The military frontier on August 1, 1861

New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley paced his office on the upper floor of his newspaper�s building. Hazy sunshine filtered into the room through layers of high clouds. The curtains in the window flapped in the desultory breeze. From this perch Greeley could see most of the archipelago of Metropolitan New York. Looking out the far window he had an unobstructed view across the rooftops and over the East River to the City of Brooklyn. The view from the west window looked out on the suburban towns across the Hudson spreading inland into New Jersey.

Greeley observed two flags flying over the city.

The old �Stars and Stripes� was flown by New Yorkers who sought neutrality from the civil war out there beyond the fortified lines ringing the suburbs, and by those too old or too provincial to care much about what went on in the hinterlands beyond the Hudson. The new Confederate Union flag, with its broad white and red vertical bars, was also visible above the cityscape. It had been designed by West Point Commandant Pierre Beauregard as his battle flag while fighting the Free Staters besieging the U.S. Military Academy up the Hudson. It had been taken up by citizens of Democratic Party affiliation who sought to recast the nation in their party�s image as a confederation of sovereign states.

Off beyond the horizon, along the military frontier encircling the metropolis, flew the �Gold Star� flag of The United States of Free America. Greeley, a Republican Party man of antislavery sentiment, had considered relocating his paper to the territory held by his friends in �Free America.� But he had finally decided that he could better serve the cause by staying put and continuing to publish his paper here, hoping it would balance the views of the unabashedly pro-Confederate newspapers in town.

The mental effort required to present the war objectively to his Republican-voting readers made Greeley�s head throb. They asked many questions, but they all boiled down to: �Which side is going to win, and how should we position ourselves to gain the most advantage when the shooting stops?� Was that big-city cynicism or simply a matter of pragmatism? After all, many of Greeley�s readers were businesspeople. They did not care much about slavery one way or another. Their desire would naturally be to sit out a war they cared little about until peace returned and they could get back to their business of trading with both sides.

Of course it was impossible for anybody to be entirely neutral during a civil war. By not joining the Free States, Metro New York had severely diminished their chances of success.

Our adherence to the Confederate Union has denied the Free States near a million and a half people as well as their centers of finance and commerce. The loss of the ports and railroad terminals has them bottled up. Without their European trade they receive no foreign exchange. Their loss of prestige in failing to take Metropolitan New York with them into a new country has hurt them even more. England and France will not recognize the independence of a �United States of Free America� that does not include New York.

Some two hundred thousand Metropolitan New Yorkers had evacuated to Free State lines. These included the most ardent Abolitionists as well as most of the city�s Negroes who feared that their rights as free men and women would not be maintained under the Confederate Union government. A few businesses and banks had relocated to Free State territory or at least had moved their financial papers there, but most were staying put and trying to do business as usual, and hoping that the war would soon be over. Nevertheless, the movement of people and businesses out of the city had been very much less than Greeley had expected. For now most New Yorkers were calculating that their fortunes were best served by remaining loyal to the Confederate Union, or at least being unobtrusively neutral, as Greeley himself was doing.

Greeley reminded himself that his readers were the one-third of New Yorkers who voted Republican. The two-thirds who voted Democratic were enthusiastically loyal to President Davis and his Confederate Union government. Davis had often spoken to the Democrats here in the late 1850�s, being well-received as a moderate Unionist. He had increased his popularity by joining with Stephen Douglas to cut the ground out from under the Southern Secessionists who might have destroyed the Union before the Free Staters beat them to the punch. New York�s Democrats were bent on making this city the beating heart of the Confederate Union.

The Democrats have economics working for them. Our businesses earn the lion�s share of their profits by lending, factoring, shipping, and speculating on the value of Slave State cotton. And our working classes, especially the recently arrived Irish immigrants, don�t want to compete with Negroes for work. The Democrats keep telling them that if the Republicans have their way, they�ll set the Southern Blacks free to swarm up here and take their jobs. That�s all Mayor Fernando Wood ever talks about.

And, of course, no New Yorker, Republican or Democrat, wanted to back the losing side.

Even most of our Republican voters will not cast their lot with the Free States until they are assured that they will win, and that is far from certain. Things might have been different if the Free States had won the Partisan War. They prevailed against the Democrats in Ohio and Pennsylvania but failed to break the Confederate Union�s hold on Illinois, Indiana, and this metropolis. We now have a stalemate. Until it is broken New Yorkers are going to support the status quo, which as of now is the Confederate Union.

Greeley estimated that the same calculation was going on out in the Pacific Coast. Out there the territorial governments of California and Oregon had been organized by the Democratic administrations of Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Those presidents had packed the territorial legislatures and executive offices with Southern Democrats who had remained in office when the territories were admitted as states. California and Oregon had voted for the Democratic ticket of Stephen Douglas and Jefferson Davis by two-to-one. The one-third who voted Republican included a fair share of Abolitionists. But like their counterparts here in New York they were unlikely to rise up against the Confederate Union so long as Free State Independence was in doubt.

Greeley decided that the best way to explain all of this to his readers would be to show it on a map. To show his plate engraver what he wanted printed, he overlaid his map of the former United States with architectural tracing paper. On the tracing paper he drew with blue grease pencil the military frontier. He pasted lithographed miniatures of the Confederate Union and United States of Free America flags to the tracing paper to show areas where the forces were concentrating their militias.

Greeley knew that both sides were building their forces up around New York and Philadelphia in the East. In the Northwest each side was assembling armies in Indiana and Illinois. Greeley sensed that both sides were thinking that whichever one succeeding in occupying the whole of Indiana and Illinois would be destined to win the war.

Greeley did not estimate that The United States of Free America could survive the loss of these two states, which though free of slavery, were politically more closely aligned with the Democratic Confederate Union than with the Republican Abolitionist Northeast. He expected that if the Confederates gained complete over these two states then Ohio and Pennsylvania, also closely divided in sentiment, would be the next to fold. But if the Free States succeeded in pushing the Confederates south of the Ohio River, the Confederates would have to recognize that the re-conquest of the Free States was beyond their means.

Greeley marked the points of military concentration in the East and Northwest with lithographs of the Free State and Confederate Union flags. He also had reports that the Confederates were reinforcing their forts on the Pacific Coast in order to make certain of their hold on that region. He marked the Pacific Coast with Confederate Union lithographs. He placed a Free State lithograph over Kansas out on the frontier to show that the Free Staters were bolstering their forces there to prevent the Confederates from picking it off with incursions from Missouri and Texas.

Greeley considered showing the military buildup beyond the national borders. In Mexico the French had moved their army inland from Veracruz and into siege lines around Mexico City. In other circumstances this affront to the Monroe Doctrine would have meant war with the United States, but of course the Americans were too busy making war on each other at the moment to concern themselves with anybody else.

Up in the Canadas the British were augmenting their squadron at Halifax and reinforcing their border forts that had deteriorated into crumbling piles of brick during decades of peace with the United States. Greeley thought that the British would want to steer clear of any direct involvement in the American War, but they were wise to take precautions to prevent it from spilling across their borders. Greeley decided not to display the French and British forces as that would distract his readers from the main conflict between the Confederate Union and the Free States.

