Lincoln finally finds “his general” in March 1864, when he names Ulysses S. Grant as the sixth Commanding General of all US forces. Unlike some of his predecessors, Lincoln says that “Grant fights,” and that he is determined to end the war quickly by destroying Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
“Fourscore and seven years ago, a new nation was…conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In these words, Lincoln announces that the time has come to resolve the house-dividing issue of slavery in favor of the principle that all men – white or black – deserve freedom and equality as a birthright in America. The founding fathers aspired to this noble idea in 1787, but failed to write it into the Constitution. A new set of Amendments will now be needed to rectify this error. As Lloyd Garrison declares, “that which is not just is not law.”
On November 19, 1863, arrives in Gettysburg to dedicate a cemetery just east of the “copse of trees” that Lee centered on during his final rush at the Union center. The 277 words he speaks that day in his Gettysburg Address will immortalize the President.
Still the news coming into Lincoln leaves him frustrated as Commander-In-Chief and the nation impatient for the war to end. In December 1864 he beats back a political challenge from his old army commander, George McClellan, who runs as a “peace Democrat.” His second inaugural address again seeks conciliation with the South : “with malice toward none, with charity for all…let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds… and achieve…lasting peace among ourselves….”
On April 4, just five days before Lee officially surrender his army, Lincoln and his son Tad visit the fallen Confederate capital of Richmond, where he is greeted enthusiastically by
former slaves, visits the headquarters office of Jefferson Davis, and instructs his military men to “let ‘em up easy” when dealing with their former enemies.
Photography Book
Abraham Lincoln
Together with General William Sherman, Grant proceeds to chase Lee’s army back toward Richmond, before finally forcing a surrender on April 9, 1965 at Appomattox Court House. To the end, Lee remains the beloved “Marse Robert” to his troops and a dignified and respected warrior to his Union adversaries, including Grant.