 Section 18 of Beacon Lengths of History, Volume 12, American Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Kay Hand. Abraham Lincoln, Part 4. The times were dark and gloomy at the North, and especially so to the President, as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy. After all the energies he put forth in the general direction of affairs, he was maligned and misrepresented and ridiculed, yet he opened not his mouth and kept his soul in patience, magnanimous for bearing and modest. In his manners and conduct, though entrusted with greater powers than any American before him had ever exercised, he showed no haughtiness, no resentments, no disdain, but was accessible to everybody who had any claim to his time, and was as simple and courteous as he had been in a private station. But what anxieties, what silent grief, what a burden had he to bear. And here was his greatness, which endeared him to the American heart, that he usurped no authority, offended no one, and claimed nothing, when most men, armed as he was with almost unlimited authority, would have been reserved, arrogant and dictatorial. He did not even assume the cold dignity which Washington felt it necessary to put on, but shook hands, told stories, and uttered jokes as if he were without office on the prairies of Illinois. Yet all the while resolute in purpose and invincible in spirit, an impersonation of logical intellect before which everybody succumbed, as firm, when he saw his way clear, as Bismarck himself. His tact in managing men showed his native shrewdness and kindness, as well as the value of all his early training in the arts of the politician. Always ready to listen, to give men free chance to relieve their minds and talk, he never directly antagonized their opinions, but deftly embodying an argument in an apt joke or story, would manage to switch them off from their own track to his own without their exactly perceiving the process. His innate courtesy often made him seem uncertain of his ground, but he probably had his own way, quite as frequently as Andrew Jackson, and without that irascible old fighter's friction. But darker days were yet to come, and more perplexing duties had yet to be discharged. The president was obliged to retire McClellan from his command, when in August 1862 that general's procrastination could no longer be endured. McClellan had made no fatal blunders, was endeared to his men, and when it was obvious that he could not take Richmond, although within four miles of it at one time, he had made a successful and masterly retreat to Harrison's Landing. Yet the campaign against the Confederate capital had been a failure, as many believed, by reason of unnecessary delays on the part of the commander, and the president had to take the responsibility of sustaining or removing him. He chose the latter. What general would Lincoln select to succeed McClellan? He chose general John Pope, but not with the powers which had been conferred on McClellan. Pope had been graduated at West Point in 1842, had served with distinction in the Mexican War, and had also done good service in the West. But it was his misfortune at this time to lose the second battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, when there was no necessity of lighting. He himself attributed his disaster to the inaction and disobedience of general Porter, who was cashiered for it, a verdict which was reversed by a careful military inquiry after the war. Pope's defeat was followed, although against the advice of the cabinet by the restoration of McClellan, since Washington was again in danger. After he had put the capital in safety, McClellan advanced slowly against Lee, who had crossed the Potomac in Maryland, with designs on Pennsylvania. He made his usual complaint of inadequate forces and exaggerated the forces of the enemy. He won, however, the battle of Antietam, for although the Confederates afterwards claimed that it was a drawn battle, they immediately retired, but even then failed to pursue his advantage and allowed Lee to recross the Potomac and escape, to the deep disgust of everybody and the grief of Lincoln. Encouraged by McClellan's continued inaction, Lee sent his cavalry under Stewart, who, with 2,000 men encircled the Federal Army and made a raid into Pennsylvania, gathering supplies, and retired again into Virginia, unhindered and unharmed. The President now deprived McClellan again of his command, and that General's military career ended. He retired to private life, emerging again only as an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Presidency against Lincoln in 1864. It was a difficult matter for Lincoln to decide upon a new General to command the Army of the Potomac. He made choice of Ambrose E. Burnside, the next in rank, a man of pleasing address, and a gallant soldier, but not of sufficient abilities for the task imposed upon him. The result was the greatest military blunder of the whole war. But the idea of advancing directly upon Richmond through Fredericksburg, Burnside made the sad error of attacking equal forces strongly entrenched on the Fredericksburg heights, while he advanced from the valley of the Raba Hanuk below, crossing the river under a plunging fire and attacking the enemy on the hill. It was a dismal slaughter, but Burnside magnanimously took the whole blame upon himself and was not disgraced, although removed from his command. He did good service afterwards as a core commander. It was soon after Burnside's unfortunate failure at Fredericksburg, perhaps the gloomiest period of the war, when military reverses Saturn, the whole North, and dissensions in the cabinet itself added to the embarrassment of the President, that Lincoln performed the most momentous act of his life and probably the most important act of the whole war, in his final proclamation emancipating the slaves and utilizing them in the Union service as a military necessity. Ever since the beginning of hostilities had this act been urged upon the President by the anti-slavery men of the North, a body growing more intense and larger in numbers as the war advanced, but Lincoln remained steady to his original purpose of saving the Union, whether with or without slavery. Naturally and always opposed to slavery, he did not believe that he had any right to indulge his private feeling in violation of the constitutional limitations of his civil power, unless, as he said, measures otherwise unconstitutional might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution through the preservation of the nation. Thus, when in 1861, Fremont in Missouri proclaimed amass the patient to the slaves of persistent rebels, although this was hailed with the delight by vast numbers at the North, the President countermanded it as not yet an indispensable necessity. In March 1862, he approved acts of Congress legalizing General B.F. Butler's shrewd device of declaring all slaves of rebels in arms as contraband of war, and thus, when they came within the army lines to be freed and used by the Northern armies. In March, May, and July 1862, he made earnest appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation because he foresaw that military emancipation would become necessary before long. When Lee was in Maryland in Pennsylvania, he felt that the time had arrived and awaited only some marked military success so that the measure should seem a mightier blow to the rebels and not a cry for help. And this was a necessary condition for while hundreds of thousands of Democrats had joined the armies and had become Republicans for the war. In fact, all the best generals and a large proportion of the soldiers of the North had been Democrats before the flag was fired on. Yet the Democratic politicians of the pro-slavery type were still alive and active throughout the North, doing all they could to discredit the national cause and hinder the government. And Lincoln intuitively knew that this act must commend itself to the great mass of the Northern people, or it would be a colossal blunder. Therefore, when Lee had been driven back on September 22, 1862, the president issued a preliminary proclamation stating that he should again recommend Congress to favor and act tendering pecuniary aid to slaveholders in the states not in rebellion, who would adopt immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their limits. But that on the first day of January, 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people aware of shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be thenceforward and forever free. And accordingly, in spite of Burnside's dreadful disaster before Fredericksburg on December 13, unfavorable results in the fall elections throughout the North, much criticism of his course in the newly assembled Congress and the unpopular necessity of more men and more money to be drawn from the loyal states. On January 1, 1863, the courageous leader set forth his final and preemptory decree of emancipation. He issued it, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion. Of course, such an edict would have no immediate force in the remotor states controlled by the Confederate government, nor at the time did it produce any remarkable sensation except to arouse bitter, animate version at the North and renew desperation of the effort at the South. But it immediately began to reduce the workers on entrenchments and fortifications along the Confederate front and to increase those of the federal forces while soon also providing actual troops for the Union armies. And since it was subsequently endorsed by all the states through an amendment to the Constitution by which slavery was forever prohibited in the States and territories of the United States and in view of its immense consequences, the emancipation proclamation of Lincoln must be regarded as perhaps the culminating event in the war. It was his own act and he accepted all the responsibilities. The abolition of slavery is therefore forever identified with the administration of Lincoln. In the early part of 1863, Lincoln relieved Burnside of his command and appointed General Joseph Hooker to succeed him. This officer had distinguished himself as a brilliant tactician. He was known as Fighting Joe, but he was rash. He made a bold and successful march across the Rappahannock and Rapideon rivers and advanced upon the enemy, but early in May 1863 was defeated at Chancellorsville in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The Confederates were now exceedingly elated and lead with a largely increased army of 90,000 splendid fighting men resolved on invading Pennsylvania in force. Evading Hooker, he passed through the Shenandoah Valley and about the middle of June was in Pennsylvania before the Union forces could be gathered to oppose him. He took York and Carlisle and threatened Harrisburg. The invasion filled the North with dismay. Hooker, feeling his incompetency and on bad terms with Halleck, the general in chief, asked to be relieved and his