RATIFYING THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT.

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is just, it is humane, it is right to do so. It is a fit occasion to speak out to the world upon a question of such magnitude, and the whole civilized world will joyously ratify the deed; the proud soldier in the field will shout 'amen' and march on to new victories with a firmer and more confident step."

In the senate, on motion of A. W. Mack, the rules were suspended, and he presented the joint-resolution for ratification, which was read and referred to the committee on federal relations. Afterward, on the same day, the resolution was called up and its adoption moved. Senators Green and Cohrs made speeches against the measure, and Gen. Murray McConnel, "the Nestor of the senate," the friend of Douglas, and for over a quarter of a century a leading and influential democrat, made a most able, eloquent, and patriotic speech in its favor.* Senator Vandeveer moved to lay the resolution on the table, which was negatived by the close vote of 12 to 11. The previous question having been moved and carried, the joint-resolution was adopted by a vote of 18 to 6.

Those voting in the affirmative were: Senators Addams, Allen, Bushnell, Eastman, Green of Marion, Lansing, Lindsay (democrat), Mack, Mason (democrat), Mc Connel (democrat), Metcalf, Peters, Richards, Strain, Schofield (democrat), Ward, Webster, and Worcester (democrat). Those voting in the negative were: Senators Cohrs, Green of Alexander, Hunter, Riley, Vanderveer, and Wescott, all democrats. Senator Funk (republican) absent.

This action of the senate having been reported to the house, Alexander McCoy moved that the latter body concur. The previous question having been moved by Merritt L. Josslyn and carried, the joint-resolution was adopted by a vote of 58 to 28. Six democrats did not record their votes, all the others voted in opposition.

And thus it transpired that Illinois was the first to act, in advance of all other states, in ratifying this amendment which secured freedom to the slave. The proceedings, unlike those

Gov. Bross' "Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment."

+ Rhode Island and Michigan were the next states to adopt the amendment, on February 2-the last of the requisite twenty-five states being Georgia, Dec. 6, 1865. Oregon, California, and Florida subsequently ratified the amendment, while the states of Delaware, Kentucky, and New Jersey rejected it.

in congress, were characterized by great solemnity and decorum. Following this action came the repeal of the black laws which had for so many years darkened the pages of our State

statutes.

The twenty-fourth general assembly adjourned on February 16, after a session of 46 days. As a body, its proceedings were in striking contrast to those of its immediate predecessor. There were no angry discussions, no personalities, no charges of disloyalty. The work it accomplished was as diverse as it was far reaching. As summarized by Speaker Fuller in his closing remarks, 533 senate and 336 house-bills were passed. Of these, only 91 were general in their character, 155 related to incorporations of towns, 102 to legalizing taxes for bounty purposes, 84 insurance charters, 61 railroad charters and amendments, 52 relating to school-laws and education, and the balance to miscellaneous and local incorporations, relief bills, and

courts.

Under the last call of the president for troops, Illinois had furnished 18,500 men before March 6, and recruiting was progressing favorably when, on April 13, it was brought to an abrupt close by order of the secretary of war.

The surrender of Lee at Appomattox, on April 9; of Johnson, on April 26; and of Jones, Thompson, and Kirby Smith, all in the same month-by which over 100,000 combatants had laid down their arms-brought the great war of the rebellion to a successful termination.*

Lee had remained too long in his entrenchments before Richmond and Petersburg to find it possible successfully to retreat. Had he succeeded in retiring sooner and in effecting a junction with Johnson-if such were his desire-he might have still remained at the head of a formidable army, and the struggle might, perhaps, have been prolonged another year. But destiny had ordered otherwise, and the collapse of the confederacy, after its downfall had begun, was as swift and complete as its rise had been sudden and widespread.

The tidings of the fall of Richmond-assuring, as it did, the

* The respective commands of the Southern leaders named who thus became prisoners of war numbered as follows: Lee's, 26,000; Johnson's, 29,924; Taylor's, 10,000; Jones', 8000; Thompson's, 7454; Smith's, 20,000.

ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT.

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ultimate triumph of the cause of the Union-thrilled the great popular heart of the North with a joy almost delirious in its intensity, and which found expression in modes as multiform as they were felt to be inadequate.

