Isaac N. Arnold

“ Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings till he is persuaded to write the soldier-boy that be is fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked administration of a contemptible government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. ”

“ No military enterprise recorded in history presented greater difficulties to be overcome, none the success of which was ever more fatal to an enemy, nor is there any which exhibits in a higher degree, courage, endurance, military skill, bold conception, fertility of resource, and rapidity of execution, than that which triumphed in the fall of Vicksburg. ”

“ It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people. and to vouchsafe to the army and the navy of the United States, victories on the land and on the sea, so signal and so effective, as to furnish reasonable ground for augmented confidence that the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But these victories have been accorded not without sacrifice of life, limb, health, and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal, and patriotic citizens. ”

“ Lincoln uttered the convictions, the sentiments, and the unwavering determination of a vast majority of the people of the West, when he declared that the "portion of the earth's surface called the United States is adapted to be the home of one national family, and not for two or more."
Lincoln had come to be recognized as not only the leading mind of the Mississippi Valley, but of the republic, and he declared with authority that there could be "no peace except on the basis of national unity." ”

“ In these principles the President, as a lawyer, had been educated, and he was slow and reluctant to assume the exercise of the vast and novel and ill-defined powers growing out of insurrection and war. Imperative necessity forced him to the exercise of such powers. The rebels, and those who sympathized with them, claimed all the rights of citizens. They claimed that even while waging war against the Constitution, they should enjoy all the rights of citizenship under it; that while they made war on the government, they could claim its protection as citizens. ”

“ To the indomitable will, energy, and activity of Grant, striking the enemy in detail, beating him in every field, giving him no time for concentration, the country is indebted for these wonderful successes, not surpassed by any other achievements in military history. ”

“ He seemed so absorbed in honoring the "heroic sacrifices" of the soldiers, as utterly to forget himself, but all his hearers realized that the great actor in the drama stood before them, and that the words he was speaking would live as long as the language; that they were words which would be recalled in all future ages, among all peoples; as often as men should be called upon to die for liberty and country. ”

“ As part of one nation, its people may find, and may forever find their way to Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco. But separate our common country into two nations, as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations. ”

“ That was the birthday of the United States of America." He then alluded to the other extraordinary events in American history which had occurred on the 4th of July--the death of Jefferson and Adams on that day, and said: "And now at this last 4th of July just passed, we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which, is an effort to overthrow the principle that all men are created equal. We have the surrender of a most important position and an army on that very day." ”

“ Before two o'clock the next morning, May 1, 1863, the enemy was encountered, and the battle of Port Gibson was fought, the first of the series of battles and victories resulting in the investment and capture of Vicksburg. The attitude of Grant was certainly a bold one. He was in the enemy's country, a fortified city above him, a fortified city below him, a large army gathering under Johnston to assail him and relieve Vicksburg, with another large army to protect and garrison its fortifications. Celerity was of the highest importance. No better troops ever met an enemy than those he commanded ”

“ The Union army was so compact, that troops could be readily removed from either wing to the other, or to the center, as they might be needed. General Meade had his headquarters on the ridge, in the rear of the cemetery, and more than one hundred guns bristled along the crest of these hills fronting the enemy, and were confronted by one hundred and fifty guns of the rebels. An effort was made to induce Meade to assume the offensive and attack on Thursday morning, pouring his whole army on the rebel center, and smashing through, dividing it into two parts ”

“ Those safeguards of liberty: freedom of the press, liberty of speech, personal security protected by the writ of habeas corpus, an independent judiciary, a speedy and fair trial by jury, the old, time-honored principles of the common law that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property but by due and impartial process of law and judgment of his peers ”

“ When Congress convened, in December, 1862, the President communicated the fact of his proclamation of the 22d of September. The absolute necessity of national union was never presented in a more statesmanlike manner than in this message. He says:
"A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain duration. ”

“ It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom ”

“ The President of the United States announces to the country, that the news from the army of the Potomac, up to 10 o'clock P.M. of the 3d, is such as to cover the army with the highest honor--to promise great success to the cause of the Union--and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen ”

“ It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United States, certainly more than one million square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than seventy-five million people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of the republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it, the magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, being the deepest, and also the richest in undeveloped resources. ”

“ Domestic affliction, in every part of the country, follows in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of His hand, equally in these triumphs and these sorrows. ”

