Lincoln and Grant by Edward H. Bonekemper III

Author:Edward H. Bonekemper, III [Bonekemper, Edward H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781621574231
Publisher: Regnery Publishing

These numbers reflect the Eastern soldiers’ support for Lincoln, Grant and their aggressive efforts to bring the war to a successful close.

The next day (November 10) Grant sent his congratulations to Lincoln via Stanton: “Enough now seems to be known to say who is to hold the reins of Government for the next four years. Congratulate the President for me for the double victory. The election having passed off quietly, no bloodshed or rioit [sic] throughout the land, is a victory worth more to the country than a battle won. Rebeldom and Europe will so construe it.”50 A few days later, Grant told John Hay that he was impressed most by “the quiet and orderly character of the whole affair.”51

Defeating Lincoln in 1864 had been the Confederacy’s best opportunity for victory. McClellan’s well-documented respect for Southern “property rights” could have led to some sort of settlement short of a total Union victory that included abolition of slavery—and perhaps to a ceasefire and de facto Southern independence while the peace terms were being negotiated. In a study of the war, David Donald, Jean Baker, and Michael Holt concluded that “Lincoln’s reelection ensured that the conflict would not be interrupted by a cease-fire followed by negotiations, and in that sense was as important a Union victory as any on the battlefield. . . .”52

The closeness of that election demonstrates how important it had been for Grant to launch an aggressive nationwide offensive only two months after he became the Union general-in-chief. Without the capture of Atlanta, victory in the Shenandoah Valley and the capture of Mobile Bay, Lincoln’s chances of reelection would have been slim to none.

In the wake of the election, Lincoln addressed two serenading groups on November 8 and 10 at the Executive Mansion. In the latter response, he proclaimed, “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. . . . [The election] has demonstrated that a people’s government can sustain a national election, in the midst of a great civil war. Until now it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility.” Lincoln was making the same points Grant did in his wire of the same day. The president then spoke of the need to “re-unite in a common effort, to save our country. . . .”53

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