264 Carl Schurs. Carl Schurz, born in Prussia, fled to this country when a young man because of complication in the revolutionary movement in his native land. He served during the war and was influential in enlisting German citizens.

269 Battle of Fredericksburg. General A. E. Burnside, who against his own wish had been given charge of the army, was severely defeated at the battle of Fredericksburg 11 December 1862. His report of the battle referred to by the president was a manly document in which he praised the conduct of his officers and men and took on his own shoulders the responsibility for the disaster. The defeat aroused the greatest discontent in the north but there seemed no man at hand better fitted for the command than Burnside.

275 Letter to Hooker. "Perhaps the most remarkable thing in his letter," say Messrs. Nicolay and Hay in their biography, "is the evidence it gives how completely the genius of President Lincoln had by this, the middle of his presidential term, risen to the full height of his great national duties and responsibilities. From beginning to end it speaks the language and breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure in the popular confidence and official authority, equal to the great emergencies that successively rose before him."

270 Emancipation proclamation. The effect on the slaves of this historic document, to the signing of which the president's letters have shown him to have been driven by force of circumstances and against his feeling of justice to the slave-holders, may perhaps best be illustrated by a quotation from Booker T. Washington's autobiography entitled "Up From Slavery." In this volume we get a description of that supreme moment from one who was himself a slave-boy on a Virginia plantation:

As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had reference to freedom. True, they had sung the same verses before, but they had been careful to explain that the "freedom" of these songs referred to the next world and had no connection with life in this world. Now they gradually threw off the mask and were not afraid to let it be known that the "freedom" in their songs meant freedom of body in this world. The night before the eventful day, word was sent to the slave quarters to the effect that something unusual was going to take place at the "big house" the next morning. There was little if any sleep that night. All was excitement and expectancy. Early the next morning word was sent to all the slaves, old and young, to gather at the house. In company with my mother, brother, and sister, and a large number of other slaves, I went to the master's house. All of our master's family were either standing or seated on the veranda of the house, where they were to see what was to take place and hear what was said. There was a feeling of deep interest, or perhaps sadness, on their faces, but not bitterness. As I now recall the impression they made on me, they did not at the moment seem to be sad because of the loss of their property, but rather because of parting with those whom they had reared and who were in many ways very close to them. The most distinct thing that I now recall was that some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the emancipation proclamation, I think. After the reading we were told that we were all free and could go when and where we pleased. My mother who was standing by my side leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying but fearing she would never live to see.

For some minutes there was great rejoicing and thanksgiving and wild scenes of ecstasy. But there was no feeling

of bitterness. In fact there was pity among the slaves for their former owners. The wild rejoicing on the part of the emancipated colored people lasted but a brief period, for I noticed that by the time they had returned to their cabins there was a change in their feelings. The great responsibility of being free, of having charge of themselves, of having to think and plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession of them. It was very much like turning a youth of ten or twelve out into the world to provide for himself. To some it seemed that now they were in actual possession of it, freedom was a more serious thing than they had expected to find it. Some of the slaves were seventy or eighty years old; their best days were gone. Besides, deep down in their hearts there was a strange and peculiar attachment to "old marster" and "old missus" and to their children, which they found it hard to think of breaking off. Gradually, one by one, stealthily at first, the older slaves began to wander from the slave quarters back to the big house to have a whispered conversation with their former owners as to the future.

279 Grant at Vicksburg. General Grant had from the first assumed an aggressive policy and had won substantial victories that were disapproved of by Halleck, his superior, on technical grounds. The president, just then irritated by the indecision of his generals, was urged to remove him but his reply was, "I can't spare this man. He fights." He then raised Grant to the rank of major general. Grant continued his aggressive policy and at Vicksburg forced the surrender of Pemberton with about 30,000 men and 172

cannon.

279 Letter to Meade. The battle of Gettysburg was fought on the three first days of July 1863. Lee had dreamed of taking Philadelphia but the repulse given him by General Meade was so severe that had it been followed up the popular belief was that the war would have been ended shortly.

"

282 Letter to Mrs. Lincoln. After the death of William Lincoln, Thomas, or “ Tad," seemed to grow especially dear to his father. Colonel John Hay writes:

"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 continually in and out of his father's cabinet, interrupting his gravest labors and conversations with his bright, rapid and very imperfect speech, for he had an impediment which made his articulation almost unintelligible 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.

284 Letter to J. C. Conklin. The Republicans of Illinois held a mass meeting in Springfield and J. C. Conklin was chairman of the committtee on arrangements that invited Lincoln to be present and speak. In June 1863 a meeting had been held in Springfield in opposition to the national government, as part of a movement to form a northwestern confederacy, and this was the answer. Lincoln thought he had written "rather a good letter." Ito success was immense; Mr. Nicolay calls it Lincoln's "last stump speech."

289 Gettysburg address. Critics are agreed that this brief speech ranks with the world's great orations. At the time Lincoln said to a friend: "It is a flat failure. The people won't like it." The next day Edward Everett, who delivered the long oration of the day, wrote to Lincoln: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you

did in two minutes." Mrs. Lincoln remarks that her husband seemed to think "more than ever" on religious matters "about the time he went to Gettysburg."

291 Letter to Governor Hoadley. The president's leniency and willingness to pardon military offenders gave great dissatisfaction to the war department and officers in the field, who claimed that he destroyed discipline. Lincoln seemed incapable of ordering the death of anyone. He called the instances of cowardice in the face of the enemy "leg cases and asked: "If the Lord gives a man a pair of cowardly legs how can he help their running away with him?" One of the most touching instances of his pardoning an offender is that of William Scott. Scott was a mere boy and had offered to go on guard for a sick comrade after forty-eight sleepless hours, with the result that he was found asleep at his post and was sentenced to be shot. The president visited him in his tent, talked with him, looked at the photographs of the people at home which the boy carried with him, then informed him that he should not be shot on the morrow. He added that Scott owed him a great deal and asked if he intended to pay the debt. The astonished boy tried to express his gratitude and, misunderstanding, explained that with the bounty and his pay and the folks at home and the "boys" he thought he could in time raise $500 or $600. Lincoln said that the debt was far more than that and could be paid only by courage and attention to duty. Scott proved himself worthy and fought until desperately wounded some time after. With his last words he sent a message to Lincoln to say that he had tried to pay the debt and thought in his last moments of the president's kind face and thanked him once again for having permitted him to fall a soldier in battle rather than as a coward at the hands of his comrades.

296 Fort Pillow. Forrest, the Confederate cavalry