which the country was soon flooded. The necessity of actual Misapplication money in the treasury and the mode of raising of means. it were generally understood. It was that the Government should take the cotton from the owners and send it to Europe as fast as possible to be sold there. The owners were willing to accept any terms that might be fixed; and sending to Europe was easy in all the first year of the Confederacy's existence. Its government went into operation early in February (1861). The blockade of the Southern ports was proclaimed in May, but was not at all effective until the end of the following winter, so that there was a period of about twelve months for the operation of converting four or five million bales of cotton into money."

Emanci

THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR.

30. President Lincoln had said: "My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some, and leaving pation of others alone, I would also do that." Events conthe slaves. trolled him, and "desiring that all men everywhere should be free," on the 1st of January, 1863, he issued his memorable proclamation, by which the slaves in all the States and districts at war with the national government were declared to be forever free. Then "black regiments" began to be organized to fight in the national service, though colored troops had been previously employed in a few localities. At the close of the year about fifty thousand colored men were in actual service, and before the close of the following year the number had been more than doubled.

Hooker's

31. Burnside having, at his own request, been relieved of the command of the army of the Potomac, Gencampaign. eral Hooker, who had gained a reputation for gallant conduct in the "peninsula," and other campaigns, and

1863

Battle of Gettysburg.

277

who was popularly known by the title of “ Fighting Joe," was appointed in his place. The army, re-enforced and in excellent condition, crossed the Rappahannock, to destroy Lee's army and march to Richmond. At Chancellorsville, eleven miles from Fredericksburg, it encountered the Confederate force, and after a terrible battle, was defeated with heavy loss (May 2d and 3d). This was "the culmination of a series of national disasters which had occurred since the beginning of the year."

of the North.

32. Encouraged by his success, Lee, whose army numbered a hundred thousand men, began a northward movement, followed by Hooker. The minds of the Northern people were greatly alarmed, for a large and splendid Lee's army had been defeated, and seemed to be power- 2d invasion less against the invaders. The two opposing armies were now in Maryland, when Hooker resigned his command, which was at once transferred to General Meade. Militia forces were hurried to the seat of war, for the Confederate general, it was reported, had boasted that he would water his horses at the Delaware and the Hudson, and dictate terms of peace at Philadelphia or New York." Pennsylvania was again invaded; and while Lee paused at Chambersburg, his advance was on the road to Harrisburg; but as Meade was in pursuit, he turned eastward to prevent his progress. At Gettysburg, "a town destined to enduring celebrity in American history," the two armies met, and one of the most terrible battles of the war was fought (July 1st, 2d, and 3d). Day after day, Lee advanced his troops against the

66

'The Confederates lost General Jackson, "who fell in the midst of the triumph won by his own hand.' He was wounded during the night of the 2d, by the fire of his own men, who mistook his staff and escort for the enemy's cavalry. He bore patiently his great suffering. 'If I live,

46

it will be best," he said; and if I die, it will be best. God knows and directs all things for the best." He died on the 10th. "Of all the generals in the Confederate armies, no one so completely commanded the devotion of his troops. It was felt throughout the South that his death more than counterbalanced the advantages, great as they were, of the victory." (See p. 271 and note.

lines of the Unionists; but all in vain, and at last, after losing more than a third of his grand army, he was compelled to retreat. This was probably the most important and decisive engagement of the war. "Freedom was master on the continent." 1

Obligation to the

patriot dead.

66

33. In November, a little more than four months after, a great concourse of men and women met on this battle field of Gettysburg to consecrate a part of it as a national cemetery for the remains of the brave soldiers who had fallen. Lincoln took part in the ceremony. When the appointed funeral oration was completed, a low murmur ran through the audience and the careworn President, rising, bent reverently forward," and said: 34. "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that our nation might live. It is fitting that we should do this; but, in a larger sense, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far beyond any thing we can do. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced; to consecrate ourselves to the great task remaining; and to gather from the graves of these honored dead increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their lives. Here let us resolve that they shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and

1 The losses were fearful, 23,210 national troops were killed, wounded, or missing. The Confederate loss was 36,000.

1863

Organizations of Mercy.

279

that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish forever from the earth."

35. The efforts put forth by the North to sustain the Union cause were not confined to the government and the army. The people actively showed their interest, and their sympathy with those who had engaged in it. Organizations

Associations were formed to relieve the necessi- of mercy. ties of the soldiers. Of these, the Christian and Sanitary

Commissions did the most extensive work.

"The Sanitary

Commission gathered supporters from all classes of the people-physicians, clergymen, lawyers, merchants, tradesmen, laborers, and how was it possible that it could be otherwise ?--conspicuously among all, very many women. The wealthy man gave lavishly of his means; the poor man a

portion, often not an inconsiderable portion, of his earnings; the widow brought her mite. Soon the commission had ar independent transportation of its own. It had hospitals, wagons, ambulances, cars. Ingenious men devised for it inventions of better litters, better stretchers, better ambu ances. It secured comfortable transportation for the wound. ed soldier from the battle-field to the hospital. On the railroad it soon had its hospital cars, with kitchen, dispensary, and a surgeon's car in the midst.

36. To the Sanitary Commission the government gave a most earnest support; the people gave it their hearts. hey furnished it with more than three millions of dollars in money, of which one million came from the Pacific States, they sent it nine millions' worth of supplies. From fairs held in its interest very large sums were derived. What country, what age of the world can show such a splendid example of ' organized mercy?" The Christian Commission, emulating the noble conduct of the Sanitary Commission, aided the surgeon, helped the chaplain, followed the armies in their marches, went into the trenches and along the picket-line. Wherever there was a sick, a wounded, a dying man, an agent of the Commission was near by. It gave Christian burial whenever possible; it marked the graves of the dead. It distributed nearly five millions of dollars in money and supplies."

37. We turn to the West once more. Farragut's capture of New Orleans opened the lower part of the Mississippi; and the victory of Shiloh, with its consequences, resulted in opening all the rest that had been previously held Mississippi by the Confederates, except the portion between opened. Vicksburg and Port Hudson. It was Grant's ob ject to complete the opening of the river throughout its en

The

"The Sanitary Commission was a genuine expression of the spirit of the people. It was to America in this century what the orders of chivalry were to Europe in their day."-Carlyle. To the end of time it will stand in history as a worthy monument of the patriotism, the humanity, and the religion of a Christian democracy."-North American Review