From the chimes hanging in the massive temples of the metropolis, and from the modest belfry that surmounted the humble meeting-house of the country village, pealed forth the bells whose iron tongues sounded sweetly in ears to which they chanted their tale of ended strife; of a people now, for the first time, really free, and of a Union to be forever indissoluble. From crowded thoroughfares leaped forth the flames of blazing bonfires, in whose light rejoiced exultant crowds whose eyes were lifted with a love and veneration never felt before toward the ensign of a new and perpetual republic, whose stars shone with a fresh lustre, since their light no longer fell upon the shackles of a slave. And the silent thanksgiving that welled up in every breast found voice in public utterances of praise to Him to whom our forefathers had commended the infant Union of States.

But the gladness of the hour was suddenly transformed into a grief as bitter as the joy had been exultant. The telegraphwires, on the morning of April 15, flashed across the continent the intelligence that blanched the cheeks of those who heard it as though touched by the icy hand of death, and brought into every home a sense of desolation akin to that which comes with a sudden personal bereavement.

On Good Friday evening, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a mad actor, of rebel sympathies and associates, entered the private box of the president at Ford's Theatre in Washington, and placing a pistol at the back of his victim's head fired a ball which pierced his brain. The president lingered, though unconscious, until the next morning when his great soul passed from time to eternity. The chants of victory were changed into cries of woe; the peans of triumph into the saddest of requiems. But there remained a great consolation. Not in vain had Abraham Lincoln offered on the altar of patriotism the best years of his manhood, the highest powers of his mind even the life-blood of that great heart which had never throbbed with a selfish impulse. He had lived to see the fetters fall from

4,000,000 bondmen; to witness the triumphant termination of that gigantic struggle in which for four years he had been the central figure, and which triumph his sagacity, his patience, his unwearying devotion had rendered possible. His eyes had beheld the flag, for whose supremacy he had died, floating over the capital of the rebellion. His life had been devoted to the presentation before the bar of public opinion the cause of human freedom and equal rights; that life did not close until he had seen the glorious success of that cause in the court of ultimate resort-the appeal to arms.

And it must be conceded, that if it had been ordained that that great life was to end by the hand of an assassin, no hour could have been selected which would more surely bestow upon the victim the crown of martyrdom. Abraham Lincoln died in the zenith of his fame. His grand work was finished. It was not his destiny to be called upon to grapple with the perplexing problems of reconstruction, nor to participate in the feuds to which these disturbing and yet unsettled problems gave birth. His fame abides unsullied and unquestioned; and before his shrine, in the hearts of his countrymen, there passes no cloud.

The sombre shadow of grief which overcast the land at his death did not begin to lift until, after continuous and imposing funeral ceremonies, extending from Washington for over sixteen hundred miles, his remains were laid at rest in Oak-Ridge Cemetery, near his old home in Springfield, May 4, 1865.

An association was organized on May 11, of which Governor Oglesby was president, for the purpose of erecting a monument to his memory. Nearly $200,000 was raised for this purpose, of which $50,000 was contributed by the State of Illinois, $10,000 by New York, $1000 by Missouri, and $500 by Nevada; the balance was made up of individual subscriptions from. soldiers and sailors, Sunday - school scholars, churches, and benevolent societies. The monument having been completed, the ceremonies of dedication occurred Oct. 15, 1874, in the presence of an immense concourse. Gen. John M. Palmer presided and Gov. Oglesby delivered the oration. President Grant, VicePresident Henry Wilson, and Gen. Wm. T. Sherman, with many other distinguished guests, were present and made addresses.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The Civil War-Number of Troops Engaged - Battles -Losses-Illinois in the War-Quotas-Troops Furnished by Each County-Bounties Paid-Regimental Losses at Fort Donelson - Shiloh-Stone RiverChickamauga - Missionary Ridge-Other BattlesPercentage of Losses-Officers from Illinois-Work of the "Stay-at-Homes"-Sanitary and Christian Commissions-Union League-Songs of the War.

THE

HE war of the rebellion will take its place in history among the greater wars of modern times. It was remarkable not only on account of the magnitude of the issues involved, but also for the numbers engaged, the length of its duration, and the valor displayed by the soldiers of both sides, on many hotly-contested fields.

The number of volunteers given in the table on the next page includes the enlistments for all terms of service except those for less than ninety days. In addition, during the war there were recruited for the regular army about 67,000 men, not more than two-thirds of whom were credited to the respective states from which they came. The following totals also include all veterans and others whose names appear twice on the rolls. The number of colored troops in the table embraces only those who were organized in the confederate states-the whole number enlisted being 186,097.

The total number of officers and men in the Union army, if reduced to a standard of three years' service for each man, would be 2,326,168, who were organized into:

* "Statistical Record," by Capt. Frederick Phisterer; "Regimental Losses," by William F. Fox.