One and Undivided

America has no north, no south, no east, no west. The sun rises over the hills and sets over the mountains, the compass just points up and down and we can now laugh at the absurd notion of there being a north and a south. We are one and undivided.
-Sam Watkins, Company H, 1st Tennessee Infantry, Army of Tennessee (formerly Army of Mississippi), Confederate States of America.
I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
-Abraham Lincoln, 1864.
Past n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance. A moving line called the Present parts it from an imaginary period known as the Future. These two grand periods of Eternity, of which one is continually effacing the other, are entirely unalike. The one is dark with sorrow and disappointment, the other is bright with prosperity and joy. The Past is the region of sobs; the Future is the realm of song. In the one crouches Memory, clad in sackcloth and ashes, mumbling penitential prayer; in the sunshine of the other Hope flies with a free wing, beckoning to temples of success and bowers of ease. Yet the Past is the Future of yesterday and the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one--the knowledge and the dream.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1906.
Forward
History is what we make of it. When looking to the past we must remember that no one could have predicted what happened next. A Union solder finding some cigars wrapped in paper in a field lead to the Battle of Antietam. If it had been raining in Dallas on a November day in 1963 an assassination would not have happened. Things sometimes change by a quirk of fate:
In early 1862 the Union had scored some victories in the American Civil War. However they were mainly in the West at places like Fort Donelson and Shiloh, Tennessee. Desperate for the same results in the East, President Abraham Lincoln pushed General George McClellan to push towards Manassas Junction and then push onto Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. McClellan had a different idea. Instead of going overland he would float the army down the Potomac River and land near Fortress Monroe. President Lincoln, desperate for any action in the Eastern Theatre, agreed.
In early April the Army of the Potomac, over 120,000 men, formed on the York/James Peninsula. Thanks in large part to McClellan's hesitation, it took a month to take control of the peninsula. Now, in mid-May, with victories at Yorktown, Williamsburg and Norfolk under his belt McClellan now felt that he could beat the vastly superior Confederate army he had convinced himself he was fighting.
The History
May 13th, 1862.
Tuesday, General McClellan was riding past our regiment when suddenly his horse fell into a small hole in the road. The animal went forward so suddenly that General McClellan was thrown from it. He lay still while his staff rushed to carry him away. I fear that General McClellan is dead.
-Elisha Hunt Rhodes' diary.
Major General Sumner Executive Mansion
My dear Sir: May 14, 1862.
After receiving word of General McClellan's death and, in consultation with the Secretary of War, I have decided that you should lead the army to victory. It is up to you now.
Yours Truly,
-Letter of promotion to General Edwin V. Sumner from President Abraham Lincoln.
We need Burnside here. Tell him that his operations in North Carolina are over. Richmond may not fall as hard as General McClellan thought but my God it will not be easy.
-Major General Edwin V. Sumner to an aide before sending a telegram to General Ambrose E. Burnside, May 14th, 1862.
May 15th, 1862.
Thursday, we received orders to march this morning. It seems that General Sumner wants to get to Richmond as fast as he can. General Burnside will be following us with his corps as soon as they are able. I certainly hope so as we need all the help we can get.
-Elisha Hunt Rhodes' diary.
May 21st, 1862.
General Sumner may have gained command one week ago but he is still weak. You must attack sir or else we will be destroyed.
-Telegram from Confederate President Jefferson Davis to General Joseph E. Johnston.
While General Sumner continued to move up the Peninsula, Jefferson Davis called for General "Stonewall" Jackson send any reinforcements he could spare to help shore up the capital. Jackson, in a telegram that would haunt him later, said that he could not spare any reinforcements at this time as he had thought that the reports of McClellan's death were false. He only confirmed McClellan's death on May 21st, when Davis called for General Johnston to attack the Army of the Potomac. Jackson was forced to make a decision: either stay in the Shenandoah Valley and keep General Pope from reinforcing Sumner or reinforce and risk Richmond being surrounded. It did not matter either way in the end.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
May 23rd, 1862.
General Sumner is moving faster than expected. You are ordered to move to Richmond at once. Pope is moving in our direction now. It is of the utmost urgency that you get here.
-Telegram from Confederate President Jefferson Davis to General Thomas J. Jackson.
May 27, 1862.There has been a great victory in Virginia near Richmond. After McClellan's death, I expected the Army of the Potomac to be too demoralized to fight. It seems, however, that his death has lead to victory at least, for the time being.
-George Templeton Strong's diary.
The fight had been furious, most notably at Fair Oaks. Longstreet began it on May 25th. He was marching on Nine Mile road, which put him under Gustavus Smith, who outranked him. Longstreet, however, was able to convince Johnston let him take command of the forces on the left, which Johnston agreed to, provided that control reverts back to Johnston when the troops converged. Longstreet, thus encouraged, moved his brigades along the road until he ran head long into Samuel Heintzleman's III Corps. Heintzleman managed to beat back the oncoming rebels four times before Philip Kearny's III Division of his corps turned Longstreet's left flank forcing a retreat.
General Israel Richardson, in command of the Union center, was dealing with Smith and John B. Magruder. General Richardson, having recently been promoted to corps command, fought hard advancing well into the enemy lines, fighting off Longstreet on his right and D.H. Hill on his left trying to get behind him. It wasn't until 4:00 in the afternoon that he stopped and consolidated his position. It was at this point that Richardson realized that he was slightly forward from the rest of the army. Fortunately Heintzleman came up on his right flank soon afterwards and General Keyes kept the rebels busy on his left.
