232

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

the President appended to that message a proclamation, in which he offered full pardon and restoration of all rights of property, excepting as to slaves, to all persons (with specified exceptions) who had participated in the rebellion, who should take a prescribed oath of allegiance to the Govern ment. In it he also offered a prescription for reorganizing civil governments. in States in which rebellion existed, by which the people might be restored to all the political privileges guaranteed by the National Constitution; at the same time pointing to the fact that the vital action necessary to consummate the reorganization by the admission of representatives of those States to seats in Congress, rested "exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the Executive."

Isaac N. Arnold, John F. Farnsworth, Elihu B. Washburne, Charles M. Harris, Owen Lovejoy, Jesse 0. Norton, John R. Eden, John T. Stuart, Lewis W. Ross, A. L. Knapp, J. C. Robinson, William R. Morrison, William J. Allen, James C. Allen. Indiana.--John Law, James A. Cravens, H. W. Harrington, William S. Holman, George W. Julian, Ebenezer Dumont, Daniel W. Voorhees, Godlove S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, J. K. Edgerton, James F. McDowell. Iowa.-James F. Wilson, Hiram Price, William B. Allison, J. B. Grinnell, John A. Kasson, A. W. Hubbard. Kansas.-A. Carter Wilder. Kentucky.-Lucien Anderson, George H. Yeaman, Henry Grider, Aaron Harding, Robert Mallory, Green Clay Smith, Brutus J. Clay, William H. Randall, William H. Wallsworth. Maine.-L. D. M. Sweat, Sidney Perham, James G. Blane, John H. Rice, Frederick A. Pike. Maryland.-John A. G. Cresswell, Edwin G. Webster, Henry Winter Davis, Francis Thomas, Benjamin G. Harris. Massachusetts.-Thomas D. Elliot, Oakes Ames, Alexander H. Rice, Samuel Hooper, John B. Alley, Daniel W. Goocha George S. Boutwell, John D. Baldwin, William B. Washburn, Henry L. Dawes. Michigan -Fernando C. Beaman, Charles Upson, J. W. Longyear, Francis W. Kellogg, Augustus C. Baldwin, John F. Driggs. Minnesota.-William Windom, Ignatius Donnelly. Missouri.-Francis P. Blair, Jr., Henry T. Blow, John G. Scott, J. W. McClurg, S. II. Boyd, Austin A. King, Benjamin Loan, William A. Hall, James S. Rolins New Hampshire.-Daniel Marcy, Edward H. Rollins, James W. Patterson. New Jersey.-John F. Starr, George Middleton, William G. Steele, Andrew J. Rodgers, Nehemiah Perry. New York.-Henry G. Stebbens, Martin Kalbfleisch, Moses F. Odell, Ben. Wood, Fernando Wood, Elijah Ward, J. W. Chanler, James Brooks, Ansen Herrick, William Radford, Charles II. Winfield, Homer A. Nelson, John B. Steele, John V. L. Pruyn, John Á. Griswold, Orlando Kellogg, Calvin T. Hulburd, James M. Marvin, Samuel F. Miller, Ambrose W. Clark, Frands Kernan, De Witt C. Littlejohn, Thomas T. Davis, Theodore M. Pomeroy, Daniel Morris, Giles W. Hotchkiss, E. B. Van Valkenburg, Freeman Clarke, Augustus Frank, John B. Ganson, Reuben E. Fenton. Ohio.-George II. Pendleton, Alexander Long, Robert C. Schenck, J. F. McKinney, Frank C. Le Blond, Chilton A. White, Samael S. Cox, William Johnson, Warren P. Noble, James M. Ashley, Wells A. Hutchins, William E. Finck, Joba O'Neill, George Bliss, James R. Morris, Joseph W. White, Ephraim R. Eckley, Rufus P Spaulding, J. A. Garfield. Oregon.-John R. McBride. Pennsylvania.—Samuel J. Randall, Charles O'Neill, Leonard Myers, William D. Kelley, M. Russell Thayer, John D. Stiles, John M. Broomall, S. E. Ancona, Thaddeus Stevens, Myer Strouse, Philip Johnson, Charles Denison, H. W. Tracy, William H. Miller, Joseph Bailey, A. H. Coffroth, Archibald McAllister, James T. Hale, Glenni W. Scofield, Amos Myers, John L. Dawson, J. K. Moorhead, Thomas Williams, Jesse Lazear. Rhode Island.-Thomas A. Jenckes, Nathan F. Dixon. Vermont-Frederick E. Woodbridge, Justin S. Morrill, Portus Baxter. Virginia.-Joseph Segar, L. II. Chandler, B. M. Kitchen. West Virginia.-Jacob B. Blair, William G. Brown, Killian V. Whaley. Wisconsin.—James 8. Brown, Ithamar C. Sloan, Amasa Cobb, Charles A. Eldridge, Ezra Wheeler, Walter D. McIndoe. SCHUYLE COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

