by Alan Sewell
Mrs. Lincoln put down her knitting. “Something told me way back when that you would become President when the right time came. I only wanted to do my part of making you presentable to the world.”
“You have surely done your part in organizing the social functions that are every bit as necessary to making our new government respected as are its political functions. Do you know, Seward informed me that Colonel Cochrane from the British delegation told him that he couldn’t have believed that such a fine reception could be staged in a Rebel Province of America!”
“Rebel Province?” Mrs. Lincoln laughed. “Well, perhaps they consider us to be Rebels twice removed. We removed ourselves from their empire in George Washington’s time and now we have removed ourselves from the Confederate empire. The British must think of us as prodigal sons returning to the fold.”
“They do see us that way,” said Mr. Lincoln, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “If we succeed in securing our independence it will further their interests in North America. Seward tells me that he doesn’t think the British cherish the Canadas. Their small and scattered populations add little value to the Empire and are difficult to defend. They will let those Provinces have self-determination inside or outside the Empire as they may choose. But they will not permit the Confederate Union to chase them out of North America and seize the Canadas by force. They would much prefer to have us as friendly neighbors who prosper Britain and its North American Provinces by commerce.”
Mary continued her knitting.
“And there is also the question of suppressing the slave trade,” added Mr. Lincoln. “If we remain independent we will honor the treaties between the former United States and Great Britain to jointly patrol the African coast. If the Confederates conquer us, the slave trade might well be reopened.”
“Might it really?” asked Mary. “I remember that being discussed in my father’s house, but all responsible men in Kentucky opposed it.”
“But now the Confederate Union has ambitions to acquire Mexico, Cuba, and the free American Republics,” replied Mr. Lincoln. “They will need Negroes to work those lands. The cheapest Negroes are to be found in Africa. That is where the ‘buy them where they’re cheapest’ men will seek them.”
“The British must be on our side, then,” concluded Mary. “If the Confederates conquer us the world will be their oyster. Even the British will not dare oppose them.”
“I think that’s so,” said Mr. Lincoln, looking up from the papers he had been scribbling his notes on. “If the Confederates take hold of us then it will be only a matter of time before they dominate the American Continent. The British Possessions in North America will be annexed as Confederate Union Free States, while the lands south the Rio Grande will be annexed as Slave States.”
“Do you think they will help us fight the Confederates?”
“They already have, at least in words. They’ve warned the Confederates that their destruction of Cincinnati violates the norms of humanitarian warfare. I do not know how much further they will go to help us, but they have started down that path. We will know more when Seward goes back to Quebec in January.”
Seward says he hopes to obtain from the British a fifty million dollar line of credit that we may use to back our new currency with gold. Then our people will understand beyond any doubt that our ‘greenbacks’ are good as gold. And we shall see how the British react to the Confederate siege of Providence. Perhaps they will send a relief expedition to break the Confederate blockade when the extent of the deprivation of our people becomes known.
Outside the window the sky flashed a brilliant white. Mrs. Lincoln gasped. “What happened? Are the Confederates bombarding us?”
Mr. Lincoln stepped to the side of the window and squinted. When his eyes adjusted to the glare he saw that there was a break in the clouds near the horizon that allowed the sunlight to burst through. It reflected a dazzling white off the swirling snowflakes coming down outside.
“No, Mother, it’s the sun! Look to your right and you’ll see it blazing through that patch of clear sky on the horizon.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Mrs. Lincoln, pressing her face against the window. “What a beautiful sight it is! And look over there to the east. There is a bit of rainbow showing through the snow.”
“Well, I’ll be. I’ve never seen a rainbow in snow.”
“It gave me a fright,” replied Mrs. Lincoln. “I thought the Confederates had come back!” She looked skyward. “Oh, please, God, don’t bring the war back here. We suffered enough during the night when the Partisan War killed….” She cried as she remembered how her dearest sister Frannie and her husband had been murdered and their house burned. She composed herself. “When you meet with General Grant this evening please ask him to make absolutely certain that the Confederates will never enter this town again. They say Stoneballs Jackson came riding through here during the Battle of the Wabash.”
“But this time he was going the other way, Mother! He was cut off in our rear and trying to escape back into his own lines. He left this town in a hurry with a few ounces of buckshot in his posterior to hasten him on his way!”
“I don’t want to see him or any other Confederates back in this town, ever.”
