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own command. At Perryville, October 8th, 1862, he held the key of the Union position, and saved the Union army from defeat. In the battle of Stone river, his division fought with the utmost desperation on the first day, and aided greatly in staying the rout which the giving way of the right wing had caused; all the brigade commanders were either killed or severely wounded, and seventy officers and half the men of the division fell on that bloody field; but Sheridan finally brought off the remnant in good order, and re-forming it, did gallant service during the remainder of the battle. For his meritorious service here he was made major-general of volunteers. At Chickamauga, on the first day, he prevented a serious disaster to Wood's corps; and on the second day, though borne off the field by the sudden assault of the enemy upon the gap in the Union lines, he fought his way out, and re-forming his men, brought his division into the lines again before midnight. At Chattanooga, his bravery and daring were conspucious in the charge up Mission Ridge upon Fort Bragg; his horse was shot under him, and his men were ready under his leadership to dare and do any thing, however arduous or seemingly impossible. He was next with Sherman in the severe and ardous march to Knoxville, to raise the siege of that city.

When General Grant became Lieutenant-General, he called Sheridan to the congenial post of chief of the cavalry corps of the army of the Potomac, and we have recorded in a previous chapter, the skill and ability, the courage and genius, with which he conducted the two expeditions around the rear of the Rebel army. Promoted on General Grant's nomination to the command of the army of the Shenandoah, the present chapter shows how he won new laurels, and exhibited that most extraor dinary proof of good generalship, the turning defeat into victory. For the ability displayed in this field he was made first brigadier, and then major-general in the regular army. His subsequent career, as we shall see hereafter, was worthy of his previous brilliant record. In March, 1865, he ascended the Shenandoah valley to Staunton and Waynesboro, routed Early once more, and destroyed the railroads, canals, and other property of the Rebels, to the value of over fifty millions of dollars. Marching by way of White House, he joined General Grant on the 27th of March, and after two days' rest, was ordered to the field in the closing campaign, where the capture of Five Forks, and the persistent pursuit, and eventual surrender of Lee, were due in a large measure, to his perseverance, bravery, and strategic skill. After the war on the Atlantic coast was over, he was sent in command of an army of about eighty thousand men to Texas; and the Rebel General, F. Kirby Smith, having surrendered, he was allowed, after a few weeks guarding of the border, to reduce his army. On the 27th of June, he was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Gulf, comprising the Departments of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, with headquarters at New Orleans.

INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL PARTIES DURING THE WAR. 809

CHAPTER LXIV.

66

POLITICAL PARTIES, AND THEIR INFLUENCE DURING THE WAR-“THE ERA Of good feelinG"
-ITS SPEEDY TERMINATION-FERNANDO WOOD'S SOMERSAULTS-THE PROFESSIONS Of The
PRO-SLAVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADERS-THEIR DESIRE FOR A MORE VIGOROUS PROSECUTION
OF THE WAR"-"THE GREAT UNREADY"-OPPOSITION TO EMANCIPATION NOMINALLY RE-
LINQUISHED THE SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT, AND ARBITRARY ARRESTS-
THE CONSCRIPTION-THEIR OBJECTIONS TO IT-THEIR HOSTILITY TO THE FINANCIAL POLICY
OF THE GOVERNMENT-SECRET ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT-THE PEACE
PARTY AND ITS LEADER--SKETCH OF VALLANDIGHAM-HIS TREASONABLE ADDRESS AND HIS
ARREST JUDGE LEAVITT'S REFUSAL TO GRANT A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, AND HIS OPINION
OF TREASONABLE UTTERANCES-VALLANDIGHAM'S TRIAL AND SENTENCE-THE PRESIDENT
COMMUTES IT TO TRANSPORTATION BEYOND THE UNION LINES-PROTEST OF THE ALBANY
COMMITTEE THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY-PROTEST OF THE COLUMBUS COMMITTEE THE PRESI-
DENT'S PROPOSITIONS-THE OBJECT OF THESE DEMONSTRATIONS-VALLANDIGHAM NOMINA-
TED FOR GOVERNOR AND DEFEATED-HIS ESCAPE TO CANADA AND RETURN TO OHIO-
CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF HIS ASSOCIATES IN CANADA-HE ATTENDS THE CHICAGO
CONVENTION-THE PROCEEDINGS OF THIS CONVENTION-ITS PLATFORM-ITS NOMINEES-
GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE-HE ACCEPTS THE NOMINATION BUT RE-
PUDIATES THE PLATFORM, WHILE MR. PENDLETON ACCEPTS BOTH-UTTER DEFEAT of the
PEACE PARTY AT THE NOVEMBER ELECTION-EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE-THE
JACQUES AND GILMORE MISSION-A. H. STEPHENS' APPLICATION TO GO TO WASHINGTON
IN A REBEL WAR STEAMER-THE GREELEY AND SANDERS CORRESPONDENCE" TO WHOM
IT MAY CONCERN”—THE PRETENDED INDIGNATION OF CLAY AND HOLCOMBE-SUBSEQUENT
REVELATIONS OF THEIR CHARACTER AND PURPOSES-LEE'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO JEFF.
DAVIS-F. P. BLAIR'S MISSION--REBEL COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED-MR. SEWARD AND
MR. LINCOLN MEET THEM--THE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS--THE DEMANDS OF
DAVIS-IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONCEDING THEM-FAILURE OF THE CONFERENCE.

