In the West events of equal importance were taking place. The Union troops under General Grant defeated the Confederates in many battles in Kentucky and Tennessee. Then with the aid of the Union fleet under Captain David Farragut, Grant captured the Confederate strongholds along the Mississippi River, and so cut the Confederacy in two.
Slavery question to the front
Lincoln had declared the war was to be fought to save the Union and not to get rid of slavery. But as the war went on, the slavery question would keep coming up. The Confederates used the slaves to build forts, cook for the army, and to do other work. Thus the slave took the place of the white soldier. Other slaves raised food supplies and cared for the women. In this way the slaves were constantly being used to help fight against the Union.
THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO
By Augustus St. Gaudens
Proclamation of Emancipation
The time had come to destroy slavery. Lincoln now saw that by freeing the slaves he could strike a heavy blow at the Confederacy. So as commander in chief of the Union armies he issued the Proclamation of Emancipation January 1, 1863.
The war, however, continued more than two years longer. The long list of dead and wounded on both sides saddened Lincoln. Day by day the lines in his kindly face grew deeper.
Finally the news came that General Grant had hammered General Lee's lines to pieces, and that Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were leaving Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.