shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay, but sooner or later the victory is sure to come." He looked to long years of political controversy; he expected a severe struggle and a final triumph through the use of all the agencies by which public opinion is influenced and formed; and he anticipated the final triumph through the ballot box. But he did not foresee, unless in those mysterious, dim shadows which sometimes startle by half revealing the future, his own elevation to the Presidency; he did not foresee that he should be chosen by God and the people to lead on to that victory which he then felt was sure to come; that he should speak the word which should emancipate a race and free his country. Nor did he foresee that a martyr's death would crown a life which was so consecrated to duty, a life which was to be from that day forth so filled with unselfish, untiring devotion to country and to liberty, that his example will be everlasting, growing brighter with years; forever to inspire the patriot, and give courage to those who labor, and struggle, and die, for the poor and the oppressed; until in all the world, there shall be left no slave to be freed, no oppressor to be overthrown.

As has been stated, Illinois, under the inspiration of Lincoln, took the lead of all the states in ratifying the amendment. Then followed Rhode Island and Michigan, and on the same day, the 2nd of February, regenerated Maryland; on the 3rd, and keeping pace with her, were New York and West Virginia. Then Maine and Kansas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; and then old Virginia and Ohio and redeemed Missouri; and then Nevada and Indiana, and Louisiana and the other states followed, until more than three-fourths of all ratified the amendment.

It was a proud moment when William H. Seward, on the 18th of November, 1865, as Secretary of State, officially proclaimed the ratification of the amendment and certified'

1. The following correspondence gives in a semi-official form the dates of the ratification:

"that the same had become to all intents and purposes valid as a part of the Constitution of the United States." "

Hon. W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 1866.

My Dear Sir: * * * May I trouble you to furnish me the dates at which the several states adopted the Constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery forever throughout the republic, and a copy of your official certificate or proclamation, announcing such ratification by the requisite number of states? I cannot forbear congratulating you on the part you have taken in this great revolution. Few have had the felicity of living to witness such glorious results from their labors. How few could have anticipated when you began your anti-slavery labors, that you would live to officially proclaim that " slavery is no more."

Very Respectfully Yours,

ISAAC. N. ARNOLD.

ISAAC N. ARNOLD, ESQ..

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, August 22, 1866.

Sir: Your letter of the 23d ultimo, asking to be furnished the dates at which the several states adopted the amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery, etc., was duly received; but owing to the exigencies of public business in this Department, it has not been convenient to answer it until now.

The dates of ratification by the several states, up to this time, are as follows: Illinois, February 1st, 1865; Rhode Island, February 2d, 1865; Michigan, February 2d, 1865; Maryland, February 1st and 3d, 1865; New York, February 2d and 3d, 1865; West Virginia, February 3d, 1865; Maine, February 7th, 1865; Kansas, February 7th, 1865; Massachusetts, February 8th, 1865; Pennsylvania, February 8th, 1865; Virginia, February 9th, 1865; Ohio, February 10th, 1865; Missouri, February 10th, 1865; Nevada, February 16th, 1865; Indiana, February 16th, 1865; Louisiana, February 17th, 1865; Minnesota, February 8th and 23d, 1865; Wisconsin, March 1st, 1865; Vermont, March 9th, 1865; Tennessee, April 5th and 7th, 1865; Arkansas, April 20th, 1865; Connecticut, May 5th, 1865; New Hampshire, July 1st, 1865; South Carolina, November 13th, 1865; Alabama, December 2d, 1865; North Carolina, December 4th, 1865; Georgia, December 9th, 1865; Oregon, December 11th, 1865; California, December 20th, 1865; Florida, December 28th, 1865; New Jersey, January 23d, 1866; Iowa, January 24th, 1866.

I transmit a copy of the certificate of ratification, agreeably to your request. Thanking you for the congratulations with which you conclude your letter.

I am, Your Obedient Servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

1. After the passage of this resolution, I concluded that I would obtain an autograph which would have historic interest. Sumner had the pen with which the emancipation proclamation had been signed. I thought I could get something better, and so when the joint resolution was engrossed, 1 procured from the engrossing clerk an exact duplicate of the one which was to go on file in the office of the Secretary of State. To this, the signatures of the clerk and speaker of the House, and also of the secretary and president of the Senate were attached, and then, taking it to the President, he indorsed his approval and signature. Then I obtained the signature of every senator and member of the House who had voted for the resolution. But if it be asked where it now is, I can only repeat the sad story of the great Chicago fire of 1871-burned up with many other treasures.-Author.