Now he needed to decide on a name for the war. The Free Staters were calling it The War of Free State Independence. The Confederates were calling it The Civil War, given their view that it was an insurrection by the Republican Party rather than a war with the Free States as a nation. Greeley thought for a while then decided that the best name for the conflict would be the Confederate Union War. People on both sides could read what ever they want to into that name.

Greeley felt the tension in his head easing. He lay down and stretched out on his office couch. A fresh breeze stirred the curtains, bringing a touch of cooler air from the sea. He closed his eyes and dozed, satisfied that he had done enough editorial work for this day.

Confederate Union Secretary of War George McClellan and Assistant Secretary of War Edwin Stanton looked out over the northern outskirts of Baltimore and into the fields where the Confederate Union militiamen returning from Gettysburg were camped. A drizzle mist blew in off the Chesapeake, washing the sweat off the men who sauntered briskly about on their errands.

McClellan smelled hot rations cooking in the commissary wagons. He saw sacks of mail being taken to company headquarters for distribution. That took care of two of the most important things necessary to restore the morale of a defeated army.

The other important thing was to keep the men busy. Most were at work building fortifications around the front of the camp and digging sanitary trenches on its far side. Lee was a military engineer. The fortifications showed his expert eye for terrain. Entrenchments were being dug at the base of ridges of high ground. Firing pits and artillery were being mounted on the high ground. Beyond the entrenchments alert sentries stood watch.

�These men don�t look beaten, do they?� McClellan asked rhetorically.

�I was thinking the same,� Stanton answered. �Lee isn�t allowing his men idle time to brood over their defeat. He�s getting them ready to fight the next battle.�

McClellan nodded. �That�s our �Bobby Lee.� Any other general would be busy writing letters blaming others for the defeat. Lee doesn�t waste his time on that prattle. If anybody asks he will say, �It was all my fault. My men weren�t beaten. They were out-generalled.� That�s the mark of a true leader.�

McClellan and Stanton walked toward the encampment. McClellan asked a lieutenant directions to Lee�s headquarters. They were directed to the guest house of a planation about a mile behind the camp.

�It is evident that you�ve restored order here!� said McClellan to Lee after greetings were exchanged.

�Yes,� replied Lee, �We must instill proper military discipline in these men before committing them again to battle. I�ve sent Colonel Jackson on to Wilmington to get those men organized as well.�

Lee�s expression stiffened. �I must also inform you that I�m recalling Beauregard�s command from West Point. I hate to give it up, but we won�t be able to hold it with the enemy bringing up heavy artillery in preparation for another assault. I�d rather abandon the institution intact than see it wrecked by fighting. In any case it makes no sense to sacrifice men in holding a position merely for prestige. I�m reassigning the men and equipment to New York City.�

�Giving up the post will give the Rebels another point to crow about,� McClellan acknowledged. �But it is strategically sterile. As you say it makes no sense to sacrifice its garrison. My only regret is that the press will see this as another defeat whose blame rests on you.�

�I�m pleased to receive all the blame they allocate to me. I am better able to bear it than are some others.�

McClellan nodded. Few generals in any army accepted blame graciously. Lee�s willingness to accept it, including the share that rightfully belonged to others, was a pillar of his greatness.

�The President and I regret having thrust you into field command of this department before the men were sufficiently trained,� McClellan said. �But we felt that if there was any chance at all of breaking the insurgency with one decisive campaign the risk would be justified.�

�The risk was justified,� Lee replied. �After all, the enemy was no better trained than us. The difference was that Fremont panicked our men with his unexpected attack before we could panic the enemy with ours! But now we have cavalry too. And, as you can see, our men are being trained to set out pickets in advance of our lines. We shall not be caught napping again.�

�I�m sure you�ll have the men prepared for all contingencies.� McClellan grinned. �And now for some good news: You are hereby relieved as General-in-Chief of the Armies. As soon as you have settled your dispositions here you may transfer back to the Department of the West.� McClellan handed Lee the copy of the relief order. �Please don�t take it too hard!�

Lee smiled. �Well, I already knew as much by reading the newspapers! The newspaper editors �relieved� me from command before the President did. And I am happy to be out of that position. That job requires someone who will sit at the President�s side night and day, advising him of developments in all the departments. I am honored to serve my country in whatever capacity needed, but I am a field commander, not a staff officer.�

�The President and I finally figured that out,� McClellan acknowledged. �It was only because the President valued your insights so much that he tried to make you both.�

Lee nodded in acceptance of the compliment.

�Your reassignment to command the field armies of the Department of the West will not be immediately announced,� McClellan explained. �The President regrets the appearances of your being relieved without announcing your reassignment, but we want the Rebels to believe that you are out of the war. That gives us all the more chance of surprising them when you strike. Please don�t take offense at this secrecy.�

�Offense must never be taken in the service of one�s country,� responded Lee.

McClellan put his arm on Lee�s shoulder. �Your sense of duty to your country before thinking of yourself inspires all of us to do our utmost duty too.�

It certainly does, thought Stanton. In time of war nations live or die according to the leadership of their generals. Lee is the personification of leadership.

�General Bragg will be in nominal command of the West until you are ready to take the field,� explained McClellan. �He will be acting as Inspector General. In that capacity he will insure an adequate standard of training of all the men assembling in the Mississippi Valley. On or about October first we will concentrate those men on the Illinois front and you will take the offensive.�

�A good plan,� acknowledged Lee. �Perhaps Bragg will not be so popular with the men, but his discipline in training will save their lives in battle.�

�Bragg isn�t popular with himself,� cracked McClellan. �He�s the only general in any man�s army who has ever ordered his own court martial!�

The men rollicked with laughter. The often-told story about Bragg ordering his own court martial for failing to follow one of his own orders to the letter was an exaggeration, but only a small one. Bragg was notorious for quarrelling with every officer within his reach. But he would hand over to Lee a superbly trained army.

�Have any candidates been selected for consideration to command here in the East?� asked Lee.

�That�s the other subject I wanted to discuss,� McClellan answered, rubbing his chin. �I�ve been thinking that perhaps I should step down as Secretary of War and assume direct command of this department. Like you, I�m a field commander, not an administrator. I suppose I�ve seen more of modern warfare than any other living man, in Mexico and in Europe. I am longing to put that practical knowledge to good use for my country.� He addressed Stanton. �How would you like to become Secretary of War, subject to the President�s approval, of course?�

Stanton was surprised by the proposition. When he composed his thoughts he answered, �Like General Lee, I will be pleased to serve my country in any capacity where I can be of the most value. I am honored by your confidence that I will be able to execute such a high responsibility.�

�Your record in Buchanan�s Cabinet speaks for itself,� McClellan assured him. �You stiffened �Old Buck�s� spine sufficiently to clamp down on the secession nonsense from the Southern Fire Eaters. Otherwise they�d have been in a race with the Free State Rebels to see who could get out of the Union first. We�d be fighting Secessionists from both directions. It�s our good fortune that you decided to stick with us instead of taking a position in Lincoln�s Free State Government.�

�It wasn�t an easy decision,� Stanton confessed. �I learned to admire Mr. Lincoln while trying cases with him. Salmon Chase is my dearest friend, and he did implore me to come over to their side. But I can�t see destroying this Confederate Union because of our dispute over keeping the Negroes, who are but one-seventh of our people, as slaves.�

�I also grew very fond of Mr. Lincoln back during the days when I ran the Illinois Central and he tried railroad cases for me,� replied McClellan with a smile. �Oh, how he loved to tell stories when we stayed in those little taverns in the frontier towns! And how we laughed! Oh, too bad, that the Abolitionists have persuaded him to take up their cause!�

Stanton took off his hat and patted down the sweat gathering in his thick curly hair. �I remember reading an article last year in the St. Louis Globe predicting that this country will ultimately attain a population of six hundred million in the next century � if we can keep it together for that long. But if we don�t stay united we�ll fall prey to the European disease of national jealousies spawning wars, famines, and plagues. Our continent will become the ruin of Mankind�s hopes instead of its salvation. We must stay united and at peace. Let�s save the country now, then we�ll address slavery later on, when the public sentiment is advanced enough to favor the gradual liberation of the Negroes.�

�A splendid way of stating the case,� agreed McClellan.

