Part 20 (1/2)

The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders

I much fear that the spirit you have ai their co confidence from him, will now turn upon you I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down

Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it And noare of rashness Beware of rashness, but, with energy and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories

Yours, very truly, A LINCOLN”

The first effect of this letter was to subdue the fractious spirit of the fighter He said, ”That is just such a letter as a father h I think he was harder on me than I deserved, I will say that I love the man rote it”

But later his conceit took possession of hi to Noah Brooks he said to some friends: ”I suppose you have seen this letter or a copy of it?” They had ”After I have been to Richmond I shall have the letter published in the newspapers It will be aood-natured view of it and only said, ”Poor Hooker! I aible”

It was in January, 1863, that Hooker took command of the arn, and Lincoln went down to see the review It was indeed a ht But it was noticed by many that Lincoln's face had not the joyous radiancy of hope which it had forard It was plain that he did not share his general's easy confidence He could not forget that he had nificent before battle, and shattered after battle He spent a week there, talking with the generals, shaking hands with ”the boys” Many a private soldier of that day carries to this day as a sacred memory the earnest sound of the President's voice, ”God bless you!”

Then ca consequences When the news ca eyes, could only exclaim: ”My God, my God! ill the country say?”

The next we hear of Hooker, he had not entered Rich the President's fatherly letter He was chasing Lee in a northerly direction,--towards Philadelphia or New York He beca and suned It was not, for the country, an opportune tienerals, but perhaps it was as well It certainly shows that while Lincoln took hied, and bore with hinosis of Hooker's foibles was correct, and his fears, not his hopes, were realized

He was succeeded by George C Meade, ”four-eyed George,” as he was playfully called by his loyal soldiers, in allusion to his eyeglasses

It was only a few days later that the great battle of Gettysburg was fought under Meade, and a brilliant victory was achieved But here, as at Antietam, the triumph was bitterly marred by the disappointment that followed The victorious aret away The excuses were about the same as at Antietam,--the troops were tired Of course they were tired But it may be assumed that the defeated army was also tired It surely makes one army quite as tired to suffer defeat as it olden opportunity to destroy Lee's arh for one e if the three days' battle had left hi The fact remains that he did not pursue and annihilate the defeated army They were permitted to recross the Potomac without molestation, to reenter what anize, rest, reequip, and in due time to reappear as for was not the man destined to crush the rebellion

Here were three allant soldiers But not one of thee an ar most needed,--capture Richmond

The future hero had not yet won the attention of the country

In the meantime affairs were very dark for the ad darker and darker Some splendid military success had been accoue term even to this day, and it has always seemed so remote from the capital, especially as coinia where the Confederate arht of the capital, that these western victories did not have as much influence as they should have had

And there were signal reverses in the West, too Both Louisville and Cincinnati were seriously threatened, and the battle of Chickah it was shortly redeea But the attention of the country was necessarily focussed chiefly on the liton and Rich permanent or decisive had been accomplished in the period of more than two years, and it is sard in appearance

He did what he could He had thus far held the divided North, and prevented a European alliance with the Confederates He now used, one by one, the most extreme measures He suspended the writ of _habeas corpus_, declared or authorized martial law, authorized the confiscation of the property of those ere providing aid and comfort for the enemy, called for troops by conscription when volunteers ceased, and enlisted negro troops Any person who studies the character of Abraham Lincoln will realize that these reat reluctance He was not a htly take up such means They meant that the country was pressed, hard pressed They were extreht They were as necessities

But what Lincoln looked for, longed for, was the reat Army of the Potomac He had not yet been discovered

CHAPTER xxxIII

NEW HOPES

The outlook fro the first half of the year 1863 was as discouraging as could well be borne There had been no real advance since the beginning of the war Young one into the are numbers of these, the flower of the northern youth, had been slain or wounded, and far larger nuinia There was still no progress Washi+ngton had been defended, but there was hardly a day when the Confederates were not withindistance of the capital

After the bloody disaster at Chancellorsville rew even worse

Lee first defeated Hooker in battle and then he out-maneuvered him He cleverly eluded hi on, he was on his ith eighty thousand men, towards Philadelphia and had nearly a week's start of the Union arht that if they could carry the war into the northern states they would fight to better advantage Jeff Davis had threatened the torch, but it is not likely that such subordinates as General Lee shared his destructive and barbarous anificent army, and its presence in Pennsylvania was fitted to inspire terror It was also fitted to rouse the martial spirit of the northern soldiers, as afterwards appeared

As soon as the situation was known, Hooker started in hot pursuit

After he had crossed the Poto north, he made certain requests of the War Departry at the refusal, pronation Whether his requests were reasonable is one question; whether it was patriotic in hireat and decisive battle is another question But his resignation was accepted and Meade was appointed to the command He accepted the responsibility with a modest and soldierly spirit and quit himself like a man It is one of the rare cases in all history in which an arenerals without disaster That is surely highly to the credit of General Meade Lee's objective point was not known Heor Philadelphia, or both He would probably desire to cut off all co to do was to overtake him and force a battle He hiive battle but fight only on the defensive Curiously enough, Meade also decided not to attack, but to fight on the defensive Nevertheless, ”the best laid scheley”