AT the commencement of the war, the great masses of both political parties, those who had deprecated the war, and denounced every movement of the Government looking toward the repossession of the seceded territory, as well as those who had been most earnest in their support of the administration, united most cordially in volunteering for service in the army, and in voting appropriations for arming, equipping, and maintaining the volunteer troops and their families. There were, indeed, a few whose hostility to the war and sympathy with the Rebellion was, from the first, outspoken and bitter; but these were the comparatively rare exceptions. As a general rule, party lines seemed obliterated, and those who, sixty days before, had declared that in the event of war they would fight on the side of the South, now seemed most anxious to efface such a record by their zeal for the war.

As might have been expected, this "era of good feeling" did not last. The conversion of the pro-slavery Democratic leaders, who had for years relied upon the South to maintain them in power, was too sudden to be genuine; and it was no matter for surprise that Fernando Wood, one of

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the most unscrupulous of the Democratic politicians, should lead the pro slavery Democrats in opposing the war. Mr. Wood had, in the winter of 1860-1, when mayor of New York, apologized to Mr. Toombs of Geor gia, for the seizure by the city police, under the orders of Government, of arms about to be shipped for the State of Georgia, assuring him that 'if he had the power he should summarily punish the authors of this illegal and unjustifiable seizure of private property;" and though he had three months later pledged his honor, his fortune, and his life, to the national cause, yet it was perfectly in keeping with his character that he should endeavor by every means in his power to obstruct the action of the Government, to thwart its plans, and to give what indirect aid and comfort he could, to its enemies. The pro-slavery Democratic leaders had, however, the art to veil their real sympathy with the Rebellion under the guise of anxiety for the preservation of the Constitution and the Union as it was; they deprecated any agitation of the status of the slaves, and insisted that they should be remanded to the care of their Rebel masters, if they escaped into the Union lines, and that in no case should they be set free. Under these limitations they had the impudence to clamor for "a more vigorous prosecution of the war," pretending that the President and Cabinet were responsible for the inactivity of General McClellan, and on this plea succeeded, in New York, in the autumn of 1862, in carrying the election of one of their most artful politicians, Horatio Seymour, to the office of Governor of New York. They had taken full possession of General McClellan, and flattering him with the hope of the Presidency in 1864, led him to maintain, in defiance of the remonstrances of the President and his Cabinet, that masterly inactivity which led to his receiving the title of the "Great Unready." His removal from command in November, 1862, was a severe and unexpected stroke to their policy, and the Emancipation Proclamation which succeeded it on the first of January, 1863, was another crushing blow to their plans, and one which Wood artfully attempted to prevent.

But though baffled in some of their schemes, they were not disheartened. They were fertile in resources, and unburdened by any conscientious scruples, they no sooner found one scheme fail them than they resorted to another equally fallacious, but perhaps quite as specious, to enable them to maintain their attitude of hostility to the Government. Their opposi tion to emancipation had lost them many adherents, especially among those of the party who had actively participated in the war; these saw in the measure a military necessity which could not be foregone; the leaders, therefore, professed to acquiesce in this, not very cordially, but as a meas ure which they could not prevent, and turned their attention to other acts of the Government. They had, from a very early period of the war, com. plained of the suspension of the habeas corpus act, and very naturally, since, with that suspended, they could never be sure that the discovery

ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT.

