Abraham Lincoln

D

Fourth Year in Office

Besides the terrible burden of war, Lincoln endured many personal trials while in the White House. The strain of war was almost too much for Mrs. Lincoln. Four of her brothers were killed fighting for the Confederacy. A final blow, the death of her son Willie in 1862, left her mentally ill and morbidly preoccupied with death. She refused to allow her eldest son, Robert, to enter the army. He remained a civilian until the closing days of the war, when Lincoln secured him a relatively safe position on General Grant's staff.

Although weary and saddened by Willie's death and the terrible toll of the war, Lincoln continued to devote full time to his duties. His amazing physical strength enabled him to work long hours, but in spite of his many duties he found time to talk with the many visitors who called at the White House. Nothing was too small to escape his attention. He made a special effort to review death sentences by military courts-martial. He often sent urgent notes to his military commander about particular cases, and wherever possible he urged leniency. “Let him fight instead of being shot,” read one such note. And to Stanton he wrote, “Injustice has probably been done in this case, Sec. of War please examine it.”

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1

Final Military Strategy

In March 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and commander in chief of all Union armies. Grant gave Major General William Tecumseh Sherman full command in the West while he himself came east to lead Meade's Army of the Potomac against Lee's veterans. Grant's overall strategy was bold. Instead of going after key Southern cities, he decided to attack principal Southern armies. Grant's objective was Lee, while Sherman was “to go for Joe Johnston,” the commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. In so doing, Sherman was to strike toward Atlanta, Georgia, and then march across Georgia to the sea, destroying the resources of the Confederacy as he went. The strategy was similar to the modern concept of total war, and a man with less determination than Lincoln would have shied away from such a commitment to destruction.

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2

Presidential Nominations

Democrats and radical Republicans were dissatisfied with Lincoln's policies. The radicals first favored Chase and then Frémont for the 1864 presidential election. A splinter group did, in fact, nominate Frémont for president. But the moderate Republicans remained faithful to their leader, and, because the radicals could not get support for their candidate, Lincoln was unanimously nominated for president by the official Republican convention. Senator Andrew Johnson, a Democrat from Tennessee and the only congressman from a secessionist state to remain loyal to the Union, was nominated for vice president. The platform called for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.

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The Democrats nominated General McClellan as their presidential candidate. He was immensely popular with the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, and many people believed that Lincoln had been unjustified in relieving him of his command after Antietam. The Democratic platform called for an immediate end to the war, which was characterized as “four years of failure.” However, McClellan, who favored continuing the war, disavowed his party's platform.

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3

Election of 1864

In the spring and summer of 1864, Lincoln did not think he would win the election. Grant's offensive was stalled at Petersburg, Virginia, and Sherman had not yet delivered a decisive blow against Johnston. In July, Washington itself was briefly threatened by a Confederate force under General Jubal Early. The Jacobins, as always, were a continual source of trouble for Lincoln. In August, U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Wade and U.S. Representative Henry W. Davis published a manifesto bitterly denouncing Lincoln's lenient Reconstruction policy.

Finally, in September the political and military situation took a turn for the better. Moderate Republicans prevailed on Frémont to withdraw from the race, and the party united behind Lincoln. Sherman took Atlanta and forced the Confederates to retreat north to Tennessee. Major General Philip Sheridan, on orders from Grant, destroyed the Shenandoah Valley, the breadbasket of Lee's army. Victory seemed near at last.

Under these conditions, Lincoln won an easy victory. He had 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21. The Democrats carried only Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey. Lincoln polled 2,206,938 popular votes to McClellan's 1,803,787. Even the soldier vote went to Lincoln, or “Father Abraham,” as he was called.

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4

Hampton Roads Conference

In December, Major General George H. Thomas's army smashed the Confederate Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Nashville. In December, Sherman took Savannah, Georgia, and began his march north to join Grant's army, which was ready for a final breakthrough at Petersburg. In February 1865, Lincoln and Seward met with Lincoln's old friend, Confederate Vice President Stephens, and two other Southern representatives at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss peace terms. Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation, and he insisted on the restoration of the Union without slavery. He offered pardons to all former Confederates and promised to recommend compensation of slave owners for their losses. But even these terms were unacceptable to the South (see Hampton Roads Conference).

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