CHAPTER XXIV

Trials of the Administration in 1863—­Hostility to War Measures—­Lack of Confidence at the North—­Opposition in Congress—­How Lincoln felt about the “Fire in the Rear”—­Criticisms from Various Quarters—­Visit of “the Boston Set”—­The Government on a Tight-rope—­The Enlistment of Colored Troops—­Interview between Lincoln and Frederick Douglass—­Reverses in the Field—­Changes of Military Leaders—­From Burnside to Hooker—­Lincoln’s First Meeting with “Fighting Joe”—­The President’s Solicitude—­His Warning Letter to Hooker—­His Visit to the Rappahannock—­Hooker’s Self-confidence the “Worst Thing about Him”—­The Defeat at Chancellorsville—­The Failure of our Generals—­“Wanted, a Man.”

It is impossible, without a close study of the inner history of the war and of the acts of the administration, to conceive of the harassing and baffling difficulties which beset President Lincoln’s course in every direction, and of the jealous, narrow, and bitter opposition which his more important measures provoked.  As the struggle advanced he found in his front a solid and defiant South, behind him a divided and distrustful North.  What might be called the party of action and of extreme measures developed a sharp hostility to the President.  He would not go fast enough to suit them; they thought him disposed to compromise.  They began by criticizing his policy, and his methods of prosecuting the war; from this they passed rapidly to a criticism of the President himself.  In the affectionate admiration felt for him now, people have forgotten how weak and poor and craven they found him then.  So far had this disapproval and hostility gone, that early in 1863 we find Mr. Greeley searching everywhere for a fitting successor to Lincoln for the Presidency at the next term.  There were but few men in high official station in Washington who at that time unqualifiedly sustained him.  In the House of Representatives there were but two members who could make themselves heard, who stood actively by him.  This matter, long since forgotten, must be recalled to show clearly the President’s straits, and his action and bearing amidst his difficulties.  It should be remembered that party lines, which disappeared at the beginning of the war, were again clearly drawn; and the Democratic wing of Congress, under the leadership of Vallandigham of Ohio, actively opposed many of the necessary measures for the prosecution of the war.  The cry had already been raised in Congress, “The South cannot be subjugated”; and every fresh disaster to the national arms was hailed as proof of the assertion.