�If we break the country up now we�ll never put it back again,� Stanton elaborated. �In ten years we�ll be five or six countries. The Europeans will be sticking their noses in our affairs and making alliances with some of us to fight against the others. I saw that danger right away when the Rebels started coordinating their defiance with the British. We�ve been trying for a hundred years to get the British off our continent. Now the Rebels want to invite them back in?�

�Your view satisfies me that you are the right man for the position,� replied McClellan. �As soon as we get back to Washington City I will recommend to the President your appointment as Secretary of War and mine as commander of the Department of the East. The sooner we get things sorted out here, the sooner General Lee can get on with advancing his plans for the West.�

�What are your plans here, in the East, if I may ask?� said Lee. �Do you intend to renew the assault on Philadelphia?�

�Oh, no,� answered McClellan. �We can�t try that again. The Rebels are pouring every man and his dog into the fronts around Philadelphia and New York. They�re barricading the back door through Harrisburg as well. And this, mind you, is exactly what we want them to do, because this is the one place where we shall not attack them!�

Lee�s expression flashed surprise. �What is your plan?�

�An amphibious assault,� replied McClellan, looking off in the distance. �Landings of our armies at Boston, Portland, and Portsmouth, followed by overland advances into Hartford, Providence, and Augusta. We�ll take New England away from the Rebs while they�re all down here gawking at New York and Philly. That�s why I want Stanton to be our Secretary of War.�

McClellan looked at Stanton. �We�ll rely on you to organize the shipyards to transport our men to New England and keep them supplied with food and equipment once they get there. We�ll rely on you to organize the rail traffic in the Mississippi Valley when Lee renews his assault in the West. This is a big country, and it will take a superb administrator of your energy to coordinate the logistics of the war across all of it.�

�Your plan to occupy Boston from the sea appears to be the same in principle to what we proposed to do in Philadelphia � taking those people�s cities by surprise without fighting them street by street,� Lee observed.

�It�s what we must do,� confirmed McClellan. �We can�t afford another set-piece battle like we had in St. Louis. That �victory� cost us nine thousand casualties. And it leveled the city.�

�The North does have a lot of cities,� said Lee. �The Free Staters can garrison each such that it would cost us an army corps to reduce. Given enough time they can prepare their defenses in depth so as to make each city prohibitively expensive for us to capture.�

�Ex-act-ly!� exclaimed McClellan. �That�s why the Insurrection must be suppressed quickly, with the least amount of death and destruction. We want the country restored in substance and in spirit. Every man who is diverted into the war is lost to the production of peaceful pursuits. Those killed and crippled are lost not only to the present generation, but to those who follow us. The longer the war continues, the more difficult it will be to restore national harmony, and the more likely the British and French will intervene on behalf of the Free States. Our victories must be rapid and complete.�

Four score and several years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a Second War of Independence, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated may long endure. We are met on a battlefield of that war guarding the approaches to the Cradle of Liberty where that nation was conceived. We have come to honor those who here gave their lives so that the Lamp of Liberty lit by our fathers shall continue to illuminate the world unto the latest generation.

We may be certain that our dedication to the principles of 1776 will be tested as surely today as they were tested then. They were tested at Delphi, as surely as they were tested at Lexington and Concord. They were tested here again at Gettysburg as surely as they were tested at Bunker Hill. Now, as then, the embattled citizens of a Free Republic stood their ground and turned back the armies sent forth by the tyrant to conquer them.

We may also be certain that we have the means to secure our independence from those who seek to conquer us:

We are superior in numbers of free citizens to the Slave States styling themselves the Confederate Union. We far surpass them in manufactories and agricultural productions. We have a preponderance of mechanics, industrial workers, railroad engineers, and men possessing all the other inventive skills that modern warfare requires.

We are the Forge of Liberty.

Let us ask ourselves: When have superior numbers fighting bravely to maintain their freedom ever been defeated by lesser numbers fighting to conquer them? We need merely to unite ourselves, putting aside all partisan factions. Is it not better that those who voted for both parties in the last election should fight together as free citizens of a free country, than that any should side with a government that seeks to return some of them to slavery?

Also know that we do not fight alone. The Friends of Liberty in all parts of the world hear us, just as they heard us in 1776. They will come to our aid in our Second War of Independence just as Lafayette, Von Steuben, Kosciusko, Pulaski, and Thomas Paine, came to aid us in our first. And let us not forget our fellow citizens who, though they sympathize with our cause, reside in territory beyond our lines. Nor let us forget the friends we may have even in the Slave States, who, though accepting the existence of slavery in their states, do not seek to force it upon people who are free.

And also know that we are heard on a higher plane, by that Providence that never failed our fathers. Does any thoughtful man question whether Providence destines men to be slaves or to be free? Our Founders answered that question for us: �All men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.�

Let us now dedicate ourselves to the great tasks remaining before us: of liberating New York and reopening our Gateway to the World; of restoring the territorial integrity of our Free States; of liberating the Free States on the Pacific Coast that are held by the carry-overs of pro-slavery territorial governments; and of reestablishing our authority over the Free Territories of the West. All of these things we will do if we continue to fight as we have done at Delphi and Gettysburg.

And after vindicating our independence through our courage in battle let us vindicate by our example that freedom is the natural condition of men. If we will do that the country we used to call �The United States� will be reunited when our late fellow citizens now calling themselves �The Confederate Union� will choose to join us in freedom rather than insist upon coercing us to join them in slavery.

If we shall continue to do that which we have already shown we can do, here on this battlefield and elsewhere, then this new nation, under God, shall carry forth its birthright of freedom � so that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

President Lincoln relaxed in the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion, enjoying the comfort of �home.� The new national Free State government had not yet allocated funds for furnishing the President a proper executive office, but he didn�t mind that at all. The parlor sufficed for working the way that he liked, which was to meet with his Cabinet in a comfortable informal setting.

The smells of Mrs. Lincoln cooking dinner enhanced his sense of being at home. The government had not provided funds to hire a cook and wait staff, but that did not upset the Lincolns either. Although Mrs. Lincoln often made her husband miserable by her foul-tempered barbs, she insisted that only she knew how to cook his meals the way he liked. Mr. Lincoln smiled.