General Keyes had his hands full with both D. H. Hill and A.P. Hill. He was being pushed back until General Burnside and what was now called the X Corps came up in support in one of those nick of the moment things. Burnside was able to push A.P. Hill back while Keyes did the same to D.H. Hill. It was as Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his military advisor R.E. Lee came to see what was going on that the army started in an organized retreat.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
Columbia, South Carolina, May 31st, 1862.-A battle has recently raged around Richmond. Gustavus Smith dead and A.P. Hill wounded. A telegram says that [Robert E.] Lee and Davis were on the field and that Lee was wounded. The telegram says it is not serious though one cannot know for sure. Richmond is besieged and likely to fall. My eyes, however, are now drawn to the west.
-Mary Chestnut's diary.
General Bragg replaced General Beauregard as the head of the Army of Mississippi on June 4th following the abandonment of Corinth [Mississippi] and then the army in Tupelo [Mississippi]. We had no faith in Bragg for he was a tyrant. However we did not stay in Tupelo for very long as General Bragg and General Kirby Smith were intent to attack Kentucky through eastern Tennessee. We did not make it.
-Company "Aytch" or: the Side show to the Big Show by Sam Watkins, serialized in the Columbia, Tennessee Herald, 1864.
General Halleck had been long sent east to take over from General McClellan as General in Chief of the armies on the 15th of May. He did not leave until the 25th of May, and during that time he was very uncommunicative. It was not until the 24th of June that I was put in command of the department [of the Mississippi]. I had ordered General Buell to go to Chattanooga, as quickly as he could march, to prevent General Bragg from invading. I was surprised that he did so under my orders. What happened afterwards I was mostly pleased with.
-The Memoirs of General Grant by Ulysses S. Grant, Charles L. Webster and Co., New York, 1880.
Buell was not inclined to follow Grant's orders, at first. It was not until June 25th that he started moving. However Bragg and Buell were to meet at Knoxville, Tennessee on July 3rd, 1862. Buell was actually several miles away when the battle started and did not learn what was going on until that afternoon. Bragg, on the other hand, was closer to the fighting.
The fighting was going well for the Union. They were going to carry the day. However, that was stopped by two people: Nathan Bedford Forrest and Buell himself. Unfortunately, for the Union, Buell had arrived on the field at 6:00 and called for a halt to the action, even thought the Union was winning. Buell's second in command George Thomas protested. Buell responded that he was simply going to a better position. "Besides," he said, "it is getting late (which it was); I will not exhaust the men."
This gave Forrest time to make one of his daring raids on the Union. This unsettled Buell enough that he did not press the attack the next day. However, neither did Bragg. The Army of the Ohio had stopped the invasion of Kentucky before it got there.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
With Johnston holding on in the siege of Richmond, and the tactical draw of Knoxville in the west, President Lincoln called a cabinet meeting on July 5th, 1862. He said that he had been thinking about a plan of gradual compensated emancipation for a while and that it will give the southern states a chance to rejoin the union if they freed their slaves, for a fee. President Lincoln would also ask the border slave states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri to join in on this plan as well.
Secretary of State William Seward advised the president that it would be prudent to wait until the Union had a few more victories before making such a proclamation. That with Richmond likely to fall soon, it would be for the best. Lincoln agreed on the condition that he do it immediately after.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
July 7th, 1862.
Monday, General Sumner has ordered our corps to go with General Burnside's corps and sweep around the Confederate lines. Some of the boys say that Stonewall Jackson is in Richmond now. I hope not for he is the most feared Confederate in this here army.
-Elisha Hunt Rhoades' diary.
Truth was Jackson was trying to do the exact same thing from the other direction. While Keyes and Burnside were trying to maneuver around the Confederate right, Jackson was trying to turn the Union right. However Johnston was either unable or unwilling to support Jackson and so Jackson's attack failed. The fight to the south of Richmond was far more successful for the Confederacy as they were able to stave off defeat for the time being.
However, the commands of Banks, McDowell and Sigel were converging on Richmond from the north. Robert E. Lee, who was still in hospital after losing his left leg in May, reluctantly advised abandoning the capital. Jefferson Davis was reluctant to do this as it would lessen the likelihood of European intervention. Lee reminded Davis that there was no hope for intervention at all if the capital and government were both captured. And so Davis began to make plans to leave Richmond.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
General Bragg was mighty sore after the battle at Knoxville and we had retreated all the way to Chattanooga. We got there on July 12th, we started digging in. When Buell finally caught up to us we were pretty well entrenched. Shot and shell went about my head during that battle and we staved off the Union army on that day. It was not until later that we found out that General Bragg was dead, making him the second commander in three months that we lost. We now were fighting under General Leonidas Polk.
-Company "Aytch" or: the Side show to the Big Show by Sam Watkins, serialized in the Columbia, Tennessee Herald, 1864.
As I lead my army south towards Vicksburg, I learned of Bragg's demise. I ordered General Buell to attack as soon as possible and hoped that he would follow through. Meanwhile I was approaching Chickasaw Bayou, north of Vicksburg. On the 14th of July, 1862, we attacked a Confederate encampment there. The enemy force was so small that we overcame them easily. Their commander was General John C. Pemberton, a man I met briefly in Mexico, had hoped that we only send one corps this way. I replied that that would have been stupidity bordering on madness.
From there we marched on Vicksburg. It is hard to imagine what would have happened if we had not caught Pemberton. As it was we managed to capture the city without much of a fight on the 1st of August.
-The Memoirs of General Grant by Ulysses S. Grant, Charles L. Webster and Co., New York, 1880.
The combined falls of Richmond and Vicksburg was enough for President Lincoln to pass a preliminary compensated emancipation document. In it President Lincoln declared that all slaves in the Confederacy not under Union occupation to be free. In addition, in return for repealing their ordinance of succession and being allowed to re-enter the Union, slaveholders would get compensation, which is something President Lincoln had been pushing for. President Lincoln also called for a constitutional amendment banning slavery. That same day Congress banned slavery in the territories, reversing that damned Dred Scott decision. Congress also introduced the proposal for the thirteenth amendment.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
July 17, 1862. Only the damnedest of damned abolitionists would have dreamed of this happening a year ago. John Brown's soul is marching on it seems, and the nation with it.