“ The lull had continued until nearly 1 P.M. Meade, Howard, and other leaders were watching for the attack, when at one o'clock, the thunder of a hundred heavy guns burst upon the position. It was held by the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps. The storm came suddenly. Soldiers and officers worn with battle and seeking rest were scattered upon the grass. Many were struck as they lay; some died with cigars in their mouths; some at their dinners on the crest of the hill, and some with letters and photographs of friends in their hands ”

“ No voice was so potent as his, either in Congress or elsewhere, to create and guide public opinion. His administration was continually assailed by the democratic party, and criticised, often with asperity and injustice, by the leading members of his own party. The great leaders of the press were fault-finding, unjust, and often unfriendly. ”

“ There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary, upon which to divide. Trace through, from East to West, upon the line between the free and slave country, and we shall find a little more than one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated thickly upon both sides ”

“ The crews of the frail Mississippi steamers used as transports, conscious of the hazardous service, with one exception refused to go. Volunteers were called for by General Grant, and no sooner was the call made, than from the noble army of the West, pilots, engineers, firemen, and deck-hands offered themselves for the dangerous adventure in such numbers, that it became necessary to select those needed from the crowd of volunteers by lot. ”

“ In these papers there is exhibited that clear, simple statement and argument, by which Mr. Lincoln always made himself perfectly understood by the mass of the people, and by which he rarely failed to carry conviction. ”

“ In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most important in the world. Ascertain from statistics the small proportion of the region which has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the prospect presented. ”

“ The great interior region, bounded east by the Alleghenies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten million people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not prevented by any political folly or mistake. ”

“ They crossed the Emmettsburg road, and approached the masses of infantry. General Gibbon, then in command of the Second Corps, walked along his line bare-headed, shouting: "Hold your fire, boys, they are not near enough yet." Still they came on, and with fixed bayonets swept up to the rifle pits. "Now fire!" thundered Gibbon. A blaze of death all along the line of the Second Corps followed; down fell the rebels, but the survivors did not yet falter ”

“ Clouds of smoke enveloped the gunboats, and then the transports, putting on full steam, plunged down the river. The batteries were passed in an hour and a quarter; and although some of the transports were injured and one set on fire, no person on either of them was killed; and General Grant immediately prepared and sent the remaining transports. Meanwhile, the army marched around and struck the river below Vicksburg, nearly opposite Grand Gulf. This was a strong position on the east bank of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Big Black. ”

“ Its vast extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are of advantage, in this age, for one people, whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence, have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united people... ”

“ The army has fought well heretofore; it is believed it will fight more desperately and bravely than ever."
On Wednesday, General Reynolds of the First Corps, marching directly through the town of Gettysburg, came unexpectedly upon the enemy. The heroic General Wadsworth, who had left his princely estate on the banks of the Genessee, in Western New York, to offer himself as a volunteer for liberty and union, led the advance, the division of General Doubleday, one of the subordinates of Anderson at Fort Sumter, followed and formed on the left, with Robinson on the right. ”

“ All but the dead sought shelter. For an hour and a half, this terrible concentrated fire on Cemetery Hill was continued, and was replied to with equal vigor by the batteries on the ridge and range of hills. After the cannonade had continued about three hours, General Howard slackened his fire to allow his guns to cool. It was supposed by the enemy that our batteries were silenced, and that the time for an irresistible charge had come. The divisions of Virginians under General Picket led the advance, supported by large bodies of other troops. ”

“ Lee had ordered a general attack by Longstreet on the Union left and center, to be followed by Hill. While preparations were being made in the rebel army for this movement, Sickles sent Berdan's regiment of sharp-shooters into the woods in his front, and they, advancing a mile, descried the gray-backs moving large masses to turn the Union left. Longstreet was bringing his whole corps, nearly a third of the slaveholder's army, to precipitate it upon the Union left. ”

“ On the 2nd of February, 1863, Grant arrived in the vicinity of Vicksburg, and assumed command. After various fruitless expedients, in April, he finally resolved to send his army by land from Milliken's Bend to a point below Vicksburg, and to run his transports and gunboats past and below the menacing batteries of that city. A large fleet of ironclad gunboats and transports were prepared, protected as far as possible by cotton bales, hay, railroad iron, timber, and chains. ”