The Life of Abraham Lincoln for Young People by Harriet Putnam (old books to read txt) đź“–
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The Pres-i-dent was glad of Er-ics-son’s work, took the plans, and eight months lat-er the worth of the boat made from them was seen in the great fight be-tween the Mer-ri-mac and the Mon-i-tor at Hamp-ton Roads. The “Mer-ri-mac” thought she would have full swing and crush all the ships of the Un-ion. She did some sad work both in the loss of ships and men, and she would have made an end of all, had there not, at mid-night, come up-on the scene, straight down from New York, John Er-ics-son’s lit-tle i-ron ves-sel, the “Mon-i-tor.” From that time i-ron ships, in place of those made of wood, were made for war use.
In the West, Grant, when he got through with Don-el-son, went up the Ten-nes-see to take Cor-inth in North Mis-sis-sip-pi. At that place man-y rail-roads met. Fresh troops had been sent from the East, and as Grant moved on with them he left some at points where boats could land. He, him-self, came to a halt on the west bank of the stream, at Shi-loh, with 30,000 to 40,000 men. This was a good place for him, for from here he could keep watch on the rail-road that went through the South and thus vex the foe then in great force at Cor-inth.
The foe had, at its head, Gen. A. S. John-ston and it was his wish to crush Grant ere Bu-ell could send him more troops.
Shi-loh, a small log church, was on a ridge a few miles back from Pitts-burg Land-ing. The troops that were to be put in front had their lines drawn up to face the Cor-inth road, for by that route the foe must come. Gen. Sher-man had charge of the men on that line.
It was on A-pril 6th, 1862, that Gen. A. S. John-ston made a fierce at-tack on the lines at Shi-loh. There was great loss on both sides. Sher-man was twice shot, while horse af-ter horse fell un-der him, but he stuck to his work, and kept up the hearts of his men.
The next day the fight went on a-gain and ground was won and lost on both sides. New troops, which had come in the night to the boys in blue, gave them much hope and did fine work. At last it was push, push, the foe back so that they could gain no more ground. This went on, till, at three o’clock the cry of “Charge!” rang out up-on the air. With loud cheers, and their guns held in front of them, the Un-ion troops made a bold brave dash and drove the foe from the field.
The loss was great on both sides. When the foe lost their lead-er, Gen. A. S. John-ston, they lost heart, and be-ing much worn by hours of dire work, had to give up.
Af-ter Shi-loh, a move was made a-gainst Cor-inth, a-bout 22 miles off. Word had gone forth that Beau-re-gard had a large force of South-ern troops with him at that place, but when the Un-ion ar-my came close, the foe fled from it, and left most of it in flames. When the Un-ion troops came, it was found that a brave show had been made with a lot of old guns made of wood, in the place of the i-ron sort which could do harm.
The Un-ion cause, by this last step, held the Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er as far down as Vicks-burg.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln’s heart was glad at the strong work in the West, the news of which came to him but a few weeks af-ter he had heard from the South that Ad-mir-al Far-ra-gut and Gen. But-ler held the cit-y of New Or-leans.
Far-ra-gut then went up the Mis-sis-sip-pi as far as Vicks-burg and it was thought then that the whole riv-er would soon be held by Un-ion for-ces.
The gains by the boys in blue at that time made a stir in the South and then it was that each man who could bear arms had to take part in the war.
The men who led the troops of the South did strong work for their cause. In 1861 there were fights big and small and most of these were won by the South. In 1862 the war went on and the North won some hard fights, though at times there were great loss-es and dark days. The South bore up well, and though crops were poor, and they could not get goods, still they fought as brave-ly as ev-er, and felt that they should at last win. In Vir-gin-ia, the foe had some grand men to lead them, and for a time it seemed as if they must win. They were bound to-geth-er with strong ties, and heart, head, and hand, each, did its best.
When Lin-coln came to be Pres-i-dent it was well known that he had a great dis-like to sla-ver-y. But the war, as he said, time af-ter time, was “not fought to put down sla-ver-y but to save the Un-ion.” At the North man-y found fault with Lin-coln be-cause he did not make haste to set the slaves free. The Pres-i-dent plain-ly said, “If I could save the Un-ion, though I did not free a slave I would do it. Still, in my own heart it is my wish, that all men, in all lands, should be free.” Lin-coln tried hard to keep the bor-der states friend-ly to the Un-ion cause. One way that would have made them foes would have been to free the slaves at once.
One day, while sail-ing down the Po-to-mac Riv-er, en route to the ar-my for a vis-it, the Pres-i-dent wrote out some thoughts on this theme which had been in his mind for a long time. Then, when Con-gress had made an end of its work, af-ter hav-ing passed an act “tak-ing a-way the prop-er-ty” of the foe, there was a meet-ing of the cab-i-net, made up of men who were a help to the Pres-i-dent.