Am I a lucky man for having a wife so fully devoted to me, but who also annoys me to the limits of my self control?

Mr. Lincoln laughed again, this time out loud, as he thought about the stories he had heard about how Mr. and Mrs. Fremont had fared in this house before him. He could imagine Mrs. Jesse Benton Fremont fainting at being asked to cook and wash dishes. So Mr. Fremont had brought in his own chefs and wait staff as part of his entourage of dozens, including European nobility. He had heard that Fremont had presented Congress with an invoice seeking reimbursement of fifty thousand dollars for the funds he had promised to pay those people. The cash-strapped Congress had cashiered him the very next day.

Fremont had taken his dismissal with admirable grace. Instead of cursing the Free State government and storming off to his California ranch, he had taken his men to Pennsylvania and led the reconnaissance into Confederate-held territory that resulted in the great victory at Gettysburg.

Lincoln shook his head. How complicated are men! Some of the most bothersome are also the most heroic. As President I must use people to the best of their ability in advancing the cause of our Independence. I must learn to look past their defects if their virtues will help us.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The pleasant breeze blowing in off Lake Erie through the open windows refreshed him. The soft sounds of late summer lulled him into contented rest. He was pleased that Cleveland was far removed from Washington City. He remembered its mix of grandeur and squalidness when he had been a Congressman back in �46.

Douglas never took care of his health, but even so, the typhus epidemic in Washington City finished him before his time.

He had a premonition that perhaps his family�s lives might have ended there too if he been elected President of the old United States.

What if I had been elected President instead of Douglas? Then I would have gone to Washington City. Would typhus have killed me, Mary, or the children? And what if the Slave States had gone out of the Union instead of us? Washington City is a slave jurisdiction. Would Southern extremists have murdered me? Losing to Douglas was surely a blessing, though it did not seem so at the time.

Mr. Lincoln fell asleep musing on these thoughts until Mrs. Lincoln awakened him for dinner. The Lincolns were joined by their young sons Willie and Tad. Mr. Lincoln could thank the Free State Congress that Robert was not here. Congress had advanced him enough of his salary to restore his personal finances sufficiently to enroll Robert at Harvard. The new government�s finances were thin but so far no bank had refused to cash its checks.

After dinner he sat back down in the parlor and waited for the arrival of his Cabinet and members of the Congressional Executive Committee. Unlike Davis in the Confederate Union, Lincoln had not chosen to invite representatives into his War Cabinet. The Congressional Executive Committee, who had decided to boot Fremont and select Lincoln in his place, had invited itself to Lincoln�s cabinet meetings.

Their unhappy experience with Fremont has made them keen to keep a careful eye on me. That is only right since they are the body that selected me as President. I have not been elected by the people. The law of the United States of Free America is not even clear on how the next President will be selected. Will it be by popular vote, by the electoral votes of the Free States, or by the Parliamentary System whereby the Congress shall decide the executive? We are too busy now with war to have time to decide these matters.

Lincoln�s own Cabinet arrived as a unit, having had their dinner together at the Weddell House. He greeted Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, Secretary of State Seward, Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and, his old Kentucky friend and now Attorney General James Speed.

The Senators and Congressmen of the Executive Committee arrived in ones and twos. The House members were Speaker of the House John Sherman, Thad Stevens of Pennsylvania, and William Vandever of Iowa. The Senators were Lincoln�s friend Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, and Zachariah Chandler of Michigan.

Lincoln�s personal secretary John Hay came down, having finished his supper while working on the President�s correspondence in his upstairs quarters. The men greeted one another, expressing their satisfaction with Mr. Lincoln�s speech at Gettysburg.

�My constituents were impressed by your speech,� said Zach Chandler. �They tell me, �Mr. Lincoln looks and acts like a President.��

�In other words, he�s not the hick from Illinois that the Democrats had led them to believe,� replied Illinois Senator Trumbull.

�Not at all,� concurred Zach Chandler. �Maybe it was that other President from Illinois they were thinking of!�

The men laughed at the reference to the late Senator Stephen Douglas.

�He�s only been gone a few weeks and he�s already faded from public memory,� said Senator Sumner. �How time marches on. The Confederate Union is Jeff Davis� country now!�

How true! Lincoln thought. Nobody talks about Douglas any more. His time, and everything of it, is over. It is I and Jefferson Davis that history will remember as the Presidents who led our respective nations through this war.

The men took their seats and Lincoln called them to order.

�Mr. Hay, will you please read us today�s agenda.�

�Right,� said Hay, glancing at his notes. �First topic: our commercial relations with the Canadas. The Secretary of State will apprise us of the commercial treaties he has negotiated in Quebec.

�Second topic: The state of our national finances including the circulation of gold and silver specie and the issuance of paper currencies.

�Third topic: the military situation.

�Fourth topic: The proposal by Horace Greeley to mediate a peace between us and the Confederate Union.�

�Thank you, Mr. Hay,� said Lincoln. �Will the Secretary of State please begin by telling us what has transpired with our neighbors to the Northeast?�

�Yes, Mr. President,� replied Seward. �I had a productive meeting with Speaker of the Joint Canadian Assembly John McDonald and British Governor General Lord Monck. They consider the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States dating from 1857 to be in force with our successor government in the United States of Free America. In fact, they asked if we would agree to extend the treaty to cover manufactured items as well as raw materials. They�ve given us permission to transship our Europe-bound trade through the Canadas duty-free and at the same freight rates as charged to Canadians.�

�They do seem favorably disposed to us,� Lincoln remarked. �Their favorable disposition surprises me somewhat given the reliance of the British on Confederate cotton, which is reciprocated by the Confederates� desire to import British manufactured goods.�

�They depend on us for wheat and corn as much as they depend upon the Confederates for cotton,� explained Seward. �Our independence would provide them with competition from two American markets instead of just one which might be monopolized and controlled by tariffs.�

Seward wagged his finger as he expanded on his point. �Also remember that abolishing slavery is a paramount interest of the British. The former United States � and that means us in the successor government � have treaty obligations to suppress the smuggling of slaves out of Africa. The Confederates don�t care about that. I don�t know that they would go so far as to legally reopen the African slave trade, but they would be sure to look the other way at pirates who smuggle slaves to their shores.�

Seward glanced at the wall map. �Canada also concerns them. They feel as we do � that maintaining fortifications, standing armies, and navies on the Great Lakes in anticipation of war is a futile expense. The only way to effectively defend that border is to make certain that no cause for war ever comes into existence. But the Confederate Union has told the world of their desire to acquire all of America, from Cape Horn to the regions of eternal frost. If the Confederates conquer us, the British will have to expend millions of pounds fortifying that border. That expense would debilitate their treasury. So they desire that we maintain our independence.�

The expressions on the Cabinet members showed approval of Seward�s points. Seward continued:

�The Canadians are proposing duty-free port of entry at Sarnia, another on the Niagara Frontier, and the third on the railroad from Portland to Montreal. Portland will become the warm-water port for the Canadas. The Canadians pledge improve their railroads and the Port of Montreal to accommodate the increase in commerce. To pay for these investments they ask us to pledge to ship at least fifty percent of our export trade through Montreal for a minimum of twenty years. They will share the cost with us of constructing rail ferries or bridges between Port Huron and Sarnia and at the designated port on the Niagara Frontier. They will double-track the railroads on their side of the border if we will do the same on ours. Here is the preliminary draft of the treaty.�

Seward handed one draft to Lincoln, another to Senator Sumner, and another to Speaker Sherman.

