HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Next morning, the 12th, Lomax again attacked our cavalry, driving in our pickets. On reaching our main force, he was repulsed after a protracted engagement. Powell's Division then pursued him to Front Royal, and captured two guns and one hundred and fifty men. The fighting was spirited, and our losses were considerable. Early subsequently advanced his army and again occupied Fisher's Hill with about fifteen thousand men. On the 21st of November he occupied Mount Jackson and Newmarket with his infantry, with his cavalry thrown forward from his right. In the first week in December the Sixth Corps left the valley to re-enforce Grant, as did also a considerIn the same way Lee was re-enable portion of Sheridan's infantry. forced by Kershaw and other troops from Early, leaving but a few Both armies thenceforth remained thousand men at Newmarket. quiet for some months. During the first week in December, Merritt's (First) Cavalry Division crossed the Blue Ridge, and made a grand raid through the upper parts of Loudon and Fauquier Counties, which were the chief haunts of Mosby and his men. Every thing was laid waste-barns, houses, farms, and mills; many cattle were captured, and others slaughtered and burned. Unfortunately, not a few Union citizens suffered the loss of every thing in the general destruction. The raid was in accordance with the policy initiated by Grant and Sheridan, and its results, officially reported, are as follows: Tanneries Stacks of Grain... 57 57 1 1 104 104 Estimated value of property destroyed and captured by the First Brigade, Colonel Stagg... Second Brigade, General Devin. $857,716 .1,239,520 Reserve Brigade... Total.... 411,520 .$2,508,756 Perhaps the statement of a rebel commissioner of the revenue in Shenandoah County, made about the same time, will give a clearer idea of Sheridan's previous cavalry operations in that county alone. He says: "I will now try and give you some idea of the damage done in part of this county by the Yankees in the way of burning of barns, mills, &c. I have been over nearly the whole of my district, comprising all the upper end of the county, from Narrow Passage Creek to Rockingham County line, and I find there have been burned by Sheridan's army two hundred and fifteen barns, eighteen dwellings, eleven grist mills, nine water saw mills, two steam saw mills, one furnace, two forges, one fulling mill, one carding machine, besides a number of smaller buildings, such as stables, &c. The quantity of grain destroyed is immense. I cannot give you any idea of the amount of grain, bay, fodder, &c., destroyed, but the quantity is very large." CHAPTER LXIX. Political Parties.-Elections of 1862.-Organization and Strength of the Peace PartyBanishment of Vallandigham.-Ohio Election.-Political Reaction in favor of the Administration. Thirty-eighth Congress.-President's Plan of ReconstructionAmendment to the Constitution.-Presidential Canvass of 1864.-Conventions at Baltimore and Chicago.- Nomination of Lincoln and McClellan.-Result of the Election.-Peace Negotiations.-Colonel Jaques.-The Niagara Falls Correspondence. THE failure of the Peninsular campaign of 1862, followed by the defeat of Pope in the second Bull Run campaign, the invasion of Maryland by Lee, and the indecisive battle of Antietam, together with the aggressive strength exhibited by the rebels in the West by the invasion of Kentucky under Bragg, all conspired to bring the Administration into temporary disfavor; and in the fall elections of 1862 several of the States, including New York, which had given large majorities for Lincoln two years previous, were carried by the opposition. The gains of Congressmen made by the latter in these elections threatened to neutralize, and perhaps considerably overcome, the Administration majority in Congress. Incapacity, wastefulness, corruption, and imbecility were freely charged upon the President and his constitutional advisers; but the most serious objection urged against the Administration was its alleged unconstitutional method of conducting the war. Confiscation, arbitrary arrests, conscription, the emancipation of slaves belonging to rebels, and similar forcible measures initiated by Government, for which it was insisted there was no warrant afforded in the Constitution, were alike condemned by the opposition, who contended that the war could be carried to a successful completion without resort to so radical a policy, and that in point of fact it had better be terminated at once than conducted unconstitutionally. The political contest of 1862 may, therefore, be considered to have shown in some degree a public dissatisfaction with the course of the Administration during the year, though it cannot be doubted also that military reverses had much to do in causing that dissatisfaction. With those who claimed to be superior to such accidental influences as success or defeat, the emancipation proclamation of September was a sufficient reason for trying to overthrow the Adminis tration in Congress, and at the close of the year it looked as if their efforts might be rewarded with success. It is worthy of note, however, that in those States in which the soldiers were allowed to vote, the Republican supremacy was easily maintained. This was notably the case in Iowa, where the soldiers' vote enabled the Republicans to return their full delegation to Congress. 66 The year 1863 opened with no favorable prospects for the National cause, and the repulses before Fredericksburg and Charleston, and the defeat at Chancellorsville, followed by the second invasion of Maryland, seemed to presage further losses for the Administration. The opposition had meanwhile been busy in other ways. Undeterred by the assertions of Government that its action in arresting suspected persons, at a time when the country swarmed with spies and secret traitors, was utterly disinterested, and by its efforts to release all prisoners against whom no evidence of treasonable intent could be brought; regardless also of the act of Congress sanctioning the action of the President in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and clothing him with full authority to check and punish all attempts to defeat the efforts of the Government in the prosecution of the war, the leaders of the opposition busied themselves with promoting public dissatisfaction and demanding that the war should be brought to a close. While many were sincere in believing that the evils which sprang from a vigorous prosecution of the war were worse than secession itself, it cannot be doubted that many were also influenced by a factious, partisan spirit, which prompted them to rejoice in the humiliation of their country, provided the overthrow of their political opponents could be thereby secured. The latter branch of the opposition formed the nucleus around which rallied a party whose watchword was Peace on any