A year too late. If only you had gone for the kill in 1864 instead of kidnapping.
*******************************
The
1864 re-election of Lincoln “was closer than either the popular or
electoral votes” indicated, and without the soldier vote in six crucial
States, Lincoln would have lost to George B. McClellan. The slim
margins of Republican victory in most States “were probably due largely
to the presence of soldiers as guards and as voters at the polls,” and
had Illinois, Indiana Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York’s
votes gone to McClellan, “he would have had a majority in the electoral
college despite Lincoln’s popular plurality.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Bayonets Secure the Ballot Box in 1864
“Throughout
the summer [of 1864] the Union prospects were in a decline. Grant’s
armies, despite repeated reinforcements, made no headway, and the
casualty lists from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor mounted alarmingly.
Sherman, maneuvering in the mountains of Georgia, seemed totally
useless. July and August saw Republican hopes at rock bottom.
Early
in July…..The [Republican] Pennsylvania Governor [Curtin] was “down on
things generally,” and on the War Department in particular. Already
Curtin had told Lincoln that he would not consider himself responsible
for raising troops or for carrying elections. Pennsylvania was 80,000
men behind [its quota] in troops and the Governor believed the draft
would meet general opposition from Republicans as well as from
Democrats.
At
the same time [Massachusetts Governor] John Andrew was disgusted with
the situation and was hoping to find some means of getting both Lincoln
and [John] Fremont to withdraw in favor of a third [Republican]
candidate. The consensus seemed to be that the war languished and
Lincoln would not or could not bring peace. War-weariness and a desire
for peace was everywhere.
[New
York Times editor Henry J.] Raymond asked [Simon] Cameron’s advice….let
Lincoln propose to Jeff Davis that both sides disband their armies and
stop the war “on the basis of recognizing the supremacy of the
constitution” and refer all disputed questions to a convention of all
the States! Raymond went to Washington to lay the proposal before the
President, but Lincoln did not accept it.
Sherman’s
victory before Atlanta reinvigorated the Republican campaign. The
President wrote to Sherman to let Indiana’s soldiers, “or any part of
them, go home to vote at the State election.” This was, Lincoln
explained, in no sense an order. Sherman understood that it was a
command. He sent soldiers home, and on election day in October the
soldiers gathered at the Indiana polls. The Nineteenth Regiment of
Vermont Volunteers voted in Indiana that day, but many a Democrat found
his vote challenged. When the votes were counted, [Republican Governor
Oliver P.] Morton had been elected by a majority of 22,000.
On
that same day the need for Lincoln’s aid was illustrated in
Pennsylvania. There it was thought not necessary to send the soldiers
home. [Governor] Curtin….determined to appoint some Democratic
commissioners to collect the soldiers’ votes. As the commissioners
passed through Washington, however, the Democrats among them
disappeared, under [Secretary of War Edwin M.] Stanton’s orders, into
the Old Capitol Prison.
Lincoln
conferred with Cameron and [Alexander] McClure and asked [Generals]
Meade and Sherman to send 5,000 men to Pennsylvania for the November
election. The generals sent 10,000, and Lincoln carried the State by
nearly a 6,000 majority, while the soldiers in the field added 14,000
more.
[Illinois
Governor Richard Yates] appealed to Lincoln to send troops to vote. It
was essential to elect a [Republican] State Senate, three congressional
districts depended on the soldiers, and even the Presidential and the
State tickets were unsafe without the uniformed voters. Defeat [for the
Republicans] in Illinois, added the Governor, would be worse than
defeat in the field. Under such pleas the soldiers came, and Lincoln
carried his home State by 189,496 to McClellan’s 158,730.
[Many]
soldiers voted Democratic in their camps only to have their votes
switched in the post offices. Without the soldiers New York would have
remained in the Democratic column. Maryland’s vote was clearly the
product of federal bayonets. Ohio was safe for Lincoln, and the election
clerks at home merely guessed at the distribution of the army’s vote.”
(Lincoln and the War Governors, William B. Hesseltine, Alfred A. Knopf, 1955, pp. 376-382)
This just shows that stealing an election was not invented in the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteIt's like it says in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun".
History just keeps repeating itself in cycles.
Bob
III
"There is nothing new under the sun".
DeleteGood point.
Learned something new - again.....
ReplyDeleteEveryday until we die.:)
Delete