1862.]

THOMAS STANDS FIRM.

313

Murfreesboro. Bragg's army occupied a long line on the other side of the river, between it and the town. Stone River, which thus separated the two armies, is only a shallow stream, fringed with cedars. The lines were so near each other that their camp-fires were in plain sight, and both lay on their arms that night in expectation of a great struggle on the morrow. The Union army numbered forty-three thousand; the Confederates probably very nearly the same, though Bragg says that he had but thirty-five thousand men of all arms.

Rosecrans intended to attack Bragg early the next morning, but Bragg did not wait for him. As soon as day dawned he crossed the stream and furiously attacked the right of Rosecrans's army, which was commanded by General McCook. The valley of the river was covered with a dense fog, and the Confederates rushed upon the Union lines from the woods so unexpectedly that some of their guns were captured before they could be fired-the horses having just before been unhitched. and led down to the river to drink. Two divisions of the right wing were driven in rout from the field, leaving their artillery and many prisoners in the hands of the enemy, and the victorious Confederates threw themselves with a yell on the third division. This was commanded by General Philip Sheridan, who made a brave fight against superior numbers; but at last, when nearly surrounded, he fell slowly back, having lost his train and used up all his ammunition. The right wing was thus entirely crushed, and at eleven o'clock it looked as if all of Rosecrans's army would be destroyed. It had been driven. from half the ground it held in the morning, had lost many guns and prisoners, and Bragg's cavalry was in the rear destroying its supply trains.

The brunt of the fight now fell on General Thomas, who commanded the centre. He held the Confederates in check while Rosecrans formed a new line of defence in the rear. The artillery was quickly posted on a little hill where it could sweep the whole plain, and as the gray-coats charged out of the cedar thickets across the open ground, they were met with a storm of canister shot and lead, which hurled them back into the thickets again. Again and again they swept on, only to be driven back with immense slaughter. At last Bragg brought his reserve of seven thousand fresh men across the river, and

made two more efforts to storm the position, but in vain; and when night fell the two armies lay where darkness overtook them, ready to renew the fight in the morning.

While the fight was raging in the cedar thickets, the birds and small animals that lived among them were nearly paralyzed with fright. Wild turkeys ran between the lines and tried to hide among the men, and many hopped over the ground like toads, apparently as tame as household pets. Some even sought protection from the men who were lying down to escape the cannon-shot, nestling under their coats and creeping among their legs, as if seeking a place of safety. Flocks of little birds, too, fluttered and circled about the field over the combatants in a state of bewilderment, as if not knowing which way to fly.

When night put an end to the fighting, Bragg was sure of victory. He telegraphed to Richmond, "God has granted us a happy New Year," and claimed that after a ten hours' battle he had driven the enemy from nearly every position, and had captured four thousand prisoners, thirty-one pieces of artillery, and two hundred wagons and teams. He had evidently expected to find Rosecrans in full retreat toward Nashville in the morning, and when day dawned he was surprised to see him in order of battle. That day (New Year's) there was little fighting, excepting some cavalry skirmishing and artillery firing. The two armies watched each other closely, each waiting for the other to make a move, and that night they again slept on their arms. The next day Rosecrans sent a division across Stone River to try to cut Bragg off from Murfreesboro. Bragg sent Breckenridge with orders to drive the Unionists back. He partly succeeded in this, the Union troops being forced in confusion to the river; but there the Confederates were met by a heavy artillery fire, and in twenty minutes they lost two thousand men. The Union men then made a charge, forcing the Confederates back in turn, and this ended the battle.

The morning of January 3 opened with a violent rainstorm, which prevented further fighting, and during that night Bragg left Murfreesboro and retreated to Tullahoma. Rosecrans was too crippled to follow, and contented himself with taking possession of Murfreesboro, where the army went into winter quarters. The losses in these dreadful battles were nearly twenty-five thousand men, of which the Union loss, including prisoners, was about fourteen thousand.

CHAPTER XXVII.

EMANCIPATION.-CONSCRIPTION.

THE UNION AND SLAVERY.-THE ABOLITIONISTS.-NEW IDEAS ABOUT SLAVERY.-MASSA LINKUM'S SOJERS.-BUTLER AND CONTRABANDS.-FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION.-HUNTER'S ORDER.-PRESIDENT LINCOLN PROPOSES TO BUY THE SLAVES.-HIS LETTER ON THE SUBJECT.LINCOLN CHANGES HIS VIEWS ABOUT SLAVERY.-HIS FIRST EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.HIS VOW. THE SECOND EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.-ITS EFFECT IN THE SOUTH AND IN THE NORTH.-ARBITRARY ARRESTS.-SPIES.-COLORED SOLDIERS.-THE CONSCRIPTION BILL.

