Josiah Gilbert Holland

“ Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the sword ”

“ Thousands and tens of thousands of brave men fell on both sides; but the rebel general was obliged, from day to day, to fall back from his carefully prepared defenses, to save his communications; while Grant flanked him by a series of swift and daring swoops of his gigantic force, until Lee found himself and his army in Richmond. In co-operation with these movements of Grant's army, General Butler pushed up the James River with a large force, and secured and held City Point and Bermuda Hundred. ”

“ He also declared it impossible to recede from his Emancipation Proclamation; and informed the Richmond gentlemen that Congress had passed the constitutional amendment, prohibiting slavery; stating, in addition, that the amendment would doubtless be perfected by the action of three-fourths of the states. There was an earnest desire for peace on both sides, without a doubt; but Mr. Lincoln could, with truth to himself and honor to his country, make peace only on certain essential conditions; while the hands of the commissioners were tied by the obstinacy which reigned in Richmond. ”

“ This march, one of the most remarkable in the history of war, was called by the rebels a retreat. It was begun on the twelfth of November; and, leaving behind supplies and all means of communication, the gallant host started for the Atlantic. The most frantic efforts were made by the rebels to check the progress of the redoubtable army. Small forces hovered in front, in flank, and in rear, but nothing impeded its march. ”

“ With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. ”

“ Chronicle has published an account of the conference, which is said to have been prepared under the eye of Mr. Stephens. This account states that Mr. Lincoln declared that, in his negotiations for peace, he could not recognize another government inside of the one of which he alone was President. "That," said he, "would be doing what you so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the Union armies are fighting for." ”

“ At length, he hit upon the plan of planting an immense field of potatoes; and, when they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into the field, and let them have full swing, thus saving not only the labor of feeding the hogs, but that also of digging the potatoes! Charmed with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning against the fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor came along. ”

“ Lincoln declare that there never was a time during his administration when he did not intend to appoint Mr. Chase to this place, if it should be made vacant by any cause. To all arguments which related to Mr. Chase's fitness or unfitness for the office, the President lent a ready ear; but he was exceedingly vexed with those who appealed to his selfish resentments. There were not wanting men who tried to arouse his prejudices, by reporting unpleasant words that Mr. Chase was alleged to have uttered against the President ”

“ They were discussing the slavery question, when Mr. Hunter remarked that the slaves, always accustomed to work upon compulsion, under an overseer, would, if suddenly freed, precipitate not only themselves, but the entire society at the South, into irremediable ruin. No work would be done, but blacks and whites would starve together. ”

“ The figures which gave the result of the presidential election showed that the country was stronger in men than it was at the beginning of the war; and, as the call for five hundred thousand men, made in July, had failed to produce all the soldiers which the war, much longer protracted, would require, the President issued a call, on the nineteenth of December, for three hundred thousand more. ”

“ Lincoln, who was as deeply touched as any one, promised retaliation publicly; but it was never inflicted.
Late in the spring, the western army, under Sherman, confronted Johnston at Chattanooga. The army of the Potomac, immediately under General Meade, faced Lee in Virginia. Both sides had gathered every available man for the last great trial of arms. Lieutenant-general Grant perfected his plans, and, after visiting the western army, and consulting with Sherman, he returned to the east, and took the general direction of military affairs. ”

“ Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces ”

“ Lincoln, but they had indorsed his administration. On the eleventh of March, the President issued a proclamation, in pursuance of an act of Congress, calling upon deserters to return to their posts, and promising them pardon. The proclamation called many of the wanderers back to their duty. The draft for three hundred thousand men was commenced on the fifteenth of the same month, and every necessary measure was adopted for a continuance of the war, should the constant accumulation of federal successes fail to bring the rebellion to a close. ”

“ You are vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints nor constraints upon you." General Grant's response to this note of Mr. Lincoln was evidently not given in ignorance of the charges which had so freely been made, by political enemies of the administration, that our generals were interfered with by the President and the Secretary of War. ”

“ To another friend he remarked that there were two considerations that controlled him in the appointment: first, the man appointed should be an anti-slavery man on principle; secondly, he should thoroughly understand the financial policy of the government. Mr. Chase's anti-slavery principles were universally acknowledged, and the financial policy of the government was his own. So, after a delay that gave Mr. Chase's friends and enemies time to urge the points of their respective cases, Mr. Chase received the appointment ”