These victories gave great satisfaction and encouragement to the President and to the loyal citizens of the Union, and left no doubt now of the final success and triumph of the National cause. A very characteristic utterance of the President in connection with these events was a letter written to General Grant on the 13th of July, in which the President took occasion to acknowledge that results had confirmed the General's judgment rather than his own: "My Dear General-I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgement for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I write to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did-march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports and thus go below-and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go below and down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I wish now to make the personal acknowledgement that you were right and I was wrong." This commendation of General Grant was but the echo of the voice of the whole country and people. The President, as well as the whole country, felt that one man at least had been found who was thoroughly in earnest, and who was master of his profession. The capture of Vicksburg, with its preliminary battles, was the work of a great general, and one of the most important, as well as the most brilliant and suc cessful, feats of the war.

While General Grant was engaged at Vicksburg, General Rosecrans was paying his respects to the rebel General, Bragg, in Tennessee. On the 25th of June, General Rosecrans advanced on the enemy at Tullahoma, made an attack, driving Bragg and his army back in confusion, and he kept his retreat until he reached Chattanooga. Rosecrans came up with him August 21st, and then Bragg retreated again, but on the 19th of September, having received reinforcements from Lee's army, he turned and made an attack on the Union army. The engagement was a severe one; a portion of the Union army was compelled to fall back in confusion, but General Thomas, with his division, held the enemy at bay until night, when he fell back, and the Union army was for some time shut up in Chattanooga. The loss in this engagement was very heavy on both sides. But the rebels gained no decisive advantage. In October, General Rosecrans was superceded by General Grant, who assumed the offensive. The army of Tennessee was reinforced by General Hooker's command from the Army of the Potomac, and General Sherman arrived with his command on the 25th of November. General Grant, immediately on the arrival of these reinforcements, made preparations to attack the rebel

positions, and on the 15th of November the different divisions of the Union army moved to the assault of the enemy's lines. The range of heights known as Missionary Ridge, which was strongly fortified and held by General Bragg in force, was assaulted by the Union veterans, led by General Hooker, and supported by General Thomas, with his command. After a desperate and prolonged struggle, the heights were carried in gallant style by the Union troops, and the rebels were driven pell-mell from the ridge in confusion, completely routed. General Sherman was equally successful in his attack on the enemy's position, and the rebels at all points fell back, and were by Generals Thomas and Hooker pursued and forced back into Georgia. General Sherman, with his corps, was sent into East Tennessee to relieve General Burnside. His wonderful march of forty miles a day for several successive days has hardly been equaled in modern times. General Longstreet, who had been pressing General Burnside and his small support at Knoxville, being apprised of General Sherman's rapid approach, determined to carry General Burnside's defenses by assault, but the attempt was a signal and disastrous failure and defeat, and before General Sherman arrived he raised the siege and retreated across the mountains into Virginia. The defeat of General Bragg and his expulsion from Tennessee, and the failure of General Longstreet in his siege of Knoxville, were the source and cause of much chagrin and disappointment to the rebels, and a corresponding cause of encouragement and congratulation to the loyal citizens, and filled all hearts with joy and exultation.

THIRTY-SEVENTH

CHAPTER XXXII.

CONGRESS-FINANCIAL POLICY-CHARACTERISTIC

INCIDENTS.

The third session of the Thirty-seventh Congress met on the 1st day of December, 1862, the administration having a large majority in both Houses. The general condition of the country, and the progress made towards the restoration of the Union, and the quelling of the rebellion were set forth at great length in the message of President Lincoln, which was sent in to Congress at the opening of the session. The following is an extract from the closing part of his message:

Fellow-citizens-We cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or the other of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generations. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this.

"We know how to save the Union. The world knows we know how to save it. We-even we here-hold the power and bear the responsibility.

'In giving freedom to the slave we assume freedom to the free-honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not, cannot fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous and just. A way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."

At the very commencement of the session resolutions were introduced by the opponents of the administration, censuring in strong terms its arrest of those in the loyal States who gave aid and comfort to the rebellion. It is a matter of history that at the outset of the war, every department of the Government, and every part of the country was filled with spies and informers, giving information to the rebel authorities; and that in repeated and numerous instances the plans and purposes of the Government had been betrayed and defeated by these abettors and aiders of treason. In this state of affairs it became absolutely necessary, not so much for punish

ment as for prevention, to arrest these men in the injurious and perhaps fatal actions in which they were engaged, and in this action the administration was vindicated and fully justified by Congress.