request was at once granted. General George C. Mead was appointed his successor on June 28th, striking due North with all speed, ably supported by a remarkable group of corps commanders and the veteran army of the Potomac handsomely reinforced and keenly eager to fight. Mead brought Lee to Bay near the village of Gettysburg and after three days of terrific fighting in which the losses of the two armies aggregated over 45,000 men, on the 3rd of July he defeated Lee's army and turned it rapidly southward. This was the most decisive battle of the war and the most bloody, finally lost by Lee through his making the same mistake that Burnside did at Fredericksburg in attacking equal forces entrenched on a hill. Nothing was left to Lee but to retreat across the Potomac and Mead. And Abel, but not a great captain, made the mistake that McCullen had made at Antietam and not following up his advantage but allowing Lee to escape into Virginia. To cap the climax of the Union's successes, on the 4th of July, General Ulysses S. Grant who had been operating against Vicksburg on the Mississippi during four months captured that city with 32,000 prisoners and a few days later Port Hudson with its garrison fell into his hands. The signal combination of victories filled the North with enthusiasm and the president with profoundest gratitude. It is true Mead's failure to follow and capture Lee was a bitter disappointment to Lincoln. The Confederate commander might have been compelled to surrender to a flushed and conquering army a third larger than his own, had Mead pursued and attacked him and the war might perhaps virtually have ended. Yet Lee's army was by no means routed and was in a dangerous mood while Mead's losses had really been larger than his. So that the federal general's caution does not lack military defenders. Nevertheless, he was evidently not the man that had been sought for. More than two years had now elapsed since the army of the Potomac had been organized by McClellan and yet it was no nearer the end which the president, the war minister, the cabinet and the generals had in view the capture of Richmond. Thus far, more than 100,000 men had been lost in the contest which the politicians had supposed was to be so brief but a single general had arisen at the east equal to the occasion. Only a few of the generals had seen important military service before the war and not one had evinced remarkable abilities although many had distinguished themselves for bravery and capacity to manage well in Army Corps. Each army commander had failed when great responsibilities had been imposed upon him. Not one came up to popular expectation. The great soldier must be born as well as Mead. It must be observed that up to this time in the autumn of 1863 the president had not only super intended the army of the Potomac but had borne the chief burden of the government and the war at large. Cabinet meetings, reports of generals, quarrels of generals, dissensions of political leaders, impertinence of editors, the premature pressure to emancipate slaves, Western campaigns, the affairs of the Navy and a thousand other things pressed upon his attention. It was his custom to follow the movements of every army with a map before him and to be perfectly familiar with all the general and many of the detailed problems in every part of the vast field of war. No man was ever more overworked. It may be a question how far he was wise in himself attending to so many details and in giving directions to generals in high command and sometimes against the advice of men more experienced in military matters. That is not for me to settle. He seemed to bear the government and all the armies on head and heart as if the responsibility for everything was imposed upon him. What had been the history? In the East, two years clouded by disasters, mistakes and national disappointments with at last a breaking of the day and that in the West. Was ever a man more severely tried and yet in view of fatal errors on the part of generals, the disobedience of orders and the unfriendly detractions of Chase, his awol but self-important secretary of the treasury, not a word of reproach had fallen from him. He was still gentle, conciliatory, patient, forgiving on all occasions and marvelously reticent and self-sustained. His transcendent moral quality stood out for the world unquestioned, whatever criticisms may be made as to the wisdom of all his acts. But a brighter day was at hand. The disasters of the East, for Gettysburg was but the retrieving of a desperate situation, were compensated by great success in the West. Port Donaldson and Columbus in 1862, Vicksburg and Port Hudson in 1863 had been great achievements. The Mississippi was cleared of hostile forts upon its banks and was opened to its mouth. New Orleans was occupied by Union troops. The finances were in good condition, for Chase had managed that great problem with brilliant effect. The national credit was restored, the Navy had done wonders and the southern coast was effectually blockaded. A war with England had been averted by the tact of Lincoln, rather than the diplomacy of Seward. Lincoln cordially sustained in his messages to Congress the financial schemes of the secretary of the treasury. And while he carefully watched, he did not interfere with the orders of the secretary of the Navy. To Farragut, Foot and Porter was great glory due for opening the Mississippi, as much as to Grant and Sherman for cutting the Confederate states in twain. Too much praise cannot be given to Chase for the restoration of the national credit and Lincoln bore patiently his adverse criticism in view of his transcendent services. At this stage of public affairs in the latter part of 1863, General Grant was called from the West to take command of the Army of the Potomac. His great military abilities were known to the whole nation. Although a graduate of West Point, who had, when young, done good service under General Scott, his mature life had been a failure. And when the war broke out, he was engaged in the tanning business at Galena, Illinois at a salary of $800. He offered his services to the governor of Illinois and was made a colonel of volunteers. Shortly after entering active service, he was made Brigadier General and his ability as a commander was soon apparent. He gradually rose to the command of the military district of Southeast Missouri, then to the command of the great military rendezvous and depot at Cairo. Then followed his expedition assisted by Commodore Foot against Fort Henry on the Tennessee River in the early part of 1862, with no encouragement from Halleck, the commanding general at St. Louis. The capture of Fort Donaldson on the Cumberland River came next to the amazement and chagrin of the Confederate generals, for which he was made a major general of volunteers. This was a great service which resulted in the surrender of Generals Buckner and Johnston with 15,000 Confederate soldiers, 20,000 stands of arms, 48 pieces of artillery and 3,000 horses. But this great success was nothing to the siege and capture of Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863, which opened the Mississippi and divided the Confederacy to say nothing of the surrender of nearly 30,000 men, 172 cannon and 60,000 muskets. Then followed the great battle of Chattanooga which shed glory on Thomas, Sherman, Burnside and Hooker and raised still higher the military fame of Grant, who had planned and directed it. No general in the war had approached him in success and ability. The eyes of the nation were now upon him. Congress revived for him the great of Lieutenant General and the conqueror of Vicksburg and Chattanooga received the honor on March 3rd, 1864, the first on whom the full rank had been conferred since Washington. The Lieutenant General C conferred on Winfield Scott after the Mexican War was a special brefit title of honor, that rank not existing in our army. On the 8th of March, the president met the successful and fortunate general for the first time and was delighted with his quiet modesty. On the next day, he gave him command of all the armies of the United States. Grant was given to understand that the work assigned to him personally was the capture of Richmond, but he was left to follow out his own plans and march to the Confederate capital by any route he saw fit. Henceforth, the president, feeling full of confidence, ceased to concern himself with the plans of the general commanding the army of the Potomac. He did not even ask to know them. All he and the secretary of work do was to forward the plans of the Lieutenant General and provide all the troops he wanted. Lincoln's anxieties, of course, remained and he watched eagerly for news and was seen often at the war department till late at night, waiting to learn what Grant was doing, but Grant was left with the whole military responsibility because he was evidently competent for it. The relief to Lincoln must have been immense. The history of the war from this time belongs to the life of Grant rather than of Lincoln. Suggestions to that successful soldier from civilians now were like those of the Dutch deputies when they undertook to lecture the great Marlboro on the art of war. To bring the war to a speedy close required the brain and the will and the energy of a military genius and the rapid and concentrated efforts of veteran soldiers disciplined by experience and enured to the toils and dangers of war. End of section 18. Section 19 of Beacon Lines of History, Volume 12, American Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Kay Hand. Abraham Lincoln, part five. The only great obstacle was the difficulty of enlisting men in what was now more than ever to be a dangerous work. When Grant began his march to Richmond, probably half a million of soldiers had perished on each side and a national debt had been contracted of over 2,000 millions of dollars. In spite of patriotic calls, in spite of bounties, it became necessary to draft men into the service. A compulsory act of power to be justified only by the exigencies of the country. In no other way could the requisite number of troops be secured. Multitudes of the survivors have been subsequently rewarded, at least partially, by pensions. The pension list, at the close of Harrison's administration in 1882, amounted to a sum greater than Germany annually expends on its gigantic army. So far as the pensioners are generally disabled veterans, the people make no complaint, appreciating the sacrifices which the soldiers were compelled to make in the dreadful contest. But so vast a fund for distribution attracted the inevitable horde of small lawyers and pension agents who swelled the list with multitudes of sham veterans and able-bodied cripples until many eminent ex-soldiers cried out for a purgation of that which should be a list of honor. Nor is it disloyal or unpatriotic to shed a tear for the brave but misguided men whom the southern leaders led to destruction without any such