PART 6: BLOODY ‘63
Black soldiers in the War of the Rebellion
After the Declaration of Emancipation, President Hamlin spurred the enlistment of Black soldiers to fight for the Union Army, thinking that they would make good soldiers [1]. Hamlin’s belief in the ability of Black soldiers was sincere. The President’s own son, Captain Cyrus Hamlin, led an all-Black regiment [2].
The United States War Department under Ben Wade established the Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1862 [3]. Several regiments were recruited from all states of the Union and they became known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT). However, USCT regiments were led by White officers, and Black soldiers had little opportunity for advancement.
Despite early success, by 1863, only 20,000 Black troops had been recruited and trained. Unfortunately, many recruiters were reluctant to train and arm Black recruits. This was because many in the North believed they would not make good soldiers, or feared that Black soldiers would use the weapons for nefarious purposes against them [4]. This belief was in large part due to Copperhead propaganda, which was used to persuade Northern Whites to vote for Democrats in the midterm election of 1862. Another disturbing fact was that Black soldiers died at a much higher rate than their White counterparts. This was mostly because Black prisoners of war were either shot on the spot or were subject to neglect, malnutrition, and torture in Southern prisons [5].
The perceived failure of Black soldiers greatly harmed the image of Blacks amongst Whites in the USA. They were quickly scapegoated for the Union’s losses. This anti-Black sentiment was used by the Copperheads for racist propaganda, which suggested that Republicans were the ones hurting the Union cause by using Black soldiers.
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NOTES:
[1] One of Hamlin’s most admirable qualities, IMO. This was far from a common belief at the time.
[2] As OTL
[3] One year earlier than OTL.
[4] I want to make this clear: This is not my personal belief, but it was unfortunately a common one in the Nineteenth Century. I would speculate that the reason why racism against Black soldiers in the North wasn’t a larger factor OTL is because the entry of Black soldiers into the war coincided with Union victories. Here, their entry coincides with Union defeats and unfortunately they get scapegoated.
[5] As OTL.
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The Missouri Campaign [1]
After a mix of victory and defeat in Kentucky, Union forces turned their sights on the state of Missouri. General Halleck had been unable to quash the insurgency in Missouri, and Hamlin replaced him with Major General Ulysses S. Grant in November 1862. Grant had been successful at holding off the Confederates at the Ohio River and was sent west to dispatch the Confederates in Neosho. Grant’s plan was to head up the Missouri River, starting at St. Louis, turn southwest at the Osage River, then head due south from Osceola, Missouri. He would be joined by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s army, who headed up the Missouri to Kansas City, turned south through Kansas, and turned east at Galena, Kansas (at the border with the Indian Territory). At every turn, they came under attack by Confederate regulars and guerrillas.
The Missouri Campaign included several major battles in the southern part of the state. The first major battle was a Union victory at Bonnot’s Mill in March 1863 (near Jefferson City, at the confluence of the Missouri and Osage rivers). This was followed by a Confederate victory the Battle of Warsaw in May 1863 (at the confluence of the Osage River, South Grand River, and Pomme de Terre River). The Battle of Pittsburg (Kansas) in June 1863 marked an important Union Victory as Sherman’s forces made an eastward assault.
The last major battle of the Campaign was the Battle of Joplin in July 1863. Grant was victorious over the army of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton. Grant’s army drove the Confederate Army back into Arkansas. Pemberton’s army eventually crossed into Indian Territory. Reynolds and Price fled Neosho, and went with Pemberton to Fort Gibson in the Cherokee lands of the Indian Territory.
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NOTES:
[1] Roughly the same time as the Mississippi Campaign of OTL. I’m making all of this up, so I hope it’s plausible. I’m just an armchair general.
