October inquired if it still was the President's wish that he should march on the enemy at once, or await the arrival of fresh horses. He was informed that the order of the 6th was unchanged and that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity. On the 25th of October he wrote to the War Department, saying, “That his horses were fatigued and greatly troubled with sore tongue." This complaint elicted the following inquiry from the President: "I have just read your dispatch about sore tongue and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that would fatigue anything?" On the 1st of November the army commenced crossing the Potomac and on the 5th General McClellan announced to the President that it was all on the Virginia side. This was just one month after the order was given to cross. The rebels had, in the meantime, fallen back and taken possession of all their strongholds and strongly reinforced their army.

President Lincoln had experienced, to its fullest extent, the signification of that expression, "Times that tried men's souls." The patience and forbearance of the administration had long ere this ceased to be a virtue, but with a disposition to bear and forbear with the General's inactivity, delays and failures, the President had deferred a change until the prospect for the future was cheerless and hopeless indeed and on the 5th of November an order was issued from the War Department relieving General McClellan of his command and directing General Burnside to take his place as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The reader of history will find much food for thought and reflection in comparing the campaigns and military movements of General McClellan and their results with Sherman's march to the sea, of Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, of Thomas in Tennessee and Grant in the wilderness and before Richmond. Compared with the operations of those generals and the results, the campaign of General McClellan was barren of advantageous effects. The period of fifteen months that General McClellan had command was the most remarkable of the war. Remarkable at first for high hopes and expectations of grand and brilliant results, and still more remarkable for inactivity, hesitancy, delays for want of action and discernment, and for blasted anticipations and bitter disappointments. With due liberality the want of success with General McClellan must be regarded as mainly due to the natural constitution of his mind, unable to meet the great responsibilities of his position, and to grasp at the opportune moment-the favorable time for achieving great and decisive results. To him was intrusted the destinies and hopes of the Nation at a most critical period of its history. He assumed the responsibilities under the most flattering and auspicious circumstances, called by his Government with the entire approbation of the loyal people to the high com

mand of the largest and most powerful army ever marshaled till then upon this continent, furnished with every material of war necessary for effective service. The future seemed then, to the loyal citizens of the Nation, full of hope and promise, and the administration was equally hopeful of success and confident that the best results would follow from calling General McClellan to command the Army of the Potomac. How sadly and bitterly the loyal citizens were disappointed is a matter of history, while upon the shoulders of the President were resting the responsibilities and burdens of the failure, rendered only tolerable by the consciousness that all the power, aid and advice and urging of the administration was given, and that every opportunity was used by the President to urge and impress the general with the necessity of prompt and decisive action, offensive and aggressive.

The military operations in the year 1862, with the exception of General McClellan in Eastern Virginia, were marked by energy and success. Much had been accomplished by our navy. The Southern ports were efficiently blockaded and material had been procured and vessels built and secured for several important expeditions. Admiral Farragut, in April, 1862, with a naval force attacked Forts Jackson and St. Phillips on the Mississippi river, below New Orleans, and after six days' bombardment, the whole fleet passed the forts and on the 25th Commodore Farragut took possession of New Orleans, and the 1st of May General Butler arrived and assumed his duties as commander of that department. On the 19th of January the Union forces at Mill Springs released Western Kentucky from rebel occupation and opened a way for the Union armies into East Tennessee. Soon after the President's order of January 27 ordering an advance of all the Union armies, Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Cumberland and Tennessee, were captured. This led to the evacuation by the enemy of Bowling Green, the surrender of Nashville and the capture of Columbus, the rebels' stronghold on the Mississippi. Fort Pulaski, at the entrance to Savannah was taken, and the entire west coast of Florida was occupied by our forces. General Price was driven out of Missouri, Island Number Ten, Forts Pillow and Randolph were taken, and the Union forces occupied Memphis. The rebel forces had concentrated at Corinth, and on the morning of April 6th, with overwhelming numbers, surprised the Union forces at Pittsburg Landing and forced them back on the river. The fight lasted all day, the rebels having at the close of the day decidedly the advantage. General Grant, who was in command of the army, opportunely returned in the afternoon from a visit to ports below on the river. He rallied and reorganized our surprised troops, and being reinforced during the night by the timely arrival of General Buell with his forces, the next morning the battle was renewed and the rebels were pushed back in retreat with severe losses and the sudden attack of the enemy ended in a

