The battle of Gettysburg is said to have been about the greatest in history; 23,000 soldiers were killed. Now there was great rejoicing in the North. In these early years of the war, President Lincoln was placed in a very hard position. The abolitionists abused him because he did not issue the emancipation proclamation, freeing the slaves; the Middle states, that had not seceded, threatened to do so if he did. Some of his own Cabinet were not true to him. The people cried out because General McClellan would not move forward, and Mr. Lincoln tried in vain to get him to do so. Therefore these great victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg came to him as a wonderful blessing and relief from the awful strain he had been enduring. General Grant had won some other grand victories preceding the capture of Vicksburg, and the Union, as the old ship of state, seemed to be sailing into more peaceful waters.
"Sail on, O ship of state,
Sail on, O Union, strong and great;
Humanity with all its fears,
With all its hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate.
In spite of rock and tempest roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore;
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers are all with thee."
General Grant was given command of the Eastern army, and pushing the enemy hard, victory after victory came to the North. Gen. Sherman marched his army right through the middle of the enemy, dividing it into two parts. He captured Atlanta and then went on to the sea. The song, "Marching through Georgia," was written over this wonderful march. There were more victories in the South and West. General Grant was made commander-in-chief of the armies, and it soon became clear that the cause of secession was lost.
Mr. Lincoln had written an emancipation proclamation and was working it over, thinking and consulting about it. He did not know just when was the best time to issue so momentous a document, that would set free four million of colored men in the degradation and bondage of human slavery. Mr. Seward was Secretary of State and a very wise man; he gave him some good advice about it. Mr. Carpenter quotes Mr. Lincoln's words as follows:
"I put the draft of the proclamation aside, waiting for a victory. Well, the next news we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I think on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers' Home. Here I finished writing the second draft of the proclamation; came up on Saturday; called the Cabinet together to hear it, and it was published the following Monday. I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Maryland I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves."
The Emancipation Proclamation is certainly the greatest thing in the nineteenth century.
The Confederate army continued to grow weaker. They were short of food and rest. General Grant's army gave them no rest but pushed after them day and night. They made one more gallant and brave attack on the Union forces, but in vain, and April 9, 1865, Gen. Lee surrendered unconditionally to Gen. Grant at Appomatox Court House, Va. At the instance of President Lincoln, Gen. Lee's soldiers were allowed to ride home their horses, and, no longer rebel soldiers, but American citizens, begin to plow the ground with their horses, to till the soil and make a living for themselves and families. To-day there are none that rejoice more than the men of the South that African slavery is forever abolished.
In 1864 Mr. Lincoln was again elected president by a very large majority over Gen. McClellan, the Democratic nominee. At his second inaugural he uttered some very fine things. Some of them are as follows:
"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration it has already obtained. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces. But let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. * * * The Almighty had his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offenses, which in the providence of God must needs come * * * and he gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern there any departure from those divine attributes, which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said that 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"
Saturday, April 8, 1865, was a glad day throughout the North. Men met each other early on that day and shook hands with smiling faces. Many shouted and threw their hats in the air. Great bonfires were kindled and bands came out and played happy airs. Flags floated everywhere. That morning word came on the telegraph wires that Richmond had been captured. Lee had surrendered and the war was over.