States that had remained loyal to the Union to advise their fellow citizens to sell their slaves, on condition that the Federal Government pay $300 apiece for them. But this request was not heeded.1

Most of the blacks remained at home with their masters' families during the war, and worked for and protected them. Nevertheless, large crowds of dissatisfied slaves escaped into the Union lines. Had the Northern generals ordered them to return home, they would have been used in raising food crops for the Confederates. It seemed best, therefore, to declare them to be "contraband " of war — like food and other supplies intended for the enemy. Large numbers of these so-called contrabands were set to work for the Union army. This was the first step toward freeing the slaves.

A second step was not long in coming. The President and other thoughtful Northern statesmen realized that slavery had been the real cause of this terrible quarrel between the North and the South. They said that some time it surely must be abolished, or the two sections could never again live together happily. That "some time" was hastened by the discontent that had arisen in Europe because the Union blockade prevented Southern cotton from reaching the mills of England and France. Something must be done to keep these countries from helping the Confederacy. If the Union should favor the abolition of slavery in America, the common people of Europe, most of whom detested human bondage, would not allow their governments to assist the slaveholders.

At that time there was nothing in the Constitution of the United States forbidding men to own slaves. In times of peace neither the President nor Congress has any authority to take away a man's property without paying him for it. Yet if the Federal Government freed the slaves it would

1 In April, 1862, acting on his advice, Congress agreed to a money compensation, and paid a million dollars to slave owners in the District of Columbia and the Territories. 2 Later, negro regiments were enlisted, to serve in the army of the North.

be the same thing as unlawfully confiscating millions of dollars worth of private property.

However, the President is also commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the nation. In times of grave public danger that officer has to be given great powers. Lincoln decided that it was "a fit and necessary war measure" to set all the slaves in the South free. Acting as commander-in-chief, and not as President, he startled the world by issuing in September, 1862, an Emancipation Proclamation.1 Its intent was to destroy the property of the enemy and thus to cripple the Confederacy, which depended so largely on slave labor. This famous document declared that on the following New Year's Day," all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate States "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Negroes running away from their Southern masters were now sure of protection within the lines of the Union army. As fast as Confederate territory was captured by the Federal troops, all of its negroes at once became "freedmen." 2

The proclamation had the effect on Europe that had been expected. It created among the common people of the Old World a strong sympathy for the Union. No longer was there any talk there of helping the slaveholding Confederacy. In the North emancipation was everywhere welcomed with tremendous enthusiasm. Thenceforth the people of that section looked on the war as a gigantic crusade against human bondage in America. This high moral purpose gave new strength to the soldiers of the North.

1 The original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, in President Lincoln's own hand, was presented by him to the Northwestern Sanitary Fair, held at Chicago in October, 1863, for the benefit of the sick and needy soldiers. Later, this priceless paper came into possession of the Chicago Historical Society, and was burned in the great Chicago fire in 1871. The official copy of the Proclamation, that was actually signed by the President, ready for publishing, is now owned by the New York State Department of Education at Albany.

2 The proclamation did not apply to the Border States, whose slaveholders kept their blacks until either the States themselves or the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished the system.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

1. On an outline map note and fill in from day to day the places mentioned in the text relating to the campaign in the West; in the East. 2. Prove that Lincoln was right in the Mason and Slidell affair. What kind of courage did he show in making his decision? Mention other instances in our history of similar courage on the part of public men. 3. Fill in the following outlines:

4. Which section, the North or the South, suffered the most from the war? Why do you think so?

5. In his first inaugural address Lincoln said, "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Why, then, did he issue the Emancipation Proclamation? By what right did he do it?

6. Make an outline of the chapter.

COMPOSITION SUBJECTS

1. After the battle of Bull Run a Northern soldier wrote a letter home giving an account of the battle and expressing a sincere admiration for the training and courage of the Southern soldier. Write such a letter. 2. Write an editorial that an anti-slavery man of the North might have written to a newspaper after the Emancipation Proclamation; also one that a slave owner might have written.

3. A man from the roof of a building near the shore of Hampton Roads saw the duel between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Write the letter he might have written describing the scene.

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1863 AND 1864; THE CONFEDERACY IS SPLIT IN TWO

337. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. During the winter of 1862-63 Lee remained in Fredericksburg. To the north of him was encamped the Union Army of the Potomac, which was now commanded by General Hooker, a daring officer whom his men proudly called "Fighting Joe Hooker."

In the spring of 1863 Hooker advanced southward to meet the enemy. He crossed the Rappahannock River above Fredericksburg, but met defeat in the great battle of Chancellorsville (May 1-5), and was obliged to return to the north bank of the river. Although the victory was with the Confederates, they suffered a very severe loss in the death

of "Stonewall" Jackson, who was one of the best of Lee's generals.

Lee was encouraged by this success over Hooker's army, and a month after the engagement at Chancellorsville he set out to invade the North. Crossing the Potomac River with 75,000 men, Lee pushed past the Army of the Potomac and hoped to reach Philadelphia by way of Harrisburg. In his path, however, lay the little Pennsylvania village of Gettysburg which controlled the roads between him and his supplies on the Potomac. Here he was confronted by General Meade, who had succeeded Hooker as the leader of the Army of the Potomac. A three days' battle followed (July 1-3), to decide whether Lee or Meade should occupy Gettysburg.

Both Northern and Southern armies were then composed of well-equipped and finely trained and experienced soldiers. The fighting was probably the most severe - it certainly was the most deadly of the entire war. It reached its climax at noon of the last day. Fifteen thousand Confederates under General Pickett formed in the shape of an enormous wedge. With a mighty rush they swept across a mile of open space and sought to dislodge from an opposite hill a great body of Union troops headed by General Hancock. The charging mass of gallant men in gray was torn by round after round of artillery fire, and by repeated rifle-volleys. Pickett's ranks quickly melted under this terrible onslaught. Nevertheless many Confederates reached the hill, some of them even forcing their way through the Union lines. But from the fierce hand-to-hand struggle which followed few emerged alive, and most of them became prisoners to the Union army which had so stubbornly held its ground.1

The South had gone into the battle of Gettysburg with the fullest hopes of victory. Her prospect for success had never been quite so bright as on the morning of July 1; the tide of the Confederacy was then at its height. But on

1 The Union loss in the three days' fighting was about 23,000; the Confederate, about 28,000.