Lincoln thumbed through the treaty. �It appears that they have given us everything we could reasonably expect. Do we need to discuss the treaty in detail?�

�I don�t think it requires any further discussion,� said Speaker John Sherman, reading his copy. �The proposal appears more than satisfactory. If no one has any objections, let�s recommend that Congress ratify it, including the expansion of Reciprocity to include manufactured items.� He turned to Sumner who was skimming his copy. �What do you think, Charles?�

�I�ll need to study it carefully for a day or two. But from I see on cursory examination I would recommend that we ratify it.�

The other Cabinet and the Senators and Congressmen nodded their approval.

�Next on our agenda,� said Lincoln �is the state of our national finances, including the specie in circulation and the question of whether to augment it with paper currency. I�m assuming our finances are satisfactory at the moment because the Great Northern Bank and Trust Company cashed the check that Congress wrote for the advance on my salary!�

�Yes, Mr. President, they are satisfactory for the moment,� confirmed Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase. �But we will need to issue paper currency to make up for the shortage of specie. The Confederates control the gold and silver mines in the West. There won�t be any new specie coming into our territory except what we get from England in exchange for our exports. And that will be down to a trickle until the harvest is in.�

Chase paused for a moment to give the Cabinet time to consider that point, then began speaking in an irritated tone. �Another difficulty is that the disconnection of New York from our territory is causing a contraction of business. That is inducing our people to hoard the limited amount of specie we do have. So far it�s not nearly as bad as it might be, and could become, later on. The Confederate cordon around the city is still loose. People may come and go between the lines as they please, and it has not yet become inconvenient for them to move specie, financial papers, and regular mail into and out of the city. Nevertheless, the port and railroad terminals are closed to us. We no longer collect customs duties on the trade through its port.

�The shortage of specie will require us to print paper currency as soon as possible,� Chase asserted. �Otherwise people will lack instruments to settle their business. People are already resorting to postage stamps as currency, but there aren�t anywhere near enough of those either. If we don�t do something they�ll begin settling their business with private scrip.�

�Printing paper currency would be certain to ruin our credit,� objected Senator Sumner. �Do you recall the saying �not worth a Continental� from the Revolutionary War? It took years to restore confidence in our currency after we debased it with paper.�

�Well, as I recall, we won the War of the Revolution,� retorted Chase. �Would you have preferred that we should have lost the war in order to maintain a perfectly sound currency? Do you want us to lose our country now because people can�t settle their business? Paper currency is necessary. If we issue it now, before a financial panic sets in, people will accustom themselves to valuing it the same as specie. If we wait until all the specie has gone into hiding and the banks are failing then the people will not accept paper currency even if compelled by law.�

�I agree with Chase,� intoned Lincoln. �We cannot allow the nation to fail merely because it is lacking a currency to conduct its business. The true measure of our wealth is the production of our farms, factories, mines, and businesses. Any currency, whether it is gold and silver specie or paper money, is merely a draft on these true sources of wealth.

�It seems to me that if the people are already using paper instruments such as postage and private scrip to settle their business, that there can be no harm in issuing official paper currency approved by the government to be legal tender. That would restore confidence in our government. The people would see that we are managing the situation rather than letting it manage us. Let�s discuss the matter in a full-day�s meeting tomorrow to decide the specifics of how much to print.�

�Meeting to start at ten o�clock, Mr. President?� asked Hay. He updated his notes as the President and members of Congress agreed.

�Now let�s take stock of our military situation, upon which all else depends,� said the President. �Will the Secretary of War please brief us?�

�We have about 300,000 men in service, including those in training,� replied Secretary of War Cameron as he read from his papers.

�They are mostly young, healthy men recruited from the Wide Awakes. They have signed on for three years or the duration of the war. About 3,500 Regular Army men followed us out of the Confederate Union. About 1,500 are stationed on the western frontier forts and in the New England Harbors. The others have been dispersed among the volunteer regiments. We also have about a hundred thousand state militiamen waiting to be mustered into the national army as soon as equipment becomes available. Our primary constraint is lack of arms and equipment. If we had been able to equip all who volunteered could have had perhaps 200,000 more in the field.�

�How long will it take to arm and equip those men?� Lincoln asked.

�We�re producing 10,000 rifles per month, primarily from the Springfield, Massachusetts Arsenal. The smaller arsenals in northern New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania are fully employed in retrofitting about a 100,000 flintlock muskets to use percussion caps, also at the rate of about 10,000 per month.�

�We�ll need to do something faster than that,� said Senator Wade. �We�ve got hundreds of thousands of men sitting at home sucking their thumbs for lack of weapons. Let�s get these men armed with squirrel guns, shotguns, pistols, or pitchforks and get them in the lines immediately. Then let�s do whatever we have to do to get them standard-issue military rifles. We need those weapons now, not in six months.�

�We�ll be able to let contracts to the Remington, Sharps, Colt, and Burnside companies as soon as we get the currency issue settled,� advised Cameron. �We�re also short on rations, horses, mules, saddles, uniforms, and other material due to the shortage of specie in the government�s accounts to pay for them. Not to mention we�re unable to pay the troops. We�re depending on patriotism to fill the ranks, but even patriotism has its limits.�

�That�s why we must get started immediately with printing paper currency,� replied Treasury Secretary Chase. �We can�t arm and equip the armies unless we have something with which to pay for it. I also recommend that we begin imposing taxes in kind on foodstuffs and livestock. Our commissary agents can impound the goods and send them straight to the armies without having to settle accounts with specie or paper.�

�A tax in kind may not be Constitutional,� advised Congressman Vandever. �We should ask the Supreme Court to rule on it. The same holds true for the printing of paper currency. The Constitution authorizes only gold and silver as legal tender.�

�There�s a war on,� retorted Thad Stevens. �Impose the tax in kind and print the paper currency. There is no time to shillyshally around. We must do what is necessary to defend ourselves. We can argue about the constitutionality after we�ve won our independence.�

�I agree that must take a broad view of the Constitution during the time when our nation�s life hangs in the balance,� said Lincoln. �For each measure in question let us ask first whether it is expedient. If it is expedient then let us ask whether it defies the spirit of the Constitution. I don�t perceive that the printing of paper currency or a tax in kind defies the spirit of the Constitution. Let�s have a complete discussion of those issues at tomorrow�s meeting and decide how to proceed. Let us now return to a discussion of the war. The Secretary of War will please advise us.�

�There isn�t anything new of substance to report on,� said Cameron. �Our fronts have been quiet since our victory at Gettysburg. Our agents in the Confederate Union haven�t reported any preparations for them to resume the offensive. The men they were planning to send into Mexico have been recalled to their training camps near the state capitals. The Confederates have lost their senior commanders. Albert Sydney Johnston is deceased and Joseph Johnston is barely alive in one of our hospitals. General Lee has been sacked. It will take them months to sort out that disorganization in their ranks.�

�They also got their noses bloodied taking St. Louis,� Lincoln reminded them, �and that city was defended by only a few thousand of our men. Their plan for taking Philadelphia unraveled at Gettysburg. I don�t believe they will attack Philadelphia again now that our men are prepared. And that brings us to the proposal for peace that Horace Greeley is attempting to mediate between us and the Jeff Davis Government.�

�What is he proposing?� asked Thad Stevens.

