Lincoln, the unknown

164 •LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNSpeaking of the Union, he said:"We shall nobly save or meanly loseThe last, best hope of earth."On New Year's Day, 1863, Lincoln spent hours shakinghands with the visitors that thronged the White House. In themiddle of that afternoon, he retired to his office, dipped hispen in the ink, and prepared to sign his proclamation of freedom.Hesitating, he turned to Seward and said: "If slavery isn'twrong, nothing is wrong, and I have never felt more certain inmy life that I was doing right. But I have been receiving callsand shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning, and my armis stiff and numb. Now this signature is one that will be closelyexamined, and if they find my hand trembled, they will say,'He had some compunctions.' "He rested his arm a moment, then slowly signed the document,and gave freedom to three and a half million slaves.The proclamation did not meet with popular approval then."The only effect of it," wrote Orville H. Browning, one of Lincoln'sclosest friends and strongest supporters, "was to uniteand exasperate the South and divide and distract us in theNorth."A mutiny broke out in the army. Men who had enlisted tosave the Union swore that they wouldn't stand up and be shotdown to free niggers and make them their social equals. Thousandsof soldiers deserted, and recruiting fell off everywhere.The plain people upon whom Lincoln had depended for supportfailed him utterly. The autumn elections went overwhelminglyagainst him. Even his home state of Illinois repudiated theRepublican party.And quickly, on top of the defeat at the polls, came one ofthe most disastrous reverses of the war—Burnside's foolhardyattack on Lee at Fredericksburg and the loss of thirteen thousandmen. A stupid and futile butchery. This sort of thing hadbeen going on for eighteen months now. Was it never going tostop? The nation was appalled. People were driven to despair.The President was violently denounced everywhere. He hadfailed. His general had failed. His policies had failed. Peoplewouldn't put up with this any longer. Even the Republicanmembers of the Senate revolted; and, wanting to force Lincolnout of the White House, they called upon him, demanding thathe change his policies and dismiss his entire Cabinet.