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The Indian Territory in the War of the Rebellion
When the War of the Rebellion broke out, the Union moved its soldiers out of the Indian territory and put them in the battle zones. This left the Indian Territory undefended from the neighboring states of Texas and Arkansas, which had already joined the Confederacy. Most of the leaders in the Indian nations tried to maintain a policy of neutrality. But the leaders of Arkansas and Texas saw the Indian Territory’s neutrality as a threat, and pushed the Indian Territory into siding with them. Chief Ross of the Cherokee Nation tried to keep his people out of the Civil War, but a Cherokee leader named Stand Watie recruited men to join the Confederate Army. By October 1861, Chief Ross reluctantly allied his nation with the CSA. Leaders from each of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) soon followed suit. The CSA promised to protect their people and property, and to continue the trust fund payments made by the Union government. In return, the tribes supplied troops to defend the Confederacy from Union attacks, but only within the Indian Territory [1].
However, not all tribal leaders agreed to this arrangement. Support for the Confederacy and Union often fell along tribal lines. The Choctaw and Chickasaw (who were located in the southeastern and south-central parts of the territory, respectively) mostly fought for the Confederates. In contrast, the Creek and Seminole (who lived in the central part of the territory) mostly fought for the Union. The Cherokee (who lived in the northeast) were divided: most supported the Confederacy, but some Cherokee were pro-Union. Chief Opothleyahola of the Creek led a band of 6,000 Creek and Seminole fled north towards Kansas. Their departure led to several battles with Confederate authorities in 1861 and 1862 (they eventually arrived in Kansas in 1862, but only after many had died from exposure and starvation).
The Confederacy soon broke its promises, and relations with the Indian Territory began to deteriorate. In March 1862, Confederate commanders ordered Native soldiers to fight a battle outside Indian Territory at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. The CSA was overdue in making promised payments, which made many Creek and Seminole soldiers refuse to fight. That summer, a Union Army detachment that included Creek and Seminole soldiers invaded Indian Territory. The USA wanted to keep control of Indian Territory. This was partly to keep its resources out of the hands of the Confederacy and partly to allow Native American refugees in Kansas and Missouri to return home. After the Northern troops won two victories, many Cherokee originally recruited by Chief Ross for the Confederacy joined with the Union cause. When this army withdrew in late summer, the territory fell into chaos. Some Native Americans on both sides burned homes, destroyed crops, slaughtered livestock, and killed their enemies [1].
After defeating the Confederates of Missouri, Grant’s army quickly moved into Indian Territory. Here, he joined up with Major General James Blunt of the Union Federal Army of the Frontier to capture Fort Gibson. The Army of the Frontier was notable because it included a large number of Native Americans and African-Americans. The fort was located where the Texas Road crossed the Arkansas River, near the Creek-Cherokee border. In October 1863, they captured the fort after the Battle of Fort Gibson [2]. Here, former Missouri Governors Reynolds and Price were captured.
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NOTES:
[1] Everything up to now is as OTL. See
http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/68honey/68facts2.htm
[2] OTL, the battle occurred six months earlier.
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Kentucky in 1863
While no major battles took place in Kentucky in 1863, many skirmishes took place on either side of the Ohio River (the largest being the Battle of Covington, opposite Cincinnati). The state was the base of operations for General John Hunt Morgan, whose infamous raids into Indiana and Ohio stymied the Union. On September 1, 1863, Governor Beriah Magoffin was re-elected to a second term, defeating state Senator John F. Fisk [1].
Eastern Kentucky, however, remained a source of pro-Union sentiment. The region had supplied thousands of troops to the Federal army. The region became a hotspot for Anti-Confederate guerrilla warfare against state authorities. Guerrillas burned bridges, cut telegraph wires, and spied for the North. Despite the strength of Unionist sentiment in eastern Kentucky, the Confederates continued to hold the region. Their resistance largely proved to be ineffective. Many pro-Unionists were captured or killed by Confederate authorities, or fled to New Virginia and Ohio [2].
[1] OTL, Magoffin resigned in 1862.
[2] All in all, ATL eastern Kentucky resembles OTL eastern Tennessee
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Conscription Act passed
Due to the unpopularity of the war in the North, recruiting had been slow. More than 100,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded on the Union side. Since the Declaration of Emancipation, there was a reluctance to fight that had not been present at the start of the war [1]. On March 3, 1863, Hamlin concluded that the military would have to resort to the draft to meet recruiting goals. Many Northerners resented the draft, partly because they did not want to fight and partly because they did not want to fight to end slavery.
