and General Schofield assigned to its command, and placed under the orders of General Sherman. General Schofield, in coöperation with the fleet of Admiral Porter, proceeded to reduce Wilmington. The Union troops followed, and entered that city on the morning of the 22d of January, the enemy having retreated towards Goldsboro. In this extremity, General Lee was, on the 2d of February, appointed to the command of all the armies of the Confederacy. The rebel authorities, in their desperate fortunes, now resolved to call upon the poor, despised negro for aid. Freedom was now offered to him if he would fight for his master. Mr. Benjamin, the Secretary of State of the Confederacy, in a public meeting after the peace conference at Hampton Roads, said the Confederates had 680,000 black men, and he expressed his regret that they had not been called into the field. He continued: "Let us now say to every negro who wishes to go into the ranks on condition of being free, go and fight-you are free.' My own negroes have been to me and said, 'master set us free and we'll fight for you.' "He continued: "You must make up your minds to try this, or see your army withdrawn from before your town. * * * I know not where white men can be found." General Lee had long before recommended this policy, and declared that the war could be carried on only by the employment of negro soldiers. On the 16th of February, the Legislature of Virginia passed resolutions authorizing and consenting that such number of able bodied slaves might be enlisted into the military service, as might be deemed necessary. A bill was passed in the Confederate Congress, authorizing the employment of slaves, but it came too late to be of service, if, indeed, it ever could have availed. Sherman, on the 1st of February, started his army from Savannah. A broad track of desolation, sweeping along the great lines of railroads, marked his path. On the 17th, he captured Columbia, South Carolina; thence, he moved on Goldsboro, North Carolina, by Fayetteville, reaching the latter city on the 12th of March, and opening communications with General Schofield. On the 25th of February, General Joe Johnston was appointed by Jefferson Davis, to command the army of the Tennessee, and all the troops of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. On the 15th of March, Sherman resumed his march upon Goldsboro, and after a severe fight at Averysboro, compelled the enemy to retreat. On the 18th, the combined forces of the enemy under Johnston, attacked Sherman's advance at Bentonville, capturing three guns and driving it back upon the main body, but on the night of the 21st, they retreated. Sherman's forces now united with those of Generals Terry and Schofield. Among the most important fruits of the campaign of Sherman into South Carolina, none were more gratifying than the fall of Charleston. The march of Sherman to Columbia, compelled its evacuation, which took place on the night of the 17th, and it was occupied by the Union troops on the 18th of February. The Union flag had been lowered at Sumter, the 14th of April, 1861. For nearly four years, this proud city had successfully resisted all attacks upon it, but was forced at last to yield to the army of Sherwhich had marched unchecked half across the Republic, from North to South, and from West to East. It was now occupied and held by colored troops, many of them recruited from South Carolina. Here, as elsewhere throughout the slave States, the Union soldiers were received by the negroes with acclamations of delight. They followed the National flag through the streets singing: man, "Ye's long been a'comin, Ye's long been a'comin, etc., "And now ye's a'comin, And now ye's a'comin, etc., While the Union armies were everywhere marching on from victory to victory, let us return to the Capital, to witness the second inauguration of him, who was the central figure of the vast and complicated machinery now moving forward with irresistible force to crush into one common grave, slavery and rebellion. On the night of the 3d of March, 1865, as is usual on the last night of the session, the President, with his Cabinet, was at his room in the Capitol, to receive the numerous acts which always pass Congress during the last hurried hours of the session. The Thirty-eighth Congress, on the 3d of March, continued its session from 7 o'clock in the evening until 8, A. M., on the morning of the 4th. It was a stormy night, and while the President was thus waiting, exchanging congratulations with Senators and members, there came to the Secretary of War, a telegram from General Grant, announcing that Lee had at last sought an interview with him for the purpose of trying to arrange terms of peace. We now know from Lee's testimony taken before a secret committee of the Rebel Congress, that he had for a considerable time before this, lost hope in the success of the rebellion. Lee had advised General Grant that he was clothed with authority to act. The dispatch was handed to the President, and after reading it, and reflecting for a few moments, he wrote the following reply, which was submitted to his Cabinet then present. It was then signed by the Secretary of War, and telegraphed to General Grant: "WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865-12 P.M. "Lieutenant General GRANT: "The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely military matter. He instucts me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages. "EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War." The morning of the 4th of March was still cloudy and stormy, but as the hour of 12 approached, the rain ceased, the clouds disappeared, and the bright, genial sun came forth in all its splendor. Crowds of the best and noblest of the land, those who had given their time, their means, and their best exertions to the country in civil and military service, had gathered to the Capital to witness the second inauguration of a man now the most beloved and revered of all in the land. As the procession started for the Capitol, a brilliant star made its appearance in the sky, and the incident was regarded by many, as an omen of peace. The two Houses of the Thirty-eighth Congress adjourned sine die, at 12 o'clock. A special session of the Senate, had been convened, and Andrew Johnson, at that hour appeared, took the oath of office and became Vice President, and the presiding officer of that most dignified body in America, the Senate of the United States. There were then present, beside the members of both Houses of Congress, the Judges of the Supreme Court in their official robes, the Diplomatic Corps, brilliant in the Court costumes of the respective nations they represented. A crowd of distinguished officers of the army and navy in full uniform; prominent citizens, scholars, statesmen, bishops, clergy, governors, judges, editors, from all parts of the Union, on the floor of the Senate. The galleries were full of ladies, and citizens, especially of soldiers, who had come in from the hospitals and camps about Washington, to witness the inauguration of their beloved Chief. The Vice President was regarded with especial interest. His entrance into the Senate chamber, recalled the bold and patriotic words he had, from his seat in the Senate, hurled against the leading traitors; words, the utterance of which had made him Vice President. He was greeted with cheers; cheers which his appearance and words soon silenced into astonishment and humiliation. At 12.30, followed by the brilliant assembly from the Senate chamber, the President was conducted to the eastern portico of the Capitol, again to take the official oath of office, and pronounce his inaugural. A vast crowd met him, but very different from that which greeted him on his first inauguration. Now a crowd of citi zens and soldiers, who would willingly die for their Chief Magistrate, thronged the area in front of the Capitol. It was touching to see the long lines of invalid and wounded soldiers in the National blue, some on crutches, some who had lost an arm, many pale from unhealed wounds, who had sought permission to witness the scene. As the President reached the platform, and his tall form, high above his associates, was recognized, cheers and shouts of welcome filled the air; and not until he raised his arm in token that he would speak, could they be hushed. He paused a moment, and looking over the brilliant scene, still hesitated. What thronging memories passed through his mind! Here, four years ago, he had stood on this colonnade, pleading earnestly with his "dissatisfied fellow countrymen," for peace, but they would not heed him! He had there solemnly told them that, in their hands, and not in his, was the momentous issue of civil war. He had told them they could have no conflict, without being themselves "the aggressors;" and even while he was pleading for peace, they took up the sword, and he was compelled to "accept war." Now, four long, weary years of wretched, desolating, cruel war, had passed; those who made that war, were everywhere being overthrown; that cruel institution, which had caused the war, had been destroyed, and the dawn of peace was already brightening the sky behind the clouds of the storm! Chief Justice Chase administered the oath. Then with a clear, but at times a saddened voice, President Lincoln pronounced this his second-his last INAUGURAL. "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 very 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 avoid it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents |