together on July 4, he sent a message explaining his +action, saying: "It became necessary for me to choose whether, using +only the existing means.... which Congress had provided, I should let +the Government fall at once into ruin, or whether availing myself of the +broader powers conferred by the Constitution in cases of insurrection, +I would make an effort to save it with all its blessings for the present +age and for posterity." Congress, it is needless to say, not only +approved all that he had done, but gave him practically unlimited powers +for dealing with the rebellion in future. + +It soon became evident that no matter how ready and willing to fight for +their country the 75,000 volunteers might be, they could not hope to put +down the rebellion, because the time for which they had enlisted would +be almost over before they could receive the training necessary to +change them from valiant citizens into good soldiers. Another call was +therefore issued, this time for men to serve three years or during the +war, and also for a large number of sailors to man the new ships that +the Government was straining every nerve to buy, build and otherwise +make ready. + +More important, however, than soldiers trained or untrained, was the +united will of the people of the North; and most important of all the +steadfast and courageous soul of the man called to direct the struggle. +Abraham Lincoln, the poor frontier boy, the struggling young lawyer, the +Illinois politician, whom many, even among the Republicans who voted to +elect him President, thought scarcely fit to hold a much smaller +office, proved beyond question the man for the task gifted above all +his associates with wisdom and strength to meet the great emergencies as +they arose during the four years' war that had already begun. + +Since this is the story of Mr. Lincoln's life, and not of the Civil +War, we cannot attempt to follow the history of the long contest as +it unfolded itself day by day and month by month, or even to stop to +recount a list of the great battles that drenched the land in blood. It +was a mighty struggle, fought by men of the same race and kindred, often +by brother against brother. Each fought for what he felt to be right; +and their common inheritance of courage and iron will, of endurance and +splendid bravery and stubborn pluck, made this battle of brothers the +more bitter as it was the more prolonged. It ranged over an immense +extent of country; but because Washington was the capital of the Union, +and Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, and the desire +of each side was to capture the chief city of the other, the principal +fighting ground, during the whole war, lay between these two towns, with +the Alleghany Mountains on the west, and Chesapeake Bay on the east. +Between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi River another field of +warfare developed itself, on which some of the hardest battles were +fought, and the greatest victories won. Beyond the Mississippi again +stretched another great field, bounded only by the Rocky Mountains and +the Rio Grande. But the principal fighting in this field was near or +even on the Mississippi, in the efforts made by both Unionists and +Confederates to keep and hold the great highway of the river, so +necessary for trade in time of peace, and for moving armies in time of +war. + +On this immense battle-ground was fought one of the most costly wars +of modern times, with soldiers numbering a million men on each side; in +which, counting battles and skirmishes small and great, an average of +two engagements a day were fought for four long years, two millions of +money were used up every twenty-four hours, and during which the unholy +prize of slavery, for which the Confederate States did battle, was +completely swept away. + +Though the tide of battle ebbed and flowed, defeat and victory may be +said to have been nearly evenly divided. Generally speaking, success was +more often on the side of the South during the first half of the war; +with the North, during the latter half. The armies were equally brave; +the North had the greater territory from which to draw supplies; and the +end came, not when one side had beaten the other, man for man, but +when the South had been drained of fighting men and food and guns, and +slavery had perished in the stress of war. + +Fortunately for all, nobody at the beginning dreamed of the length of +the struggle. Even Lincoln's stout heart would have been dismayed if he +could have foreseen all that lay before him. The task that he could +see was hard and perplexing enough. Everything in Washington was in +confusion. No President ever had such an increase of official work as +Lincoln during the early months of his administration. The halls and +ante-rooms of the Executive Mansion were literally crowded with people +seeking appointment to office; and the new appointments that were +absolutely necessary were not half finished when the firing on Fort +Sumter began active war. This added to the difficulty of sifting the +loyal from the disloyal, and the yet more pressing labor of organizing +an immense new army. + +Hundreds of clerks employed in the Government Departments left their +desks and hurried South, crippling the service just at the time when +the sudden increase of work made their presence doubly needed. A large +proportion of the officers of the Army and Navy, perhaps as many as +one-third, gave their skill and services to the Confederacy, feeling +that their allegiance was due to their State or section rather than to +the general government. Prominent among these was Robert E. Lee, who had +been made a colonel by Lincoln, and whom General Scott had recommended +as the most promising officer to command the new force of 75,000 men +called out by the President's proclamation. He chose instead to resign +and cast his fortunes with the South, where he became the head of +all the Confederate armies. The loss to the Union and gain to the +Confederate cause by his action is hard to measure, since in him the +Southern armies found a commander whose surpassing courage and skill +inspired its soldiers long after all hope of success was gone. Cases +such as this gave the President more anxiety than all else. It seemed +impossible to know whom to trust. An officer might come to him in the +morning protesting devotion to the Union, and by night be gone to the +South. Mr. Lincoln used to say at this time that he felt like a man +letting rooms at one end of his house while the other end was on fire. + +The situation grew steadily worse. Maryland refused to allow United +States soldiers to cross her territory, and the first attempt to bring +troops through Baltimore from the North ended in a bloody riot, and the +burning of railroad bridges to prevent help from reaching Washington. +For three days Washington was entirely cut off from the North, either by +telegraph or mail. General Scott hastily prepared the city for a siege, +taking possession of all the large supplies of flour and provisions +in town, and causing the Capitol and other public buildings to be +barricaded. Though President Lincoln did not doubt the final arrival +of help, he, like everyone else, was very anxious, and found it hard +to understand the long delay. He knew that troops had started from the +North. Why did they not arrive? They might not be able to go through +Baltimore, but they could certainly go around it. The distance was not +great. What if twenty miles of railroad had been destroyed, were the +soldiers unable to march? Always calm and self-controlled, he gave no +sign in the presence of others of the anxiety that weighed so heavily +upon him. Very likely the visitors who saw him during those days thought +that he hardly realized the plight of the city; yet an inmate of the +White House, passing through the President's office when the day's work +was done and he imagined himself alone, saw him pause in his absorbed +walk up and down the floor, and gaze long out of the window in +the direction from which the troops were expected to appear. Then, +unconscious of any hearer, and as if the words were wrung from him by +anguish, he exclaimed, "Why don't they come, why don't they come?" + +The New York Seventh Regiment was the first to "come." By a roundabout +route it reached Washington on the morning of April 25, and, weary +and travel-worn, but with banners flying and music playing, marched up +Pennsylvania Avenue to the big white Executive Mansion, bringing cheer +to the President and renewed courage to those timid citizens whose +fright during this time had almost paralyzed the life of the town. +Taking renewed courage they once more opened their houses and the shops +that had been closed since the beginning of the blockade, and business +began anew. + +The greater part of the three months' regiments had been ordered to +Washington, and the outskirts of the capital soon became a busy military +camp. The great Departments of the Government, especially of War and +Navy, could not immediately handle the details of all this sudden +increase of work. Men were volunteering rapidly enough, but there was +sore need of rations to feed them, money to pay them, tents to shelter +them, uniforms to clothe them, rifles to arm them, officers to drill +them, and of transportation to carry them to the camps of instruction +where they must receive their training and await further orders. In this +carnival of patriotism and hurly-burly of organization the weaknesses as +well as the virtues of human nature quickly showed themselves; and, as +if the new President had not already enough to distress and harass his +mind, almost every case of confusion and delay was brought to him for +complaint and correction. On him also fell the delicate and serious task +of deciding hundreds of novel questions as to what he and his cabinet +ministers had and had not the right to do under the Constitution. + +The month of May slipped away in all these preparatory vexations; but +the great machine of war, once started, moved on as it always does, from +arming to massing of troops, and from that to skirmish and battle. +In June small fights began to occur between the Union and Confederate +armies. The first large battle of the war took place at Bull Run, about +thirty-two miles southwest of Washington, on July 21, 1861. It ended in +a victory for the Confederates, though their army was so badly crippled +by. its losses that it made no further forward movement during the whole +of the next autumn and winter. + +The shock of this defeat was deep and painful to the people of the +North, not yet schooled to patience, or to the uncertainties of war. +For weeks the newspapers, confident of success, had been clamoring for +action, and the cry, "Forward to Richmond," had been heard on every +hand. At first the people would not believe the story of a defeat; but +it was only too true. By night the beaten Union troops were pouring +into the fortifications around Washington, and the next day a horde of +stragglers found their way across the bridges of the Potomac into the +city. + +President Lincoln received the news quietly, as was his habit, without +any visible sign of distress or alarm, but he remained awake and in +his office all that Sunday night, listening to the excited tales of +congressmen and senators who, with undue curiosity, had followed the +army and witnessed some of the sights and sounds of battle; and by dawn +on Monday he had practically made up his mind as to the probable result +and what he must do in consequence. + +The loss of the battle of Bull Run was a bitter disappointment to him. +He saw that the North was not to have the easy victory it anticipated; +and to him personally it brought a great and added care that never left +him during the war. Up to that time the North had stood by him as one +man in its eager resolve to put down the rebellion. From this time on, +though quite as determined, there was division and disagreement among +the people as to how this could best be done. Parties formed themselves +for or against this or that general, or in favor of this or that method +and no other of carrying on the war. In other words, the President and +his "administration"--the cabinet and other officers under him--became, +from this time on, the target of criticism for all the failures of the +Union armies, and for all the accidents and mistakes and unforeseen +delays of war. The self-control that Mr. Lincoln had learned in the hard +school of his boyhood, and practised during all the long struggle of +his young manhood, had been severe and bitter training, but nothing else +could have prepared him for the great disappointments and trials of +the crowning years of his life. He had learned to endure patiently, to +reason calmly, never to be unduly sure of his own opinion; but, having +taken counsel of the best advice at his command, to continue in the path +that he felt to be right, regardless of criticism or unjust abuse. He +had daily and hourly to do all this. He was strong and courageous, with +a steadfast belief that the right would triumph in the end; but his +nature was at the same time sensitive and tender, and the sorrows and +pain of others hurt him more than did his own. + + + + +VIII. UNSUCCESSFUL GENERALS + +So far Mr. Lincoln's new duties as President had not placed him at any +disadvantage with the members of his cabinet. On the old question of +slavery he was as well informed and had clearer ideas than they. On the +new military questions that had come up since the inauguration, they, +like himself, had to rely on the advice of experienced officers of the +army and navy; and since these differed greatly, Mr. Lincoln's powerful +mind was as able to reach true conclusions as were men who had been +governors and senators. Yet the idea lingered that because he had never +before held high office, and because a large part of his life had been +passed in the rude surroundings of the frontier, he must of necessity +be lacking in power to govern--be weaker in will, without tact or +culture--must in every way be less fitted to cope with the difficult +problems so rapidly coming upon the administration. + +At the beginning even Secretary Seward shared this view. Mr. Lincoln +must have been surprised indeed, when, on the first day of April, +exactly four weeks after his inauguration, his Secretary of State, the +man he justly looked upon as the chief member of his cabinet, handed +him a paper on which were written "Some Thoughts for the President's +Consideration." It was most grave and dignified in language, but in +substance bluntly told Mr. Lincoln that after a month's trial the +Administration was without a policy, domestic or foreign, and that this +must be remedied at once. It advised shifting the issue at home from +slavery to the question of Union or disunion; and counseled the adoption +of an attitude toward Europe which could not have failed to rouse the +anger of the principal foreign nations. It added that the President or +some member of his cabinet must make it his constant duty to pursue and +direct whatever policy should be adopted, and hinted very plainly +that although he, Mr. Seward, did not seek such responsibility, he was +willing to assume it. The interest of this remarkable paper for us lies +in the way Mr. Lincoln treated it, and the measure that treatment gives +us of his generosity and self-control. An envious or a resentful man +could not have wished a better opportunity to put a rival under his +feet; but though Mr. Lincoln doubtless thought the incident very +strange, it did not for a moment disturb his serenity or his kindly +judgment. He answered in a few quiet sentences that showed no trace of +passion or even of excitement; and on the central suggestion that some +one person must direct the affairs of the government, replied with +dignity "if this must be done, I must do it," adding that on affairs of +importance he desired and supposed he had a right to have the advice of +all the members of his cabinet. This reply ended the matter, and as +far as is known, neither of them ever mentioned the subject again. Mr. +Lincoln put the papers away in an envelope, and no word of the affair +came to the public until years after both men were dead. In one mind +at least there was no longer a doubt that the cabinet had a master. Mr. +Seward recognized the President's kindly forbearance, and repaid it by +devotion and personal friendship until the day of his tragic death. + +If, after this experience, the Secretary of State needed any further +proof of Mr. Lincoln's ability to rule, it soon came to him, for during +the first months of the war matters abroad claimed the attention of +the cabinet, and with these also the untried western man showed himself +better fitted to deal than his more experienced advisers. Many of the +countries of Europe, especially France and England, wished the South +to succeed. France because of plans that Emperor Napoleon III had for +founding French colonies on American soil, and England because such +success would give her free cotton for her mills and factories. England +became so friendly toward the rebels that Mr. Seward, much irritated, +wrote a despatch on May 21, 1861, to Charles Francis Adams, the American +Minister at London, which, if it had been sent as he wrote it, would +almost certainly have brought on war between the two countries. It set +forth justly and with courage what the United States government would +and would not endure from foreign powers during the war with the South, +but it had been penned in a heat of indignation, and was so blunt and +exasperating as to suggest intentional disrespect. When Mr. Seward read +it to the President the latter at once saw this, and taking it from his +Secretary of State kept it by him for further consideration. A second +reading showed him that his first impression was correct. Thereupon the +frontier lawyer, taking his pen, went carefully over the whole +dispatch, and by his corrections so changed the work of the trained and +experienced statesman as entirely to remove its offensive tone, without +in the least altering its force or courage. + +Once again during 1861 the country was in serious danger of war with +England, and the action of President Lincoln at this time proved not +only that he had the will to be just, even when his own people were +against him, but had the skill to gain real advantage from what seemed +very like defeat. One of the earliest and most serious tasks of the +Government had been to blockade the southern ports, in order to prevent +supplies from foreign countries reaching the southern people, especially +the southern armies. Considering the great length of coast to be +patrolled, and the small size of the navy at the commencement of the +struggle, this was done with wonderful quickness, and proved in the main +effective, though occasionally a rebel boat managed to slip in or out +without being discovered and fired upon by the ships on guard. + +In November Captain Charles Wilkes learned that Ex-Senators J. M. Mason +and John Slidell, two prominent Confederates bound on an important +mission to Europe, had succeeded in reaching Cuba, and from there had +taken passage for England on the British mail steamer Trent. He stopped +the Trent and took Mason and Slidell prisoners, afterward allowing the +steamer to proceed on her way. The affair caused intense excitement +both in England and in the United States, and England began instant +preparations for war. Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington, +was instructed to demand the release of the prisoners and a suitable +apology within one week, and if this were refused, to close his legation +and come home. It was fortunate that Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were +close personal friends, and could, in spite of the excitement of +both countries, discuss the matter calmly and without anger. Their +conferences were brought to an end by Mr. Lincoln's decision to give +up the prisoners. In the North their capture had been greeted with +extravagant joy. Newspapers rang with praises of Captain Wilkes; his act +was officially approved by the Secretary of the Navy, and the House of +Representatives passed a resolution thanking him for his "brave, adroit, +and patriotic conduct." In the face of all this it must have been hard +indeed for Mr. Lincoln to order that Mason and Slidell be given up; +but though he shared the first impulse of rejoicing, he soon became +convinced that this must be done. War with England must certainly be +avoided; and Captain Wilkes, by allowing the Trent to proceed on her +voyage, instead of bringing her into port with the prisoners, had put +it out of the power of his Government to prove, under international law, +that the capture was justified. Besides all else, the President's quick +mind saw, what others failed to note, that by giving up the prisoners +as England demanded, the United States would really gain an important +diplomatic victory. For many years England had claimed the right to stop +and search vessels at sea when she had reason to believe they carried +men or goods hostile to her interests. The United States denied the +right, and yet this was exactly what Captain Wilkes had done in stopping +the Trent. By giving up the prisoners the United States would thus force +England to admit that her own claim had been unjust, and bind her in +future to respect the rights of other ships at sea. Excited American +feeling was grievously disappointed, and harsh criticism of the +Administration for thus yielding to a foreign country was not wanting; +but American good sense soon saw the justice of the point taken and the +wisdom of Mr. Lincoln's course. + +"He that is slow to anger," says the proverb, "is better than the +mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Great +as was his self-control in other matters, nowhere did Mr. Lincoln's +slowness to anger and nobility of spirit show itself more than in +his dealings with the generals of the Civil War. He had been elected +President. Congress had given him power far exceeding that which +any President had ever exercised before. As President he was also +Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. By +proclamation he could call forth great armies and he could order those +armies to go wherever he chose to send them; but even he had no power +to make generals with the genius and the training necessary to lead them +instantly to success. He had to work with the materials at hand, and one +by one he tried the men who seemed best fitted for the task, giving each +his fullest trust and every aid in his power. They were as eager for +victory and as earnest of purpose as himself, but in every case some +misfortune or some fault marred the result, until the country grew weary +with waiting; discouragement overshadowed hope, and misgiving almost +engulfed his own strong soul. Then, at last, the right men were found, +the battles were all fought, and the war was at an end. + +His kindness and patience in dealing with the generals who did not +succeed is the wonder of all who study the history of the Civil War. The +letters he wrote to them show better than whole volumes of description +could do the helpful and forbearing spirit in which he sought to aid +them. First among these unsuccessful generals was George B. McClellan, +who had been called to Washington after the battle of Bull Run and +placed in charge of the great new army of three years' volunteers that +was pouring so rapidly into the city. McClellan proved a wonderful +organizer. Under his skilful direction the raw recruits went to their +camps of instruction, fell without confusion or delay into brigades and +divisions, were supplied with equipments, horses and batteries, and put +through a routine of drill, tactics and reviews that soon made this Army +of the Potomac, as it was called, one of the best prepared armies the +world has ever seen--a perfect fighting machine of over 150,000 men and +more than 200 guns. General McClellan excelled in getting soldiers ready +to fight, but he did not succeed in leading them to fruitful victory. At +first the administration had great hopes of him as a commander. He +was young, enthusiastic, winning, and on arriving in Washington seemed +amazed and deeply touched by the confidence reposed in him. "I find +myself," he wrote to his wife, "in a new and strange position here, +President, cabinet, General Scott, and all, deferring to me. By some +strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land." +His rise in military rank had equaled the inventions of fairy tales. He +had been only a captain during the Mexican war. Then he resigned. Two +months after volunteering for the Civil War he found himself a Major +General in the Regular Army. For a short time his zeal and activity +seemed to justify this amazing good fortune. In a fortnight however he +began to look upon himself as the principal savior of his country. He +entered upon a quarrel with General Scott which soon drove that old hero +into retirement and out of his pathway. He looked upon the cabinet as a +set of "geese," and seeing that the President was kind and unassuming in +discussing military affairs, he formed the habit of expressing contempt +for him in letters to confidential friends. This feeling grew until +it soon reached a mark of open disrespect, but the President's conduct +toward him did not change. Mr. Lincoln's nature was too forgiving, +and the responsibility that lay upon him was too heavy for personal +resentment. For fifteen months he strove to make McClellan succeed even +in spite of himself. He gave him help, encouragement, the most timely +suggestions. He answered his ever-increasing complaints with unfailing +self-control. It was not that he did not see McClellan's faults. He saw +them, and felt them keenly. "If Gen. McClellan does not want to use +the army, I would like to borrow it," he said one day, stung by the +General's inactivity into a sarcasm he seldom allowed himself to use. +But his patience was not exhausted. McClellan had always more soldiers +than the enemy, at Antietam nearly double his numbers, yet his constant +cry was for re-enforcements. Regiments were sent him that could ill be +spared from other points. Even when his fault-finding reached the height +of telegraphing to the Secretary of War, "If I save this army now I +tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons +in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army," the +President answered him kindly and gently, without a sign of resentment, +anxious only to do everything in his power to help on the cause of +the war. It was of no avail. Even the great luck of finding a copy of +General Lee's orders and knowing exactly what his enemy meant to do, at +a time when the Confederate general had only about half as many troops +as he had, and these were divided besides, did not help him to success. +All he could do even then was to fight the drawn battle of Antietam, +and allow Lee to get away safely across the Potomac River into Virginia. +After this the President's long-suffering patience was at an end, but he +did not remove McClellan until he had visited the Army of the Potomac +in person. What he saw on that visit assured him that it could never +succeed under such a general. "Do you know what that is?" he asked a +friend, waving his arm towards the white tents of the great army. "It is +the Army of the Potomac, I suppose," was the wondering answer. "So it +is called," replied the President, in a tone of suppressed indignation. +"But that is a mistake. It is only McClellan's bodyguard." On November +5, 1862, McClellan was relieved from command, and this ended his +military career. + +There were others almost equally trying. There was General Fremont, +who had been the Republican candidate for President in 1856. At the +beginning of the war he was given a command at St. Louis and charged +with the important duty of organizing the military strength of the +northwest, holding the State of Missouri true to the Union, and leading +an expedition down the Mississippi River. Instead of accomplishing +all that had been hoped for, his pride of opinion and unwillingness +to accept help or take advice from those about him, caused serious +embarrassment and made unending trouble. The President's kindness +and gentleness in dealing with his faults were as marked as they were +useless. + +There was the long line of commanders who one after the other tried and +failed in the tasks allotted to them, while the country waited and lost +courage, and even Mr. Lincoln's heart sank. His care and wisdom +and sorrow dominated the whole long persistent struggle. That first +sleepless night of his after the battle of Bull Run was but the +beginning of many nights and days through which he kept unceasing watch. +From the time in June, 1861, when he had been called upon to preside +over the council of war that decided upon the Bull Run campaign, he +devoted every spare moment to the study of such books upon the art +of war as would aid him in solving the questions that he must face as +Commander-in-Chief of the armies. With his quick mind and unusual power +of logic he made rapid progress in learning the fixed and accepted +rules on which all military writers agree. His mastery of the difficult +science became so thorough, and his understanding of military situations +so clear, that he has been called, by persons well fitted to judge, "the +ablest strategist of the war." Yet he never thrust his knowledge upon +his generals. He recognized that it was their duty, not his, to fight +the battles, and since this was so, they ought to be allowed to fight +them in their own way. He followed their movements with keenest interest +and with a most astonishing amount of knowledge, giving a hint here, and +a suggestion there, when he felt that he properly could, but he rarely +gave a positive order. + +There is not space to quote the many letters in which he showed his +military wisdom, or his kindly interest in the welfare and success +of the different generals. One of the most remarkable must however be +quoted. It is the letter he wrote to General Joseph Hooker on placing +him in command of the Army of the Potomac in January, 1863, after +McClellan's many failures had been followed by the crushing defeat of +the army under General McClellan's successor, General Burnside, at the +battle of Fredericksburg, on December 13, 1862. + +"I have placed you," he wrote on giving General Hooker the command, "at +the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon +what appear to me to be sufficient reasons, 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 skilful 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 General Burnside's command of the army you have +taken council 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 a 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 +its 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 criticising 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." + +Perhaps no other piece of his writing shows as this does how completely +the genius of the President rose to the full height of his duties and +responsibilities. From beginning to end it speaks the language and +breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure in popular confidence and +in official authority. + +Though so many of the great battles during the first half of the war +were won by the Confederates, military successes came to the North +of course from time to time. With such fine armies and such earnest +generals the tide of battle could not be all one way; and even when +the generals made mistakes, the heroic fighting and endurance of the +soldiers and under-officers gathered honor out of defeat, and shed the +luster of renown over results of barren failure. But it was a weary +time, and the outlook was very dark. The President never despaired. On +the most dismal day of the whole dismal summer of 1862 he sent Secretary +Seward to New York with a confidential letter full of courage, to be +shown such of the governors of free States as could be hastily summoned +to meet him there. In it he said: "I expect to maintain this contest +until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, +or Congress or the country forsake me," and he asked for 100,000 fresh +volunteers with which to carry on the war. His confidence was not +misplaced. The governors of eighteen free States offered him three times +the number, and still other calls for troops followed. Soon a popular +song, "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand strong," +showed the faith and trust of the people in the man at the head of +the Government, and how cheerfully they met the great calls upon their +patriotism. + +So, week after week and month after month, he faced the future, never +betraying a fear that the Union would not triumph in the end, but +grieving sorely at the long delay. Many who were not so sure came to him +with their troubles. He was beset by night and by day by people who had +advice to give or complaints to make. They besought him to dismiss this +or that General, to order such and such a military movement; to do a +hundred things that he, in his great wisdom, felt were not right, or for +which the time had not yet come. Above all, he was implored to take some +decided and far-reaching action upon slavery. + + + + +IX. FREEDOM FOR THE SLAVES + +By no means the least of the evils of slavery was a dread which had +haunted every southern household from the beginning of the government +that the slaves might one day rise in revolt and take sudden vengeance +upon their masters. This vague terror was greatly increased by the +outbreak of the Civil War. It stands to the lasting credit of the negro +race that the wrongs of their long bondage provoked them to no such +crime, and that the war seems not to have suggested, much less started +any such attempt. Indeed, even when urged to violence by white leaders, +as the slaves of Maryland had been in 1859 during John Brown's raid at +Harper's Ferry, they had refused to respond. Nevertheless it was plain +from the first that slavery was to play an important part in the Civil +War. Not only were the people of the South battling for the principle +of slavery; their slaves were a great source of military strength. They +were used by the Confederates in building forts, hauling supplies, and +in a hundred ways that added to the effectiveness of their armies in the +field. On the other hand the very first result of the war was to give +adventurous or discontented slaves a chance to escape into Union camps, +where, even against orders to the contrary, they found protection for +the sake of the help they could give as cooks, servants, or teamsters, +the information they brought about the movements of the enemy, or the +great service they were able to render as guides. Practically therefore, +at the very start, the war created a bond of mutual sympathy between +the southern negro and the Union volunteer; and as fast as Union troops +advanced and secession masters fled, a certain number found freedom in +Union camps. + +At some points this became a positive embarrassment to Union commanders. +A few days after General Butler took command of the Union troops at +Fortress Monroe in May, 1861, the agent of a rebel master came to insist +on the return of three slaves, demanding them under the fugitive-slave +law. Butler replied that since their master claimed Virginia to be a +foreign country and no longer a part of the United States, he could not +at the same time claim that the fugitive slave law was in force, and +that his slaves would not be given up unless he returned and took the +oath of allegiance to the United States. In reporting this, a newspaper +pointed out that as the breastworks and batteries which had risen so +rapidly for Confederate defense were built by slave labor, negroes +were undoubtedly "contraband of war," like powder and shot, and other +military supplies, and should no more be given back to the rebels than +so many cannon or guns. The idea was so pertinent, and the justice of it +so plain that the name "contraband" sprang at once into use. But while +this happy explanation had more convincing effect on popular thought +than a volume of discussion, it did not solve the whole question. By +the end of July General Butler had on his hands 900 "contrabands," men, +women and children of all ages, and he wrote to inquire what was their +real condition. Were they slaves or free? Could they be considered +fugitive slaves when their masters had run away and left them? How +should they be disposed of? It was a knotty problem, and upon its +solution might depend the loyalty or secession of the border slave +States of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, which, up to +that time, had not decided whether to remain in the Union or to cast +their fortunes with the South. + +In dealing with this perplexing subject. Mr. Lincoln kept in mind one of +his favorite stories: the one on the Methodist Presiding Elder who was +riding about his circuit during the spring freshets. A young and anxious +companion asked how they should ever be able to cross the swollen waters +of Fox River, which they were approaching, and the elder quieted him +by saying that he made it the rule of his life never to cross Fox +River until he came to it. The President, following this rule, did +not immediately decide the question, but left it to be treated at the +discretion of each commander. Under this theory some commanders admitted +black people to their camps, while others refused to receive them. The +curt formula of General Orders: "We are neither negro stealers nor negro +catchers," was easily read to justify either course. Congress greatly +advanced the problem, shortly after the battle of Bull Run, by passing +a law which took away a master's right to his slave, when, with his +consent, such slave was employed in service or labor hostile to the +United States. + +On the general question of slavery, the President's mind was fully made +up. He felt that he had no right to interfere with slavery where slavery +was lawful, just because he himself did not happen to like it; for he +had sworn to do all in his power to "preserve, protect and defend" the +government and its laws, and slavery was lawful in the southern States. +When freeing the slaves should become necessary in order to preserve +the Government, then it would be his duty to free them; until that time +came, it was equally his duty to let them alone. + +Twice during the early part of the war military commanders issued orders +freeing slaves in the districts over which they had control, and twice +he refused to allow these orders to stand. "No commanding general should +do such a thing upon his responsibility, without consulting him," he +said; and he added that whether he, as Commander-in-Chief, had the power +to free slaves, and whether at any time the use of such power should +become necessary, were questions which he reserved to himself. He did +not feel justified in leaving such decisions to commanders in the field. +He even refused at that time to allow Secretary Cameron to make a public +announcement that the government might find it necessary to arm slaves +and employ them as soldiers. He would not cross Fox River until he came +to it. He would not take any measure until he felt it to be absolutely +necessary. + +Only a few months later he issued his first proclamation of +emancipation; but he did not do so until convinced that he must do this +in order to put down the rebellion. Long ago he had considered and in +his own mind adopted a plan of dealing with the slavery question--the +simple, easy plan which, while a member of Congress, he had proposed +for the District of Columbia--that on condition of the slave-owners +voluntarily giving up their slaves, they should be paid a fair price for +them by the Federal government. Delaware was a slave State, and seemed +an excellent place in which to try this experiment of "compensated +emancipation," as it was called; for there were, all told, only 1798 +slaves left in the State. Without any public announcement of his purpose +he offered to the citizens of Delaware, through their representative in +Congress, four hundred dollars for each of these slaves, the payment +to be made, not all at once, but yearly, during a period of thirty-one +years. He believed that if Delaware could be induced to accept this +offer, Maryland might follow her example, and that afterward other +States would allow themselves to be led along the same easy way. The +Delaware House of Representatives voted in favor of the proposition, but +five of the nine members of the Delaware senate scornfully repelled the +"abolition bribe," as they chose to call it, and the project withered in +the bud. + +Mr. Lincoln did not stop at this failure, but, on March 6, 1862, sent a +special message to the Senate and House of Representatives recommending +that Congress adopt a joint resolution favoring and practically offering +gradual compensated emancipation to any State that saw fit to accept +it; pointing out at the same time that the Federal government claimed no +right to interfere with slavery within the States, and that if the offer +were accepted it must be done as a matter of free choice. + +The Republican journals of the North devoted considerable space to +discussing the President's plan, which, in the main, was favorably +received; but it was thought that it must fail on the score of expense. +The President answered this objection in a private letter to a Senator, +proving that less than one-half day's cost of war would pay for all +the slaves in Delaware at four hundred dollars each, and less than +eighty-seven days' cost of war would pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, +the District of Columbia, Kentucky and Missouri. "Do you doubt," he +asked, that taking such a step "on the part of those States and this +District would shorten the war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be +an actual saving of expense?" + +Both houses of Congress favored the resolution, and also passed a +bill immediately freeing the slaves in the District of Columbia on the +payment to their loyal owners of three hundred dollars for each slave. +This last bill was signed by the President and became a law on April 16, +1862. So, although he had been unable to bring it about when a member of +Congress thirteen years before, it was he, after all, who finally swept +away that scandal of the "negro livery-stable" in the shadow of the dome +of the Capitol. + +Congress as well as the President was thus pledged to compensated +emancipation, and if any of the border slave States had shown a +willingness to accept the generosity of the government, their people +might have been spared the loss that overtook all slave-owners on the +first of January, 1863. The President twice called the representatives +and senators of these States to the White House, and urged his plan most +eloquently, but nothing came of it. Meantime, the military situation +continued most discouraging. The advance of the Army of the Potomac +upon Richmond became a retreat; the commanders in the West could not get +control of the Mississippi River; and worst of all, in spite of their +cheering assurance that "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred +thousand strong," the people of the country were saddened and filled +with the most gloomy forebodings because of the President's call for so +many new troops. + +"It had got to be midsummer, 1862," Mr. Lincoln said, in telling an +artist friend the history of his most famous official act. "Things had +gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of +our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had +about played our last card, and must change our tactics or lose the +game. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy, and +without consultation with, or the knowledge of the cabinet, I prepared +the original draft of the proclamation, and after much anxious thought, +called a cabinet meeting upon the subject.... I said to the cabinet that +I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask +their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation before +them, suggestions as to which would be in order after they had heard it +read." + +It was on July 22 that the President read to his cabinet the draft of +this first emancipation proclamation, which, after announcing that +at the next meeting of Congress he would again offer compensated +emancipation to such States as chose to accept it, went on to order as +Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, that the +slaves in all States which should be in rebellion against the government +on January 1, 1863, should "then, thenceforward and forever be free." + +Mr. Lincoln had given a hint of this intended step to Mr. Seward and +Mr. Welles, but to all the other members of the cabinet it came as a +complete surprise. One thought it would cost the Republicans the fall +elections. Another preferred that emancipation should be proclaimed +by military commanders in their several military districts. Secretary +Seward, while approving the measure, suggested that it would better +be postponed until it could be given to the country after a victory, +instead of issuing it, as would be the case then, upon the greatest +disasters of the war. "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State +struck me with very great force," Mr. Lincoln's recital continues. "It +was an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject, +I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of the +proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a +victory." + +The secrets of the administration were well kept, and no hint came +to the public that the President had proposed such a measure to his +cabinet. As there was at the moment little in the way of war news to +attract attention, newspapers and private individuals turned a sharp +fire of criticism upon Mr. Lincoln. For this they seized upon the +ever-useful text of the slavery question. Some of them protested +indignantly that the President was going too fast; others clamored as +loudly that he had been altogether too slow. His decision, as we know, +was unalterably taken, although he was not yet ready to announce it. +Therefore, while waiting for a victory he had to perform the difficult +task of restraining the impatience of both sides. This he did in very +positive language. To a man in Louisiana, who complained that Union +feeling was being crushed out by the army in that State, he wrote: + +"I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian terms +of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. Still, I must +save this government if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will +not do; but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall not +surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed." Two days later +he answered another Louisiana critic. "What would you do in my position? +Would you drop the war where it is? Or would you prosecute it in future +with elder-stalk squirts charged with rosewater? Would you deal lighter +blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest leaving +any available means unapplied? I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do +more than I can, and I shall do all I can, to save the government, which +is my sworn duty, as well as my personal inclination. I shall do nothing +in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing." + +The President could afford to overlook the abuse of hostile newspapers, +but he also had to meet the criticisms of over-zealous Republicans. The +prominent Republican editor, Horace Greeley, printed in his paper, the +"New York Tribune," a long "Open Letter," ostentatiously addressed to +Mr. Lincoln, full of unjust accusations, his general charge being that +the President and many army officers were neglecting their duty through +a kindly feeling for slavery. The open letter which Mr. Lincoln wrote in +reply is remarkable not alone for the skill with which he answered this +attack, but also for its great dignity. + +"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant +to leave anyone in doubt.... My paramount object in this struggle is to +save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I +could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if +I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could +save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. +What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it +helps to save the Union, and what I forbear I forbear because I do not +believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I +shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more +whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to +correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views +so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated +my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I intend no +modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere +could be free." + +He was waiting for victory, but victory was slow to come. Instead the +Union army suffered another defeat at the second battle of Bull Run on +August 30, 1862. After this the pressure upon him to take some action +upon slavery became stronger than ever. On September 13 he was visited +by a company of ministers from the churches of Chicago, who came +expressly to urge him to free the slaves at once. In the actual +condition of things he could of course neither safely satisfy them nor +deny them, and his reply, while perfectly courteous, had in it a tone of +rebuke that showed the state of irritation and high sensitiveness under +which he was living: + +"I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that +by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine +will.... I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it +is probable that God would reveal his will to others on a point so +connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly +to me.... What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, +especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document +that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the +Pope's bull against the comet." "Do not misunderstand me.... I have not +decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves; but hold the +matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the subject is on my +mind by day and night more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be +God's will, I will do." + +Four days after this interview the battle of Antietam was fought, and +when, after a few days of uncertainty it was found that it could be +reasonably claimed as a Union victory, the President resolved to carry +out his long-matured purpose. Secretary Chase in his diary recorded very +fully what occurred on that ever-memorable September 22, 1862. After +some playful talk upon other matters, Mr. Lincoln, taking a graver tone, +said: + +"Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about the +relation of this war to slavery, and you all remember that several weeks +ago I read to you an order I had prepared on this subject, which, on +account of objections made by some of you, was not issued. Ever since +then my mind has been much occupied with this subject, and I have +thought, all along, that the time for acting on it might probably come. +I think the time has come now. I wish it was a better time. I wish that +we were in a better condition. The action of the army against the rebels +has not been quite what I should have best liked. But they have been +driven out of Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of +invasion. When the rebel army was at Frederick I determined, as soon +as it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation of +emancipation, such as I thought most likely to be useful. I said +nothing to anyone, but I made the promise to myself, and--[hesitating a +little]--to my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, and I am going +to fulfil that promise. I have got you together to hear what I have +written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matter, for that +I have determined for myself. This I say, without intending anything but +respect for any one of you. But I already know the views of each on this +question.... I have considered them as thoroughly and carefully as I +can. What I have written is that which my reflections have determined me +to say. If there is anything in the expressions I use, or in any minor +matter which any one of you thinks had best be changed, I shall be glad +to receive the suggestions. One other observation I will make. I know +very well that many others might, in this matter as in others, do better +than I can; and if I was satisfied that the public confidence was +more fully possessed by any one of them than by me, and knew of any +constitutional way in which he could be put in my place, he should have +it. I would gladly yield it to him. But, though I believe that I have +not so much of the confidence of the people as I had some time since, I +do not know that, all things considered, any other person has more; and +however this may be, there is no way in which I can have any other +man put where I am. I am here; I must do the best I can, and bear the +responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take." + +It was in this humble spirit, and with this firm sense of duty that the +great proclamation was given to the world. One hundred days later he +completed the act by issuing the final proclamation of emancipation. + +It has been a long-established custom in Washington for the officials +of the government to go on the first day of January to the Executive +Mansion to pay their respects to the President and his wife. The judges +of the courts go at one hour, the foreign diplomats at another, members +of Congress and senators and officers of the Army and Navy at still +another. One by one these various official bodies pass in rapid +succession before the head of the nation, wishing him success and +prosperity in the New Year. The occasion is made gay with music and +flowers and bright uniforms, and has a social as well as an official +character. Even in war times such customs were kept up, and in spite of +his load of care, the President was expected to find time and heart for +the greetings and questions and hand-shakings of this and other state +ceremonies. Ordinarily it was not hard for him. He liked to meet people, +and such occasions were a positive relief from the mental strain of his +official work. It is to be questioned, however, whether, on this day, +his mind did not leave the passing stream of people before him, to dwell +on the proclamation he was so soon to sign. + +At about three o'clock in the afternoon, after full three hours of such +greetings and handshakings, when his own hand was so weary it could +scarcely hold a pen, the President and perhaps a dozen friends, went up +to the Executive Office, and there, without any pre-arranged ceremony, +he signed his name to the greatest state paper of the century, which +banished the curse of slavery from our land, and set almost four million +people free. + + + + +X. THE MAN WHO WAS PRESIDENT + +The way Mr. Lincoln signed this most important state paper was +thoroughly in keeping with his nature. He hated all shams and show and +pretense, and being absolutely without affectation of any kind, it +would never have occurred to him to pose for effect while signing +the Emancipation Proclamation or any other paper. He never thought of +himself as a President to be set up before a multitude and admired, +but always as a President charged with duties which he owed to every +citizen. In fulfilling these he did not stand upon ceremony, but took +the most direct way to the end he had in view. + +It is not often that a President pleads a cause before Congress. Mr. +Lincoln did not find it beneath his dignity at one time to go in +person to the Capitol, and calling a number of the leading senators and +representatives around him, explain to them, with the aid of a map, his +reasons for believing that the final stand of the Confederates would be +made in that part of the South where the seven States of Virginia, North +Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia +come together; and strive in this way to interest them in the sad +plight of the loyal people of Tennessee who were being persecuted by +the Confederate government, but whose mountainous region might, with a +little help, be made a citadel of Union strength in the very heart of +this stronghold of rebellion. + +In his private life he was entirely simple and unaffected. Yet he had +a deep sense of what was due his office, and took part with becoming +dignity in all official or public ceremonies. He received the diplomats +sent to Washington from the courts of Europe with a formal and quiet +reserve which made them realize at once that although this son of the +people had been born in a log cabin, he was ruler of a great nation, and +more than that, was a prince by right of his own fine instincts and good +breeding. + +He was ever gentle and courteous, but with a few quiet words he could +silence a bore who had come meaning to talk to him for hours. For his +friends he had always a ready smile and a quaintly turned phrase. His +sense of humor was his salvation. Without it he must have died of the +strain and anxiety of the Civil War. There was something almost pathetic +in the way he would snatch a moment from his pressing duties and gravest +cares to listen to a good story or indulge in a hearty laugh. Some +people could not understand this. To one member of his cabinet, at +least, it seemed strange and unfitting that he should read aloud to +them a chapter from a humorous book by Artemus Ward before taking up +the weighty matter of the Emancipation Proclamation. From their point +of view it showed lack of feeling and frivolity of character, when, in +truth, it was the very depth of his feeling, and the intensity of his +distress at the suffering of the war, that led him to seek relief in +laughter, to gather from the comedy of life strength to go on and meet +its sternest tragedy. + +He was a social man. He could not fully enjoy even a jest alone. He +wanted somebody to share the pleasure with him. Often when care kept him +awake late at night he would wander through the halls of the Executive +Mansion, and coming to the room where his secretaries were still at +work, would stop to read to them some poem, or a passage from Shakspere, +or a bit from one of the humorous books in which he found relief. No +one knew better than he what could be cured, and what must be patiently +endured. To every difficulty that he could remove he gave cheerful and +uncomplaining thought and labor. The burdens he could not shake off he +bore with silent courage, lightening them whenever possible with the +laughter that he once described as the "universal joyous evergreen of +life." + +It would be a mistake to suppose that he cared only for humorous +reading. Occasionally he read a scientific book with great interest, but +his duties left him little time for such indulgences. Few men knew +the Bible more thoroughly than he did, and his speeches are full of +scriptural quotations. The poem beginning "Oh, why should the spirit of +mortal be proud?" was one of his favorites, and Dr. Holmes's "Last Leaf" +was another. Shakespere was his constant delight. A copy of Shakespere's +works was even to be found in the busy Executive Office, from which +most books were banished. The President not only liked to read the great +poet's plays, but to see them acted; and when the gifted actor Hackett +came to Washington, he was invited to the White House, where the two +discussed the character of Falstaff, and the proper reading of many +scenes and passages. + +While he was President, Mr. Lincoln did not attempt to read the +newspapers. His days were long, beginning early and ending late, but +they were not long enough for that. One of his secretaries brought him +a daily memorandum of the important news they contained. His mail was so +enormous that he personally read only about one in every hundred of the +letters sent him. + +His time was principally taken up with interviews with people on matters +of importance, with cabinet meetings, conferences with his generals, +and other affairs requiring his close and immediate attention. If he had +leisure he would take a drive in the late afternoon, or perhaps steal +away into the grounds south of the Executive Mansion to test some new +kind of gun, if its inventor had been fortunate enough to bring it to +his notice. He was very quick to understand