peoples; as often as men should be called upon to die for liberty and country.

Thus were the immortal deeds of the dead commemorated in immortal words. There have been four instances in history in which great deeds have been celebrated in words as immortal as themselves; the well-known epitaph upon the Spartans who perished at Thermopylae, the words of Demosthenes on those who fell at Marathon, the speech of Webster in memory of those who died at Bunker Hill, and these words of Lincoln in honor of those who laid down their lives on the field of Gettysburg.

As he closed, and the tears, and sobs, and cheers which expressed the emotions of the people subsided, he turned to Everett, and grasping his hand, said: "I congratulate you on your success." The orator gracefully replied: “Ah, Mr. President, how gladly would I exchange all my hundred pages to have been the author of your twenty lines." 1

1. The author is indebted to Governor Dennison, the Postmaster General and an eye-witness, for some of the incidents detailed in the text.

CHAPTER XIX.

AFTER GETTYSBURG.

EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE. LEE CROSSES THE POTOMAC.-CHICKAMAUGA.- LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AND MISSIONARY RIDGE. THE DRAFT RIOT IN NEW YORK. MEETING AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER TO HIS OLD FRIENDS.

THE battle of Gettysburg, and the capture of Vicksburg, were in their results more decisive than any which had preceded them. The army of Lee, naturally elated by their brilliant victory at Chancellorsville, had invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, with the most sanguine hopes of success, and with the determination to carry the war into the free states. They boasted that they would water their horses in the Susquehannah and the Delaware. The rich grain fields, the stock farms, and big barns of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, should furnish them with abundant supplies. The vast stores and the wealth of the great Northern cities were passing vividly before the gloating imaginations of these soldiers. The savage threats made by Jefferson Davis, on his way to Montgomery to assume the presidency, when he said: "We will carry the war where it is easy to advance; where food for the sword and the torch wait our army in the densely populated cities," were now, they believed, to be realized. But this arrogant host, proud and elated with their successes, were met on the rocky hills of Gettysburg, and hurled back, never again in force to cross the border.

By the brilliant capture of Vicksburg the rebel territory was severed, and the "great Father of Waters, went unvexed

1. Greeley's Conflict, Vol. 1, p. 415.

to the sea." No rebel flag was again to float over the majestic stream. The rebel power west of the great river was broken, never to be re-established. Before the end of 1863, fully one hundred thousand negroes, emancipated slaves, were in the military service of the United States. 1

Lincoln entertained sanguine hopes that Lee's army would never be permitted to recross the Potomac, and its destruction, he believed, would bring the war to a close. It seems to have been quite within the power of General Meade to annihilate the enemy that he had so signally defeated at Gettysburg. He had a much larger force, and abundant supplies. Lee's three days fight had nearly exhausted his ammunition, and when he reached the Potomac he had the swollen waters of that river in his front, with no means of crossing his artillery, and another defeat must have caused the surrender of his whole army. But Meade allowed him to collect lumber from canal boats and ruined wooden houses, to construct a bridge and cross the river. On the 14th of July, Meade telegraphed to Halleck: "The enemy are all across the Potomac." It would seem as though Meade thought his duty was performed when he drove the enemy back to Virginia, forgetting that Virginia was as much a part of the republic as Pennsylvania. He displayed so little enterprise that Lee thought it safe to send Longstreet to Tennessee, to the aid of Bragg against Rose

crans.

On September 19th and 20th, was fought the battle of Chickamauga, in which the gallant Thomas, commanding the center of Rosecrans's army, firmly withstood and beat back the rebels under Bragg. He did this after the rebels had turned the Union right, and Rosecrans had been driven from the field. Thomas, the loyal Virginian, by his heroism and good conduct on this occasion saved the army, and acquired the name of the "Rock of Chickamauga.' Garfield, chief of staff of Rosecrans, especially distinguished himself in this battle.

1. President's Message, December 8th, 1863.

On the 19th of October, General Grant arrived at Louisville, and assumed command of the military division of the Mississippi, into which the departments of the Ohio and the Cumberland were now merged. This brought unity of action into this important field. Rosecrans was relieved, and Thomas became commander of the army of the Cumberland.

When Thomas retired to Chattanooga, after the battle of Chickamauga, the rebels advanced and occupied the passes and heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and prepared to invest Chattanooga. Longstreet had been sent to drive Burnside out of East Tennessee. In the meanwhile, Hooker had been dispatched from the East to the West with fifteen thousand men.

Grant reached Thomas on the 22d of October, and the next morning made a reconnoissance with a view of driving the enemy out of the overlooking mountains, and regaining the use of the Tennessee River, to bring to his army much needed supplies. He had ordered Sherman and his corps to join him at Chattanooga. Grant never had better lieutenants than the gallant officers who now surrounded him. Sherman, sagacious and rapid; Thomas, ever reliable, the hero of Chickamauga; Sheridan, the impetuous and indefatigable, and Hooker, who, while not equal to the command of a great army, was well able to lead a division or army corps; and now, with these and their gallant associates, and an army hardy and well disciplined, Grant determined to storm and carry the heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

It was a bold and difficult undertaking. Sherman's forces crossed the Tennessee, and, on the 24th of November, gained possession of the north end of Missionary Ridge. Thomas attacked in the center, and drove the enemy back to the hills. Hooker pushed round Lookout Mountain, and drove the enemy up its western slope, capturing their rifle pits, and following them with impetuous ardor through the forests and up the sides of the mountain,

until he reached the summit, above the smoke and vapor of the hills, and then the spectators from the valley beheld the dramatic spectacle of Hooker's battle-flags waving in triumph from the top of the mountain and above the clouds. The next day, the army of the Cumberland assailed the field works at the foot of Missionary Ridge, captured them at the point of the bayonet, and then pressed bravely up the ridge and captured the summit; while Sherman and Hooker pressed the enemy so vigorously, that long before the day was spent, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge were in possession of the Union troops, and Bragg was in rapid retreat. Many prisoners and guns were captured. Thomas pursued Bragg, fought him again at Ringgold, and drove him to Tunnel Hill, twenty miles from Chatta

nooga.

Meanwhile, Burnside was at Knoxville, confronted by Longstreet, and Sherman was sent by forced marches to his relief. His approach sent Longstreet retreating back to Virginia, and thus closed in triumph the campaign in Tennessee. The relief of Western Tennessee, where, among the mountains, attachment to the Union had been general and strong, and where, in the absence of national protection, the loyal people had been most cruelly persecuted, was very grateful to the President. He issued a proclamation appointing a day of thanksgiving and gratitude to God for this signal triumph of the national

cause.

It will be remembered that on the 3d of March, 1863, a law was passed for the enrollment of the entire military force of the United States. The enrollment having been completed, in June a draft for three hundred thousand men was ordered. Time was, however, given to each state to fill up its quota, and thus prevent a resort to drafting. While there was in the loyal states a considerable party opposed to the war, and many who openly or secretly opposed volunteering to fill up the ranks of the army, the great majority