The draft became a popular topic for the Copperheads, who denounced it as unfair and illegal. Some Democratic politicians like Ohio Representative Clement Vallandigham actively encouraged desertion and draft resistance. Many thousands of draftees deserted during the war.
This anger culminated in the New York Draft Riot [2]. The riot took place in New York City in July 1863, shortly after the first conscription lottery was held. This began five days of horrific violence against Black New Yorkers. The people responsible for this violence were mostly Irish immigrants. While the rioters were generally not pro-Confederate, the Democratic Party had courted Irish and German voters by telling them that the emancipation of slaves would result in Black people moving north and taking their jobs. At the end of the riot, hundreds of Black men, women, and children had been killed, often in gruesome ways.
New York Governor Horatio Seymour was blamed for not doing enough to intercede in the Riots. During the Riots, he gave a speech on the steps of City Hall, where he addressed the crowd as “My friends” [3]. Republicans said this was proof that Seymour was conspiring with the rioters, but he strongly denied that he supported them. He asked Hamlin to postpone the draft in order to give New York a chance to organize volunteers. President Hamlin was sympathetic, but refused to halt the draft [4].
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NOTES:
[1] OTL, this is one of the main reasons for why the draft was started. The Emancipation Proclamation had lowered recruiting in much of the North.
[2] As OTL. It’s a bit of a misnomer. It would be more accurate to call it a race riot, with most of the violence being perpetrated by Irish immigrants against Black people.
[3] From The Life and Public Services of Horatio Seymour, p. 98: “At this moment, Governor Seymour, who had been urged by leading citizens to address the crowd, appeared on the steps of the City Hall, and instantly the crowd ran over to the Park, and surrounding the place where the Governor was standing, called on him for a speech. His remarks were judicious and well chosen. His first duty was to soothe the excitements then prevailing in the city; and he knew that this could be done only by the use of temperate and calm language. Threats of force would only inflame the crowd still more; and it was particularly desirable to quiet them at the cost of as little bloodshed as possible. He said: 'My Friends: I have come down here from the quiet of the country to see what was the difficulty-to learn what all this trouble was concerning the Draft.'"
[4] As Lincoln did OTL
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Burnside’s Order No. 38 and the Chicago Times [1]
In 1863, defeat on the battlefields led the Republicans to cast suspicion on Democrats. Indiana Congressman George Julian, an ally of Hamlin on the Joint Committee, gave a speech before the House in February 1863. Julian’s view of the cause of Northern military defeats was laid at the feet of the Democrats in the North. In Julian’s opinion, the opposition was disloyal. He blamed them for their control of the army, their policy of conciliation with the South, and their support for slavery. Julian believed that they actively hampered the effort to suppress the rebellion. Julian said: “The disasters of the war and the perils which now threaten the country, find their best explanation in the failure of the Government to stand by its friends, and its readiness to strengthen the hand of its foes… Democratic policy, personified by General McClellan and General Stone, sent Colonel Baker and his gallant men across the Potomac against a superior force, with one scow and two small boats as the only means of transportation.” [3]
In this light, it is understandable why a suppression of free speech was deemed necessary. This was best exemplified in April 1863, when General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of Ohio, issued General Order No. 38. Burnside placed his headquarters in Cincinnati, where many residents were sympathetic to the Confederacy. Burnside’s General Order No. 38 attempted to intimidate those who supported the Confederacy in the Department of Ohio. However, the order was often inappropriately applied to those who simply opposed the war and did not have Confederate leanings.
The Order stated:
“The habit of declaring sympathy for the enemy will not be allowed in this department. Persons committing such offenses will be at once arrested with a view of being tried…or sent beyond our lines into the lines of their friends. It must be understood that treason, expressed or implied, will not be tolerated in this department.”