mechanical contrivances, and +would often suggest improvements that had not occurred to the inventor +himself. + +For many years it has been the fashion to call Mr. Lincoln homely. He +was very tall, and very thin. His eyes were deep-sunken, his skin of a +sallow pallor, his hair coarse, black, and unruly. Yet he was neither +ungraceful, nor awkward, nor ugly. His large features fitted his large +frame, and his large hands and feet were but right on a body that +measured six feet four inches. His was a sad and thoughtful face, and +from boyhood he had carried a load of care. It was small wonder that +when alone, or absorbed in thought, the face should take on deep lines, +the eyes appear as if seeing something beyond the vision of other men, +and the shoulders stoop, as though they too were bearing a weight. But +in a moment all would be changed. The deep eyes could flash, or twinkle +merrily with humor, or look out from under overhanging brows as they +did upon the Five Points children in kindliest gentleness. In public +speaking, his tall body rose to its full height, his head was thrown +back, his face seemed transfigured with the fire and earnestness of his +thought, and his voice took on a high clear tenor tone that carried his +words and ideas far out over the listening crowds. At such moments, when +answering Douglas in the heat of their joint-debate, or later, during +the years of war, when he pronounced with noble gravity the words of his +famous addresses, not one in the throngs that heard him could say with +truth that he was other than a handsome man. + +It has been the fashion, too, to say that he was slovenly, and careless +in his dress. This also is a mistake. His clothes could not fit smoothly +on his gaunt and bony frame. He was no tailor's figure of a man; but +from the first he clothed himself as well as his means allowed, and in +the fashion of the time and place. In reading the grotesque stories of +his boyhood, of the tall stripling whose trousers left exposed a length +of shin, it must be remembered not only how poor he was, but that he +lived on the frontier, where other boys, less poor, were scarcely +better clad. In Vandalia, the blue jeans he wore was the dress of his +companions as well, and later, from Springfield days on, clear through +his presidency, his costume was the usual suit of black broadcloth, +carefully made, and scrupulously neat. He cared nothing for style. It +did not matter to him whether the man with whom he talked wore a coat of +the latest cut, or owned no coat at all. It was the man inside the coat +that interested him. + +In the same way he cared little for the pleasures of the table. He ate +most sparingly. He was thankful that food was good and wholesome and +enough for daily needs, but he could no more enter into the mood of the +epicure for whose palate it is a matter of importance whether he eats +roast goose or golden pheasant, than he could have counted the grains of +sand under the sea. + +In the summers, while he was President, he spent the nights at a cottage +at the Soldiers' Home, a short distance north of Washington, riding or +driving out through the gathering dusk, and returning to the White House +after a frugal breakfast in the early morning. Ten o'clock was the hour +at which he was supposed to begin receiving visitors, but it was often +necessary to see them unpleasantly early. Occasionally they forced their +way to his bedroom before he had quite finished dressing. Throngs of +people daily filled his office, the ante-rooms, and even the corridors +of the public part of the Executive Mansion. He saw them all, those he +had summoned on important business, men of high official position who +came to demand as their right offices and favors that he had no right to +give; others who wished to offer tiresome if well-meant advice; and the +hundreds, both men and women, who pressed forward to ask all sorts of +help. His friends besought him to save himself the weariness of seeing +the people at these public receptions, but he refused. "They do not want +much, and they get very little," he answered. "Each one considers his +business of great importance, and I must gratify them. I know how I +would feel if I were in their place." And at noon on all days except +Tuesday and Friday, when the time was occupied by meetings of the +cabinet, the doors were thrown open, and all who wished might enter. +That remark of his, "I know how I would feel if I were in their place," +explained it all. His early experience of life had drilled him well for +these ordeals. He had read deeply in the book of human nature, and could +see the hidden signs of falsehood and deceit and trickery from which the +faces of some of his visitors were not free; but he knew, too, the +hard, practical side of life, the hunger, cold, storms, sickness and +misfortune that the average man must meet in his struggle with the +world. More than all, he knew and sympathized with that hope deferred +which makes the heart sick. + +Not a few men and women came, sad-faced and broken-hearted, to plead +for soldier sons or husbands in prison, or under sentence of death by +court-martial. An inmate of the White House has recorded the eagerness +with which the President caught at any fact that would justify him +in saving the life of a condemned soldier. He was only merciless when +meanness or cruelty were clearly proved. Cases of cowardice he disliked +especially to punish with death. "It would frighten the poor devils +too terribly to shoot them," he said. On the papers in the case of one +soldier who had deserted and then enlisted again, he wrote: "Let him +fight, instead of shooting him." + +He used to call these cases of desertion his "leg cases," and sometimes +when considering them, would tell the story of the Irish soldier, +upbraided by his captain, who replied: "Captain, I have a heart in me +breast as brave as Julius Caesar, but when I go into battle, Sor, these +cowardly legs of mine will run away with me." + +As the war went on, Mr. Lincoln objected more and more to approving +sentences of death by court-martial, and either pardoned them outright, +or delayed the execution "until further orders," which orders were never +given by the great-hearted, merciful man. Secretary Stanton and certain +generals complained bitterly that if the President went on pardoning +soldiers he would ruin the discipline of the army; but Secretary Stanton +had a warm heart, and it is doubtful if he ever willingly enforced the +justice that he criticized the President for tempering with so much +mercy. + +Yet Mr. Lincoln could be sternly just when necessary. A law declaring +the slave trade to be piracy had stood on the statute books of the +United States for half a century. Lincoln's administration was the +first to convict a man under it, and Lincoln himself decreed that the +well-deserved sentence be carried out. + +Mr. Lincoln sympathized keenly with the hardships and trials of the +soldier boys, and found time, amid all his labors and cares, to visit +the hospitals in and around Washington where they lay ill. His afternoon +drive was usually to some camp in the neighborhood of the city; and when +he visited one at a greater distance, the cheers that greeted him as he +rode along the line with the commanding general showed what a warm place +he held in their hearts. + +He did not forget the unfortunate on these visits. A story is told of +his interview with William Scott, a boy from a Vermont farm, who, after +marching forty-eight hours without sleep, volunteered to stand guard for +a sick comrade. Weariness overcame him, and he was found asleep at his +post, within gunshot of the enemy. He was tried, and sentenced to be +shot. Mr. Lincoln heard of the case, and went himself to the tent where +young Scott was kept under guard. He talked to him kindly, asking about +his home, his schoolmates, and particularly about his mother. The lad +took her picture from his pocket, and showed it to him without speaking. +Mr. Lincoln was much affected. As he rose to leave he laid his hand on +the prisoner s shoulder. "My boy," he said, "you are not going to be +shot to-morrow. I believe you when you tell me that you could not keep +awake. I am going to trust you, and send you back to your regiment. Now, +I want to know what you intend to pay for all this?" The lad, overcome +with gratitude, could hardly say a word, but crowding down his emotions, +managed to answer that he did not know. He and his people were poor, +they would do what they could. There was his pay, and a little in the +savings bank. They could borrow something by a mortgage on the farm. +Perhaps his comrades would help. If Mr. Lincoln would wait until pay day +possibly they might get together five or six hundred dollars. Would that +be enough? The kindly President shook his head. "My bill is a great deal +more than that," he said. "It is a very large one. Your friends cannot +pay it, nor your family, nor your farm. There is only one man in the +world who can pay it, and his name is William Scott. If from this day he +does his duty so that when he comes to die he can truly say 'I have kept +the promise I gave the President. I have done my duty as a soldier,' +then the debt will be paid." Young Scott went back to his regiment, and +the debt was fully paid a few months later, for he fell in battle. + +Mr. Lincoln's own son became a soldier after leaving college. The letter +his father wrote to General Grant in his behalf shows how careful he was +that neither his official position nor his desire to give his boy the +experience he wanted, should work the least injustice to others: + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, January 19th, 1865. + +Lieutenant-General Grant: + +Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but +only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated +at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not +wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission, to +which those who have already served long are better entitled, and better +qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment +to the service, go into your military family with some nominal rank, I +and not the public furnishing the necessary means? If no, say so without +the least hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested +that you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself. + +Yours truly, + +A. Lincoln. + +His interest did not cease with the life of a young soldier. Among his +most beautiful letters are those he wrote to sorrowing parents who +had lost their sons in battle; and when his personal friend, young +Ellsworth, one of the first and most gallant to fall, was killed at +Alexandria, the President directed that his body be brought to the White +House, where his funeral was held in the great East Room. + +Though a member of no church, Mr. Lincoln was most sincerely religious +and devout. Not only was his daily life filled with acts of forbearance +and charity; every great state paper that he wrote breathes his faith +and reliance on a just and merciful God. He rarely talked, even with +intimate friends, about matters of belief, but it is to be doubted +whether any among the many people who came to give him advice and +sometimes to pray with him, had a better right to be called a Christian. +He always received such visitors courteously, with a reverence for their +good intention, no matter how strangely it sometimes manifested itself. +A little address that he made to some Quakers who came to see him in +September, 1862, shows both his courtesy to them personally, and his +humble attitude toward God. + +"I am glad of this interview, and glad to know that I have your sympathy +and prayers. We are indeed going through a great trial, a fiery trial. +In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a +humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father as I am, and as +we all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my +works and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so +I have sought His aid; but if, after endeavoring to do my best in the +light which he affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that +for some purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had my +way, this war would never have been commenced. If I had been allowed my +way, this war would have been ended before this; but we find it still +continues, and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose +of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited +understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but +believe that He who made the world still governs it." + +Children held a warm place in the President's affections. He was not +only a devoted father; his heart went out to all little folk. He had +been kind to babies in his boyish days, when, book in hand, and the +desire for study upon him, he would sit with one foot on the rocker of a +rude frontier cradle, not too selfishly busy to keep its small occupant +lulled and content, while its mother went about her household tasks. +After he became President many a sad-eyed woman carrying a child in her +arms went to see him, and the baby always had its share in gaining her a +speedy hearing, and if possible a favorable answer to her petition. + +When children came to him at the White House of their own accord, as +they sometimes did, the favors they asked were not refused because of +their youth. One day a small boy, watching his chance, slipped into the +Executive Office between a governor and a senator, when the door was +opened to admit them. They were as much astonished at seeing him there +as the President was, and could not explain his presence; but he spoke +for himself. He had come, he said, from a little country town, hoping to +get a place as page in the House of Representatives. The President began +to tell him that he must go to Captain Goodnow, the doorkeeper of the +House, for he himself had nothing to do with such appointments. Even +this did not discourage the little fellow. Very earnestly he pulled his +papers of recommendation out of his pocket, and Mr. Lincoln, unable +to resist his wistful face, read them, and sent him away happy with a +hurried line written on the back of them, saying: "If Captain Goodnow +can give this good little boy a place, he will oblige A. Lincoln." + +It was a child who persuaded Mr. Lincoln to wear a beard. Up to the +time he was nominated for President he had always been smooth-shaven. A +little girl living in Chautauqua County, New York, who greatly admired +him, made up her mind that he would look better if he wore whiskers, +and with youthful directness wrote and told him so. He answered her by +return mail: + +Springfield, ILL., Oct. 19, 1860. + +Miss Grace Bedelt, + +My dear little Miss: Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth is +received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter. I have +three sons, one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age. They, +with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, never +having worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly +affectation if I were to begin now? + +Your very sincere well-wisher, + +A. Lincoln. + +Evidently on second thoughts he decided to follow her advice. On his way +to Washington his train stopped at the town where she lived. He asked if +she were in the crowd gathered at the station to meet him. Of course she +was, and willing hands forced a way for her through the mass of people. +When she reached the car Mr. Lincoln stepped from the train, kissed her, +and showed her that he had taken her advice. + +The Secretary who wrote about the President's desire to save the lives +of condemned soldiers tells us that "during the first year of the +administration the house was made lively by the games and pranks of Mr. +Lincoln's two younger children, William and Thomas. Robert the eldest +was away at Harvard, only coming home for short vacations. The two +little boys, aged eight and ten, with their western independence and +enterprise, kept the house in an uproar. They drove their tutor wild +with their good-natured disobedience. They organized a minstrel show in +the attic; they made acquaintance with the office-seekers and became +the hot champions of the distressed. William was, with all his boyish +frolic, a child of great promise, capable of close application and +study. He had a fancy for drawing up railway time-tables, and would +conduct an imaginary train from Chicago to New York with perfect +precision. He wrote childish verses, which sometimes attained the +unmerited honors of print. But this bright, gentle and studious child +sickened and died in February, 1862. His father was profoundly moved by +his death, though he gave no outward sign of his trouble, but kept about +his work, the same as ever. His bereaved heart seemed afterwards to pour +out its fulness on his youngest child. 'Tad' was a merry, warm-blooded, +kindly little boy, perfectly lawless, and full of odd fancies and +inventions, the 'chartered libertine' of the Executive Mansion." He ran +constantly in and out of his father's office, interrupting his gravest +labors. Mr. Lincoln was never too busy to hear him, or to answer his +bright, rapid, imperfect speech, for he was not able to speak plainly +until he was nearly grown. "He would perch upon his father's knee, and +sometimes even on his shoulder, while the most weighty conferences were +going on. Sometimes, escaping from the domestic authorities, he would +take refuge in that sanctuary for the whole evening, dropping to sleep +at last on the floor, when the President would pick him up, and carry +him tenderly to bed." + +The letters and even the telegrams Mr. Lincoln sent his wife had always +a message for or about Tad. One of them shows that his pets, like their +young master, were allowed great liberty. It was written when the family +was living at the Soldiers' Home, and Mrs. Lincoln and Tad had gone away +for a visit. "Tell dear Tad," he wrote, "that poor Nanny Goat is lost, +and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it. The day you left, +Nanny was found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle +of Tad's bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she +destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to the +White House. This was done, and the second day she had disappeared and +has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny." + +Tad was evidently consoled by, not one, but a whole family of new goats, +for about a year later Mr. Lincoln ended a business telegram to his +wife in New York with the words: "Tell Tad the goats and Father are very +well." Then, as the weight of care rolled back upon this greathearted, +patient man, he added, with humorous weariness, "especially the goats." + +Mr. Lincoln was so forgetful of self as to be absolutely without +personal fear. He not only paid no attention to the threats which +were constantly made against his life, but when, on July 11, 1864, the +Confederate General Early appeared suddenly and unexpectedly before +the city with a force of 17,000 men, and Washington was for two days +actually in danger of assault and capture, his unconcern gave his +friends great uneasiness. On the tenth he rode out, as was his custom, +to spend the night at the Soldiers' Home, but Secretary Stanton, +learning that Early was advancing, sent after him, to compel his return. +Twice afterward, intent upon watching the fighting which took place near +Fort Stevens, north of the city, he exposed his tall form to the gaze +and bullets of the enemy, utterly heedless of his own peril; and it was +not until an officer had fallen mortally wounded within a few feet of +him, that he could be persuaded to seek a place of greater safety. + + + + +XI. THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR + +In the summer of 1863 the Confederate armies reached their greatest +strength. It was then that, flushed with military ardor, and made bold +by what seemed to the southern leaders an unbroken series of victories +on the Virginia battlefields, General Lee again crossed the Potomac +River, and led his army into the North. He went as far as Gettysburg +in Pennsylvania; but there, on the third of July, 1863, suffered a +disastrous defeat, which shattered forever the Confederate dream of +taking Philadelphia and dictating peace from Independence Hall. This +battle of Gettysburg should have ended the war, for General Lee, on +retreating southward, found the Potomac River so swollen by heavy rains +that he was obliged to wait several days for the floods to go down. In +that time it would have been quite possible for General Meade, the Union +commander, to follow him and utterly destroy his army. He proved too +slow, however, and Lee and his beaten Confederate soldiers escaped. +President Lincoln was inexpressibly grieved at this, and in the first +bitterness of his disappointment sat down and wrote General Meade a +letter. Lee "was within your easy grasp," he told him, "and to have +closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have +ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely. ... +Your golden opportunity is gone and I am distressed immeasurably because +of it." But Meade never received this letter. Deeply as the President +felt Meade's fault, his spirit of forgiveness was so quick, and his +thankfulness for the measure of success that had been gained, so great, +that he put it in his desk, and it was never signed or sent. + +The battle of Gettysburg was indeed a notable victory, and coupled with +the fall of Vicksburg, which surrendered to General Grant on that +same third of July, proved the real turning-point of the war. It seems +singularly appropriate, then, that Gettysburg should have been the place +where President Lincoln made his most beautiful and famous address. +After the battle the dead and wounded of both the Union and Confederate +armies had received tender attention there. Later it was decided to +set aside a portion of the battlefield for a great national military +cemetery in which the dead found orderly burial. It was dedicated to its +sacred use on November 19, 1863. At the end of the stately ceremonies +President Lincoln rose and said: + +"Fourscore 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 cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we +cannot 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." + +With these words, so brief, so simple, so full of reverent feeling, he +set aside the place of strife to be the resting place of heroes, and +then went back to his own great task--for which he, too, was to give +"the last full measure of devotion." + +Up to within a very short time little had been heard about Ulysses S. +Grant, the man destined to become the most successful general of the +war. Like General McClellan, he was a graduate of West Point; and also +like McClellan, he had resigned from the army after serving gallantly in +the Mexican war. There the resemblance ceased, for he had not an atom of +McClellan's vanity, and his persistent will to do the best he could with +the means the government could give him was far removed from the younger +general's faultfinding and complaint. He was about four years older than +McClellan, having been born on April 27, 1822. On offering his services +to the War Department in 1861 he had modestly written: "I feel myself +competent to command a regiment if the President in his judgment should +see fit to intrust one to me." For some reason this letter remained +unanswered, although the Department, then and later, had need of trained +and experienced officers. Afterward the Governor of Illinois made him +a colonel of one of the three years' volunteer regiments; and from that +time on he rose in rank, not as McClellan had done, by leaps and bounds, +but slowly, earning every promotion. All of his service had been in +the West, and he first came into general notice by his persistent and +repeated efforts to capture Vicksburg, on whose fall the opening of +the Mississippi River depended. Five different plans he tried before he +finally succeeded, the last one appearing utterly foolhardy, and seeming +to go against every known rule of military science. In spite of this it +was successful, the Union army and navy thereby gaining control of the +Mississippi River and cutting off forever from the Confederacy a great +extent of rich country, from which, up to that time, it had been drawing +men and supplies. + +The North was greatly cheered by these victories, and all eyes were +turned upon the successful commander. No one was more thankful than Mr. +Lincoln. He gave Grant quick promotion, and crowned the official act +with a most generous letter. "I do not remember that you and I ever met +personally," he wrote. "I write this now as a grateful acknowledgement +for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish +to say a word further." Then, summing up the plans that the General had +tried, especially the last one, he added: "I feared it was a mistake. I +now wish to make the personal acknowledgement that you were right and I +was wrong." + +Other important battles won by Grant that same fall added to his growing +fame, and by the beginning of 1864 he was singled out as the greatest +Union commander. As a suitable reward for his victories it was +determined to make him Lieutenant-General. This army rank had, before +the Civil War, been bestowed on only two American soldiers--on General +Washington, and on Scott, for his conquest of Mexico. In 1864 Congress +passed and the President signed an act to revive the grade, and Grant +was called to Washington to receive his commission. He and Mr. Lincoln +met for the first time at a large public reception held at the Executive +Mansion on the evening of March 8. A movement and rumor in the crowd +heralded his approach, and when at last the short, stocky, determined +soldier and the tall, care-worn, deep-eyed President stood face to face +the crowd, moved by a sudden impulse of delicacy, drew back, and left +them almost alone to exchange a few words. Later, when Grant appeared in +the great East Room, the enthusiasm called forth by his presence could +no longer be restrained, and cheer after cheer went up, while his +admirers pressed about him so closely that, hot and blushing with +embarrassment, he was forced at last to mount a sofa, and from there +shake hands with the eager people who thronged up to him from all sides. + +The next day at one o'clock the President, in the presence of the +cabinet and a few other officials, made a little speech, and gave him +his commission. Grant replied with a few words, as modest as they +were brief, and in conversation afterward asked what special duty was +required of him. The President answered that the people wanted him to +take Richmond, and asked if he could do it. Grant said that he could +if he had the soldiers, and the President promised that these would be +furnished him. Grant did not stay in Washington to enjoy the new honors +of his high rank, but at once set about preparations for his task. It +proved a hard one. More than a year passed before it was ended, and +all the losses in battle of the three years that had gone before seemed +small in comparison with the terrible numbers of killed and wounded that +fell during these last months of the war. At first Grant had a fear +that the President might wish to control his plans, but this was soon +quieted; and his last lingering doubt on the subject vanished when, +as he was about to start on his final campaign, Mr. Lincoln sent him a +letter stating his satisfaction with all he had done, and assuring him +that in the coming campaign he neither knew, for desired to know, the +details of his plans. In his reply Grant confessed the groundlessness +of his fears, and added, "Should my success be less than I desire and +expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you." + +He made no complicated plan for the problem before him, but proposed to +solve it by plain, hard, persistent fighting. "Lee's army will be your +objective point," he instructed General Meade. "Where Lee goes there you +will go also." Nearly three years earlier the opposing armies had fought +their first battle of Bull Run only a short distance north of where they +now confronted each other. Campaign and battle between them had swayed +to the north and the south, but neither could claim any great gain of +ground or of advantage. The final struggle was before them. Grant had +two to one in numbers; Lee the advantage in position, for he knew by +heart every road, hill and forest in Virginia, had for his friendly +scout every white inhabitant, and could retire into prepared +fortifications. Perhaps the greatest element of his strength lay in the +conscious pride of his army that for three years it had steadily barred +the way to Richmond. To offset this there now menaced it what had +always been absent before--the grim, unflinching will of the new Union +commander, who had rightly won for himself the name of "Unconditional +Surrender" Grant. + +On the night of May 4, 1864, his army entered upon the campaign which, +after many months, was to end the war. It divided itself into two parts. +For the first six weeks there was almost constant swift marching and +hard fighting, a nearly equally matched contest of strategy and battle +between the two armies, the difference being that Grant was always +advancing, and Lee always retiring. Grant had hoped to defeat Lee +outside of his fortifications, and early in the campaign had expressed +his resolution "to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer"; +but the losses were so appalling, 60,000 of his best troops melting away +in killed and wounded during the six weeks, that this was seen to be +impossible. Lee's army was therefore driven into its fortifications +around the Confederate capital and then came the siege of Richmond, +lasting more than nine months, but pushed forward all that time with +relentless energy, in spite of Grant's heavy losses. + +In the West, meanwhile, General William T. Sherman, Grant's closest +friend and brother officer, pursued a task of almost equal importance, +taking Atlanta, Georgia, which the Confederates had turned into a city +of foundries and workshops for the manufacture and repair of guns; then, +starting from Atlanta, marching with his best troops three hundred miles +to the sea, laying the country waste as they went; after which, turning +northward, he led them through South and North Carolina to bring his +army in touch with Grant. + +Against this background of fighting the life of the country went on. The +end of the war was approaching, surely, but so slowly that the people, +hoping for it, and watching day by day, could scarcely see it. They +schooled themselves to a dogged endurance, but there was no more +enthusiasm. Many lost courage. Volunteering almost ceased, and the +government was obliged to begin drafting men to make up the numbers of +soldiers needed by Grant in his campaign against Richmond. + +The President had many things to dishearten him at this time, many +troublesome questions to settle. For instance, there were new loyal +State governments to provide in those parts of the South which had again +come under control of the Union armies--no easy matter, where every man, +woman and child harbored angry feelings against the North, and no matter +how just and forbearing he might be, his plans were sure to be thwarted +and bitterly opposed at every step. + +There were serious questions, too, to be decided about negro soldiers, +for the South had raised a mighty outcry against the Emancipation +Proclamation, especially against the use of the freed slaves as +soldiers, vowing that white officers of negro troops would be shown +small mercy, if ever they were taken prisoners. No act of such vengeance +occurred, but in 1864 a fort manned by colored soldiers was captured by +the Confederates, and almost the entire garrison was put to death. +Must the order that the War Department had issued some time earlier, to +offset the Confederate threats, now be put in force? The order said +that for every negro prisoner killed by the Confederates a Confederate +prisoner in the hands of the Union armies would be taken out and shot. +It fell upon Mr. Lincoln to decide. The idea seemed unbearable to him, +yet, on the other hand, could he afford to let the massacre go unavenged +and thus encourage the South in the belief that it could commit such +barbarous acts and escape unharmed? Two reasons finally decided him +against putting the order in force. One was that General Grant was about +to start on his campaign against Richmond, and that it would be most +unwise to begin this by the tragic spectacle of a military punishment, +however merited. The other was his tender-hearted humanity. He could +not, he said, take men out and kill them in cold blood for crimes +committed by other men. If he could get hold of the persons who were +guilty of killing the colored prisoners in cold blood, the case would +be different; but he could not kill the innocent for the guilty. +Fortunately the offense was not repeated, and no one had cause to +criticize his clemency. + +Numbers of good and influential men, dismayed at the amount of blood and +treasure that the war had already cost, and disheartened by the calls +for still more soldiers that Grant's campaign made necessary, began +to clamor for peace--were ready to grant almost anything that the +Confederates chose to ask. Rebel agents were in Canada professing to +be able to conclude a peace. Mr. Lincoln, wishing to convince these +northern "Peace men" of the groundlessness of their claim, and of the +injustice of their charges that the government was continuing the war +unnecessarily, sent Horace Greeley, the foremost among them, to Canada, +to talk with the self-styled ambassadors of Jefferson Davis. Nothing +came of it, of course, except abuse of Mr. Lincoln for sending such a +messenger, and a lively quarrel between Greeley and the rebel agents as +to who was responsible for the misunderstandings that arose. + +The summer and autumn of 1864 were likewise filled with the bitterness +and high excitement of a presidential campaign; for, according to law, +Mr. Lincoln's successor had to be elected on the "Tuesday after the +first Monday" of November in that year. The great mass of Republicans +wished Mr. Lincoln to be reelected. The Democrats had long ago fixed +upon General McClellan, with his grievances against the President, as +their future candidate. It is not unusual for Presidents to discover +would-be rivals in their own cabinets. Considering the strong men who +formed Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, and the fact that four years earlier more +than one of them had active hopes of being chosen in his stead, it is +remarkable that there was so little of this. + +The one who developed the most serious desire to succeed him was Salmon +P. Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury. Devoted with all his powers +to the cause of the Union, Mr. Chase was yet strangely at fault in his +judgment of men. He regarded himself as the friend of Mr. Lincoln, +but nevertheless held so poor an opinion of the President's mind and +character, compared with his own, that he could not believe people blind +enough to prefer the President to himself. He imagined that he did +not want the office, and was anxious only for the public good; yet +he listened eagerly to the critics of the President who flattered his +hopes, and found time in spite of his great labors to write letters to +all parts of the country, which, although protesting that he did not +want the honor, showed his entire willingness to accept it. Mr. Lincoln +was well aware of this. Indeed, it was impossible not to know about it, +though he refused to hear the matter discussed or to read any letters +concerning it. He had his own opinion of the taste displayed by Mr. +Chase, but chose to take no notice of his actions. "I have determined," +he said, "to shut my eyes, so far as possible, to everything of the +sort. Mr. Chase makes a good Secretary, and I shall keep him where he +is. If he becomes President, all right. I hope we may never have a +worse man," and he not only kept him where he was, but went on +appointing Chase's friends to office. + +There was also some talk of making General Grant the Republican +candidate for President, and an attempt was even made to trap Mr. +Lincoln into taking part in a meeting where this was to be done. Mr. +Lincoln refused to attend, and instead wrote a letter of such hearty and +generous approval of Grant and his army that the meeting naturally fell +into the hands of Mr. Lincoln's friends. General Grant, never at that +time or any other, gave the least encouragement to the efforts which +were made to array him against the President. Mr. Lincoln, on his part, +received all warnings to beware of Grant in the most serene manner, +saying tranquilly, "If he takes Richmond, let him have it." It was not +so with General Fremont. At a poorly attended meeting held in Cleveland +he was actually nominated by a handful of people calling themselves +the "Radical Democracy," and taking the matter seriously, accepted, +although, three months later, having found no response from the public, +he withdrew from the contest. + +After all, these various attempts to discredit the name of Abraham +Lincoln caused hardly a ripple on the great current of public opinion, +and death alone could have prevented his choice by the Republican +national convention. He took no measures to help on his own candidacy. +With strangers he would not talk about the probability of his +reelection; but with friends he made no secret of his readiness to +continue the work he was engaged in if such should be the general wish. +"A second term would be a great honor and a great labor; which together, +perhaps, I would not decline," he wrote to one of them. He discouraged +officeholders, either civil or military, who showed any special zeal in +his behalf. To General Schurz, who wrote asking permission to take an +active part in the campaign for his reelection, he answered: "I perceive +no objection to your making a political speech when you are where one is +to be made; but quite surely, speaking in the North and fighting in the +South at the same time are not possible, nor could I be justified to +detail any officer to the political campaign... and then return him to +the army." + +He himself made no long speeches during the summer, and in his short +addresses, at Sanitary Fairs, in answer to visiting delegations, and +on similar occasions where custom and courtesy obliged him to say a few +words, he kept his quiet ease and self-command, speaking heartily and +to the point, yet avoiding all the pitfalls that beset the candidate who +talks. + +When the Republican national convention came together in Baltimore on +June 7, 1864, it had very little to do, for its delegates were bound by +rigid instructions to vote for Abraham Lincoln. + +He was chosen on the first ballot, every State voting for him except +Missouri, whose representatives had been instructed to vote for Grant. +Missouri at once changed its vote, and the secretary of the convention +read the grand total of 506 for Lincoln, his announcement being greeted +by a storm of cheers that lasted several minutes. + +It was not so easy to choose a Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln had been +besieged by many people to make known his wishes in the matter, but had +persistently refused. He rightly felt that it would be presumptuous in +him to dictate who should be his companion on the ticket, and, in case +of his death, his successor in office. This was for the delegates to the +convention to decide, for they represented the voters of the country. He +had no more right to dictate who should be selected than the Emperor of +China would have had. It is probable that Vice-President Hamlin would +have been renominated, if it had not been for the general feeling both +in and out of the convention that, under all the circumstances, it would +be wiser to select some man who had been a Democrat, and had yet upheld +the war. The choice fell upon Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was not +only a Democrat, but had been appointed by Mr. Lincoln military governor +of Tennessee in 1862. + +The Democrats at first meant to have the national convention of their +party meet on the fourth of July; but after Fremont had been nominated +at Cleveland and Lincoln at Baltimore, they postponed it to a later +date, hoping that something in the chapter of accidents might happen to +their advantage. At first it appeared as if this might be the case. +The outlook for the Republicans was far from satisfactory. The terrible +fighting and great losses of Grant's army in Virginia had profoundly +shocked and depressed the country. The campaign of General Sherman, who +was then in Georgia, showed as yet no promise of the brilliant results +it afterward attained. General Early's sudden raid into Maryland, when +he appeared so unexpectedly before Washington and threatened the city, +had been the cause of much exasperation; and Mr. Chase, made bitter +by his failure to receive the coveted nomination for President, had +resigned from the cabinet. This seemed, to certain leading Republicans, +to point to a breaking up of the government. The "Peace" men were +clamoring loudly for an end of the war; and the Democrats, not having +yet formally chosen a candidate, were free to devote all their leisure +to attacks upon the administration. + +Mr. Lincoln realized fully the tremendous issues at stake. He looked +worn and weary. To a friend who urged him to go away for a fortnight's +rest, he replied, "I cannot fly from my thoughts. My solicitude for this +great country follows me wherever I go. I do not think it is personal +vanity or ambition, though I am not free from these infirmities, but +I cannot but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be +decided in November. There is no program offered by any wing of the +Democratic party but that must result in the permanent destruction of +the Union." + +The political situation grew still darker. Toward the end of August the +general gloom enveloped even the President himself. Then what he did was +most original and characteristic. Feeling that the campaign was going +against him, he made up his mind deliberately the course he ought to +pursue, and laid down for himself the action demanded by his strong +sense of duty. He wrote on August 23 the following memorandum: "This +morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this +administration will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to so +cooperate with the President-elect as to save the Union between the +election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on +such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterward." + +He folded and pasted the sheet of paper in such a way that its contents +could not be seen, and as the cabinet came together handed it to each +member successively, asking him to write his name across the back of it. +In this peculiar fashion he pledged himself and his administration to +accept loyally the verdict of the people if it should be against them, +and to do their utmost to save the Union in the brief remainder of his +term of office. He gave no hint to any member of his cabinet of the +nature of the paper thus signed until after his reelection. + +The Democratic convention finally came together in Chicago on August 29. +It declared the war a failure, and that efforts ought to be made at once +to bring it to a close, and nominated General McClellan for President +McClellan's only chance of success lay in his war record. His position +as a candidate on a platform of dishonorable peace would have been no +less desperate than ridiculous. In his letter accepting the nomination, +therefore, he calmly ignored the platform, and renewed his assurances +of devotion to the Union, the Constitution, and the flag of his country. +But the stars in their courses fought against him. Even before the +Democratic convention met, the tide of battle had turned. The darkest +hour of the war had passed, and dawn was at hand, and amid the +thanksgivings of a grateful people, and the joyful salute of great guns, +the real presidential campaign began. The country awoke to the true +meaning of the Democratic platform; General Sherman's successes in +the South excited the enthusiasm of the people; and when at last the +Unionists, rousing from their midsummer languor, began to show their +faith in the Republican candidate, the hopelessness of all efforts to +undermine him became evident. + + + + +XII. THE CONQUEROR OF A GREAT REBELLION + +The presidential election of 1864 took place on November 8. The diary of +one of the President's secretaries contains a curious record of the way +the day passed at the Executive Mansion. "The house has been still and +almost deserted. Everybody in Washington and not at home voting seems +ashamed of it, and stays away from the President. While I was talking +with him to-day he said: 'It is a little singular that I, who am not a +vindictive man, should always have been before the people for election +in canvasses marked for their bitterness. Always but once. When I came +to Congress it was a quiet time; but always besides that the contests in +which I have been prominent have been marked with great rancor.'" + +Early in the evening the President made his way through rain and +darkness to the War Department to receive the returns. The telegrams +came, thick and fast, all pointing joyously to his reelection. He sent +the important ones over to Mrs. Lincoln at the White House, remarking, +"She is more anxious that I am." The satisfaction of one member of the +little group about him was coupled with the wish that the critics of the +administration might feel properly rebuked by this strong expression +of the popular will. Mr. Lincoln looked at him in kindly surprise. +"You have more of that feeling of personal resentment than I," he said. +"Perhaps I have too little of it, but I never thought it paid. A man has +not time to spend half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack +me, I never remember the past against him." This state of mind +might well have been called by a higher name than "lack of personal +resentment." + +Lincoln and Johnson received a popular majority of 411,281, and 212 out +of 233 electoral votes--only those of New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky, +twenty-one in all, being cast for McClellan. + +For Mr. Lincoln this was one of the most solemn days of his life. +Assured of his personal success, and made devoutly confident by the +military victories of the last few weeks that the end of the war was at +hand, he felt no sense of triumph over his opponents. The thoughts that +filled his mind found expression in the closing sentences of the little +speech that he made to some serenaders who greeted him in the early +morning hours of November 9, as he left the War Department to return to +the White House: + +"I am thankful to God for this approval of the people; but while deeply +grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know my heart, +my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph.... It is no +pleasure to me to triumph over anyone, but I give thanks to the Almighty +for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government +and the rights of humanity." + +Mr. Lincoln's inauguration for his second term as President took place +at the time appointed, on March 4, 1865. There is little variation +in the simple but impressive pageantry with which the ceremony is +celebrated. The principal novelty commented on by the newspapers was the +share which the people who had up to that time been slaves, had for the +first time in this public and political drama. Associations of negro +citizens joined in the procession, and a battalion of negro soldiers +formed part of the military escort. The central act of the occasion +was President Lincoln's second inaugural address, which enriched the +political literature of the nation with another masterpiece. He said: + +"Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the +presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address +than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a +course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration +of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly +called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still +absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little +that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all +else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and +it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With +high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. + +"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were +anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--all sought +to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this +place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent +agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to +dissolve the Union and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties +deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the +nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it +perish. And the war came. + +"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed +generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. +These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew +that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, +perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the +insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government +claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement +of it. + +"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which +it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the +conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should +cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental +and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and +each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men +should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from +the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not +judged. The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has +been answered fully. + +"The Almighty has his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of +offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man +by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery +is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs +come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now +wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible +war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern +therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers +in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do +we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet; if +God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's +two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until +every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn +with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must +be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' + +"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the +right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish +the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who +shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to +do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among +ourselves, and with all nations." + +The address ended, the Chief Justice arose, and the listeners who, for +the second time, heard Abraham Lincoln repeat the solemn words of his +oath of office, went from the impressive scene to their several homes in +thankfulness and confidence that the destiny of the nation was in safe +keeping. + +Nothing would have amazed Mr. Lincoln more than to hear himself called +a man of letters; and yet it would be hard to find in all literature +anything to excel the brevity and beauty of his address at Gettysburg +or the lofty grandeur of this Second Inaugural. In Europe his style has +been called a model for the study and imitation of princes, while in +our own country many of his phrases have already passed into the daily +speech of mankind. + +His gift of putting things simply and clearly was partly the habit +of his own clear mind, and partly the result of the training he gave +himself in days of boyish poverty, when paper and ink were luxuries +almost beyond his reach, and the words he wished to set down must be the +best words, and the clearest and shortest to express the ideas he had +in view. This training of thought before expression, of knowing exactly +what he wished to say before saying it, stood him in good stead all his +life; but only the mind of a great man, with a lofty soul and a poet's +vision; one who had suffered deeply and felt keenly; who carried the +burden of a nation on his heart, whose sympathies were as broad and +whose kindness was as great as his moral purpose was strong and firm, +could have written the deep, forceful, convincing words that fell from +his pen in the later years of his life. It was the life he lived, the +noble aim that upheld him, as well as the genius with which he was born, +that made him one of the greatest writers of our time. + +At the date of his second inauguration only two members of Mr. Lincoln's +original cabinet remained in office; but the changes had all come about +gradually and naturally, never as the result of quarrels, and with the +single exception of Secretary Chase, not one of them left the cabinet +harboring feelings of resentment or bitterness toward his late chief. +Even when, in one case, it became necessary for the good of the service, +for Mr. Lincoln to ask a cabinet minister to resign, that gentleman not +only unquestioningly obeyed, but entered into the presidential campaign +immediately afterward, working heartily and effectively for his +reelection. As for Secretary Chase, the President was so little +disturbed by his attitude that, on the death of Roger B. Taney, the +Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, he made him his +successor, giving him the highest judicial office in the land, and +paying him the added compliment of writing out his nomination with his +own hand. + +The keynote of the President's young life had been persevering industry. +That of his mature years was self-control and generous forgiveness. And +surely his remark on the night of his second election for President, +that he did not think resentment "paid," and that no man had time to +spend half his life in quarrels, was well borne out by the fruit of his +actions. It was this spirit alone which made possible much that he was +able to accomplish. His rule of conduct toward all men is summed up in a +letter of reprimand that it became his duty, while he was President, +to send to one young officer accused of quarreling with another. It +deserves to be written in letters of gold on the walls of every school +and college throughout the land: + +"The advice of a father to his son, 'beware of entrance to a quarrel, +but, being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee,' is good, +but not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most +of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he +afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his +temper and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you +can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones though clearly +your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in +contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite." + +It was this willingness of his to give up the "lesser things," and even +the things to which he could claim an equal right, which kept peace in +his cabinet, made up of men of strong wills and conflicting natures. +Their devotion to the Union, great as it was, would not have sufficed +in such a strangely assorted official family; but his unfailing kindness +and good sense led him to overlook many things that another man might +have regarded as deliberate insults; while his great tact and knowledge +of human nature enabled him to bring out the best in people about him, +and at times to turn their very weaknesses into sources of strength. It +made it possible for him to keep the regard of every one of them. Before +he had been in office a month it had transformed Secretary Seward from +his rival into his lasting friend. It made a warm friend out of the +blunt, positive, hot-tempered Edwin M. Stanton, who became Secretary +of War in place of Mr. Cameron. He was a man of strong will and great +endurance, and gave his Department a record for hard and effective +work that it would be difficult to equal. Many stories are told of the +disrespect he showed the President, and the cross-purposes at which they +labored. The truth is, that they understood each other perfectly on all +important matters, and worked together through three busy trying years +with ever-increasing affection and regard. The President's kindly humor +forgave his Secretary many blunt speeches. "Stanton says I am a fool?" +he is reported to have asked a busy-body who came fleet-footed to tell +him of the Secretary's hasty comment on an order of little moment. +"Stanton says I am a fool? Well"--with a whimsical glance at his +informant--"then I suppose I must be. Stanton is nearly always right." +Knowing that Stanton was "nearly always right" it made little difference +to his chief what he might say in the heat of momentary annoyance. + +Yet in spite of his forbearance he never gave up the "larger things" +that he felt were of real importance; and when he learned at one time +that an effort was being made to force a member of the cabinet to +resign, he called them together, and read them the following impressive +little lecture: + +"I must myself be the judge how long to retain in, and when to remove +any of you from his position. It would greatly pain me to discover +any of you endeavoring to procure another's removal, or in any way to +prejudice him before the public. Such endeavor would be a wrong to me, +and much worse, a wrong to the country. My wish is that on this subject +no remark be made, nor question asked by any of you, here, or elsewhere, +now, or hereafter." + +This is one of the most remarkable speeches ever made by a President. +Washington was never more dignified; Jackson was never more peremptory. + +The President's spirit of forgiveness was broad enough to take in the +entire South. The cause of the Confederacy had been doomed from the hour +of his reelection. The cheering of the troops which greeted the news +had been heard within the lines at Richmond, and the besieged town lost +hope, though it continued the struggle bravely if desperately. Although +Horace Greeley's peace mission to Canada had come to nothing, and other +volunteer efforts in the same direction served only to call forth +a declaration from Jefferson Davis that he would fight for the +independence of the South to the bitter end, Mr. Lincoln watched +longingly for the time when the first move could be made toward peace. +Early in January, 1865, as the country was about to enter upon the fifth +year of actual war, he learned from Hon. Francis P. Blair, Sr., who +had been in Richmond, how strong the feeling of discouragement at the +Confederate capital had become. Mr. Blair was the father of Lincoln's +first Postmaster-General, a man of large acquaintance in the South, who +knew perhaps better than anyone in Washington the character and temper +of the southern leaders. He had gone to Richmond hoping to do something +toward bringing the war to a close, but without explaining his plans to +anyone, and with no authority from the government, beyond permission +to pass through the military lines and return. His scheme was utterly +impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested in the report of his visit +only because it showed that the rebellion was nearing its end. This +was so marked that he sent Mr. Blair back again to Richmond with a note +intended for the eye of Jefferson Davis, saying that the government had +constantly been, was then, and would continue to be ready to receive any +agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace to the people +of our one common country." + +Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates had no +mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence of the southern +States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such straits that they +could not afford to leave Mr. Lincoln's offer untested. Mr. Davis +therefore sent north his Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, with +two other high officials of the Confederate government, armed with +instructions which aimed to be liberal enough to gain them admittance +to the Union lines, and yet distinctly announced that they came "for the +purpose of securing peace to the two countries." This difference in the +wording of course doomed their mission in advance, for the government +at Washington had never admitted that there were "two countries," and to +receive the messengers of Jefferson Davis on any such terms would be to +concede practically all that the South asked. + +When they reached the Union lines the officer who met them informed +them that they could go no farther unless they accepted the President's +conditions. They finally changed the form of their request, and were +taken to Fortress Monroe. Meantime Mr. Lincoln had sent Secretary Seward +to Fortress Monroe with instructions to hear all they might have to say, +but not to definitely conclude anything. On learning the true nature +of their errand he was about to recall him, when he received a telegram +from General Grant, regretting that Mr. Lincoln himself could not see +the commissioners, because, to Grant's mind, they seemed sincere. + +Anxious to do everything he could in the interest of peace, Mr. Lincoln, +instead of recalling Secretary Seward, telegraphed that he would himself +come to Fortress Monroe, and started that same night. The next morning, +February 3, 1865, he and the Secretary of State received the rebel +commissioners on board the President's steamer, the River Queen. + +This conference between the two highest officials of the United States +government, and three messengers from the Confederacy, bound, as the +President well knew beforehand, by instructions which made any practical +outcome impossible, brings out, in strongest relief, Mr. Lincoln's +kindly patience, even toward the rebellion. He was determined to leave +no means untried that might, however remotely, lead to peace. For four +hours he patiently answered the many questions they asked him, as to +what would probably be done on various subjects if the South submitted; +pointing out always the difference between the things that he had the +power to decide, and those that must be submitted to Congress; and +bringing the discussion back, time and again, to the three points +absolutely necessary to secure peace--Union, freedom for the slaves, +and complete disbandment of the Confederate armies. He had gone to offer +them, honestly and frankly, the best terms in his power, but not to +give up one atom of official dignity or duty. Their main thought, on the +contrary, had been to postpone or to escape the express conditions on +which they were admitted to the conference. + +They returned to Richmond and reported the failure of their efforts to +Jefferson Davis, whose disappointment equalled their own, for all had +caught eagerly at the hope that this interview would somehow prove a +means of escape from the dangers of their situation. President Lincoln, +full of kindly thoughts, on the other hand, went back to Washington, +intent on making yet one more generous offer to hasten the day of peace. +He had told the commissioners that personally he would be in favor of +the government paying a liberal amount for the loss of slave property, +on condition that the southern States agree of their own accord to +the freedom of the slaves. (*) This was indeed going to the extreme of +liberality, but Mr. Lincoln remembered that notwithstanding all their +offenses the rebels were American citizens, members of the same nation +and brothers of the same blood. He remembered, too, that the object of +the war, equally with peace and freedom, was to preserve friendship and +to continue the Union. Filled with such thoughts and purposes he spent +the day after his return in drawing up a new proposal designed as a +peace offering to the States in rebellion. On the evening of February 5 +he read this to his cabinet. It offered the southern States $400,000,000 +or a sum equal to the cost of war for two hundred days, on condition +that all fighting cease by the first of April, 1865. He proved more +liberal than any of his advisers; and with the words, "You are all +against me," sadly uttered, the President folded up the paper, and ended +the discussion. + + * Mr. Lincoln had freed the slaves two years before as a + military necessity, and as such it had been accepted by all. + Yet a question might arise, when the war ended, as to + whether this act of his had been lawful. He was therefore + very anxious to have freedom find a place in the + Constitution of the United States. This could only be done + by an amendment to the Constitution, proposed by Congress, + and adopted by the legislatures of three-fourths of the + States of the Union. Congress voted in favor of such an + amendment on January 31, 1865. Illinois, the President's own + State, adopted it on the very next day, and though Mr. + Lincoln did not live to see it a part of the Constitution, + Secretary Seward, on December 18, 1865, only a few months + after Mr. Lincoln's death, was able to make official + announcement that 29 States, constituting a majority of + three-fourths of the 36 States of the Union, had adopted it, + and that therefore it was the law of the land. + +Jefferson Davis had issued a last appeal to "fire the southern heart," +but the situation at Richmond was becoming desperate Flour cost a +thousand dollars a barrel in Confederate money, and neither the flour +nor the money were sufficient for their needs. Squads of guards were +sent into the streets with directions to arrest every able-bodied man +they met, and force him to work in defense of the town. It is said that +the medical boards were ordered to excuse no one from military service +who was well enough to bear arms for even ten days. Human nature will +not endure a strain like this, and desertion grew too common to punish. +Nevertheless the city kept up its defense until April 3. Even then, +although hopelessly beaten, the Confederacy was not willing to give in, +and much needless and severe fighting took place before the final end +came. The rebel government hurried away toward the South, and Lee +bent all his energies to saving his army and taking it to join General +Johnston, who still held out against Sherman. Grant pursued him with +such energy that he did not even allow himself the pleasure of entering +the captured rebel capital. The chase continued six days. On the evening +of April 8 the Union army succeeded in planting itself squarely across +Lee's line of retreat; and the marching and fighting of his army were +over for ever. On the next morning the two generals met in a house on +the edge of the village of Appomattox, Virginia, Lee resplendent in a +new uniform and handsome sword, Grant in the travel-stained garments in +which he had made the campaign--the blouse of a private soldier, with +the shoulder-straps of a Lieutenant-General. Here the surrender took +place. Grant, as courteous in victory as he was energetic in war, +offered Lee terms that were liberal in the extreme; and on learning that +the Confederate soldiers were actually suffering with hunger, ordered +that rations be issued to them at once. + +Fire and destruction attended the flight of the Confederates from +Richmond. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, carrying with them their more +important state papers, left the doomed city on one of the crowded +and overloaded railroad trains on the night of April 2, beginning a +southward flight that ended only with Mr. Davis's capture about a +month later. The legislature of Virginia and the governor of the State +departed hurriedly on a canal-boat in the direction of Lynchburg, while +every possible carriage or vehicle was pressed into service by the +inhabitants, all frantic to get away before their city was "desecrated" +by the presence of the Yankees. By the time the military left, early on +the morning of April 3, the town was on fire. The Confederate Congress +had ordered all government tobacco and other public property to be +burned. The rebel General Ewell, who was in charge of the city, asserts +that he took the responsibility of disobeying, and that the fires were +not started by his orders. Be that as it may, they broke out in various +places, while a mob, crazed with excitement, and wild with the alcohol +that had run freely in the gutters the night before, rushed from store +to store, breaking in the doors, and indulging in all the wantonness of +pillage and greed. Public spirit seemed paralyzed; no real effort was +made to put out the flames, and as a final horror, the convicts from the +penitentiary, overpowering their guards, appeared upon the streets, a +maddened, shouting, leaping crowd, drunk with liberty. + +It is quite possible that the very size and suddenness of the disaster +served in a measure to lessen its evil effects; for the burning of seven +hundred buildings, the entire business portion of Richmond, all in the +brief space of a day, was a visitation so sudden, so stupefying and +unexpected as to overawe and terrorize even evildoers. Before a new +danger could arise help was at hand. Gen. Weitzel, to whom the city +surrendered, took up his headquarters in the house lately occupied by +Jefferson Davis, and promptly set about the work of relief; fighting the +fire, issuing rations to the poor, and restoring order and authority. +That a regiment of black soldiers assisted in this work of mercy must +have seemed to the white inhabitants of Richmond the final drop in their +cup of misery. + +Into the rebel capital, thus stricken and laid waste, came President +Lincoln on the morning of April 4. Never in the history of the world +has the head of a mighty nation and the conqueror of a great rebellion +entered the captured chief city of the insurgents in such humbleness and +simplicity. He had gone two weeks before to City Point for a visit to +General Grant, and to his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, who was serving +on Grant's staff. Making his home on the steamer that brought him, and +enjoying what was probably the most restful and satisfactory holiday in +which he had been able to indulge during his whole presidential service, +he had visited the various camps of the great army, in company with the +General, cheered everywhere by the loving greetings of the soldiers. He +had met Sherman when that commander hurried up fresh from his victorious +march from Atlanta; and after Grant had started on his final pursuit +of Lee the President still lingered. It was at City Point that the news +came to him of the fall of Richmond. + +Between the receipt of this news and the following forenoon, before any +information of the great fire had reached them, a visit to the rebel +capital was arranged for the President and Rear Admiral Porter. Ample +precautions for their safety were taken at the start. The President went +in his own steamer, the River Queen, with her escort, the Bat, and a tug +used at City Point in landing from the steamer. Admiral Porter went in +his flagship; while a transport carried a small cavalry escort, as +well as ambulances for the party. Barriers in the river soon made it +impossible to proceed in this fashion, and one unforeseen accident after +another rendered it necessary to leave behind the larger and even the +smaller boats; until finally the party went on in the Admiral's barge +rowed by twelve sailors, without escort of any kind. In this manner the +President made his entry into Richmond, landing near Libby Prison. As +the party stepped ashore they found a guide among the contrabands who +quickly crowded the streets, for the possible coming of the President +had already been noised through the city. Ten of the sailors armed with +carbines were formed as a guard, six in front, and four in rear, and +between them the President and Admiral Porter, with the three officers +who accompanied them, walked the long distance, perhaps a mile and a +half, to the centre of the town. + +Imagination can easily fill in the picture of a gradually increasing +crowd, principally of negroes, following the little group of marines and +officers with the tall form of the President in its centre; and, when +they learned that it was indeed "Massa Lincum," expressing their joy and +gratitude in fervent blessings and in the deep emotional cries of the +colored race. It is easy also to imagine the sharp anxiety of those who +had the President's safety in their charge during this tiresome and even +foolhardy march through a town still in flames, whose white inhabitants +were sullenly resentful at best, and whose grief and anger might at any +moment break out against the man they looked upon as the chief author of +their misfortunes. No accident befell him. He reached General Weitzel's +headquarters in safety, rested in the house Jefferson Davis had occupied +while President of the Confederacy; and after a day of sightseeing +returned to his steamer and to Washington, there to be stricken down by +an assassin's bullet, literally "in the house of his friends." + + + + +XIII. THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL + +Refreshed in body by his visit to City Point and greatly cheered by +the fall of Richmond, and unmistakable signs that the war was over, Mr. +Lincoln went back to Washington intent on the new task opening before +him--that of restoring the Union, and of bringing about peace and good +will again between the North and the South. His whole heart was bent on +the work of "binding up the nation's wounds" and doing all which lay +in his power to "achieve a just and lasting peace." Especially did +he desire to avoid the shedding of blood, or anything like acts of +deliberate punishment. He talked to his cabinet in this strain on the +morning of April 14, the last day of his life. "No one need expect that +he would take any part in hanging or killing these men, even the worst +of them," he exclaimed. Enough lives had been sacrificed already. +Anger must be put aside. The great need now was to begin to act in the +interest of peace. With these words of clemency and kindness in +their ears they left him, never again to come together under his wise +chairmanship. + +Though it was invariably held in check by his vigorous common-sense, +there was in Mr. Lincoln's nature a strong vein of poetry and mysticism. +That morning he told his cabinet a strange story of a dream that he had +had the night before--a dream which he said came to him before great +events. He had dreamed it before the battles of Antietam, Murfreesboro, +Gettysburg and Vicksburg. This time it must foretell a victory by +Sherman over Johnston's army, news of which was hourly expected, for +he knew of no other important event likely to occur. The members of +the cabinet were deeply impressed; but General Grant, who had come to +Washington that morning and was present, remarked with matter-of-fact +exactness that Murfreesboro was no victory and had no important results. +Not the wildest imagination of skeptic or mystic could have pictured the +events under which the day was to close. + +It was Good Friday, a day observed by a portion of the people with +fasting and prayer, but even among the most devout the great news of the +week just ended changed this time of traditional mourning into a season +of general thanksgiving. For Mr. Lincoln it was a day of unusual and +quiet happiness. His son Robert had returned from the field with +General Grant, and the President spent an hour with the young captain in +delighted conversation over the campaign. He denied himself generally to +visitors, admitting only a few friends. In the afternoon he went for +a long drive with Mrs. Lincoln. His mood, as it had been all day, was +singularly happy and tender. He talked much of the past and future. +After four years of trouble and tumult he looked forward to four years +of quiet and normal work; after that he expected to go back again to +Illinois and practice law. He was never more simple or more gentle +than on this day of triumph. His heart overflowed with sentiments of +gratitude to Heaven, which took the shape, usual to generous natures, of +love and kindness to all men. + +From the very beginning there had been threats to kill him. He was +constantly receiving letters of warning from zealous or nervous friends. +The War Department inquired into these when there seemed to be ground +for doing so, but always without result. Warnings that appeared most +definite proved on examination too vague and confused for further +attention. The President knew that he was in some danger. Madmen +frequently made their way to the very door of the Executive Office; +sometimes into Mr. Lincoln's presence; but he himself had so sane a +mind, and a heart so kindly even to his enemies, that it was hard for +him to believe in political hatred deadly enough to lead to murder. He +summed up the matter by saying that since he must receive both friends +and strangers every day, his life was of course within the reach of any +one, sane or mad, who was ready to murder and be hanged for it, and that +he could not possibly guard against all danger unless he shut himself +up in an iron box, where he could scarcely perform the duties of a +President. + +He therefore went in and out before the people, always unarmed, +generally unattended. He received hundreds of visitors in a day, his +breast bare to pistol or knife. He walked at midnight, with a single +Secretary or alone, from the Executive Mansion to the War Department and +back. In summer he rode through lonely roads from the White House to the +Soldiers' Home in the dusk of the evening, and returned to his work in +the morning before the town was astir. He was greatly annoyed when it +was decided that there must be a guard at the Executive Mansion, and +that a squad of cavalry must accompany him on his daily drive; but he +was always reasonable, and yielded to the best judgment of others. + +Four years of threats and boastings that were unfounded, and of plots +that came to nothing passed away, until precisely at the time when +the triumph of the nation seemed assured, and a feeling of peace and +security settled over the country, one of the conspiracies, seemingly no +more important than the others, ripened in a sudden heat of hatred and +despair. + +A little band of desperate secessionists, of which John Wilkes Booth, +an actor of a family of famous players, was the head, had their usual +meeting-place at the house of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, the mother of one +of the number. Booth was a young man of twenty-six, strikingly handsome, +with an ease and grace of manner which came to him of right from his +theatrical ancestors. He was a fanatical southerner, with a furious +hatred against Lincoln and the Union. After Lincoln's reelection he went +to Canada, and associated with the Confederate agents there; and whether +or not with their advice, made a plan to capture the President and +take him to Richmond. He passed a great part of the autumn and winter +pursuing this fantastic scheme, but the winter wore away, and nothing +was done. On March 4 he was at the Capitol, and created a disturbance +by trying to force his way through the line of policemen who guarded +the passage through which the President walked to the East front of the +building to read his Second Inaugural. His intentions at this time are +not known. He afterwards said he lost an excellent chance of killing the +President that day. + +After the surrender of Lee, in a rage akin to madness, he called his +fellow-conspirators together and allotted to each his part in the new +crime which had risen in his mind. It was as simple as it was horrible. +One man was to kill Secretary Seward, another to make way with Andrew +Johnson, at the same time that he murdered the President. The final +preparations were made with feverish haste. It was only about noon of +the fourteenth that Booth learned that Mr. Lincoln meant to go to Ford's +Theatre that night to see the play "Our American Cousin." The President +enjoyed the theatre. It was one of his few means of recreation, and as +the town was then thronged with soldiers and officers all eager to see +him, he could, by appearing in public, gratify many whom he could not +personally meet. + +Mrs. Lincoln asked General and Mrs. Grant to accompany her. They +accepted, and the announcement that they would be present was made in +the evening papers, but they changed their plans and went north by an +afternoon train. Mrs. Lincoln then invited in their stead Miss Harris +and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson of Senator Ira Harris. Being +detained by visitors, the play had made some progress when the President +appeared.. The band struck up "Hail to the Chief," the actors ceased +playing, the audience rose and cheered, the President bowed in +acknowledgment, and the play went on again. + +From the moment he learned of the President's intention Booth's actions +were alert and energetic. He and his confederates were seen in every +part of the city. Booth was perfectly at home in Ford's Theatre. He +counted upon audacity to reach the small passage behind the President's +box. Once there, he guarded against interference by arranging a wooden +bar, to be fastened by a simple mortice in the angle of the wall and +the door by which he entered, so that once shut, the door could not be +opened from the outside. He even provided for the chance of not gaining +entrance to the box by boring a hole in the door, through which he +might either observe the occupants, or take aim and shoot. He hired at a +livery stable a small fleet horse. + +A few moments before ten o'clock, leaving his horse at the rear of +the theatre, in charge of a call-boy, he entered the building, passing +rapidly to the little hallway leading to the President's box. Showing a +card to the servant in attendance, he was allowed to enter, closed the +door noiselessly, and secured it with the wooden bar he had made ready, +without disturbing any of the occupants of the box, between whom and +himself yet remained the partition and the door through which he had +bored the hole. + +No one, not even the actor who uttered them, could ever remember the +last words of the piece that were spoken that night--the last that +Abraham Lincoln heard upon earth; for the tragedy in the box turned play +and players alike to the most unsubstantial of phantoms. For weeks +hate and brandy had kept Booth's brain in a morbid state. He seemed to +himself to be taking part in a great play. Holding a pistol in one hand +and a knife in the other, he opened the box door, put the pistol to the +President's head, and fired. Major Rathbone sprang to grapple with him, +and received a savage knife wound in the arm. Then, rushing forward, +Booth placed his hand on the railing of the box and vaulted to the +stage. It was a high leap, but nothing to such a trained athlete. He +would have got safely away, had not his spur caught in the flag that +draped the front of the box. He fell, the torn flag trailing on +his spur; but though the fall had broken his leg, he rose instantly +brandishing his knife and shouting, "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" fled rapidly +across the stage and out of sight. Major Rathbone shouted, "Stop him!" +The cry, "He has shot the President!" rang through the theatre, and from +the audience, stupid at first with surprise, and wild afterward with +excitement and horror, men jumped upon the stage in pursuit of the +assassin. But he ran through the familiar passages, leaped upon his +horse, rewarding with a kick and a curse the boy who held him, and +escaped into the night. + +The President scarcely moved. His head drooped forward slightly, his +eyes closed. Major Rathbone, not regarding his own grievous hurt, +rushed to the door to summon aid. He found it barred, and someone on the +outside beating and clamoring to get in. It was at once seen that the +President's wound was mortal. He was carried across the street to a +house opposite, and laid upon a bed. Mrs. Lincoln followed, tenderly +cared for by Miss Harris. Rathbone, exhausted by loss of blood, fainted, +and was taken home. Messengers were sent for the cabinet, for the +Surgeon-General, for Dr. Stone the President's family physician, and for +others whose official or private relations with Mr. Lincoln gave them +the right to be there. A crowd of people rushed instinctively to the +White House, and bursting through the doors shouted the dreadful news to +Robert Lincoln and Major Hay who sat together in an upper room. + +The President had been shot a few minutes after ten o'clock. The wound +would have brought instant death to most men. He was unconscious from +the first moment, but he breathed throughout the night, his gaunt face +scarcely paler than those of the sorrowing men around him. At twenty-two +minutes past seven in the morning he died. Secretary Stanton broke the +silence by saying, "Now he belongs to the ages." + +Booth had done his work thoroughly. His principal accomplice had acted +with equal audacity and cruelty, but with less fatal result. Under +pretext of having a package of medicine to deliver, he forced his way +to the room of the Secretary of State, who lay ill, and attacked him, +inflicting three terrible knife wounds on his neck and cheek, wounding +also the Secretary's two sons, a servant, and a soldier nurse who tried +to overpower him. Finally breaking away, he ran downstairs, reached the +door unhurt, and springing upon his horse rode off. It was feared that +neither the Secretary nor his eldest son would live, but both in time +recovered. + +Although Booth had been recognized by dozens of people as he stood +before the footlights brandishing his dagger, his swift horse soon +carried him beyond any hap-hazard pursuit. He crossed the Navy +Yard bridge and rode into Maryland, being joined by one of his +fellow-conspirators. A surgeon named Mudd set Booth's leg and sent him +on his desolate way. For ten days the two men lived the lives of hunted +animals. On the night of April 25 they were surrounded as they lay +sleeping in a barn in Caroline County, Virginia. Booth refused to +surrender. The barn was fired, and while it was burning he was shot by +Boston Corbett, a sergeant of cavalry. He lingered for about three +hours in great pain, and died at seven in the morning. The remaining +conspirators were tried by military commission. Four were hanged, +including the assailant of Secretary Seward, and the others were +sentenced to imprisonment for various lengths of time. + +Upon the hearts of a people glowing with the joy of victory the news of +the President's death fell as a great shock. In the unspeakable calamity +the country lost sight of the great national successes of the past week; +and thus it came to pass that there was never any organized celebration +in the North over the downfall of the rebellion. It was unquestionably +best that it should be so. Lincoln himself would not have had it +otherwise, for he hated the arrogance of triumph. As it was, the South +could take no offense at a grief so genuine; and the people of that +section even shared, to a certain extent, in the mourning for one who, +in their inmost hearts, they knew to have wished them well. + +Within an hour after Mr. Lincoln's body was taken to the White House the +town was shrouded in black. Not only the public buildings, the shops, +and the better class of dwellings were draped in funeral decorations; +still more touching proof of affection was shown in the poorest class of +homes, where laboring men of both colors found means in their poverty to +afford some scanty bit of mourning. The interest and veneration of the +people still centered at the White House, where, under a tall catafalque +in the East Room the late chief lay in the majesty of death, rather than +in the modest tavern on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the new President +had his lodgings, and where the Chief Justice administered the oath of +office to him at eleven o'clock on the morning of April 15. + +It was determined that the funeral ceremonies in Washington should be +held on Wednesday, April 19, and all the churches throughout the country +were invited to join at the same time in appropriate observances. The +ceremonies in the East Room were simple and brief, while all the pomp +and circumstance that the government could command were employed to give +a fitting escort from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol, where the +body of the President lay in state. The procession moved to the +booming of minute guns, and the tolling of all the bells in Washington, +Georgetown and Alexandria; while, to associate the pomp of the day with +the greatest work of Lincoln's life, a detachment of colored troops +marched at the head of the line. + +When it was announced that he was to be buried at Springfield every town +and city on the way begged that the train might halt within its limits, +to give its people opportunity of showing their grief and reverence. +It was finally arranged that the funeral cortege should follow +substantially the same route over which Lincoln had come in 1861 to take +possession of the office to which he added a new dignity and value for +all time. On April 21, accompanied by a guard of honor, and in a train +decked with somber trappings, the journey was begun. At Baltimore, +through which, four years before, it was a question whether the +President-elect could pass with safety to his life, the coffin was taken +with reverent care to the great dome of the Exchange, where, surrounded +with evergreens and lilies, it lay for several hours, the people passing +by in mournful throngs. The same demonstration was repeated, gaining +constantly in depth of feeling and solemn splendor of display in every +city through which the procession passed. In New York came General +Scott, pale and feeble, but resolute, to pay his tribute of respect to +his departed friend and commander. + +Springfield was reached on the morning of May 3. The body lay in state +in the Capitol, which was richly draped from roof to basement in black +velvet and silver fringe, while within it was a bower of bloom and +fragrance. For twenty-four hours an unbroken stream of people passed +through, bidding their friend and neighbor welcome home and farewell. At +ten o'clock on the morning of May 4 the coffin lid was closed, and vast +procession moved out to Oak Ridge, where the town had set apart a lovely +spot for his grave. Here the dead President was committed to the soil +of the State which had so loved and honored him. The ceremonies at the +grave were simple and touching. Bishop Simpson delivered a pathetic +oration, prayers were offered, and hymns were sung, but the weightiest +and most eloquent words uttered anywhere that day were those of the +Second Inaugural, which the Committee had wisely ordained to be read +over his grave, as centuries before, the friends of the painter Raphael +chose the incomparable canvas of "The Transfiguration" to be the chief +ornament of his funeral. + + +Though President Lincoln lived to see the real end of the war, various +bodies of Confederate troops continued to hold out for some time longer. +General Johnston faced Sherman's army in the Carolinas until April 26, +while General E. Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi River, did not +surrender until May 26. + +As rapidly as possible Union volunteer regiments were disbanded, and +soon the mighty host of 1,000,000 men was reduced to a peace footing of +only 25,000. Before the great army melted away into the greater body +of citizens its soldiers enjoyed one final triumph--a march through the +capital of the nation, undisturbed by death or danger, under the eyes +of their highest commanders and the representatives of the people +whose country they had saved. Those who witnessed the solemn yet joyous +pageant will never forget it; and pray that their children may never see +its like. For two days this formidable host marched the long stretch of +Pennsylvania Avenue, starting from the shadow of the Capitol and filling +the wide street as far as Georgetown, its serried ranks moving with the +easy yet rapid pace of veterans in cadence step. As a mere spectacle +this march of the mightiest host the continent has ever seen was grand +and imposing, but it was not as a spectacle alone that it affected the +beholder. It was no holiday parade. It was an army of citizens on their +way home after a long and terrible war. Their clothes were worn, and +pierced with bullets, their banners had been torn with shot and shell, +and lashed in the winds of many battles. The very drums and fifes had +called out the troops to night alarms, and sounded the onset on historic +fields. The whole country claimed these heroes as part of themselves. +They were not soldiers by profession or from love of fighting; they had +become soldiers only to save their country's life. Now, done with war, +they were going joyously and peaceably back to their homes to take up +the tasks they had willingly laid down in the hour of their country's +need. + +Friends loaded them with flowers as they swung down the Avenue--both men +and officers, until some were fairly hidden under their fragrant burden. +Grotesque figures were not absent, as Sherman's legions passed with +their "bummers" and their regimental pets. But with all the shouting +and the joy there was, in the minds of all who saw it, one sad and +ever-recurring thought--the memory of the men who were absent, and who +had, nevertheless, so richly earned the right to be there. The soldiers +in their shrunken companies thought of the brave comrades who had +fallen by the way; and through the whole vast army there was passionate +unavailing regret for their wise, gentle and powerful friend Abraham +Lincoln, gone forever from the big white house by the Avenue--who had +called the great host into being, directed the course of the nation +during the four years that they had been battling for its life, and to +whom, more than to any other, this crowning peaceful pageant would have +been full of deep and happy meaning. + +Why was this man so loved that his death caused a whole nation to forget +its triumph, and turned its gladness into mourning? Why has his fame +grown with the passing years until now scarcely a speech is made or a +newspaper printed that does not have within it somewhere a mention of +his name or some phrase or sentence that fell from his lips? Let us see +if we can, what it was that made Abraham Lincoln the man that he became. + +A child born to an inheritance of want; a boy growing into a narrow +world of ignorance; a youth taking up the burden of coarse and heavy +labor; a man entering on the doubtful struggle of a local backwoods +career--these were the beginnings of Abraham Lincoln if we look at +them only in the hard practical spirit which takes for its motto that +"Nothing succeeds but success." If we adopt a more generous as well as a +truer view, then we see that it was the brave hopeful spirit, the strong +active mind, and the great law of moral growth that accepts the good and +rejects the bad, which Nature gave this obscure child, that carried +him to the service of mankind and the admiration of the centuries as +certainly as the acorn grows to be the oak. + +Even his privations helped the end. Self-reliance, the strongest +trait of the pioneer was his by blood and birth and training, and was +developed by the hardships of his lot to the mighty power needed to +guide our country through the struggle of the Civil War. + +The sense of equality was his also, for he grew from childhood to +manhood in a state of society where there were neither rich to envy nor +poor to despise, and where the gifts and hardships of the forest were +distributed without favor to each and all alike. In the forest he +learned charity, sympathy, helpfulness--in a word neighborliness--for in +that far-off frontier life all the wealth of India, had a man possessed +it, could not have bought relief from danger or help in time of need, +and neighborliness became of prime importance. Constant opportunity was +found there to practice the virtue which Christ declared to be next to +the love of God--to love one's neighbor as oneself. + +In such settlements, far removed from courts and jails, men were brought +face to face with questions of natural right. The pioneers not only +understood the American doctrine of self-government--they lived it. It +was this understanding, this feeling, which taught Lincoln to write: +"When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when +he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than +self-government that is despotism;" and also to give utterance to its +twin truth: "He who would be no slave must consent to have no slave." + +Lincoln was born in the slave State of Kentucky. He lived there only a +short time, and we have reason to believe that wherever he might have +grown up, his very nature would have spurned the doctrine and practice +of human slavery. Yet, though he hated slavery, he never hated the +slave-holder. His feeling of pardon and sympathy for Kentucky and the +South played no unimportant part in his dealings with grave problems of +statesmanship. It is true that he struck slavery its death blow with +the hand of war, but at the same time he offered the slaveowner golden +payment with the hand of peace. + +Abraham Lincoln was not an ordinary man. He was, in truth, in the +language of the poet Lowell, a "new birth of our new soil." His +greatness did not consist in growing up on the frontier. An ordinary +man would have found on the frontier exactly what he would have found +elsewhere--a commonplace life, varying only with the changing ideas and +customs of time and place. But for the man with extraordinary powers of +mind and body--for one gifted by Nature as Abraham Lincoln was gifted, +the pioneer life with its severe training in self-denial, patience and +industry, developed his character, and fitted him for the great duties +of his after life as no other training could have done. + +His advancement in the astonishing career that carried him from +obscurity to world-wide fame--from postmaster of New Salem village to +President of the United States, from captain of a backwoods volunteer +company to Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, was neither sudden +nor accidental, nor easy. He was both ambitious and successful, but +his ambition was moderate, and his success was slow. And, because his +success was slow, it never outgrew either his judgment or his powers. +Between the day when he left his father's cabin and launched his +canoe on the headwaters of the Sangamon River to begin life on his own +account, and the day of his first inauguration, lay full thirty years of +toil, self-denial, patience; often of effort baffled, of hope deferred; +sometimes of bitter disappointment. Even with the natural gift of great +genius it required an average lifetime and faithful unrelaxing effort, +to transform the raw country stripling into a fit ruler for this great +nation. + +Almost every success was balanced--sometimes overbalanced, by a seeming +failure. He went into the Black Hawk war a captain, and through no +fault of his own, came out a private. He rode to the hostile frontier +on horseback, and trudged home on foot. His store "winked out." His +surveyor's compass and chain, with which he was earning a scanty +living, were sold for debt. He was defeated in his first attempts to +be nominated for the legislature and for Congress; defeated in his +application to be appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office; +defeated for the Senate when he had forty-five votes to begin with by +a man who had only five votes to begin with; defeated again after +his joint debates with Douglas; defeated in the nomination for +Vice-President, when a favorable nod from half a dozen politicians would +have brought him success. + +Failures? Not so. Every seeming defeat was a slow success. His was +the growth of the oak, and not of Jonah's gourd. He could not become a +master workman until he had served a tedious apprenticeship. It was the +quarter of a century of reading, thinking, speech-making and lawmaking +which fitted him to be the chosen champion of freedom in the great +Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. It was the great moral victory won in +those debates (although the senatorship went to Douglas) added to the +title "Honest Old Abe," won by truth and manhood among his neighbors +during a whole lifetime, that led the people of the United States to +trust him with the duties and powers of President. + +And when, at last, after thirty years of endeavor, success had beaten +down defeat, when Lincoln had been nominated, elected and inaugurated, +came the crowning trial of his faith and constancy. When the people, by +free and lawful choice, had placed honor and power in his hands, when +his name could convene Congress, approve laws, cause ships to sail and +armies to move, there suddenly came upon the government and the nation +a fatal paralysis. Honor seemed to dwindle and power to vanish. Was +he then after all not to be President? Was patriotism dead? Was the +Constitution only a bit of waste paper? Was the Union gone? + +The outlook was indeed grave. There was treason in Congress, treason in +the Supreme Court, treason in the army and navy. Confusion and discord +were everywhere. To use Mr. Lincoln's forcible figure of speech, sinners +were calling the righteous to repentance. Finally the flag, insulted +and fired upon, trailed in surrender at Sumter; and then came the +humiliation of the riot at Baltimore, and the President for a few days +practically a prisoner in the capital of the nation. + +But his apprenticeship had been served, and there was to be no more +failure. With faith and justice and generosity he conducted for four +long years a war whose frontiers stretched from the Potomac to the Rio +Grande; whose soldiers numbered a million men on each side. The labor, +the thought, the responsibility, the strain of mind and anguish of soul +that he gave to this great task, who can measure? "Here was place for no +holiday magistrate, no fair weather sailor," as Emerson justly said +of him. "The new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado. In four +years--four years of battle days--his endurance, his fertility of +resources, his magnanimity, were sorely tried and never found wanting." +"By his courage, his justice, his even temper, his humanity, he stood a +heroic figure in the centre of a heroic epoch." + +What but a lifetime's schooling in disappointment, what but the +pioneer's self-reliance and freedom from prejudice, what but the clear +mind, quick to see natural right and unswerving in its purpose to +follow it; what but the steady self-control, the unwarped sympathy, the +unbounded charity of this man with spirit so humble and soul so great, +could have carried him through the labors he wrought to the victory he +attained? + +With truth it could be written, "His heart was as great as the world, +but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong." So, "with +malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as +God gave him to see the right" he lived and died. We who have never seen +him yet feel daily the influence of his kindly life, and cherish among +our most precious possessions the heritage of his example. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS' LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN *** + +***** This file should be named 1815.txt or 1815.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1815/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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A PRESIDENT'S CHILDHOOD + +Abraham Lincoln's forefathers were pioneers--men who left their +homes to open up the wilderness and make the way plain for others +to follow them. For one hundred and seventy years, ever since the +first American Lincoln came from England to Massachusetts in +1638, they had been moving slowly westward as new settlements +were made in the forest. They faced solitude, privation, and all +the dangers and hardships that beset men who take up their homes +where only beasts and wild men have had homes before; but they +continued to press steadily forward, though they lost fortune and +sometimes even life itself, in their westward progress. Back in +Pennsylvania and New Jersey some of the Lincolns had been men of +wealth and influence. In Kentucky, where the future President was +born on February 12, 1809, his parents lived in deep poverty +Their home was a small log cabin of the rudest kind, and nothing +seemed more unlikely than that their child, coming into the world +in such humble surroundings, was destined to be the greatest man +of his time. True to his race, he also was to be a pioneer--not +indeed, like his ancestors, a leader into new woods and +unexplored fields, but a pioneer of a nobler and grander sort, +directing the thoughts of men ever toward the right, and leading +the American people, through difficulties and dangers and a +mighty war, to peace and freedom. + +The story of this wonderful man begins and ends with a tragedy, +for his grandfather, also named Abraham, was killed by a shot +from an Indian's rifle while peaceably at work with his three +sons on the edge of their frontier clearing. Eighty-one years +later the President himself met death by an assassin's bullet. +The murderer of one was a savage of the forest; the murderer of +the other that far more cruel thing, a savage of civilization. + +When the Indian's shot laid the pioneer farmer low, his second +son, Josiah, ran to a neighboring fort for help, and Mordecai, +the eldest, hurried to the cabin for his rifle. Thomas, a child +of six years, was left alone beside the dead body of his father; +and as Mordecai snatched the gun from its resting-place over the +door of the cabin, he saw, to his horror, an Indian in his +war-paint, just stooping to seize the child. Taking quick aim at +a medal on the breast of the savage, he fired, and the Indian +fell dead. The little boy, thus released, ran to the house, where +Mordecai, firing through the loopholes, kept the Indians at bay +until help arrived from the fort. + +It was this child Thomas who grew up to be the father of +President Abraham Lincoln. After the murder of his father the +fortunes of the little family grew rapidly worse, and doubtless +because of poverty, as well as by reason of the marriage of his +older brothers and sisters, their home was broken up, and Thomas +found himself, long before he was grown, a wandering laboring +boy. He lived for a time with an uncle as his hired servant, and +later he learned the trade of carpenter. He grew to manhood +entirely without education, and when he was twenty-eight years +old could neither read nor write. At that time he married Nancy +Hanks, a good-looking young woman of twenty-three, as poor as +himself, but so much better off as to learning that she was able +to teach her husband to sign his own name. Neither of them had +any money, but living cost little on the frontier in those days, +and they felt that his trade would suffice to earn all that they +should need. Thomas took his bride to a tiny house in +Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where they lived for about a year, and +where a daughter was born to them. + +Then they moved to a small farm thirteen miles from +Elizabethtown, which they bought on credit, the country being yet +so new that there were places to be had for mere promises to pay. +Farms obtained on such terms were usually of very poor quality, +and this one of Thomas Lincoln's was no exception to the rule. A +cabin ready to be occupied stood on it, however; and not far +away, hidden in a pretty clump of trees and bushes, was a fine +spring of water, because of which the place was known as Rock +Spring Farm. In the cabin on this farm the future President of +the United States was born on February 12, 1809, and here the +first four years of his life were spent. Then the Lincolns moved +to a much bigger and better farm on Knob Creek, six miles from +Hodgensville, which Thomas Lincoln bought, again on credit, +selling the larger part of it soon afterward to another +purchaser. Here they remained until Abraham was seven years old. + +About this early part of his childhood almost nothing is known. +He never talked of these days, even to his most intimate friends. +To the pioneer child a farm offered much that a town lot could +not give him--space; woods to roam in; Knob Creek with its +running water and its deep, quiet pools for a playfellow; berries +to be hunted for in summer and nuts in autumn; while all the year +round birds and small animals pattered across his path to people +the solitude in place of human companions. The boy had few +comrades. He wandered about playing his lonesome little games, +and when these were finished returned to the small and cheerless +cabin. Once, when asked what he remembered about the War of 1812 +with Great Britain, he replied: "Only this: I had been fishing +one day and had caught a little fish, which I was taking home. I +met a soldier in the road, and having always been told at home +that we must be good to soldiers, I gave him my fish." It is only +a glimpse into his life, but it shows the solitary, generous +child and the patriotic household. + +It was while living on this farm that Abraham and his sister +Sarah first began going to A-B-C schools. Their earliest teacher +was Zachariah Riney, who taught near the Lincoln cabin; the next +was Caleb Hazel, four miles away. + +In spite of the tragedy that darkened his childhood, Thomas +Lincoln seems to have been a cheery, indolent, good-natured man. +By means of a little farming and occasional jobs at his trade, he +managed to supply his family with the absolutely necessary food +and shelter, but he never got on in the world. He found it much +easier to gossip with his friends, or to dream about rich new +lands in the West, than to make a thrifty living in the place +where he happened to be. The blood of the pioneer was in his +veins too--the desire to move westward; and hearing glowing +accounts of the new territory of Indiana, he resolved to go and +see it for himself. His skill as a carpenter made this not only +possible but reasonably cheap, and in the fall of 1816 he built +himself a little flatboat, launched it half a mile from his +cabin, at the mouth of Knob Creek on the waters of the Rolling +Fork, and floated on it down that stream to Salt River, down Salt +River to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to a landing called +Thompson's Ferry on the Indiana shore. + +Sixteen miles out from the river, near a small stream known as +Pigeon Creek, he found a spot in the forest that suited him; and +as his boat could not be made to float up-stream, he sold it, +stored his goods with an obliging settler, and trudged back to +Kentucky, all the way on foot, to fetch his wife and children-- +Sarah, who was now nine years old, and Abraham, seven. This time +the journey to Indiana was made with two horses, used by the +mother and children for riding, and to carry their little camping +outfit for the night. The distance from their old home was, in a +straight line, little more than fifty miles, but they had to go +double that distance because of the very few roads it was +possible to follow. + +Reaching the Ohio River and crossing to the Indiana shore, Thomas +Lincoln hired a wagon which carried his family and their +belongings the remaining sixteen miles through the forest to the +spot he had chosen--a piece of heavily wooded land, one and a +half miles east of what has since become the village of +Gentryville in Spencer County. The lateness of the autumn made it +necessary to put up a shelter as quickly as possible, and he +built what was known on the frontier as a half-faced camp, about +fourteen feet square. This differed from a cabin in that it was +closed on only three sides, being quite open to the weather on +the fourth. A fire was usually made in front of the open side, +and thus the necessity for having a chimney was done away with. +Thomas Lincoln doubtless intended this only for a temporary +shelter, and as such it would have done well enough in pleasant +summer weather; but it was a rude provision against the storms +and winds of an Indiana winter. It shows his want of energy that +the family remained housed in this poor camp for nearly a whole +year; but, after all, he must not be too hastily blamed. He was +far from idle. A cabin was doubtless begun, and there was the +very heavy work of clearing away the timber--cutting down large +trees, chopping them into suitable lengths, and rolling them +together into great heaps to be burned, or of splitting them into +rails to fence the small field upon which he managed to raise a +patch of corn and other things during the following summer. + +Though only seven years old, Abraham was unusually large and +strong for his age, and he helped his father in all this heavy +labor of clearing the farm. In after years, Mr. Lincoln said that +an ax "was put into his hands at once, and from that till within +his twenty-third year he was almost constantly handling that most +useful instrument--less, of course, in ploughing and harvesting +seasons." At first the Lincolns and their seven or eight +neighbors lived in the unbroken forest. They had only the tools +and household goods they brought with them, or such things as +they could fashion with their own hands. There was no sawmill to +saw lumber. The village of Gentryville was not even begun. +Breadstuff could be had only by sending young Abraham seven miles +on horseback with a bag of corn to be ground in a hand +grist-mill. + +About the time the new cabin was ready relatives and friends +followed from Kentucky, and some of these in turn occupied the +half-faced camp. During the autumn a severe and mysterious +sickness broke out in their little settlement, and a number of +people died, among them the mother of young Abraham. There was no +help to be had beyond what the neighbors could give each other. +The nearest doctor lived fully thirty miles away. There was not +even a minister to conduct the funerals. Thomas Lincoln made the +coffins for the dead out of green lumber cut from the forest +trees with a whip-saw, and they were laid to rest in a clearing +in the woods. Months afterward, largely through the efforts of +the sorrowing boy, a preacher who chanced to come that way was +induced to hold a service and preach a sermon over the grave of +Mrs. Lincoln. + +Her death was indeed a serious blow to her husband and children. +Abraham's sister, Sarah, was only eleven years old, and the tasks +and cares of the little household were altogether too heavy for +her years and experience. Nevertheless they struggled bravely +through the winter and following summer; then in the autumn of +1819 Thomas Lincoln went back to Kentucky and married Sarah Bush +Johnston, whom he had known, and it is said courted, when she was +only Sally Bush. She had married about the time Lincoln married +Nancy Hanks, and her husband had died, leaving her with three +children. She came of a better station in life than Thomas, and +was a woman with an excellent mind as well as a warm and generous +heart. The household goods that she brought with her to the +Lincoln home filled a four-horse wagon, and not only were her own +children well clothed and cared for, but she was able at once to +provide little Abraham and Sarah with comforts to which they had +been strangers during the whole of their young lives. Under her +wise management all jealousy was avoided between the two sets of +children; urged on by her stirring example, Thomas Lincoln +supplied the yet unfinished cabin with floor, door, and windows, +and life became more comfortable for all its inmates, contentment +if not happiness reigning in the little home. + +The new stepmother quickly became very fond of Abraham, and +encouraged him in every way in her power to study and improve +himself. The chances for this were few enough. Mr. Lincoln has +left us a vivid picture of the situation. "It was," he once +wrote, "a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals +still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, +so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher +beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin'" to the Rule of Three. If +a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in +the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard." + +The school-house was a low cabin of round logs, with split logs +or "puncheons" for a floor, split logs roughly leveled with an ax +and set up on legs for benches, and holes cut out in the logs and +the space filled in with squares of greased paper for +window-panes. The main light came in through the open door. Very +often Webster's "Elementary Spelling-book" was the only +text-book. This was the kind of school most common in the middle +West during Mr. Lincoln's boyhood, though already in some places +there were schools of a more pretentious character. Indeed, back +in Kentucky, at the very time that Abraham, a child of six, was +learning his letters from Zachariah Riney, a boy only a year +older was attending a Catholic seminary in the very next county. +It is doubtful if they ever met, but the destinies of the two +were strangely interwoven, for the older boy was Jefferson Davis, +who became head of the Confederate government shortly after +Lincoln was elected President of the United States. + +As Abraham had been only seven years old when he left Kentucky, +the little beginnings he learned in the schools kept by Riney and +Hazel in that State must have been very slight, probably only his +alphabet, or at most only three or four pages of Webster's +"Elementary Spelling-book." The multiplication-table was still a +mystery to him, and he could read or write only the words he +spelled. His first two years in Indiana seem to have passed +without schooling of any sort, and the school he attended shortly +after coming under the care of his stepmother was of the simplest +kind, for the Pigeon Creek settlement numbered only eight or ten +poor families, and they lived deep in the forest, where, even if +they had had the money for such luxuries, it would have been +impossible to buy books, slates, pens, ink, or paper. It is +worthy of note, however, that in our western country, even under +such difficulties, a school-house was one of the first buildings +to rise in every frontier settlement. Abraham's second school in +Indiana was held when he was fourteen years old, and the third in +his seventeenth year. By that time he had more books and better +teachers, but he had to walk four or five miles to reach them. We +know that he learned to write, and was provided with pen, ink, +and a copy-book, and a very small supply of writing-paper, for +copies have been printed of several scraps on which he carefully +wrote down tables of long measure, land measure, and dry measure, +as well as examples in multiplication and compound division, from +his arithmetic. He was never able to go to school again after +this time, and though the instruction he received from his five +teachers--two in Kentucky and three in Indiana--extended over a +period of nine years, it must be remembered that it made up in +all less than one twelve-month; "that the aggregate of all his +schooling did not amount to one year." The fact that he received +this instruction, as he himself said, "by littles," was doubtless +an advantage. A lazy or indifferent boy would of course have +forgotten what was taught him at one time before he had +opportunity at another; but Abraham was neither indifferent nor +lazy, and these widely separated fragments of instruction were +precious steps to self-help. He pursued his studies with very +unusual purpose and determination not only to understand them at +the moment, but to fix them firmly in his mind. His early +companions all agree that he employed every spare moment in +keeping on with some one of his studies. His stepmother tells us +that "When he came across a passage that struck him, he would +write it down on boards if he had no paper, and keep it there +until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look at it, +repeat it. He had a copy-book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he +put down all things, and thus preserved them." He spent long +evenings doing sums on the fire-shovel. Iron fire-shovels were a +rarity among pioneers. Instead they used a broad, thin clapboard +with one end narrowed to a handle, arranging with this the piles +of coals upon the hearth, over which they set their "skillet" and +"oven" to do their cooking. It was on such a wooden shovel that +Abraham worked his sums by the flickering firelight, making his +figures with a piece of charcoal, and, when the shovel was all +covered, taking a drawing-knife and shaving it off clean again. + +The hours that he was able to devote to his penmanship, his +reading, and his arithmetic were by no means many; for, save for +the short time that he was actually in school, he was, during all +these years, laboring hard on his father's farm, or hiring his +youthful strength to neighbors who had need of help in the work +of field or forest. In pursuit of his knowledge he was on an +up-hill path; yet in spite of all obstacles he worked his way to +so much of an education as placed him far ahead of his +schoolmates and quickly abreast of his various teachers. He +borrowed every book in the neighborhood. The list is a short one: +"Robinson Crusoe," "Aesop's Fables," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's +Progress," Weems's "Life of Washington," and a "History of the +United States." When everything else had been read, he resolutely +began on the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which Dave Turnham, +the constable, had in daily use, but permitted him to come to his +house and read. + +Though so fond of his books; it must not be supposed that he +cared only for work and serious study. He was a social, +sunny-tempered lad, as fond of jokes and fun as he was kindly and +industrious. His stepmother said of him: "I can say, what +scarcely one mother in a thousand can say, Abe never gave me a +cross word or look, and never refused . . . to do anything I +asked him. . . . I must say . . that Abe was the best boy I ever +saw or expect to see." + +He and John Johnston, his stepmother's son, and John Hanks, a +relative of his own mother's, worked barefoot together in the +fields, grubbing, plowing, hoeing, gathering and shucking corn, +and taking part, when occasion offered, in the practical jokes +and athletic exercises that enlivened the hard work of the +pioneers. For both work and play Abraham had one great advantage. +He was not only a tall, strong country boy: he soon grew to be a +tall, strong, sinewy man. He early reached the unusual height of +six feet four inches, and his long arms gave him a degree of +power as an axman that few were able to rival. He therefore +usually led his fellows in efforts of muscle as well as of mind. +That he could outrun, outlift, outwrestle his boyish companions, +that he could chop faster, split more rails in a day, carry a +heavier log at a "raising," or excel the neighborhood champion in +any feat of frontier athletics, was doubtless a matter of pride +with him; but stronger than all else was his eager craving for +knowledge. He felt instinctively that the power of using the mind +rather than the muscles was the key to success. He wished not +only to wrestle with the best of them, but to be able to talk +like the preacher, spell and cipher like the school-master, argue +like the lawyer, and write like the editor. Yet he was as far as +possible from being a prig. He was helpful, sympathetic, +cheerful. In all the neighborhood gatherings, when settlers of +various ages came together at corn-huskings or house-raisings, or +when mere chance brought half a dozen of them at the same time to +the post-office or the country store, he was able, according to +his years, to add his full share to the gaiety of the company. By +reason of his reading and his excellent memory, he soon became +the best story-teller among his companions; and even the slight +training gained from his studies greatly broadened and +strengthened the strong reasoning faculty with which he had been +gifted by nature. His wit might be mischievous, but it was never +malicious, and his nonsense was never intended to wound or to +hurt the feelings. It is told of him that he added to his fund of +jokes and stories humorous imitations of the sermons of eccentric +preachers. + +Very likely too much is made of all these boyish pranks. He grew +up very like his fellows. In only one particular did he differ +greatly from the frontier boys around him. He never took any +pleasure in hunting. Almost every youth of the backwoods early +became an excellent shot and a confirmed sportsman. The woods +still swarmed with game, and every cabin depended largely upon +this for its supply of food. But to his strength was added a +gentleness which made him shrink from killing or inflicting pain, +and the time the other boys gave to lying in ambush, he preferred +to spend in reading or in efforts at improving his mind. + +Only twice during his life in Indiana was the routine of his +employment changed. When he was about sixteen years old he worked +for a time for a man who lived at the mouth of Anderson's Creek, +and here part of his duty was to manage a ferry-boat which +carried passengers across the Ohio River. It was very likely this +experience which, three years later, brought him another. Mr. +Gentry, the chief man of the village of Gentryville that had +grown up a mile or so from his father's cabin, loaded a flatboat +on the Ohio River with the produce his store had collected--corn, +flour, pork, bacon, and other miscellaneous provisions--and +putting it in charge of his son Allen Gentry and of Abraham +Lincoln, sent them with it down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +to sell its cargo at the plantations of the lower Mississippi, +where sugar and cotton were the principal crops, and where other +food supplies were needed to feed the slaves. No better proof is +needed of the reputation for strength, skill, honesty, and +intelligence that this tall country boy had already won for +himself, than that he was chosen to navigate the flatboat a +thousand miles to the "sugar-coast" of the Mississippi River, +sell its load, and bring back the money. Allen Gentry was +supposed to be in command, but from the record of his after life +we may be sure that Abraham did his full share both of work and +management. The elder Gentry paid Lincoln eight dollars a month +and his passage home on a steamboat for this service. The voyage +was made successfully, although not without adventure; for one +night, after the boat was tied up to the shore, the boys were +attacked by seven negroes, who came aboard intending to kill and +rob them. There was a lively scrimmage, in which, though slightly +hurt, they managed to beat off their assailants, and then, +hastily cutting their boat adrift, swung out on the stream. The +marauding band little dreamed that they were attacking the man +who in after years was to give their race its freedom; and though +the future was equally hidden from Abraham, it is hard to +estimate the vistas of hope and ambition that this long journey +opened to him. It was his first look into the wide, wide world. + + + +II. CAPTAIN LINCOLN. + +By this time the Lincoln homestead was no longer on the frontier. +During the years that passed while Abraham was growing from a +child, scarcely able to wield the ax placed in his hands, into a +tall, capable youth, the line of frontier settlements had been +gradually but steadily pushing on beyond Gentryville toward the +Mississippi River. Every summer canvas-covered moving wagons +wound their slow way over new roads into still newer country; +while the older settlers, left behind, watched their progress +with longing eyes. It was almost as if a spell had been cast over +these toil-worn pioneers, making them forget, at sight of such +new ventures, all the hardships they had themselves endured in +subduing the wilderness. At last, on March 1, 1830, when Abraham +was just twenty-one years old, the Lincolns, yielding to this +overmastering frontier impulse to "move" westward, left the old +farm in Indiana to make a new home in Illinois. "Their mode of +conveyance was wagons drawn by ox-teams," Mr. Lincoln wrote in +1860; "and Abraham drove one of the teams." They settled in Macon +County on the north side of the Sangamon River, about ten miles +west of Decatur, where they built a cabin, made enough rails to +fence ten acres of ground, fenced and cultivated the ground, and +raised a crop of corn upon it that first season. It was the same +heavy labor over again that they had endured when they went from +Kentucky to Indiana; but this time the strength and energy of +young Abraham were at hand to inspire and aid his father, and +there was no miserable shivering year of waiting in a half-faced +camp before the family could be suitably housed. They were not to +escape hardship, however. They fell victims to fever and ague, +which they had not known in Indiana, and became greatly +discouraged; and the winter after their arrival proved one of +intense cold and suffering for the pioneers, being known in the +history of the State as "the winter of the deep snow." The severe +weather began in the Christmas holidays with a storm of such +fatal suddenness that people who were out of doors had difficulty +in reaching their homes, and not a few perished, their fate +remaining unknown until the melting snows of early spring showed +where they had fallen. + +In March, 1831, at the end of this terrible winter, Abraham +Lincoln left his father's cabin to seek his own fortune in the +world. It was the frontier custom for young men to do this when +they reached the age of twenty-one. Abraham was now twenty-two, +but had willingly remained with his people an extra year to give +them the benefit of his labor and strength in making the new +home. + +He had become acquainted with a man named Offut, a trader and +speculator, who pretended to great business shrewdness, but whose +chief talent lay in boasting of the magnificent things he meant +to do. Offut engaged Abraham, with his stepmother's son, John D. +Johnston, and John Hanks, to take a flatboat from Beardstown, on +the Illinois River, to New Orleans; and all four arranged to meet +at Springfield as soon as the snow should melt. + +In March, when the snow finally melted, the country was flooded +and traveling by land was utterly out of the question. The boys, +therefore, bought a large canoe, and in it floated down the +Sangamon River to keep their appointment with Offut. It was in +this somewhat unusual way that Lincoln made his first entry into +the town whose name was afterward to be linked with his own. + +Offut was waiting for them, with the discouraging news that he +had been unable to get a flatboat at Beardstown. The young men +promptly offered to make the flatboat, since one was not to be +bought; and they set to work, felling the trees for it on the +banks of the stream. Abraham's father had been a carpenter, so +the use of tools was no mystery to him; and during his trip to +New Orleans with Allen Gentry he had learned enough about +flatboats to give him confidence in this task of shipbuilding. +Neither Johnston nor Hanks was gifted with skill or industry, and +it is clear that Lincoln was, from the start, leader of the +party, master of construction, and captain of the craft. + +The floods went down rapidly while the boat was building, and +when they tried to sail their new craft it stuck midway across +the dam of Rutledge's mill at New Salem, a village of fifteen or +twenty houses not many miles from their starting-point. With its +bow high in air, and its stern under water, it looked like some +ungainly fish trying to fly, or some bird making an unsuccessful +attempt to swim. The voyagers appeared to have suffered +irreparable shipwreck at the very outset of their venture, and +men and women came down from their houses to offer advice or to +make fun of the young boatmen as they waded about in the water, +with trousers rolled very high, seeking a way out of their +difficulty. Lincoln's self-control and good humor proved equal to +their banter, while his engineering skill speedily won their +admiration. The amusement of the onlookers changed to gaping +wonder when they saw him deliberately bore a hole in the bottom +of the boat near the bow, after which, fixing up some kind of +derrick, he tipped the boat so that the water she had taken in at +the stern ran out in front, and she floated safely over the dam. +This novel method of bailing a boat by boring a hole in her +bottom fully established his fame at New Salem, and so delighted +the enthusiastic Offut that, on the spot, he engaged its inventor +to come back after the voyage to New Orleans and act as clerk for +him in a store. + +The hole plugged up again, and the boat's cargo reloaded, they +made the remainder of the journey in safety. Lincoln returned by +steamer from New Orleans to St. Louis, and from there made his +way to New Salem on foot. He expected to find Offut already +established in the new store, but neither he nor his goods had +arrived. While "loafing about," as the citizens of New Salem +expressed it, waiting for him, the newcomer had a chance to +exhibit another of his accomplishments. An election was to be +held, but one of the clerks, being taken suddenly ill, could not +be present. Penmen were not plenty in the little town, and Mentor +Graham, the other election clerk, looking around in perplexity +for some one to fill the vacant place, asked young Lincoln if he +knew how to write. Lincoln answered, in the lazy speech of the +country, that he "could make a few rabbit tracks," and that being +deemed quite sufficient, was immediately sworn in, and set about +discharging the duties of his first office. The way he performed +these not only gave general satisfaction, but greatly interested +Mentor Graham, who was the village schoolmaster, and from that +time on proved a most helpful friend to him. + +Offut finally arrived with a miscellaneous lot of goods, which +Lincoln opened and put in order, and the storekeeping began. +Trade does not seem to have been brisk, for Offut soon increased +his venture by renting the Rutledge and Cameron mill, on whose +historic dam the flatboat had come to grief. For a while the care +of this mill was added to Lincoln's other duties. He made himself +generally useful besides, his old implement, the ax, not being +entirely discarded. We are told that he cut down trees and split +rails enough to make a large hogpen adjoining the mill, a +performance not at all surprising when it is remembered that up +to this time the greater part of his life had been spent in the +open air, and that his still growing muscles must have eagerly +welcomed tasks like this, which gave him once more the exercise +that measuring calico and weighing out groceries failed to +supply. Young Lincoln's bodily vigor stood him in good stead in +many ways. In frontier life strength and athletic skill served as +well for popular amusement as for prosaic toil, and at times, +indeed, they were needed for personal defence. Every community +had its champion wrestler, a man of considerable local +importance, in whose success the neighbors took a becoming +interest. There was, not far from New Salem, a settlement called +Clary's Grove, where lived a set of restless, rollicking young +backwoodsmen with a strong liking for frontier athletics and +rough practical jokes. Jack Armstrong was the leader of these, +and until Lincoln's arrival had been the champion wrestler of +both Clary's Grove and New Salem. He and his friends had not the +slightest personal grudge against Lincoln; but hearing the +neighborhood talk about the newcomer, and especially Offut's +extravagant praise of his clerk, who, according to Offut's +statement, knew more than any one else in the United States, and +could beat the whole county at running, jumping or "wrastling," +they decided that the time had come to assert themselves, and +strove to bring about a trial of strength between Armstrong and +Lincoln. Lincoln, who disapproved of all this "woolling and +pulling," as he called it, and had no desire to come to blows +with his neighbors, put off the encounter as long as possible. At +length even his good temper was powerless to avert it, and the +wrestling-match took place. Jack Armstrong soon found that he had +tackled a man as strong and skilful as himself; and his friends, +seeing him likely to get the worst of it, swarmed to his +assistance, almost succeeding, by tripping and kicking, in +getting Lincoln down. At the unfairness of this Lincoln became +suddenly and furiously angry, put forth his entire strength, +lifted the pride of Clary's Grove in his arms like a child, and +holding him high in the air, almost choked the life out of him. +It seemed for a moment as though a general fight must follow; but +even while Lincoln's fierce rage compelled their respect, his +quickly returning self-control won their admiration, and the +crisis was safely passed. Instead of becoming enemies and leaders +in a neighborhood feud, as might have been expected, the two grew +to be warm friends, the affection thus strangely begun lasting +through life. They proved useful to each other in various ways, +and years afterward Lincoln made ample amends for his rough +treatment of the other's throat by saving the neck of Jack +Armstrong's son from the halter in a memorable trial for murder. +The Clary's Grove "boys" voted Lincoln "the cleverest fellow that +had ever broke into the settlement," and thereafter took as much +pride in his peaceableness and book-learning as they did in the +rougher and more questionable accomplishments of their +discomfited leader. + +Lincoln himself was not so easily satisfied. His mind as well as +his muscles hungered for work, and he confided to Mentor Graham, +possibly with some diffidence, his "notion to study English +grammar." Instead of laughing at him, Graham heartily encouraged +the idea, saying it was the very best thing he could do. With +quickened zeal Lincoln announced that if he had a grammar he +would begin at once at this the schoolmaster was obliged to +confess that he knew of no such book in New Salem. He thought, +however, that there might be one at Vaner's, six miles away. +Promptly after breakfast the next morning Lincoln set out in +search of it. He brought the precious volume home in triumph, and +with Graham's occasional help found no difficulty in mastering +its contents. Indeed, it is very likely that he was astonished, +and even a bit disappointed, to find so little mystery in it. He +is reported to have said that if this was a "science," he thought +he would like to begin on another one. In the eyes of the +townspeople, however, it was no small achievement, and added +greatly to his reputation as a scholar. There is no record of any +other study commenced at this time, but it is certain that he +profited much by helpful talks with Mentor Graham, and that he +borrowed every book the schoolmaster's scanty library was able to +furnish. + +Though outwardly uneventful, this period of his life was both +happy and profitable. He was busy at useful labor, was picking up +scraps of schooling, was making friends and learning to prize +them at their true worth; was, in short, developing rapidly from +a youth into a young man. Already he began to feel stirrings of +ambition which prompted him to look beyond his own daily needs +toward the larger interests of his county and his State. An +election for members of the Illinois legislature was to take +place in August, 1832. Sangamon County was entitled to four +representatives. Residents of the county over twenty-one years of +age were eligible to election, and audacious as it might appear, +Lincoln determined to be a candidate. + +The people of New Salem, like those of all other Western towns, +took a keen interest in politics; "politics" meaning, in that +time and place, not only who was to be President or governor, but +concerning itself with questions which came much closer home to +dwellers on the frontier. "Internal improvements," as they were +called--the building of roads and clearing out of streams so that +men and women who lived in remote places might be able to travel +back and forth and carry on trade with the rest of the world-- +became a burning question in Illinois. There was great need of +such improvements; and in this need young Lincoln saw his +opportunity. + +It was by way of the Sangamon River that he entered politics. +That uncertain watercourse had already twice befriended him. He +had floated on it in flood-time from his father's cabin into +Springfield. A few weeks later its rapidly falling waters landed +him on the dam at Rutledge's mill, introducing him effectively if +unceremoniously to the inhabitants of New Salem. Now it was again +to play a part in his life, starting him on a political career +that ended only in the White House. Surely no insignificant +stream has had a greater influence on the history of a famous +man. It was a winding and sluggish creek, encumbered with +driftwood and choked by sand-bars; but it flowed through a +country already filled with ambitious settlers, where the roads +were atrociously bad, becoming in rainy seasons wide seas of +pasty black mud, and remaining almost impassable for weeks at a +time. After a devious course the Sangamon found its way into the +Illinois River, and that in turn flowed into the Mississippi. +Most of the settlers were too new to the region to know what a +shallow, unprofitable stream the Sangamon really was, for the +deep snows of 183031 and of the following winter had supplied it +with an unusual volume of water. It was natural, therefore, that +they should regard it as the heaven-sent solution of their +problem of travel and traffic with the outside world. If it could +only be freed from driftwood, and its channel straightened a +little, they felt sure it might be used for small steamboats +during a large part of the year. + +The candidates for the legislature that summer staked their +chances of success on the zeal they showed for "internal +improvements." Lincoln was only twenty-three. He had been in the +county barely nine months. Sangamon County was then considerably +larger than the whole State of Rhode Island, and he was of course +familiar with only a small part of it or its people; but he felt +that he did know the river. He had sailed on it and been +shipwrecked by it; he had, moreover, been one of a party of men +and boys, armed with long-handled axes, who went out to chop away +obstructions and meet a small steamer that, a few weeks earlier, +had actually forced its way up from the Illinois River. + +Following the usual custom, he announced his candidacy in the +local newspaper in a letter dated March 9, addressed "To the +People of Sangamon County." It was a straightforward, manly +statement of his views on questions of the day, written in as +good English as that used by the average college-bred man of his +years. The larger part of it was devoted to arguments for the +improvement of the Sangamon River. Its main interest for us lies +in the frank avowal of his personal ambition that is contained in +the closing paragraph. + +"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition," he wrote. +"Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no +other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellowmen by +rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed +in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. I am young, +and unknown to many of you. I was born, and have ever remained, +in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular +relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown +exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and if +elected, they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I +shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate. But if the good +people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the +background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be +very much chagrined." + +He soon had an opportunity of being useful to his fellow-men, +though in a way very different from the one he was seeking. About +four weeks after he had published his letter "To the People of +Sangamon County," news came that Black Hawk, the veteran +war-chief of the Sac Indians, was heading an expedition to cross +the Mississippi River and occupy once more the lands that had +been the home of his people. There was great excitement among the +settlers in Northern Illinois, and the governor called for six +hundred volunteers to take part in a campaign against the +Indians. He met a quick response; and Lincoln, unmindful of what +might become of his campaign for the legislature if he went away, +was among the first to enlist. When his company met on the +village green to choose their officers, three-quarters of the +men, to Lincoln's intense surprise and pleasure, marched over to +the spot where he was standing and grouped themselves around him, +signifying in this way their wish to make him captain. We have +his own word for it that no success of his after life gave him +nearly as much satisfaction. On April 21, two days after the call +for volunteers had been printed, the company was organized. A +week later it was mustered into service, becoming part of the +Fourth Illinois Mounted Volunteers, and started at once for the +hostile frontier. + +Lincoln's soldiering lasted about three months. He was in no +battle, but there was plenty of "roughing it," and occasionally +real hardship, as when the men were obliged to go for three days +without food. The volunteers had not enlisted for any definite +length of time, and seeing no prospect of fighting, they soon +became clamorous to return home. Accordingly his and other +companies were mustered out of service on May 27, at the mouth of +Fox River. At the same time the governor, not wishing to weaken +his forces before the arrival of other soldiers to take their +places, called for volunteers to remain twenty days longer. +Lincoln had gone to the frontier to do real service, not for the +glory of being captain. Accordingly, on the day on which he was +mustered out as an officer he re-enlisted, becoming Private +Lincoln in Captain Iles's company of mounted volunteers, +sometimes known as the Independent Spy Battalion. This +organization appears to have been very independent indeed, not +under the control of any regiment or brigade, but receiving +orders directly from the commander-in-chief, and having many +unusual privileges, such as freedom from all camp duties, and +permission to draw rations as much and as often as they pleased. +After laying down his official dignity and joining this band of +privileged warriors, the campaign became much more of a holiday +for the tall volunteer from New Salem. He entered with enthusiasm +into all the games and athletic sports with which the soldiers +beguiled the tedium of camp, and grew in popularity from +beginning to end of his service. When, at length, the Independent +Spy Battalion was mustered out on June 16, 1832, he started on +the journey home with a merry group of his companions. He and his +messmate, George M. Harrison, had the misfortune to have their +horses stolen the very day before, but Harrison's record says: + +"I laughed at our fate, and he joked at it, and we all started of +merrily. The generous men of our company walked and rode by turns +with us, and we fared about equal with the rest. But for this +generosity, our legs would have had to do the better work, for in +that day this dreary route furnished no horses to buy or to +steal, and whether on horse or afoot, we always had company, for +many of the horses' backs were too sore for riding." + +Lincoln reached New Salem about the first of August, only ten +days before the election. He had lost nothing in popular esteem +by his prompt enlistment to defend the frontier, and his friends +had been doing manful service for him; but there were by this +time thirteen candidates in the field, with a consequent division +of interest. When the votes were counted, Lincoln was found to be +eighth on the list--an excellent showing when we remember that he +was a newcomer in the county, and that he ran as a Whig, which +was the unpopular party. In his own home town of New Salem only +three votes had been cast against him. Flattering as all this +was, the fact remained that he was defeated, and the result of +the election brought him face to face with a very serious +question. He was without means and without employment. Offut had +failed and had gone away. What was he to do next? He thought of +putting his strong muscles to account by learning the blacksmith +trade; thought also of trying to become a lawyer, but feared he +could not succeed at that without a better education. It was the +same problem that has confronted millions of young Americans +before and since. In his case there was no question which he +would rather be--the only question was what success he might +reasonably hope for if he tried to study law. + +Before his mind was fully made up, chance served to postpone, and +in the end greatly to increase his difficulty. Offut's successors +in business, two brothers named Herndon, had become discouraged, +and they offered to sell out to Lincoln and an acquaintance of +his named William F. Berry, on credit, taking their promissory +notes in payment. Lincoln and Berry could not foresee that the +town of New Salem had already lived through its best days, and +was destined to dwindle and grow smaller until it almost +disappeared from the face of the earth. Unduly hopeful, they +accepted the offer, and also bought out, on credit, two other +merchants who were anxious to sell. It is clear that the +flattering vote Lincoln had received at the recent election, and +the confidence New Salem felt in his personal character, alone +made these transactions possible, since not a dollar of actual +money changed hands during all this shifting of ownership. In the +long run the people's faith in him was fully justified; but +meantime he suffered years of worry and harassing debt. Berry +proved a worthless partner; the business a sorry failure. Seeing +this, Lincoln and Berry sold out, again on credit, to the Trent +brothers, who soon broke up the store and ran away. Berry also +departed and died; and in the end all the notes came back upon +Lincoln for payment. Of course he had not the money to meet these +obligations. He did the next best thing: he promised to pay as +soon as he could, and remaining where he was, worked hard at +whatever he found to do. Most of his creditors, knowing him to be +a man of his word, patiently bided their time, until, in the +course of long years, he paid, with interest, every cent of what +he used to call, in rueful satire upon his own folly, his +"National Debt." + + + +III. LAWYER LINCOLN + +Unlucky as Lincoln's attempt at storekeeping had been, it served +one good purpose. Indeed, in a way it may be said to have +determined his whole future career. He had had a hard struggle to +decide between becoming a blacksmith or a lawyer; and when chance +seemed to offer a middle course, and he tried to be a merchant, +the wish to study law had certainly not faded from his mind. + +There is a story that while cleaning up the store, he came upon a +barrel which contained, among a lot of forgotten rubbish, some +stray volumes of Blackstone's "Commentaries," and that this lucky +find still further quickened his interest in the law. Whether +this tale be true or not it seems certain that during the time +the store was running its downward course from bad to worse, he +devoted a large part of his too abundant leisure to reading and +study of various kinds. People who knew him then have told how he +would lie for hours under a great oak-tree that grew just outside +the store door, poring over his book, and "grinding around with +the shade" as it shifted from north to east. + +Lincoln's habit of reading was still further encouraged by his +being appointed postmaster of New Salem on May 7, 1833, an office +he held for about three years--until New Salem grew too small to +have a post-office of its own, and the mail was sent to a +neighboring town. The office was so insignificant that according +to popular fable it had no fixed abiding-place, Lincoln being +supposed to carry it about with him in his hat! It was, however, +large enough to bring him a certain amount of consideration, and, +what pleased him still better, plenty of newspapers to read-- +newspapers that just then were full of the exciting debates of +Clay and Webster, and other great men in Congress. + +The rate of postage on letters was still twenty-five cents, and +small as the earnings of the office undoubtedly were, a little +change found its way now and then into his hands. In the scarcity +of money on the frontier, this had an importance hard for us to +realize. A portion of this money, of course, belonged to the +government. That he used only what was rightfully his own we +could be very sure, even if a sequel to this post office +experience were not known which shows his scrupulous honesty +where government funds were concerned. Years later, after he had +become a practising lawyer in Springfield, an agent of the +Post-office Department called upon him in his office one day to +collect a balance due from the New Salem post-office, amounting +to about seventeen dollars. A shade of perplexity passed over his +face, and a friend, sitting by, offered to lend him the money if +he did not at the moment have it with him. Without answering, +Lincoln rose, and going to a little trunk that stood by the wall, +opened it and took out the exact sum, carefully done up in a +small package. "I never use any man's money but my own, he +quietly remarked, after the agent had gone. + +Soon after he was raised to the dignity of postmaster another +piece of good fortune came in his way. Sangamon County covered a +territory some forty miles long by fifty wide, and almost every +citizen in it seemed intent on buying or selling land, laying out +new roads, or locating some future city. John Calhoun, the county +surveyor, therefore, found himself with far more work than he +could personally attend to, and had to appoint deputies to assist +him. Learning the high esteem in which Lincoln was held by the +people of New Salem, he wisely concluded to make him a deputy, +although they differed in politics. It was a flattering offer, +and Lincoln accepted gladly. Of course he knew almost nothing +about surveying, but he got a compass and chain, and, as he tells +us, "studied Flint and Gibson a little, and went at it." The +surveyor, who was a man of talent and education, not only gave +Lincoln the appointment, but, it is said, lent him the book in +which to study the art. Lincoln carried the book to his friend +Mentor Graham, and "went at it" to such purpose that in six weeks +he was ready to begin the practice of his new profession. Like +Washington, who, it will be remembered, followed the same calling +in his youth, he became an excellent surveyor. + +Lincoln's store had by this time "winked out," to use his own +quaint phrase; and although the surveying and his post-office +supplied his daily needs, they left absolutely nothing toward +paying his "National Debt." Some of his creditors began to get +uneasy, and in the latter part of 1834 a man named Van Bergen, +who held one of the Lincoln-Berry notes, refusing to trust him +any longer, had his horse, saddle, and surveying instruments +seized by the sheriff and sold at public auction, thus sweeping +away the means by which, as he said, he "procured bread and kept +soul and body together." Even in this strait his known honesty +proved his salvation. Out of pure friendliness, James Short +bought in the property and gave it back to the young surveyor, +allowing him time to repay. + +It took Lincoln seventeen years to get rid of his troublesome +"National Debt," the last instalment not being paid until after +his return from his term of service in Congress at Washington; +but it was these seventeen years of industry, rigid economy, and +unflinching fidelity to his promises that earned for him the +title of "Honest Old Abe," which proved of such inestimable value +to himself and his country. + +During all this time of trial and disappointment he never lost +his courage, his steady, persevering industry, or his +determination to succeed. He was not too proud to accept any +honest employment that offered itself. He would go into the +harvest-field and work there when other tasks were not pressing, +or use his clerkly hand to straighten up a neglected ledger; and +his lively humor, as well as his industry, made him a welcome +guest at any farm-house in the county. Whatever he might be +doing, he was never too busy to help a neighbor. His strong arm +was always at the service of the poor and needy. + +Two years after his defeat for the legislature there was another +election. His friends and acquaintanceS in the county had +increased, and, since he had received such a flattering vote the +first time, it was but natural that he should wish to try again. +He began his campaign in April, giving himself full three months +for electioneering. It was customary in those days for candidates +to attend all manner of neighborhood gatherings--"raisings" of +new cabins, horseraces, shooting-matches, auctions--anything that +served to call the settlers together; and it was social +popularity, quite as much as ability to discuss political +questions, that carried weight with such assemblies. Lincoln, it +is needless to say, was in his element. He might be called upon +to act as judge in a horse-race, or to make a speech upon the +Constitution! He could do both. As a laughing peacemaker between +two quarrelsome patriots he had no equal; and as contestant in an +impromptu match at quoit-throwing, or lifting heavy weights, his +native tact and strong arm served him equally well. Candidates +also visited farms and outlying settlements, where they were +sometimes unexpectedly called upon to show their mettle and +muscle in more useful labor. One farmer has recorded how Lincoln +"came to my house near Island Grove during harvest. There were +some thirty men in the field. He got his dinner, and went out in +the field where the men were at work. I gave him an introduction, +and the boys said that they could not vote for a man unless he +could make a hand. 'Well, boys,' said he, "if that is all, I am +sure of your votes.' He took hold of the cradle and led the way +all the round with perfect ease. The boys were satisfied, and I +don't think he lost a vote in the crowd." + +Sometimes two or more candidates would meet at such places, and +short speeches would be called for and given, the harvesters +throwing down their scythes meanwhile to listen, and enlivening +the occasion with keen criticisms of the method and logic of the +rival orators. Altogether the campaign was more spirited than +that of two years before. Again there were thirteen candidates +for the four places; but this time, when the election was over, +it was found that only one man in the long list had received more +votes than Abraham Lincoln. + +Lincoln's election to the legislature of Illinois in August, +1834, marks the end of the pioneer period of his life. He was +done now with the wild carelessness of the woods, with the rough +jollity of Clary's Grove, with odd jobs for his daily bread--with +all the details of frontier poverty. He continued for years to be +a very poor man, harassed by debts he was constantly laboring to +pay, and sometimes absolutely without money: but from this time +on he met and worked with men of wider knowledge and +better-trained minds than those he had known in Gentryville and +New Salem, while the simple social life of Vandalia, where he +went to attend the sessions of the legislature, was more elegant +than anything he had yet seen. + +It must be frankly admitted that his success at this election was +a most important event in his life. Another failure might have +discouraged even his hopeful spirit, and sent him to the +blacksmith-shop to make wagon-tires and shoe horses for the +balance of his days. With this flattering vote to his credit, +however, he could be very sure that he had made a wise choice +between the forge and the lawyer's desk. At first he did not come +into special notice in the legislature. He wore, according to the +custom of the time, a decent suit of blue jeans, and was known +simply as a rather quiet young man, good-natured and sensible. +Soon people began to realize that he was a man to be reckoned +with in the politics of the county and State. He was reelected in +1836, 1838, and 1840, and thus for eight years had a full share +in shaping the public laws of Illinois. The Illinois legislature +may indeed be called the school wherein he learned that +extraordinary skill and wisdom in statesmanship which he +exhibited in later years. In 1838 and 1840 all the Whig members +of the Illinois House of Representatives gave him their vote for +Speaker, but, the Democrats being in a majority, could not elect +him. + +His campaign expenses were small enough to suit the most +exacting. It is recorded that at one time some of the leading +Whigs made up a purse of two hundred dollars to pay his personal +expenses. After the election he returned the sum of $199.25, with +the request that it be given back to the subscribers. "I did not +need the money," he explained. "I made the canvass on my own +horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of friends, cost me +nothing; and my only outlay was seventy-five cents for a barrel +of cider, which some farm-hands insisted I should treat them to." + +One act of his while a member of the legislature requires special +mention because of the great events of his after-life. Even at +that early date, nearly a quarter of a century before the +beginning of the Civil War, slavery was proving a cause of much +trouble and ill-will. The "abolitionists," as the people were +called who wished the slaves to be free, and the "pro-slavery" +men, who approved of keeping them in bondage, had already come to +wordy war. Illinois was a free State, but many of its people +preferred slavery, and took every opportunity of making their +wishes known. In 1837 the legislature passed a set of resolutions +"highly disapproving abolition societies." Lincoln and five +others voted against it; but, not content with this, Lincoln also +drew up a paper protesting against the passage of such a +resolution and stating his views on slavery. They were not +extreme views. Though declaring slavery to be an evil, he did not +insist that the black people ought to be set free. But so strong +was the popular feeling against anything approaching +"abolitionism" that only one man out of the five who voted +against the resolution had the courage to sign this protest with +him. Lincoln was young, poor, and in need of all the good-will at +his command. Nobody could have blamed him for leaving it +unwritten; yet he felt the wrong of slavery so keenly that he +could not keep silent merely because the views he held happened +to be unpopular; and this protest, signed by him and Dan Stone, +has come down to us, the first notable public act in the great +career that made his name immortal. + +During the eight years that he was in the legislature he had been +working away at the law. Even before his first election his +friend John T. Stuart, who had been major of volunteers in the +Black Hawk War while Lincoln was captain, and who, like Lincoln, +had reenlisted in the Independent Spy Battalion, had given him +hearty encouragement. Stuart was now practising law in. +Springfield. After the campaign was over, Lincoln borrowed the +necessary books of Stuart, and entered upon the study in good +earnest. According to his own statement, "he studied with nobody. +. . . In the autumn of 1836 he obtained a law license, and on +April 15, 1837, removed to Springfield and commenced the +practice, his old friend Stuart taking him into partnership." + +Lincoln had already endeared himself to the people of Springfield +by championing a project they had much at heart--the removal of +the State capital from Vandalia to their own town. This was +accomplished, largely through his efforts, about the time he went +to Springfield to live. This change from New Salem, a village of +fifteen or twenty houses, to a "city" of two thousand +inhabitants, placed him once more in striking new relations as to +dress, manners, and society. Yet, as in the case of his removal +from his father's cabin to New Salem six years earlier, the +change was not so startling as would at first appear. In spite of +its larger population and its ambition as the new State capital, +Springfield was at that time in many ways no great improvement +upon New Salem. It had no public buildings, its streets and +sidewalks were still unpaved, and business of all kinds was +laboring under the burden of hard times. + +As for himself, although he now owned a license to practise law, +it was still a question how well he would succeed--whether his +rugged mind and firm purpose could win him the livelihood he +desired, or whether, after all, he would be forced to turn his +strong muscles to account in earning his daily bread. Usually so +hopeful, there were times when he was greatly depressed. His +friend William Butler relates how, as they were riding together +on horseback from Vandalia to Springfield at the close of a +session of the legislature, Lincoln, in one of these gloomy +moods, told him of the almost hopeless prospect that lay +immediately before him. The session was over, his salary was all +drawn, the money all spent; he had no work, and did not know +where to turn to earn even a week's board. Butler bade him be of +good cheer, and, kind practical friend that he was, took him and +his belongings to his own home, keeping him there for a time as +his guest. His most intimate friend of those days, Joshua F. +Speed, tells us that soon after riding into the new capital on a +borrowed horse, with all his earthly possessions packed in a pair +of saddle-bags, Lincoln entered the store owned by Speed, the +saddle-bags over his arm, to ask the price of a single bed with +its necessary coverings and pillows. His question being answered, +he remarked that very likely that was cheap enough, but, small as +the price was, he was unable to pay it; adding that if Speed was +willing to credit him until Christmas, and his experiment as a +lawyer proved a success, he would pay then. "If I fail in this," +he said sadly, "I do not know that I can ever pay you." Speed +thought he had never seen such a sorrowful face. He suggested +that +instead of going into debt, Lincoln might share his own roomy +quarters over the store, assuring him that if he chose to accept +the offer, he would be very welcome. "Where is your room ?" +Lincoln asked quickly. "Upstairs," and the young merchant pointed +to a flight of winding steps leading from the store to the room +overhead. + +Lincoln picked up the saddle-bags, went upstairs, set them down +on the floor, and reappeared a moment later, beaming with +pleasure. "Well, Speed," he exclaimed, "I am moved!" It is seldom +that heartier, truer friendships come to a man than came to +Lincoln in the course of his life. On the other hand, no one ever +deserved better of his fellow-men than he did; and it is pleasant +to know that such brotherly aid as Butler and Speed were able to +give him, offered in all sincerity and accepted in a spirit that +left no sense of galling obligation on either side, helped the +young lawyer over present difficulties and made it possible for +him to keep on in the career he had marked out for himself. + +The lawyer who works his way up from a five-dollar fee in a suit +before a justice of the peace, to a five-thousand-dollar fee +before the Supreme Court of his State, has a long and hard path +to climb. Lincoln climbed this path for twenty-five years, with +industry, perseverance, patience--above all, with that +self-control and keen sense of right and wrong which always +clearly traced the dividing line between his duty to his client +and his duty to society and truth. His perfect frankness of +statement assured him the confidence of judge and jury in every +argument. His habit of fully admitting the weak points in his +case gained him their close attention to his strong ones, and +when clients brought him questionable cases his advice was always +not to bring suit. + +"Yes," he once said to a man who offered him such a case; "there +is no reasonable doubt but that I can gain your case for you. I +can set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a +widowed mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby gain +for you six hundred dollars, which rightfully belongs, it appears +to me, as much to them as it does to you. I shall not take your +case, but I will give you a little advice for nothing. You seem a +sprightly, energetic man. I would advise you to try your hand at +making six hundred dollars in some other way. + +He would have nothing to do with the "tricks" of the profession, +though he met these readily enough when practised by others. He +never knowingly undertook a case in which justice was on the side +of his opponent. That same inconvenient honesty which prompted +him, in his store-keeping days, to close the shop and go in +search of a woman he had innocently defrauded of a few ounces of +tea while weighing out her groceries, made it impossible for him +to do his best with a poor case. "Swett," he once exclaimed, +turning suddenly to his associate, "the man is guilty; you defend +him--I can't," and gave up his share of a large fee. + +After his death some notes were found, written in his own hand, +that had evidently been intended for a little lecture or talk to +law students. They set forth forcibly, in a few words, his idea +of what a lawyer ought to be and to do. He earnestly commends +diligence in study, and, after diligence, promptness in keeping +up the work. "As a general rule, never take your whole fee in +advance," he says, "nor any more than a small retainer. When +fully paid beforehand you are more than a common mortal if you +can feel the same interest in the case as if something were still +in prospect for you as well as for your client." Speech-making +should be practised and cultivated. "It is the lawyer's avenue to +the public. However able and faithful he may be in other +respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make +a speech. And yet, there is not a more fatal error to young +lawyers than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, upon +his rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the +drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance." +Discourage going to law. "Persuade your neighbors to compromise +whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is +often a real loser--in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a +peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good +man. There will still be business enough." "There is a vague +popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. Let no +young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to +the popular belief. Resolve to be honest at all events; and if, +in your own judgment, you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to +be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation +rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, +consent to be a knave." + +While becoming a lawyer, Lincoln still remained a politician. In +those early days in the West, the two occupations went hand in +hand, almost of necessity. Laws had to be newly made to fit the +needs of the new settlements, and therefore a large proportion of +lawyers was sent to the State legislature. In the summer these +same lawyers went about the State, practising before the circuit +courts, Illinois being divided into what were called judicial +circuits, each taking in several counties, and sometimes covering +territory more than a hundred miles square. Springfield and the +neighboring towns were in the eighth judicial circuit. Twice a +year the circuit judge traveled from one county-seat to another, +the lawyers who had business before the court following also. As +newspapers were neither plentiful nor widely read, members of the +legislature were often called upon, while on these journeys, to +explain the laws they had helped to make during the previous +winter, and thus became the political teachers of the people. +They had to be well informed and watchful. When, like Mr. +Lincoln, they were witty, and had a fund of interesting stories +besides, they were sure of a welcome and a hearing in the +courtroom, or in the social gatherings that roused the various +little towns during "court-week" into a liveliness quite put of +the common. The tavern would be crowded to its utmost--the judge +having the best room, and the lawyers being put in what was left, +late comers being lucky to find even a sleeping-place on the +floor. When not occupied in court, or preparing cases for the +morrow, they would sit in the public room, or carry their chairs +out on the sidewalk in front, exchanging stories and anecdotes, +or pieces of political wisdom, while men from the town and +surrounding farms, dropping in on one pretext or another, found +excuse to linger and join in the talk. At meal-times the judge +presided at the head of the long hotel table, on which the food +was abundant if not always wholesome, and around which lawyers, +jurors, witnesses, prisoners out on bail, and the men who drove +the teams, gathered in friendly equality. Stories of what Mr. +Lincoln did and said on the eighth judicial circuit are still +quoted almost with the force of law; for in this close +companionship men came to know each other thoroughly, and were +judged at their true value professionally, as well as for their +power to entertain. + +It was only in worldly wealth that Lincoln was poor. He could +hold his own with the best on the eighth judicial circuit, or +anywhere else in the State. He made friends wherever he went. In +politics, in daily conversation, in his work as a lawyer, his +life was gradually broadening. Slowly but surely, too, his gifts +as an attractive public speaker were becoming known. In 1837 he +wrote and delivered an able address before the Young Men's Lyceum +of Springfield. In December, 1839, Stephen A. Douglas, the most +brilliant of the young Democrats then in Springfield, challenged +the young Whigs of the town to a tournament of political +speech-making, in which Lincoln bore a full and successful share. + +The man who could not pay a week's board bill was again elected +to the legislature, was invited to public banquets and toasted by +name, became a popular speaker, moved in the best society of the +new capital, and made, as his friends and neighbors declared, a +brilliant marriage. + + + +IV. CONGRESSMAN LINCOLN + +Hopeful and cheerful as he ordinarily seemed, there was in Mr. +Lincoln's disposition a strain of deep melancholy. This was not +peculiar to him alone, for the pioneers as a race were somber +rather than gay. Their lives had been passed for generations +under the most trying physical conditions, near malaria-infested +streams, and where they breathed the poison of decaying +vegetation. Insufficient shelter, storms, the cold of winter, +savage enemies, and the cruel labor that killed off all but the +hardiest of them, had at the same time killed the happy-go-lucky +gaiety of an easier form of life. They were thoughtful, watchful, +wary; capable indeed of wild merriment: but it has been said that +although a pioneer might laugh, he could not easily be made to +smile. Lincoln's mind was unusually sound and sane and normal. He +had a cheerful, wholesome, sunny nature, yet he had inherited the +strongest traits of the pioneers, and there was in him, moreover, +much of the poet, with a poet's great capacity for joy and pain. +It is not strange that as he developed into manhood, especially +when his deeper nature began to feel the stirrings of ambition +and of love, these seasons of depression and gloom came upon him +with overwhelming force. + +During his childhood he had known few women, save his mother, and +that kind, God-fearing woman his stepmother, who did so much to +make his childhood hopeful and happy. No man ever honored women +more truly than did Abraham Lincoln; while all the qualities that +caused men to like him--his strength, his ambition, his +kindliness--served equally to make him a favorite with them. In +the years of his young manhood three women greatly occupied his +thoughts. The first was the slender, fair-haired Ann Rutledge, +whom he very likely saw for the first time as she stood with the +group of mocking people on the river-bank, near her father's +mill, the day Lincoln's flatboat stuck on the dam at New Salem. +It was her death, two years before he went to live at +Springfield, that brought on the first attack of melancholy of +which we know, causing him such deep grief that for a time his +friends feared his sorrow might drive him insane. + +Another friend was Mary Owens, a Kentucky girl, very different +from the gentle, blue-eyed Ann Rutledge, but worthy in every way +of a man's affections. She had visited her sister in New Salem +several years before, and Lincoln remembered her as a tall, +handsome, well-educated young woman, who could be serious as well +as gay, and who was considered wealthy. In the autumn of 1836, +her sister, Mrs. Able, then about to start on a visit to +Kentucky, jokingly offered to bring Mary back if Lincoln would +promise to marry her. He, also in jest, agreed to do so. Much to +his astonishment, he learned, a few months later, that she had +actually returned with Mrs. Able, and his sensitive conscience +made him feel that the jest had turned into real earnest, and +that he was in duty bound to keep his promise if she wished him +to do so. They had both changed since they last met; neither +proved quite pleasing to the other, yet an odd sort of courtship +was kept up, until, some time after Lincoln went to live in +Springfield, Miss Owens put an end to the affair by refusing him +courteously but firmly. Meantime he lived through much +unhappiness and uncertainty of spirit, and made up his mind +"never again to think of marrying": a resolution which he kept-- +until another Kentucky girl drove it from his thoughts. + +Springfield had by this time become very lively and enterprising. +There was a deal of "flourishing around in carriages," as Lincoln +wrote Miss Owens, and business and politics and society all +played an active part in the life of the little town. The +meetings of the legislature brought to the new capital a group of +young men of unusual talent and ability. There was friendly +rivalry between them, and party disputes ran high, but social +good-humor prevailed, and the presence of these brilliant young +people, later to become famous as Presidential candidates, +cabinet ministers, senators, congressmen, orators, and battle +heroes, lent to the social gatherings of Springfield a zest +rarely found in larger places. + +Into the midst of this gaiety came Mary Todd of Kentucky, +twenty-one years old, handsome, accomplished and witty--a dashing +and fascinating figure in dress and conversation. She was the +sister of Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, whose husband was a prominent +Whig member of the legislature--one of the "Long Nine," as these +men were known. Their added height was said to be fifty-five +feet, and they easily made up in influence what they lacked in +numbers. Lincoln was the "tallest" of them all in body and in +mind, and although as poor as a church mouse, was quite as +welcome anywhere as the men who wore ruffled shirts and could +carry gold watches. Miss Todd soon singled out and held the +admiration of such of the Springfield beaux as pleased her +somewhat wilful fancy, and Lincoln, being much at the Edwards +house, found himself, almost before he knew it, entangled in a +new love-affair. In the course of a twelvemonth he was engaged to +marry her, but something, nobody knows what or how, happened to +break the engagement, and to plunge him again in a very sea of +wretchedness. Nor is it necessary that we should know about it +further than that a great trouble came upon him, which he bore +nobly, after his kind. Few men have had his stern sense of duty, +his tenderness of heart, his conscience, so easy toward others, +so merciless toward himself. The trouble preyed upon his mind +until he could think of nothing else. He became unable to attend +to business, or to take any part in the life around him. Fearing +for his reason as well as for his health if this continued, his +good friend Joshua F. Speed carried him off, whether he wished or +no, for a visit to his own home in Kentucky. Here they stayed for +some time, and Lincoln grew much better, returning to Springfield +about midsummer, almost his old self, though far from happy. + +An affair that helped to bring the lovers together again is so +out of keeping with the rest of his life, that it would deserve +mention "for that reason, if for no other. This is nothing less +than Lincoln's first and only duel. It happened that James +Shields, afterward a general in two wars and a senator from two +States, was at that time auditor of the State of Illinois, with +his office at Springfield. He was a Democrat, and an Irishman by +birth, with an Irishman's quick temper and readiness to take +offense. He had given orders about collecting certain taxes which +displeased the Whigs, and shortly after Lincoln came back from +Kentucky a series of humorous letters ridiculing the auditor and +his order appeared in the Springfield paper, to the great +amusement of the townspeople and the fury of Shields. These +letters were dated from the "Lost Townships," and were supposed +to be written by a farmer's widow signing herself "Aunt Rebecca." +The real writers were Miss Todd and a clever friend, who +undertook them more for the purpose of poking fun at Shields than +for party effect. In framing the political part of their attack, +they had found it necessary to consult Lincoln, and he obligingly +set them a pattern by writing the first letter himself. + +Shields sent to the editor of the paper to find out the name of +the real "Rebecca." The editor, as in duty bound, consulted +Lincoln, and was told to give Lincoln's name, but not to mention +the ladies. Shields then sent Lincoln an angry challenge; and +Lincoln, who considered the whole affair ridiculous, and would +willingly have explained his part in it if Shields had made a +gentlemanly inquiry, chose as weapons "broadswords of the largest +size," and named as conditions of the duel that a plank ten feet +long be firmly fixed on edge in the ground, as a line over which +neither combatant was to pass his foot upon forfeit of his life. +Next, lines were to be drawn upon the ground on each side of the +plank, parallel with it, at the distance of the whole length of +the sword and three feet additional. The passing of his own line +by either man was to be deemed a surrender of the fight. + +It is easy to see from these conditions that Lincoln refused to +consider the matter seriously, and determined to treat it as +absurdly as it deserved. He and Shields, and their respective +seconds, with the broadswords, hurried away to an island in the +Mississippi River, opposite Alton; but long before the plank was +set up, or swords were drawn, mutual friends took the matter out +of the hands of the seconds, and declared a settlement of the +difficulty. + +The affair created much talk and merriment in Springfield, but +Lincoln found in it more than comedy. By means of it he and Miss +Todd were again brought together in friendly interviews, and on +November 4, they were married at the house of Mr. Edwards. Four +children were born of this marriage: Robert Todd Lincoln, August +1, 1843; Edward Baker Lincoln, March 10, 1846; William Wallace +Lincoln, December 21, 1850; and Thomas Lincoln, April 4, 1853. +Edward died while a baby; William, in the White House, February +20, 1862; Thomas in Chicago, July 15, 1871; and the mother, Mary +Lincoln, in Springfield, July 16, 1882. Robert Lincoln was +graduated from Harvard during the Civil War, serving afterward on +the staff of General Grant. He has since been Secretary of War +and Minister to England, and has held many other important +positions of trust. + +His wedding over, Lincoln took up again the practical routine of +daily life. He and his bride were so poor that they could not +make the visit to Kentucky that both would so much have enjoyed. +They could not even set up a little home of their own. "We are +not keeping house," he wrote to a friend, "but boarding at the +Globe Tavern," where, he added, their room and board only cost +them four dollars a week. His "National Debt" of the old New +Salem days was not yet all paid off, and patiently and resolutely +he went on practising the economy he had learned in the hard +school of experience. + +Lincoln's law partnership with John T. Stuart had lasted four +years. Then Stuart was elected to Congress, and another one was +formed with Judge Stephen T. Logan. It was a well-timed and +important change. Stuart had always cared more for politics than +for law. With Logan law was the main object, and under his +guidance and encouragement Lincoln entered upon the study and +practical work of his profession in a more serious spirit than +ever before. His interest in politics continued, however, and in +truth his practice at that time was so small as to leave ample +time for both. Stuart had been twice elected to Congress, and +very naturally Lincoln, who served his party quite as faithfully, +and was fully as well known, hoped for a similar honor. He had +profited greatly by the companionship and friendly rivalry of the +talented young men of Springfield, but their talent made the +prize he wished the harder to gain. Twice he was disappointed, +the nomination going to other men; but in May, 1846, he was +nominated, and in August of the same year elected, to the +Thirtieth Congress. He had the distinction of being the only Whig +member from his State, the other Illinois congressmen at that +time all being Democrats; but he proved no exception to the +general rule that a man rarely comes into notice during his first +term in the National House of Representatives. A new member has +much to learn, even when, like Lincoln, long service in a State +legislature has taught him how the business of making laws is +carried on. He must find out what has been done and is likely to +be done on a multitude of subjects new to him, must make the +acquaintance of his fellow-members, must visit the departments of +government almost daily to look after the interests of people +from his State and congressional district. Legally he is elected +for a term of two years. Practically a session of five or six +months during the first year, and of three months during the +second, further reduce his opportunities more than one-half. + +Lincoln did not attempt to shine forth in debate, either by a +stinging retort, or burst of inspired eloquence. He went about +his task quietly and earnestly, performing his share of duty with +industry and a hearty admiration for the ability of better-known +members. "I just take my pen," he wrote enthusiastically to a +friend after listening to a speech which pleased him much, "to +say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, is a little slim, pale-faced +consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's, has just concluded +the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My old +withered, dry eyes are full of tears yet." + +During the first session of his term Lincoln made three long +speeches, carefully prepared and written out beforehand. He was +neither elated nor dismayed at the result. "As to speech-making," +he wrote William H. Herndon, who had now become his law partner, +"I find speaking here and elsewhere about the same thing. I was +about as badly scared, and no worse, as I am when I speak in +court." + +The next year he made no set speeches, but in addition to the +usual work of a congressman occupied himself with a bill that had +for its object the purchase and freeing of all slaves in the +District of Columbia. Slavery was not only lawful at the national +capital at that time: there was, to quote Mr. Lincoln's own +graphic words, "in view from the windows of the Capitol a sort of +negro livery-stable, where droves of negroes were collected, +temporarily kept, and finally taken to Southern markets, +precisely like droves of horses." + +To Lincoln and to other people who disapproved of slavery, the +idea of human beings held in bondage under the very shadow of the +dome of the Capitol seemed indeed a bitter mockery. As has +already been stated, he did not then believe Congress had the +right to interfere with slavery in States that chose to have it; +but in the District of Columbia the power of Congress was +supreme, and the matter was entirely different. His bill provided +that the Federal Government should pay full value to the +slave-holders of the District for all slaves in their possession, +and should at once free the older ones. The younger ones were to +be apprenticed for a term of years, in order to make them +self-supporting, after which they also were to receive their +freedom. The bill was very carefully thought out, and had the +approval of residents of the District who held the most varied +views upon slavery; but good as it was, the measure was never +allowed to come to a vote, and Lincoln went back to Springfield, +at the end of his term, feeling doubtless that his efforts in +behalf of the slaves had been all in vain. + +While in Washington he lived very simply and quietly, taking +little part in the social life of the city, though cordially +liked by all who made his acquaintance. An inmate of the modest +boarding-house where he had rooms has told of the cheery +atmosphere he seemed to bring with him into the common +dining-room, where political arguments were apt to run high. He +never appeared anxious to insist upon his own views; and when +others, less considerate, forced matters until the talk +threatened to become too furious, he would interrupt with an +anecdote or a story that cleared the air and ended the discussion +in a general laugh. Sometimes for exercise he would go into a +bowling-alley close by, entering into the game with great zest, +and accepting defeat and victory with equal good-nature. By the +time he had finished a little circle would be gathered around +him, enjoying his enjoyment, and laughing at his quaint +expressions and sallies of wit. + +His gift for jest and story-telling has become traditional. +Indeed, almost every good story that has been invented within a +hundred years has been laid at his door. As a matter of fact, +though he was fond of telling "them, and told them well, he told +comparatively few of the number that have been credited to him. +He had a wonderful memory, and a fine power of making his hearers +see the scene he wished to depict; but the final charm of his +stories lay in their aptness, and in the kindly humor that left +no sting behind it. + +During his term in Congress the Presidential campaign of 1848 +came on. Lincoln took an active part in the nomination and +election of General Zachary Taylor--"Old Rough and Ready," as he +was called--making speeches in Maryland and Massachusetts, as +well as in his own home district of Illinois. Two letters that he +wrote during this campaign have special interest for young +readers, for they show the sympathetic encouragement he gave to +young men anxious to make a place and a name for themselves in +American politics. + +"Now as to the young men, he wrote. "You must not wait to be +brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose +that I should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be +hunted up and pushed forward by older men? You young men get +together and form a 'Rough and Ready' club, and have regular +meetings and speeches. . . . Let every one play the part he can +play best--some speak, some sing, and all 'holler.' Your meetings +will be of evenings; the older men, and the women, will go to +hear you; so that it will not only contribute to the election of +'Old Zach,' but will be an interesting pastime, and improving to +the intellectual faculties of all engaged." + +In another letter, answering a young friend who complained of +being neglected, he said: + +"Nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you +and others of my young friends at home are doing battle in the +contest and taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to +reach. . . . I cannot conceive that other old men feel +differently. Of course I cannot demonstrate what I say; but I was +young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back. I +hardly know what to say. The way for a young man to rise is to +improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that anybody +wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion and +jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may +sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and +they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from +its true channel to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about +and see if this feeling has not injured every person you have +ever known to fall into it." + +He was about forty years old when he wrote this letter. By some +people that is not considered a very great age; but he doubtless +felt himself immensely older, as he was infinitely wiser, than +his petulant young correspondent. + +General Taylor was triumphantly elected, and it then became +Lincoln's duty, as Whig member of Congress from Illinois, to +recommend certain persons to fill government offices in that +State. He did this after he returned to Springfield, for his term +in Congress ended on March 4, 1849, the day that General Taylor +became President. The letters that he sent to Washington when +forwarding the papers and applications of people who wished +appointment were both characteristic and amusing; for in his +desire not to mislead or to do injustice to any man, they were +very apt to say more in favor of the men he did not wish to see +appointed than in recommendation of his own particular +candidates. + +This absolute and impartial fairness to friend and foe alike was +one of his strongest traits, governing every action of his life. +If it had not been for this, he might possibly have enjoyed +another term in Congress, for there had been talk of reelecting +him. In spite of his confession to Speed that "being elected to +Congress, though I am very grateful to our friends for having +done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected," this must +have been flattering. But there were many able young men in +Springfield who coveted the honor, and they had entered into an +agreement among themselves that each would be content with a +single term. Lincoln of course remained faithful to this promise. +His strict keeping of promises caused him also to lose an +appointment from President Taylor as Commissioner of the General +Land Office, which might easily have been his, but for which he +had agreed to recommend some other Illinois man. A few weeks +later the President offered to make him governor of the new +Territory of Oregon. This attracted him much more than the other +office had done, but he declined because his wife was unwilling +to live in a place so far away. + +His career in Congress, while adding little to his fame at the +time, proved of great advantage to him in after life, for it gave +him a close knowledge of the workings of the Federal Government, +and brought him into contact with political leaders from all +parts of the Union. + + + +V. THE CHAMPION OF FREEDOM + +For four or five years after his return from Congress, Lincoln +remained in Springfield, working industriously at his profession. +He was offered a law partnership in Chicago, but declined on the +ground that his health would not stand the confinement of a great +city. His business increased in volume and importance as the +months went by; and it was during this time that he engaged in +what is perhaps the most dramatic as well as the best known of +all his law cases--his defense of Jack Armstrong's son on a +charge of murder. A knot of young men had quarreled one night on +the outskirts of a camp-meeting, one was killed, and suspicion +pointed strongly toward young Armstrong as the murderer. Lincoln, +for old friendship's sake, offered to defend him--an offer most +gratefully accepted by his family. The principal witness swore +that he had seen young Armstrong strike the fatal blow--had seen +him distinctly by the light of a bright moon. Lincoln made him +repeat the statement until it seemed as if he were sealing the +death-warrant of the prisoner. Then Lincoln began his address to +the jury. He was not there as a hired attorney, he told them, but +because of friendship. He told of his old relations with Jack +Armstrong, of the kindness the prisoner's mother had shown him in +New Salem, how he had himself rocked the prisoner to sleep when +the latter was a little child. Then he reviewed the testimony, +pointing out how completely everything depended on the statements +of this one witness; and ended by proving beyond question that +his testimony was false, since, according to the almanac, which +he produced in court and showed to judge and jury, THERE WAS NO +MOON IN THE SKY THAT NIGHT at the hour the murder was committed. +The jury brought in a verdict of "Not guilty," and the prisoner +was discharged. + +Lincoln was always strong with a jury. He knew how to handle men, +and he had a direct way of going to the heart of things. He had, +moreover, unusual powers of mental discipline. It was after his +return from Congress, when he had long been acknowledged one of +the foremost lawyers of the State, that he made up his mind he +lacked the power of close and sustained reasoning, and set +himself like a schoolboy to study works of logic and mathematics +to remedy the defect. At this time he committed to memory six +books of the propositions of Euclid; and, as always, he was an +eager reader on many subjects, striving in this way to make up +for the lack of education he had had as a boy. He was always +interested in mechanical principles and their workings, and in +May, 1849, patented a device for lifting vessels over shoals, +which had evidently been dormant in his mind since the days of +his early Mississippi River experiences. The little model of a +boat, whittled out with his own hand, that he sent to the Patent +Office when he filed his application, is still shown to visitors, +though the invention itself failed to bring about any change in +steamboat architecture. + +In work and study time slipped away. He was the same cheery +companion as of old, much sought after by his friends, but now +more often to be found in his office surrounded by law-books and +papers than had been the case before his term in Congress. His +interest in politics seemed almost to have ceased when, in 1854, +something happened to rouse that and his sense of right and +justice as they had never been roused before. This was the repeal +of the "Missouri Compromise," a law passed by Congress in the +year 1820, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave State, +but positively forbidding slavery in all other territory of the +United States lying north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes, +which was the southern boundary-line of Missouri. + +Up to that time the Southern States, where slavery was lawful, +had been as wealthy and quite as powerful in politics as the +Northern or free States. The great unoccupied territory lying to +the west, which, in years to come, was sure to be filled with +people and made into new States, lay, however, mostly north of 36 +degrees 30 minutes; and it was easy to see that as new free +States came one after the other into the Union the importance of +the South must grow less and less, because there was little or no +territory left out of which slave States could be made to offset +them. The South therefore had been anxious to have the Missouri +Compromise repealed. + +The people of the North, on the other hand, were not all wise or +disinterested in their way of attacking slavery. As always +happens, self-interest and moral purpose mingled on both sides; +but, as a whole, it may be said that they wished to get rid of +slavery because they felt it to be wrong, and totally out of +place in a country devoted to freedom and liberty. The quarrel +between them was as old as the nation, and it had been gaining +steadily in intensity. At first only a few persons in each +section had been really interested. By the year 1850 it had come +to be a question of much greater moment, and during the ten years +that followed was to increase in bitterness until it absorbed the +thoughts of the entire people, and plunged the country into a +terrible civil war. + +Abraham Lincoln had grown to manhood while the question was +gaining in importance. As a youth, during his flatboat voyages to +New Orleans he had seen negroes chained and beaten, and the +injustice of slavery had been stamped upon his soul. The +uprightness of his mind abhorred a system that kept men in +bondage merely because they happened to be black. The intensity +of his feeling on the subject had made him a Whig when, as a +friendless boy, he lived in a town where Whig ideas were much in +disfavor. The same feeling, growing stronger as he grew older, +had inspired the Lincoln-Stone protest and the bill to free the +slaves in the District of Columbia, and had caused him to vote at +least forty times against slavery in one form or another during +his short term in Congress. The repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, throwing open once more to slavery a vast amount of +territory from which it had been shut out, could not fail to move +him deeply. His sense of justice and his strong powers of +reasoning were equally stirred, and from that time until slavery +came to its end through his own act, he gave his time and all his +energies to the cause of freedom. + +Two points served to make the repeal of the Missouri Compromise +of special interest to Lincoln. The first was personal, in that +the man who championed the measure, and whose influence in +Congress alone made it possible, was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, +who had been his neighbor in Illinois for many years. + +The second was deeper. He realized that the struggle meant much +more than the freedom or bondage of a few million black men: that +it was in reality a struggle for the central idea of our American +republic--the statement in our Declaration of Independence that +"all men are created equal." He made no public speeches until +autumn, but in the meantime studied the question with great care, +both as to its past history and present state. When he did speak +it was with a force and power that startled Douglas and, it is +said, brought him privately to Lincoln with the proposition that +neither of them should address a public meeting again until after +the next election. + +Douglas was a man of great ambition as well as of unusual +political skill. Until recently he had been heartily in favor of +keeping slavery out of the Northwest Territory; but he had set +his heart upon being President of the United States, and he +thought that he saw a chance of this if he helped the South to +repeal the Missouri Compromise, and thus gained its gratitude and +its votes. Without hesitation he plunged into the work and +labored successfully to overthrow this law of more than thirty +years' standing. + +Lincoln's speech against the repeal had made a deep impression in +Illinois, where he was at once recognized as the people's +spokesman in the cause of freedom. His statements were so clear, +his language so eloquent, the stand he took so just, that all had +to acknowledge his power. He did not then, nor for many years +afterward, say that the slaves ought to be immediately set free. +What he did insist upon was that slavery was wrong, and that it +must not be allowed to spread into territory already free; but +that, gradually, in ways lawful and just to masters and slaves +alike, the country should strive to get rid of it in places where +it already existed. He never let his hearers lose sight of the +great. underlying moral fact. "Slavery," he said, "is founded in +the selfishness of man's nature; opposition to it in his love of +justice." Even Senator Douglas was not prepared to admit that +slavery was right. He knew that if he said that he could never be +President, for the whole North would rise against him. He wished +to please both sides, so he argued that it was not a question for +him or for the Federal Government to decide, but one which each +State and Territory must settle for itself. In answer to this +plea of his that it was not a matter of morals, but of "State +rights"--a mere matter of local self-government--Mr. Lincoln +replied, "When the white man governs himself that is +self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs +another man, that is more than self-government--that is +despotism." + +It was on these opposing grounds that the two men took their +stand for the battle of argument and principle that was to +continue for years, to outgrow the bounds of the State, to focus +the attention of the whole country upon them, and, in the end, to +have far-reaching consequences of which neither at that time +dreamed. At first the field appeared much narrower, though even +then the reward was a large one. Lincoln had entered the contest +with no thought of political gain; but it happened that a new +United States senator from Illinois had to be chosen about that +time. Senators are not voted for by the people, but by the +legislatures of their respective States and as a first result of +all this discussion about the right or wrong of slavery it was +found that the Illinois legislature, instead of having its usual +large Democratic majority, was almost evenly divided. Lincoln +seemed the most likely candidate; and he would have undoubtedly +been chosen senator, had not five men, whose votes were +absolutely necessary, stoutly refused to vote for a Whig, no +matter what his views upon slavery might be. Keeping stubbornly +aloof, they cast their ballots time after time for Lyman +Trumbull, who was a Democrat, although as strongly opposed to +slavery as Lincoln himself. + +A term of six years in the United States Senate must have seemed +a large prize to Lincoln just then--possibly the largest he might +ever hope to gain; and it must have been a hard trial to feel it +so near and then see it slipping away from him. He did what few +men would have had the courage or the unselfishness to do. +Putting aside all personal considerations, and intent only on +making sure of an added vote against slavery in the Senate, he +begged his friends to cease voting for him and to unite with +those five Democrats to elect Trumbull. + +"I regret my defeat moderately," he wrote to a sympathizing +friend, "but I am not nervous about it." Yet it must have been +particularly trying to know that with forty-five votes in his +favor, and only five men standing between him and success, he had +been forced to give up his own chances and help elect the very +man who had defeated him. + +The voters of Illinois were quick to realize the sacrifice he had +made. The five stubborn men became his most devoted personal +followers; and his action at this time did much to bring about a +great political change in the State. All over the country old +party lines were beginning to break up and re-form themselves on +this one question of slavery. Keeping its old name, the +Democratic party became the party in favor of slavery, while the +Northern Whigs and all those Democrats who objected to slavery +joined in what became known as the Republican party. It was at a +great mass convention held in Bloomington in May, 1856, that the +Republican party of Illinois took final shape; and it was here +that Lincoln made the wonderful address which has become famous +in party history as his "lost speech." There had been much +enthusiasm. Favorite speakers had already made stirring addresses +that had been listened to with eagerness and heartily applauded; +but hardly a man moved from his seat until Lincoln should be +heard. It was he who had given up the chance of being senator to +help on the cause of freedom. He alone had successfully answered +Douglas. Every one felt the fitness of his making the closing +speech--and right nobly did he honor the demand. The spell of the +hour was visibly upon him. Standing upon the platform before the +members of the convention, his tall figure drawn up to its full +height, his head thrown back, and his voice ringing with +earnestness, he denounced the evil they had to fight in a speech +whose force and power carried his hearers by storm, ending with a +brilliant appeal to all who loved liberty and justice to + + Come as the winds come when forests are rended; + Come as the waves come when navies are stranded; + +and unite with the Republican party against this great wrong. + +The audience rose and answered him with cheer upon cheer. Then, +after the excitement had died down, it was found that neither a +full report nor even trustworthy notes of his speech had been +taken. The sweep and magnetism of his oratory had carried +everything before it--even the reporters had forgotten their +duty, and their pencils had fallen idle. So it happened that the +speech as a whole was lost. Mr. Lincoln himself could never +recall what he had said; but the hundreds who heard him never +forgot the scene or the lifting inspiration of his words. + +Three weeks later the first national convention of the Republican +party was held. John C. Fremont was nominated for President, and +Lincoln received over a hundred votes for Vice-President, but +fortunately, as it proved, was not selected, the honor falling to +William L. Dayton of New Jersey. The Democratic candidate for +President that year was James Buchanan, "a Northern man with +Southern principles," very strongly in favor of slavery. Lincoln +took an active part in the campaign against him, making more than +fifty speeches in Illinois and the adjoining States. The +Democrats triumphed, and Buchanan was elected President; but +Lincoln was not discouraged, for the new Republican party had +shown unexpected strength throughout the North. Indeed, Lincoln +was seldom discouraged. He had an abiding faith that the people +would in the long run vote wisely; and the cheerful hope he was +able to inspire in his followers was always a strong point in his +leadership. + +In 1858, two years after this, another election took place in +Illinois, on which the choice of a United States senator +depended. This time it was the term of Stephen A. Douglas that +was drawing to a close. He greatly desired reelection. There was +but one man in the State who could hope to rival him, and with a +single voice the Republicans of Illinois called upon Lincoln to +oppose him. Douglas was indeed an opponent not to be despised. +His friends and followers called him the "Little Giant." He was +plausible, popular, quick-witted, had winning manners, was most +skilful in the use of words, both to convince his hearers and, at +times, to hide his real meaning. He and Lincoln were old +antagonists. They had first met in the far-away Vandalia days of +the Illinois legislature. In Springfield, Douglas had been the +leader of the young Democrats, while Lincoln had been leader of +the younger Whigs. Their rivalry had not always been confined to +politics, for gossip asserted that Douglas had been one of Miss +Todd's more favored suitors. Douglas in those days had no great +opinion of the tall young lawyer; while Lincoln is said to have +described Douglas as "the least man I ever saw"--although that +referred to his rival's small stature and boyish figure, not to +his mental qualities. Douglas was not only ambitious to be +President: he had staked everything on the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise and his statement that this question of slavery was +one that every State and Territory must settle for itself, but +with which the Federal Government had nothing to do. +Unfortunately, his own party no longer agreed with him. Since +Buchanan had become President the Democrats had advanced their +ground. They now claimed that while a State might properly say +whether or not it would tolerate slavery, slavery ought to be +lawful in all the Territories, no matter whether their people +liked it or not. + +A famous law case, called the Dred Scott case, lately decided by +the Supreme Court of the United States, went far toward making +this really the law of the land. In its decision the court +positively stated that neither Congress nor a territorial +legislature had power to keep slavery out of any United States +Territory. This decision placed Senator Douglas in a most curious +position. It justified him in repealing the Missouri Compromise, +but at the same time it absolutely denied his statement that the +people of a Territory had a right to settle the slavery question +to suit themselves. Being a clever juggler with words, he +explained away the difference by saying that a master might have +a perfect right to his slave in a Territory, and yet that right +could do him no good unless it were protected by laws in force +where his slave happened to be. Such laws depended entirely on +the will of the people living in the Territory, and so, after +all, they had the deciding voice. This reasoning brought upon him +the displeasure of President Buchanan and all the Democrats who +believed as he did, and Douglas found himself forced either to +deny what he had already told the voters of Illinois, or to begin +a quarrel with the President. He chose the latter, well knowing +that to lose his reelection to the Senate at this time would end +his political career. His fame as well as his quarrel with the +President served to draw immense crowds to his meetings when he +returned to Illinois and began speech-making, and his followers +so inspired these meetings with their enthusiasm that for a time +it seemed as though all real discussion would be swallowed up in +noise and shouting. + +Mr. Lincoln, acting on the advice of his leading friends, sent +Douglas a challenge to joint debate. Douglas accepted, though not +very willingly; and it was agreed that they should address the +same meetings at seven towns in the State, on dates extending +through August, September, and October. The terms were that one +should speak an hour in opening, the other an hour and a half in +reply, and the first again have half an hour to close. Douglas +was to open the meeting at one place, Lincoln at the next. + +It was indeed a memorable contest. Douglas, the most skilled and +plausible speaker in the Democratic party, was battling for his +political life. He used every art, every resource, at his +command. Opposed to him was a veritable giant in stature--a man +whose qualities of mind and of body were as different from those +of the "Little Giant" -as could well be imagined. Lincoln was +direct, forceful, logical, and filled with a purpose as lofty as +his sense of right and justice was strong. He cared much for the +senatorship, but he cared far more to right the wrong of slavery, +and to warn people of the peril that menaced the land. Already in +June he had made a speech that greatly impressed his hearers. "A +house divided against itself cannot stand," he told them. "I +believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and +half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not +expect the house to fall--but I do expect it will cease to be +divided. It will become all one thing or all the other"; and he +went on to say that there was grave danger it might become all +slave. He showed how, little by little, slavery had been gaining +ground, until all it lacked now was another Supreme Court +decision to make it alike lawful in all the States, North as well +as South. The warning came home to the people of the North with +startling force, and thereafter all eyes "were fixed upon the +senatorial campaign in Illinois. + +The battle continued for nearly three months. Besides the seven +great joint debates, each man spoke daily, sometimes two or three +times a day, at meetings of his own. Once before their audiences, +Douglas's dignity as a senator afforded him no advantage, +Lincoln's popularity gave him little help. Face to face with the +followers of each, gathered in immense numbers and alert with +jealous watchfulness, there was no escaping the rigid test of +skill in argument and truth in principle. The processions and +banners, the music and fireworks, of both parties were stilled +and forgotten while the people listened to the three hours' +battle of mind against mind. + +Northern Illinois had been peopled largely from the free States, +and southern Illinois from the slave States; thus the feeling +about slavery in the two parts was very different. To take +advantage of this, Douglas, in the very first debate, which took +place at Ottawa, in northern Illinois, asked Lincoln seven +questions, hoping to make him answer in a way that would be +unpopular farther south. In the second debate Lincoln replied to +these very frankly, and in his turn asked Douglas four questions, +the second of which was whether, in Douglas's opinion, the people +of any Territory could, in any lawful way, against the wish of +any citizen of the United States, bar out slavery before that +Territory became a State. Mr. Lincoln had long and carefully +studied the meaning and effect of this question. If Douglas said, +"No," he would please Buchanan and the administration Democrats, +but at the cost of denying his own words. If he said, "Yes," he +would make enemies of every Democrat in the South. Lincoln's +friends all advised against asking the question. They felt sure +that Douglas would answer, "Yes," and that this would win him his +election. "If you ask it, you can never be senator," they told +Lincoln. "Gentlemen," he replied, "I am killing larger game. If +Douglas answers he can never be President, and the battle of 1860 +is worth a hundred of this." + +Both prophecies were fulfilled. Douglas answered as was expected; +and though, in actual numbers, the Republicans of Illinois cast +more votes than the Democrats, a legislature was chosen that +rejected him to the Senate. Two years later, Lincoln, who in 1858 +had not the remotest dream of such a thing, found himself the +successful candidate of the Republican party for President of the +United States. + +To see how little Lincoln expected such an outcome it is only +necessary to glance at the letters he wrote to friends at the end +of his campaign against Douglas. Referring to the election to be +held two years later, he said, "In that day I shall fight in the +ranks, but I shall be in no one's way for any of the places." To +another correspondent he expressed himself even more frankly: "Of +course I wished, but I did not much expect, a better result. . . +. I am glad I made the late race. It gave me a hearing on the +great and durable question of the age, which I could have had in +no other way; and though I now sink out of view and shall be +forgotten, I believe I have made some marks which will tell for +the cause of civil liberty long after I am gone." + +But he was not to "sink out of view and be forgotten." Douglas +himself contributed not a little toward keeping his name before +the public; for shortly after their contest was ended the +reelected senator started on a trip through the South to set +himself right again with the Southern voters, and in every speech +that he made he referred to Lincoln as the champion of +"abolitionism." In this way the people were not allowed to forget +the stand Lincoln had taken, and during the year 1859 they came +to look upon him as the one man who could be relied on at all +times to answer Douglas and Douglas's arguments. + +In the autumn of that year Lincoln was asked to speak in Ohio, +where Douglas was again referring to him by name. In December he +was invited to address meetings in various towns in Kansas, and +early in 1860 he made a speech in New York that raised him +suddenly and unquestionably to the position of a national leader. + +It was delivered in the hall of Cooper Institute, on the evening +of February 27, 1860, before an audience of men and women +remarkable for their culture, wealth and influence. + +Mr. Lincoln's name and words had filled so large a space in the +Eastern newspapers of late, that his listeners were very eager to +see. and hear this rising Western politician. The West, even at +that late day, was very imperfectly understood by the East. It +was looked upon as a land of bowie-knives and pistols, of +steamboat explosions, of mobs, of wild speculation and wilder +adventure. What, then, would be the type, the character, the +language of this speaker? How would he impress the great editor +Horace Greeley, who sat among the invited guests; David Dudley +Field, the great lawyer, who escorted him to the platform; +William Cullen Bryant, the great poet, who presided over the +meeting? + +The audience quickly forgot these questioning doubts. They had +but time to note Mr. Lincoln's unusual height, his rugged, +strongly marked features, the clear ring of his high-pitched +voice, the commanding earnestness of his manner. Then they became +completely absorbed in what he was saying. He began quietly, +soberly, almost as if he were arguing a case before a court. In +his entire address he uttered neither an anecdote nor a jest. If +any of his hearers came expecting the style or manner of the +Western stump-speaker, they met novelty of an unlooked-for kind; +for such was the apt choice of words, the simple strength of his +reasoning, the fairness of every point he made, the force of +every conclusion he drew, that his listeners followed him, +spellbound. He spoke on the subject that he had so thoroughly +mastered and that was now uppermost in men's minds--the right or +wrong of slavery. He laid bare the complaints and demands of the +Southern leaders, pointed out the injustice of their threat to +break up the Union if their claims were not granted, stated +forcibly the stand taken by the Republican party, and brought his +speech to a close with the short and telling appeal: + +"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let +us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." + +The attention with which it was followed, the applause that +greeted its telling points, and the enthusiasm of the Republican +journals next morning showed that Lincoln's Cooper Institute +speech had taken New York by storm. It was printed in full in +four of the leading daily papers of the city, and immediately +reprinted in pamphlet form. From New York Mr. Lincoln made a tour +of speech-making through several of the New England States, where +he was given a hearty welcome, and listened to with an eagerness +that showed a marked result at the spring elections. The interest +of the working-men who heard these addresses was equaled, perhaps +excelled, by the pleased surprise of college professors and men +of letters when they found that the style and method of this +self-taught popular Western orator would stand the test of their +most searching professional criticism. + +One other audience he had during this trip, if we may trust +report, which, while neither as learned as the college +professors, nor perhaps as critical as the factory-men, was quite +as hard to please, and the winning of whose approval shows +another side of this great and many-sided man. A teacher in a +Sunday-school in the Five Points district of New York, at that +time one of the worst parts of the city, has told how, one +morning, a tall, thin, unusual-looking man entered and sat +quietly listening to the exercises. His face showed such genuine +interest that he was asked if he would like to speak to the +children. Accepting the invitation with evident pleasure, he +stepped forward and began a simple address that quickly charmed +the roomful of youngsters into silence. His language was +singularly beautiful, his voice musical with deep feeling. The +faces of his little listeners drooped into sad earnestness at his +words of warning, and brightened again when he spoke of cheerful +promises. "Go on! Oh, do go on!" they begged when at last he +tried to stop. As he left the room somebody asked his name. +"Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois," was the courteous reply. + + + +VI. THE NEW PRESIDENT + +Lincoln's great skill and wisdom in his debate with Douglas +turned the eyes of the whole country upon him; and the force and +logic of his Cooper Institute speech convinced every one that in +him they had discovered a new national leader. He began to be +mentioned as a possible candidate for President in the election +which was to take place that fall to choose a successor to +President Buchanan. Indeed, quite a year earlier, an editor in +Illinois had written to him asking permission to announce him as +a candidate in his newspaper. At that time Lincoln had refused, +thanking him for the compliment, but adding modestly: "I must in +candor say that I do not think myself fit for the Presidency." +About Christmas time, 1859, however, a number of his stanchest +Illinois friends urged him to let them use his name, and he +consented, not so much in the hope of being chosen, as of perhaps +receiving the nomination for Vice-President, or at least of +making a show of strength that would aid him at some future time +to become senator. The man most talked about as the probable +Republican candidate for President was William H. Seward, who was +United States senator from New York, and had also been governor +of that State. + +The political unrest continued. Slavery was still the most +absorbing topic, and it was upon their stand for or against +slavery that all the Presidential candidates were chosen. The +pretensions and demands of the Southern leaders had by this time +passed into threats. They declared roundly that they would take +their States out of the Union if slavery were not quickly made +lawful all over the country, or in case a "Black Republican" +President should be elected. The Democrats, unable to agree among +themselves, split into two sections, the Northerners nominating +Stephen A. Douglas for President, while delegates who had come to +their National Convention from what were called the Cotton States +chose John C. Breckinridge. A few men who had belonged to the old +Whig party, but felt themselves unable to join the Republicans or +either faction of the Democrats, met elsewhere and nominated John +Bell. + +This breaking up of their political enemies into three distinct +camps greatly cheered the Republicans, and when their National +Convention came together in Chicago on May 16, 1860, its members +were filled with the most eager enthusiasm. Its meetings were +held in a huge temporary wooden building called the Wigwam, so +large that 10,000 people could easily assemble in it to watch the +proceedings. Few conventions have shown such depth of feeling. +Not only the delegates on the central platform, but even the +spectators seemed impressed with the fact that they were taking +part in a great historical event. The first two days were taken +up in seating delegates, adopting a "platform" or statement of +party principles, and in other necessary routine matters. On the +third day, however, it was certain that balloting would begin, +and crowds hurried to the Wigwam in a fever of curiosity. The New +York men, sure that Seward would be the choice of the convention, +marched there in a body, with music and banners. The friends of +Lincoln arrived before them, and while not making so much noise +or show, were doing good work for their favorite. The long +nominating speeches of later years had not then come into +fashion. "I take the liberty," simply said Mr. Evarts of New +York, "to name as a candidate to be nominated by this convention +for the office of President of the United States, William H. +Seward," and at Mr. Seward's name a burst of applause broke +forth, so long and loud that it seemed fairly to shake the great +building. Mr. Judd, of Illinois, performed the same office of +friendship for Mr. Lincoln, and the tremendous cheering that rose +from the throats of his friends echoed and dashed itself against +the sides of the Wigwam, died down, and began anew, until the +noise that had been made by Seward's admirers dwindled to +comparative feebleness. Again and again these contests of lungs +and enthusiasm were repeated as other names were presented to the +convention. + +At last the voting began. Two names stood out beyond all the rest +on the very first ballot--Seward's and Lincoln's. The second +ballot showed that Seward had lost votes while Lincoln had gained +them. The third ballot was begun in almost painful suspense, +delegates and spectators keeping count upon their tally-sheets +with nervous fingers. It was found that Lincoln had gained still +more, and now only needed one and a half votes to receive the +nomination. Suddenly the Wigwam became as still as a church. +Everybody leaned forward to see who would break the spell. A man +sprang upon a chair and reported a change of four votes to +Lincoln. Then a teller shouted a name toward the skylight, and +the boom of a cannon from the roof announced the nomination and +started the cheering down the long Chicago streets; while inside +delegation after delegation changed its votes to the victor in a +whirlwind of hurrahs. That same afternoon the convention finished +its labors by nominating Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for +Vice-President, and adjourned--the delegates, speeding homeward +on the night trains, realizing by the bonfires and cheering +crowds at every little station that a memorable Presidential +campaign was already begun. + +During this campaign there were, then, four Presidential +candidates in the field. In the order of strength shown at the +election they were: + +1. The Republican party, whose "platform," or statement of party +principles, declared that slavery was wrong, and that its further +spread should be prevented. Its candidates were Abraham Lincoln +of Illinois for President, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for +Vice-President. + +2. The Douglas wing of the Democratic party, which declared that +it did not pretend to decide whether slavery was right or wrong, +and proposed to allow the people of each State and Territory to +choose for themselves whether they would or would not have it. +Its candidates were Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for President, +and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia for Vice-President. + +3. The Buchanan wing of the Democratic party, which declared that +slavery was right, and whose policy was to extend it, and to make +new slave States. Its candidates were John C. Breckinridge of +Kentucky for President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for +Vice-President. + +4. The Constitutional Union party, which ignored slavery in its +platform, declaring that it recognized no political principles +other than "the Constitution of the country, the Union of the +States, and the enforcement of the laws." Its candidates were +John Bell of Tennessee for President, and Edward Everett of +Massachusetts for Vice-President. + +In enthusiasm the Republicans quickly took the lead. "Wide Awake" +clubs of young men, wearing caps and capes of glazed oilcloth to +protect their clothing from the dripping oil of their torches, +gathered in torchlight processions miles in length. Fence rails, +supposed to have been made by Lincoln in his youth, were set up +in party headquarters and trimmed with flowers and lighted +tapers. Lincoln was called the "Rail-splitter Candidate," and +this telling name, added to the equally telling "Honest Old Abe," +by which he had long been known in Illinois, furnished country +and city campaign orators with a powerful appeal to the sympathy +and trust of the working-people of the United States. Men and +women read in newspaper and pamphlet biographies the story of his +humble beginnings: how he had risen by simple, earnest work and +native genius, first to fame and leadership in his own State, and +then to fame and leadership in the nation; and these titles +quickly grew to be much more than mere party nicknames--to stand +for a faith and trust destined to play no small part in the +history of the next few years. + +After the nominations were made Douglas went on a tour of +speech-making through the South. Lincoln, on the contrary, stayed +quietly at home in Springfield. His personal habits and +surroundings varied little during the whole of this campaign +summer. Naturally he gave up active law practice, leaving his +office in charge of his partner, William H. Herndon. He spent the +time during the usual business hours of each day in the +governor's room of the State-house at Springfield, attended only +by his private secretary, Mr. Nicolay. Friends and strangers +alike were able to visit him freely and without ceremony, and few +went away without being impressed by the sincere frankness of his +manner and conversation. + +All sorts of people came to see him: those from far-away States, +East and West, as well as those from nearer home. Politicians +came to ask him for future favors, and many whose only motives +were friendliness or curiosity called to express their good +wishes and take the Republican candidate by the hand. + +He wrote no public letters, and he made no speeches beyond a few +words of thanks and greeting to passing street parades. Even the +strictly private letters in which he gave his advice on points in +the campaign were not more than a dozen in number; but all +through the long summer, while welcoming his throngs of visitors, +listening to the tales of old settlers, making friends of +strangers, and binding old friends closer by his ready sympathy, +Mr. Lincoln watched political developments very closely, not +merely to note the progress of his own chances, but with an +anxious view to the future in case he should be elected. Beyond +the ever-changing circle of friendly faces near him he saw the +growing unrest and anger of the South, and doubtless felt the +uncertainty of many good people in the North, who questioned the +power of this untried Western man to guide the country through +the coming perils. + +Never over-confident of his own powers, his mind must at times +have been full of misgivings; but it was only on the night of the +election, November 6, 1860, when, sitting alone with the +operators in the little telegraph-office at Springfield, he read +the messages of Republican victory that fell from the wires until +convinced of his election, that the overwhelming, almost crushing +"weight of his coming duties and responsibilities fell upon him. +In that hour, grappling resolutely and alone with the problem +before him, he completed what was really the first act of his +Presidency--the choice of his cabinet, of the men who were to aid +him. People who doubted the will or the wisdom of their +Rail-splitter Candidate need have had no fear. A weak man would +have chosen this little band of counselors--the Secretary of +State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the half-dozen others +who were to stand closest to him and to be at the head of the +great departments of the government--from among his personal +friends. A man uncertain of his own power would have taken care +that no other man of strong nature with a great following of his +own should be there to dispute his authority. Lincoln did the +very opposite. He had a sincere belief in public opinion, and a +deep respect for the popular will. In this case he felt that no +men represented that popular will so truly as those whose names +had been considered by the Republican National Convention in its +choice of a candidate for President. So, instead of gathering +about him his friends, he selected his most powerful rivals in +the Republican party. William H. Seward, of New York, was to be +his Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, his Secretary +of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, his Secretary of +War; Edward Bates, of Missouri, his Attorney-General. The names +of all of these men had been before the Convention. Each one had +hoped to be President in his stead. For the other three members +of his Cabinet he had to look elsewhere. Gideon Welles, of +Connecticut, for Secretary of the Navy; Montgomery Blair, of +Maryland, for Postmaster-General; and Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, +for Secretary of the Interior, were finally chosen. When people +complained, as they sometimes did, that by this arrangement the +cabinet consisted of four men who had been Democrats in the old +days, and only three who had been Whigs, Lincoln smiled his wise, +humorous smile and answered that he himself had been a Whig, and +would always be there to make matters even. It is not likely that +this exact list was in his mind on the night of the November +election; but the principal names in it most certainly were. To +some of these gentlemen he offered their appointments by letter. +Others he asked to visit him in Springfield to talk the matter +over. Much delay and some misunderstanding occurred before the +list was finally completed: but when he sent it to the Senate, on +the day after his inauguration, it was practically the one he had +in his mind from the beginning. + +A President is elected by popular vote early in November, but he +is not inaugurated until the following fourth of March. Until the +day of his inauguration, when he takes the oath of office and +begins to discharge his duties, he is not only not President--he +has no more power in the affairs of the Government than the +humblest private citizen. It is easy to imagine the anxieties and +misgivings that beset Mr. Lincoln during the four long months +that lay between his election and his inauguration. True to their +threats never to endure the rule of a "Black Republican" +President, the Cotton States one after the other withdrew their +senators and representatives from Congress, passed what they +called "Ordinances of Secession," and declared themselves to be +no longer a part of the United States. One after another, too, +army and navy officers stationed in the Southern States gave up +to the Southern leaders in this movement the forts, navy-yards, +arsenals, mints, ships, and other government property under their +charge. President Buchanan, in whose hands alone rested the power +to punish these traitors and avenge their insults to the +government he had sworn to protect and defend, showed no +disposition to do so; and Lincoln, looking on with a heavy heart, +was unable to interfere in any way. No matter how anxiously he +might watch the developments at Washington or in the Cotton +States, no matter what appeals might be made to him, no action of +any kind was possible on his part. + +The only bit of cheer that came to him and other Union men during +this anxious season of waiting, was in the conduct of Major +Robert Anderson at Charleston Harbor, who, instead of following +the example of other officers who were proving unfaithful, boldly +defied the Southern "secessionists," and moving his little +handful of soldiers into the harbor fort best fitted for defense, +prepared to hold out against them until help could reach him from +Washington. + +In February the leaders of the Southern people met at Montgomery, +Alabama, adopted a Constitution, and set up a government which +they called the Confederate States of America, electing Jefferson +Davis, of Mississippi, President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of +Georgia, Vice-President. Stephens was the "little, slim +pale-faced consumptive man" whose speech in Congress had won +Lincoln's admiration years before. Davis had been the child who +began his schooling so near to Lincoln in Kentucky. He had had a +far different career. Good fortune had carried him to West Point, +into the Mexican War, into the cabinet of President Franklin +Pierce, and twice into the Senate. He had had money, high office, +the best education his country could give him--everything, it +seemed, that had been denied to Lincoln. Now the two men were the +chosen heads of two great opposing factions, one bent on +destroying the government that had treated him so kindly; the +other, for whom it had done so little, willing to lay down his +life in its defense. + +It must not be supposed that Lincoln remained idle during these +four months of waiting. Besides completing his cabinet, and +receiving his many visitors, he devoted himself to writing his +inaugural address, withdrawing himself for some hours each day to +a quiet room over the store of his brother-in-law, where he could +think and write undisturbed. The newspaper correspondents who had +gathered at Springfield, though alert for every item of news, and +especially anxious for a sight of his inaugural address, seeing +him every day as usual, got not the slightest hint of what he was +doing. + +Mr. Lincoln started on his journey to Washington on February 11, +1861 two days after Jefferson Davis had been elected President of +the Confederate States of America. He went on a special train, +accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln and their three children, his two +private secretaries, and about a dozen personal friends. Mr. +Seward had suggested that because of the unsettled