Tag Archives: American Civil War
1864 elections went on during the Civil War – even though Lincoln thought it would be a disaster for himself and the Republican Party

Matthew Brady/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State University
The outlook was not promising in 1864 for President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans had been killed, wounded or displaced in a civil war with no end in sight. Lincoln was unpopular. Radical Republicans in his own party doubted his commitment to Black civil rights and condemned his friendliness to ex-rebels.
Momentum was building to replace him on the ballot with Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. A pamphlet went viral arguing that “Lincoln cannot be re-elected to the Presidency,” warning that “The people have lost all confidence in his ability to suppress the rebellion and restore the Union.” An embarrassed Chase offered Lincoln his resignation, which the president declined.
The fact remained that no president had won a second term since Andrew Jackson, 32 years and nine presidents earlier. And no country had held elections in the midst of civil war.

King & Beird, Printers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1864/Library of Congress
Arguments for postponing
Some urged that the June Republican convention be postponed until September to give the Union one more shot at military victory. Other Republicans went further, arguing that the country should “postpone … a Presidential election for four years more … (until) the rebellion will not only be subdued, but the country will be tranquillized and restored to its normal condition.”
Holding the election during civil war would render “the vote … fraudulent,” argued the New York Sunday Mercury, in a widely reprinted article. The nation would “flame up in revolution, and the streets of our cities would run with blood.”
But Lincoln’s party renominated him. He was a canny political strategist who calculated that nominating Democratic Unionist and military Governor of Tennessee Andrew Johnson for vice president would attract disaffected Democrats and speed national reunification.
Johnson proved to be a disastrous choice for Black civil rights, but in 1864 his candidacy shrewdly balanced the ticket.
Yet a military victory that could also help Lincoln’s standing and prospects was elusive. General Ulysses S. Grant led the Overland Campaign against Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, across much of eastern Virginia that spring. After 55,000 Union casualties – about 45% of Grant’s army – Grant laid siege to Petersburg.
By the time Democrats met in August to nominate General George B. McClellan, there was still no end in sight to the war. Lincoln had removed McLellan from command of the Union Army of the Potomac in 1862, but the general was still a commissioned officer. Yet McClellan’s party was in disarray. He opposed a peace settlement with the Confederacy while the Democratic Party platform committed him to it.

Currier & Ives/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Defeat ‘seems exceedingly probable’
Without scientific polling, Lincoln and his advisers predicted defeat.
At the end of August, Lincoln wrote to his Cabinet, “it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”
Abraham Lincoln understood that the war for the Union was about the integrity of a constitutional republic, not the president or the party. It was about “a new birth of freedom” and not about him. And that meant his victory in the election was less important to him than the fate of the entire country.
Yet Lincoln also made contingency plans in the event he lost, asking Frederick Douglass to help free enslaved people in rebel-held areas.
Soldiers vote absentee
It was a bitter campaign. Lincoln’s opponents tarred him with racist and bestial characterizations. Republicans fought back, charging Democrats with being treasonous.
But no slogan discrediting the opposition was as effective in building support for Lincoln as the September Union military victories at Mobile Bay and Atlanta.
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General Grant made sure soldiers voting absentee sent their mail-in ballots. He furloughed others to go home to vote in person.
Even on the eve of the election, there were still calls to delay or cancel the vote.
Lincoln, who would go on to win, assured those critics, “We cannot have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.”
Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Today in History: 07 April 1862
American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh Ends
On this day in 1862 during the American Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh ended in Tennessee, when Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate troops under General Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard.
For more, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh
Books:
The Illustrated Comprehensive History of the Great Battle of Shiloh, by Samuel Meek Howard
Today in History: 06 April 1862
American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh Begins
ABOVE: Scene depicting the Battle of Shiloh
On this day in 1862 during the American Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh begins in Tennessee, when Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant confront Confederate troops under General Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. Though the battle started well for Confederate forces on the first day, it ultimately turned to defeat on the second.
ABOVE: Generals Sherman and U. S. Grant
For more, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh
Books:
The Illustrated Comprehensive History of the Great Battle of Shiloh, by Samuel Meek Howard
Today in History – 2 January 1904
Confederate General James Longstreet Died
On this day in 1904, Confederate general James Longstreet died at Gainesville, Georgia, USA. He was known by General Robert E. Lee as his ‘Old War Horse.’ He was also known as ‘Old Pete.’
James Longstreet was born on the 8th January 1821, in Edgefield District, South Carolina, USA. He served in the military for most of his early life. He served with distinction in the Mexican-American War, in Texas and in the Confederate States Army.
General James Longstreet was one of the Confederate army’s leading generals, serving in both the eastern and western theaters of the American Civil War. Longstreet was severley injured at the Battle of the Wilderness, though he returned to the war.
Following the war, Longstreet lost many of his civil war friends, as he joined the Republican Party, helped President U.S. Grant and because of his highly critical comments on Robert E. Lee. His reputation has suffered great damage at his own hand, though it seems it is being restored with the passing of time.
For more read:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Longstreet
– From Manassas to Appomattox, by James Longstreet (memoirs of the civil war in America, published in 1903)
Today in History – 10 May 1863
American Civil War: Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Died
On this day in 1863, Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson died from wounds sustained from friendly fire during the American Civil War. Following a magnificent victory at Chancellorsville on the 2nd May 1863, Jackson was making his way back to his own lines when he was accidently shot by Confederate pickets who mistook him and his staff for Union troops.
Having been returned to Confedrate lines, Jackson survived the amputation of an arm only to die of pneumonia on the 10th May 1863. It was a loss the south could ill afford. He was one of the greatest generals of the war.