-George Templeton Strong's diary.
The president has moved in the right direction at last. However, this battle is far from over. Now the Negro must be allowed to fight for his freedom. Let him put on those brass buttons with the letters, US, on them. Then we shall finally free this nation from the tyranny of slaveholders.
-Speech by Frederick Douglass, July 18th, 1862.
The first segregated units, that is to say all Negro units with white officers, would start training that August. In the meantime Grant's army was moving on Port Hudson in Louisiana, Buell was slowly moving around Chattanooga and Johnston had been replaced by Jackson as head of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee was forced to stay behind in Richmond as he was still recovering when the Army of the Potomac was entering the city. Johnston lamented in his memoirs "I wished I had been wounded instead of Lee. It would have been so much better for the Confederacy." Johnston had expressed as much to Lee personally and the rift in their friendship began to heal.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
My men will never retreat from a position they are ordered to defend.
-General T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson to Major Heros von Borcke, Prussian officer on General JEB Stuart's staff, outside Columbia, Virginia, August 2nd, 1862.
General Sumner, having incorporated the three departmental Corps under General McDowell, General Banks and General Sigel as the I, V and VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, marched out of Richmond leaving the battered III Corps under Samuel Heintzleman to garrison the town. As Sumner approached Columbia, Confederate cavalry under JEB Stuart attacked. It was a brief raid but it was decisive. However, it did have a lasting impact.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
President Lincoln has received word that General Sumner has had a health episode in the field. It is unknown at this time whether or not his life was in danger, however, as he was back on his feet soon after. Word around the capitol is that the president is preparing for the possibility of General Sumner's death in the possible near future.
-Harper's Weekly, August 9th, 1862.
Near Port Hudson, LA.
August 11, 1862.
Dear Sir,
General Gardner has limited supplies and I believe will not hold for long. Nevertheless, I shall attack soon, if practicable. Either way, I believe Port Hudson will be ours.
-Telegram from General Ulysses S. Grant to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
We had just heard about the fall of Vicksburg and heard that the Federals were headed toward Port Hudson. However, we were assigned to make sure the Army of the Ohio did not get to Atlanta. To do that we had made Chattanooga into a fortress.
-Company "Aytch" or: the Side show to the Big Show by Sam Watkins, serialized in the Columbia, Tennessee Herald, 1864.
Friday, 15th August, 1862.
The American Republic is coming back together it seems. I fear what this will mean for our Canadian holdings. There is a certain segment of American society for whom the conquest of at least part that section of the empire will give total control of the continent. They will not get far as the American people will be sick of war by then. However, what they may conquer is the problem. For any portion of British North America lost to the Americans is a loss too many.
-William H. Russell, London Times.
Relations between the United States and Great Britain had never been good. There were grumblings in both Washington D.C. and London ever since the capture of two Confederate agents on the steamer Trent in March 1862. At the time Lincoln did not want a war with Great Britain, and quietly, let the two Confederates go.
Now with the Civil War winding down, Lincoln sought some form of recompense from Great Britain for turning a blind eye to Confederate activities in British North America and Britain herself, like having ships built in British ship yards and a raid from British North America by Confederate agents. It was just a matter of time before these sides came to blows.
-The Ghosts Still Remain: Anglo-American Relations through Peace and War by Field Marshall Sir William Livingstone, Oxford University Press, London, 1943.
August 17th, 1862.
Sunday, we took a severe beating today. General Sumner says that we took too long to support General Burnside on the left and that is what allowed the rebels to hold us back. And so General Keyes has been replaced with General “Baldy” Smith of 2d Division. I do not know much about him but the boys of 2d Division say that he was a friend of the late General McClellan and that is a relief to me. It looks like we will fight again tomorrow. I hope so. The Army of Northern Virginia does not seem to have much time left.
-Elisha Hunt Rhoades’ diary.
In a way Sgt. Rhoades was right. The Army of the Potomac was encircling the Army of Northern Virginia by the hour. General Jackson insisted on staying put telling Jeff Davis, who was by know in a small town called Appomattox Courthouse with the rest of the Confederate government, that he was intending to defend Virginia until his dying breathe. In later years Jackson would concede that maybe he should have retreated when he had the chance. However, he said, at the time he felt he had no choice.
The next day, August 18th, 1862, Jackson attacked hoping against hope to stage a break out of the Army of Northern Virginia. However, it was too late. Among the wounded from that attempt were Colonel John Brown Gordon, commander of the 6th Alabama, who had been shot in the face and survived and Captain Robert Gould Shaw, an officer with the 32nd Massachusetts one of the first all Negro regiments in the army, who lost the use of his left arm in that battle. Seeing the light General James Longstreet, managed to convince General Jackson of the futility of the situation and on August 19th, 1862, Jackson surrendered.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
With the capture of the Army of Northern Virginia and Port Hudson a week later on August 26th, the Confederate States of America was dead. While the Confederate government was running, trying to get into Mexico and, for some, Canada, the Lincoln administration was planning for what came after. There were those, Secretary of State Seward in particular, who wanted to invade Canada and take it into the union. President Lincoln, while a reluctant supporter of Manifest Destiny, said that if Secretary Seward could provide sufficient reasons and if Congress agreed with those reasons then the country would again go to war.
In the meantime, the rest of the South started surrendering. When the defenders of Chattanooga first heard of Jackson's surrender they thought it was a trick. However, General Polk saw that the defenders had no choice and surrendered on August 31st, 1862. President Lincoln was encouraged by this news. Less encouraging was the news regarding the 13th amendment to the constitution. The war would soon be over and it still had not passed. President Lincoln still had to deal the Congressional elections in November. The 13th amendment did pass in the Senate earlier in the year. While he was popular, President Lincoln did not think he was that popular.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
I believe that this is the time to abolish this most horrendous of sins of this nation. If not now then we will be damned for all time. That is why this amendment must pass.