recompense for their wounds and hardships, for the loss of their property, loss of military prestige, loss of political power, loss of everything but honor. At first we called them rebels and no penalties were deemed too severe for them to suffer. But later we called them Confederates, waging war for a cause which they honestly deemed sacred and for which they cheerfully offered up their lives. A monstrous delusion indeed, but one for which we ceased to curse them and soon learned to forgive after their cause was lost. Resentment gave place to pity and they became like airing brothers whom it was our duty to forgive and in many respects our impulse to admire, not for their cause but for their devotion to it. All this was foreseen and foretold by Edward Everett during the war, yet there were but few who agreed with him. I can devote but little space to the military movements of General Grant in Virginia until Richmond surrendered and the rebellion collapsed. There was among the Southerners no contempt of this leader fresh from the laurels of Fort Donaldson, Vicksburg and Chattanooga and the Confederates put forth almost superhuman efforts to defend their capital against the scientific strategy of the most successful general of the war, supported as he was by almost unlimited forces and the unreserved confidence of his government. The new general-in-chief established his headquarters at Culpeper Courthouse near the end of March, 1864. His plan of operations was simple, to advance against Lee before proceeding to Richmond and defeat his army if possible. Richmond if taken would be comparatively valueless unless Lee were previously defeated. Grant's forces were about 150,000 men and Lee's little more than half that number, but the latter were entrenched in strong positions on the interior line. It was Grant's plan to fight whenever an opportunity was presented since he could afford to lose two men to one of the enemy and was thus sure to beat in the long run as a chess player having a superiority of pieces freely exchanges as he gets opportunity. There was nothing particularly brilliant in this policy adopted by Grant, except the great fact that he chose the course most likely to succeed whatever might be his losses. Lee at first was also ready to fight but after the dreadful slaughter on both sides in the Maddles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, he apparently changed his plan. One third of his forces had melted away. He saw that he could not afford to take risks and retreated behind his defenses. Grant too had changed his operations at first directing against Richmond on the Northwest and since he found every hill and wood and morass strongly fortified, he concluded to march on Lee's flank to the James River and attack Richmond from the south. After reducing Petersburg and destroying the Southern Railroads by which the Confederates received most of their supplies. The federal commander had all the men he wanted. A large force was under Butler near Petersburg and Sheridan had driven out the enemy from the Valley of the Shenandoah with his magnificent cavalry. Lee was now cooped up between Fedricksburg and Richmond. He was too great a general to lead his army into either of these strongholds where they might be taken as Pemberton's army was at Vicksburg. He wisely kept the field although he would not fight except behind his entrenchments when he was absolutely forced by the aggressive foe. Henceforth from June 1864 to the close of the war the operations of Grant resembled a siege rather than a series of battles. He had lost over 50,000 men thus far in his march and he too now became economical of his soldier's blood. He complained not but doggedly carried out his plans without consulting the government at Washington or his own generals. His work was hard and discouraging. He had to fight his way step by step against strong entrenchments. The only thing to do but he had the will and patience to do it. He had ordered an attack on Petersburg which must be reduced before he could advance to Richmond but the attack had failed and now he sat down to a regular siege of that strong and important position. The siege lasted 10 months when Lee was driven within his inner line of defenses and seeing that all was lost on April 2nd, 1865 evacuated his position and began his retreat to the west hoping to reach Lynchburg and after that effect a junction with Johnston coming up from the south. But his retreat was cut off near Appomattox and being entirely surrounded he had nothing to do but surrender to Grant with his entire army April 9th. With his surrender Richmond of course fell and the war was virtually closed. Out of the 2,200,000 men who had enlisted on the Union side 110,000 were killed or mortally wounded and 250,000 died from other causes. The expense of the war was $3,250,000. The losses of the Confederates were about three quarters as much. Of the millions who had enlisted on both sides nearly a million of men perished and over 5,000 to millions of dollars were expended probably a quarter of the whole capital of the country at that time. So great were the sacrifices made to preserve the Union at the cost of more blood and treasure that have been spent in any other war in modern times. I am compelled to emit notices of military movements in other parts of the Union especially in the West where some of the most gallant actions of the war took place. The brilliant strategy of Rose Krantz, the signal and achievements of Thomas, Sherman's march to the sea, Sheridan's raids, the naval exploits of Farragut, Porter and Foote and other acts of heroism as not bearing directly on the life of Lincoln. Of course he felt the intensest interest in all the military operations and bore an unceasing burden of study and of anxiety which of itself was a great strain on all his powers. If anything had gone wrong, which he could remedy his voice in his hand would have been heard and seen. But toward the last other things demanded his personal attention and these were of great importance. There never had been a time since his inauguration when he was free from embarrassments and when his burdens had not been oppressive. Among other things, the misunderstanding between him and Secretary Chase was anything but pleasant. Chase had proved himself the ablest finance minister that this country had produced after Alexander Hamilton. He was a man of remarkable dignity, integrity and patriotism. He was not vain, but he was conscious both of his services and his abilities. And he was always inclined to underwrite Lincoln whom he misunderstood. He also had presidential aspirations. After three years of successful service he did not like to have his suggestions disregarded and was impatient under any interference with his appointments. To say the least, his relations with the president were strained. Annoyed in vex with some appointments of importance he sent in his resignation accompanied with a petulant letter. Lincoln on its receipt drove to the secretary's house handed back to him his letter and persuaded him to reconsider his resignation. But it is difficult to mend a broken jar. The same trouble soon again occurred in reference to the appointment in New York of an assistant treasurer by Mr. Chase which the president having no confidence in the appointee could not accept on which the secretary again resigned and Lincoln at once accepted his resignation with these words. Of all I have said in commendation of your ability and fidelity I have nothing to unsay. And yet you and I have reached a point of mutual embarrassment in our official relations which it seems cannot be overcome or longer sustained consistently with the public service. Mr. Chase however did not long remain unemployed. On the death of Chief Justice Cheney in October 1864 Mr. Lincoln appointed him to the head of the Supreme Court showing how little he cherished resentment and how desirous he was to select the best man for all responsible positions whether he personally liked them or not. Even when an able man had failed in one place Lincoln generally found use for his services in another. Witness the gallant exploits of Burnside Hooker and Meade after they had retired from the head of the Army of the Potomac. As a successor to Mr. Chase in the Treasury the president to the amazement of the country selected Governor Todd of Ohio who wisely declined the office. The next choice fell on Senator William Pitt Fessenden who reluctantly assumed an office which entailed such heavy responsibilities and hard work but who made it in a fine record for efficiency. It was no slight thing to be obliged to raise $100 millions of dollars every month for the expense of the war. While General Grant lay apparently idle in his trenches before Petersburg the presidential election of 1864 took place and in spite of the unpopular draft of 500,000 men in July and a summer and autumn of severe fighting both East and West Mr. Lincoln was elected. There had been active and even acrimonious opposition but who could compete with him? At this time his extraordinary fitness for the high office in the gift of the nation was generally acknowledged and the early prejudices against him had mostly passed away. He neither sought nor declined the reelection. His second inaugural address has become historical for its lofty sentiments and political wisdom. It was universally admired and his memorable words sunk into every true American heart. Said he, fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn by the last shall be paid with another drawn by the sword. As was said 3000 years ago, so still it must be said the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. And as showing his earnest conscientiousness, these familiar words, with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. The eloquence of this is surpassed only by his own short speech at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. November 19th, 1863, which threw into the shade the rhetoric of the greatest orator of his time and stands, unstudied as it was, probably the most complete and effective utterance known in this century. That immortal inaugural address in March 1865, so simple and yet so eloquent, expresses two things in Mr. Lincoln's character to be especially noted. First, the tenderness and compassion blended with stern energy and iron firmness of will, which shrank from bloodshed and violence, yet counted any sacrifice of blood and treasure as of little account in comparison with the transcendent blessing of national union and liberty. And secondly, the change which it would appear gradually took place in his mind in reference to divine supervision in the affairs of men and nations. I need not dwell on the first since nothing is more unquestionable than his abhorrence of all unnecessary bloodshed or of anything like vengeance or punishment of enemies, whether personal or political. His leniency and forgiveness were so great as to be denounced by some of his best friends and