“If you like, you may accompany me to the American House and tell General Grant that in person. Perhaps after that you’d enjoy mingling with the people in the commons and catching up on all that has happened here since we left. It might do you some good to talk to the people. ”
“Thank you for the invitation,” said Mrs. Lincoln. “But I really don’t feel up to it today. There are so few people still here that I know any more. Too many of our friends were killed in the Partisan War or left town with the Confederates or pulled up stakes and moved to Chicago. The people we met at the Nichols House yesterday are strangers. They all spoke with German accents. I could barely understand them.”
“Those are the Missouri Germans,” explained Mr. Lincoln. “Those who survived the Partisan War around St. Louis could no more live under the Confederate Government than the Democrats could live under ours. They have come to settle in the towns on our side of the border. It’s another reason why we must win our independence. Those who do not want to live in a slave holding republic must be able to find refuge here.”
“Well, there’s no denying that the new people have been busy rebuilding this town,” observed Mary. “You could never tell that the Partisan War was ever here. And I am sure this will be a better city without those awful Democrats.”
“It will be a better city,” agreed Mr. Lincoln. “Not that I’m blaming the Democrats for the atrocities of the Partisan War. Those crimes were committed by drunken outlaws who flock like buzzards to scenes of lawlessness. The Democrats suffered as much from their depredations as our people did. Still, it is best that the Democrats should go into the Confederate Union and leave us Republicans alone to shape the Free States according to our principles. The New Englanders, Germans, and English who are coming here will make this town into a thriving city. Perhaps it will soon be larger than St. Louis.”
The door opened and Tad and Willie entered, covered with snow. Robert went to put the horse in the garage behind the house.
Mr. Lincoln looked at his watch. “I have an idea. It’s four o’clock now. Robert and I will go to the American House at six to have dinner with General Grant and Governor Yates. Robert will ride back with dinner for you and the children. I expect that Grant and Yates will want to talk until late in the evening. And of course I shall be detained for some time in greeting the people. I will stay over at the hotel and return in the morning.”
“Yes, that will be fine, Father. Let me go and get dry clothes for the children.”
Mr. Lincoln sat back down in his chair and continued his work on his speech. He had set book marks in three passages that drew his attention. The first was written by John Adams in 1765:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as th
e opening of a grand scene, and design in Providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of Mankind all over the earth.”
The second passage had been written by Adams eleven years later during the outset of the American Revolution
“The fourth day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore. I am well aware of the toil and bloodshed and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory.”
And then there were the words of George Washington written shortly after Independence when the United States, then under the Articles of Confederation, was disintegrating into warring factions of states:
“The citizens of America, as sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, are the actors on a most conspicuous theater which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. It is in their choice whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable as a nation. For according to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall, and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.”
Imagine that! George Washington wondering whether the American Revolution would be considered a blessing or a curse. And still the question is not decided. I must make it clear to the people that we are the legacy of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison and that history has selected this generation to decide the fate of the American Revolution.
The Confederate Union is trying to snuff out our inheritance that all men are created equal. They do not understand that by maintaining slavery they are also dividing the White race into two classes --- those planation owners who own thousands of acres of the best lands, and the poor farmers who own neither land or slaves. Such a divided society goes against the advancing tide of civilization’s progress. And it just as surely goes against our founding principle that all men should have equal opportunity to improve their lot.
Mr. Lincoln considered how to work these words into a speech. But the flash of brilliant sunshine had put him in a playful mood. He had been thinking of a humorous ditty to commemorate the Battle of the Wabash for the last few weeks. Suddenly the words came to his mind:
The Battle of the Wabash
The Confederates set forth to conquer Illinore
They sent forth old Stoneballs on a ride up north
He had Chicago set in his sights
Then it rained for seven days and nights
Those Rebels, they fought him, and surely stood fast
They dug in their heels and did not let him pass
He gave up his quest and surrendered his pride
And returned to his camp with buckshot in his hide.
Mr. Lincoln slapped his knee and laughed uproariously. That isn’t bad, not bad at all. Maybe I’ll use that in my speech! Simple words can be more convincing than long-winded speeches.
He heard the kitchen door open. It was Robert coming in after putting up the horse and feeding her. The President got up and went into the kitchen where Robert was shaking off the snow.
“Thank you for taking the children for a sleigh ride.”
“Not at all, Father, it was my pleasure.”
“What say you accompany me to dinner at the American House with General Grant and Governor Yates?”
“Excellent!” exclaimed Robert. “I would like to ask Grant for a position in his army. I think it is time for me to do my share of fighting for the United States of Free America. And please don’t tell me to ‘finish my education.’ With Boston under the Confederates’ thumb, I don’t expect that Harvard will be reopening anytime soon! The best ‘education’ for the present will be learning how to fight the Confederates!”