-Congressman Thaddeus Stevens R-Pennsylvania, on the floor of the House of Representatives, during a special session of Congress, September 5th, 1862.
This week in a close vote in the House has barely passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. It was hard fought by both sides. However, at 118 to 57, the amendment passed the House in a special session. This new amendment reads:
"ARTICLE 13.—Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
“Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
Now it is being passed to the states for ratification.
NEWS ITEMS
While the Southern States are mostly pacified there are still guerrillas working in some areas trying to resist the government. Others are going to Mexico.
Jefferson Davis has been captured outside of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina last Wednesday. We have reports that the White House planning on having Mr. Davis lightly sentenced. How does one lightly sentence for treason?
-Harper's Weekly, September 20th, 1862.
The work of abolition is over. The greater work is just beginning.
-Frederick Douglass, in a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, September 21st, 1862.
My comrades and I thought about continuing the fight or going Mexico. In the end we decided that maybe this was all part of God's plan for us and we fought as best we could and still lost. I, for one, was glad that we decided to stay. I wanted to help Tennessee as best as I could.
-Company "Aytch" or: the Side show to the Big Show by Sam Watkins, serialized in the Columbia, Tennessee Herald, 1864.
Columbia, South Carolina, September 20th, 1862. The recent news out of Washington has left a feeling in me that I cannot describe. Mrs. Davis [Jefferson Davis' wife] is too overcome with grief over what has happened to her husband to care. This war has cost us and now that we have lost, we must face the consequences.
-Mary Chestnut's diary.
There were those from the upper echelons of former Confederate society, mainly generals and politicians, who wanted to leave. Those that did leave, like former Confederate President Jefferson Davis when he was pardoned, were few and thought that they would a fair deal from their fellow citizens. Most though stayed and tried to heal the divisions that the war made.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
My duty is complete. God has decided this conflict and I must adhere to His will.
-Comments made by General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to his wife Mary, September 21st, 1862.
The question for a long time has been vexing politicians in Richmond whether to readmit Virginia as one state or two. Last Wednesday, September 24th, that question was answered: Virginia shall return as one state with a gradual compensated emancipation date of April 9th, 1865. This follows Delaware’s narrow passing of similar legislation on September 15th, calling for Delaware’s slaves to be free on September 17th, 1863. The other former slave states are even now considering their own versions of this legislation. Congress is set to debate on Virginia’s and Delaware’s proposals when the session resumes in December.
-Harper’s Weekly, September 27th, 1862.
Wednesday, October 1st, 1862.
It has come to the attention of certain honorable people that the Americans during their recent civil war illegally crossed the border into Canada. The purpose, they say, was to get deserters from their army. However, there is now evidence that they have kidnapped British subjects and impressed them into their army. There was a war fought fifty years ago for that very reason. If we have to fight to restore the honour of our subjects then so be it.
-William H. Russell, London Times.
 
The kidnapping of British subjects to be impressed into the Union army during the American Civil War was something that could not be ignored. Prime Minister Palmerstone called for an immediate apology by the Americans. President Lincoln and, especially, Secretary of State William Seward were expecting such a demand ever since is first started being reported. They wanted recompense for the British letting the American rebels build ships in British shipyards. It led to a lot of heated discussions, not helped by the fact that the American negotiation team was led by Seward, an Anglophobe and proponent of American Manifest Destiny.
-The Ghosts Still Remain: Anglo-American Relations through Peace and War by Field Marshall Sir William Livingstone, Oxford University Press, London, 1943.
President Lincoln told Secretary Seward that if there is to be a war with Great Britain then it would have to wait until after the 1862 midterm elections. Unfortunately for President Lincoln, negotiations would break down just before the elections were due to take place, on November 3rd, 1862. While the Republicans still made gains due to the president’s conduct of the civil war, it was still uncertain if there was going to be a new war and who would start it. In the end, it does not matter who started the third Anglo-American war, the first being the War of Independence and the second being the War of 1812. What matters is that for the second time in four months America was at war.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
A Proclamation: Any officer, or enlisted man, who was enlisted in the armies of the Confederate States in the recent rebellion, will receive a full pardon, if they join the federal army against the armies of Great Britain. Any Southern civilian who supported the rebellion will also receive this pardon if they support the nation in this trying time.
-Presidential Order, November 5th, 1862.
There was no official declaration of war at the time; however both sides were waiting for something to happen. After two months, it looked like both sides were going to cool down. However, on January 6th, 1863, a British warship, HMS Howe, passing New York on its way the Bahamas was fired on by the USS Arletta. This was the spark that set off the third Anglo-American war.
-The Third Anglo-American War: a history by Janice Wilson, Arcadia Press, Halifax, 1985.
January 14th, 1863.
Wednesday, we have a new commander, General Robert E. Lee, formerly the military advisor of Jefferson Davis of the former Confederate States of America. The armies have been reorganized to accommodate the new Southern members. I met a fellow from Tennessee named Sam, whom I will happily go into business with should we survive this endeavor. We are going to cross the border into Canada East tomorrow. They saw that Canada is colder than it is back home in Rhode Island. I hope not, as it is cold enough there as it is.
-Elijah Hunt Rhoades’ diary.
January 25, 1863. War with Britain for the second time this century. We managed to block the ports in Canada before the war started apparently. The British Navy is still the most powerful force in the world, so I do not see how we can beat them. The land campaign has been most successful thus far; though how long that will last I cannot say for certain. The British army they say is the most powerful in the world. News from Mexico is far more pleasant.