A bill was introduced on the 8th of December, and passed, declaring the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to have been required by the public safety, making all acts by the President, and all acts of his officers by his orders valid, and all prosecutions against them void. It also authorized the President, during the war, to declare the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus at such time and in such places and with regard to such persons as in his judgment the public safety should require. One of the most important acts of the session was that which provided for the creation of a National force by enrolling and drafting the militia of the whole country-each State being required to contribute its quota in the ratio of its population, and the whole force, when raised, to be under the control of the President. This measure seemed necessary by the revival of the party spirit throughout the loyal States, and by the active and effective efforts made by the Democratic party to discourage and prevent volunteering. So successful had they been in this work, that the Government seemed likely to fail in its efforts to raise men for another campaign, and it was to avert this threatening evil that the bill was brought forward in Congress. It encountered violent opposition and resistance from the Democratic party, and particularly from those members whose sympathies with the secessionists were the most distinctly marked. The bill passed the House by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to forty-nine, and being concurred in by the Senate, became a law. The Financial bill, as passed at this session, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow and issue bonds for nine hundred millions of dollars at not more than 6 per cent. interest, and payable at a time not less than ten nor more than forty years. It also authorized the Secretary to issue treasury notes to the amount of four hundred millions of dollars, bearing interest, and also notes not bearing interest to the amount of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. A joint resolution was also passed authorizing the issue of treasury notes to the amount of one hundred millions of dollars to meet the immediate wants of the soldiers and sailors in the service. The President announced his approval of this resolution by a message to Congress, from which we make the following extract, giving his financial views: "That Congress has power to regulate the currency of the country can hardly admit of doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent the deterioration of this currency, by a reasonable taxation of bank circulation or otherwise, is needed seems equally clear. Independently of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large to exempt banks enjoying the special privileges of circulation, from their just proportion of the public burdens. In order to raise money by way

of loans most easily and cheaply, it is clearly necessary to give every possible support to the public credit. This and a uniform currency, in which taxes, subscriptions, loans and all other ordinary public dues may be paid, are almost, if not quite indispensable. Such a currency can be furnished by banking associations authorized under a general Act of Congress, as suggested in my message at the beginning of the present session. The securing of this circulation by the pledge of United States bonds, as herein suggested, would still further facilitate loans by increasing the present, and causing a future demand for such bonds." A second bill in relation to finance, to provide a National currency, secured by a pledge of United States stocks, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof, was passed under the conviction that so long as the war continued the country would require a large amount of paper money, and that this money should be National in its character, and rest on the faith of the Government for its security and redemption. An act of importance was also passed this session, admitting West Virginia into the Union. A bill was also introduced in the Senate proposing a grant of money to aid in the abolition of slavery in the State of Missouri. It gave rise to lengthy debates. Senators Sumner and Wilson and others in the Senate insisted that the aid should be granted on condition of immediate emancipation; while the Senators of Missouri and others favored gradual emancipation. Others opposed the measure on the ground that Congress had no authority to appropriate the public money for that purpose. The bill finally passed the Senate, but failed in the House. Two members from Louisiana were admitted to seats in the House of Representatives under circumstances which rendered the event of much importance. On the capture of New Orleans, the rebel forces were driven out of that city, and some of the adjoining parishes; and during the ensuing Summer the citizens were invited to resume their allegience to the Union; over sixty thousand came forward and took the oath of allegience, and were admitted to their rights as citizens. On the 3d of December General Sheply, acting as Military Governor, ordered an election for members of Congress in the city of New Orleans and adjoining parishes, embracing two districts. In one of these districts B. F. Flanders was elected, and in the other Michael Hahn was elected. A committee of the House to which the application of these members for admission was referred on the 9th of February reported in favor of their claim, and they were admitted to their seats by a vote of ninetytwo to forty-four.

Before the adjournment of Congress an Act was passed on the 3d of March authorizing the President, "in all domestic and foreign wars," to issue to private armed vessels of the United States letters of marque and reprisal-said act to terminate at the end of three years from the date of the