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Within a few days Johnston yielded to Sherman in North Carolina, and soon all organized resistance to the authority of the national government ceased. Secession had run its course; the war of the rebellion had reached its end!

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Fort Fisher... Fort Fisher, N.C. Jan. 15...... Maj. Gen. A. H. Gen. B. Bragg

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580. After Appomattox.-Although the event had been anticipated, the news of Lee's surrender passed through the loyal states like an electric shock. The president issued a proclamation of thanksgiving, and the whole nation responded as with one voice. During all the trying period of the civil war, a statesman,—such as the nation had not known since the days of Washington,-had safely conducted the affairs of state through the most perilous crisis in the history of the republic. No greater American has yet lived than the tender-hearted, broad-gauged, generous Lincoln. His famous words, uttered in 1858, now seemed like prophecy— "a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that 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." Now that the union had been restored, and the country had become "all free," thoughtful and anxious men in every section of the republic looked to the great Lincoln to point the way to the restoration of the southern states to their old

position in the union. He had been born in the south, and as an old-time Whig had associated much with southern leaders. He knew the temper of the southern people as no northern man could know it. On the afternoon of the 14th of April he dismissed his cabinet meeting with the words, "We must now begin to act in the interest of peace.'

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581. Death of Lincoln.-On that very night of the now historic 14th of April, 1865, the country was startled by a message flashed over the wires from Washington that President Lincoln, while in attendance upon a performance at Ford's theater, had been shot by John Wilkes Booth,—a brilliant, though dissolute actor of the national capital. The president was immediately removed from his box at the theater to a house across the street, where the whole nation anxiously awaited the verdict of the surgeons who had been summoned to his bedside. That verdict fell like a blow upon the country, the wound was pronounced fatal! On the following day the president passed away, surrounded by members of his family, his cabinet, and many other anxious watchers. As the great Emancipator breathed his last the big-hearted secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, sobbed aloud, "Now he belongs to the ages". . . . "There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen. "" This eloquent tribute of the great war secretary, spoken in tears at the bedside of his dead chief, is to-day the final verdict of mankind.

582. After Lincoln's Death.-This startling event came close upon the welcome news from Appomattox. National joy was thus suddenly changed to national sorrow. The whole nation mourned the loss of

The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,

Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, New birth of our new soil, the first American.* But the wretch who had committed the cowardly deed was not to escape punishment, for the nation

* Lowell.

Wept with the passion of angry grief.*

Booth fled, but was soon brought to bay in a barn, near an old farmhouse in Maryland, where, on refusing to surrender, he was shot. An organized conspiracy was soon unearthed in Washington. On the night of the president's assassination an attempt was made upon the life of Secretary of State Seward, which was foiled by the vigorous action of Seward's son, who, in a hand-to-hand encounter, ejected from his father's sick chamber, one Payne, a self-confessed member of this band of conspirators. Payne and three others of the conspirators were afterwards hanged, while a few more who were found guilty on the charge of aiding the plot were imprisoned for life.

THE COST OF THE WAR

583. In Men and in Treasure.-During the war more than 2,200,000 men enlisted on the union side and half that number on the confederate side. Nearly 110,000 union soldiers and sailors were killed, or died from wounds received in battle. The total number of deaths from all causes amounted to more than 360,000 on the union side; to about 300,000 on the confederate. It will thus be seen that on both sides a total of 3,700,000 men were under arms on the continent within a period of four years, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. Within that same four years 660,000 men laid down their lives in the camp or on the field of battle.

The total cost of the war to the national government was $3,250,000,000. The cost of the war to the seceded states was at least $1,750,000,000, making a total war expenditure in the four years of five billion dollars. In the last year of the war, the total amount appropriated by congress for the maintenance and support of the union army was $516,214,131, an average of nearly one and one-half million dollars per day.

584. The Finances of the War.-To raise the vast amount of money necessary to carry on the war, the national government resorted to two methods-taxation and loans. The war tar

iffs, sometimes called the Morrill Tariffs, were first laid in 1861. Each succeeding session of congress, from 1862 to 1865, passed some amendment to the original bill. Congress also levied internal taxes,-upon incomes and salaries; upon trades and callings; upon nearly all home manufactures; and upon the gross receipts of railroad, steamboat, and express companies. A stamp-tax was also laid upon all legal documents. This system of direct and indirect taxes produced an annual revenue of about $300,000,000.

This amount not being sufficient to meet the enormous expenses of the government, the secretary of the treasury also borrowed money on the credit of the United States. For these loans government bonds were issued bearing interest at various rates and payable at the option of the government after a certain number of years. Treasury notes, too, were issued to the amount of nearly a half billion dollars. This paper money became known as the "greenback currency." To aid the government in carrying on its financial operations, congress established and perfected the national banking system.

PROGRESS DURING THE WAR

585. Improvements in Arms.-The war called forth the inventive genius of the north. The improvements in fire arms, heavy cannon, explosives, torpedoes, and all that goes to make war terrible and frightful, marked an epoch in the manufacture of the implements and munitions of war. The success of the Monitor revolutionized the construction of the navies of the world. The practical application of the telegraph on the field of battle was demonstrated. The methods of feeding, clothing, and transporting large armies excited the admiration of the military experts sent from Europe to witness the progress of the war.

586. The Sanitary and Christian Commissions.-Through the loyal women of the north, the suffering and hardships of army life were lessened. Nurses were sent into every hos

pital and army camp to look after the sick, and care for the wounded. The Sanitary Commission and the Christian Commission did a work unequaled by any similar body in the history of war. Nearly twenty million dollars were raised and expended, without waste, by these splendid organizations, which sent vast quantities of needed supplies to the army. Through their help thousands of soldiers were better fed and more warmly clothed. Delicate food was provided for the sick and ailing, and greater comforts placed in the army hospitals. Through the Christian Commission thousands of Bibles and large quantities of high-class literature were distributed among the soldiers. This commission in every way aided in securing and maintaining a high moral standard among the men who composed the armies of the republic. Nor was the work of these two commissions devoted solely to the armies in the field. The widow and the orphan were tenderly cared for and comforted.

587. Growth: New States.-While the south was devastated by the ravages of war, the progress of the northern states was steadily maintained. Two new states were admitted to the union,-West Virginia coming in in 1863 as the thirty-sixth state, and Nevada in 1864 as the thirtyseventh. It will thus be seen that the country grew in spite of the war. Lincoln recognized this on the very night of his second election, when the returns showed that the voting strength of the country in 1864 was greater than it was in 1860. During the decade in which the war occurred, the population of the country increased over seven millions, and the total wealth of the country leaped from sixteen billions to more than thirty billions of dollars. Manufactures had thrived; internal commerce had prospered; the great west had steadily grown. War and national growth were carried on side by side. While granting appropriations to meet the expenses of the war, congress at the same time passed a liberal homestead act, and made large grants of land to the Union Pacific railroad,-which line was soon to join the

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