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of hard bread, awaited the hungry expect ants. Thus ended the grand celebration of the emancipation of the slaves of South Carolina.

The observance of the event in other parts of the south, wherever the authority of the union forces was present to permit it, was so similar in its character and enthusiasm to what has already been narrated, that it is unnecessary here to extend the descriptions. By the army and its officers, with here and there an exception, the proclamation was regarded as an act to which things had long been tending, and which, under the circumstances of peril in which the union had so long been placed, was inevitable. Of course, no such proclamation, in time of war, could have any weight in the section of country at which it was aimed, excepting as the union military successes made it effective. Those successes in due time reached every portion of the south, and the fetters of every bondman on American soil were thus broken. Congress subsequently passed an amendment to the constitution, forever prohibiting slavery in any portion of the republic, and this amendment, on being ratified by the requisite number of states, became a part of the organic law of the land.

The original draft of the emancipation proclamation, in the president's handwriting, was presented by Mr. Lincoln to the great Northwestern Sanitary Fair, held at Chicago, in the autumn of 1863. The following letter accompanied the gift:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 26, 1863. To the Ladies having in charge the Northwestern Fair for the Sanitary Commission, Chicago, Illinois:

According to the request made in your behalf, the original draft of the emancipation proclamation is herewith enclosed. The formal words at the top, and the conclusion, except the signature, you perceive, are not in my handwriting. They were written at the State Department, by whom I know not. The printed part was cut

from a copy of the preliminary proclamation and pasted on, merely to save writing. I had some desire to retain the paper; but if it shall contribute to the relief or comfort of the soldier, that will be better. Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

This chief treasure of that great fair was purchased for three thousand dollars, by the Hon. Thomas B. Bryan, for the Chicago Soldiers' Home, of which he was president. Lithographic copies of the document were also sold for the benefit of the same institution, and netted it thousands of dollars.

One of the most important results of this great measure, whether considered from a moral, political, or social point of view, was the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, by which all citizens were made equal before the law.

It was on the twenty-seventh of February, 1869, that congress passed a resolution in the following words:

A resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, twothirds of both Houses concurring, that the following article be proposed to the legis

latures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by threefourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as a part of the Constitution, namely: -ARTICLE 15, Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. Congress shl have power to enforce this article by appropriate legisla tion.

In about one year's time from the passage of this resolution, proclamation was made by the secretary of state, Hon. Hamilton Fish, that the proposed amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of the

states of North Carolina, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Hampshire, Nevada, Vermont, Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Texas,-twenty-nine in all, and constituting three-fourths of the whole number of states, and thus becoming valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the constitution of the United States.

Though not obligatory, as an executive duty, President Grant communicated the fact of the ratification to congress, in a special message, on the thirtieth of March, 1870. "The measure"-said the president-" which makes at once four millions of the people voters who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so, with the assertion that at the time of the Declaration of In

dependence the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, and regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men had no rights which white men were bound to respect, is, indeed, a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present time. Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived directly from the people, must depend mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism, and industry. I call the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised race to the importance of their striving, in every honorable manner, to make themselves worthy of their new privilege. To a race more favored heretofore by our laws, I would say, withhold no legal privilege of advancement to the new citizens." So great an event was not suffered to pass without public demonstrations of joy commensurate with its grand, beneficent, and elevating scope, in almost all parts of the country.

LXVII.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST VICKSBURG, "THE GIBRALTAR OF
THE MISSISSIPPI," BY THE UNION FORCES.-1863.