Slaves were “prop-er-ty” and as prop-er-ty was to be seized, slaves, of course, could be tak-en. They were at that time at work as team-sters and on forts. Why, then, would it not be a good time to give them their free-dom? With this ques-tion in his mind, the Pres-i-dent went to his desk and took from it a pa-per which he then read to his “cab-i-net.” It said; “On and af-ter the first day of Jan-u-a-ry, 1863, all slaves with-in a-ny state or states where the con-sti-tu-tion-al au-thor-i-ty of the U-ni-ted States shall not be re-cog-nized, sub-mit-ted to, and main-tained, shall thence-for-ward and for-ev-er be free.”
The Pres-i-dent told those to whom he had read his “draft” that he had not called them to ask their ad-vice but to place the mat-ter be-fore them.
The wise Se-cret-a-ry Sew-ard said that though he was in fa-vor of such a draft, he thought the time was not ripe for it. He thought it would be best to wait un-til the troops had won more fights. It was then de-cid-ed that at least some months should go by ere this “draft” should be made known.
ANTIETAM, VICKSBURG, GETTYSBURG.
It is true that while good strokes were made in the West, the East did not do her part to put down the foe as soon as she might have done, and this was laid to lead-ers, for the troops were brave and read-y to fight when they had a chance.
What was called “The Pen-in-su-lar Cam-paign” made a start ’twixt the York Riv-er and the James Riv-er, on land which forms a pen-in-su-la.
Here through the spring and sum-mer of 1862, Mc-Clel-lan held large for-ces. There was much fight-ing, and at one time the Un-ion for-ces were with-in eight miles of Rich-mond, but in the end they had to fall back and with-draw from the Pen-in-su-la.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln at length felt that Mc-Clel-lan was no match for the Con-fed-er-ate Gen-er-als, Lee and “Stone-wall” Jack-son. So he had to put a new man at the head of the ar-my in the East. This man was Gen. Pope who had done well in the West.
Then came the sec-ond Bull Run fight, Au-gust 29 and 30, 1862. The foe won. Lin-coln found Pope “not up to the mark,” as a lead-er, and so put Mc-Clel-lan back once more.
It was on the 16th and 17th of Sept. 1862, that Mc-Clel-lan and Lee fought at An-tie-tam Creek, near Sharps-burg, in Ma-ry-land. This was one of the most se-vere bat-tles of the war. On Sept. 18, Lee with-drew a-cross the Po-to-mac, and Mc-Clel-lan slow-ly went af-ter him.
The Pres-i-dent had wait-ed in hopes that a “vic-to-ry” would come to the ar-my of the East, ere he made known his plan of free-ing slaves in some of the states. His own words are, “I had made a sol-emn vow to God that if Lee were driv-en back from Ma-ry-land I would crown the re-sult by a dec-la-ra-tion of free-dom to the slaves.”
So when the An-tie-tam fight came, and Lee and troops were driv-en back from Ma-ry-land, it gave so much hope to the Un-ion cause that Lin-coln felt it was the time to send forth the “draft” he made two months be-fore. This pa-per said that on the first day of Jan-u-a-ry, 1863, all slaves in those states which had left the Un-ion should be free. The slaves in those states which had not gone off, such as Mis-sou-ri and Ken-tuc-ky, were not then to be free.
It had been thought by some that harm would come from this pa-per, but it did not. It was a wise move, and a bold one, and brought much good.
Great joy was felt at the North, and fresh hope came with the thought that the war might soon be at an end. But there were two more years of sad, sad work, loss, and death on both sides.
The Pres-i-dent had found that it would be best for Mc-Clel-lan to give up his post “for good.” Burn-side took his place, but it was soon seen that he was too rash.
His plan was to cross the Rap-pa-han-nock at Fred-er-icks-burg and strike at the foe on the heights back of the town on Dec. 13, 1862. There was great loss of life and no gain. The foe won.
Gen. Hoo-ker was the next man to take charge of the ar-my in the East, but no moves were made till May, ’63.
In the mean time a great deal was done in the West. Grant once more made a move a-gainst Vicks-burg, one of the two strong points on the Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er still held by the foe. The North had, at times, thought Grant “slow” but Lin-coln had great trust in him, and said, “Wait. Give him a chance.”
Vicks-burg is on the east bank of the riv-er. Grant’s aim was to get to his troops and gun-boats be-low the town, and the plan he took was to march his men down the west bank, and let the gun-boats run past the eight miles of bat-ter-ies.
It was a-bout the mid-dle of A-pril, 1863, when the gun-boats passed the bat-ter-ies. The troops marched down the west bank of the riv-er, and then crossed in boats to the east side, at a point where they could reach the foe. On the first of May there was a fight near Port Gib-son with the fore-guard of Gen. Pem-ber-ton’s ar-my. Here the foe soon had more of the South-ern troops come to help him, led by Gen. John-ston.
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