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Day" in November the occasion of a similar proclamation; and it is through him, in a very great measure, that that day has ceased to be local and has become general and national in its annual observance. He again summoned the people to prayer and thanksgiving on the 7th of December, after the Union successes in East Tennessee. The conviction grew in the minds of all that the President was fighting this fight out in the name of God and believed that God was helping him. It was easier for the masses to strengthen their own faith after that idea took permanent root. The very few who sneered at the whole thing as an hypocritical formality were not numbered among those whose hearts were aching over losses or who were meditating further sacrifices for the cause. Men who suffer have a keen instinct which informs them of the suffering of another man, and it was of little use, in those days, to accuse Abraham Lincoln of playing a part. He was well hated, but even his worst enemies were forced to believe in him.

One of the steps towards the proposed reorganization of the Army was the appointment of General Grant to the command of the Military Department of the Mississippi; but it was only one of several steps which the President had in view. The rest of them depended very much upon the course and out come of the winter campaigns.

It was by no means plain that General Meade was the right man, above all others, to lead the Army of the Potomac; much less to handle the tremendous forces preparing for the last struggle with the Rebellion. It was sure that the Confederacy would die hard, striking terrible blows to its last breath. The situation demanded something more than an accomplished soldier; something more, even, than a good general. It was time for the war to be closed, and only a hand of iron could be entrusted with the relentless and machine-like processes of its closing. The eyes of the nation as well as of the President were turning with more and more of definite hope and purpose towards the man for the hour which was coming.

The Message to Congress contained, of necessity, an historical review of the events of the year and a setting forth of their justification of the leading features of the policy of the Administration. Emancipation, employment of colored soldiers, reconstruction, foreign relations, the national finances, a number of minor topics, were presented in proper form, but it was mainly a "report of progress" and an expression of confident hope. The territory already rescued from the grasp of the Richmond government was to be restored to relations with the Constitution and the laws as rapidly as possible. No doubt remained that its present reoccupation implied permanent possession. No power existed in the now shattered and weakened Confederacy to break the national mastery of the regions so to be reconstructed, and the beginning of the end had come.

A conviction of this fact settled firmly in the minds of all the politicians north of the Rebel army-lines, and it produced some curious results. Close upon the announcement by Mr. Lincoln that he regarded his administration as a success and not a failure came the accusation that he was ambitious of a reelection to the Presidency. The suggestion that he was already intriguing for such a result followed as a matter of course, and it came from the lips of the busy men who were already intriguing to prevent his success. The twin accusations, as such, died a very early and perfectly natural death. The soundminded people, the country over, took it for granted that Mr. Lincoln desired a second term and thought no whit the worse of him. No man with unclouded brain could have understood or approved a willingness, on the part of the President, to lay down such a work before it was completed. Not many would have held him morally excusable for such a sin against the nation. He would need another term to reap and gather in the great harvest now ripening, and there was no other reaper to whom the task was at all likely to be given unless the "opposition" themselves should succeed in electing their man. As for "intrigue," it was only too obvious that no other form

of it was called for than might be included in a vigorous and successful prosecution of the war. Everybody saw the point clearly, and not a few were intelligent enough to perceive and say that the politicians had a great deal more time on their hands for that kind of political work than had the over-wearied toiler in the map-strewn room in the White House. They had all the time, indeed, that was used in the premises. Mr. Lincoln gave the matter no attention whatever, except when somebody forced it upon him. The real intriguers talked much and worked hard and failed for a long time to discover what a mere skeleton of a faction they really were. It consisted almost altogether of "leading men," and the further they went the greater became the gap between them and the vote-casting masses of the Union.

CHAPTER LI.

THE SECOND NOMINATION.

Lieutenant-General Grant-The First Great Relief-Dealing with Guerillas -Condensation of the Confederacy-The Double National Convention -The Administration Formally Approved.

THE military events of the winter of 1863-4, intensely interesting as they were, belong exclusively to the history of the war. They were such as enabled Mr. Lincoln to move steadily forward along the line he had so distinctly marked out.

The grade of Lieutenant-General, previously created solely for the purpose of conferring an honor upon General Scott, was revived by Act of Congress, February 29, 1864, and the President fulfilled his own previous purpose concerning it when he complied with the popular acclamation which named Ulysses S. Grant as the man for the place. It was equally a matter of course that the President and the Lieutenant-General should instantly agree upon General W. T. Sherman as Grant's successor in the West.

General Grant received his new commission on the 9th of March, 1864, at the hands of the President in person, at the Executive Mansion, in the presence of the Cabinet and General Halleck. The occasion was made somewhat ceremonial, but the words spoken on either side were few and very much to the point. The appointment of an officer outranking all others was an affair of momentous importance. So far as the Army was concerned, only the President and, through him, the Secretary of War held higher commissions. Still it should be borne in mind that the new rank of General Grant did not necessarily affect

or change or reduce the rank of any other officer in any of the armies. General Meade remained as before, for instance, in direct command of the Army of the Potomac, which afterwards received Grant's orders through Meade. General Halleck did not cease to be the President's military counselor because Mr. Lincoln had at last obtained an arm of iron wherewith to deal the blows he had so longed to deal, but in vain.

General Grant at once entered upon the discharge of his duties, taking up his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, on the 10th of March; and it was not long before the President began to experience an unwonted feeling of relief. The tremendous burden which he had borne so long and so patiently began to slip away a little. He could with difficulty realize it at first, the situation was so new and so agreeable. A few weeks later, in April, a personal friend came into his office on Sunday forenoon. The President lay upon the sofa, seeming more than usually fatigued but cheerful. He did not rise at first, but chatted freely upon several topics. At last his visitor remarked :

"Now, Mr. Lincoln, what sort of a man is Grant? I've never even seen him. He has taken hold here while I have been laid up. What do you think of him?"

The President half arose, and laughed silently, as he replied: "Well, I hardly know what to think of him, alto

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gether. He's the quietest little fellow you ever saw.”

"How is that?"

"Why, he makes the least fuss of any man you ever knew. I believe two or three times he has been in this room a minute or so before I knew he was here. It's about so all around. The only evidence you have that he's in any place is that he makes things git! Wherever he is, things move!"

He grew energetic as he talked, and there was almost a glow upon his face. He was describing the man he had been longing for. Other questions and answers followed, until the visitor inquired:

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