condition of +public affairs it would be better for the President-elect to come +a week earlier; but Mr. Lincoln allowed himself only time +comfortably to fill the engagements he had made to visit the +State capitals and principal cities that lay on his way, to which +he had been invited by State and town officials, regardless of +party. The morning on which he left Springfield was dismal and +stormy, but fully a thousand of his friends and neighbors +assembled to bid him farewell. The weather seemed to add to the +gloom and depression of their spirits, and the leave-taking was +one of subdued anxiety, almost of solemnity. Mr. Lincoln took his +stand in the waiting-room while his friends filed past him, often +merely pressing his hand in silent emotion. The arrival of the +rushing train broke in upon this ceremony, and the crowd closed +about the car into which the President-elect and his party made +their way. Just as they were starting, when the conductor had his +hand upon the bell-rope, Mr. Lincoln stepped out upon the front +platform and made the following brief and pathetic address. It +was the last time his voice was to be heard in the city which had +so long been his home: + +"My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling +of sadness at this parting. To this place and the kindness of +these people I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a +century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my +children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not +knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me +greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the +assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot +succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who +can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, +let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care +commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I +bid you an affectionate farewell." + +The conductor gave the signal, the train rolled slowly out of the +station, and the journey to Washington was begun. It was a +remarkable progress. At almost every station, even the smallest, +crowds had gathered to catch a glimpse of the face of the +President-elect, or at least to see the flying train. At the +larger stopping-places these crowds swelled to thousands, and in +the great cities to almost unmanageable throngs. Everywhere there +were calls for Mr. Lincoln, and if he showed himself; for a +speech. Whenever there was time, he would go to the rear platform +of the car and bow as the train moved away, or utter a few words +of thanks and greeting. At the capitals of Indiana, Ohio, New +York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and in the cities of +Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia, halts +of one or two days were made, the time being filled with formal +visits and addresses to each house of the legislature, street +processions, large evening receptions, and other ceremonies. + +Party foes as well as party friends made up these expectant +crowds. Every eye was eager, every ear strained, to get some hint +of the thoughts and purposes of the man who was to be the guide +and head of the nation in the crisis that every one now knew to +be upon the country, but the course and end of which the wisest +could not foresee. In spite of all the cheers and the enthusiasm, +there was also an under-current of anxiety for his personal +safety, for the South had openly boasted that Lincoln would never +live to be inaugurated President. He himself paid no heed to such +warnings; but the railroad officials, and others who were +responsible for his journey, had detectives on watch at different +points to report any suspicious happenings. Nothing occurred to +change the program already agreed upon until the party reached +Philadelphia; but there Mr. Lincoln was met by Frederick W. +Seward, the son of his future Secretary of State, with an +important message from his father. A plot had been discovered to +do violence to, and perhaps kill, the President-elect as he +passed through the city of Baltimore. Mr. Seward and General +Scott, the venerable hero of the Mexican War, who was now at the +head of the army, begged him to run no risk, but to alter his +plans so that a portion of his party might pass through Baltimore +by a night train without previous notice. The seriousness of the +warning was doubled by the fact that Mr. Lincoln had just been +told of a similar, if not exactly the same, danger, by a Chicago +detective employed in Baltimore by one of the great railroad +companies. Two such warnings, coming from entirely different +sources, could not be disregarded; for however much Mr. Lincoln +might dislike to change his plans for so shadowy a danger, his +duty to the people who had elected him forbade his running any +unnecessary risk. Accordingly, after fulfilling all his +engagements in Philadelphia and Harrisburg on February 22, he and +a single companion took a night train, passed quietly through +Baltimore, and arrived in Washington about daylight on the +morning of February 23. This action called forth much talk, +ranging from the highest praise to ridicule and blame. A reckless +newspaper reporter telegraphed all over the country the absurd +story that he had traveled disguised in a Scotch cap and a long +military cloak. There was, of course, not a word of truth in the +absurd tale. The rest of the party followed Mr. Lincoln at the +time originally planned. They saw great crowds in the streets of +Baltimore, but there was now no occasion for violence. + +In the week that passed between his arrival and the day of his +inauguration Mr. Lincoln exchanged the customary visits of +ceremony with President Buchanan, his cabinet, the Supreme Court, +the two houses of Congress, and other dignitaries. + +Careful preparations for the inauguration had been made under the +personal direction of General Scott, who held the small military +force in the city ready instantly to suppress any attempt to +disturb the peace and quiet of the day. + +On the morning of the fourth of March President Buchanan and +Citizen Lincoln, the outgoing and incoming heads of the +government, rode side by side in a carriage from the Executive +Mansion, or White House, as it is more commonly called, to the +Capitol, escorted by an imposing procession; and at noon a great +throng of people heard Mr. Lincoln read his inaugural address as +he stood on the east portico of the Capitol, surrounded by all +the high officials of the government. Senator Douglas, his +unsuccessful rival, standing not an arm's length away from him, +courteously held his hat during the ceremony. A cheer greeted him +as he finished his address. Then the Chief Justice arose, the +clerk opened his Bible, and Mr. Lincoln, laying his hand upon the +book, pronounced the oath: + +"I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully +execute the office of President of the United States, and will, +to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the +Constitution of the United States." + +Amid the thundering of cannon and the applause of all the +spectators, President Lincoln and Citizen Buchanan again entered +their carriage and drove back from the Capitol to the Executive +Mansion, on the threshold of which Mr. Buchanan, warmly shaking +the hand of his successor, expressed his wishes for the personal +happiness of the new President, and for the national peace and +prosperity. + + + +VII. LINCOLN AND THE WAR + +It is one thing to be elected President of the United States,-- +that means triumph, honor, power: it is quite another thing to +perform the duties of President,--for that means labor, +disappointment, difficulty, even danger. Many a man envied +Abraham Lincoln when, in the stately pomp of inauguration and +with the plaudits of the spectators ringing about him, he took +the oath of office which for four years transforms an American +citizen into the ruler of these United States. Such envy would +have been changed to deepest sympathy if they could have known +what lay before him. After the music and cannon were dumb, after +the flags were all furled and the cheering crowds had vanished, +the shadows of war fell about the Executive Mansion, and its new +occupant remained face to face with his heavy task--a task which, +as he had truly said in his speech at Springfield, was greater +than that which rested upon Washington. + +Then, as never before, he must have realized the peril of the +nation, with its credit gone, its laws defied, its flag insulted. +The South had carried out its threat, and seven million Americans +were in revolt against the idea that "all men are created equal," +while twenty million other Americans were bent upon defending +that idea. For the moment both sides had paused to see how the +new President would treat this attempt at secession. It must be +constantly borne in mind that the rebellion in the Southern +States with which Mr. Lincoln had to deal was not a sudden +revolution, but a conspiracy of slow growth and long planning. As +one of its actors frankly admitted, it was "not an event of a +day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election. . . . +It is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years." +Its main object, it must also be remembered, was the spread of +slavery. Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech made shortly after he +became the Confederate Vice-President, openly proclaimed slavery +to be the "corner-stone" of the new government. For years it had +been the dream of southern leaders to make the Ohio River the +northern boundary of a great slave empire, with everything lying +to the south of that, even the countries of South and Central +America, as parts of their system. Though this dream was never to +be realized, the Confederacy finally came to number eleven States +(Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, +Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia), and +to cover a territory of more than 750,000 square miles--larger +than England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and +Switzerland put together, with a coast line 3,500 miles long, and +a land frontier of over 7,000 miles. + +President Buchanan's timidity and want of spirit had alone made +this great rebellion possible, for although it had been +"gathering head for thirty years" it was only within the last few +months that it had come to acts of open treason and rebellion. +President Buchanan had opportunity and ample power to crush it +when the conspirators first began to show their hands. Instead he +wavered, and delayed, while they grew bold under his lack of +decision, imagining that they would have a bloodless victory, and +even boasting that they would take Washington for their capital; +or, if the new President should thwart them and make them fight, +that they would capture Philadelphia and dictate the peace they +wanted from Independence Hall. + +By the time Mr. Lincoln came into office the conspiracy had grown +beyond control by any means then in the hands of a President, +though men on both sides still vainly hoped that the troubles of +the country might be settled without fighting. Mr. Lincoln +especially wished to make very sure that if it ever came to a +matter of war, the fault should not lie with the North. + +In his inaugural address he had told the South that he would use +the power confided to him to hold and occupy the places belonging +to the Government, and to collect the taxes; but beyond what +might be necessary for these objects, he would not use force +among the people anywhere. His peaceful policy was already harder +to follow than he realized. Before he had been President +twenty-four hours word came from Major Anderson, still defying +the conspirators from Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, that his +little garrison was short of food, and must speedily surrender +unless help reached them. The rebels had for weeks been building +batteries to attack the fort, and with Anderson's report came the +written opinions of his officers that it would require an army of +20,000 men to relieve it. They might as well have asked for +twenty thousand archangels, for at that time the entire army of +the United States numbered but 17,113 men, and these were doing +duty, not only in the Southern and Eastern States, but were +protecting settlers from Indians on the great western frontier, +and guarding the long Canadian and Mexican boundaries as well. +Yet Anderson and his men could not be left to their fate without +even an attempt to help them, though some of the high military +and naval officers hastily called into council by the new +President advised this course. It was finally decided to notify +the Confederates that a ship carrying food, but no soldiers, +would be sent to his relief. If they chose to fire upon that it +would be plainly the South, and not the North, that began the +war. + +Days went on, and by the middle of April the Confederate +government found itself forced to a fatal choice. Either it must +begin war, or allow the rebellion to collapse. All its claims to +independence were denied; the commissioner it sent to Washington +on the pretense that they were agents of a foreign country were +politely refused a hearing, yet not one angry word, or provoking +threat, or a single harmful act had come from the "Black +Republican" President. In his inaugural he had promised the +people of the South peace and protection, and offered them the +benefit of the mails. Even now, all he proposed to do was to send +bread to Anderson and his hungry soldiers. His prudent policy +placed them where, as he had told them, they could have no war +unless they themselves chose to begin it. + +They did choose to begin it. The rebellion was the work of +ambitious men, who had no mind to stop at that late day and see +their labor go for nothing. The officer in charge of their +batteries was ordered to open fire on Fort Sumter if Anderson +refused to surrender; and in the dim light of dawn on April 12, +1861, just as the outline of Fort Sumter began to show itself +against a brightening sky, the shot that opened the Civil War +rose from a rebel battery and made its slow and graceful curve +upon Sumter. Soon all the batteries were in action, and the fort +was replying with a will. Anderson held out for a day and a half, +until his cartridges were all used up, his flagstaff had been +shot away, and the wooden buildings inside the fort were on fire. +Then, as the ships with supplies had not yet arrived, and he had +neither food nor ammunition, he was forced to surrender. + +The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter changed the mood of the +country as if by magic. By deliberate act of the Confederate +government its attempt at peaceable secession had been changed to +active war. The Confederates gained Fort Sumter, but in doing so +they roused the patriotism of the North to a firm resolve that +this insult to the flag should be redressed, and that the +unrighteous experiment of a rival government founded upon slavery +as its "cornerstone," should never succeed. In one of his +speeches on the journey to Washington Mr. Lincoln had said that +devoted as he was to peace, it might become necessary to "put the +foot down firmly." That time had now come. On April 15, the day +after the fall of Fort Sumter, all the newspapers of the country +printed the President's call to arms, ordering out 75,000 militia +for three months, and directing Congress to meet in special +session on July 4, 1861. The North rallied instantly to the +support of the Government, and offered him twice the number of +soldiers he asked for. + +Nothing more clearly shows the difference between President +Lincoln and President Buchanan than the way in which the two men +met the acts of the Southern Rebellion. President Buchanan +temporized and delayed when he had plenty of power. President +Lincoln, without a moment's hesitation accepted the great and +unusual responsibility thrust upon him, and at once issued orders +for buying ships, moving troops, advancing money to Committees of +Safety, and for other military and naval measures for which at +the moment he had no express authority from Congress. As soon as +Congress came together on July 4, he sent a message explaining +his action, saying: "It became necessary for me to choose +whether, using only the existing means . . . . which Congress had +provided, I should let the Government fall at once into ruin, or +whether availing myself of the broader powers conferred by the +Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to +save it with all its blessings for the present age and for +posterity." Congress, it is needless to say, not only approved +all that he had done, but gave him practically unlimited powers +for dealing with the rebellion in future. + +It soon became evident that no matter how ready and willing to +fight for their country the 75,000 volunteers might be, they +could not hope to put down the rebellion, because the time for +which they had enlisted would be almost over before they could +receive the training necessary to change them from valiant +citizens into good soldiers. Another call was therefore issued, +this time for men to serve three years or during the war, and +also for a large number of sailors to man the new ships that the +Government was straining every nerve to buy, build and otherwise +make ready. + +More important, however, than soldiers trained or untrained, was +the united will of the people of the North; and most important of +all the steadfast and courageous soul of the man called to direct +the struggle. Abraham Lincoln, the poor frontier boy, the +struggling young lawyer, the Illinois politician, whom many, even +among the Republicans who voted to elect him President, thought +scarcely fit to hold a much smaller office, proved beyond +question the man for the task gifted above all his associates +with wisdom and strength to meet the great emergencies as they +arose during the four years' war that had already begun. + +Since this is the story of Mr. Lincoln's life, and not of the +Civil War, we cannot attempt to follow the history of the long +contest as it unfolded itself day by day and month by month, or +even to stop to recount a list of the great battles that drenched +the land in blood. It was a mighty struggle, fought by men of the +same race and kindred, often by brother against brother. Each +fought for what he felt to be right; and their common inheritance +of courage and iron will, of endurance and splendid bravery and +stubborn pluck, made this battle of brothers the more bitter as +it was the more prolonged. It ranged over an immense extent of +country; but because Washington was the capital of the Union, and +Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, and the +desire of each side was to capture the chief city of the other, +the principal fighting ground, during the whole war, lay between +these two towns, with the Alleghany Mountains on the west, and +Chesapeake Bay on the east. Between the Alleghanies and the +Mississippi River another field of warfare developed itself, on +which some of the hardest battles were fought, and the greatest +victories won. Beyond the Mississippi again stretched another +great field, bounded only by the Rocky Mountains and the Rio +Grande. But the principal fighting in this field was near or even +on the Mississippi, in the efforts made by both Unionists and +Confederates to keep and hold the great highway of the river, so +necessary for trade in time of peace, and for moving armies in +time of war. + +On this immense battle-ground was fought one of the most costly +wars of modern times, with soldiers numbering a million men on +each side; in which, counting battles and skirmishes small and +great, an average of two engagements a day were fought for four +long years, two millions of money were used up every twenty-four +hours, and during which the unholy prize of slavery, for which +the Confederate States did battle, was completely swept away. + +Though the tide of battle ebbed and flowed, defeat and victory +may be said to have been nearly evenly divided. Generally +speaking, success was more often on the side of the South during +the first half of the war; with the North, during the latter +half. The armies were equally brave; the North had the greater +territory from which to draw supplies; and the end came, not when +one side had beaten the other, man for man, but when the South +had been drained of fighting men and food and guns, and slavery +had perished in the stress of war. + +Fortunately for all, nobody at the beginning dreamed of the +length of the struggle. Even Lincoln's stout heart would have +been dismayed if he could have foreseen all that lay before him. +The task that he could see was hard and perplexing enough. +Everything in Washington was in confusion. No President ever had +such an increase of official work as Lincoln during the early +months of his administration. The halls and ante-rooms of the +Executive Mansion were literally crowded with people seeking +appointment to office; and the new appointments that were +absolutely necessary were not half finished when the firing on +Fort Sumter began active war. This added to the difficulty of +sifting the loyal from the disloyal, and the yet more pressing +labor of organizing an immense new army. + +Hundreds of clerks employed in the Government Departments left +their desks and hurried South, crippling the service just at the +time when the sudden increase of work made their presence doubly +needed. A large proportion of the officers of the Army and Navy, +perhaps as many as one-third, gave their skill and services to +the Confederacy, feeling that their allegiance was due to their +State or section rather than to the general government. Prominent +among these was Robert E. Lee, who had been made a colonel by +Lincoln, and whom General Scott had recommended as the most +promising officer to command the new force of 75,000 men called +out by the President's proclamation. He chose instead to resign +and cast his fortunes with the South, where he became the head of +all the Confederate armies. The loss to the Union and gain to the +Confederate cause by his action is hard to measure, since in him +the Southern armies found a commander whose surpassing courage +and skill inspired its soldiers long after all hope of success +was gone. Cases such as this gave the President more anxiety than +all else. It seemed impossible to know whom to trust. An officer +might come to him in the morning protesting devotion to the +Union, and by night be gone to the South. Mr. Lincoln used to say +at this time that he felt like a man letting rooms at one end of +his house while the other end was on fire. + +The situation grew steadily worse. Maryland refused to allow +United States soldiers to cross her territory, and the first +attempt to bring troops through Baltimore from the North ended in +a bloody riot, and the burning of railroad bridges to prevent +help from reaching Washington. For three days Washington was +entirely cut off from the North, either by telegraph or mail. +General Scott hastily prepared the city for a siege, taking +possession of all the large supplies of flour and provisions in +town, and causing the Capitol and other public buildings to be +barricaded. Though President Lincoln did not doubt the final +arrival of help, he, like everyone else, was very anxious, and +found it hard to understand the long delay. He knew that troops +had started from the North. Why did they not arrive? They might +not be able to go through Baltimore, but they could certainly go +around it. The distance was not great. What if twenty miles of +railroad had been destroyed, were the soldiers unable to march? +Always calm and self-controlled, he gave no sign in the presence +of others of the anxiety that weighed so heavily upon him. Very +likely the visitors who saw him during those days thought that he +hardly realized the plight of the city; yet an inmate of the +White House, passing through the President's office when the +day's work was done and he imagined himself alone, saw him pause +in his absorbed walk up and down the floor, and gaze long out of +the window in the direction from which the troops were expected +to appear. Then, unconscious of any hearer, and as if the words +were wrung from him by anguish, he exclaimed, "Why don't they +come, why don't they come + +The New York Seventh Regiment was the first to "come." By a +roundabout route it reached Washington on the morning of April +25, and, weary and travel-worn, but with banners flying and music +playing, marched up Pennsylvania Avenue to the big white +Executive Mansion, bringing cheer to the President and renewed +courage to those timid citizens whose fright during this time had +almost paralyzed the life of the town. Taking renewed courage +they once more opened their houses and the shops that had been +closed since the beginning of the blockade, and business began +anew. + +The greater part of the three months' regiments had been ordered +to Washington, and the outskirts of the capital soon became a +busy military camp. The great Departments of the Government, +especially of War and Navy, could not immediately handle the +details of all this sudden increase of work. Men were +volunteering rapidly enough, but there was sore need of rations +to feed them, money to pay them, tents to shelter them, uniforms +to clothe them, rifles to arm them, officers to drill them, and +of transportation to carry them to the camps of instruction where +they must receive their training and await further orders. In +this carnival of patriotism and hurly-burly of organization the +weaknesses as well as the virtues of human nature quickly showed +themselves; and, as if the new President had not already enough +to distress and harass his mind, almost every case of confusion +and delay was brought to him for complaint and correction. On him +also fell the delicate and serious task of deciding hundreds of +novel questions as to what he and his cabinet ministers had and +had not the right to do under the Constitution. + +The month of May slipped away in all these preparatory vexations; +but the great machine of war, once started, moved on as it always +does, from arming to massing of troops, and from that to skirmish +and battle. In June small fights began to occur between the Union +and Confederate armies. The first large battle of the war took +place at Bull Run, about thirty-two miles southwest of +Washington, on July 21, 1861. It ended in a victory for the +Confederates, though their army was so badly crippled by. its +losses that it made no further forward movement during the whole +of the next autumn and winter. + +The shock of this defeat was deep and painful to the people of +the North, not yet schooled to patience, or to the uncertainties +of war. For weeks the newspapers, confident of success, had been +clamoring for action, and the cry, "Forward to Richmond," had +been heard on every hand. At first the people would not believe +the story of a defeat; but it was only too true. By night the +beaten Union troops were pouring into the fortifications around +Washington, and the next day a horde of stragglers found their +way across the bridges of the Potomac into the city. + +President Lincoln received the news quietly, as was his habit, +without any visible sign of distress or alarm, but he remained +awake and in his office all that Sunday night, listening to the +excited tales of congressmen and senators who, with undue +curiosity, had followed the army and witnessed some of the sights +and sounds of battle; and by dawn on Monday he had practically +made up his mind as to the probable result and what he must do in +consequence. + +The loss of the battle of Bull Run was a bitter disappointment to +him. He saw that the North was not to have the easy victory it +anticipated; and to him personally it brought a great and added +care that never left him during the war. Up to that time the +North had stood by him as one man in its eager resolve to put +down the rebellion. From this time on, though quite as +determined, there was division and disagreement among the people +as to how this could best be done. Parties formed themselves for +or against this or that general, or in favor of this or that +method and no other of carrying on the war. In other words, the +President and his "administration"--the cabinet and other +officers under him--became, from this time on, the target of +criticism for all the failures of the Union armies, and for all +the accidents and mistakes and unforeseen delays of war. The +self-control that Mr. Lincoln had learned in the hard school of +his boyhood, and practised during all the long struggle of his +young manhood, had been severe and bitter training, but nothing +else could have prepared him for the great disappointments and +trials of the crowning years of his life. He had learned to +endure patiently, to reason calmly, never to be unduly sure of +his own opinion; but, having taken counsel of the best advice at +his command, to continue in the path that he felt to be right, +regardless of criticism or unjust abuse. He had daily and hourly +to do all this. He was strong and courageous, with a steadfast +belief that the right would triumph in the end; but his nature +was at the same time sensitive and tender, and the sorrows and +pain of others hurt him more than did his own. + + + +VIII. UNSUCCESSFUL GENERALS + +So far Mr. Lincoln's new duties as President had not placed him +at any disadvantage with the members of his cabinet. On the old +question of slavery he was as well informed and had clearer ideas +than they. On the new military questions that had come up since +the inauguration, they, like himself, had to rely on the advice +of experienced officers of the army and navy; and since these +differed greatly, Mr. Lincoln's powerful mind was as able to +reach true conclusions as were men who had been governors and +senators. Yet the idea lingered that because he had never before +held high office, and because a large part of his life had been +passed in the rude surroundings of the frontier, he must of +necessity be lacking in power to govern--be weaker in will, +without tact or culture--must in every way be less fitted to cope +with the difficult problems so rapidly coming upon the +administration. + +At the beginning even Secretary Seward shared this view. Mr. +Lincoln must have been surprised indeed, when, on the first day +of April, exactly four weeks after his inauguration, his +Secretary of State, the man he justly looked upon as the chief +member of his cabinet, handed him a paper on which were written +"Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration." It was most +grave and dignified in language, but in substance bluntly told +Mr. Lincoln that after a month's trial the Administration was +without a policy, domestic or foreign, and that this must be +remedied at once. It advised shifting the issue at home from +slavery to the question of Union or disunion; and counseled the +adoption of an attitude toward Europe which could not have failed +to rouse the anger of the principal foreign nations. It added +that the President or some member of his cabinet must make it his +constant duty to pursue and direct whatever policy should be +adopted, and hinted very plainly that although he, Mr. Seward, +did not seek such responsibility, he was willing to assume it. +The interest of this remarkable paper for us lies in the way Mr. +Lincoln treated it, and the measure that treatment gives us of +his generosity and self-control. An envious or a resentful man +could not have wished a better opportunity to put a rival under +his feet; but though Mr. Lincoln doubtless thought the incident +very strange, it did not for a moment disturb his serenity or his +kindly judgment. He answered in a few quiet sentences that showed +no trace of passion or even of excitement; and on the central +suggestion that some one person must direct the affairs of the +government, replied with dignity "if this must be done, I must do +it," adding that on affairs of importance he desired and supposed +he had a right to have the advice of all the members of his +cabinet. This reply ended the matter, and as far as is known, +neither of them ever mentioned the subject again. Mr. Lincoln put +the papers away in an envelope, and no word of the affair came to +the public until years after both men were dead. In one mind at +least there was no longer a doubt that the cabinet had a master. +Mr. Seward recognized the President's kindly forbearance, and +repaid it by devotion and personal friendship until the day of +his tragic death. + +If, after this experience, the Secretary of State needed any +further proof of Mr. Lincoln's ability to rule, it soon came to +him, for during the first months of the war matters abroad +claimed the attention of the cabinet, and with these also the +untried western man showed himself better fitted to deal than his +more experienced advisers. Many of the countries of Europe, +especially France and England, wished the South to succeed. +France because of plans that Emperor Napoleon III had for +founding French colonies on American soil, and England because +such success would give her free cotton for her mills and +factories. England became so friendly toward the rebels that Mr. +Seward, much irritated, wrote a despatch on May 21, 1861, to +Charles Francis Adams, the American Minister at London, which, if +it had been sent as he wrote it, would almost certainly have +brought on war between the two countries. It set forth justly and +with courage what the United States government would and would +not endure from foreign powers during the war with the South, but +it had been penned in a heat of indignation, and was so blunt and +exasperating as to suggest intentional disrespect. When Mr. +Seward read it to the President the latter at once saw this, and +taking it from his Secretary of State kept it by him for further +consideration. A second reading showed him that his first +impression was correct. Thereupon the frontier lawyer, taking his +pen, went carefully over the whole dispatch, and by his +corrections so changed the work of the trained and experienced +statesman as entirely to remove its offensive tone, without in +the least altering its force or courage. + +Once again during 1861 the country was in serious danger of war +with England, and the action of President Lincoln at this time +proved not only that he had the will to be just, even when his +own people were against him, but had the skill to gain real +advantage from what seemed very like defeat. One of the earliest +and most serious tasks of the Government had been to blockade the +southern ports, in order to prevent supplies from foreign +countries reaching the southern people, especially the southern +armies. Considering the great length of coast to be patrolled, +and the small size of the navy at the commencement of the +struggle, this was done with wonderful quickness, and proved in +the main effective, though occasionally a rebel boat managed to +slip in or out without being discovered and fired upon by the +ships on guard. + +In November Captain Charles Wilkes learned that Ex-Senators J. M. +Mason and John Slidell, two prominent Confederates bound on an +important mission to Europe, had succeeded in reaching Cuba, and +from there had taken passage for England on the British mail +steamer Trent. He stopped the Trent and took Mason and Slidell +prisoners, afterward allowing the steamer to proceed on her way. +The affair caused intense excitement both in England and in the +United States, and England began instant preparations for war. +Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington, was instructed to +demand the release of the prisoners and a suitable apology within +one week, and if this were refused, to close his legation and +come home. It was fortunate that Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were +close personal friends, and could, in spite of the excitement of +both countries, discuss the matter calmly and without anger. +Their conferences were brought to an end by Mr. Lincoln's +decision to give up the prisoners. In the North their capture had +been greeted with extravagant joy. Newspapers rang with praises +of Captain Wilkes; his act was officially approved by the +Secretary of the Navy, and the House of Representatives passed a +resolution thanking him for his "brave, adroit, and patriotic +conduct." In the face of all this it must have been hard indeed +for Mr. Lincoln to order that Mason and Slidell be given up; but +though he shared the first impulse of rejoicing, he soon became +convinced that this must be done. War with England must certainly +be avoided; and Captain Wilkes, by allowing the Trent to proceed +on her voyage, instead of bringing her into port with the +prisoners, had put it out of the power of his Government to +prove, under international law, that the capture was justified. +Besides all else, the President's quick mind saw, what others +failed to note, that by giving up the prisoners as England +demanded, the United States would really gain an important +diplomatic victory. For many years England had claimed the right +to stop and search vessels at sea when she had reason to believe +they carried men or goods hostile to her interests. The United +States denied the right, and yet this was exactly what Captain +Wilkes had done in stopping the Trent. By giving up the prisoners +the United States would thus force England to admit that her own +claim had been unjust, and bind her in future to respect the +rights of other ships at sea. Excited American feeling was +grievously disappointed, and harsh criticism of the +Administration for thus yielding to a foreign country was not +wanting; but American good sense soon saw the justice of the +point taken and the wisdom of Mr. Lincoln's course. + +"He that is slow to anger," says the proverb, "is better than the +mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a +city." Great as was his self-control in other matters, nowhere +did Mr. Lincoln's slowness to anger and nobility of spirit show +itself more than in his dealings with the generals of the Civil +War. He had been elected President. Congress had given him power +far exceeding that which any President had ever exercised before. +As President he was also Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy +of the United States. By proclamation he could call forth great +armies and he could order those armies to go wherever he chose to +send them; but even he had no power to make generals with the +genius and the training necessary to lead them instantly to +success. He had to work with the materials at hand, and one by +one he tried the men who seemed best fitted for the task, giving +each his fullest trust and every aid in his power. They were as +eager for victory and as earnest of purpose as himself, but in +every case some misfortune or some fault marred the result, until +the country grew weary with waiting; discouragement overshadowed +hope, and misgiving almost engulfed his own strong soul. Then, at +last, the right men were found, the battles were all fought, and +the war was at an end. + +His kindness and patience in dealing with the generals who did +not succeed is the wonder of all who study the history of the +Civil War. The letters he wrote to them show better than whole +volumes of description could do the helpful and forbearing spirit +in which he sought to aid them. First among these unsuccessful +generals was George B. McClellan, who had been called to +Washington after the battle of Bull Run and placed in charge of +the great new army of three years' volunteers that was pouring so +rapidly into the city. McClellan proved a wonderful organizer. +Under his skilful direction the raw recruits went to their camps +of instruction, fell without confusion or delay into brigades and +divisions, were supplied with equipments, horses and batteries, +and put through a routine of drill, tactics and reviews that soon +made this Army of the Potomac, as it was called, one of the best +prepared armies the world has ever seen--a perfect fighting +machine of over 150,000 men and more than 200 guns. General +McClellan excelled in getting soldiers ready to fight, but he did +not succeed in leading them to fruitful victory. At first the +administration had great hopes of him as a commander. He was +young, enthusiastic, winning, and on arriving in Washington +seemed amazed and deeply touched by the confidence reposed in +him. "I find myself," he wrote to his wife, "in a new and strange +position here, President, cabinet, General Scott, and all, +deferring to me. By some strange operation of magic I seem to +have become the power of the land." His rise in military rank had +equaled the inventions of fairy tales. He had been only a captain +during the Mexican war. Then he resigned. Two months after +volunteering for the Civil War he found himself a Major General +in the Regular Army. For a short time his zeal and activity +seemed to justify this amazing good fortune. In a fortnight +however he began to look upon himself as the principal savior of +his country. He entered upon a quarrel with General Scott which +soon drove that old hero into retirement and out of his pathway. +He looked upon the cabinet as a set of "geese," and seeing that +the President was kind and unassuming in discussing military +affairs, he formed the habit of expressing contempt for him in +letters to confidential friends. This feeling grew until it soon +reached a mark of open disrespect, but the President's conduct +toward him did not change. Mr. Lincoln's nature was too +forgiving, and the responsibility that lay upon him was too heavy +for personal resentment. For fifteen months he strove to make +McClellan succeed even in spite of himself. He gave him help, +encouragement, the most timely suggestions. He answered his +ever-increasing complaints with unfailing self-control. It was +not that he did not see McClellan's faults. He saw them, and felt +them keenly. "If Gen. McClellan does not want to use the army, I +would like to borrow it," he said one day, stung by the General's +inactivity into a sarcasm he seldom allowed himself to use. But +his patience was not exhausted. McClellan had always more +soldiers than the enemy, at Antietam nearly double his numbers, +yet his constant cry was for re-enforcements. Regiments were sent +him that could ill be spared from other points. Even when his +fault-finding reached the height of telegraphing to the Secretary +of War, "If I save this army now I tell you plainly that I owe no +thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have +done your best to sacrifice this army," the President answered +him kindly and gently, without a sign of resentment, anxious only +to do everything in his power to help on the cause of the war. It +was of no avail. Even the great luck of finding a copy of General +Lee's orders and knowing exactly what his enemy meant to do, at a +time when the Confederate general had only about half as many +troops as he had, and these were divided besides, did not help +him to success. All he could do even then was to fight the drawn +battle of Antietam, and allow Lee to get away safely across the +Potomac River into Virginia. After this the President's +long-suffering patience was at an end, but he did not remove +McClellan until he had visited the Army of the Potomac in person. +What he saw on that visit assured him that it could never succeed +under such a general. "Do you know what that is ?" he asked a +friend, waving his arm towards the white tents of the great army. +"It is the Army of the Potomac, I suppose," was the wondering +answer. "So it is called," replied the President, in a tone of +suppressed indignation. "But that is a mistake. It is only +McClellan's bodyguard." On November 5, 1862, McClellan was +relieved from command, and this ended his military career. + +There were others almost equally trying. There was General +Fremont, who had been the Republican candidate for President in +1856. At the beginning of the war he was given a command at St. +Louis and charged with the important duty of organizing the +military strength of the northwest, holding the State of Missouri +true to the Union, and leading an expedition down the Mississippi +River. Instead of accomplishing all that had been hoped for, his +pride of opinion and unwillingness to accept help or take advice +from those about him, caused serious embarrassment and made +unending trouble. The President's kindness and gentleness in +dealing with his faults were as marked as they were useless. + +There was the long line of commanders who one after the other +tried and failed in the tasks allotted to them, while the country +waited and lost courage, and even Mr. Lincoln's heart sank. His +care and wisdom and sorrow dominated the whole long persistent +struggle. That first sleepless night of his after the battle of +Bull Run was but the beginning of many nights and days through +which he kept unceasing watch. From the time in June, 1861, when +he had been called upon to preside over the council of war that +decided upon the Bull Run campaign, he devoted every spare moment +to the study of such books upon the art of war as would aid him +in solving the questions that he must face as Commander-in-Chief +of the armies. With his quick mind and unusual power of logic he +made rapid progress in learning the fixed and accepted rules on +which all military writers agree. His mastery of the difficult +science became so thorough, and his understanding of military +situations so clear, that he has been called, by persons well +fitted to judge, "the ablest strategist of the war." Yet he never +thrust his knowledge upon his generals. He recognized that it was +their duty, not his, to fight the battles, and since this was so, +they ought to be allowed to fight them in their own way. He +followed their movements with keenest interest and with a most +astonishing amount of knowledge, giving a hint here, and a +suggestion there, when he felt that he properly could, but he +rarely gave a positive order. + +There is not space to quote the many letters in which he showed +his military wisdom, or his kindly interest in the welfare and +success of the different generals. One of the most remarkable +must however be quoted. It is the letter he wrote to General +Joseph Hooker on placing him in command of the Army of the +Potomac in January, 1863, after McClellan's many failures had +been followed by the crushing defeat of the army under General +McClellan's successor, General Burnside, at the battle of +Fredericksburg, on December 13, 1862. + +"I have placed you," he wrote on giving General Hooker the +command, "at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I +have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons, +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 skilful 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 General Burnside's +command of the army you have taken council 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 a 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 its 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 criticising 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." + +Perhaps no other piece of his writing shows as this does how +completely the genius of the President rose to the full height of +his duties and responsibilities. From beginning to end it speaks +the language and breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure +in popular confidence and in official authority. + +Though so many of the great battles during the first half of the +war were won by the Confederates, military successes came to the +North of course from time to time. With such fine armies and such +earnest generals the tide of battle could not be all one way; and +even when the generals made mistakes, the heroic fighting and +endurance of the soldiers and under-officers gathered honor out +of defeat, and shed the luster of renown over results of barren +failure. But it was a weary time, and the outlook was very dark. +The President never despaired. On the most dismal day of the +whole dismal summer of 1862 he sent Secretary Seward to New York +with a confidential letter full of courage, to be shown such of +the governors of free States as could be hastily summoned to meet +him there. In it he said: "I expect to maintain this contest +until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term +expires, or Congress or the country forsake me," and he asked for +100,000 fresh volunteers with which to carry on the war. His +confidence was not misplaced. The governors of eighteen free +States offered him three times the number, and still other calls +for troops followed. Soon a popular song, "We are coming, Father +Abraham, three hundred thousand strong," showed the faith and +trust of the people in the man at the head of the Government, and +how cheerfully they met the great calls upon their patriotism. + +So, week after week and month after month, he faced the future, +never betraying a fear that the Union would not triumph in the +end, but grieving sorely at the long delay. Many who were not so +sure came to him with their troubles. He was beset by night and +by day by people who had advice to give or complaints to make. +They besought him to dismiss this or that General, to order such +and such a military movement; to do a hundred things that he, in +his great wisdom, felt were not right, or for which the time had +not yet come. Above all, he was implored to take some decided and +far-reaching action upon slavery. + + + +IX. FREEDOM FOR THE SLAVES + +By no means the least of the evils of slavery was a dread which +had haunted every southern household from the beginning of the +government that the slaves might one day rise in revolt and take +sudden vengeance upon their masters. This vague terror was +greatly increased by the outbreak of the Civil War. It stands to +the lasting credit of the negro race that the wrongs of their +long bondage provoked them to no such crime, and that the war +seems not to have suggested, much less started any such attempt. +Indeed, even when urged to violence by white leaders, as the +slaves of Maryland had been in 1859 during John Browns s raid at +Harper's Ferry, they had refused to respond. Nevertheless it was +plain from the first that slavery was to play an important part +in the Civil War. Not only were the people of the South battling +for the principle of slavery; their slaves were a great source of +military strength. They were used by the Confederates in building +forts, hauling supplies, and in a hundred ways that added to the +effectiveness of their armies in the field. On the other hand the +very first result of the war was to give adventurous or +discontented slaves a chance to escape into Union camps, where, +even against orders to the contrary, they found protection for +the sake of the help they could give as cooks, servants, or +teamsters, the information they brought about the movements of +the enemy, or the great service they were able to render as +guides. Practically therefore, at the very start, the war created +a bond of mutual sympathy between the southern negro and the +Union volunteer; and as fast as Union troops advanced and +secession masters fled, a certain number found freedom in Union +camps. + +At some points this became a positive embarrassment to Union +commanders. A few days after General Butler took command of the +Union troops at Fortress Monroe in May, 1861, the agent of a +rebel master came to insist on the return of three slaves, +demanding them under the fugitive-slave law. Butler replied that +since their master claimed Virginia to be a foreign country and +no longer a part of the United States, he could not at the same +time claim that the fugitive slave law was in force, and that his +slaves would not be given up unless he returned and took the oath +of allegiance to the United States. In reporting this, a +newspaper pointed out that as the breastworks and batteries which +had risen so rapidly for Confederate defense were built by slave +labor, negroes were undoubtedly "contraband of war," like powder +and shot, and other military supplies, and should no more be +given back to the rebels than so many cannon or guns. The idea +was so pertinent, and the justice of it so plain that the name +"contraband" sprang at once into use. But while this happy +explanation had more convincing effect on popular thought than a +volume of discussion, it did not solve the whole question. By the +end of July General Butler had on his hands 900 "contrabands," +men, women and children of all ages, and he wrote to inquire what +was their real condition. Were they slaves or free? Could they be +considered fugitive slaves when their masters had run away and +left them? How should they be disposed of? It was a knotty +problem, and upon its solution might depend the loyalty or +secession of the border slave States of Maryland, West Virginia, +Kentucky and Missouri, which, up to that time, had not decided +whether to remain in the Union or to cast their fortunes with the +South. + +In dealing with this perplexing subject. Mr. Lincoln kept in mind +one of his favorite stories: the one on the Methodist Presiding +Elder who was riding about his circuit during the spring +freshets. A young and anxious companion asked how they should +ever be able to cross the swollen waters of Fox River, which they +were approaching, and the elder quieted him by saying that he +made it the rule of his life never to cross Fox River until he +came to it. The President, following this rule, did not +immediately decide the question, but left it to be treated at the +discretion of each commander. Under this theory some commanders +admitted black people to their camps, while others refused to +receive them. The curt formula of General Orders: "We are neither +negro stealers nor negro catchers," was easily read to justify +either course. Congress greatly advanced the problem, shortly +after the battle of Bull Run, by passing a law which took away a +master's right to his slave, when, with his consent, such slave +was employed in service or labor hostile to the United States. + +On the general question of slavery, the President's mind was +fully made up. He felt that he had no right to interfere with +slavery where slavery was lawful, just because he himself did not +happen to like it; for he had sworn to do all in his power to +"preserve, protect and defend" the government and its laws, and +slavery was lawful in the southern States. When freeing the +slaves should become necessary in order to preserve the +Government, then it would be his duty to free them; until that +time came, it was equally his duty to let them alone. + +Twice during the early part of the war military commanders issued +orders freeing slaves in the districts over which they had +control, and twice he refused to allow these orders to stand. "No +commanding general should do such a thing upon his +responsibility, without consulting him," he said; and he added +that whether he, as Commander-in-Chief, had the power to free +slaves, and whether at any time the use of such power should +become necessary, were questions which he reserved to himself. He +did not feel justified in leaving such decisions to commanders in +the field. He even refused at that time to allow Secretary +Cameron to make a public announcement that the government might +find it necessary to arm slaves and employ them as soldiers. He +would not cross Fox River until he came to it. He would not take +any measure until he felt it to be absolutely necessary. + +Only a few months later he issued his first proclamation of +emancipation; but he did not do so until convinced that he must +do this in order to put down the rebellion. Long ago he had +considered and in his own mind adopted a plan of dealing with the +slavery question--the simple, easy plan which, while a member of +Congress, he had proposed for the District of Columbia--that on +condition of the slave-owners voluntarily giving up their slaves, +they should be paid a fair price for them by the Federal +government. Delaware was a slave State, and seemed an excellent +place in which to try this experiment of "compensated +emancipation," as it was called; for there were, all told, only +1798 slaves left in the State. Without any public announcement of +his purpose he offered to the citizens of Delaware, through their +representative in Congress, four hundred dollars for each of +these slaves, the payment to be made, not all at once, but +yearly, during a period of thirty-one years. He believed that if +Delaware could be induced to accept this offer, Maryland might +follow her example, and that afterward other States would allow +themselves to be led along the same easy way. The Delaware House +of Representatives voted in favor of the proposition, but five of +the nine members of the Delaware senate scornfully repelled the +"abolition bribe," as they chose to call it, and the project +withered in the bud. + +Mr. Lincoln did not stop at this failure, but, on March 6, 1862, +sent a special message to the Senate and House of Representatives +recommending that Congress adopt a joint resolution favoring and +practically offering gradual compensated emancipation to any +State that saw fit to accept it; pointing out at the same time +that the Federal government claimed no right to interfere with +slavery within the States, and that if the offer were accepted it +must be done as a matter of free choice. + +The Republican journals of the North devoted considerable space +to discussing the President's plan, which, in the main, was +favorably received; but it was thought that it must fail on the +score of expense. The President answered this objection in a +private letter to a Senator, proving that less than one-half +day's cost of war would pay for all the slaves in Delaware at +four hundred dollars each, and less than eighty-seven days' cost +of war would pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, the District of +Columbia, Kentucky and Missouri. "Do you doubt," he asked, that +taking such a step "on the part of those States and this District +would shorten the war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be an +actual saving of expense?" + +Both houses of Congress favored the resolution, and also passed a +bill immediately freeing the slaves in the District of Columbia +on the payment to their loyal owners of three hundred dollars for +each slave. This last bill was signed by the President and became +a law on April 16, 1862. So, although he had been unable to bring +it about when a member of Congress thirteen years before, it was +he, after all, who finally swept away that scandal of the "negro +livery-stable" in the shadow of the dome of the Capitol. + +Congress as well as the President was thus pledged to compensated +emancipation, and if any of the border slave States had shown a +willingness to accept the generosity of the government, their +people might have been spared the loss that overtook all +slave-owners on the first of January, 1863. The President twice +called the representatives and senators of these States to the +White House, and urged his plan most eloquently, but nothing came +of it. Meantime, the military situation continued most +discouraging. The advance of the Army of the Potomac upon +Richmond became a retreat; the commanders in the West could not +get control of the Mississippi River; and worst of all, in spite +of their cheering assurance that "We are coming, Father Abraham, +three hundred thousand strong," the people of the country were +saddened and filled with the most gloomy forebodings because of +the President's call for so many new troops. + +"It had got to be midsummer, 1862," Mr. Lincoln said, in telling +an artist friend the history of his most famous official act. +"Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had +reached the end of our rope on the plan of operations we had been +pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change +our tactics or lose the game. I now determined upon the adoption +of the emancipation policy, and without consultation with, or the +knowledge of the cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the +proclamation, and after much anxious thought, called a cabinet +meeting upon the subject. . . . I said to the cabinet that I had +resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask +their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation +before them, suggestions as to which would be in order after they +had heard it read." + +It was on July 22 that the President read to his