The bottom was out of the conspiracy; but the leaders at New York were slow to yield.  Despite the New England secession, they thought the Democratic platform, on which McClellan had been invited to stand as candidate for the Presidency, gave them another chance, especially the famous resolution: 

“That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity, or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and the public liberty and the private right alike trodden down and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States.”

Some of the outlying conspirators also suffered a revival of hope.  The Cincinnati Gazette came out flat foot for the withdrawal of Lincoln.(13) So did The Cincinnati Times, pressing hard for the new convention.(14) On the second of September, three New York editors, Greeley for The Tribune, Parke Godwin for The Post, and Tilton for The Independent, were busily concocting a circular letter to Governors of the States with a view to saving the conspiracy.(15)

But other men were at work in a different fashion, that same day.  Lincoln’s cause had been wrecked so frequently by his generals that whenever a general advanced, the event seems boldly dramatic.  While the politicians at New York and Chicago thought they were loading the scales of fate, long lines of men in blue were moving through broken woodland and over neglected fields against the gray legions defending Atlanta.  Said General Hood, it was “evident that General Sherman was moving with his main body to destroy the Macon road, and that the fate of Atlanta depended on our ability to defeat this movement.”  During the fateful pow-pow at the house of Dudley Field, Sherman’s army like a colossal scythe was swinging round Atlanta, from the west and south, across Flint River, through the vital railway, on toward the city.  On the second of September, the news that Atlanta was taken “electrified the people of the North."(16)

The first thought of every political faction, when, on the third, the newspapers were ringing with this great news, was either how to capitalize it for themselves, or how to forestall its capitalization by some one else.  Forbes “dashed off” a letter to Andrew urging an immediate demonstration for Lincoln.(17) He was sure the Raymond group would somehow try to use the victory as a basis for recovering their leadership.  Davis was eager to issue the “call” at once.(18) But his fellows hesitated.  And while