Forum Host- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
Diary of Sgt. Collis, 21st Mass.:
"Prison at Florence, Tuesday, November 8th. Presidential election. The rebs said that we could vote on Lincoln and prospects of war, McClellan and peace. Stump speakers went at it, most of them being Radical Lincoln men; and about three o'clock in the afternoon the rebs brought in two bags of beans (black and white) and a ballot box. Every man could vote. At five the polls closed and votes counted. The black beans (for Lincoln) came out ahead four to one, much to the surprise of the rebs.[The previous Sunday] "a rebel clergyman came in and preached to us: he said that our present condition was a punishment from God for our wickedness. Our fellows told him to go to H*ll, and left him." (quoted in Walcott, History of the 21st Regiment, p. 395)
Many states issued, for the first time in history, absentee Presidential election ballots for soldiers in the field. This was authorized by Congress, but left up to the individual states whether or not to organize it. As it turned out, only those states where the outcome was in some doubt allowed soldiers' voting. If the election was a foregone conclusion for one or the other party (eg, Mass. for Lincoln, N.J. for McClellan), the men did not get the opportunity to vote.
jno
"Prison at Florence, Tuesday, November 8th. Presidential election. The rebs said that we could vote on Lincoln and prospects of war, McClellan and peace. Stump speakers went at it, most of them being Radical Lincoln men; and about three o'clock in the afternoon the rebs brought in two bags of beans (black and white) and a ballot box. Every man could vote. At five the polls closed and votes counted. The black beans (for Lincoln) came out ahead four to one, much to the surprise of the rebs.[The previous Sunday] "a rebel clergyman came in and preached to us: he said that our present condition was a punishment from God for our wickedness. Our fellows told him to go to H*ll, and left him." (quoted in Walcott, History of the 21st Regiment, p. 395)
Many states issued, for the first time in history, absentee Presidential election ballots for soldiers in the field. This was authorized by Congress, but left up to the individual states whether or not to organize it. As it turned out, only those states where the outcome was in some doubt allowed soldiers' voting. If the election was a foregone conclusion for one or the other party (eg, Mass. for Lincoln, N.J. for McClellan), the men did not get the opportunity to vote.
jno
Bringing the