cabinet the +draft of this first emancipation proclamation, which, after +announcing that at the next meeting of Congress he would again +offer compensated emancipation to such States as chose to accept +it, went on to order as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy +of the United States, that the slaves in all States which should +be in rebellion against the government on January 1, 1863, should +"then, thenceforward and forever be free." + +Mr. Lincoln had given a hint of this intended step to Mr. Seward +and Mr. Welles, but to all the other members of the cabinet it +came as a complete surprise. One thought it would cost the +Republicans the fall elections. Another preferred that +emancipation should be proclaimed by military commanders in their +several military districts. Secretary Seward, while approving the +measure, suggested that it would better be postponed until it +could be given to the country after a victory, instead of issuing +it, as would be the case then, upon the greatest disasters of the +war. "The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me +with very great force," Mr. Lincoln's recital continues. "It was +an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject, I +had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of +the proclamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, +waiting for a victory." + +The secrets of the administration were well kept, and no hint +came to the public that the President had proposed such a measure +to his cabinet. As there was at the moment little in the way of +war news to attract attention, newspapers and private individuals +turned a sharp fire of criticism upon Mr. Lincoln. For this they +seized upon the ever-useful text of the slavery question. Some of +them protested indignantly that the President was going too fast; +others clamored as loudly that he had been altogether too slow. +His decision, as we know, was unalterably taken, although he was +not yet ready to announce it. Therefore, while waiting for a +victory he had to perform the difficult task of restraining the +impatience of both sides. This he did in very positive language. +To a man in Louisiana, who complained that Union feeling was +being crushed out by the army in that State, he wrote: + +"I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian +terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. +Still, I must save this government if possible. What I cannot do, +of course I will not do; but it may as well be understood, once +for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any +available card unplayed." Two days later he answered another +Louisiana critic. "What would you do in my position? Would you +drop the war where it is? Or would you prosecute it in future +with elder-stalk squirts charged with rosewater? Would you deal +lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the +contest leaving any available means unapplied? I am in no +boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all +I can, to save the government, which is my sworn duty, as well as +my personal inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. What I +deal with is too vast for malicious dealing." + +The President could afford to overlook the abuse of hostile +newspapers, but he also had to meet the criticisms of +over-zealous Republicans. The prominent Republican editor, Horace +Greeley, printed in his paper, the "New York Tribune," a long +"Open Letter," ostentatiously addressed to Mr. Lincoln, full of +unjust accusations, his general charge being that the President +and many army officers were neglecting their duty through a +kindly feeling for slavery. The open letter which Mr. Lincoln +wrote in reply is remarkable not alone for the skill with which +he answered this attack, but also for its great dignity. + +"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not +meant to leave anyone in doubt. . . . My paramount object in this +struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to +destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any +slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the +slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and +leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about +slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to +save the Union, and what I forbear I forbear because I do not +believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever +I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do +more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I +shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall +adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I +have here stated my purpose according to my view of official +duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal +wish that all men everywhere could be free." + +He was waiting for victory, but victory was slow to come. Instead +the Union army suffered another defeat at the second battle of +Bull Run on August 30, 1862. After this the pressure upon him to +take some action upon slavery became stronger than ever. On +September 13 he was visited by a company of ministers from the +churches of Chicago, who came expressly to urge him to free the +slaves at once. In the actual condition of things he could of +course neither safely satisfy them nor deny them, and his reply, +while perfectly courteous, had in it a tone of rebuke that showed +the state of irritation and high sensitiveness under which he was +living: + +"I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and +that by religious men, who are equally certain that they +represent the Divine will. . . . I hope it will not be irreverent +for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his +will to others on a point so connected with my duty, it might be +supposed he would reveal it directly to me. . . . What good would +a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as we are +now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole +world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's +bull against the comet." "Do not misunderstand me. . . . I have +not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves; but +hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the +subject is on my mind by day and night more than any other. +Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do." + +Four days after this interview the battle of Antietam was fought, +and when, after a few days of uncertainty it was found that it +could be reasonably claimed as a Union victory, the President +resolved to carry out his long-matured purpose. Secretary Chase +in his diary recorded very fully what occurred on that +ever-memorable September 22, 1862. After some playful talk upon +other matters, Mr. Lincoln, taking a graver tone, said: + +"Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about +the relation of this war to slavery, and you all remember that +several weeks ago I read to you an order I had prepared on this +subject, which, on account of objections made by some of you, was +not issued. Ever since then my mind has been much occupied with +this subject, and I have thought, all along, that the time for +acting on it might probably come. I think the time has come now. +I wish it was a better time. I wish that we were in a better +condition. The action of the army against the rebels has not been +quite what I should have best liked. But they have been driven +out of Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of +invasion. When the rebel army was at Frederick I determined, as +soon as it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a +proclamation of emancipation, such as I thought most likely to be +useful. I said nothing to anyone, but I made the promise to +myself, and--[hesitating a little]--to my Maker. The rebel army +is now driven out, and I am going to fulfil that promise. I have +got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish +your advice about the main matter, for that I have determined for +myself. This I say, without intending anything but respect for +any one of you. But I already know the views of each on this +question. . . . I have considered them as thoroughly and +carefully as I can. What I have written is that which my +reflections have determined me to say. If there is anything in +the expressions I use, or in any minor matter which any one of +you thinks had best be changed, I shall be glad to receive the +suggestions. One other observation I will make. I know very well +that many others might, in this matter as in others, do better +than I can; and if I was satisfied that the public confidence was +more fully possessed by any one of them than by me, and knew of +any constitutional way in which he could be put in my place, he +should have it. I would gladly yield it to him. But, though I +believe that I have not so much of the confidence of the people +as I had some time since, I do not know that, all things +considered, any other person has more; and however this may be, +there is no way in which I can have any other man put where I am. +I am here; I must do the best I can, and bear the responsibility +of taking the course which I feel I ought to take." + +It was in this humble spirit, and with this firm sense of duty +that the great proclamation was given to the world. One hundred +days later he completed the act by issuing the final proclamation +of emancipation. + +It has been a long-established custom in Washington for the +officials of the government to go on the first day of January to +the Executive Mansion to pay their respects to the President and +his wife. The judges of the courts go at one hour, the foreign +diplomats at another, members of Congress and senators and +officers of the Army and Navy at still another. One by one these +various official bodies pass in rapid succession before the head +of the nation, wishing him success and prosperity in the New +Year. The occasion is made gay with music and flowers and bright +uniforms, and has a social as well as an official character. Even +in war times such customs were kept up, and in spite of his load +of care, the President was expected to find time and heart for +the greetings and questions and hand-shakings of this and other +state ceremonies. Ordinarily it was not hard for him. He liked to +meet people, and such occasions were a positive relief from the +mental strain of his official work. It is to be questioned, +however, whether, on this day, his mind did not leave the passing +stream of people before him, to dwell on the proclamation he was +so soon to sign. + +At about three o'clock in the afternoon, after full three hours +of such greetings and handshakings, when his own hand was so +weary it could scarcely hold a pen, the President and perhaps a +dozen friends, went up to the Executive Office, and there, +without any pre-arranged ceremony, he signed his name to the +greatest state paper of the century, which banished the curse of +slavery from our land, and set almost four million people free. + + + +X. THE MAN WHO WAS PRESIDENT + +The way Mr. Lincoln signed this most important state paper was +thoroughly in keeping with his nature. He hated all shams and +show and pretense, and being absolutely without affectation of +any kind, it would never have occurred to him to pose for effect +while signing the Emancipation Proclamation or any other paper. +He never thought of himself as a President to be set up before a +multitude and admired, but always as a President charged with +duties which he owed to every citizen. In fulfilling these he did +not stand upon ceremony, but took the most direct way to the end +he had in view. + +It is not often that a President pleads a cause before Congress. +Mr. Lincoln did not find it beneath his dignity at one time to go +in person to the Capitol, and calling a number of the leading +senators and representatives around him, explain to them, with +the aid of a map, his reasons for believing that the final stand +of the Confederates would be made in that part of the South where +the seven States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, +Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia come together; and +strive in this way to interest them in the sad plight of the +loyal people of Tennessee who were being persecuted by the +Confederate government, but whose mountainous region might, with +a little help, be made a citadel of Union strength in the very +heart of this stronghold of rebellion. + +In his private life he was entirely simple and unaffected. Yet he +had a deep sense of what was due his office, and took part with +becoming dignity in all official or public ceremonies. He +received the diplomats sent to Washington from the courts of +Europe with a formal and quiet reserve which made them realize at +once that although this son of the people had been born in a log +cabin, he was ruler of a great nation, and more than that, was a +prince by right of his own fine instincts and good breeding. + +He was ever gentle and courteous, but with a few quiet words he +could silence a bore who had come meaning to talk to him for +hours. For his friends he had always a ready smile and a quaintly +turned phrase. His sense of humor was his salvation. Without it +he must have died of the strain and anxiety of the Civil War. +There was something almost pathetic in the way he would snatch a +moment from his pressing duties and gravest cares to listen to a +good story or indulge in a hearty laugh. Some people could not +understand this. To one member of his cabinet, at least, it +seemed strange and unfitting that he should read aloud to them a +chapter from a humorous book by Artemus Ward before taking up the +weighty matter of the Emancipation Proclamation. From their point +of view it showed lack of feeling and frivolity of character, +when, in truth, it was the very depth of his feeling, and the +intensity of his distress at the suffering of the war, that led +him to seek relief in laughter, to gather from the comedy of life +strength to go on and meet its sternest tragedy. + +He was a social man. He could not fully enjoy even a jest alone. +He wanted somebody to share the pleasure with him. Often when +care kept him awake late at night he would wander through the +halls of the Executive Mansion, and coming to the room where his +secretaries were still at work, would stop to read to them some +poem, or a passage from Shakspere, or a bit from one of the +humorous books in which he found relief. No one knew better than +he what could be cured, and what must be patiently endured. To +every difficulty that he could remove he gave cheerful and +uncomplaining thought and labor. The burdens he could not shake +off he bore with silent courage, lightening them whenever +possible with the laughter that he once described as the +"universal joyous evergreen of life." + +It would be a mistake to suppose that he cared only for humorous +reading. Occasionally he read a scientific book with great +interest, but his duties left him little time for such +indulgences. Few men knew the Bible more thoroughly than he did, +and his speeches are full of scriptural quotations. The poem +beginning "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" was one +of his favorites, and Dr. Holmes's "Last Leaf" was another. +Shakespere was his constant delight. A copy of Shakespere's works +was even to be found in the busy Executive Office, from which +most books were banished. The President not only liked to read +the great poet's plays, but to see them acted; and when the +gifted actor Hackett came to Washington, he was invited to the +White House, where the two discussed the character of Falstaff, +and the proper reading of many scenes and passages. + +While he was President, Mr. Lincoln did not attempt to read the +newspapers. His days were long, beginning early and ending late, +but they were not long enough for that. One of his secretaries +brought him a daily memorandum of the important news they +contained. His mail was so enormous that he personally read only +about one in every hundred of the letters sent him. + +His time was principally taken up with interviews with people on +matters of importance, with cabinet meetings, conferences with +his generals, and other affairs requiring his close and immediate +attention. If he had leisure he would take a drive in the late +afternoon, or perhaps steal away into the grounds south of the +Executive Mansion to test some new kind of gun, if its inventor +had been fortunate enough to bring it to his notice. He was very +quick to understand mechanical contrivances, and would often +suggest improvements that had not occurred to the inventor +himself. + +For many years it has been the fashion to call Mr. Lincoln +homely. He was very tall, and very thin. His eyes were +deep-sunken, his skin of a sallow pallor, his hair coarse, black, +and unruly. Yet he was neither ungraceful, nor awkward, nor ugly. +His large features fitted his large frame, and his large hands +and feet were but right on a body that measured six feet four +inches. His was a sad and thoughtful face, and from boyhood he +had carried a load of care. It was small wonder that when alone, +or absorbed in thought, the face should take on deep lines, the +eyes appear as if seeing something beyond the vision of other +men, and the shoulders stoop, as though they too were bearing a +weight. But in a moment all would be changed. The deep eyes could +flash, or twinkle merrily with humor, or look out from under +overhanging brows as they did upon the Five Points children in +kindliest gentleness. In public speaking, his tall body rose to +its full height, his head was thrown back, his face seemed +transfigured with the fire and earnestuess of his thought, and +his voice took on a high clear tenor tone that carried his words +and ideas far out over the listening crowds. At such moments, +when answering Douglas in the heat of their joint-debate, or +later, during the years of war, when he pronounced with noble +gravity the words of his famous addresses, not one in the throngs +that heard him could say with truth that he was other than a +handsome man. + +It has been the fashion, too, to say that he was slovenly, and +careless in his dress. This also is a mistake. His clothes could +not fit smoothly on his gaunt and bony frame. He was no tailor's +figure of a man; but from the first he clothed himself as well as +his means allowed, and in the fashion of the time and place. In +reading the grotesque stories of his boyhood, of the tall +stripling whose trousers left exposed a length of shin, it must +be remembered not only how poor he was, but that he lived on the +frontier, where other boys, less poor, were scarcely better clad. +In Vandalia, the blue jeans he wore was the dress of his +companions as well, and later, from Springfield days on, clear +through his presidency, his costume was the usual suit of black +broadcloth, carefully made, and scrupulously neat. He cared +nothing for style. It did not matter to him whether the man with +whom he talked wore a coat of the latest cut, or owned no coat at +all. It was the man inside the coat that interested him. + +In the same way he cared little for the pleasures of the table. +He ate most sparingly. He was thankful that food was good and +wholesome and enough for daily needs, but he could no more enter +into the mood of the epicure for whose palate it is a matter of +importance whether he eats roast goose or golden pheasant, than +he could have counted the grains of sand under the sea. + +In the summers, while he was President, he spent the nights at a +cottage at the Soldiers' Home, a short distance north of +Washington, riding or driving out through the gathering dusk, and +returning to the White House after a frugal breakfast in the +early morning. Ten o'clock was the hour at which he was supposed +to begin receiving visitors, but it was often necessary to see +them unpleasantly early. Occasionally they forced their way to +his bedroom before he had quite finished dressing. Throngs of +people daily filled his office, the ante-rooms, and even the +corridors of the public part of the Executive Mansion. He saw +them all, those he had summoned on important business, men of +high official position who came to demand as their right offices +and favors that he had no right to give; others who wished to +offer tiresome if well-meant advice; and the hundreds, both men +and women, who pressed forward to ask all sorts of help. His +friends besought him to save himself the weariness of seeing the +people at these public receptions, but he refused. "They do not +want much, and they get very little," he answered. "Each one +considers his business of great importance, and I must gratify +them. I know how I would feel if I were in their place." And at +noon on all days except Tuesday and Friday, when the time was +occupied by meetings of the cabinet, the doors were thrown open, +and all who wished might enter. That remark of his, "I know how I +would feel if I were in their place," explained it all. His early +experience of life had drilled him well for these ordeals. He had +read deeply in the book of human nature, and could see the hidden +signs of falsehood and deceit and trickery from which the faces +of some of his visitors were not free; but he knew, too, the +hard, practical side of life, the hunger, cold, storms, sickness +and misfortune that the average man must meet in his struggle +with the world. More than all, he knew and sympathized with that +hope deferred which makes the heart sick. + +Not a few men and women came, sad-faced and broken-hearted, to +plead for soldier sons or husbands in prison, or under sentence +of death by court-martial. An inmate of the White House has +recorded the eagerness with which the President caught at any +fact that would justify him in saving the life of a condemned +soldier. He was only merciless when meanness or cruelty were +clearly proved. Cases of cowardice he disliked especially to +punish with death. "It would frighten the poor devils too +terribly to shoot them," he said. On the papers in the case of +one soldier who had deserted and then enlisted again, he wrote: +"Let him fight, instead of shooting him." + +He used to call these cases of desertion his "leg cases," and +sometimes when considering them, would tell the story of the +Irish soldier, upbraided by his captain, who replied: "Captain, I +have a heart in me breast as brave as Julius Caesar, but when I +go into battle, Sor, these cowardly legs of mine will run away +with me." + +As the war went on, Mr. Lincoln objected more and more to +approving sentences of death by court-martial, and either +pardoned them outright, or delayed the execution "until further +orders," which orders were never given by the great-hearted, +merciful man. Secretary Stanton and certain generals complained +bitterly that if the President went on pardoning soldiers he +would ruin the discipline of the army; but Secretary Stanton had +a warm heart, and it is doubtful if he ever willingly enforced +the justice that he criticized the President for tempering with +so much mercy. + +Yet Mr. Lincoln could be sternly just when necessary. A law +declaring the slave trade to be piracy had stood on the statute +books of the United States for half a century. Lincoln's +administration was the first to convict a man under it, and +Lincoln himself decreed that the well-deserved sentence be +carried out. + +Mr. Lincoln sympathized keenly with the hardships and trials of +the soldier boys, and found time, amid all his labors and cares, +to visit the hospitals in and around Washington where they lay +ill. His afternoon drive was usually to some camp in the +neighborhood of the city; and when he visited one at a greater +distance, the cheers that greeted him as he rode along the line +with the commanding general showed what a warm place he held in +their hearts. + +He did not forget the unfortunate on these visits. A story is +told of his interview with William Scott, a boy from a Vermont +farm, who, after marching forty-eight hours without sleep, +volunteered to stand guard for a sick comrade. Weariness overcame +him, and he was found asleep at his post, within gunshot of the +enemy. He was tried, and sentenced to be shot. Mr. Lincoln heard +of the case, and went himself to the tent where young Scott was +kept under guard. He talked to him kindly, asking about his home, +his schoolmates, and particularly about his mother. The lad took +her picture from his pocket, and showed it to him without +speaking. Mr. Lincoln was much affected. As he rose to leave he +laid his hand on the prisoner s shoulder. "My boy," he said, "you +are not going to be shot to-morrow. I believe you when you tell +me that you could not keep awake. I am going to trust you, and +send you back to your regiment. Now, I want to know what you +intend to pay for all this?" The lad, overcome with gratitude, +could hardly say a word, but crowding down his emotions, managed +to answer that he did not know. He and his people were poor, they +would do what they could. There was his pay, and a little in the +savings bank. They could borrow something by a mortgage on the +farm. Perhaps his comrades would help. If Mr. Lincoln would wait +until pay day possibly they might get together five or six +hundred dollars. Would that be enough? The kindly President shook +his head. "My bill is a great deal more than that," he said. "It +is a very large one. Your friends cannot pay it, nor your family, +nor your farm. There is only one man in the world who can pay it, +and his name is William Scott. If from this day he does his duty +so that when he comes to die he can truly say "I have kept the +promise I gave the President. I have done my duty as a soldier,' +then the debt will be paid." Young Scott went back to his +regiment, and the debt was fully paid a few months later, for he +fell in battle. + +Mr. Lincoln's own son became a soldier after leaving college. The +letter his father wrote to General Grant in his behalf shows how +careful he was that neither his official position nor his desire +to give his boy the experience he wanted, should work the least +injustice to others: + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, January 19th, 1865. + +Lieutenant-General Grant: + +Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, +but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having +graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before +it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give +him a commission, to which those who have already served long are +better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without +embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your +military family with some nominal rank, I and not the public +furnishing the necessary means? If no, say so without the least +hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply interested that +you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself. + +Yours truly, + +A. Lincoln. + +His interest did not cease with the life of a young soldier. +Among his most beautiful letters are those he wrote to sorrowing +parents who had lost their sons in battle; and when his personal +friend, young Ellsworth, one of the first and most gallant to +fall, was killed at Alexandria, the President directed that his +body be brought to the White House, where his funeral was held in +the great East Room. + +Though a member of no church, Mr. Lincoln was most sincerely +religious and devout. Not only was his daily life filled with +acts of forbearance and charity; every great state paper that he +wrote breathes his faith and reliance on a just and merciful God. +He rarely talked, even with intimate friends, about matters of +belief, but it is to be doubted whether any among the many people +who came to give him advice and sometimes to pray with him, had a +better right to be called a Christian. He always received such +visitors courteously, with a reverence for their good intention, +no matter how strangely it sometimes manifested itself. A little +address that he made to some Quakers who came to see him in +September, 1862, shows both his courtesy to them personally, and +his humble attitude toward God. + +"I am glad of this interview, and glad to know that I have your +sympathy and prayers. We are indeed going through a great trial, +a fiery trial. In the very responsible position in which I happen +to be placed, being a humble instrument in the hands of our +Heavenly Father as I am, and as we all are, to work out His great +purposes, I have desired that all my works and acts may be +according to His will, and that it might be so I have sought His +aid; but if, after endeavoring to do my best in the light which +he affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that for +some purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had +my way, this war would never have been commenced. If I had been +allowed my way, this war would have been ended before this; but +we find it still continues, and we must believe that He permits +it for some wise purpose of His own, mysterious and unknown to +us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able +to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe that He who made the +world still governs it." + +Children held a warm place in the President's affections. He was +not only a devoted father; his heart went out to all little folk. +He had been kind to babies in his boyish days, when, book in +hand, and the desire for study upon him, he would sit with one +foot on the rocker of a rude frontier cradle, not too selfishly +busy to keep its small occupant lulled and content, while its +mother went about her household tasks. After he became President +many a sad-eyed woman carrying a child in her arms went to see +him, and the baby always had its share in gaining her a speedy +hearing, and if possible a favorable answer to her petition. + +When children came to him at the White House of their own accord, +as they sometimes did, the favors they asked were not refused +because of their youth. One day a small boy, watching his chance, +slipped into the Executive Office between a governor and a +senator, when the door was opened to admit them. They were as +much astonished at seeing him there as the President was, and +could not explain his presence; but he spoke for himself. He had +come, he said, from a little country town, hoping to get a place +as page in the House of Representatives. The President began to +tell him that he must go to Captain Goodnow, the doorkeeper of +the House, for he himself had nothing to do with such +appointments. Even this did not discourage the little fellow. +Very earnestly he pulled his papers of recommendation out of his +pocket, and Mr. Lincoln, unable to resist his wistful face, read +them, and sent him away happy with a hurried line written on the +back of them, saying: "If Captain Goodnow can give this good +little boy a place, he will oblige A. Lincoln." + +It was a child who persuaded Mr. Lincoln to wear a beard. Up to +the time he was nominated for President he had always been +smooth-shaven. A little girl living in Chautauqua County, New +York, who greatly admired him, made up her mind that he would +look better if he wore whiskers, and with youthful directness +wrote and told him so. He answered her by return mail: + +Springfield, ILL., Oct. 19, 1860. + +Miss Grace Bedelt, + +My dear little Miss: Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth +is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter. +I have three sons, one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years +of age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As +to the whiskers, never having worn any, do you not think people +would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin +now? + +Your very sincere well-wisher, + +A. Lincoln. + +Evidently on second thoughts he decided to follow her advice. On +his way to Washington his train stopped at the town where she +lived. He asked if she were in the crowd gathered at the station +to meet him. Of course she was, and willing hands forced a way +for her through the mass of people. When she reached the car Mr. +Lincoln stepped from the train, kissed her, and showed her that +he had taken her advice. + +The Secretary who wrote about the President's desire to save the +lives of condemned soldiers tells us that "during the first year +of the administration the house was made lively by the games and +pranks of Mr. Lincoln's two younger children, William and Thomas. +Robert the eldest was away at Harvard, only coming home for short +vacations. The two little boys, aged eight and ten, with their +western independence and enterprise, kept the house in an uproar. +They drove their tutor wild with their good-natured disobedience. +They organized a minstrel show in the attic; they made +acquaintance with the office-seekers and became the hot champions +of the distressed. William was, with all his boyish frolic, a +child of great promise, capable of close application and study. +He had a fancy for drawing up railway time-tables, and would +conduct an imaginary train from Chicago to New York with perfect +precision. He wrote childish verses, which sometimes attained the +unmerited honors of print. But this bright, gentle and studious +child sickened and died in February, 1862. His father was +profoundly moved by his death, though he gave no outward sign of +his trouble, but kept about his work, the same as ever. His +bereaved heart seemed afterwards to pour out its fulness on his +youngest child. 'Tad' was a merry, warm-blooded, kindly little +boy, perfectly lawless, and full of odd fancies and inventions, +the 'chartered libertine' of the Executive Mansion." He ran +constantly in and out of his father's office, interrupting his +gravest labors. Mr. Lincoln was never too busy to hear him, or to +answer his bright, rapid, imperfect speech, for he was not able +to speak plainly until he was nearly grown. "He would perch upon +his father's knee, and sometimes even on his shoulder, while the +most weighty conferences were going on. Sometimes, escaping from +the domestic authorities, he would take refuge in that sanctuary +for the whole evening, dropping to sleep at last on the floor, +when the President would pick him up, and carry him tenderly to +bed." + +The letters and even the telegrams Mr. Lincoln sent his wife had +always a message for or about Tad. One of them shows that his +pets, like their young master, were allowed great liberty. It was +written when the family was living at the Soldiers' Home, and +Mrs. Lincoln and Tad had gone away for a visit. "Tell dear Tad," +he wrote, "that poor Nanny Goat is lost, and Mrs. Cuthbert and I +are in distress about it. The day you left, Nanny was found +resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad's +bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she +destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to +the White House. This was done, and the second day she had +disappeared and has not been heard of since. This is the last we +know of poor Nanny." + +Tad was evidently consoled by, not one, but a whole family of new +goats, for about a year later Mr. Lincoln ended a business +telegram to his wife in New York with the words: "Tell Tad the +goats and Father are very well." Then, as the weight of care +rolled back upon this greathearted, patient man, he added, with +humorous weariness, "especially the goats." + +Mr. Lincoln was so forgetful of self as to be absolutely without +personal fear. He not only paid no attention to the threats which +were constantly made against his life, but when, on July 11, +1864, the Confederate General Early appeared suddenly and +unexpectedly before the city with a force of 17,000 men, and +Washington was for two days actually in danger of assault and +capture, his unconcern gave his friends great uneasiness. On the +tenth he rode out, as was his custom, to spend the night at the +Soldiers' Home, but Secretary Stanton, learning that Early was +advancing, sent after him, to compel his return. Twice afterward, +intent upon watching the fighting which took place near Fort +Stevens, north of the city, he exposed his tall form to the gaze +and bullets of the enemy, utterly heedless of his own peril; and +it was not until an officer had fallen mortally wounded within a +few feet of him, that he could be persuaded to seek a place of +greater safety. + + + +XI. THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR + +In the summer of 1863 the Confederate armies reached their +greatest strength. It was then that, flushed with military ardor, +and made bold by what seemed to the southern leaders an unbroken +series of victories on the Virginia battlefields, General Lee +again crossed the Potomac River, and led his army into the North. +He went as far as Gettysburg in Pennsylvania; but there, on the +third of July, 1863, suffered a disastrous defeat, which +shattered forever the Confederate dream of taking Philadelphia +and dictating peace from Independence Hall. This battle of +Gettysburg should have ended the war, for General Lee, on +retreating southward, found the Potomac River so swollen by heavy +rains that he was obliged to wait several days for the floods to +go down. In that time it would have been quite possible for +General Meade, the Union commander, to follow him and utterly +destroy his army. He proved too slow, however, and Lee and his +beaten Confederate soldiers escaped. President Lincoln was +inexpressibly grieved at this, and in the first bitterness of his +disappointment sat down and wrote General Meade a letter. Lee +"was within your easy grasp," he told him, "and to have closed +upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have +ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely. +. . . Your golden opportunity is gone and I am distressed +immeasurably because of it." But Meade never received this +letter. Deeply as the President felt Meade's fault, his spirit of +forgiveness was so quick, and his thankfulness for the measure of +success that had been gained, so great, that he put it in his +desk, and it was never signed or sent. + +The battle of Gettysburg was indeed a notable victory, and +coupled with the fall of Vicksburg, which surrendered to General +Grant on that same third of July, proved the real turning-point +of the war. It seems singularly appropriate, then, that +Gettysburg should have been the place where President Lincoln +made his most beautiful and famous address. After the battle the +dead and wounded of both the Union and Confederate armies had +received tender attention there. Later it was decided to set +aside a portion of the battlefield for a great national military +cemetery in which the dead found orderly burial. It was dedicated +to its sacred use on November 19, 1863. At the end of the stately +ceremonies President Lincoln rose and said: + +"Fourscore 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 cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate- +-we cannot 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." + +With these words, so brief, so simple, so full of reverent +feeling, he set aside the place of strife to be the resting place +of heroes, and then went back to his own great task--for which +he, too, was to give "the last full measure of devotion." + +Up to within a very short time little had been heard about +Ulysses S. Grant, the man destined to become the most successful +general of the war. Like General McClellan, he was a graduate of +West Point; and also like McClellan, he had resigned from the +army after serving gallantly in the Mexican war. There the +resemblance ceased, for he had not an atom of McClellan's vanity, +and his persistent will to do the best he could with the means +the government could give him was far removed from the younger +general's faultfinding and complaint. He was about four years +older than McClellan, having been born on April 27, 1822. On +offering his services to the War Department in 1861 he had +modestly written: "I feel myself competent to command a regiment +if the President in his judgment should see fit to intrust one to +me." For some reason this letter remained unanswered, although +the Department, then and later, had need of trained and +experienced officers. Afterward the Governor of Illinois made him +a colonel of one of the three years' volunteer regiments; and +from that time on he rose in rank, not as McClellan had done, by +leaps and bounds, but slowly, earning every promotion. All of his +service had been in the West, and he first came into general +notice by his persistent and repeated efforts to capture +Vicksburg, on whose fall the opening of the Mississippi River +depended. Five different plans he tried before he finally +succeeded, the last one appearing utterly foolhardy, and seeming +to go against every known rule of military science. In spite of +this it was successful, the Union army and navy thereby gaining +control of the Mississippi River and cutting off forever from the +Confederacy a great extent of rich country, from which, up to +that time, it had been drawing men and supplies. + +The North was greatly cheered by these victories, and all eyes +were turned upon the successful commander. No one was more +thankful than Mr. Lincoln. He gave Grant quick promotion, and +crowned the official act with a most generous letter. "I do not +remember that you and I ever met personally," he wrote. "I write +this now as a grateful acknowledgement for the almost inestimable +service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further." +Then, summing up the plans that the General had tried, especially +the last one, he added: "I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to +make the personal acknowledgement that you were right and I was +wrong." + +Other important battles won by Grant that same fall added to his +growing fame, and by the beginning of 1864 he was singled out as +the greatest Union commander. As a suitable reward for his +victories it was determined to make him Lieutenant-General. This +army rank had, before the Civil War, been bestowed on only two +American soldiers--on General Washington, and on Scott, for his +conquest of Mexico. In 1864 Congress passed and the President +signed an act to revive the grade, and Grant was called to +Washington to receive his commission. He and Mr. Lincoln met for +the first time at a large public reception held at the Executive +Mansion on the evening of March 8. A movement and rumor in the +crowd heralded his approach, and when at last the short, stocky, +determined soldier and the tall, care-worn, deep-eyed President +stood face to face the crowd, moved by a sudden impulse of +delicacy, drew back, and left them almost alone to exchange a few +words. Later, when Grant appeared in the great East Room, the +enthusiasm called forth by his presence could no longer be +restrained, and cheer after cheer went up, while his admirers +pressed about him so closely that, hot and blushing with +embarrassment, he was forced at last to mount a sofa, and from +there shake hands with the eager people who thronged up to him +from all sides. + +The next day at one o'clock the President, in the presence of the +cabinet and a few other officials, made a little speech, and gave +him his commission. Grant replied with a few words, as modest as +they were brief, and in conversation afterward asked what special +duty was required of him. The President answered that the people +wanted him to take Richmond, and asked if he could do it. Grant +said that he could if he had the soldiers, and the President +promised that these would be furnished him. Grant did not stay in +Washington to enjoy the new honors of his high rank, but at once +set about preparations for his task. It proved a hard one. More +than a year passed before it was ended, and all the losses in +battle of the three years that had gone before seemed small in +comparison with the terrible numbers of killed and wounded that +fell during these last months of the war. At first Grant had a +fear that the President might wish to control his plans, but this +was soon quieted; and his last lingering doubt on the subject +vanished when, as he was about to start on his final campaign, +Mr. Lincoln sent him a letter stating his satisfaction with all +he had done, and assuring him that in the coming campaign he +neither knew, for desired to know, the details of his plans. In +his reply Grant confessed the groundlessness of his fears, and +added, "Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the +least I can say is, the fault is not with you." + +He made no complicated plan for the problem before him, but +proposed to solve it by plain, hard, persistent fighting. "Lee's +army will be your objective point," he instructed General Meade. +"Where Lee goes there you will go also." Nearly three years +earlier the opposing armies had fought their first battle of Bull +Run only a short distance north of where they now confronted each +other. Campaign and battle between them had swayed to the north +and the south, but neither could claim any great gain of ground +or of advantage. The final struggle was before them. Grant had +two to one in numbers; Lee the advantage in position, for he knew +by heart every road, hill and forest in Virginia, had for his +friendly scout every white inhabitant, and could retire into +prepared fortifications. Perhaps the greatest element of his +strength lay in the conscious pride of his army that for three +years it had steadily barred the way to Richmond. To offset this +there now menaced it what had always been absent before--the +grim, unflinching will of the new Union commander, who had +rightly won for himself the name of "Unconditional Surrender" +Grant. + +On the night of May 4, 1864, his army entered upon the campaign +which, after many months, was to end the war. It divided itself +into two parts. For the first six weeks there was almost constant +swift marching and hard fighting, a nearly equally matched +contest of strategy and battle between the two armies, the +difference being that Grant was always advancing, and Lee always +retiring. Grant had hoped to defeat Lee outside of his +fortifications, and early in the campaign had expressed his +resolution "to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer"; +but the losses were so appalling, 60,000 of his best troops +melting away in killed and wounded during the six weeks, that +this was seen to be impossible. Lee's army was therefore driven +into its fortifications around the Confederate capital and then +came the siege of Richmond, lasting more than nine months, but +pushed forward all that time with relentless energy, in spite of +Grant's heavy losses. + +In the West, meanwhile, General William T. Sherman, Grant's +closest friend and brother officer, pursued a task of almost +equal importance, taking Atlanta, Georgia, which the Confederates +had turned into a city of foundries and workshops for the +manufacture and repair of guns; then, starting from Atlanta, +marching with his best troops three hundred miles to the sea, +laying the country waste as they went; after which, turning +northward, he led them through South and North Carolina to bring +his army in touch with Grant. + +Against this background of fighting the life of the country went +on. The end of the war was approaching, surely, but so slowly +that the people, hoping for it, and watching day by day, could +scarcely see it. They schooled themselves to a dogged endurance, +but there was no more enthusiasm. Many lost courage. Volunteering +almost ceased, and the government was obliged to begin drafting +men to make up the numbers of soldiers needed by Grant in his +campaign against Richmond. + +The President had many things to dishearten him at this time, +many troublesome questions to settle. For instance, there were +new loyal State governments to provide in those parts of the +South which had again come under control of the Union armies--no +easy matter, where every man, woman and child harbored angry +feelings against the North, and no matter how just and forbearing +he might be, his plans were sure to be thwarted and bitterly +opposed at every step. + +There were serious questions, too, to be decided about negro +soldiers, for the South had raised a mighty outcry against the +Emancipation Proclamation, especially against the use of the +freed slaves as soldiers, vowing that white officers of negro +troops would be shown small mercy, if ever they were taken +prisoners. No act of such vengeance occurred, but in 1864 a fort +manned by colored soldiers was captured by the Confederates, and +almost the entire garrison was put to death. Must the order that +the War Department had issued some time earlier, to offset the +Confederate threats, now be put in force? The order said that for +every negro prisoner killed by the Confederates a Confederate +prisoner in the hands of the Union armies would be taken out and +shot. It fell upon Mr. Lincoln to decide. The idea seemed +unbearable to him, yet, on the other hand, could he afford to let +the massacre go unavenged and thus encourage the South in the +belief that it could commit such barbarous acts and escape +unharmed? Two reasons finally decided him against putting the +order in force. One was that General Grant was about to start on +his campaign against Richmond, and that it would be most unwise +to begin this by the tragic spectacle of a military punishment, +however merited. The other was his tender-hearted humanity. He +could not, he said, take men out and kill them in cold blood for +crimes committed by other men. If he could get hold of the +persons who were guilty of killing the colored prisoners in cold +blood, the case would be different; but he could not kill the +innocent for the guilty. Fortunately the offense was not +repeated, and no one had cause to criticize his clemency. + +Numbers of good and influential men, dismayed at the amount of +blood and treasure that the war had already cost, and +disheartened by the calls for still more soldiers that Grant's +campaign made necessary, began to clamor for peace--were ready to +grant almost anything that the Confederates chose to ask. Rebel +agents were in Canada professing to be able to conclude a peace. +Mr. Lincoln, wishing to convince these northern "Peace men" of +the groundlessness of their claim, and of the injustice of their +charges that the government was continuing the war unnecessarily, +sent Horace Greeley, the foremost among them, to Canada, to talk +with the selfstyled ambassadors of Jefferson Davis. Nothing came +of it, of course, except abuse of Mr. Lincoln for sending such a +messenger, and a lively quarrel between Greeley and the rebel +agents as to who was responsible for the misunderstandings that +arose. + +The summer and autumn of 1864 were likewise filled with the +bitterness and high excitement of a presidential campaign; for, +according to law, Mr. Lincoln's successor had to be elected on +the "Tuesday after the first Monday" of November in that year. +The great mass of Republicans wished Mr. Lincoln to be reelected. +The Democrats had long ago fixed upon General McClellan, with his +grievances against the President, as their future candidate. It +is not unusual for Presidents to discover would-be rivals in +their own cabinets. Considering the strong men who formed Mr. +Lincoln's cabinet, and the fact that four years earlier more than +one of them had active hopes of being chosen in his stead, it is +remarkable that there was so little of this. + +The one who developed the most serious desire to succeed him was +Salmon P. Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury. Devoted with all +his powers to the cause of the Union, Mr. Chase was yet strangely +at fault in his judgment of men. He regarded himself as the +friend of Mr. Lincoln, but nevertheless held so poor an opinion +of the President's mind and character, compared with his own, +that he could not believe people blind enough to prefer the +President to himself. He imagined that he did not want the +office, and was anxious only for the public good; yet he listened +eagerly to the critics of the President who flattered his hopes, +and found time in spite of his great labors to write letters to +all parts of the country, which, although protesting that he did +not want the honor, showed his entire willingness to accept it. +Mr. Lincoln was well aware of this. Indeed, it was impossible not +to know about it, though he refused to hear the matter discussed +or to read any letters concerning it. He had his own opinion of +the taste displayed by Mr. Chase, but chose to take no notice of +his actions. "I have determined," he said, "to shut my eyes, so +far as possible, to everything of the sort. Mr. Chase makes a +good Secretary, and I shall keep him where he is. If he becomes +President, all right. I hope we may never have a worse man, and +he not only kept him where he was, but went on appointing Chase's +friends to office. + +There was also some talk of making General Grant the Republican +candidate for President, and an attempt was even made to trap Mr. +Lincoln into taking part in a meeting where this was to be done. +Mr. Lincoln refused to attend, and instead wrote a letter of such +hearty and generous approval of Grant and his army that the +meeting naturally fell into the hands of Mr. Lincoln's friends. +General Grant, never at that time or any other, gave the least +encouragement to the efforts which were made to array him against +the President. Mr. Lincoln, on his part, received all warnings to +beware of Grant in the most serene manner, saying tranquilly, "If +he takes Richmond, let him have it." It was not so with General +Fremont. At a poorly attended meeting held in Cleveland he was +actually nominated by a handful of people calling themselves the +"Radical Democracy," and taking the matter seriously, accepted, +although, three months later, having found no response from the +public, he withdrew from the contest. + +After all, these various attempts to discredit the name of +Abraham Lincoln caused hardly a ripple on the great current of +public opinion, and death alone could have prevented his choice +by the Republican national convention. He took no measures to +help on his own candidacy. With strangers he would not talk about +the probability of his reelection; but with friends he made no +secret of his readiness to continue the work he was engaged in if +such should be the general wish. "A second term would be a great +honor and a great labor; which together, perhaps, I would not +decline," he wrote to one of them. He discouraged officeholders, +either civil or military, who showed any special zeal in his +behalf. To General Schurz, who wrote asking permission to take an +active part in the campaign for his reelection, he answered: "I +perceive no objection to your making a political speech when you +are where one is to be made; but quite surely, speaking in the +North and fighting in the South at the same time are not +possible, nor could I be justified to detail any officer to the +political campaign . . . and then return him to the army." + +He himself made no long speeches during the summer, and in his +short addresses, at Sanitary Fairs, in answer to visiting +delegations, and on similar occasions where custom and courtesy +obliged him to say a few words, he kept his quiet ease and +self-command, speaking heartily and to the point, yet avoiding +all the pitfalls that beset the candidate who talks. + +When the Republican national convention came together in +Baltimore on June 7, 1864, it had very little to do, for its +delegates were bound by rigid instructions to vote for Abraham +Lincoln. + +He was chosen on the first ballot, every State voting for him +except Missouri, whose representatives had been instructed to +vote for Grant. Missouri at once changed its vote, and the +secretary of the convention read the grand total of 506 for +Lincoln, his announcement being greeted by a storm of cheers that +lasted several minutes. + +It was not so easy to choose a Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln had +been besieged by many people to make known his wishes in the +matter, but had persistently refused. He rightly felt that it +would be presumptuous in him to dictate who should be his +companion on the ticket, and, in case of his death, his successor +in office. This was for the delegates to the convention to +decide, for they represented the voters of the country. He had no +more right to dictate who should be selected than the Emperor of +China would have had. It is probable that Vice-President Hamlin +would have been renominated, if it had not been for the general +feeling both in and out of the convention that, under all the +circumstances, it would be wiser to select some man who had been +a Democrat, and had yet upheld the war. The choice fell upon +Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was not only a Democrat, but had +been appointed by Mr. Lincoln military governor of Tennessee in +1862. + +The Democrats at first meant to have the national convention of +their party meet on the fourth of July; but after Fremont had +been nominated at Cleveland and Lincoln at Baltimore, they +postponed it to a later date, hoping that something in the +chapter of accidents might happen to their advantage. At first it +appeared as if this might be the case. The outlook for the +Republicans was far from satisfactory. The terrible fighting and +great losses of Grant's army in Virginia had profoundly shocked +and depressed the country. The campaign of General Sherman, who +was then in Georgia, showed as yet no promise of the brilliant +results it afterward attained. General Early's sudden raid into +Maryland, when he appeared so unexpectedly before Washington and +threatened the city, had been the cause of much exasperation; and +Mr. Chase, made bitter by his failure to receive the coveted +nomination for President, had resigned from the cabinet. This +seemed, to certain leading Republicans, to point to a breaking up +of the government. The "Peace" men were clamoring loudly for an +end of the war; and the Democrats, not having yet formally chosen +a candidate, were free to devote all their leisure to attacks +upon the administration. + +Mr. Lincoln realized fully the tremendous issues at stake. He +looked worn and weary. To a friend who urged him to go away for a +fortnight's rest, he replied, "I cannot fly from my thoughts. My +solicitude for this great country follows me wherever I go. I do +not think it is personal vanity or ambition, though I am not free +from these infirmities, but I cannot but feel that the weal or +woe of this great nation will be decided in November. There is no +program offered by any wing of the Democratic party but that must +result in the permanent destruction of the Union." + +The political situation grew still darker. Toward the end of +August the general gloom enveloped even the President himself. +Then what he did was most original and characteristic. Feeling +that the campaign was going against him, he made up his mind +deliberately the course he ought to pursue, and laid down for +himself the action demanded by his strong sense of duty. He wrote +on August 23 the following memorandum: "This morning, as for some +days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration +will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate +with the President-elect as to save the Union between the +election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his +election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it +afterward." + +He folded and pasted the sheet of paper in such a way that its +contents could not be seen, and as the cabinet came together +handed it to each member successively, asking him to write his +name across the back of it. In this peculiar fashion he pledged +himself and his administration to accept loyally the verdict of +the people if it should be against them, and to do their utmost +to save the Union in the brief remainder of his term of office. +He gave no hint to any member of his cabinet of the nature of the +paper thus signed until after his reelection. + +The Democratic convention finally came together in Chicago on +August 29. It declared the war a failure, and that efforts ought +to be made at once to bring it to a close, and nominated General +McClellan for President McClellan's only chance of success lay in +his war record. His position as a candidate on a platform of +dishonorable peace would have been no less desperate than +ridiculous. In his letter accepting the nomination, therefore, he +calmly ignored the platform, and renewed his assurances of +devotion to the Union, the Constitution, and the flag of his +country. But the stars