Unsurprisingly, the Democrats in Ohio objected to General Order No. 38. Representative Clement Vallandigham strongly opposed the order, saying that he "despised it, spit upon it, trampled it under his feet.” Vallandigham had long attempted to obstruct the administration’s policies, and openly advocated desertion and draft evasion, so his reaction was unsurprising. The next day, Congress voted to expel Vallandingham, making him the second US politician expelled from Congress (Senator Jesse Bright of Indiana was the first, a year earlier). Vallandigham did not take forced retirement well. He helped organize a rally for the Democratic Party held on May 1, 1863. Samuel Cox and George Pendleton also delivered speeches expressing their opposition to General Order No. 38. Vallandigham encouraged his fellow Peace Democrats to openly resist Burnside and criticized the President for not seeking an immediate end to the Civil War and for allowing General Burnside to impinge on Ohioans’ civil rights.
Two army officers under Burnside's command who were present at the rally reported to Burnside, saying that Vallandigham had violated General Order No. 38. Burnside ordered Vallandigham’s immediate arrest (while some historians have viewed General Order No. 38 as Burnside's personal attack on Vallandigham, other Union military commanders issued similar orders). On May 5, 1863, a company of soldiers arrested Vallandigham and brought him to Cincinnati to stand trial. Vallandigham was charged with “Publicly expressing…sympathy for those in arms against the Government of the United States, and declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the Government in its efforts to suppress an unlawful rebellion.”
A military tribunal heard the case, and Vallandigham offered no serious defense against the charges. He contended that military courts had no jurisdiction over his case. The tribunal found Vallandigham guilty and sentenced him to remain in a United States prison for the remainder of the war. An appeals judge, Humphrey Leavitt, agreed with General Burnside that military authority was necessary during a time of war to ensure that opponents to the United States Constitution did not succeed in overthrowing the Constitution. Critics of General Order No.38, however, argued that it violated Americans' civil liberties, including the writ of habeas corpus and freedom of speech.
However, Burnside was not done yet. In Illinois, a newspaper known as the Chicago Times, had a reputation for printing editorials against the war. Wade’s War Department had tried its best to censor news about the war and dissenting papers like the Times had become too influential for the administration’s liking. Burnside dispatched a squadron of troops to the paper's offices and ordered them to cease printing. General Burnside said that the paper’s “repeated expression of disloyal and incendiary sentiments” was reason enough to close it down.
It is important to note that there is no evidence to suggest that Hamlin ordered Burnside to arrest Vallandigham or to close the Chicago Times. However, Hamlin did not commute Vallandigham’s sentence, believing him to be dangerous as a free man [4]. This concern was likely placed in Hamlin’s mind by Secretary of War Benjamin Wade (a fellow Ohioan and longtime enemy of Vallandigham), who said Vallandigham was “a man who never had any sympathy with the Republic, but whose every breath is devoted to its destruction, just as far as his heart dare permit him to go.” Hamlin feared that Vallandigham would aid the Confederacy if exiled there, and he remained imprisoned until the end of the war. Hamlin did, however, reopen the Chicago Times, citing that Burnside had “acted without orders” in shutting down the newspaper [5].
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NOTES:
[1] All of this, with the exception of the final paragraph and Vallandigham’s expulsion, is entirely as OTL. Not the nicest chapter of the civil war, but it happened. I don’t know what Hamlin would have thought of Burnside’s order, but I don’t think he would be as forgiving as Lincoln. He strongly opposed the Copperheads, and given the Radicals’ penchant for blaming defeats on their political opponents, he might turn a blind eye to Burnside’s order.
[2] From the Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 459: “It was Mr. Hamlin’s peculiar mission as the representative of the Union to expose Copperheadism in its true light to the multitudes.”
[3] As OTL.
[4] OTL, Lincoln commuted Vallandigham’s sentence and exiled him to the Confederacy because he feared that Vallandigham’s detention might cause a Copperhead rebellion.
[5] As OTL. Lincoln also re-opened the Chicago Times over Burnside’s order.
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Admission of New Virginia [1]
The State of New Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863. The state was formed after Unionist delegates formed what became known as the Wheeling Conventions of 1861. The delegates were from the northwestern counties of Virginia, where most people wished to remain in the Union. The area comprising the state closely matched the area that was under Union control at the time.
