- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Jackson, Va
November 8, 1864 - OTD President Abraham Lincoln is reelected as President. But it was hardly a cakewalk. 1864 had been a rough year. Throughout many days in May, a thousand or more Union soldiers were admitted daily to Washington military hospitals as they were evacuated from the Virginia battlefields. In the coming months, there seemed to be a stalemate at Petersburg. The Republican National Committee met on August 22 and determined that Lincoln was a doomed candidate for a second term. The following day, Lincoln asked his cabinet members to sign the back of an envelope which became known as the Blind Memorandum. It stated " This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards."
Fortunately for Mr. Lincoln, a streak of good fortune was just around the corner. On Sept. 3, 1864, Lincoln received word word from General Sherman of his capture of Atlanta. Sherman telegraphed, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won." Followed by General Philip Sheridan defeating Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley in October 1864. These monumental victories restored optimism in Lincoln and at the ballot box. Lincoln went on to win 212 electoral votes compared to McClellan's 21. Given this political mandate, he was able to prosecute the war to completion and to begin to heal the rifts that had torn the nation apart in recent years.
Fortunately for Mr. Lincoln, a streak of good fortune was just around the corner. On Sept. 3, 1864, Lincoln received word word from General Sherman of his capture of Atlanta. Sherman telegraphed, "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won." Followed by General Philip Sheridan defeating Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley in October 1864. These monumental victories restored optimism in Lincoln and at the ballot box. Lincoln went on to win 212 electoral votes compared to McClellan's 21. Given this political mandate, he was able to prosecute the war to completion and to begin to heal the rifts that had torn the nation apart in recent years.
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