signal and most complete victory for the Union army. The victory was so decided that the President issued a proclamation of thanksgiving for this and other victories which had been achieved. From the battle of Pittsburg Landing the rebels fell back to Corinth, which they evacuated May 28, and were pursued by the Union forces for thirty miles. General Mitchell, by a most daring enterprise, in April, took possession of Huntsville in Alabama. On the 8th of February General Burnside, with the Union forces under his command, captured Roanoke island with three thousand prisoners, and made further successful movements on the coast and rivers of North Carolina. The rebels under General Bragg invaded Kentucky for the purpose of strengthening the secession sentiment in that State and to collect supplies, but the attempt was a failure, and in an engagement at Perryville, which resulted. in a success to the Union army, the rebels reteated. The rebels concentrated in large force and attacked General Rosecrans at Corinth, but were defeated with severe losses. Near the close of the year there was a severe engagement at Murfreesboro in which the Union forces were successful. The year 1862 closed with results, with the exception of Eastern Virginia, favorable to the Union cause. The border States, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, had been secured to the Union. The rebels had been forced from those States and the Union citizens had been encouraged; and with the loyal citizens of the Nation there was but little doubt of the final triumph of the Union cause.

On the 14th of January Simon Cameron resigned his position as Secretary of War and Edwin M. Stanton was called to the War Department. A number of busy bodies desired further changes in the Cabinet, and several called upon the President to urge upon him that other changes were absolutely necessary. The President listened to their arguments, and then said with his quizzical smile: “Gentlemen, the case you are urging reminds me of a story of an old friend of mine out in Illinois. His homestead was very much infested with those little black and white animals that we needn't call by name, and after losing his patience with them he determined to sally out and inflict upon them a general slaughter. He took guns, clubs and dogs, and at it he went, but stopped after killing one and returned home. When his neighbors asked him why he had not fulfilled his threats of killing all that were on his place he replied that his experience with the one he killed was such that he thought he had better stop where he was. His advisers were not slow to understand their dismissal and went away laughing at the method in which it was effected.

The appointment of Mr. Stanton from the Democratic party was one of the most fortunate of Mr. Lincoln's appointments. His loyalty was unimpeachable, and his integrity and honesty has never been questioned. His

management of the War Department gave evidence of his energy and ability, and his record is one of which his country is proud to hold up as worthy of imitation. The President had the utmost confidence in his ability and integrity and had an attachment and affection for him that was not misplaced, but was reciprocal. There were those that said to the President that they thought Stanton was very impulsive, that he was easily excited, and might act without due caution and deliberation. "In that case," said the President, we may have to treat him as they are sometimes obliged to treat a Methodist preacher out in Illinois. He gets wrought up to so high a pitch of excitement in his exhortations and prayers that they are obliged to put bricks in his pockets to keep him down. We may be obliged to serve Stanton the same way, but I guess we'll let him jump awhile first." If Stanton jumped high at any time the leaders of the rebellion had the greatest cause of complaint. Stanton's record as a Cabinet officer is eminently an exalted one-one to which his countrymen point with pride and elation. A few days before the President's assassination Secretary Stanton tendered his resignation of the War Department. He accompanied the act with the most heartfelt tribute to the President's constant friendship and faithful devotion to the country, saying also that he as Secretary had accepted the position to hold it only until the war should end, and now he felt his work was done, and his duty was to resign. The President was greatly moved by the Secretary's words, and tearing to pieces the paper containing the resignation and throwing his arms around the Secretary, he said: Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will be no longer needed here." Several friends were present on the occasion and tears were in the eyes of all.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

DIFFERENCES RELATIVE TO SLAVERY-REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES.

The most difficult and embarrassing question with which Mr. Lincoln had to contend during his administration, and in the prosecution of the war for the unity and perpetuity of the Union, was that of slavery.

There were two parties that could not, or would not, see that there was anything embarrassing or perplexing about it, or that he should have any hesitancy in treating it. One party was composed of those who regard the claims of slavery as superior to the constitution and the rights of slavery as the most sacred of all the rights which are guaranteed by that instrument. The other party was made up of those who regarded the abolition of slavery as the one thing to be secured, whatever else might be lost. The first denounced the President for having interfered with slavery at any time, in any way and for any purpose. The latter denounced him with equal bitterness for not having swept it out of existence the moment of the attack on Fort Sumter. These parties were numerous in the free States, and each was clamorous that its respective views and principles should be adopted by the administration. There was still a third party conservative on this question, opposed to slavery, and desirous of seeing it removed and abolished by constitutional and legal measures.

On this question of slavery, as in all others, the President acted on firm principles of his own, which he applied to the practical conduct of affairs as fast as the expediencies and necessities of the case required, and as fast as the public sentiment would sustain him in his action. The President's treatment of the slavery question was marked by characteristic features, and those were controlled and governed by his own views of slavery and by his determination to save and preserve the Union with or without slavery. No man held stronger convictions than Mr. Lincoln that slavery was morally, personally and politically wrong. He said: "If slavery is not wrong, then not anything is wrong." That it was morally and personally wrong was self-evident; that it was politically wrong he had been taught, and so he