DELEGATES FROM TERRITORIES.

New Mexico.-Francisco Perea.

Utah. John F. Kinney. Washington.-George E. Cole. NebraskaS. G. Daily. Colorado.-Hiram P. Bennett. Nevada.-Gordon N. Mott, Dakota.-Contested seat. Idaho -W. H. Wallace. Arizona.-No Delegate.

1 The persons excepted were all who were or had been civil or diplomatic agents of the so-called Confderate Government; all who had left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who were or had been military or naval officers of the so-called Confederate Government above the rank of colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the National Congress to aid the rebellion; all whe resigned commissions in the National army or navy, and afterward aided the rebellion; and all who had engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully si prisoners of war.

The following was the form of the oath: "I, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existence of the rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decisions of the Supreme Court. So help me God."

The President proclaimed "that whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,

POSITION OF THE CONTENDING FORCES.

Let us now consider military events in the year 1864.

233

Standing at the opening of the year, and taking a general survey of military affairs as we left them in the preceding record, we find the Army of the Potomac, under Meade, and the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee, confronting each other in the vicinity of the Rapid Anna. Looking farther southward, we observe almost absolute quiet in North Carolina. Gillmore and Dahlgren are seen besieging Charleston very quietly. Mobile is held by the Confederates, and Banks, at New Orleans, anxious to attempt its capture, is restrained by superior authority. His hold on Texas is by a feeble tenure, and the confining of Taylor westward of the Atchafalaya may be of very short duration. Steele has a considerable army at Little Rock, threatening Taylor's flank, and Rosecrans, who was succeeded by Thomas in the command of the Army of the Cumberland, is at the head of the Department of the Missouri. Between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian chain of mountains little more than guerrilla operations are seen; while near the southern extremity of that chain of hills, at and near Chattanooga, Grant lies with a strong force, watching the army he has lately conquered, under Bragg, which is now in the vicinity of Dalton, in Georgia, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. It is about fifty thousand strong, including troops sent to Mobile.' Burnside and Longstreet are confronting each other in East Tennessee.

The National forces in the field now numbered about eight hundred thousand. Those of the Confederates numbered about four hundred thousand. The former were ready and disposed to act on the offensive; the latter, generally, stood on the defensive. Both parties were resolved to make the campaign about to be opened a decisive one, if possible, and made preparations accordingly. The Government and the people were tired of delays, and the almost undecisive warfare of posts, as the struggle had been, in a great degree, up to that time. It was evident to both that proper vigor to secure quick success in efforts to crush the rebellion, could only be obtained by committing the supreme control of the armies in the field to some person more competent than General Halleck, and all eyes were turned to General Grant, whose ability as a leader appeared pre

Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such States at the Presidential election of the year of our Lord 1860 each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a State Government, which shall be republican in form."

1 The Confederates reported the Army of the Tennessee at 54.000 men of all arms. This included four divisions sent to re-enforce General Polk in the heart of Alabama, and two divisions sent to Mobile, with the entire body of cavalry, under Wheeler, Wharton, and Morgan. Johnston's command embraced all the Confederate troops in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, excepting those at Mobile, and others in Tennessee, under Forrest, who had a sort of roving commission.

2 This is a view of the Custom-House at Mobile, which was used as the head-quarters of the Confederates in that Department. It is a very fine building, of Quincy granite. The picture shows its fronts on Royal and St. Francis Streets.