by all political fanatics. And this leniency and forgiveness were the more remarkable since he was not demonstrative in his affections and friendships. From his judicial temper and the ascendancy of his intellectual faculties over passion and interest, he was apparently cold in his nature and impassive in view of all passing events to such a degree that his humanity seemed to be based on a philosophy very much akin to that of Marcus Aurelius. His sympathies were keen, however, and many a distressed woman had caused for gratitude to him for interference with the stern processes of army discipline and time of war, much to the indignation of the civil or military martinettes. In regard to the change in his religious views, this fact is more questionable but attested by all who knew him and by most of his biographers. As a lawyer in Springfield, his religious views, according to his partner and biographer Herndon, were extremely liberal, verging upon those advanced theories which Volney and Thomas Paine advocated, even upon atheism itself. As he grew older, he became more discreet as to the expression of his religious opinions. Judge Davis, who knew him well, affirms that he had no faith in the Christian sense, but only in laws, principles, cause, and effect. That is, he had no belief in a personal God. No religions seemed to find favor with him except that of a practical and rationalistic order. He never joined a church and was skeptical of the divine origin of the Bible, still more of what is called providential agency in this world. But when the tremendous responsibilities of his office began to press upon his mind and the terrible calamities that he deplored but could not avert, stirred up his soul in anguish and sadness, then the recognition of the need of assistance higher than that of man for the guidance of this great nation in its unparalleled trials became apparent in all his utterances. When he said, as God gives us to see the right, he meant, if he meant anything, that wisdom to act in trying circumstances is a gift, distinct from what is ordinarily learned from experience or study, this gift we believe he earnestly sought. It must have been a profound satisfaction to Mr. Lincoln that he lived to see the total collapse of the rebellion, the fall of Richmond, the surrender of Lee and the flight of Jefferson Davis, the complete triumph of the cause which it was entrusted to him to guard, how happy he must have been to see that the choice he made of a general in chief in the person of Ulysses Grant had brought the war to his successful close, whatever the sacrifices which this great general found it necessary to make to win ultimate success. What I wonder it is that Mr. Lincoln, surrounded with so many dangers and so many enemies should have lived to see the completion of the work for which he was raised up. No life of ease or luxury or exultation did he lead after he was inaugurated, having not even time to visit the places when his earlier life was passed. For him there were no triumphal visits to New York and Boston, no great ovations anywhere. His great office brought him only hard and unceasing toil which taxed all his energies. It was while seeking a momentary relaxation from his cares and duties, but a few weeks after his second inauguration that he met his fate at the hands of the assassin from peril of whose murderous designs no great actor on the scene of moral strife and labor can be said to be free. All that a grateful and sorrowing nation could do was done in honor of his services and character. His remains were carried across the land to their last resting place in Illinois through our largest cities with a funeral pageantry unexampled in the history of nations and ever since orders have exhausted language in their echinomias of his greatness and joy. Something that Lincoln died, fortunately for his fame, that had he lived he might have made mistakes, especially in the work of reconstruction, which would have seriously affected his claim as a great national benefactor. On the other hand, had he lived, he might have put the work of reconstruction on a basis which would have added to his great services to the country. The South had no better friend than he and he was incapable of animosity or revenge. Certain it is that this work of reconstruction requires even yet the greatest patriotism and a marvelous political wisdom. The terrible fact that five millions of free Negroes are yet doomed to ignorance while even the more intelligent and industrious have failed to realize the ideals of citizenship makes the Negro question still one of paramount importance in the South. The great question whether they shall enjoy the right of suffrage seems to be disposed of for the present, but the greater problem of their education must be solved. The subject is receiving the most serious consideration and encouraging progress is already making in the direction of their general and industrial training, but they are fast increasing. Their labor is a necessity and they must be educated to citizenship both in mind and in morals where the fairest portion of our country will find their presence a continuous menace to peace and prosperity. These questions it was not given to Mr. Lincoln to consider. He died prematurely as a martyr. Nothing consecrates a human memory like martyrdom. Nothing so effectually ends all jealousies, animosities and prejudices as the assassins dagger. If Caesar had not been assassinated, it is doubtful if even he, the greatest man of all antiquity could have bequeathed universal empire to his heirs. Lincoln's death unnerved the strongest mind and touched the heart of the nation with undisassembled sadness and pity. From that time, no one has dared to write anything derogatory to his greatness. That he was a very great man, no one now, questions. It is impossible, however, for anyone yet to set him in the historical place, which as an immortal benefactor he is designed to occupy. All speculation as to his comparative rank is worse than useless. Time affects wonderful changes in human opinions. There are some people in these days who affect to regard Washington as commonplace as the lawyers of Edinburgh at one time regarded Sir Walter Scott because he made no effort to be brilliant in after-dinner speeches. There are others who, in the warmth of their innocent enthusiasm, think that Lincoln's fame will go on increasing until, in the whole Eastern world, among the mountains of Tibet, on the shores of China and Japan, among the jungles of India, in the wilds of darkest Africa, and the furthest islands of the sea, his praises will be sung as second to no political benefactor that the world has seen. As all exaggerations provoke antagonism, it is wisest not to compare him with any national idols, but leave him to the undisputed verdict of the best judges. That lie was one of the few immorals who will live in a nation's heart and the world's esteem from age to age. Is this not fame enough for a modest man who felt his inferiority in many respects to those to whom he himself entrusted power? Lincoln's character is difficult to read from its many-sided aspects. He rarely revealed to the same person more than a single side. His individuality was marvelous. Let us take him, in the words of his latest good biographer, as simply Abraham Lincoln, singular and solitary as we all see that he was. Let us be thankful if we can make a niche big enough for him among the world's heroes without worrying ourselves about the proportion it may bear to other niches. And there, let him remain forever, lonely as in his strong lifetime, impressive, mysterious, unmeasured, and unsolved. One thing may be confidently affirmed of this man, that he stands as a notable exemplar in the highest grade of the American of this century, the natural development of the self-reliant English stock upon our continent. Lowell, in his commemoration ode, as set forth Lincoln's greatness and this fine representative quality of his, in words that may well conclude our study of the man and of the full first epoch of American life. Here was a type of the true elder race in one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face. I praise him not, it were too late. And some in native weakness there must be in him who condescends to victory, such as the president gives and cannot wait, safe in himself as in a fate. So always firmly he, he knew to bide his time and can his fame abide still patient in his simple faith sublime, till the wise years decide. Great captains with their guns and drums disturb our judgment for the hour, but at last silence comes. These all are gone and standing like a tower, our children shall behold his fame. The kindly earnest, brave, foreseeing man, sagacious, patient, dreading praise not blame, new birth of our new soil, the first American. Authorities, the most voluminous of the lives of Abraham Lincoln is that of Nicolet and Hay, which seems to be fair and candid without great exaggerations, but it is more a political and military history of the United States than a life of Lincoln himself. Herndon's life is probably the most satisfactory of the period before Lincoln's inauguration. Holland, Lamar, Stoddard, Arnold, and Morse have all written interesting biographies. See also Ford's history of Illinois, Greeley's American Conflict, Lincoln and Douglas Debates, Lincoln's speeches published by the Century Company, Secretary Chase's Diary, Swinton's Army of the Potomac, Lives of Seward, McClellan, Garrison and Grant, Grant's autobiography, McClure's Lincoln and Men of War Times, Wilson's history of the rise and fall of the slave power. End of section 19. Section 20 of Weekend Length of History, Volume 12, American Leaders by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Kay Hand. Robert Edward Lee, part one. 1807 to 1870, the Southern Confederacy. By E. Benjamin Andrews, LLD. Robert Edward Lee had perhaps a more illustrious traceable lineage than any American knot of his family. His ancestor, Lionel Lee, crossed the English Channel with William the Conqueror. Another scion of the clan fought beside Richard the Lionhearted at Acra in the Third Crusade. To Richard Lee, the great landowner on Northern Neck, the Virginia colony was much indebted for royal recognition. His grandson, Henry Lee, was the grandfather of light horse Harry Lee of revolutionary fame, who was the father of Robert Edward Lee. Robert E. Lee was born on January 19th, 1807 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the same county that gave to the world George Washington and James Monroe. Though he was fatherless at 11, the father's blood in him inclined him to the profession of arms. And when 18 in 1825, on an appointment attained for him by General Andrew Jackson, he entered the Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1829, being second in rank in a class of 46. Among his classmates were two men whom won the lights to name with him. Worms B. M. Mitchell, later a general in the Federal