-George Templeton Strong’s diary.
The Lincoln administration had sent a negotiation team into Mexico shortly after the civil war ended in September, 1862. Headed by a former state department employee, named Nicholas Trist, in exchange for expenses paid for services rendered, past and present. Trist’s job was to negotiate with the French and Mexicans a way for both sides to part ways and for the French to leave the hemisphere. While Emperor Napoleon III wanted a New World empire, he was willing to leave knowing that the United States had a larger army then the army that he was willing to put into Mexico.
Mexican president Benito Juarez was relieved that French were leaving. It may have cost some money but it was preferable to the alternative. When Mr. Trist returned to Washington in February, 1863, he was hailed as hero. President Lincoln was so impressed that he offered Trist his old job back. Mr. Trist, while he was grateful, refused.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
After the standoff with the French over Mexico, the armies in British North America got a bit of a boost. However, things were still progressing slowly. The armies of the United States had barely crossed the border when they were bogged down. General Nathaniel P. Banks, who was leading the army trying to take the Maritime providences, was replaced by General Joseph Hooker because Banks tried and failed to take the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia fourteen times by sea. General John Pope crossed into Canada West from Detroit and managed to capture Windsor on January 21st. General Robert E. Lee managed to take and hold onto Montreal on January 23rd.
From the end of January to the beginning of March, everyone was in winter quarters. The British Navy tried to get supplies to the defenders, which they were mostly successful at. However, the supply lines between Britain and her North American colonies were such that the Americans were able to intercept some supplies. Add to that the fact that the British Navy was still mostly made of wood. Even though the British still had superior numbers, they were mainly relegated to protecting supply lines.
-The Third Anglo-American War: a history by Janice Wilson, Arcadia Press, Halifax, 1985.
The British expect us to go by sea. Maine is too large to cross even in late winter. I propose that we go into New Brunswick instead of Nova Scotia. They may be more inclined to us there. I believe we can do this. May God have mercy on the British, for we shall have none.
-General Joseph Hooker, telegraph to Washington from Maine, March 4th, 1863.
The hen is the wisest of all the animals. For she waits until all the eggs are laid before she cackles.
-Abraham Lincoln to personal secretary John Hay on receiving General Hooker’s telegram.
General Lee, in spite the loss of his leg during the late war, has made a name for himself as a competent commander. He has surrounded Quebec City in the past two weeks as the snow melts. If he had been fought against in the Rebellion, then the Southern States may have been successful.
-Harper's Weekly, March 14th, 1863.
Major General Pope Executive Mansion
My Dear Sir: March 17th, 1863.
In consultation with the Secretary of War, I have relieved you of your position. Major General Reynolds will take over your army.
Yours Truly, Abraham Lincoln.
-Telegram found on General Pope's body shortly after he was killed by a British sharpshooter, apparently as he travelled to see General Reynolds on the front lines, March 20th, 1863.
Tuesday, March 24th, 1863
The Americans seem to have come together quite well. However, even with their recent reunion, they will not be able beat Her Majesty's armed forces. Recent losses on the American side prove this. Britannia has and always will rule. It is highly doubtful that the United States will conquer all of British North America. It just cannot be done.
-William H. Russell, London Times.
Unfortunately for Britain, while they had a large army in North America it was not enough to hold off the Americans even with naval support. Further, Britain was mostly concentrated in maintaining the balance of power in Europe. Added to that the Taiping rebellion was in its thirteenth year and there were British colonies there that needed protection. And then there was the rest of the empire. So, Britain could not concentrate fully on North America.
-The Ghosts Still Remain: Anglo-American Relations through Peace and War by Field Marshall Sir William Livingstone, Oxford University Press, London, 1943.
March 27th, 1863.
Dear Julia,
I wish I was up north or better still with you than on the border in Texas, making sure the French stay true to the agreement that was reached recently. I am at my wit's end.
Yours Affectionately,
-Letter from Ulysses S. Grant to his wife.
While the war with Britain raged, the states of the former Confederacy were starting to be reintegrated into the Union. Tennessee was the first on April 12th, 1863, followed by Louisiana the following month. Though all the Confederate states would not be reintegrated until South Carolina on January 1st, 1866, the fact remains that there were no lasting impacts for the White citizens of the south.
-A History of the Civil War by Albert Foote, American Press, New York, 1957.
Starting in the early 1860's, Black Codes, which restricted a Negro's right to own property, land, conduct business and move freely were introduced into various Southern legislatures. While Northern abolitionists were angered by this turn of events, they found that they could do nothing about it. Moreover this would turn out to be worse than slavery in some cases, as now there was nowhere for Negroes to go. It seemed, for the time being at least, like nothing was gained from fighting the Civil War.
-Climbing Jacob's Ladder by McClellan Stewart, American Press, Toronto, 1930.
These new laws against the colored race all over the Sunny South will prove to be the new slavery. Mr. Lincoln, having given us freedom, shall give us nothing else, save monies to go to Africa or some place in the Caribbean. He may be persuaded different since we are allowed to fight for our newly reformed country in this new war. In time, I may see the Promised Land. Until then I shall continue the struggle.
-Fredrick Douglass, speech in Boston, Massachusetts, April 16th, 1863.
President Lincoln was eventually convinced to not send our Negro citizens to foreign shores. However, until the war with Britain was decided, nothing more would be done. By early July, the war was at last going in our favor. It seems that for all the talk the British gave about wanting to keep their North American colonies they did very little to defend them. President Lincoln offered a peace on July 15th, 1863. The terms were the United States would get the Providence of Canada and the Maritime providences of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In exchange, the other parts of North America that Britain owns would stay British. The British government agreed, not wanting to spill more blood over this.