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GRANT A LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.

eminent. There was a general willingness, when the question presented itself in action at Washington, to intrust him with almost unlimited powers as a general-in-chief. To effect this seemingly desirable object, Congress created the office of lieutenant-general, which had expired with Washington; and when the President approved the measure, he nominated General Grant for the high position. This was confirmed by the Senate," and Grant was made General-in-Chief of all the armies of the Republic.' He was then not quite forty-three years of age, or a few months younger than Washington was when the latter took the chief command of the Continental armies.

• March 2, 1864.

Grant had shown a proper appreciation of the demands of the crisis. He had no sympathy with a system of warfare, under the circumstances, which carried the lash of coercion in one hand and the sugar-plums of persuasion in the other. That had been tried too long for the National good. He believed the Government to be right and the rebellion against its authority wrong. He knew that compromise, with safety and honor for the Republic, was impossible, and his plan was to make war with all the terrible intentions of war, as the most speedy and effectual way to crush the rebellion. He knew that such war would be more merciful and humane than its opposite that sharp, decisive battles, waged not exclusively for any post, but for the destruction of his adversary's armies, would require fewer lives and less treasure than feeble blows, which would wound, but not destroy. Knowing these to be the views of the new General-in-Chief, expressed by his actions, his appointment gave general satisfaction and hope to the loyal people.

March 9.

b

The President immediately summoned the Lieutenant-General to Washington. He arrived there on the afternoon of the 8th of March, and on the following day he and Mr. Lincoln met, for the first time, in the Cabinet chamber of the White House. There, in the presence of the entire Cabinet, General Halleck, General Rawlins (Grant's chief of staff), and Colonel Comstock, his chief engineer, Owen Lovejoy, a member of Congress, and Mr. Nicolay, the President's private secretary, the Lieutenant-General received his commission from the Chief Magistrate, when the two principal actors in the august scene exchanged a few words appropriate to the occasion. On the following day, the President issued an order investing the Lieutenant-General with the chief command of all the armies of the Republic. It was also announced that General Hal

March 10.

1 On the 14th of December, 1863, E. B. Washburne proposed in the House of Representatives the revival of the grade of lieutenant-general of our armies. Mr. Ross, of Illinois, offered an amendment, recommending General Grant for the office. In this shape the proposition was carried' in the House by a vote of 11 to 44, and it was concurred in by the Senate by a vote of 81 to 6, after it was amended by making the office perpetual, and prescribing that the Lieutenant-General shomid

d Feb. 1.

• Feb. 24.

be, under the President, the General-in-Chief of the Armies of the Republic. A Committee of Conference was appointed, and a bill substantially in accord with the views of the Senate was passed. The President signed it on the 1st of March, and on that day nominated General Grant for the post, which the Senate confirmed the next day.

2 The President said: "General Grant, as an evidence of the nation's appreciation of what you have already done, and its reliance upon you for what still remains to be done in the existing great struggle, you are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General of the Armies 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 Lieutenant-General Grant replied: "Mr. President, I accept the commission with gratitude for the

DUTIES ASSIGNED TO MEADE AND SHERMAN.

235

leck had been relieved of that command "at his own request," and assigned to duty as "chief of staff of the army."1

General Grant made a flying visit to the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac, and then started for the West, to make arrangements for inaugurating the grand campaign of the spring of 1864. At Nashville he issued the following modest order on the 17th of March, dated "Head-quarters of the Armies of the United States":—

"In pursuance of the following order of the President :

'EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 10, 1864.

'Under the authority of the Act of Congress to appoint to the grade of Lieutenant-General in the Army, of March 1, 1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United States Army, is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.'

I assume command of the Armies of the United States. Head-quarters will be in the field, and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an office head-quarters in Washington, to which all official communications will be sent, except those from the army where the head-quarters are at the date of their address."

General Grant spent the remainder of March and a greater portion of April in making arrangements for the decisive campaigns which followed, the grand geographical objectives being Richmond and Atlanta, and the prime object the destruction or capture of the two principal armies of the Conspirators, one under Lee and the other under Johnston. To General Meade, as commander of the Army of the Potomac, Grant assigned the task of conquering Lee and taking Richmond, and to Sherman was intrusted the duty of conquering Johnston and taking Atlanta. In these two generals Grant reposed the most perfect confidence, and was not disappointed. He made his head-quarters thenceforth with the Army of the Potomac, and gave to Meade the help of his counsel and the prestige of his name; while Sherman, who was appointed to succeed Grant in the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, with Major-General J. B. McPherson as commander of the

JAMES B. MCPHERSON.

Department and Army of the Tennessee,' was left to his own resources, under general but explicit orders from the Lieutenant-General.

high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many battle-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 properly met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men."

1 General Order of the War Department, March 12, 1864. In that order occurred the following sentence: "In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General-in-Chief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed." 2 Order of the War Department, March 12, 1864.

236

MENDACITY OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

Meanwhile the Conspirators at Richmond made the most frantic efforts to avert their impending doom. They heard with dismay of the gigantic preparations making by the Government against them. They keenly realized the fact that in the wide world they had no sympathizing friend among the rulers, to speak a word of substantial comfort, excepting the Pope of Rome,' whose power to help was less than nothing. They knew that the sentiment of the civilized world, unbiassed by self-interest, was against their cause. They saw England, from which they had hoped most, virtually laughing at their calamity, and its people offering no other aid than such as the greed of traffic might supply for a full equivalent of profit; and they beheld with the greatest concern the despondency of their own dupes and victims within the bounds of the Confederacy. It was vitally important to speak to the latter words of encouragement. Truth could furnish none. So Jefferson Davis, equal to the occasion, as usual, issued an address to the troops in the field early in February, and the members of "Congress" at Richmond put forth a long epistle "to the People of the Confederate States,” both of which, undeniable facts warrant us in saying were deceptive and untruthful in the highest degree. They were filled with the most artful misrepresentations of events in the past and current history of the war.

Davis assured his poor conscripts that they were patriotic volunteers, and that "the pulse of the people beat in unison with theirs ;" and he compared their "spontaneous and unanimous offer of their lives for the defense of their country3 with the halting and reluctant service of the mercenaries,” who were "purchased by the enemy at the price of higher bounties than have hitherto been known in war." He assured them that "debt, taxation, repetition of heavy drafts, dissensions occasioned by the strife for power, by the pursuit of the spoils of office, by the thirst for the plunder of the public treasury, and, above all, the consciousness of a bad cause, must tell with fearful force upon the overstrained energies of the enemy. His campaign of 1864," he said, "must, from the exhaustion of his resources of men and

1 See page 47.

2 On the 1st of April, 1864, Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, forwarded to Jefferson Davis, by permission of our Government, a letter from Earl Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, in which, in the name of "her Majesty's Government," he protested against the further procuring of pirate vessels within the British dominions by the Confederates. After courteously reciting facts connected with the matter, Russell said: "Under these circumstances, her Majesty's Government protests and remonstrates against any further efforts being made on the part of the so-called Confederate States, or the authorities or agents thereof, to build, or cause to be built, or to purchase, or cause to be purchased, any such vessels as those styled 'rams, er any other vessels to be used for war purposes against the United States, or against any country with which the United Kingdom is at peace and on terms of amity; and her Majesty's Government further protest and remonstrate against all acts in violation of the neutrality laws of the realm."

These words, from one who personally and as the representative of the British Government, had given the insurgents all the “aid and comfort" a wise business prudence would allow, kindled the hottest indignation of the Conspirators, and Jefferson Davis instructed one of his assistants (Burton N. Harrison) to reply that it would be Inconsistent with the dignity of the position he [J. Davis] fills as Chief Magistrate of a nation comprising a population of more than twelve millions, occupying a territory many times larger than the United Kingdom. and possessing resources unsurpassed by those of any other country on the face of the globe, to allow the attempt of Earl Russell to ignore the actual existence of the Confederate States, and to contemptuously styk them "so-called," to pass without a protest and a remonstrance. The President, therefore, does protest and remonstrate against this studied insult; and he instructs me to say that in future any document in which it may be repeated will be returned unanswered and unnoticed." The scribe of the irate President" added: "Were, indeed, her Majesty's Government sincere in a desire and a determination to maintain neutrality, the President would not but feel that they would neither be just nor gallant to allow the subjugation of a nation like the Confederate States, by such a barbarous, despotic race as are now attempting it."

3 Compare this with the fact mentioned on page 97, that by a late act of the Confederate "Congress," every able-bodied white man, of prescribed age, in the Confederacy, was to be considered "in the military service.” and liable to be punished as a deserter if not found there.