in their courses fought against him. Even +before the Democratic convention met, the tide of battle had +turned. The darkest hour of the war had passed, and dawn was at +hand, and amid the thanksgivings of a grateful people, and the +joyful salute of great guns, the real presidential campaign +began. The country awoke to the true meaning of the Democratic +platform; General Sherman's successes in the South excited the +enthusiasm of the people; and when at last the Unionists, rousing +from their midsummer languor, began to show their faith in the +Republican candidate, the hopelessness of all efforts to +undermine him became evident. + + + +XII. THE CONQUEROR OF A GREAT REBELLION + +The presidential election of 1864 took place on November 8. The +diary of one of the President's secretaries contains a curious +record of the way the day passed at the Executive Mansion. "The +house has been still and almost deserted. Everybody in Washington +and not at home voting seems ashamed of it, and stays away from +the President. While I was talking with him to-day he said: "It +is a little singular that I, who am not a vindictive man, should +always have been before the people for election in canvasses +marked for their bitterness. Always but once. When I came to +Congress it was a quiet time; but always besides that the +contests in which I have been prominent have been marked with +great rancor." + +Early in the evening the President made his way through rain and +darkness to the War Department to receive the returns. The +telegrams came, thick and fast, all pointing joyously to his +reelection. He sent the important ones over to Mrs. Lincoln at +the White House, remarking, "She is more anxious that I am." The +satisfaction of one member of the little group about him was +coupled with the wish that the critics of the administration +might feel properly rebuked by this strong expression of the +popular will. Mr. Lincoln looked at him in kindly surprise. "You +have more of that feeling of personal resentment than I," he +said. "Perhaps I have too little of it, but I never thought it +paid. A man has not time to spend half his life in quarrels. If +any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against +him." This state of mind might well have been called by a higher +name than "lack of personal resentment." + +Lincoln and Johnson received a popular majority of 411,281, and +212 out of 233 electoral votes--only those of New Jersey, +Delaware and Kentucky, twenty-one in all, being cast for +McClellan. + +For Mr. Lincoln this was one of the most solemn days of his life. +Assured of his personal success, and made devoutly confident by +the military victories of the last few weeks that the end of the +war was at hand, he felt no sense of triumph over his opponents. +The thoughts that filled his mind found expression in the closing +sentences of the little speech that he made to some serenaders +who greeted him in the early morning hours of November 9, as he +left the War Department to return to the White House: + +"I am thankful to God for this approval of the people; but while +deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I +know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal +triumph. . . . It is no pleasure to me to triumph over anyone, +but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the +people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of +humanity." + +Mr. Lincoln's inauguration for his second term as President took +place at the time appointed, on March 4, 1865. There is little +variation in the simple but impressive pageantry with which the +ceremony is celebrated. The principal novelty commented on by the +newspapers was the share which the people who had up to that time +been slaves, had for the first time in this public and political +drama. Associations of negro citizens joined in the procession, +and a battalion of negro soldiers formed part of the military +escort. The central act of the occasion was President Lincoln's +second inaugural address, which enriched the political literature +of the nation with another masterpiece. He said: + +"Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of +the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended +address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat +in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. +Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public +declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and +phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and +engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be +presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly +depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, +I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With +high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is +ventured. + +"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all +thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All +dreaded it--all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address +was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving +the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking +to destroy it without war--seeking to dissolve the Union and +divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but +one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; +and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the +war came. + +"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not +distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the +southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and +powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the +cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate and extend this +interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the +Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do +more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. + +"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration +which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause +of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict +itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a +result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, +and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the +other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just +God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other +men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The +prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been +answered fully. + +"The Almighty has his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because +of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to +that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that +American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the +providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued +through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he +gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due +to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any +departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a +living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do +we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. +Yet; if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by +the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil +shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash +shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three +thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of +the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' + +"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in +the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to +finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to +care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, +and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just +and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." + +The address ended, the Chief Justice arose, and the listeners +who, for the second time, heard Abraham Lincoln repeat the solemn +words of his oath of office, went from the impressive scene to +their several homes in thankfulness and confidence that the +destiny of the nation was in safe keeping. + +Nothing would have amazed Mr. Lincoln more than to hear himself +called a man of letters; and yet it would be hard to find in all +literature anything to excel the brevity and beauty of his +address at Gettysburg or the lofty grandeur of this Second +Inaugural. In Europe his style has been called a model for the +study and imitation of princes, while in our own country many of +his phrases have already passed into the daily speech of mankind. + +His gift of putting things simply and clearly was partly the +habit of his own clear mind, and partly the result of the +training he gave himself in days of boyish poverty, when paper +and ink were luxuries almost beyond his reach, and the words he +wished to set down must be the best words, and the clearest and +shortest to express the ideas he had in view. This training of +thought before expression, of knowing exactly what he wished to +say before saying it, stood him in good stead all his life; but +only the mind of a great man, with a lofty soul and a poet's +vision; one who had suffered deeply and felt keenly; who carried +the burden of a nation on his heart, whose sympathies were as +broad and whose kindness was as great as his moral purpose was +strong and firm, could have written the deep, forceful, +convincing words that fell from his pen in the later years of his +life. It was the life he lived, the noble aim that upheld him, as +well as the genius with which he was born, that made him one of +the greatest writers of our time. + +At the date of his second inauguration only two members of Mr. +Lincoln's original cabinet remained in office; but the changes +had all come about gradually and naturally, never as the result +of quarrels, and with the single exception of Secretary Chase, +not one of them left the cabinet harboring feelings of resentment +or bitterness toward his late chief. Even when, in one case, it +became necessary for the good of the service, for Mr. Lincoln to +ask a cabinet minister to resign, that gentleman not only +unquestioningly obeyed, but entered into the presidential +campaign immediately afterward, working heartily and effectively +for his reelection. As for Secretary Chase, the President was so +little disturbed by his attitude that, on the death of Roger B. +Taney, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, he +made him his successor, giving him the highest judicial office in +the land, and paying him the added compliment of writing out his +nomination with his own hand. + +The keynote of the President's young life had been persevering +industry. That of his mature years was self-control and generous +forgiveness. And surely his remark on the night of his second +election for President, that he did not think resentment "paid," +and that no man had time to spend half his life in quarrels, was +well borne out by the fruit of his actions. It was this spirit +alone which made possible much that he was able to accomplish. +His rule of conduct toward all men is summed up in a letter of +reprimand that it became his duty, while he was President, to +send to one young officer accused of quarreling with another. It +deserves to be written in letters of gold on the walls of every +school and college throughout the land: + +"The advice of a father to his son, 'beware of entrance to a +quarrel, but, being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of +thee,' is good, but not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man +resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal +contention. Still less can he afford to take all the +consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss +of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no +more than equal right; and yield lesser ones though clearly your +own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in +contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the +bite." + +It was this willingness of his to give up the "lesser things," +and even the things to which he could claim an equal right, which +kept peace in his cabinet, made up of men of strong wills and +conflicting natures. Their devotion to the Union, great as it +was, would not have sufficed in such a strangely assorted +official family; but his unfailing kindness and good sense led +him to overlook many things that another man might have regarded +as deliberate insults; while his great tact and knowledge of +human nature enabled him to bring out the best in people about +him, and at times to turn their very weaknesses into sources of +strength. It made it possible for him to keep the regard of every +one of them. Before he had been in office a month it had +transformed Secretary Seward from his rival into his lasting +friend. It made a warm friend out of the blunt, positive, +hot-tempered Edwin M. Stanton, who became Secretary of War in +place of Mr. Cameron. He was a man of strong will and great +endurance, and gave his Department a record for hard and +effective work that it would be difficult to equal. Many stories +are told of the disrespect he showed the President, and the +cross-purposes at which they labored. The truth is, that they +understood each other perfectly on all important matters, and +worked together through three busy trying years with +ever-increasing affection and regard. The President's kindly +humor forgave his Secretary many blunt speeches. "Stanton says I +am a fool?" he is reported to have asked a busy-body who came +fleet-footed to tell him of the Secretary's hasty comment on an +order of little moment. "Stanton says I am a fool? Well"--with a +whimsical glance at his informant--"then I suppose I must be. +Stanton is nearly always right." Knowing that Stanton was "nearly +always right" it made little difference to his chief what he +might say in the heat of momentary annoyance. + +Yet in spite of his forbearance he never gave up the "larger +things" that he felt were of real importance; and when he learned +at one time that an effort was being made to force a member of +the cabinet to resign, he called them together, and read them the +following impressive little lecture: + +"I must myself be the judge how long to retain in, and when to +remove any of you from his position. It would greatly pain me to +discover any of you endeavoring to procure another's removal, or +in any way to prejudice him before the public. Such endeavor +would be a wrong to me, and much worse, a wrong to the country. +My wish is that on this subject no remark be made, nor question +asked by any of you, here, or elsewhere, now, or hereafter." + +This is one of the most remarkable speeches ever made by a +President. Washington was never more dignified; Jackson was never +more peremptory. + +The President's spirit of forgiveness was broad enough to take in +the entire South. The cause of the Confederacy had been doomed +from the hour of his reelection. The cheering of the troops which +greeted the news had been heard within the lines at Richmond, and +the besieged town lost hope, though it continued the struggle +bravely if desperately. Although Horace Greeley's peace mission +to Canada had come to nothing, and other volunteer efforts in the +same direction served only to call forth a declaration from +Jefferson Davis that he would fight for the independence of the +South to the bitter end, Mr. Lincoln watched longingly for the +time when the first move could be made toward peace. Early in +January, 1865, as the country was about to enter upon the fifth +year of actual war, he learned from Hon. Francis P. Blair, Sr., +who had been in Richmond, how strong the feeling of +discouragement at the Confederate capital had become. Mr. Blair +was the father of Lincoln's first Postmaster-General, a man of +large acquaintance in the South, who knew perhaps better than +anyone in Washington the character and temper of the southern +leaders. He had gone to Richmond hoping to do something toward +bringing the war to a close, but without explaining his plans to +anyone, and with no authority from the government, beyond +permission to pass through the military lines and return. His +scheme was utterly impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested +in the report of his visit only because it showed that the +rebellion was nearing its end. This was so marked that he sent +Mr. Blair back again to Richmond with a note intended for the eye +of Jefferson Davis, saying that the government had constantly +been, was then, and would continue to be ready to receive any +agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace to the +people of our one common country." + +Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates +had no mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence +of the southern States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such +straits that they could not afford to leave Mr. Lincoln's offer +untested. Mr. Davis therefore sent north his Vice-President, +Alexander H. Stephens, with two other high officials of the +Confederate government, armed with instructions which aimed to be +liberal enough to gain them admittance to the Union lines, and +yet distinctly announced that they came "for the purpose of +securing peace to the two countries." This difference in the +wording of course doomed their mission in advance, for the +government at Washington had never admitted that there were "two +countries," and to receive the messengers of Jefferson Davis on +any such terms would be to concede practically all that the South +asked. + +When they reached the Union lines the officer who met them +informed them that they could go no farther unless they accepted +the President's conditions. They finally changed the form of +their request, and were taken to Fortress Monroe. Meantime Mr. +Lincoln had sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe with +instructions to hear all they might have to say, but not to +definitely conclude anything. On learning the true nature of +their errand he was about to recall him, when he received a +telegram from General Grant, regretting that Mr. Lincoln himself +could not see the commissioners, because, to Grant's mind, they +seemed sincere. + +Anxious to do everything he could in the interest of peace, Mr. +Lincoln, instead of recalling Secretary Seward, telegraphed that +he would himself come to Fortress Monroe, and started that same +night. The next morning, February 3, 1865, he and the Secretary +of State received the rebel commissioners on board the +President's steamer, the River Queen. + +This conference between the two highest officials of the United +States government, and three messengers from the Confederacy, +bound, as the President well knew beforehand, by instructions +which made any practical outcome impossible, brings out, in +strongest relief, Mr. Lincoln's kindly patience, even toward the +rebellion. He was determined to leave no means untried that +might, however remotely, lead to peace. For four hours he +patiently answered the many questions they asked him, as to what +would probably be done on various subjects if the South +submitted; pointing out always the difference between the things +that he had the power to decide, and those that must be submitted +to Congress; and bringing the discussion back, time and again, to +the three points absolutely necessary to secure peace-- Union, +freedom for the slaves, and complete disbandment of the +Confederate armies. He had gone to offer them, honestly and +frankly, the best terms in his power, but not to give up one atom +of official dignity or duty. Their main thought, on the contrary, +had been to postpone or to escape the express conditions on which +they were admitted to the conference. + +They returned to Richmond and reported the failure of their +efforts to Jefferson Davis, whose disappointment equalled their +own, for all had caught eagerly at the hope that this interview +would somehow prove a means of escape from the dangers of their +situation. President Lincoln, full of kindly thoughts, on the +other hand, went back to Washington, intent on making yet one +more generous offer to hasten the day of peace. He had told the +commissioners that personally he would be in favor of the +government paying a liberal amount for the loss of slave +property, on condition that the southern States agree of their +own accord to the freedom of the slaves.* This was indeed going +to the extreme of liberality, but Mr. Lincoln remembered that +notwithstanding all their offenses the rebels were American +citizens, members of the same nation and brothers of the same +blood. He remembered, too, that the object of the war, equally +with peace and freedom, was to preserve friendship and to +continue the Union. Filled with such thoughts and purposes he +spent the day after his return in drawing up a new proposal +designed as a peace offering to the States in rebellion. On the +evening of February 5 he read this to his cabinet. It offered the +southern States $400,000,000 or a sum equal to the cost of war +for two hundred days, on condition that all fighting cease by the +first of April, 1865. He proved more liberal than any of his +advisers; and with the words, "You are all against me," sadly +uttered, the President folded up the paper, and ended the +discussion. + +* Mr. Lincoln had freed the slaves two years before as a military +necessity, and as such it had been accepted by all. Yet a +question might arise, when the war ended, as to whether this act +of his had been lawful. He was therefore very anxious to have +freedom find a place in the Constitution of the United States. +This could only be done by an amendment to the Constitution, +proposed by Congress, and adopted by the legislatures of +three-fourths of the States of the Union. Congress voted in favor +of such an amendment on January 31, 1865. Illinois, the +President's own State, adopted it on the very next day, and +though Mr. Lincoln did not live to see it a part of the +Constitution, Secretary Seward, on December 18, 1865, only a few +months after Mr. Lincoln's death, was able to make official +announcement that 29 States, constituting a majority of three- +fourths of the 36 States of the Union, had adopted it, and that +therefore it was the law of the land. + + +Jefferson Davis had issued a last appeal to "fire the southern +heart," but the situation at Richmond was becoming desperate +Flour cost a thousand dollars a barrel in Confederate money, and +neither the flour nor the money were sufficient for their needs. +Squads of guards were sent into the streets with directions to +arrest every able-bodied man they met, and force him to work in +defense of the town. It is said that the medical boards were +ordered to excuse no one from military service who was well +enough to bear arms for even ten days. Human nature will not +endure a strain like this, and desertion grew too common to +punish. Nevertheless the city kept up its defense until April 3. +Even then, although hopelessly beaten, the Confederacy was not +willing to give in, and much needless and severe fighting took +place before the final end came. The rebel government hurried +away toward the South, and Lee bent all his energies to saving +his army and taking it to join General Johnston, who still held +out against Sherman. Grant pursued him with such energy that he +did not even allow himself the pleasure of entering the captured +rebel capital. The chase continued six days. On the evening of +April 8 the Union army succeeded in planting itself squarely +across Lee's line of retreat; and the marching and fighting of +his army were over for ever. On the next morning the two generals +met in a house on the edge of the village of Appomattox, +Virginia, Lee resplendent in a new uniform and handsome sword, +Grant in the travel-stained garments in which he had made the +campaign--the blouse of a private soldier, with the +shoulderstraps of a Lieutenant-General. Here the surrender took +place. Grant, as courteous in victory as he was energetic in war, +offered Lee terms that were liberal in the extreme; and on +learning that the Confederate soldiers were actually suffering +with hunger, ordered that rations be issued to them at once. + +Fire and destruction attended the flight of the Confederates from +Richmond. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, carrying with them +their more important state papers, left the doomed city on one of +the crowded and overloaded railroad trains on the night of April +2, beginning a southward flight that ended only with Mr. Davis's +capture about a month later. The legislature of Virginia and the +governor of the State departed hurriedly on a canal-boat in the +direction of Lynchburg, while every possible carriage or vehicle +was pressed into service by the inhabitants, all frantic to get +away before their city was "desecrated" by the presence of the +Yankees. By the time the military left, early on the morning of +April 3, the town was on fire. The Confederate Congress had +ordered all government tobacco and other public property to be +burned. The rebel General Ewell, who was in charge of the city, +asserts that he took the responsibility of disobeying, and that +the fires were not started by his orders. Be that as it may, they +broke out in various places, while a mob, crazed with excitement, +and wild with the alcohol that had run freely in the gutters the +night before, rushed from store to store, breaking in the doors, +and indulging in all the wantonness of pillage and greed. Public +spirit seemed paralyzed; no real effort was made to put out the +flames, and as a final horror, the convicts from the +penitentiary, overpowering their guards, appeared upon the +streets, a maddened, shouting, leaping crowd, drunk with liberty. + +It is quite possible that the very size and suddenness of the +disaster served in a measure to lessen its evil effects; for the +burning of seven hundred buildings, the entire business portion +of Richmond, all in the brief space of a day, was a visitation so +sudden, so stupefying and unexpected as to overawe and terrorize +even evildoers. Before a new danger could arise help was at hand. +Gen. Weitzel, to whom the city surrendered, took up his +headquarters in the house lately occupied by Jefferson Davis, and +promptly set about the work of relief; fighting the fire, issuing +rations to the poor, and restoring order and authority. That a +regiment of black soldiers assisted in this work of mercy must +have seemed to the white inhabitants of Richmond the final drop +in their cup of misery. + +Into the rebel capital, thus stricken and laid waste, came +President Lincoln on the morning of April 4. Never in the history +of the world has the head of a mighty nation and the conqueror of +a great rebellion entered the captured chief city of the +insurgents in such humbleness and simplicity. He had gone two +weeks before to City Point for a visit to General Grant, and to +his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, who was serving on Grant's +staff. Making his home on the steamer that brought him, and +enjoying what was probably the most restful and satisfactory +holiday in which he had been able to indulge during his whole +presidential service, he had visited the various camps of the +great army, in company with the General, cheered everywhere by +the loving greetings of the soldiers. He had met Sherman when +that commander hurried up fresh from his victorious march from +Atlanta; and after Grant had started on his final pursuit of Lee +the President still lingered. It was at City Point that the news +came to him of the fall of Richmond. + +Between the receipt of this news and the following forenoon, +before any information of the great fire had reached them, a +visit to the rebel capital was arranged for the President and +Rear Admiral Porter. Ample precautions for their safety were +taken at the start. The President went in his own steamer, the +River Queen, with her escort, the Bat, and a tug used at City +Point in landing from the steamer. Admiral Porter went in his +flagship; while a transport carried a small cavalry escort, as +well as ambulances for the party. Barriers in the river soon made +it impossible to proceed in this fashion, and one unforeseen +accident after another rendered it necessary to leave behind the +larger and even the smaller boats; until finally the party went +on in the Admiral's barge rowed by twelve sailors, without escort +of any kind. In this manner the President made his entry into +Richmond, landing near Libby Prison. As the party stepped ashore +they found a guide among the contrabands who quickly crowded the +streets, for the possible coming of the President had already +been noised through the city. Ten of the sailors armed with +carbines were formed as a guard, six in front, and four in rear, +and between them the President and Admiral Porter, with the three +officers who accompanied them, walked the long distance, perhaps +a mile and a half, to the centre of the town. + +Imagination can easily fill in the picture of a gradually +increasing crowd, principally of negroes, following the little +group of marines and officers with the tall form of the President +in its centre; and, when they learned that it was indeed "Massa +Lincum," expressing their joy and gratitude in fervent blessings +and in the deep emotional cries of the colored race. It is easy +also to imagine the sharp anxiety of those who had the +President's safety in their charge during this tiresome and even +foolhardy march through a town still in flames, whose white +inhabitants were sullenly resentful at best, and whose grief and +anger might at any moment break out against the man they looked +upon as the chief author of their misfortunes. No accident befell +him. He reached General Weitzel's headquarters in safety, rested +in the house Jefferson Davis had occupied while President of the +Confederacy; and after a day of sightseeing returned to his +steamer and to Washington, there to be stricken down by an +assassin's bullet, literally "in the house of his friends." + + + +XIII. THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL + +Refreshed in body by his visit to City Point and greatly cheered +by the fall of Richmond, and unmistakable signs that the war was +over, Mr. Lincoln went back to Washington intent on the new task +opening before him--that of restoring the Union, and of bringing +about peace and good will again between the North and the South. +His whole heart was bent on the work of "binding up the nation's +wounds" and doing all which lay in his power to "achieve a just +and lasting peace." Especially did he desire to avoid the +shedding of blood, or anything like acts of deliberate +punishment. He talked to his cabinet in this strain on the +morning of April 14, the last day of his life. "No one need +expect that he would take any part in hanging or killing these +men, even the worst of them," he exclaimed. Enough lives had been +sacrificed already. Anger must be put aside. The great need now +was to begin to act in the interest of peace. With these words of +clemency and kindness in their ears they left him, never again to +come together under his wise chairmanship. + +Though it was invariably held in check by his vigorous +common-sense, there was in Mr. Lincoln's nature a strong vein of +poetry and mysticism. That morning he told his cabinet a strange +story of a dream that he had had the night before--a dream which +he said came to him before great events. He had dreamed it before +the battles of Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg and Vicksburg. +This time it must foretell a victory by Sherman over Johnston's +army, news of which was hourly expected, for he knew of no other +important event likely to occur. The members of the cabinet were +deeply impressed; but General Grant, who had come to Washington +that morning and was present, remarked with matter-of-fact +exactness that Murfreesboro was no victory and had no important +results. Not the wildest imagination of skeptic or mystic could +have pictured the events under which the day was to close. + +It was Good Friday, a day observed by a portion of the people +with fasting and prayer, but even among the most devout the great +news of the week just ended changed this time of traditional +mourning into a season of general thanksgiving. For Mr. Lincoln +it was a day of unusual and quiet happiness. His son Robert had +returned from the field with General Grant, and the President +spent an hour with the young captain in delighted conversation +over the campaign. He denied himself generally to visitors, +admitting only a few friends. In the afternoon he went for a long +drive with Mrs. Lincoln. His mood, as it had been all day, was +singularly happy and tender. He talked much of the past and +future. After four years of trouble and tumult he looked forward +to four years of quiet and normal work; after that he expected to +go back again to Illinois and practice law. He was never more +simple or more gentle than on this day of triumph. His heart +overflowed with sentiments of gratitude to Heaven, which took the +shape, usual to generous natures, of love and kindness to all +men. + +From the very beginning there had been threats to kill him. He +was constantly receiving letters of warning from zealous or +nervous friends. The War Department inquired into these when +there seemed to be ground for doing so, but always without +result. Warnings that appeared most definite proved on +examination too vague and confused for further attention. The +President knew that he was in some danger. Madmen frequently made +their way to the very door of the Executive Office; sometimes +into Mr. Lincoln's presence; but he himself had so sane a mind, +and a heart so kindly even to his enemies, that it was hard for +him to believe in political hatred deadly enough to lead to +murder. He summed up the matter by saying that since he must +receive both friends and strangers every day, his life was of +course within the reach of any one, sane or mad, who was ready to +murder and be hanged for it, and that he could not possibly guard +against all danger unless he shut himself up in an iron box, +where he could scarcely perform the duties of a President. + +He therefore went in and out before the people, always unarmed, +generally unattended. He received hundreds of visitors in a day, +his breast bare to pistol or knife. He walked at midnight, with a +single Secretary or alone, from the Executive Mansion to the War +Department and back. In summer he rode through lonely roads from +the White House to the Soldiers' Home in the dusk of the evening, +and returned to his work in the morning before the town was +astir. He was greatly annoyed when it was decided that there must +be a guard at the Executive Mansion, and that a squad of cavalry +must accompany him on his daily drive; but he was always +reasonable, and yielded to the best judgment of others. + +Four years of threats and boastings that were unfounded, and of +plots that came to nothing passed away, until precisely at the +time when the triumph of the nation seemed assured, and a +feeling of peace and security settled over the country, one of +the conspiracies, seemingly no more important than the others, +ripened in a sudden heat of hatred and despair. + +A little band of desperate secessionists, of which John Wilkes +Booth, an actor of a family of famous players, was the head, had +their usual meeting-place at the house of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, +the mother of one of the number. Booth was a young man of +twenty-six, strikingly handsome, with an ease and grace of manner +which came to him of right from his theatrical ancestors. He was +a fanatical southerner, with a furious hatred against Lincoln and +the Union. After Lincoln's reelection he went to Canada, and +associated with the Confederate agents there; and whether or not +with their advice, made a plan to capture the President and take +him to Richmond. He passed a great part of the autumn and winter +pursuing this fantastic scheme, but the winter wore away, and +nothing was done. On March 4 he was at the Capitol, and created a +disturbance by trying to force his way through the line of +policemen who guarded the passage through which the President +walked to the East front of the building to read his Second +Inaugural. His intentions at this time are not known. He +afterwards said he lost an excellent chance of killing the +President that day. + +After the surrender of Lee, in a rage akin to madness, he called +his fellow-conspirators together and allotted to each his part in +the new crime which had risen in his mind. It was as simple as it +was horrible. One man was to kill Secretary Seward, another to +make way with Andrew Johnson, at the same time that he murdered +the President. The final preparations were made with feverish +haste. It was only about noon of the fourteenth that Booth +learned that Mr. Lincoln meant to go to Ford's Theatre that night +to see the play "Our American Cousin." The President enjoyed the +theatre. It was one of his few means of recreation, and as the +town was then thronged with soldiers and officers all eager to +see him, he could, by appearing in public, gratify many whom he +could not personally meet. + +Mrs. Lincoln asked General and Mrs. Grant to accompany her. They +accepted, and the announcement that they would be present was +made in the evening papers, but they changed their plans and went +north by an afternoon train. Mrs. Lincoln then invited in their +stead Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson of +Senator Ira Harris. Being detained by visitors, the play had made +some progress when the President appeared.. The band struck up +"Hail to the Chief," the actors ceased playing, the audience rose +and cheered, the President bowed in acknowledgment, and the play +went on again. + +From the moment he learned of the President's intention Booth's +actions were alert and energetic. He and his confederates were +seen in every part of the city. Booth was perfectly at home in +Ford's Theatre. He counted upon audacity to reach the small +passage behind the President's box. Once there, he guarded +against interference by arranging a wooden bar, to be fastened by +a simple mortice in the angle of the wall and the door by which +he entered, so that once shut, the door could not be opened from +the outside. He even provided for the chance of not gaining +entrance to the box by boring a hole in the door, through which +he might either observe the occupants, or take aim and shoot. He +hired at a livery stable a small fleet horse. + +A few moments before ten o'clock, leaving his horse at the rear +of the theatre, in charge of a call-boy, he entered the building, +passing rapidly to the little hallway leading to the President's +box. Showing a card to the servant in attendance, he was allowed +to enter, closed the door noiselessly, and secured it with the +wooden bar he had made ready, without disturbing any of the +occupants of the box, between whom and himself yet remained the +partition and the door through which he had bored the hole. + +No one, not even the actor who uttered them, could ever remember +the last words of the piece that were spoken that night--the last +that Abraham Lincoln heard upon earth; for the tragedy in the box +turned play and players alike to the most unsubstantial of +phantoms. For weeks hate and brandy had kept Booth's brain in a +morbid state. He seemed to himself to be taking part in a great +play. Holding a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other, he +opened the box door, put the pistol to the President's head, and +fired. Major Rathbone sprang to grapple with him, and received a +savage knife wound in the arm. Then, rushing forward, Booth +placed his hand on the railing of the box and vaulted to the +stage. It was a high leap, but nothing to such a trained athlete. +He would have got safely away, had not his spur caught in the +flag that draped the front of the box. He fell, the torn flag +trailing on his spur; but though the fall had broken his leg, he +rose instantly brandishing his knife and shouting, "Sic Semper +Tyrannis!" fled rapidly across the stage and out of sight. Major +Rathbone shouted, "Stop him!" The cry, "He has shot the +President!" rang through the theatre, and from the audience, +stupid at first with surprise, and wild afterward with excitement +and horror, men jumped upon the stage in pursuit of the assassin. +But he ran through the familiar passages, leaped upon his horse, +rewarding with a kick and a curse the boy who held him, and +escaped into the night. + +The President scarcely moved. His head drooped forward slightly, +his eyes closed. Major Rathbone, not regarding his own grievous +hurt, rushed to the door to summon aid. He found it barred, and +someone on the outside beating and clamoring to get in. It was at +once seen that the President's wound was mortal. He was carried +across the street to a house opposite, and laid upon a bed. Mrs. +Lincoln followed, tenderly cared for by Miss Harris. Rathbone, +exhausted by loss of blood, fainted, and was taken home. +Messengers were sent for the cabinet, for the Surgeon-General, +for Dr. Stone the President's family physician, and for others +whose official or private relations with Mr. Lincoln gave them +the right to be there. A crowd of people rushed instinctively to +the White House, and bursting through the doors shouted the +dreadful news to Robert Lincoln and Major Hay who sat together in +an upper room. + +The President had been shot a few minutes after ten o'clock. The +wound would have brought instant death to most men. He was +unconscious from the first moment, but he breathed throughout the +night, his gaunt face scarcely paler than those of the sorrowing +men around him. At twenty-two minutes past seven in the morning +he died. Secretary Stanton broke the silence by saying, "Now he +belongs to the ages." + +Booth had done his work thoroughly. His principal accomplice had +acted with equal audacity and cruelty, but with less fatal +result. Under pretext of having a package of medicine to deliver, +he forced his way to the room of the Secretary of State, who lay +ill, and attacked him, inflicting three terrible knife wounds on +his neck and cheek, wounding also the Secretary's two sons, a +servant, and a soldier nurse who tried to overpower him. Finally +breaking away, he ran downstairs, reached the door unhurt, and +springing upon his horse rode off. It was feared that neither the +Secretary nor his eldest son would live, but both in time +recovered. + +Although Booth had been recognized by dozens of people as he +stood before the footlights brandishing his dagger, his swift +horse soon carried him beyond any hap-hazard pursuit. He crossed +the Navy Yard bridge and rode into Maryland, being joined by one +of his fellow-conspirators. A surgeon named Mudd set Booth's leg +and sent him on his desolate way. For ten days the two men lived +the lives of hunted animals. On the night of April 25 they were +surrounded as they lay sleeping in a barn in Caroline County, +Virginia. Booth refused to surrender. The barn was fired, and +while it was burning he was shot by Boston Corbett, a sergeant of +cavalry. He lingered for about three hours in great pain, and +died at seven in the morning. The remaining conspirators were +tried by military commission. Four were hanged, including the +assailant of Secretary Seward, and the others were sentenced to +imprisonment for various lengths of time. + +Upon the hearts of a people glowing with the joy of victory the +news of the President's death fell as a great shock. In the +unspeakable calamity the country lost sight of the great national +successes of the past week; and thus it came to pass that there +was never any organized celebration in the North over the +downfall of the rebellion. It was unquestionably best that it +should be so. Lincoln himself would not have had it otherwise, +for he hated the arrogance of triumph. As it was, the South could +take no offense at a grief so genuine; and the people of that +section even shared, to a certain extent, in the mourning for one +who, in their inmost hearts, they knew to have wished them well. + +Within an hour after Mr. Lincoln's body was taken to the White +House the town was shrouded in black. Not only the public +buildings, the shops, and the better class of dwellings were +draped in funeral decorations; still more touching proof of +affection was shown in the poorest class of homes, where laboring +men of both colors found means in their poverty to afford some +scanty bit of mourning. The interest and veneration of the people +still centered at the White House, where, under a tall catafalque +in the East Room the late chief lay in the majesty of death, +rather than in the modest tavern on Pennsylvania Avenue, where +the new President had his lodgings, and where the Chief Justice +administered the oath of office to him at eleven o'clock on the +morning of April 15. + +It was determined that the funeral ceremonies in Washington +should be held on Wednesday, April 19, and all the churches +throughout the country were invited to join at the same time in +appropriate observances. The ceremonies in the East Room were +simple and brief, while all the pomp and circumstance that the +government could command were employed to give a fitting escort +from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol, where the body of the +President lay in state. The procession moved to the booming of +minute guns, and the tolling of all the bells in Washington, +Georgetown and Alexandria; while, to associate the pomp of the +day with the greatest work of Lincoln's life, a detachment of +colored troops marched at the head of the line. + +When it was announced that he was to be buried at Springfield +every town and city on the way begged that the train might halt +within its limits, to give its people opportunity of showing +their grief and reverence. It was finally arranged that the +funeral cortege should follow substantially the same route over +which Lincoln had come in 1861 to take possession of the office +to which he added a new dignity and value for all time. On April +21, accompanied by a guard of honor, and in a train decked with +somber trappings, the journey was begun. At Baltimore, through +which, four years before, it was a question whether the +President-elect could pass with safety to his life, the coffin +was taken with reverent care to the great dome of the Exchange, +where, surrounded with evergreens and lilies, it lay for several +hours, the people passing by in mournful throngs. The same +demonstration was repeated, gaining constantly in depth of +feeling and solemn splendor of display in every city through +which the procession passed. In New York came General Scott, pale +and feeble, but resolute, to pay his tribute of respect to his +departed friend and commander. + +Springfield was reached on the morning of May 3. The body lay in +state in the Capitol, which was richly draped from roof to +basement in black velvet and silver fringe, while within it was a +bower of bloom and fragrance. For twenty-four hours an unbroken +stream of people passed through, bidding their friend and +neighbor welcome home and farewell. At ten o'clock on the morning +of May 4 the coffin lid was closed, and vast procession moved out +to Oak Ridge, where the town had set apart a lovely spot for his +grave. Here the dead President was committed to the soil of the +State which had so loved and honored him. The ceremonies at the +grave were simple and touching. Bishop Simpson delivered a +pathetic oration, prayers were offered, and hymns were sung, but +the weightiest and most eloquent words uttered anywhere that day +were those of the Second Inaugural, which the Committee had +wisely ordained to be read over his grave, as centuries before, +the friends of the painter Raphael chose the incomparable canvas +of "The Transfiguration" to be the chief ornament of his funeral. + + +Though President Lincoln lived to see the real end of the war, +various bodies of Confederate troops continued to hold out for +some time longer. General Johnston faced Sherman's army in the +Carolinas until April 26, while General E. Kirby Smith, west of +the Mississippi River, did not surrender until May 26. + +As rapidly as possible Union volunteer regiments were disbanded, +and soon the mighty host of 1,000,000 men was reduced to a peace +footing of only 25,000. Before the great army melted away into +the greater body of citizens its soldiers enjoyed one final +triumph--a march through the capital of the nation, undisturbed +by death or danger, under the eyes of their highest commanders +and the representatives of the people whose country they had +saved. Those who witnessed the solemn yet joyous pageant will +never forget it; and pray that their children may never see its +like. For two days this formidable host marched the long stretch +of Pennsylvania Avenue, starting from the shadow of the Capitol +and filling the wide street as far as Georgetown, its serried +ranks moving with the easy yet rapid pace of veterans in cadence +step. As a mere spectacle this march of the mightiest host the +continent has ever seen was grand and imposing, but it was not as +a spectacle alone that it affected the beholder. It was no +holiday parade. It was an army of citizens on their way home +after a long and terrible war. Their clothes were worn, and +pierced with bullets, their banners had been torn with shot and +shell, and lashed in the winds of many battles. The very drums +and fifes had called out the troops to night alarms, and sounded +the onset on historic fields. The whole country claimed these +heroes as part of themselves. They were not soldiers by +profession or from love of fighting; they had become soldiers +only to save their country's life. Now, done with war, they were +going joyously and peaceably back to their homes to take up the +tasks they had willingly laid down in the hour of their country's +need. + +Friends loaded them with flowers as they swung down the Avenue-- +both men and officers, until some were fairly hidden under their +fragrant burden. Grotesque figures were not absent, as Sherman's +legions passed with their "bummers" and their regimental pets. +But with all the shouting and the joy there was, in the minds of +all who saw it, one sad and ever-recurring thought--the memory of +the men who were absent, and who had, nevertheless, so richly +earned the right to be there. The soldiers in their shrunken +companies thought of the brave comrades who had fallen by the +way; and through the whole vast army there was passionate +unavailing regret for their wise, gentle and powerful friend +Abraham Lincoln, gone forever from the big white house by the +Avenue--who had called the great host into being, directed the +course of the nation during the four years that they had been +battling for its life, and to whom, more than to any other, this +crowning peaceful pageant would have been full of deep and happy +meaning. + +Why was this man so loved that his death caused a whole nation to +forget its triumph, and turned its gladness into mourning? Why +has his fame grown with the passing years until now scarcely a +speech is made or a newspaper printed that does not have within +it somewhere a mention of his name or some phrase or sentence +that fell from his lips? Let us see if we can, what it was that +made Abraham Lincoln the man that he became. + +A child born to an inheritance of want; a boy growing into a +narrow world of ignorance; a youth taking up the burden of coarse +and heavy labor; a man entering on the doubtful struggle of a +local backwoods career--these were the beginnings of Abraham +Lincoln if we look at them only in the hard practical spirit +which takes for its motto that "Nothing succeeds but success. If +we adopt a more generous as well as a truer view, then we see +that it was the brave hopeful spirit, the strong active mind, and +the great law of moral growth that accepts the good and rejects +the bad, which Nature gave this obscure child, that carried him +to the service of mankind and the admiration of the centuries as +certainly as the acorn grows to be the oak. + +Even his privations helped the end. Self-reliance, the strongest +trait of the pioneer was his by blood and birth and training, and +was developed by the hardships of his lot to the mighty power +needed to guide our country through the struggle of the Civil +War. + +The sense of equality was his also, for he grew from childhood to +manhood in a state of society where there were neither rich to +envy nor poor to despise, and where the gifts and hardships of +the forest were distributed without favor to each and all alike. +In the forest he learned charity, sympathy, helpfulness--in a +word neighborliness--for in that far-off frontier life all the +wealth of India, had a man possessed it, could not have bought +relief from danger or help in time of need, and neighborliness +became of prime importance. Constant opportunity was found there +to practice the virtue which Christ declared to be next to the +love of God--to love one's neighbor as oneself. + +In such settlements, far removed from courts and jails, men were +brought face to face with questions of natural right. The +pioneers not only understood the American doctrine of +self-government--they lived it. It was this understanding, this +feeling, which taught Lincoln to write: "When the white man +governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs +himself and also governs another man, that is more than +self-government that is despotism;" and also to give utterance +to its twin truth: "He who would be no slave must consent to have +no slave." + +Lincoln was born in the slave State of Kentucky. He lived there +only a short time, and we have reason to believe that wherever he +might have grown up, his very nature would have spurned the +doctrine and practice of human slavery. Yet, though he hated +slavery, he never hated the slave-holder. His feeling of pardon +and sympathy for Kentucky and the South played no unimportant +part in his dealings with grave problems of statesmanship. It is +true that he struck slavery its death blow with the hand of war, +but at the same time he offered the slaveowner golden payment +with the hand of peace. + +Abraham Lincoln was not an ordinary man. He was, in truth, in the +language of the poet Lowell, a "new birth of our new soil." His +greatness did not consist in growing up on the frontier. An +ordinary man would have found on the frontier exactly what he +would have found elsewhere--a commonplace life, varying only with +the changing ideas and customs of time and place. But for the man +with extraordinary powers of mind and body--for one gifted by +Nature as Abraham Lincoln was gifted, the pioneer life with its +severe training in self-denial, patience and industry, developed +his character, and fitted him for the great duties of his after +life as no other training could have done. + +His advancement in the astonishing career that carried him from +obscurity to world-wide fame--from postmaster of New Salem +village to President of the United States, from captain of a +backwoods volunteer company to Commander-in-Chief of the Army and +Navy, was neither sudden nor accidental, nor easy. He was both +ambitious and successful, but his ambition was moderate, and his +success was slow. And, because his success was slow, it never +outgrew either his judgment or his powers. Between the day when +he left his father's cabin and launched his canoe on the +headwaters of the Sangamon River to begin life on his own +account, and the day of his first inauguration, lay full thirty +years of toil, self-denial, patience; often of effort baffled, of +hope deferred; sometimes of bitter disappointment. Even with the +natural gift of great genius it required an average lifetime and +faithful unrelaxing effort, to transform the raw country +stripling into a fit ruler for this great nation. + +Almost every success was balanced--sometimes overbalanced, by a +seeming failure. He went into the Black Hawk war a captain, and +through no fault of his own, came out a private. He rode to the +hostile frontier on horseback, and trudged home on foot. His +store "winked out." His surveyor's compass and chain, with which +he was earning a scanty living, were sold for debt. He was +defeated in his first attempts to be nominated for the +legislature and for Congress; defeated in his application to be +appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office; defeated for +the Senate when he had forty-five votes to begin with. by a man +who had only five votes to begin with; defeated again after his +joint debates with Douglas; defeated in the nomination for +Vice-President, when a favorable nod from half a dozen +politicians would have brought him success. + +Failures? Not so. Every seeming defeat was a slow success. His +was the growth of the oak, and not of Jonah's gourd. He could not +become a master workman until he had served a tedious +apprenticeship. It was the quarter of a century of reading, +thinking, speech-making and lawmaking which fitted him to be the +chosen champion of freedom in the great Lincoln-Douglas debates +of 1858. It was the great moral victory won in those debates +(although the senatorship went to Douglas) added to the title +"Honest Old Abe," won by truth and manhood among his neighbors +during a whole lifetime, that led the people of the United States +to trust him with the duties and powers of President. + +And when, at last, after thirty years of endeavor, success had +beaten down defeat, when Lincoln had been nominated, elected and +inaugurated, came the crowning trial of his faith and constancy. +When the people, by free and lawful choice, had placed honor and +power in his hands, when his name could convene Congress, approve +laws, cause ships to sail and armies to move, there suddenly came +upon the government and the nation a fatal paralysis. Honor +seemed to dwindle and power to vanish. Was he then after all not +to be President? Was patriotism dead? Was the Constitution only a +bit of waste paper? Was the Union gone? + +The outlook was indeed grave. There was treason in Congress, +treason in the Supreme Court, treason in the army and navy. +Confusion and discord were everywhere. To use Mr. Lincoln's +forcible figure of speech, sinners were calling the righteous to +repentance. Finally the flag, insulted and fired upon, trailed in +surrender at Sumter; and then came the humiliation of the riot at +Baltimore, and the President for a few days practically a +prisoner in the capital of the nation. + +But his apprenticeship had been served, and there was to be no +more failure. With faith and justice and generosity he conducted +for four long years a war whose frontiers stretched from the +Potomac to the Rio Grande; whose soldiers numbered a million men +on each side. The labor, the thought, the responsibility, the +strain of mind and anguish of soul that he gave to this great +task, who can measure? "Here was place for no holiday magistrate, +no fair weather sailor," as Emerson justly said of him. "The new +pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado. In four years-- four +years of battle days--his endurance, his fertility of resources, +his magnanimity, were sorely tried and never found wanting." "By +his courage, his justice, his even temper, his humanity, he stood +a heroic figure in the centre of a heroic epoch." + +What but a lifetime's schooling in disappointment, what but the +pioneer's self-reliance and freedom from prejudice, what but the +clear mind, quick to see natural right and unswerving in its +purpose to follow it; what but the steady self-control, the +unwarped sympathy, the unbounded charity of this man with spirit +so humble and soul so great, could have carried him through the +labors he wrought to the victory he attained? + +With truth it could be written, "His heart was as great as the +world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a +wrong." So, "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with +firmness in the right as God gave him to see the right" he lived +and died. We who have never seen him yet feel daily the influence +of his kindly life, and cherish among our most precious +possessions the heritage of his example. + + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln + diff --git a/old/bloal10.zip b/old/bloal10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..81ceb23 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bloal10.zip |