The former Colonists were unhappy: they wanted to stay British. The British public was unhappy: it was a loss of prestige. Secretary Seward was unhappy but only slightly: he had achieved his goal, at least partially of completing Manifest Destiny. In the end, Canada and the Maritimes were conquered. Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec and the Maritimes were amalgamated into one territory called Acadia.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
I was nine years old when Acadia was taken over. Though I do not feel any bitterness about that takeover I do feel a sadness as the United States and Great Britain should have been friends. Perhaps one day we will. I do not know whether I will live to see this prophecy fulfilled, however I have striven to heal the wounds.
-My Memoirs by Former President Robert Borden, Acadia Press, Halifax, 1936.
Why did Britain not put up more of a fight for Canada and the Maritimes? The truth was that those colonies, while profitable, were not as profitable as Britain would have liked. Not that Britain wanted to lose those colonies. They just wanted those colonies to merge into one colony, for defense and trade. There were the beginnings of that defense and trade before the invasion. That dream died with the invasion. However Britain's other colonies were not invaded and, in London, plans were being made to amalgamate the rest of their northern North American colonies: Rupert's Land (which The Hudson's Bay Company reluctantly parted with), the North-Western Territory, Newfoundland, British Columbia and Stickeen Territory.
-The Ghosts Still Remain: Anglo-American Relations through Peace and War by Field Marshall Sir William Livingstone, Oxford University Press, London, 1943.
Among those who attended the conference were former members of the various governments sent into exile by the American victory in the war: John A. Macdonald, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, George Brown and others. It was agreed that the government should copy the British model. The name of the new nation was the Dominion of Assiniboinia. The only thing left to decide, really, was where the capital was going to be. Unfortunately, towns were either unincorporated or too close to the American border. Fortunately Queen Victoria herself stepped in and suggested to newly formed town of Prince Albert in the middle of the prairies. It was far from the Americans and now the central point of the entire country. With that a new country was born on September 12th, 1863.
-Assiniboinia: A History by Carmen Schultz, University of Vancouver Press, Vancouver, 1974.
"Given recent events in North America," Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov said in a telegram to American Secretary of State William H. Seward, "it would not be prudent to sell [Alaska] at this time." While Russia needed the money, weakening Britain in North America was also a big reason for selling the territory. However, with Britain losing many of its eastern colonies there was less of an incentive. Besides America, just coming out of two wars and with a transcontinental railway to build, not to mention the settling of the western frontier, they didn't have enough cash in 1863 to pay Russia's price. So Russia kept Alaska, for the time being.
-The Imperial Bear: A History of Russia by Iveta Federovna, Moscow University Press, Moscow, 2010.
After the war with Britain, I returned to Virginia. I did not know what to do with myself. It was when I was at dinner, on September 22nd, 1863, with General Lee at his Arlington house, which was given back to him after that same war, that my life changed. General Lee suggested that I run for office. I told him that I did not think that I would make a good politian. General Lee said to me, "General Stuart, your duty has been to Virginia and the United States. Now Virginia needs you more." While it was too late to run that year, I did start to look ahead to 1868.
-Redemption: A Memoir by Former Vice President JEB Stuart, American Press, Richmond, 1916.
After the war with Britain, westward expansion was the goal of President Lincoln's administration. For that purpose the Transcontinental Railroad was a priority. Also helped was the Homestead Act of 1863, which promised 160 acres and supplies to go out and settle the west if they were to file the paperwork, a fee of $1.35 per acre, and live on the land for five years. President Lincoln even extended it to former Confederate soldiers. "They are our countrymen again," he said, "and as such have the same rights." Many Southerners took President Lincoln up of his offer, though they were mainly freedmen of color.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
It was difficult for many recently freed Negroes to afford the $216 necessary to make the purchase. Some were able to get money sent from up north, mainly from other Negroes and from sympathetic Whites like William Lloyd Garrison. While there were some Negroes who moved north as well, or stayed in the South because they knew no other existence, Negroes were a part of the westward march.
-Climbing Jacob's Ladder by McClellan Stewart, American Press, Toronto, 1930.
Among the migrants west were also former Confederate guerrillas. However, one group, which included William Quantrill and William Anderson decided to get revenge. Anderson and Quantrill plotted to assassinate President Lincoln. Two of the group, the James brothers, thought that while they loved the Southern Confederacy they wanted to get at the administration through bank robberies. Killing out of war was beyond them they said. Anderson managed to convince them that the war was not truly lost and that they could still win by killing Lincoln.
-Unexpected Changes: Plots and Assassinations Through the Years by Jericho Withers, Putnam's Sons Publishing, Los Angeles, 1968.
I am grateful that the wars that this country were embroiled in ended quickly. Now we can work on healing this nation so that it may prosper. However, we must do this together. If we do not the fights we have accomplished thus far will be for not.
-Speech given by Abraham Lincoln, October 12th, 1863.
The president yesterday announced that the Department of Agriculture would achieve cabinet status, with James Harlan of Iowa as its head. While it is a worthwhile endeavor to protect our crops one has to wonder how this newly elevated department will be able to enforce it any easier than before.
-New York Times, October 15th, 1863.
I was still in China fighting in the Taiping rebellion when the war with the United States happened. I had won the respect of my troops in the Ever Victorious Army by this time so it would have been unlikely that I could have gone even if I had wanted to. Commander [Frederick Townshend] Ward, having long since recovered from a near fatal wound, had managed to lead the Army to many victories like Chansu, Suzhou and Kunshan. In late November of 1863, we started to lay siege to the city of Nanking with the other Imperial Chinese armies. On December 4th, 1863, we received word that the leader of the rebellion, Hong [Xiuquan] surrendered. Soon after, the Ever Victorious Army disbanded. While I was sad to leave I was happy to have served.
-The Current Life of General Gordon: a Memoir by General Charles Gordon, Oxford University Press, London, 1901.