Army, and Joseph E. Johnston, the famous Confederate. Lee was at once made Lieutenant of Engineers, but till the Mexican War attained only a captaincy. This was conferred on him in 1838. In 1831, Lee had been married to Miss Mary Randolph Custis, the granddaughter of Mrs. George Washington. By this marriage, he became possessor of the beautiful state of Arlington, opposite Washington, his home till the Civil War. The Union, blessed by seven children, was in all respects most happy. In his prime, Lee was spoken of as the handsomest man in the Army. He was about six feet tall, perfectly built, healthy, fond of outdoor life, enthusiastic in his profession, gentle, dignified, studious, broad-minded, and positively, though unobtrusively, religious. If he had faults, which those nearest him doubted, they were excess of modesty and excess of tenderness. During the Mexican War, Captain Lee directed all the most important engineering operations of the American Army, a work vital to its wonderful success. Already at the Siege of Vera Cruz, General Scott mentioned him as having greatly distinguished himself. He was prominent in all the operations then to Xero Gordo, where in April, 1847, he was breveted major. Both at Contreras and Cherubusco, he was credited with gallant and meritorious services. At the charge of Chapultepec, in which Joseph E. Johnston, George B. McClellan, George E. Pickett and Thomas J. Jackson participated, Lee bore Scott's orders to all points until from loss of blood by a wound and from the loss of two nights sleep at the batteries, he actually fainted away in the discharge of his duty. Such ability and devotion brought him home from Mexico bearing the brevet rank of Colonel. General Scott had learned to think of him as the greatest military genius in America. In 1852, Lee was made superintendent of the West Point Military Academy. In 1855, he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston's new cavalry regiment, just raised to serve in Texas. March, 1861, saw him Colonel of the First United States Cavalry. With the impossible exception of the two Johnston's, he was now the most promising candidate for General Scott's position whenever that venerable hero vacated it, as he was sure to do soon. On the initiative of Mississippi, a provisional Congress had met at Montgomery on February 4th, 1861 and created a provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America. By March and 11th, a permanent constitution was drafted, reproducing that of the United States with certain modifications. Slavery and state sovereignty received elaborate guarantees. Bounties and protective tariffs were absolutely forgiven. Cabinet members had seats in Congress. Parts of appropriation bills could be vetoed. The presidential term was six years and a president could not be reelected. This constitution, having been ratified by five or more legislatures, was set in play by the provisional Congress. Virginia on seceding was taken into the Confederacy and the Confederate capital changed from Montgomery to Richmond. Lee was a Virginian and Virginia about to secede and at length seceding in most earnest tones beside her distinguished son to join her. It seemed to him the call of duty and that call as he understood it was one which it was not in him to disobey. President Lincoln knew the value of the man and sent Frank Blair to him to say that if he would abide by the union, he should soon command the whole act of arming. That would probably have meant his election in due time to the presidency of his country. For God's sakes, don't resign Lee, General Scott himself a Virginian is said to have pleaded. He replied, I am compelled to, I cannot consult my own feelings in the matter. Accordingly on April 20th, 1861, three days after Virginia passed its ordinance of secession, Lee sent to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, his resignation as an officer in the United States Army. Few at the North were able to understand the secession movement, most denying that a man at once thoughtful and honorable could join it. So centralized had the North by 1861 become in all social and economic particulars that centrality in government was taken as a matter of course. Representing this, the nation was deemed paramount to any state. Governmental sovereignty, like travel and trade, had come to ignore state lines. The whole idea and feeling of state sovereignty, once as potent North as South, had vanished and been forgotten. Far otherwise at the South, where owing to the great size of states and to the paucity of railways and telegraphs, interstate association was not yet a force. Each state, being in square miles ample enough for an empire, retained to a great extent the consciousness of an independent nation. The state was near and palpable. The central government seemed a vague and distant thing. Loyalty was conceived as binding one primarily to one's own state. It is a misconception to explain this feeling, for in most cases it was feeling rather than recent conviction by Calhoun's teaching. It resulted from geography and history and these factors working as they did would have been what it was had Calhoun never lived. With reflecting Southerners, Calhoun's message no doubt had some confirmatory effect because historically and also in a certain legal aspect, Calhoun's view was very impressive. That the overwhelming majority of the early Americans who voted to ratify the national constitution supposed it to be simply a compact between the states cannot be questioned, nor could ratification ever have been affected had any considerable number believed otherwise. The view that a state wishing to withdraw from the union might for good cause do so was the prevalent one till long after the War of 1812, yielding thereafter at the North, less to Webster's logic than to the social and economic development just mentioned. At the South it did not thus give way. There the propriety of secession was never ought but a question of sufficient grievance to be settled by each state for itself speaking through a majority of its voters. When the secession ordinances actually passed, many individual voters in each state opposed on the ground that the occasion was insufficient but such opponents of whom Alexander H. Stevens of Georgia was one, nearly to a man felt bound as good citizens to acquiesce in the decision of their states and even to uphold this in arms. Whether voting secession or accepting it on state mandate Southern men naturally resented being called traders or rebels by the Websterian conception of the nature of our government, they were so but by Calhoun's they were simply acting out the constitution in the best of faith. No recognized arbiter or criterion existed to determine between the two views. Massachusetts denounced seceding South Carolina as a traitor. South Carolina berated Massachusetts seeking to impose the union on the South against its will as a criminal aggressor. An intelligent referee with no bias for either must have pronounced the judgments equally just. These considerations explain how Colonel Lee, certainly one of the most conscientious men who ever lived felt bound in duty and honor to side with seceding Virginia, though he doubted the wisdom of her course. Lee was from the first Virginia's military hero and hope but he did not at once become such to the Confederacy at large. He did not immediately take the field till after bull run he remained in Richmond President Jefferson Davis's advisor and right hand man in organizing the forces incessantly arriving and pushing to the front. In his brief West Virginia campaign where he first came in contact with McClellan being looked upon as an invader rather than a friend Lee had scant success. Some therefore called him a mere historic name Letcher's pet, a West pointer, no fighting general. He went to South Carolina to supervise the repair and building of coast fortifications there and it was no doubt in large part owing to his engineering skill then applied that Charleston whose sea door the Federals incessantly pounded from the beginning probably wasting their more powder and iron than at all other points together was captured only at the end of the war and then from the land side. In March, 1862, General Lee again became President Davis's military advisor. But though thus in relative obscurity Lee was not forgotten. President Davis knew his man and knew that his hour would come. When in May, 1862, the vast federal army stood almost at Richmond's gates. Albert Sidney Johnston being dead and Joseph E. Johnston lying wounded. The Confederacy lifted up its voice and called Robert E. Lee to assume command upon the Chickahominy front. This he did on June 1st, 1862. The Confederates' ill success on the second day of the Fair Oaks battle was to them a blessing in disguise. They put McClellan at his ease giving Lee time to accomplish three extremely important ends. He could rest and recruit his army, fortify the south of Richmond with stout works, a detail which had not been attended to before. And send Stonewall Jackson down the valley of Virginia, so frightening the authorities in Washington that they dare not reinforce McClellan. Brilliant victory resulted. Leaving only 25,000 men between his capital and his foe, Lee on June 26th threw the rest across the upper Chickahominy and attacked the federal right. Fighting terribly at Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mill, A.P. Hill and Jackson, the latter having made forced marches from the Shenandoah to join in the movement, pushed back Fitzjohn Porter's corps across the Chickahominy, sundering McClellan entirely from his York River base. The Union army was now nearer Richmond than the bulk of Lee's, which was beyond the Chickahominy. At that time, none too easily crossed. Had McClellan been Lee or Grant or Sherman, he would have made a dash for Richmond. But he was McClellan and Lee knew perfectly well that he would attempt nothing so bold. Retreat was the northerner's thought and he did retreat in good order and hitting back venomously from white oak swamp and Malvern Hill, till he had reached Harrison's Landing upon the James where gunboats sheltered and supply ships fed his men. Lee felt disappointed with the seven days fighting in that he had not crushed McClellan. He had, however, forced him to raise the siege of Richmond and to retreat 30 or 40 miles. The Confederacy breathed freely again and its gallant chieftain began to be famous. The new leader had thus far given only hints of his fertile strategy. McClellan's army was still but two days' march from Richmond. Its front was perfectly fortified. McClellan was an engineer. Gunboats protected its flanks. Lee, an engineer too, knew that to attack McClellan there would be too costly. Yet McClellan must be removed and this before he could be reinforced for an advance. His removal was accomplished. General Pope was threatening Richmond from the north. The government expected great things of him. In a