The Genius, Valor, and Resources of Both Armies Tasked to their Utmost.-Final Capitulation of the City by General Pemberton, After a Prolonged and Brilliant Siege.-Heaviest Blow Yet Dealt the Secession Cause.-General McPherson Receives the Formal Surrender.-Thirty-seven Thousand Prisoners, Fifteen Generals, Arms and Munitions for Sixty Thousand Men, the Trophies.-Geographical Importance of Vicksburg-Its Commanding Fortifications.-Farragut's Naval Siege Powerless. -Sherman's Attack Repulsed.-Grant Assumes Active Command.-Vigorous Operations Undertaken. -His Series of Victorious Battles.-Futile Attempt to Storm Vicksburg.-Hours of Terrific Cannonading. A Systematic Siege Begun.-Thorough Investment at all Points.-Federal Sapping and Mining. They Mine and Blow up Fort Hill -Awful Spectacle of Blood and Ruin.-Deadly Struggle for a Foothold.--Success of the Forty-fifth Illinois.-Their Colors Surmount the Work.-Pember ton Sends a Flag of Truce.-His Interview with Grant.-Grant's Terms: "Unconditional Surrender.* -The Victors Enter the City, July 4th.-Curious Reminiscences.

"No thought of flight,

None of retreat, no unbecoming deed
That argued fear; each one himself relied
As only in HIS arm the moment lay
Of Victory!"

OPERATIONS AT VICKSBURG.

YOUAVES, infantry, cavalry, artillery-officers and privates-picket, scout, and spy,brave legions, led on by brave generals of heroic purpose to noblest deeds,-won glorious honor to American arms, and to the still more sacred cause of the American Union, by the capture of the city of Vicksburg, the stronghold of Mississippi, with all its defenses and munitions, and its valorous army ;—an event which, occurring on the fourth of July, filled the hearts of all loyal Americans with peculiar joy, while it was confessedly the heaviest and most disastrous military blow which the confederate cause had yet received during the two long years of most eventful struggle.

Situated on the Mississippi river, on a commanding elevation, four hundred miles above New Orleans, and fifty miles west of Jackson, it was the most important point on the river between Natchez and Memphis, and, at an early day, was strongly fortified by the confederate authorities of the state, forts being erected and abundance of artillery supplied. More than a year before the final

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capitulation of the place under General Pemberton to General Grant, the union forces laid siege to the city, and Farragut demanded the surrender of the forts; the silencing of the confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, was among the earlier operations of the union gun-boats, which also shelled the city for several weeks. Farragut raised the naval siege, July 24, 1862. General Grant had taken command of the union army in that quarter in June, of the same year, and, in December, organized | his army into four grand corps,-the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth, commanded respectively by Generals McClernand, Sherman, Hurlbut, and McPherson. At the close of this month, Sherman started from Memphis, passed down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo, some ten miles above Vicksburg, and ascending that river, advanced upon Vicksburg on the north side, but, after three days of severe fighting, was com pelled to retire with heavy loss. For a time, the attack on the city was abandoned as futile.

Early in February, 1863, General Grant arrived and assumed active personal command of military operations, which he conducted with great tact and vigor, successively defeating his opponents in engagements at Port Gibson, Fourteen Mile Creek, Raymond, Jackson, Champion's Hill, and Big Black Bridge. The naval forces co-operating in these movements were under the efficient direction of Admirals Farragut and Porter.

After thoroughly investing the city on all sides, the union troops forming a semicircle, with both flanks resting on the river, an unsuccessful assault was made, May 23d, by the combined land and naval forces. The attack was a terrible one. According to the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, it was characterized by the following incidents: During the night, the gun-boats and mortars lying in front of the city kept up a continual fire, and dropped their fiery messengers right and left without distinction. During this bombardment several buildings were set on