As 1863 closed, the conspirators began to think of a time and a place for the assassination of Lincoln to take place. Since President Lincoln loved the theater they would strike when he went there. They also planned on attacking various other members of the Federal Government at the same time hoping that the South would rise up again as a result. As the conspirators moved on Washington D.C. they were filled with confidence.
-Unexpected Changes: Plots and Assassinations Through the Years by Jericho Withers, Putnam's Sons Publishing, Los Angeles, 1968.
President Lincoln has done nothing but embroil us in wars. Whether it was the civil war or the late war with Britain, his term is soaked in blood. I fear that if Mr. Lincoln were to serve another term we shall be at war again.
-Former Governor of Connecticut Thomas H. Seymour, D, Speech at the Middletown Military Academy, Middletown, Connecticut, January 7th,1864.
If anything, the 1864 election began with that speech. Thomas Seymour had been a vocal critic of the Lincoln administration almost from the start. Although a veteran of the Mexican war, he opposed both the civil war and the war with Britain for damaging the country and that the war with Britain especially was only fought to line the pockets of the president's friends. While the president did not respond at the time, he would later say that such thinking was a disservice to the men who died.
-The Never Ending Circus: Elections Through the Ages by Aileen Patterson, Putnam's Sons Publishing, New York, 2014.
It was in 1864 that John Reynolds became the new general in chief of all the armies, at the time, a new position. It was created during the 1863 war with Britain to centralize command of the war efforts. Reynolds replaced General Edwin Sumner, who had resigned due to health issues, on March 4th, 1864. Almost immediately, Reynolds had to deal with what were called the Indian Wars.
-American Wellington: The Life and Times of John F. Reynolds by Harold Stevens, American Press, Los Angeles, 1978.
The Indian Wars were not really wars per se. The Indians were given three options: They can either fight, move onto reservations or move to Assiniboinia. What fights there were, were few and far between and usually ended in one of the other two options. One of the earliest post Civil War conflicts was the Sand Creek massacre in what is now Colorado on March 22nd, 1864. Lieutenant Colonel John Chivington, the leader of the 1st Colorado Volunteers and a former Methodist minister and abolitionist, attacked the reservation that Black Kettle lived on with his Cheyenne and their Kiowa and Arapaho allies when most of the warriors were out hunting. In all, 163 men, women and children were murdered. There was an investigation but no one was charged with the massacre. Events like this were repeated throughout the later part of the 19th century but only rarely.
-The Old West by Senator William S. Momaday, University of Wichita Press, New York, 2005.
President Lincoln, when he first heard of the Black Codes, did nothing about them. However, it soon became clear that he would have to do more for the Negro if he wanted to give the Republicans a base in the South. A meeting was called for March 8th, 1864. The offer was a simple one: in return for repealing the Black Codes and adjusting their Compensated Emancipation schedule by one year, the Southern States would enjoy the full rights of citizens faster. The various Southern leaders that were at the meeting, which included Former Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, deliberated for some time before agreeing. It is unclear why they did this, as someone once said people would rather keep their property than vote, it turned out to be the right decision.
-Climbing Jacob's Ladder by McClellan Stewart, American Press, Toronto, 1930.

Map of the United States around July 1864. White-United States. Grey-Southern states waiting reunion. Brown- United States Territories. Green-Assiniboinia. Yellow-Mexico.
After meeting with Southern leaders on March 8th, President Lincoln, thinking that he might not win reelection with the fast forwarding of re-admittance into the Union of the Southern States asked that Nevada's statehood be rushed. Nevada's statehood did not happen until July 31st, 1864, with the capital at Lancaster, later changed to McClellan. That made Utah nervous.
Meanwhile the various other territories were still being organized. Eventually the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Dakota, Absaroka, Jefferson and Bitterroot were organized. These territories would not start appearing on maps until the late 1860's.
-State by State: The Union by Admittance by Selma Booth Harris, Acadia Press, Halifax, 1999.
The admittance of Nevada into the Union was a blow to Utah. For a while Nevada had been a part of Utah when it was the Territory of Deseret, but then split off in 1850. Now that they were being admitted as a state the Church, and Brigham Young in particular, were nervous about what this meant for Utah and Mormonism.
Understand that even though he was no longer governor, Brigham Young still had enormous sway since he was the head of the Church. He was very much active in every aspect of life back then. And because of the mistreatment at the hands of the United States government at the time, not to mention the citizens of the United States, Young was very wary of joining the union. This was mainly because he felt that the Church, or parts of it, would be destroyed. He was right. Some Church doctrine was eventually struck down, in the name of acceptance in the United States. Though not while Young was alive.
-Followers of Zion: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Ezekiel Romney, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1992.
My dear Sir
My view of the present condition of reconciliation is as follows:
At the pace of reintegration we will be a whole country again after the next election. As to whether I will win I do not now. I hope the people will be kind.
-Letter from President Abraham Lincoln to Secretary of State William H. Seward, April 8th, 1864.
Last night at 8 1/2 o'clock, there was an attempt on the president's life. A fusillade of bullets came in through the window of the room where the president and some members of cabinet were meeting. The president was miraculously uninjured in the attack. The attack will be most rigorously investigated.
-New York Times, April 12th, 1864.
The president may not have been injured but Secretary of State William Seward was. Seward was shot in the upper back near the spine and probably would have lived had the doctors not operated on him. The manhunt for assassins started even before Seward died. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Allen Pinkerton, the foremost spy during the two previous wars, set about rounding up as many witnesses and suspects as they could.
-Unexpected Changes: Plots and Assassinations Through the Years by Jericho Withers, Putnam's Sons Publishing, Los Angeles, 1968.