�That the Confederates will recognize our sovereignty,� replied Lincoln. �They will cede to us the Free State territories they hold in New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and Oregon. In return we will cede them the Southwest west of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as Latitude 42. That includes all of California. We will retain Oregon and the territories north to Latitude 49 as our window on the Pacific Coast. There is to be free navigation of rivers and canals in all the states and territories of either nation.�

�Who gets Kansas?� asked Stevens.

�Kansas stays with us.�

�What about Colorado?�

�We divide it in half at the Rockies. We get the east. They get the west�

�So we�re proposing to get them out of all the Free States except California,� said Stevens. �I don�t like giving up California, but the ports further up the Oregon Coast are just as good and are less distant from Chicago. And we may continue using the Mississippi River to get our trade to New Orleans? That would be acceptable to me. If the Confederates concur with the proposal, I think it should be accepted.� The rest of the Cabinet affirmed their agreement.

�Is there any other topic for summary discussion today?� asked Lincoln.

�Not for me,� said Stevens. �I am satisfied that every item has had an adequate summary discussion. I�ll be here tomorrow for the discussion of the currency and taxes.�

With that the meeting broke up. Mr. Lincoln felt drained by the discussion. �I am getting old too,� he said to Hay. �My mind does not work as fast as it used to. I could use a dozen more of you young whipper snappers helping me to sort these things out.�

�Don�t sell yourself short, Mr. President,� responded Hay cheerfully. �You steered the discussion so as to reach agreement on our obtaining a secure railroad through the Canadas, a national currency to replace the gold and silver specie that has gone out of circulation, and an agreement to seek peace with the Confederates. That is a sufficient amount of business for anybody to conclude in one day.�

Horace Greeley�s Peace Proposal

�Come in, Mr. President!� exclaimed New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley in warm greeting to Jefferson Davis. �Thank you so much for giving me a fair hearing.�

�The pleasure is mine,� replied Davis. �I need all the friends I can get in the press, especially among you Damn Yankee Abolitionists!�

Greeley threw back his head laughing. �Yes, I know. I do read the Southern papers. Those States Rights men are raising a hue and cry, aren�t they? They�re not at all pleased about your sending recruiting officers and commissary agents into their states to obtain men and supplies for your National Army.�

Davis sat down with Greeley and took off his derby hat. �It�s all about political favors so far as they�re concerned. They think the men and supplies should be raised exclusively by the governors and state legislatures. One can only imagine how much money would be changing hands under the table to obtain procurement contracts and officer appointments. This is a national war that will be administered from Washington City. I�ve made it clear there will be no corruption in procurement and appointments. That hasn�t set well with some people in the state capitals.�

Greeley held up the latest copy of the Charleston Mercury. �Have you read Rhett�s latest editorial?�

Davis shook his head. �I don�t have time to read that tripe anymore.�

Greeley read it anyway. �Rhett says: �We�re supposed to be acquiring Mexico and getting rid of Yankeeland. The Damnyankees have done us the favor of leaving on their own volition. Forcing them to stay in our house makes about as much sense as demanding that uninvited guests sleep over after the soiree has finished.� �

Greeley laughed again. �They can�t make up their minds whether they want you to conquer us �Nigger-Loving Abolitionists� and force us back into your Confederate Union or whether they want you to barricade the doors and make sure that we�ll never again be able to set foot in the South!�

Davis frowned. �Newspaper editors are never happy!� He looked at Greeley. �Tell the truth, I have gotten fairer press from you than from the Southern Fire Eaters. Never thought I�d receive fairer treatment from a Republican editor than my supposed friends at the South, but you have given it to me, and I appreciate it.�

�You deserve it,� replied Greeley. �You�ve always been honest about saying what�s on your mind, even when you�ve known that it would offend some of your constituencies. Your integrity in preserving the National Union against the Dis-Unionists North and South has made you popular here, even among my Republican readers. Even if they do not favor your course of recovering the Free States by force, they respect you as their President.�

Greeley could hardly believe that he was warming to Jefferson Davis, a product of the slave owning aristocracy he disdained. But how could one not like Jefferson Davis when conversing with him in person?

Davis is stubborn in believing that slavery is the most beneficial relationship between Whites and Negroes. But he is an ardent Unionist who has courageously staked his reputation on making common cause with Stephen Douglas in suppressing the Southern Secessionists. If Davis had not united his fortunes with Douglas, then Bill Yancey�s band would have destroyed the Union from the other side. Davis is a humble man who campaigns only for what he thinks best for preserving the unity of the country. He is honest and speaks the plain truth of what he thinks. He does not revel in complicated schemes like the late Stephen Douglas.

Greeley motioned for Davis to enjoy the minted tea and salted crackers that he had set out on the table.

�Mr. President, I want to ask you to carefully consider whether prosecuting this war to recover the Free States by force is truly in the interests of the Confederate Union. I have a proposal for peace that I will print in The Tribune next Saturday. Mr. Lincoln�s government has already accepted it in principle. Mr. Lincoln�s representative Edward Baker is here. He is ready to meet with you and to sign a letter of intent that his government will accept the proposal.�

�I see,� said Davis. �What are the proposed terms?�

Greeley got up and brought a map from his desk and spread it on the table for Davis to study.

�The Confederate Union will recognize the independence of the United States of Free America. You will cede them the territory you hold in Metropolitan New York and in Indiana and Illinois and the small strip of territory in northwestern Virginia between Pennsylvania and Ohio. In return you will receive title to all territories in the Southwest including all of California.�

Greeley continued while Davis studied the map. �You would be giving up about 50,000 square miles of Free State territory you hold in the settled portions of the country east of the Mississippi River in order to receive 350,000 square miles of land in the Far West that is suitable to the introduction of slavery. And rich in gold and silver I might add. Giving up one square mile of land that is not suited for slavery in return for seven that are seems a fair trade to me.�

Davis frowned. �As President I am sworn to uphold the Constitution for the entire Confederate Union. The people voted by a majority of 63�% to elect Douglas and myself to represent them. That is very close to being the two-thirds majority that in Congress is considered to be sufficient to override a Presidential veto. I cannot allow on principle 37�% of the people to overturn the decision of the majority. The majority is sovereign over every inch of the national territory.�

�But the votes are concentrated in the northern section of the country,� Greeley argued. �The people in that section feel strongly enough to take up arms to leave.�

�Not all of the Northern people voted Republican!� exclaimed Davis. �We won the electoral votes of Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and Oregon, all of which you propose should join the United States of Free America. On what basis do you want us to abandon states whose majorities favor us? The so-called United States of Free America don�t even have a legitimate elected government. They have a Provisional President that they change at the drop of a hat. They have a Provisional Congress, which is merely the rump of the Republicans they sent to the old United States Congress. They�ve entirely disfranchised the Democrats. They�re a pirate state, not a Constitutional republic.�

�They are all Free States,� retorted Greeley. �As time goes on they formalize their political institutions to include free elections. They will vote more Republican, as they have been in the process of doing for some years.�

�But you cannot know how these states will vote in the future!� objected Davis. �The entire foundation of the Democratic Party is based on the principle of State Sovereignty � that the people of each state will decide for themselves how to organize their domestic institutions. That principle applies as much to the Free States as to the Slave States. The Republican Rebels are trying to destroy the Free States� sovereignty by replacing their state governments with an unelected central government. The Rebels want to deny the people of the Free States their right to vote for the candidates of their choice by removing them from the Confederate Union and foisting a government of unelected officials upon them. Is that not the very definition of tyranny! Is that not war against the Constitution!�

Greeley sighed. �May I suggest looking at it as a practical matter? If you make peace now you will be ending a war that has proven costly in lives and property. St. Louis, Springfield, and much of Cincinnati have been destroyed. Dozens of other towns from New Jersey to Kansas have been pockmarked by irregular warfare. Trade has been disrupted. Businesses have closed. Workers are idle. Were not the armies taking in the unemployed there would be rioting by unemployed mobs. Things will become much worse if the war continues. By making peace you will acquire territories for slavery larger than you had any prospect for obtaining while you were joined with the Free States were in the old Union. You will obtain much more than even Yancey�s gang of Southern Secessionists would have asked for if they had left the Union.�

�Why would I care about what Yancey�s gang wanted? I put that bunch down by joining the ticket with Stephen Douglas. I don�t favor any man who desires to wreck the country, whatever section he represents.�

�But haven�t you wanted to be free from the Abolitionists?� Greely implored. �Haven�t you complained about their trying to undermine slavery? Now they have voluntarily separated themselves from you and gone off into another country where they will not disturb you again. Why not let them go?�

�If only it were true about them not disturbing us!� said Davis in a tone between exasperation and mocking laughter. �If we allow the Abolitionists to go off into their own country do you think they�ll stop inciting our slaves? They�ll stand on their side of the border and shout for our Negroes to rise against us! They�ll send their agents into our territory to agitate our Negroes. There will be a �John Brown� raid organized every year. No, sir, peace cannot be had when one people insist on interfering with the business of others. The Abolitionists must be suppressed until such time as they learn to mind their own business.�

�The Free Staters will not go down easily,� advised Greeley. �They will fight with their teeth and their fingernails. If you do succeed in forcing them back into the Confederate Union it will be at the cost of hundreds of thousands dead. You will recover a land of devastated farms, villages, towns, and cities.�

�I don�t know that it will come to that,� answered Davis. �There are many Democrats and even some moderate Republicans who do not favor their cause any more than do your Democrats and Republicans here in New York. I don�t see how they can carry on a war with that much disaffection in their own ranks. But even should the war prove to be as costly as you say, it is a price better paid now than later. If we allow those people to establish themselves as a separate sovereignty we will be required to spend untold millions each and every year to fortify a border that stretches thousands of miles across rivers, mountains, forests, and settled lands. It would be like an iron veil drawn across this continent. Our two peoples would be as destined to perpetual war as the Egyptians and the Hebrews.�

�Then there is no foundation on which to negotiate peace,� said Greeley dejectedly. �The war must continue, perhaps for years.�

�I do appreciate the good faith you have shown in drawing up this proposal,� Davis assured him. �But there can be no basis for peace other than the Republican Rebels laying down their arms and submitting to the Constitution.�

�I suppose that concludes our conversation, then,� said Greeley. �Please think on my proposal. The Free States have already accepted it.�

Davis nodded.

�One other thing,� said Greeley. �I had asked if you would be so kind as to bring me a copy of the speech you will be delivering at Cooper�s Institute tonight. I would like to have it ready for printing in tomorrow�s edition.�

�Oh, yes, of course,� replied Davis. He reached into his vest pocked and pulled out a sheaf of papers. He handed two bound pages to Greeley.�

Greeley thanked him and escorted him to the first floor lobby where Davis� secretary and one-person body guard waited. Greeley returned to his office and read the speech to himself:

Speech by Jefferson Davis at Cooper�s Institute in New York City

My friends, my brethren, my countrymen �- I thank you for the patient attention you have given me. It is with feelings of profound gratification that I witness this indication of that national sentiment and fraternity which made us, and which alone can keep us, one people.

At a period, but as yesterday when compared with the life of nations, these States were separate colonies. Their only relation to each other was that of a common allegiance to the government of Great Britain. So separate, indeed almost hostile, was their attitude, that when colonists of Massachusetts were captured by savages they were taken to Albany, New York and again led away as captives, without interference on the part of the inhabitants of New York to demand their release.

Until the recent Rebellion, were a citizen of any part of our country, as an act of hostility, imprisoned or slain in any quarter of the world, whether on land or sea, the people of each and every State of the Union, with one heart, and with one voice, would demand redress, and woe be to him against whom a brother's blood cried to us from the ground.

Have the purposes for which our Union was formed, lost their value? Has patriotism ceased to be a virtue, and is narrow sectionalism no longer to be counted a crime?

Shall the North not rejoice that the progress of agriculture in the South has given to her great staple the controlling influence of the commerce of the world, and put manufacturing nations under bond to keep the peace with the United States?

Shall the South not exult in the fact, that the industry and persevering intelligence of the North, has placed her mechanical skill in the front ranks of the civilized world?

Do not our whole people, interior and seaboard, North, South, East, and West, alike feel proud of the hardihood, the enterprise, the skill, and the courage of the Yankee sailor, who has borne our flag far as the ocean bears its foam, and caused the name and the character of the United States to be known and respected wherever there is wealth enough to woo commerce, and intelligence enough to honor merit?

Yankee is a word once applied to you as a term of reproach, but you have made it honorable and renowned. You have a right to be proud of your achievements as well on the land as the sea. Well may you point as you do with satisfaction, to your school houses and your work-shops, and to the fruits they have borne on the forum and in the council chamber, and in the manufactures which have increased the comforts of our own people, and have encircled the globe to find exchangeable products required at home. Those are the greatest and most beneficent triumphs-the triumph of mind over matter. These are the monuments of greatness, which resist both time and circumstance.

So long as we preserve, and appreciate the achievements of Jefferson and Adams, of Franklin and Madison, of Hamilton, of Hancock, and of Rutledge, men who labored for the whole country, and lived for mankind, we cannot sink to the petty strife which would sap the foundations, and destroy the political fabric our fathers erected, and bequeathed as an inheritance to our posterity forever.

It needs the united power, harmonious action and concentrated will of the people of all these States to roll the wheel of progress to the end which our fathers contemplated, and which their sons, if they are wise and true, may behold.

From Florida to California, from Oregon to Maine, from the center to the remotest border, may the possessors of our constitutional heritage appreciate its value, and faithfully, fraternally labor for its thorough development, looking back to the original compact for the purposes for which the Union was established, and forward to the blessing which such union was designed and is competent to confer.

The stars on our flag, recording the number of the States united, have already been more than doubled; and I hopefully look forward to the day when the constellation shall become a galaxy covering the stripes, which record the original number of our political family, and shall shed over the nations of the earth the light of regeneration to mankind.