Terms," and whose numbers were swelled by the whole disloyal element in the North, and by various secret organizations formed to promote the independence of the "Southern Confederacy," of which the K. G. C.'s, or "Knights of the Golden Circle," were the most conspicuous. One of the most active advocates of peace with the rebel Confederacy was Clement L. Vallandigham, a Democratic member of Congress from Ohio, who, after the adjournment of the Thirty-seventh Congress, made public speeches in his congressional district, denouncing and counselling resistance to the draft which was about to be enforced. He charged the Government at Washington with aiming, under the pretext of restoring the Union, to crush out liberty and establish a despotism, and with deliberately rejecting propositions by which the Southern States could have been brought back to the Union. He also denounced Order No. 38, issued by General Burnside, then commanding the Department of the Ohio, forbidding certain disloyal practices, and announced his intention to disobey it, at the same time calling upon the people who heard him to resist and defeat its execution. For this conduct he was tried before a court-martial in May, 1863, and sentenced to be placed in close confinement within some fortress of the United States. The President modified this sentence by directing that, instead of being imprisoned, Vallandigham should be sent within the rebel lines, and should not return to the United States until after the termination of the war. This sentence was at once carried into execution. Vallandigham, after passing some time in Richmond, escaped in s blockade-runner to British America, where he remained some time, finding abundant sympathy from the rebel refugees in Canada. His trial and banishment caused no little excitement throughout the country, and by his party he was regarded as a martyr. Meetings were held to protest againt the action of the Government, and the Democratic State Convention of Ohio finally capped the climax by nominating him as its candidate for Governor in the ensuing State election. The Repub lican or Union party, as it was now called, nominated for the same office John Brough, a former Democrat, but a man pledged in the most emphatic manner to support the Government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. Thus the issue was joined between the opponents of the Administration and those who, believing that its measures were proper and effective, lent it their hearty support, and, in consequence, the Ohio election was watched with absorbing interest by the whole country. By a special law of the State its citizens, absent in the military service of the country, were permitted to vote for State officers, and the soldiers' vote, it was claimed, would be cast almost unanimously for Brough. Meanwhile, with the commencement of July occurred another turn in the tide of the war. The battle of Gettysburg and the ignominious ending of Lee's invasion of the North, and the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, followed by the opening of the Mississippi to commerce, restored the prestige of the Union arms, and the prospect of subduing the Confederacy seemed more hopeful than ever before. With this happy change in military prospects, the friends of the Administration, and all those persons in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, shook off their despondency, and began to gather energy for the political contest of the year. The riotous proceedings in New York, Boston, and elsewhere, against the enforcement of the draft, by revealing the existence of a powerful secession element at work to op pose the Government, strengthened the Administration party, and the fall elections of 1863 witnessed a complete reversal of the popular verdict declared a year previous. Vallandigham was defeated in Ohio by the unprecedented majority of one hundred thousand in favor of Brough, the soldiers' vote being almost unanimous for the latter, and the great States of New York and Pennsylvania elected the Union candidates for office by large majorities. Such was the reaction in favor of the Adminis tration that it secured enough of the remaining members of Congress to be elected to give it a majority of about twenty in the next House of Representatives. The result of the canvass was that every State, except New Jersey, voted to sustain the Administration. The ground taken by its friends was that held by the President from the beginning—that the rebellion must be suppressed, and the Union preserved at whatever cost-that this could only be done by force, and that it was both the right and the duty of the Government to use all the means at its command, which were commonly exercised in time of war, to accomplishe this object. The result was, therefore, justly claimed as a decided verdict in favor of the Administration, and thenceforth the determination of the vast majority of the people to prosecute the war to a successful completion remained unshaken, in spite of reverses which caused temporary depression, of conscriptions which drew fearfully upon the able-bodied, industrial population of the country, and of taxation which surpassed the wildest predictions made by alarmists at the commencement of the struggle. The Thirty-eighth Congress convened at Washington, December, 1863, and was organized by the election of Schuyler Colfax, a Repub lican member from Indiana, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In his annual message, President Lincoln proposed a plan of reconstruction for the revolted States, which is fully set forth in the following proclamation : PROCLAMATION. "Whereas, In and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment-and, whereas, a rebellion now exists, whereby the loyal State Governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States; and "Whereas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare; and "Whereas, The Congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon accords with the well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and "Whereas, With reference to the said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; and "Whereas, It is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State Governments within and for their respective States: therefore, "I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have directly or by implication participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, an oath which shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: "I, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; and that in like manner I will abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God.' "The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are: all who are, or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are, or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate Government, above the rank of colonel in the army, or of lieutenant in |