Lincoln, the unknown

18Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand men, andthrew the country into a frenzy of patriotic fervor. Mass-meetingswere held in thousands of halls and public squares, bandsplayed, flags waved, orators harangued, fireworks were set off;and men, leaving the plow and the pencil, flocked to the flag.In ten weeks, a hundred and ninety thousand recruits weredrilling and marching and singing:"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,But his soul goes marching on."But who was to lead these troops to victory? There was onerecognized military genius in the army then—and only one.His name was Robert E. Lee. He was a Southerner; but, nevertheless,Lincoln offered him the command of the Union Army.If Lee had accepted, the whole history of the war would havebeen vastly different. For a time he did think seriously of accepting:thought about it, read his Bible, and got down on hisknees and prayed about it, and paced the floor of his bedchamberall night, trying honestly to come to a righteousdecision.He agreed with Lincoln on many things. He hated slavery asLincoln hated it; Lee had freed his own negroes long ago. Heloved the Union almost as Lincoln loved it; he believed that itwas "perpetual," that secession was "revolution," that "nogreater calamity" could befall the nation.129