-DRAFTING.-RIOTS IN NEW YORK.

HEN President Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861,

his duty to save the

out reference to slavery; and it was the general opinion throughout the North that slavery as an institution should not be interfered with. There were some, commonly called Abolitionists, who wished from the beginning to destroy slavery even at the expense of the Union, but they were looked upon as fanatics by the greater part of the people. In the course of time, however, the question began to be looked at in an entirely different light. It soon became evident that slavery gave strength to the Confederacy, because slaves were used not only to raise food for the soldiers, thus permitting many white men to join the army who without them would have to cultivate the plantations themselves, but also for building forts and intrenchments, thus lightening the labor of the soldiers and making them better able to fight. Accordingly, the President, August 6, 1861, approved an act to make free all slaves used by their owners for military purposes.

As the war went on many slaves escaped from their masters and came into the Union lines. They naturally expected to be protected, for the idea had grown up in them that the war was on their account, and for their benefit. This idea they had got partly from agents of abolition societies, and partly from their own masters, who in their private talks and in public meetings. before the war had freely said that the election of Lincoln meant the abolition of slavery. They had therefore learned to look upon Mr. Lincoln as their coming saviour, who was to set them all free; and when "Massa Linkum's sojers" appeared

they flocked in great numbers to the armies, with their wives and their little ones, expecting to be fed and taken care of. They were cruelly disappointed in most cases, for some Union officers refused to let them come within their lines, and some even permitted their masters to search for them in the camps and to carry them back into slavery. But General Butler, when in command at Fortress Monroe, saw that the keeping of runaway slaves was a military necessity, because in sending them back to their masters he was giving the Confederates valuable aid in carrying on the war. He therefore declared all such negroes "contraband of war"—that is, forfeited by the rules of war, like any other property captured from an enemy-and set them at work building fortifications for the Union instead of for their disloyal masters. General Butler's act was approved, and he was ordered to retain all slaves coming within his lines.

General Fremont went much further than this. When he took control of the Department of Missouri he issued an order proclaiming all the slaves of rebels in arms in the State of Missouri to be free. The President did not approve this, because it was contrary to the Act of Congress of August 6, 1861, and ordered him to so change it as to make it, include only slaves used for military purposes. When General David Hunter took command at Hilton Head, he issued a similar order (May 9, 1862) declaring free all slaves in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina; but this also was annulled by order of President Lincoln, who thought that the time had not yet come for such

action.

In the spring of 1862 (March 6) President Lincoln sent a message to Congress proposing that the United States should aid any State willing to agree to the abolition of slavery by buying its slaves. In making this proposal he had especially in mind the Border States, in which there were comparatively few slaves. He believed that if this plan could be carried out it would end the war, beeause slavery was the real tie which bound the Border States to the other slave States, and if those States should become free States their interests would naturally lead them to ally themselves with the other free States. Mr. Lincoln also argued that it would be cheaper to buy and pay for the slaves at a fair rate than to continue the war. His ideas on this point are well shown in the following letter, never before

1862.]

LINCOLN'S LETTER.

317

printed, which was written by him a week after his message was sent to Congress:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, March 14, 1862.

}

Hon.

U. S. Senate.

MY DEAR SIR: As to the expensiveness of the plan of gradual emancipation with compensation, proposed in the late message, please allow me one or two brief suggestions.

Less than one half day's cost of this war would pay for all the slaves in Delaware at four hundred dollars per head:

Thus, all the slaves in Delaware, by the census of 1860, are...

Cost of the slaves......

One day's cost of this war.

1,798

400

$719,200

$2,000,000

Again, less than eighty-seven days' cost of this war would, at the same price, pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Kentucky, and Missouri.

Do you doubt that taking the initiatory steps on the part of those States and this District would shorten this war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be an actual saving of expense?

A word as to the time and manner of incurring this expense. Suppose, for instance, a State devises and adopts a system by which the institution absolutely ceases therein by a named day—say January 1st, 1882. Then let the sum to be paid to such State by the United States be ascertained by taking from the census of 1860 the number of slaves within the State, and multiplying that number by four hundred-the United States to pay such sums to the State in twenty equal annual instalments, in six per cent bonds of the United States.

The sum thus given, as to time and manner, I think would not be half as onerous as would be an equal sum, raised now, for the indefinite prosecution of this war; but of this you can judge as well as I.

I enclose a census-table for your convenience.
Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.