While the contest had been fairly doubtful and at times exceedingly gloomy for Lincoln, the victories of Sherman and Sheridan caused a sudden tidal wave, that utterly overwhelmed McClellan and left him the worst defeated candidate of history in any contested election, receiving only 21 electoral votes to 212 for Lincoln. The following table gives the popular and electoral vote, with the soldier vote in a separate table, as cast in the field:

STATES.Popular Vote.Electoral Vote.
Lincoln.McClellan.Lincoln.McClellan.
Maine72,27847,7367—
New Hampshire36,59533,0345—
Vermont42,42213,3255—
Massachusetts126,74248,74512—
Rhode Island14,3438,7184—
Connecticut44,69342,2886—
New York368,726361,98633—
New Jersey60,72368,014—7
Pennsylvania296,389276,30826—
Delaware8,1558,767—3
Maryland40,15332,7397—
Kentucky27,78664,301—11
West Virginia23,22310,4575—
Ohio265,154205,56821—
Indiana150,422130,23313—
Illinois189,487158,34916—
Michigan85,35267,3708—
Iowa87,33149,2608—
Wisconsin79,56463,8758—
Minnesota25,06017,3754—
Kansas14,2283,8713—
Missouri72,99131,02611—
Nevada[19]9,8266,5942—
California62,13443,8415—
Oregon9,8888,4573—
Totals2,213,6651,802,23721221
STATES.Soldier Vote.
Lincoln.McClellan.
Maine4,174741
New Hampshire2,066690
Vermont24349
Pennsylvania26,71212,349
Maryland2,800321
Kentucky1,1942,823
Ohio41,1469,757
Michigan9,4022,959
Iowa15,1781,364
Wisconsin11,3722,458
California2,600237
Totals116,88733,748

The army vote of Vermont, Kansas, and Minnesota was not received in time to be taken into the official count, and part of the vote of Wisconsin was rejected for informality.

The States of Tennessee and Louisiana also held elections and were carried for Lincoln, but their votes were not necessary to the election of the Republican ticket, and although Lincoln earnestly desired that these States should be recognized and the votes counted, Congress, by joint resolution, that Lincoln signed with great reluctance, declared that they should not be recognized, and they were omitted in the final count by Congress.

Pennsylvania was the only Republican State that faltered in the fall elections of 1864. There was no State ticket to be chosen, and the Republicans in charge of the campaign assumed that Lincoln would carry the State without extraordinary efforts, while the friends of McClellan, a native of the State, with strong individual and social relations, made exhaustive efforts to give him the victory.

The October election was practically a stand-off, and Lincoln telegraphed me on the morning after the election to come to Washington. He was much distressed at the attitude of our State, and apprehensive that New York, with Horatio Seymour as Governor, one of the ablest Democrats of the country, might vote for McClellan, as Tammany was then in the very zenith of its power. I had been Chairman of the State Committee when Lincoln was elected in 1860, and General Cameron was my successor in 1864. He was thoroughly competent for the task, but evidently did not appreciate the perils which confronted him. Lincoln asked me to join Cameron and devote the intervening month between the October and November elections to assure a victory. I answered that I could not make the suggestion to Cameron, as our political relations were not especially friendly, to which he replied, asking me whether I would do it if so requested by Cameron. I of course assented, and the following day I received a letter from Cameron at my home in Chambersburg, requesting me to join him, where I found Honorable Wayne MacVeagh, who had been the Republican chairman the year before and who was then not more friendly to Cameron than myself. We all united in an earnest effort to win the State, always acting in entire harmony with Cameron and his committee.

I had private quarters at the Continental, while Cameron’s quarters were at the Girard, and, as requested, advised Lincoln each day of the apparent progress of the battle. My reports were not so assuring as he desired, for the friends of McClellan, inspired by the partial victory of October, renewed their energies for the November fight. Postmaster-General Dennison came to see me on a special mission from Lincoln about two weeks before the election to learn the situation as precisely as possible, and I had to tell him that I saw but little hope of carrying the State on the home vote. The army vote would doubtless be largely for Lincoln and give him the State, but it would be declared a “bayonet election,” and with such a result in Pennsylvania, and New York lost, as was possible, while Lincoln’s election could not be defeated, as the Southern States did not vote, the moral power of the new administration to prosecute the war and attain peace would be greatly impaired. My answer to Lincoln was that I would go to Washington within a few days if it should appear necessary to take extreme measures to save the State on the home vote.

As the political conditions did not improve, I telegraphed to Lincoln that I would meet him at nine o’clock in the evening to discuss the campaign. I found him nervously anxious about Pennsylvania, although not doubting his re-election. He knew that New York was trembling in the balance and might be lost, and his fears were fully warranted, as he had but little over 6000 majority in a million votes. I told him that I had not confidence in the State being carried by the home vote, but that it could be done without interfering with the military operations of the army, as Grant was then besieging Petersburg and Sheridan had whipped the Confederates clear out of the valley. I suggested that he should in some way have Grant furlough five thousand Pennsylvania soldiers home for twenty days, and that Sheridan should do the same, as that vote cast at home would insure a home majority. He hesitated about making the request of Grant for reasons which I could not understand, and I then suggested that General Meade was a soldier and a gentleman, and that he could safely send an order to him as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, and that Meade would obey it and permit the order to be returned.

A messenger from the War Office went the next morning to Meade, bearing the order from Lincoln, brought it back with him, and fully five thousand Pennsylvania soldiers were furloughed to return home. I said: “How about Sheridan?” Lincoln’s face brightened and with great enthusiasm he said: