A Short History of the United States for School Use Part 49

[Sidenote: The contrabands.]

407. Contrabands of War.--he war had scarcely begun before slaves escaped into the Union lines. One day a Confederate officer came to Fortress Monroe and demanded his runaway slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act (p. 281). General Butler refused to give them up on the ground that they were "contraband of war." By that phrase he meant that their restoration would be illegal as their services would be useful to the enemy. President Lincoln approved this decision of General Butler, and escaping slaves soon came to be called "Contrabands."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WAR-TIME ENVELOPE.]

[Sidenote: Abolition with compensation.]

408. First Steps toward Emanc.i.p.ation, 1862.--Lincoln and the Republican party thought that Congress could not interfere with slavery in the states. It might, however, buy slaves and set them free or help the states to do this. So Congress pa.s.sed a law offering aid to any state which should abolish slavery within its borders. Congress itself abolished slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to the owners. It abolished slavery in the territories without compensation.

Lincoln had gladly helped to make these laws. Moreover, by August, 1862, he had made up his mind that to free the slaves in the seceded states would help "to save the Union" and would therefore be right as a "war measure." For every negro taken away from forced labor would weaken the producing power of the South and so make the conquest of the South easier.

[Sidenote: Lincoln's warning, September, 1862.]

[Sidenote: Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation, January 1, 1863. _Higginson_, 304-305; _Source-Book_, 315-318, 327-329.]

409. The Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation, 1863.--On September 23, 1862, Lincoln issued a proclamation stating that on the first day of the new year he would declare free all slaves in any portion of the United States then in rebellion. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation. This proclamation could be enforced only in those portions of the seceded states which were held by the Union armies. It did not free slaves in loyal states and did not abolish the inst.i.tution of slavery anywhere. Slavery was abolished by the states of West Virginia, Missouri, and Maryland between 1862 and 1864. Finally, in 1865, it was abolished throughout the United States by the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment (p. 361).

[Sidenote: Northern friends of secession.]

[Sidenote: Suspension of _habeas corpus._]

410. Northern Opposition to the War.--Many persons in the North thought that the Southerners had a perfect right to secede if they wished. Some of these persons sympathized so strongly with the Southerners that they gave them important information and did all they could to prevent the success of the Union forces. It was hard to prove anything against these Southern sympathizers, but it was dangerous to leave them at liberty. So Lincoln ordered many of them to be arrested and locked up. Now the Const.i.tution provides that every citizen shall have a speedy trial. This is brought about by the issuing a writ of _habeas corpus_, compelling the jailer to bring his prisoner into court and show cause why he should not be set at liberty. Lincoln now suspended the operation of the writ of _habeas corpus_. This action angered many persons who were quite willing that the Southerners should be compelled to obey the law, but did not like to have their neighbors arrested and locked up without trial.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DRAFT.]

[Sidenote: The draft.]

[Sidenote: Riots in the North.]

411. The Draft Riots.--At the outset both armies were made up of volunteers; soon there were not enough volunteers. Both governments then drafted men for their armies; that is, they picked out by lot certain men and compelled them to become soldiers. The draft was bitterly resisted in some parts of the North, especially in New York City.

CHAPTER 40

THE YEAR 1863

[Sidenote: Position of the armies.]

412. Position of the Armies, January, 1863.--The Army of the Potomac, now under Hooker, and the Army of Northern Virginia were face to face at Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock. In the West Rosecrans was at Murfreesboro', and Bragg on the way back to Chattanooga. In the Mississippi Valley Grant and Sherman had already begun the Vicksburg campaign. But as yet they had had no success.

[Sidenote: Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, 1863. _Hero Tales_, 239-248.]

413. Beginnings of the Vicksburg Campaign.--Vicksburg stood on the top of a high bluff directly on the river. Batteries erected at the northern end of the town commanded the river, which at that point ran directly toward the bluff. The best way to attack this formidable place was to proceed overland from Corinth. This Grant tried to do. But the Confederates forced him back.

[Sidenote: Siege of Vicksburg. _Source-Book_, 320-323.]

[Sidenote: Surrender of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863.]

414. Fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863.--Grant now carried his whole army down the Mississippi. For months he tried plan after plan, and every time he failed. Finally he marched his army down on the western side of the river, crossed the river below Vicksburg, and approached the fortress from the south and east. In this movement he was greatly aided by the Union fleet under Porter, which protected the army while crossing the river. Pemberton, the Confederate commander, at once came out from Vicksburg. But Grant drove him back and began the siege of the town from the land side. The Confederates made a gallant defense. But slowly and surely they were starved into submission. On July 4, 1863, Pemberton surrendered the fortress and thirty-seven thousand men.

[Sidenote: Port Hudson surrendered.]

[Sidenote: Opening of the Mississippi.]

415. Opening of the Mississippi.--Port Hudson, between Vicksburg and New Orleans, was now the only important Confederate position on the Mississippi. On July 8 it surrendered. A few days later the freight steamer _Imperial_ from St. Louis reached New Orleans. The Mississippi at last "flowed unvexed to the sea." The Confederacy was cut in twain.

[Sidenote: Chancellorsville, May, 1863. _Hero Tales_, 213-223.]

[Sidenote: Lee invades Pennsylvania.]

[Sidenote: Meade in command.]

416. Lee's Second Invasion, 1863.--"Fighting Joe Hooker" was now in command of the Army of the Potomac. Outwitting Lee, he gained the rear of the Confederate lines on Marye's Heights, But Lee fiercely attacked him at Chancellorsville and drove him back across the Rappahannock. Then Lee again crossed the Potomac and invaded the North. This time he penetrated to the heart of Pennsylvania. Hooker moved on parallel lines, always keeping between Lee and the city of Was.h.i.+ngton. At length, in the midst of the campaign, Hooker asked to be relieved, and George G. Meade became the fifth and last chief of the Army of the Potomac.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG, LOOKING SOUTH FROM ROUND TOP.]

[Sidenote: Lee retires.]

[Sidenote: Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.]

417. Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.--Meade now moved the Union army toward Lee's line of communication with Virginia. Lee at once drew back. Both armies moved toward Gettysburg, where the roads leading southward came together. In this way the two armies came into contact on July i, 1863. The Southerners were in stronger force at the moment and drove the Union soldiers back through the town to the high land called Cemetery Ridge. This was a remarkably strong position, with Culp's Hill at one end of the line and the Round Tops at the other end. Meade determined to fight the battle at that spot and hurried up all his forces.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP: Battle of Gettysburg.]

[Sidenote: The second day.]

418. Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.--At first matters seemed to go badly with the Union army. Its left flank extended forward from Little Round Top into the fields at the foot of the ridge. The Confederates drove back this part of the Union line. But they could not seize Little Round Top. On this day also the Confederates gained a foothold on Culp's Hill.

[Sidenote: The third day. _Source-Book_, 323-327.]

[Sidenote: Pickett's charge. _Hero Tales_, 227-236.]

[Sidenote: It fails.]

[Sidenote: Lee retreats, July 4, 1863.]

419. Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.--Early on this morning the Union soldiers drove the Confederates away from Culp's Hill and held the whole ridge. Now again, as at Malvern Hill (p. 321), Lee had fought the Army of the Potomac to a standstill. But he would not admit failure. Led by Pickett of Virginia, thirteen thousand men charged across the valley between the two armies directly at the Union center. Some of them even penetrated the Union lines. But there the line stopped. Slowly it began to waver. Then back the Confederates went--all who escaped. The battle of Gettysburg was won. Lee faced the Army of the Potomac for another day and then retreated. In this tremendous conflict the Confederates lost twenty-two thousand five hundred men killed and wounded and five thousand taken prisoners by the Northerners--a total loss of twenty-eight thousand out of eighty thousand in the battle. The Union army numbered ninety-three thousand men and lost twenty-three thousand, killed and wounded. Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost the South sixty-five thousand fighting men--a loss that could not be made good. We must now turn to eastern Tennessee.

[Sidenote: Rosecrans and Bragg, 1863.]

[Sidenote: Chickamauga, September, 1863.]

[Sidenote: Thomas and Sheridan.]

[Sidenote: Grant in command in the West.]

420. Chickamauga, September, 1863.--For six months after Murfreesboro' (p. 326) Rosecrans and Bragg remained in their camps. In the summer of 1863 Rosecrans, by a series of skillful marchings, forced Bragg to abandon Chattanooga. But Bragg was now greatly strengthened by soldiers from the Mississippi and by Longstreet's division from Lee's army in Virginia. He turned on Rosecrans, and attacked him at Chickamauga Creek. The right wing of the Union army was driven from the field. But Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga," with his men stood fast.

Bragg attacked him again and again, and failed every time, although he had double Thomas's numbers. Rosecrans, believing the battle to be lost, had ridden off to Chattanooga, but Sheridan aided Thomas as well as he could. The third day Thomas and Bragg kept their positions, and then the Union soldiers retired unpursued to Chattanooga. The command of the whole army at Chattanooga was now given to Thomas, and Grant was placed in control of all the Western armies.