pompous manifesto he had given out that retreating days were over that his headquarters were to be in the saddle and that as he swept onto Richmond where he evidently expected to arrive in the course of a few days, his difficulty was going to be not to whip his enemy but to get at him in order to do so. When Pope wrote that manifesto he knew many men but there was one man whom he did not yet know. It was Stonewall Jackson. The most unique and interesting character rolled into notice by those tempestuous years. Unless Nathan Bedford Forrest is the exception. Like the great Moslem warrior, terrible he rode alone with his Yemen sword for aid, ornament it carried none, saved the notches on its blade. Jackson was an intensely religious man. Unlike many good soldiers he wore his piety into camp and onto the battlefield and would not have hesitated to offer prayer to the God of battles where every one of his 30,000 men could see and hear. And all those soldiers believed in the efficacy of their commander's prayers. Jackson was also a stern disciplinarian. If men in any way sought to evade duty, provost marshals were ordered to bring them into line if necessary at the pistol's point. In consequence, when the day of battle came there was not a man in the corps who did not feel sure that if he shirked duty Stonewall Jackson would shoot him and God Almighty would damn him. This helped to render Jackson's 30,000 perhaps the most efficient fighting machine which had appeared upon the battlefield since the iron sides of Oliver Cromwell. Pope was destined to make Jackson's acquaintance speedily and rather unceremoniously for Jackson was ill-mannered enough instead of passing in his card at Pope's front door as adequate required to present it at the kitchen gate. Before Pope was aware his enterprising opponent whose war model was that one man behind your enemy is worth 10 in his front had gone around through thoroughfare gap to Manassas Junction and planted himself. August 26, 1862, square across the only railroad that ran between Pope's army and Washington. Pope should have bolted and struck Jackson like lightning before the rest of Lee's army could come up but two considerations made him slow. One was that Long Street's wing of Lee's army was now rather close in his front and the other mortification at turning back after having started southward with such a blare of trumpets. Brave Confederate soldiers who were at Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run and Chantilly bear witness that the blood Pope's men shed in those battles ran red but dazed, tired, lacking confidence and at last on short rations and faced or flanked by Lee's whole army while but part of McClellan's was at hand they fought either to fall or to retreat again. No one witnessing it can ever forget the consternation which prevailed in the fortifications of out Washington the night after the battle of Chantilly. The writer's own troop, manning Fort Ward, a few miles out from Alexandria stood to its heavy guns every moment of that dismal night gazing frontwards for a foe. The name Stonewall Jackson was on each lip. At the break of dawn, when the weary soldiers, trees and fences easily look pokerish, brave artillerists swore that they could see the dreaded warrior charging down Yonder Hill heading a division and in almost agonizing tones begged Lee to load for action. Lee probably made a mistake in entering Maryland after the battle of Chantilly and his report implies that he would not at this time have done so for merely military reasons but having crossed the Potomac, he did well to fight at Sharpsburg, Antietam, September 17th, 1862 before recrossing. This was well because it was bold. Moreover, by bruising the Federals there, he delayed them getting ample time for ensconcing his army on the Rappahannock front for the winter. Also for the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862, Lee deserves no special praise. Doubtless his unerring engineer eye picked the fighting line and his already great prestige inspired his brave army but that was all. The pluck of his officers and men and burn sides in capacity did the rest. Never did a general carry to battle a better plan of battle than fighting Joe Hookers at Chancellorville, May 2nd to 3rd, 1863 and rarely has one marched from a battle that had proved for his own side a more lamentable fiasco. Taking the offensive with vast advantage in numbers, he proposed to hold Lee in place with one of his wings while he thrust the other behind Lee's left between the Confederate army and Richmond but he had started a game at which two could play and had challenged a more deft and daring game-ster than himself. Early defining his purpose, Lee, leaving a small part of his force to engage Hookers left with the rest vigorously assumed the counter offensive, sending Jackson as usual around Hooker's extreme right. Both movements completely succeeded. Now appeared the folly of promoting in general to the headship of great army simply because of his fighting quality and his success with a division or corps. Attacked in front and routed on his flank, Hooker did exactly what all who knew him would have taken an oath that he would never do. Instead of going straight ahead with vengeance and bidding his far left do the same, he ordered and executed a retreat to his old position north of the Rappahannock. There were those who laid this disaster to Hooker's intemperance. President Lincoln probably had such a suspicion when sending General Hooker west to join General Sherman, he admonished him in passing through Kentucky to steer clear of Bourbon County. Though Hooker was not a total abstainer, Chancellorsville is not to be explained by that fact anymore and then Jubal A. Earley's defeat by Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley is referable to his use of Apple Brandy. Hooker did not create his own defeat as Burnside may with little exaggeration be said to have done at Fredericksburg. Lee defeated him and deserved the immense fame which the victory brought. No wonder he began a plan for the offensive again. Soon the ever memorable Gettysburg campaign was begun. The details of this campaign, even those of the battle itself, July 1st through 3rd, 1863, we cannot give here. Nor need we. The world knows them. The first day with Hills and Ewell's success costing the Union the life of its gallant General Reynolds, commanding the First Corps. The second day when, back and forth by the Devil's Den, Hood on one side and Dan Sickles on the other fought their men as soldiers had never fought on the American continent before. And the third day went for an hour, a hundred cannon on Seminary Ridge belched hellfire at a hundred cannon on Seminary Ridge, prelude in the natural key to Pickett's death-defying charge. A thousand fell where Kemper led, a thousand died where Garnet bled. In blinding a flame and strangling smoke, the remnant threw the batteries broke and crossed the works with Armistead. The Union army was for the first time fighting a great battle on Union soil. The homes of many who were engaged stood within the sound of Gettysburg cannon. As the Confederates did in many other engagements, the Federals here felt that they were repelling an invader and they fought accordingly with a grim iron-resisting power which they had never displayed before. Great praise was due to General Hancock and perhaps still more to General Howard for early perceiving the strength of Cemetery Hill as a defensible position. On the first day, after General Reynolds had fallen at his post of duty with the First Corps, General Doubleday, next in command, was on the point of ordering a retreat. The attack is seeming too fearful to be withstood. But Howard, coming up with the Eleventh Corps and assuming command of the field, overruled Doubleday and by enforcing a most stubborn resistance against Hills and Ewell's desperate onsets, probably saved Cemetery Hill from capture that evening. End of section 20. Section 21 of Beacon Length of History Volume 12, American Leaders by John Lorde. This liverbox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Kay Hand. Robert Edward Lee, Part Two. So far, as has ever yet been made apparent, every plan which Lee formed for the Battle of Gettysburg, every order which he gave was wise and right. We do not accept even his management on the third day. It is easy to find fault with dispositions when they have failed of happy results. Men have said that instead of tacking in front on that day, Lee should have drawn Ewell from the left and thrown him to Long Street's right, maneuvering Meade out of his position. But in this matter too, Lee's judgment was probably good. Changing his plan of attack would have been a partial confession of defeat, to some extent disheartening his men. The Union Sixth Corps, fresh and free, General John Sedgwick at its head, was sure to have pounced on any troops seeking to trouble Meade's left. And had Meade been successfully flanked and forced back, he would have retired to Pipe Creek and been stronger than ever. Of course, Pickett should never have been sent forward alone. You could wade the Atlantic as easily as he, unsupported, could go beyond that stone wall. But from all one can learn, Lee was in fact not responsible for Pickett's lack of support. Although in almost guilty nobleness of spirit, he assumed the responsibility and silently rested under the imputation of it till his death. Had Lee's great subordinates, Ewell at nightfall on the first day and Long Street on the other two days, seconded him with the alacrity and devotion usually displayed by them, or had Stonewall Jackson been still alive and in the place of either of these generals, the issue of the battle would almost, to a certainty, have been very different from what it was. A soldier who had often followed to victory the enterprising Graham of Claverhouse, but under a weaker leader, saw a battle wavering, cried out, oh, for one hour of Dundee. So must Lee, often have sighed for Stonewall, the loss of whom at Chancellorsville made that, for the Confederacy, a sort of Pyrrhic victory. Lee's skill at Gettysburg has been questioned in that he fought his army upon the longer line, the big fish hook described by his position lying outside the little one formed by the federal army. But Lee fought on the outer line also at second bowl run, winning one of the neatest victories in modern warfare. John Cogman Ropes, the well-known military critic, says of this battle, it would be hard to find a better instance of that masterly comprehension of the actual condition of things which marks a great general, than was exhibited in General Lee's allowing our formidable attack, in which more than half the federal army was taking part, to be fully developed and to burst upon the exhausted troops of Stonewall Jackson, while Lee, relying upon the ability of that able soldier to maintain his position, was maturing and arranging for the great attack on our left flank by the powerful