CHAPTER XXII.

GRANT AND SHERMAN.

GENERAL GRANT COMES ΤΟ THE POTOMAC.- SHERMAN GOES THROUGH DIXIE TO THE OCEAN.-FORT MCALLISTER TAKEN.SAVANNAH FALLS.-THE ALABAMA IS SUNK.-FARRAGUT CAPTURES MOBILE.

war.

AGAIN must the reader return with us to the fields of Grand marches are yet to be made, bloody battles to be fought, carnage, suffering, desolation, and death must yet be encountered in their utmost horror before the end of the great drama is reached. But the result of it all is, to the intelligent reader, no longer doubtful.

In the West, victory had of late everywhere attended the Union flag, the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson having been followed by the brilliant victory of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. But in the East, the case was far different. The defeat of the rebel forces at Gettysburg had been so crushing that, had the Union armies followed up their advantages, the war might have been brought to a more speedy termination. Instead of this, Lee was permitted, to the great mortification and grief of the President, to recover from his defeat, to re-cross the Potomac, and to occupy his former lines. But the time was near when the conduct of military operations was to be entrusted to the able hands of the hero of Vicksburg, and when reverses would no longer alternate with the successes of the Northern armies.

Early after the opening of the Thirty-eighth Congress, Washburne, of Illinois, the ever faithful friend of Grant, and 369

24

to whom this great soldier was more indebted for opportunities to serve his country than to any other man, brought forward a bill creating the office of Lieutenant General. It was the wish of the friends of that law that the great soldier who had achieved such signal success in the valley of the Mississippi should take the high position of commander, under the President, of all the armies of the United States. On the 22d of February, 1864, the President approved the act, and sent the name of Grant to the Senate as Lieutenant General. On the 2d of March the nomination was confirmed, and the President immediately requested the General's presence at Washington. Up to this time Grant had not, during the war, visited the capital. He was personally unknown to the President, the Secretary of War, and most of the members of Congress. This unsolicited appointment found him at his post of duty, and, with a modesty and generosity towards his most trusted lieutenant, General Sherman, as rare as it was honorable, he said: "I think Sherman better entitled to the position than I am." He arrived at the capital on the 8th of March, and in the evening attended a levee at the White House. He entered the reception room unannounced, and almost a stranger. He was instantly recognized by the President, and the Western soldier was never more cordially welcomed. As soon as it was known that he was present, the pressure of the crowd to see the hero of Vicksburg was so great, that he was forced to shelter himself behind a sofa. So irrepressible was the desire to see him, that Secretary Seward finally induced him to mount a sofa, that this curiosity might be gratified. When parting from the President, he said, "This has been rather the warmest campaign I have witnessed during the war."

On the next day, at the Executive Mansion, the President in person, and in the presence of a few friends, presented him his commission, saying:

"General Grant: The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented

with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant General in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." To this General Grant made the following reply:

"MR. PRESIDENT: I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men."

After visiting the army of the Potomac, he returned to Washington, and after an interview with the President and Secretary of War in regard to his plans, prepared to leave for the West. Mrs. Lincoln, sharing in the universal gratitude and admiration felt for him, and desirous of showing him some attention, invited him to meet a brilliant party at dinner that evening. He received the invitation at the close of this important interview with the President. The General said: "Mrs. Lincoln must excuse me. I must be in Tennessee at a given time." "But we can't excuse you," said the President. "Mrs. Lincoln's dinner without you, would be Hamlet with Hamlet left out." "I appreciate the honor Mrs. Lincoln would do me," said the General, "but time is very important now-and really-Mr. Lincoln, I have had enough of this show business." This was a remark Mr. Lincoln could well appreciate and with which he could fully sympathize. General Grant went to the West without waiting for the dinner.

General Sherman, on the recommendation of General Grant, was assigned to the command of the military division of Mississippi. General Grant, on the 17th of March,