Mr. Lincoln clenched his teeth. He had to go and start that ‘fighting for my country’ business up again, knowing full well that Mother will not hear of it! But how can I ask every other Free State man’s son to fight for our country yet deny my own son’s request to answer his call to duty. I must answer his request in a way that is honorable for him and that serves the interests of the country without sending him into combat right away. To send him into combat now would derange Mary and undermine my effectiveness as the President.
“We will be reopening the Military Academy in the spring,” Mr. Lincoln suggested. “My War Cabinet wants to relocate it to Michigan, far from the fighting. When its relocation is settled you may transfer there. In two years you will be commissioned an officer. If the war is still in progress at that time you will add a thousand times more value to the country than you will by going into the ranks today.”
Robert started to argue but sensed it would be futile. I will ask Grant for a commitment to serve in his army as soon as I complete my officer training at the Military Academy. Father will have no choice but to honor that commitment when the time comes.
Mr. Lincoln knew full well what his son was thinking. If the war is still going in two years and Robert enlists as an officer, then so be it. Our Founders who led the Revolution in 1776 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause. Some of them lost all they had in this world, including the precious lives of their sons. We must be as worthy to the cause of maintaining The United States of Free America as they were in creating it. And that means that many sons will not be coming home.
34
Maps of the final battles of 1861
General Ormsby Mitchel’s Indiana Counteroffensive, November 1861
Acting on Cump Sherman’s plan, Free State General Ormsby Mitchel redeployed his corps through Cincinnati then attacked across southern Indiana toward the Confederate bases at New Albany and Jeffersonville, hoping to lever the Confederates out of Indiana.
Lee countered the movement by redeploying the depleted divisions of Jackson’s Corps to Covington, Kentucky, moving them via the improvised railroad route around Terre Haute. Lee reconstituted the depleted divisions with Dick Taylor’s Louisiana divisions previously positioned on the Philadelphia front. Porter Alexander’s artillery came with them.
The battles of Cincinnati and Lawrenceburg, December 1861
Lee’s redeployment of four divisions into Cincinnati disrupted Mitchel’s railroad communications, forcing him to evacuate a tenuous hold on southeastern Indiana.
Lee ordered the reconstituted divisions of Hardee and McCulloch to seal Mitchel’s escape route through Lawrenceburg while Harney advanced with three divisions to close the gap from the west. Mitchel extracted most of his 20,000 men up the left bank of the Miami River and into Dayton, but left behind over a thousand sick and wounded in hospital at Lawrenceburg. He abandoned a dozen trains, his field artillery, and stocks of ammunition and rations. The areas west of Cincinnati were consolidated under Confederate Union control.
As of December 31, Lee’s divisions had occupied Cincinnati as far as Liberty Street, the limit of artillery fire support from Porter Alexander’s batteries on the high ground behind Covington. About two-thirds of the city area and four-fifths of its business and residential areas were controlled by the Confederate Union.
The New England Front as of December 31, 1861
The New England ports were invaded on October 16 by General McClellan’s Army of New England. McClellan’s troop transports were escorted by the warships of the Home Squadron based at Norfolk. The initial landings at Boston and Portsmouth were successful, but the landing at Portland was turned back by accurate fire from the harbor forts. Portland had to be taken by overland attack from Portsmouth.
The Confederates moved inland from Boston a
nd occupied the important rail center at Worcester. They attempted to take Providence by land in early December, but by then the town was heavily fortified by Rhode Island General Ambrose Burnside.
Sherman was able to interrupt the siege by advancing across the swampy ground west of Providence. However, the city’s defenses, linked to Sherman’s men on the outside by improvised roads over difficult swamps, remained precarious.
Sherman fortified the towns further back in the Connecticut Valley, using them to resettle 700,000 loyal Free Staters who evacuated the Confederate-controlled areas.
The national front December 31, 1861
New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley printed a map for his readers showing the front at the end of 1861. The front across the “mainland” from New Jersey to Kanas was little changed from the map Greeley had printed in August. The Confederates had gained control of most of Cincinnati and six counties of southeastern Indiana, while losing some ground in Maryland and extreme northern Missouri. However, the Confederates had occupied the New England Ports, closing them to Free State overseas commerce and destroying the Free State’s naval bases and shipyards before the Free States could assemble an effective Navy to contest the Confederate Union at sea.