core of Longstreet. In Prussia's war with Austria in 1866, Von Moltke's plan at the Battle of Sadefa, where he splendidly triumphed, was in the same respect, a close imitation of Lee's at Gettysburg. The Prussians occupied the outer fish hook line, the Austrians the inner, with the pickets closed in the morning, Von Moltke saluted King William and said, your majesty will today win not only the battle, but the campaign. At noon, this did not appear possible. Prince Frederick Charles's Corps were withering under the hottest artillery fire of the century, saved that at Gettysburg, just three years earlier to the hour. It seemed as if in 15 minutes they must give way, but Hark, what means that cheering on the left, new cannons boom and the Austrian fire slackens. Von Moltke knows perfectly well what it means. The crown prince has arrived with his fresh core. He has stormed the heights of Klum, the Culp's hill of that battlefield. He inflades the whole Austrian line. Benedec is beaten, on to Vienna, the war has ended. It was with a heavy heart that generally ordered his brave men southward again. A heart made heavier by many, a stinging criticism against him in the Southern press. The resolution that bore him up after this crisis was morally sublime. He could not hope to strengthen his army more. For a time he had to weaken it by sending Longstreet West to assist Bragg in fighting the battle of Chickamauga. Clothing, rations, animals and forage, as well as men, were increasingly scarce. The south was exhausted much sooner than any expected, having greatly overestimated its wealth by taking exports and imports for gauge. Doubtful, if ever before, was so large and populous a region so far from self-sustaining. The force against Lee, on the other hand, was daily becoming stronger. Till Gettysburg, Lee had toyed with the army of the Potomac, not because the rank and file of that army was at fault and not mainly because of its general's inability, but mostly because of political interference with its operations. The great and revered President Lincoln with all his powers was not a military man. No more was Secretary Stanton. They secured the best military aid they could. From an early period, General Halleck, old brains, men called him because of his immense military information, was their constant advisor. And though he was a scholar rather than a genius, he could doubtless have saved them any in error had they heeded his counsel instead of civilian clamor. How impressively did not the Civil War teach that fine military scholarship alone, while it may greatly add to a general's efficiency, cannot make a true military leader. Compare Halleck with Grant or Sherman. The Creoles of Louisiana considered their Beauregard the nay plus ultra military genius of the South. One of them was once asked his opinion of General Lee. He replied in his broken English, oh, Jen Lee, a very good general, a very good general indeed. Jen Beauregard speak very faveble of Jen Lee. So at last did Halleck speak very fable of Grant. But Gettysburg convinced the Lee that he could toy with the Potomac army no longer. And this was more than ever impossible after Grant took command. Then Greek met Greek and the death grapple began. At the wilderness, at Spotsylvania, and most mercilessly of all at Cold Harbor, Grant drove his colossal battering ram against Lee's gray wall, only to find it solid as Gerolter. This struggle tested both commanders metal to the utmost. At the end of the hammering campaign, after losing men enough to form an army as large as Lee's, Grant's van was full twice as far from Richmond as McClellan's had been two years before. Not once was Lee flanked, duped, or surprised. As always hitherto, so now. His darling mode of defense was offense, to fight. Grant's every blow being met with another before it hit. Only once were Lee's lines forced straight back to stay. Even then, at the Spotsylvania bloody angle, the ground he lost hardly sufficed to graveyard the Union men killed in getting it. In swinging round to Petersburg, and again at the springing of the Petersburg mine, Grant thought himself sure to make enormous gains. But Lee's insight into his purposes and lightning, celerity, and checkmating these foiled both movements, giving the mine operation moreover, the effect of a deadly boomerang. Despite of all this, the end of the Confederacy was in sight for the moment of Grant's arrival at Petersburg. During the three years that Lee and his indomitable aides and soldiers had been holding at bay brave and perfectly appointed armies vastly outnumbering them, and twice boldly assuming the offensive, with disaster indeed, yet with glory, two other Grant campaigns had been going on wherein the Confederacy had fared much worse. The capture of New Orleans of island number 10 and of Vicksburg had left the father of waters again run unvexed to the sea. A second line of operations via Murphysboro, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Savannah had divided the Confederacy afresh. Sherman's army, which had achieved this, began on February 1st, 1865 to march northward from Savannah. Bravery and camp and field and deathless endurance at home could not take the place of bread. The blockade was, to be sure, for some time extensively evaded, admitting English wares of all sorts in great quantities. But in no long time, the blockade tightened. Moreover, comparatively little cotton was raised which could in any event have been exported. Credit failing, imports if any had to be paid for in money. This of course was soon spent and then importation ceased. Privateers destroyed but could bring nothing home. As the war progressed, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana and with the fall of Vicksburg, the whole immense trance of Mississippi tract were lost to the Confederacy. Sherman's march isolated also Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The dearth of necessities, save corn and bacon became desperate. Salt and wheat bread were rarer luxuries. In 1864, a suit of jean cost $600, a spool of cotton $30, a pound of bacon $15. It should of course be borne in mind that these high prices in part represented the depreciation of Confederate paper money. Trastic drafting in the army of Negroes could avail little for lack of accoutrements in food. Thus Lee's capitulation at Appomattox, April 9th, 1865, represents less a defeat of his army than the breakdown of the Confederacy at large. So true and impressive is this, that reflection upon it makes the last year of Lee's commandorship seem peculiarly glorious. Only by rarest genius surely were those dazzling tactics that links eyed sleeveless watchfulness that superhuman patience and superhuman valor protracted incessant for a whole year, keeping intact victorious and full of inspiration, that gray line ever longer, ever thinner of men outnumbered two, then three, and at last five to one, whose food and clothing grew scantier with the days while the bounties of a continent replenished their opponents, keeping that tenuous line unbroken till very starvation unfitted soldiers to handle muskets which must be used empty if at all because ammunition was spent. And when we recall that all this was accomplished not because the Union army was cowardly, ill-led or asleep, but in spite of Grant's relentless push it enably led army as brave, wary, and determined as ever marched. Let us ask critics versed in the history of war if books tell of general's ship more complete than this. Lee's military conduct revealed it must be admitted one weakness, that of undue leniency towards slack, dilatory, and opinionated subordinates. This was however only in part Lee's personal fault. Mainly it was the military counterpart of the rope of sand infirmity inherent in a Confederacy which in every possible way deified the individual state and snubbed the central power. Without jeopardizing the Confederacy, Lee could not at Gettysburg deal with Longstreet as Grant did with Warren at Five Forks, or as Sherman did with Palmer in North Carolina. It seems that Lee's orders to his main subordinates were habitually of the nature of requests, yet what obedience was not accorded him in spite of this? Most striking among the characteristics of General Lee which made him so successful was his exalted and unmatched excellence as a man, his unselfishness, sweetness, gentleness, patience, love of justice, and general elevation of soul. Lee much loved to quote Sir William Hamilton's words, on earth nothing great but man, in man nothing great but mind. He always added however, in mind nothing great saved devotion to truth and duty. Though a soldier and at last very eminent as a soldier, he retained from the beginning to the end of his career the entire temper and character of an ideal civilian. He did not sink the man in the military man. He had all a soldier's virtues, the chivalier without fear and without reproach. But he was glorified by a whole galaxy of excellences which soldiers often lack. He was pure of speech and of habit, never intemperate, never obscene, never profane, never irreverent. In domestic life he was an absolute model. Lofty command did not make him vain. The Southern Army had one prominent officer with a high ecclesiastical title, the right reverend Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, DD, LLD, Bishop of Louisiana, commanding a corps in Bragg's army. He was killed in battle at Pine Mountain, Georgia during Sherman's advance on Atlanta. Stonewall Jackson was so famed for his rather obtrusive though awfully real piety that men named him the havaloc of the army. But no one who knew the three will call Lee less a Christian than either of the others. He prayed daily for his enemies in arms and no word of hate toward the North ever escaped his tongue or his pen. He had the faith and devotion of a true crusader. His letters breathed the spirits of a better earth than this. Collected into a volume, they would make an invaluable book of devotional literature. No wonder officers and men passionately loved such a commander, glad at his bidding to crowd where the fight was thickest and death the surest. Sir Thomas Mallory's words are not in aptly applied to Lee. Ah, Sir Lancelot, thou word head of all Christian knights, thou word's never matched of earthly knight's hand, and thou word's the courtliest knight that ever bear shield, and thou word's the kindest man that ever strike with sword, and thou word's the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights, and thou word's the meekest man and the gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies, and thou word's the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in rest. Exquisitely appropriate is also Professor Trent's comparison of Lee with Belisarius and Tyren and Marlboro and Moltke on the one hand, and on the other with Callicretidus and St. Louis with the Chevalier Bayard and Sir Philip Sidney. A remarkable trait of General Lee's military character was his tireless and