The new state consisted of 38 counties (Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Monongalia, Morgan, Ohio, Pleasants, Ritchie, Putnam, Randolph, Preston, Roane, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wood, Wayne, Webster, Wirt, and Wetzel) located in the northwestern portion of Virginia [2]. Several Shenandoah Valley counties were also added to New Virginia, forming a panhandle. This was done to ensure that the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad, an important trade corridor, would be located within the new state [3]. The capital of the new state was Morgantown, near the Pennsylvania border.
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NOTES:
[1] The name for West Virginia originally proposed by John Carlile. Interestingly, its future postal abbreviation would likely be NV (same as Nevada which will be admitted to the Union next year).
[2] Slightly smaller than OTL. Basically, the same as the area proposed for new state on August 8, 1861 by John S. Carlile. See:
http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehood/wheelingconvention20808.html
[3] An informative website on the subject of the formation of West Virginia:
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/wvboundary.html
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Resignation of Hooker and the Battle of Gettysburg
After the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville, Hamlin could no longer overlook Hooker’s faults. Hooker's timid decision making had lost another battle. Hooker resigned his position. On June 28, 1863, Hamlin appointed George Meade [1]. Soon after, Hooker replaced Fremont as General-in-Chief. Fremont’s incompetence had become too great to ignore, and Hamlin thought Hooker would be a better choice for the position.
Meade would not rest for long. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a major battle erupted and lasted for three days. The battle occurred because Confederate General Robert E. Lee made a daring foray deep into Union lines in an attempt to approach Washington, DC from the west. Newly-appointed General George Meade was successful in countering Lee’s attack. While both Union and Confederates forces alike took heavy damage (Casualties totaled more than 30,000 on both sides), the Union won the battle. On July 5, Lee’s army retreated across the Potomac [2].
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NOTES:
[1] OTL, Meade was named Commander of the Army of the Potomac on the very same date.
[2] I’m keeping this brief on purpose since the battle won’t be much different from OTL.
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Resignation of Welles and appointment of Fox
The resignation of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles on July 30, 1863 was the result of a personal dispute with Hamlin. The rift between Hamlin and Welles began after shipbuilding contracts were given to some of Hamlin’s political opponents. In April 1863, Hamlin had promised the contracts to a shipbuilder named William McGilvery. Instead, the contract was given to a man Hamlin believed was a Copperhead. This infuriated President Hamlin, who accused Welles of reneging on a legal contract. Hamlin reportedly said "Then this terminates our relations…I will not have anything to do with a man who breaks his plighted word to me." President Hamlin had recommended Welles’ appointment to the Secretary of the Navy to Lincoln, but now regretted it. He never spoke with Welles again [1]. Welles later said that Hamlin was “as rapacious as a wolf” in granting favors for his friends [2].