fire by the exploding shells, and lighted up the darkness, revealing strange shapes and wonderful outlines, standing out in relief against the dark sky, which added wonderful interest to the bombardment as witnessed by the distant observer. It is impossible to estimate the damage occasioned by thus dropping into Vicksburg those heavy eleven and thirteen inch shells. Imagination falls far short of its reality. Before the union forces approached the city, General Pemberton ordered all the women and children for miles around Vicksburg to go within the intrenchments, assuring them that in that way they would escape all danger. The consequence was, that there were a large number of noncombatants in the city, exposed to all the dangers of siege and bombardment. At eight o'clock in the morning the cannonading began, and continued, with scarcely a moment's intermission, along the entire line, until ten o'clock. From every hilltop in front of the confederate works, cannon were belching forth, and the fiery tempest raged fearfully. Guns were dismounted, embrasures torn up, parapets destroyed, and caissons exploded. It was a fearful demonstration. For two long hours did this cannonade continue, when a general charge was made. Winding through the valleys, clambering over the hilis everywhere, subjected to a murderous enfilading and cross-fire, the advance pressed up close to the confederate works -to find that a deep ditch, protected by sharp stakes along the outer edge, lay between them and the intrenchments. They planted their flag directly before the fort, and crouched down behind the embankment, out of range of the confederate fire, as calmly as possible, to await developments. The soldiers within the forts could not rise above the parapet to fire at them, for if they did, a hundred bullets went whizzing through the air, and the adventurers died. The confederates, however, adopted another plan; taking a shell, they cut the fuse close off, lighted it, and rolled it over the outer slope of the embankment. Subsequently, with picks and

shovels, a way was dug into one fort, and through the breach the boys walked bravely in. The first fort on the left of the railroad was stormed by a portion of General Carr's division, and gallantly taken; the colonel that led the charge was wounded. On the center the fire was persistent and terrible. Many brave officers were killed and many more wounded. Colonel Dollins, of the Eighty-first Illinois, fell dead while leading his men to the charge. Later in the afternoon, General Ransom's brigade charged the works opposite his position, with heavy loss. Steele and Tuttle, on the right, were also vigorously engaged, the loss sustained by the former being considerable.

GENERAL J. C. PEMBERTON.

The result of this assault rendered it quite certain that Vicksburg could not be taken by storm, and every possible appliance was immediately put into requisition by General Grant to accomplish his purpose by systematic siege, and sappers and miners performed an important part in this great undertaking. The details of this kind of work are well understood by all, and need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say, that one of the principal confederate forts was soon reached by this subterranean process,-the miners keeping incessantly busy, day and night, until they arrived far under the confederate fortifications, and within such near proximity to the enemy, that the picks and shovels of the latter, similarly engaged in the bowels of the earth, could frequently be heard,

necessitating, above all things, incessant wariness and the utmost possible expedition. How the matter was carried through, the following account, made up from the admirable dispatches of Messrs. Keim and Fitzpatrick, of the New York Herald, will abundantly show:

On the morning of June 25th, the work of mining (says Mr. Fitzpatrick,) was completed, an immense quantity of gunpowder was stored in the cavity prepared to receive it, and the fuse train was laid. At noon, the different regiments of the Seventeenth corps, selected to make the assault on the breach when it should have been effected, were marshaled in long lines upon the near slopes of the hills immediately confronting the doomed fortifications, where, disposed for the attack, impatiently awaited the event. The confederates seemed to have discovered that some movement was on foot, for, from the moment the federal troops came into position, until the explosion took place, their sharpshooters kept up an incessant fire from the whole line of their works.

At length all was in readiness; the fuse train was fired, and it went fizzing and popping through the zigzag line of trenches, until for a moment it vanished. Its disappearance was quickly succeeded by the explosion, and the mine under Fort Hill was sprung. So terrible a spectacle is seldom witnessed. Dust, dirt, smoke, gabions, stockades, timber, gun-carriages, logs-in fact, everything connected with the fort-rose hundreds of feet into the air, as if vomited forth from a volcano. It is described by all who saw it as an awful

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No sooner had the explosion taken place (writes Mr. Keim), than the two detachments acting as the forlorn hope ran into the fort and sap. A brisk musketry fire at once commenced between the two parties, with about equal effect on either side. No sooner had these detachments become well engaged than the rest of Leggett's brigade joined them and entered into the struggle. The regiments relieving each other at intervals, the contest now grew

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