irresistible energy. While one whom he deemed a foe of his state remained on her soil, he could not rest. From the moment he took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, all was action in that army. During the nine weeks after AP Hill struck Mechanicsville that earthquake shock, how did not the war map change? Richmond was set free, Washington was threatened. Lee whipped McClellan before Pope could help, then Pope before McClellan could help. The first evening at Gettysburg, Long Street having impressively pointed out the strength of Meade's position on Seventary Hill, Lee instantly replied, if he is there in the morning, I shall attack him. The second morning of the wilderness battle, Grant, obviously expecting to anticipate all movement upon the other side, were to charge at five o'clock, Lee charged at half past four. Grant was determined to reach Spotsylvania first, but there too, Lee awaited him, having had some hours to rest. Prostrate and have delirious in his tent one day during Grant's effort to flank him, he kept murmuring, we must strike them, we must not let them pass without striking them. Long Street was too slow for him, and so was even the ever ready AP Hill. Years later, Lee's dying words were, tell Hill, he must come up. To appreciate his cat-like agility, one must remember that Lee was the oldest general made famous by the war. It is thought that years accounted for Napoleon's refusal to fight the old guard at Borodino as his ableist generals urged. Napoleon was then 43, 11 years younger than Lee was when our war began. It is too young Napoleon we must turn to find parallels for Lee's celerity. Second bull run in Chancellor'sville may fitly be compared to Arcola and Rivoli. It has been observed that like Napoleon, Lee avoided passive defense, seeming the assailant even went on the defensive. Like him, he was swift and terrible in availing himself of an enemy's mistakes. It can hardly be doubted that Lee's campaigns furnished more or less inspiration and direction for von Moltke's immortal movements in 1866 and in 1870 to 71. That Lee was brave need not be said. He was not as rash as Hood and Claiborne sometimes were. He knew the value of his life to the great cause and usually at least did not expose himself needlessly. Prudence he had but no fear. His resolution to lead the charge at the bloody angle, rashness for once, shows fearlessness. Tender-hearted as he was, Lee felt battle-friendly as hardly another great commander ever did. From him it spread like magnetism to his officers and men, thrilling all as if the chief himself were close by in the fray shouting, now fight my good fellows, fight. Yet such was Lee's self command that this dreadful order never carried him too far. Once namely at Fredericksburg, recovery from the fighting mood perhaps occurred too promptly. Some have thought this, suggesting that had the leash not been applied to the dogs of war so early, burn sites retreat might have been made a route. But Lee possessed another order of courage infinitely higher and rarer than this. The sort so often lacking even in generals who have served with utmost distinction in high subordinate places, what they are called to the soul and decisive direction of armies. He had that royal metal, that preternatural decision of character, ever tempered with caution and wisdom, which leads a great commander when true occasion rises, resolutely to give general battle or to swing out away from his base upon a precarious but promising campaign. Here you have moral heroism, ordinary valor is more impulsive. A weaker man, albeit total stranger to fear, ready to lead his division or his core into the very mouth of hell, if commanded, being set himself to direct an army, will be either rash or else too timid or fidget from one extreme to the other, losing all. Hooker began bravely at Chancellorsville, but soon grew faint and afraid. Hood says that Hardy's timidity lost him a great victory at Decatur, Georgia, the day the Union General McPherson fell, and that Cheathams at Spring Hill, during his northward pursuit of Thomas, lost him another. Yet Hooker, Hardy, and Cheatham were men to whom personal fear was a meaningless phrase. Stonewall Jackson was personally no braver than they. It was his bravery of the higher sorts that set him as a general so incomparably above them. The same high quality belonged to Grant and Sherman and to Washington and to Green in the Revolutionary War. It was in this supreme kind of boldness that Robert Lee preeminently excelled. Cautious always, he still took risks and responsibilities which common generals would not have dared to take. And when he had assumed these, his mighty will forbade him to sink under the load. The braying of bitter critics, the obliquely of men who should have supported him, the shots from behind, dismayed him no more than did Burnside's cannon at Fredericksburg. On he pressed, stout as a titan, relentless as fate. When time bravest hearts failed at victory's delay, this dreadnought rose to his best and furnished courage for the whole Confederacy. Lee's campaigns and battles exhibit the triumph of profound intelligence, of calculation and of well-employed force over numbers and disunited councils. Lee always maneuvered, he never merely pitched in. As he right flanked McClellan, so both at Manassas and at Chantilly, he right flanked Pope, all three times using for the work Jackson, the tireless and the terrible. At Second Bull Run, to show that he was no slave to one form of strategy, he muffled up Pope's left instead of his right, here using Longstreet. His tactics were as masterful as his strategy. At Second Bull Run, fearfully hammered by the noble fifth's corps, that had fought like so many tigers at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill, even Stonewall Jackson cried to Lee for aid. Aid came, but not in men. Longstreet's cannon, cuttingly planted to infallade the fifth corps front, shattered the federal's attacking column and placed Stonewall at his ease. Considering everything, his paucity of men and means, the necessity always upon him of reckoning with political as well as with military situations and his success in holding even grant at bay so long. Lee's masterful campaigns of 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865, not only constitute him the foremost military virtuoso of his own land, but write his name high on the scroll of the greatest captains of history. Beside those of Gustavus Adolphus, William of Orange, Tilly, Friedrich the Great, Prince Eugene, Napoleon Wellington and von Moltke. In a sense, of course, the cause for which Lee fought was lost, yet a very great part of what he and his comforers sought, the war actually secured and assured. His cause was not lost as Hannibal's was, whose country with its institutions, spite of his genius and devotion, utterly perished from the earth. Yet Hannibal is remembered more widely than Scipio. Where Lee in the same case with Hannibal, men would magnify his name as long as history is read. Of illustrious men says Thucydides, the whole earth is the sepulcher. They are immortalized not alone by columns and inscriptions in their own lands. Memorials to them rise in foreign countries as well. Not of stone, it may be, but unwritten in the thoughts of posterity. Lee's case resembles Cromwell's much more than Hannibal's. The regime against which Cromwell ward returned in spite of him, but it returned modified, involving all the reforms for which the chieftain had bled. So the best of what Lee drew sword for is here in our actual America. And please God, shall remain here forever. Decisions of the United States Supreme Court since secession give a sweep and a certainty to the rights of states and limit the central power in this republic, as had never been done before. The wild doctrines of Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens on these points are not our law. If the union is perpetual, equally so is each state. The republic is an indestructible union of indestructible states. If this part of our law had in 1861 received its presence, definition, and emphasis, and if the southern states had then been sure, come what might, of the freedom they actually now enjoy, each to govern itself in its own way, even South Carolina might never have voted secession. And in as much as the war, better than ought else could have done, forced this phase of the constitution out into clear expression, generally did not fight in vain. The essential good he wished has come, while the republic with its priceless benedictions to us all remains intact. All Americans thus have part in Robert Lee, not only as a peerless man and soldier, but as the sturdy miner, sledge hammering the rock of our liberties till it gave forth its gold. None are prouder of his record than those who fought against him, who, while recognizing the purity of his motive, thought him in error in going from under the stars and stripes. It is likely that more American hearts day by day think lovingly of Lee than of any other civil war celebrity, save Lincoln along, and his praise will increase. It was thoroughly characteristic of Lee that he would not after the war leave the country as a few eminent Confederates did, and also that he refused all mere titular positions with high salaries, several of which were urged on him out of consideration for his character and fame. He was however persuaded to accept in 1865 the presidency of Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, an institution founded on gifts made by Washington, and at present known as Washington and Lee University. In this position, the great man spent his remaining years joining refinement and dignity to usefulness, and revered by all who came within the charmed circle of his influence. Since 1863 had suffered more or less with rheumatism of the heart, and then from the middle of 1869 was never quite strong. Despite of this, with the exception of brief holidays, he performed all his duties till September 28th, 1870, when at his family tea table as he stood to say grace. It was his want to say grace before me to understand in doing so. He was stricken, had to sit, then be helped to his bed. He never rose, though languishing a number of days. He died at nine in the morning, October 12th, 1870. Ave Pia Anima. Authorities. E. Lee Child, Life and Campaigns of Robert Edward Lee, London, 1875. Edward A. Pollard, Life and Times of Robert Edward Lee, New York, 1871. John William Jones, Personal Reminiscences of Robert E. Lee, New York, 1874. Walter Taylor II, Four Years with General Lee, New York, 1878. A. L. Long Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, New York, 1887. Charles Marshall, Life of Lee. W. P. Trent Robert E. Lee, Boston, 1899. William Allen, The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, Boston, 1892. Battles in the Leaders of the Civil War, New York, 1887. End of section 21, End of Beacon Lines of History, Volume 12, American Leaders by John Lorde.