After having fallen out of favor with Hamlin, Welles submitted his resignation. Welles was replaced by his immediate subordinate, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Gustavus V. Fox. Fox was a Massachusetts native, and was highly regarded by Hamlin for his usefulness and efficiency. [3]
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NOTES:
[1] Hamlin actually was that petty. This was a real-life incident from OTL said to have occurred in July 1863, according to some sources. From the Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 415-416: “Mr. Hamlin became more interested in the army than the navy, partially through an unpleasant incident which compelled him to sever his connections with Secretary Welles. While it must be left to others to weigh the various estimates of Mr. Welles, it must be frankly recorded that Mr. Hamlin regretted his responsibility for Welles's appointment to the Cabinet as one of the mistakes of his life and not entirely on personal grounds... But Mr. Hamlin's differences with Secretary Welles grew out of a personal affair…When the war broke out, the government among other things directed the Navy Department to build a number of wooden gunboats. Maine was then the great shipbuilding State of the Union. One of her leading shipbuilders was Captain William McGilvery, a patriotic citizen of Searsport. He was associated with General Samuel F. Hersey, who was one of the half a dozen leading lumbermen of the United States. They desired to obtain a contract for building some of these gunboats, and asked Mr. Hamlin to see Secretary Welles about it. He called on Mr. Welles, who said, "Certainly, Mr. Hamlin, certainly. The gentleman is in every way responsible, that I know, and he shall have the contract." "Then I can be assured that there will be no mistake about the matter?" said Mr. Hamlin. "Certainly, certainly; the contract will be awarded at once," was the reply of the secretary; and so the matter for the moment ended. Later, however, the Vice-President, learning that certain bureau officers had more to do with the awarding of contracts than the secretary himself, again went to Mr. Welles, informed him of this, and was again assured in the most positive manner that the contract would be awarded as arranged. In the mean time, Mr. Hamlin wrote Captain McGilvery and General Hersey that Secretary Welles had promised them the contract, and they began to prepare to build the gunboats. But a few days afterwards, to Mr. Hamlin's astonishment, it was announced that the contracts for building the vessels had been made without including McGilvery and Hersey. One contract had been given to Maine, and to a man who was in active sympathy with the rebels, and who had applied for the contract to make all the money he could, whereas McGilvery and Hersey, who were Union men, had made a low bid. Mr. Hamlin had a short but stormy interview with Mr. Welles. He asked for an explanation, and the secretary stammered out that his promise had escaped his mind "Do you then not intend to keep your word, sir?" "Mr. Hamlin asked sternly. "No, sir, I cannot now," was the hesitating reply. "Then this terminates our relations," said Mr. Hamlin; "I will not have anything to do with a man who breaks his plighted word to me…It was galling to Mr. Hamlin to experience this ingratitude, and to see a Copperhead have an opportunity to gouge money out of the government. He never thereafter spoke to Welles.”
[2] The Diary of Gideon Welles: Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln tells the story somewhat differently (p. 366-7): “The President sends me a strange letter from Hamlin, asking as a personal favor that prizes may be sent to Portland for adjudication…I informed them that such a matter was not to be disposed of on personal grounds or local favoritism…. These facts…did not cause Hamlin, who is rapacious as a wolf, to abate his demand for government favors [Dated July 8, 1864].”
[3] From the Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 415: “Yet he [Hamlin] consoled himself in the reflection that the administration had in Gustavus V. Fox, the assistant secretary of the navy, a man who, in his judgment, should rank next to Stanton as the most useful and efficient officer of the administration.”
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Second Cooper Union Speech [1]
President Hamlin delivered the following speech at Cooper Union, New York City, on September 30, 1863. Hamlin used the speech as an opportunity to denounce the Peace Democrats (aka “Copperheads”) who opposed his policies, accusing them of partisanship in a time of crisis. It went as follows:
“It is an hour, it is a day, when patriotism should rise superior to party…the little I have seen of war leads me to desire peace, but I want that peace which shall be purchased without dishonor; I want that peace which shall leave no contest for our children's children hereafter; I want no peace when this rebellion is within our grasp and almost beneath our feet. I want no peace which might revive it; and I believe that the surest road to accomplish that peace, aye, indeed, the most rapid and certain road to peace, is by recruiting your armies and fighting for peace. Now, I am just so much of a peace man that I am willing to fight for peace. Nay, more, I do not believe for a single moment that any peace worth having lies in any direction than that of arms. I affirm, my friends, and give it as my opinion, that if we had a common union at the North and a common loyalty to the government, we could have ended this war months ago; but this aid and comfort the rebels have received from their Northern allies have kept them alive and active for months. Now come together and strike one gallant united blow for the great North that loves the whole country, and this rebellion may be crushed out in its last vestige in ninety days.