Losing Secretary Seward was a blow to the president. However, he needed to move on. When he appointed Charles Sumner as the new head of the State department, he made an excellent choice. Secretary Sumner, who was on good terms with many in the British power establishment, started to talk with his British counterpart.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
While the British did not get their territory back they did manage a promise from the Americans to not attempt to take any more territory or otherwise interfere with British affairs in North America again. Sumner, sick of the way his predecessor had fixed the war with Britain, agreed. For this both sides were relieved. America could concentrate on domestic affairs and Britain could hold onto the holdings it had left. In time Britain and America would grow into weary allies.
-The Ghosts Still Remain: Anglo-American Relations through Peace and War by Field Marshall Sir William Livingstone, Oxford University Press, London, 1943.
The assassins of Secretary Seward have been found. They were caught by agents of Allen Pinkerton's detective agency last night. Since they had killed a government official and tried to kill the president, they will most likely be hanged.
-New York Times, April 27th, 1864.
They were hanged, based on the evidence given at their quick trial. One of the spectators at the trial, the actor John Wilkes Booth, said that while he disliked Lincoln he would not kill him. Allen Pinkerton himself felt that the capture of Quantrill's band of ruffians was "a thing I am most proud of." It was the start of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
-We Never Sleep: a History of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency by Joan Wexler, University of Wichita Press, Los Angeles, 1976.
With the Second Schleswig-Holstein war decided by June of 1864, Otto von Bismarck the Chancellor of Prussia was looking to make inroads into the south. In order to do that he would need some way to unite the German speaking providences. But how? Since there were disagreements over administrating Schleswig-Holstein from the beginning Bismarck decided that within two years he would go to war with Austria to gain complete control of the area and after that who knows? If all goes well there might be a united Germany by the end of the century.
-The Soaring Eagle: The History of Germany by Adolf Hess, Jena University Press, trans. by Gloria Beck, Berlin, 1978.
In June 1864, the Republicans held their convention in Baltimore, Maryland. President Abraham Lincoln was unanimously renominated as president on the first ballot. There were some considerations to whether to drop Vice President Hannibal Hamlin from the ticket. However, these were dropped and Vice President Hamlin was kept on the ticket. As was custom at the time, neither President Lincoln nor Vice President Hamlin were at the convention.
-The Never Ending Circus: Elections Through the Ages by Aileen Patterson, Putnam's Sons Publishing, New York, 2014.
Gentlemen: I can only say, in response to the kind words of Chairman [Henry J.] Raymond, as I suppose, that I am very grateful for the renewed confidence which has been accorded to me, by the convention...that I am not entirely unworthy to be entrusted with the place I have occupied for the last three years.
-Excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's reply to the Republican National Convention, June 9th, 1864.
Yesterday, at the Democratic National Convention, Former Governor of Connecticut Thomas H. Seymour was nominated as their presidential candidate and the Congressman of Ohio's 3rd District Clement Vallandigham as their Vice Presidential candidate. With a platform of isolation and peace, with an eye to keeping the status quo.
-New York Times, September 1st, 1864.
With many former residents of British North America (those that could afford it anyway) moving to Assiniboinia, there was the question of the northern extremes of the country. With the fur trade running low, it looked like there was no way to entice people to settle there. Then gold was discovered near the border of Russian Alaska and the British, having been fought out of their other colonies began looking at Alaska.
-Assiniboinia: A History by Carmen Schultz, University of Vancouver Press, Vancouver, 1974.
At the time, Russia was in a bit of a bind. They wanted to get rid of Alaska as it was costing them money. However, the discovery of gold in the North West Territory of Assiniboinia caused them to think about charging tolls to cross their territory. In Moscow, there were plans to take that section of territory for the empire.
-The Imperial Bear: A History of Russia by Iveta Federovna, Moscow University Press, Moscow, 2010.
The president has led the United States into two wars thus far. How many wars will he lead us into if he were elected to a second term? We need a new direction of leadership. Wars are not the United States' destiny. They are its past.
-Congressman Clement Vallandigham D-Ohio, in a letter to Robert Ould, September 8th, 1864.
Meanwhile the railroad was making progress, the Central Pacific going east from Sacramento, California and the Union Pacific going west from Cedar Falls, Iowa. With the wars over, there were more men to work on it. However, there was still not enough man power, or so it was felt, so workers from China were brought into serve as coolies. The Chinese were able to make the work on the Central Pacific go through the Rockies faster. However, it was at a cost. No one knows how many Chinese died building the railway, but it was in the thousands.
-The Old West by Senator William S. Momaday, University of Wichita Press, New York, 2005.
While you have done much for the slaves, there is still much to do. We ask that you enforce the rights guaranteed to the Negro. It is well and good to speak of giving rights, it is quite another to enforce them through the law.
-Letter from Frederick Douglass to Abraham Lincoln, September 14th, 1864.
President Lincoln felt that he had done enough for Negroes in giving them their freedom. While there was considerable pressure from abolitionists to do more the president felt that he had done enough. With the election, and reconciliation of the Southern states to worry about President Lincoln thought that he might do something in his second term. As the election wore on President Lincoln also looked at the Indian question. While there were certainly elements in the government who wanted to make war on them forever, President Lincoln wanted to make peace with the Indians, especially after he heard about the Sand Creek Massacre. So he called on General Reynolds for advice.
-Life of Lincoln: a Biography of the 16th President by Theodore Roosevelt, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1883.
John Reynolds agreed with President Lincoln, to an extent. He argued for a continued large military presence in the west now that the wars were over. President Lincoln agreed saying that the settlement of the west must be peaceful. It was during this meeting that President Lincoln suggested to Reynolds that he, Reynolds, might run for president in 1868. Reynolds, while not political per say, was intrigue by the idea.
-American Wellington: The Life and Times of John F. Reynolds by Harold Stevens, American Press, Los Angeles, 1978.
 
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