811

of their treasonable schemes might not be followed by arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This now became one of their chief grievances; another was the conscription, which could not be so arranged as to suit them. Before it was ordered, they had been strongly in favor of it, from the belief that it would bring odium on the Government; after it was ordered, it was all wrong, first, for exempting so many; when this was modified, then it exempted too few. The provision for commutation, by the payment of three hundred dollars, was grossly unjust, as it discrimi nated against the poor and in favor of the rich. When this provision was repealed, and the price of substitutes rose to a thousand or twelve hundred dollars, the Government was roundly abused for not retaining it. We have already shown how riots occurred in New York and elsewhere to prevent the draft. The finances were another grievance with these demagogues. Whatever Secretary Chase, who was then Secretary of the Treas ury, did, was wrong, of course. The first issue of Treasury demand notes were pronounced worthless, and some of the banks would only receive them on deposit after a written agreement from the depositors to receive their money in those notes only, an agreement which, when those notes rose to forty or fifty per cent. premium, the banks were very anxious to cancel. The legal tender notes, Democratic orators and brokers made every attempt to depreciate; assuring the ignorant classes, and those of foreign birth especially, that they would soon become utterly worthless, and exhorting them to get rid of them, or they would fall upon their hands. The Government loans were systematically decried, and the price of gold forced up, by combinations, in which foreign speculators, in the interest of the Rebels participated, and every means which could be adopted to ruin the national credit, was resorted to by these unscrupulous demagogues without hesitation.

There had been, even before the war, secret organizations in most of the States, pledged to extend and perpetuate slavery, even at the expense of the Union, known as "Knights of the Golden Circle." To these most of these leaders of the opposition belonged, but finding them in bad odor, they reorganized them under the names of "Sons of Liberty," "The Order of American Knights," &c., and drew into their secret circles, large numbers of those who, perhaps without any evil intent, were yet enamored of secret societies, and who soon found themselves pledged to treasonable measures. They also organized openly, a wing of the Democratic party, known distinctively as the Peace party, and though their numbers were small in Congress, they continued to delay action and occasion great annoyance to the loyal members of that body. Their leader in the House of Representatives in the Thirty-seventh Congress, was Clement L. Vallandigham,* a Representative from southern Ohio. His principal sup

* Clement L. Vallandigham was born in New Lisbon, Columbia county, Ohio, in 1822. He is of Huguenot stock, and his father was a Presbyterian clergyman. He

porters were Daniel S. Voorhees, of Indiana; George H. Pendleton, of Ohio; William A. Richardson, of Illinois; Benjamin Wood, and James E Kerrigan, of New York; Sydenham E. Ancona, and Jessie Lazear, of Pennsylvania, and Henry May, of Maryland; while Messrs. Cox, Allen, and Noble, of Ohio; Knapp, Robinson, Fouke, and Allen, of Illinois; Holman, Cravens, and Law, of Indiana, and Corning, Steele, and Vibbard, of New York, were occasionally found advocating and sympathizing with his views. The Senate had a few members of the peace party, but none of them men of high abilities. Messrs. Powell, Saulsbury, Bayard, Pearce, McDougall, and Nesmith, were the most prominent.

The efforts of Vallandigham and his associates to obstruct the action of Congress were so far successful as to cause some delay in the passage of important measures, but they were powerless to accomplish any considerable harm. At the close of the second regular session of the Thirtyseventh Congress, Vallandigham returned to Ohio, and made a political canvass of his district, in the course of which he gave utterance to treasonable doctrines. General Burnside, who was then in command of the Department of the Ohio, issued an order (No. 38) on the 13th of April, 1863, in which, after announcing that "hereafter all persons found within our lines who committed acts for the benefit of the enemies of our country, will be tried as spies or traitors, and if convicted, will suffer death," he added, "the habit of declaring sympathy for the enemy will not be allowed in this department. Persons committing such offences will be at once arrested, with a view to being tried, as above stated, or be sent beyond our lines into the lines of their friends. It must be distinctly

received a good academic education; spent one year in Jefferson College, Ohio, and two years as principal of an academy at Snow Hill, Maryland. He returned to Ohio in 1840; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1842; was elected to the State Legislature in 1845 and 1846; was editor of the Dayton Enquirer from 1847 to 1849, and for some years devoted his attention to his profession and to politics. In 1856, he was a member of the National Democratic Convention held in Cincinnati; was Democratic candidate for a seat in the Thirty-fifth Congress, against L. D. Campbell, whose seat he successfully contested; was re-elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and catechised John Brown just before his execution at Charlestown, Virginia, in hope of making capital for his party. In the Thirty-sixth Congress he attempted by every means in his power to aid the Rebels, and to obstruct the action of Congress and the Government, and during his term of service in the Thirty-seventh Congress, to which he was re-elected, he continually insisted on peace at any price. He was not re-elected to the next (Thirty-eighth) Congress, having been arrested on the fifth of May, 1863, by order of General Burnside, and tried and convicted of using treasonable language, and by order of the President sent into the Rebel lines, from whence he escaped soon after to Canada. His party procured his nomination as Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio, but he was defeated by John Brough by one hundred thousand majority. After residing some time in Canada, he escaped, and returned to Ohio, in defiance of the United States authorities, and again made treasonable speeches. He was one of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, in September, 1864, but has not been prominent since.

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