It is evident that in a limited time we can crush out the rebellion in front with arms, and at the ballot-box beat their sympathizers at the rear. And what are the duties that devolve upon us to do this? We owe it to the true and loyal men of the South - men who have been good and true and who love liberty - men like the gallant admiral who sits before you [Farragut]. If there were no other earthly considerations, the brave men who have stood up amid all the perils that surrounds them in the rebel States demand it of us, and we owe it to them to be true to our government, and to vindicate their rights as well as our own. We owe it to our gallant army in the field, that we will send recruits to them to enable them to bear on our standard until it floats again over every inch of our own domain. We owe it to the good mothers, the kind-hearted sisters and wives, whose sons, brothers, and husbands have gone forth to the conflict. We owe it to the character of our institutions, because if they go down, they go down in eternal night as the last effort for free government in the world. We owe it to all the considerations that cumulate upon us from the ages of the past; we owe it to the uncounted generations of the future, that we in this day of our country's trial do our duty like men; and woe, woe be unto those who fail to do their duty like men.
When these men talk along your streets for peace, I tell you to charge it upon them that they, and they alone, are guilty of this procrastination in the return of peace; there is no doubt about it. They are the same class that we find in New England. They give all the aid and comfort they can to the South; they discourage recruiting in your army; they are preventing enlistments; they stand on the corner of your streets and throw every obstacle in their power against strengthening the armies of the government. Yes, they are still doing all they can in aid of the rebellion, and I tell you, my friends, that down in Maine we did not draw any distinction between the Tory of the revolution and the Copperhead of 1863; and if there were any to discuss the relative merits of the two, they would not be found in favor of the Copperheads. Charge it upon them, and hold them up to the public odium of all honest and loyal men.” [2]
But Hamlin’s sentiments about the Copperheads fell largely on deaf ears. The Copperhead cause was increasingly popular in the North, which was growing weary of war. This would prefigure the upcoming election.
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NOTES:
[1] A speech from OTL. See the Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 459-60.
[2] This last paragraph sounds a bit un-Presidential, but I’ll leave it in anyways. In case you didn’t know, the ‘Tory’ he refers to were British Loyalists during the American Revolution.
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Joshua Chamberlain appointed to the Army of the Potomac [1]
General Meade was blamed for failing to pursue Lee after his retreat from Gettysburg. Hamlin was disappointed but not surprised by Meade’s failure [2]. Hamlin replaced Meade with Brigadier General Joshua Chamberlain. Chamberlain caught Hamlin’s attention after his valiant performance at Little Round Top at Gettysburg. Chamberlain came from Maine, which also helped to endear him to President Hamlin. Hamlin thought Chamberlain a “superior man” who had proved himself to be an “efficient, brave, and gallant officer” [3].
Meade, who had been Commander of the Army of the Potomac for only three months, resigned on October 16, 1863. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War soon launched an investigation that was intended not only to prove Meade's unfitness for command, but to trace it to the Copperheads. The committee members believed that many of the principal officers of the Army of the Potomac consisted of men who were secretly Southern sympathizers. The committee interviewed disgruntled officers known to be hostile toward Meade. Particularly damaging testimony came from Major General Daniel Sickles, who accused Major General Meade of mismanaging the battle (This was an attempt on the part of Sickles to deflect criticism from his own incompetence) [4]. Meade was later imprisoned for treason, but was released a few months later.
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NOTES:
[1] I have no doubt that Hamlin would promote Chamberlain without hesitation. From Joshua Chamberlain: The Soldier and the Man, p. 163: “On October 16 [1863], Vice President Hannibal Hamlin…wrote his boss, Abraham Lincoln, seeking promotion for the former commander of the 20th Volunteers.”
[2] From Hannibal: The Life of Abraham Lincoln’s First Vice President, p. 197: “’All are rejoicing at the recent victory’…he [Hamlin] wrote to Ellen on July 6. ‘I hope they may capture the rest of the rebels, but I fear not’…When reporter Noah Brooks asked Hamlin what happened on the battlefield, Hamlin did not answer. He just ‘raised his hands and turned away his face with a gesture of despair.’” I would speculate this gesture was what we would now call a ‘facepalm’.
[3] From To Gettysburg and Beyond, p. 200: “Hannibal Hamlin…wrote Lincoln on Chamberlain’s behalf. ‘He is a superior man and has proved himself an efficient, brave, and gallant officer.’”
[4] This entire paragraph up to this point is as OTL.