This great country will remain united. How �united� is set forth in the language to which this clause was a conclusion, �united to protect our national flag whenever a foreign power, presuming on our domestic dissention, should dare to insult it.�

I say to you the people of New York, I cling tenaciously to our constitutional Government, seeing as I do in the fraternal Union of equal States the benefit to all and the fulfillment of that high destiny which our fathers hoped for and left it for their sons to attain.

President Jefferson Davis thumbed through the four pages of Copy #1 of the document labeled Confederate Union General War Plan � 1861. Copies #2, #3, #4, and #5 were held by Secretary of War Stanton, General of the Eastern Armies George B. McClellan, General of the Western Armies Robert E. Lee, and Secretary of the Navy Franklin Buchanan whom Davis had brought in to replace Caleb Cushing. To maintain security these were the only copies extant.

The plan was written in Stanton�s style of the legal briefs he had been trained to write as a lawyer. Its strategic substance bore the imprint of George McClellan�s thinking. Its tactical details in the Western Theater derived from Lee�s thoroughgoing consideration.

Davis read the plan aloud while Lee, McClellan, Stanton, and Buchanan followed along in their copies:

General War Plan 1861

1.�Strategic Objectives, Department of the East.

A) Take possession of the ports at Boston, Portsmouth, Portland, and Providence. The foreign trade of the Insurgent States will thereafter be limited to the Canadian port of Montreal, served by single-track railroads and ice-bound from December through mid-April. Occupation of the New England ports will suppress the Rebel operation of warships and privateers.

B) Secure possession of the arsenals at Watertown, Massachusetts near Boston and Kennebec, Maine near Augusta.

C) Destroy by cavalry raid the arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts and the Colt factory at Hartford, Connecticut.

2.�Strategic Objectives, Department of the West.

A) Destroy the Insurgent armies in Illinois and Indiana � the army commanded by Grant in Illinois; the army commanded by McDowell in Indiana; and the garrison at Terre Haute.

B) Isolate the westernmost Insurgent States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territory of Kansas by blocking their communications through Illinois and Indiana.

3.�Government of recovered territories.

A) In New England restore Confederate Union civil government to the vicinities of Boston, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Portland and Augusta, Maine; and Providence, Rhode Island.

B) In the Northwest restore Confederate Union civil government to the principle cities and populated districts of Indiana and Illinois and Southwestern-most Ohio as far as the line of Rock Island � Chicago � Fort Wayne � Dayton � Cincinnati.

C) The civil and military governments in the recovered territories will be administered by persons loyal to the Confederate Union. Until hostilities cease, the civil government will be subordinate to the military. Insurgent activities, most specifically recruitment and procurement of supplies, will be suppressed. Movement of persons and trade in and out of the recovered areas will at the discretion of the military authority. The recovered areas will be garrisoned and fortified against Insurgent counterattack.

4.�Attainment of objectives. When these objectives are attained we will have confined the remaining Insurgent armies to the states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the inland portions of New York and New England west of the Connecticut River. We will be positioned to close out the Rebellion of these last Insurgent-held territories in 1862.

5.�Commencement of operations. The Western Campaign will begin on about October 1, 1861. The Eastern Campaign will begin about two weeks later after the Insurgents� attention has been focused westward.

6.�Duration of operations. The campaigns will be constrained after December due to the onset of winter rain and snow. The offensive will therefore halt by early December and defensive lines will be constructed. The large cities of Chicago, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Dayton, and Cincinnati should be within our lines by then and will quarter our men through the harsh winter season. Communication lines to supply bases will be garrisoned to prevent disruption by insurgents.

7.�Allocation of forces. The Eastern Campaign anticipates 100 regiments of the National Army will be allocated to the occupation of Boston and its immediate vicinity; 25 will be allocated to the occupation of Portland; 15 to Augusta; 15 to Portsmouth; and 25 to Providence. The Western Campaign anticipates 240 regiments of combined state militias for the initial operation � 120 to pin the armies of Grant and McDowell and 120 to envelop them. These will be augmented by 100 follow-on regiments within 30 days to occupy lines of communication and replenish losses.

8.�Concentration of forces.

A) In order to deceive the Insurgents into believing that no offensive may be expected before 1862 our concentrations must remain obscure. In the West our final concentrations will be begin no earlier than 72 hours before the start of the offensive. In the East a movement to the seaboard ports will begin no sooner than one week prior to the start of the offensive.

B) Order of Concentration, Department of the East. Units of the National Army will debark from these ports: in Florida, Jacksonville; in Georgia, Savannah; in South Carolina, Charleston; in North Carolina, Wilmington, in Virginia, Norfolk. The transports will assemble at Hampton Roads. From there they will be escorted direct to amphibious landings at or near the harbors of Boston, Portsmouth, and Portland.

C) Order of Concentration, Department of the West. State militia companies will gather: in Alabama, Mobile; in Mississippi, Vicksburg; in Tennessee and Arkansas, Memphis; in Kentucky, Louisville; in Louisiana, New Orleans; in Texas, Galveston. To expedite the arrival of forces near the front, rail traffic will be one-way toward the fronts for three days prior and three days after the commencement of operations.

9.�Supporting army operations

A) Eastern Campaign. Our forces in and around New York and Philadelphia will launch spoiling attacks to tie down the Insurgent armies, thereby inhibiting the enemy�s ability to reinforce New England or the Northwest. Should the Insurgents attempt to move forces from these areas toward New England they will be attacked on the march by General Beauregard�s army at New York.

B) Western Campaign, Trans-Mississippi. The Missouri State Militia will secure the State of Missouri against incursions by Insurgents operating out of Iowa, northern Illinois, and the Kansas Territory.

C) Western Campaign, Kentucky and Indiana. The Kentucky State Militia remaining in Kentucky will secure the State of Kentucky against incursions by Insurgents operating from across the Ohio River, especially from Cincinnati. To tie down the Rebels in Kentucky and Indiana, General Harney will launch a diversionary attack to occupy points on the railroad between Indianapolis and Cincinnati at Shelbyville and Greensburg. Madison will be brought inside our lines if feasible.

10.�Naval Operations.

A) Eastern Campaign. We will charter steamers to move our men into the New England ports. They will be escorted by warships of the Home Squadron based in Norfolk. A part of the Home Squadron will be sent to the mouth of the Delaware River to engage the Rebel ships based in Philadelphia.

B) Contracts have been let for the construction of twenty armored gunboats to patrol the Western rivers and block Rebel interference with our commercial and military shipping. These to be completed by March 1, 1862.

C) Contracts have been let for the construction of twelve ocean-going battle cruisers to augment our Navy, these to be completed by December 31, 1862.

11.�Security. The utmost secrecy must be maintained. We must assume that the Insurgents have agents at high levels in our armies and government agencies. We must assume that they are monitoring our rail and shipping traffic at ports and railroad terminals.

12.�Deception. In order to deceive the enemy we will instigate rumors that the Eastern Campaign will be an amphibious assault up the Delaware River into Philadelphia. We will depend upon the short 72-hour concentration of forces to deceive the enemy in the West.

When Davis finished reading the plan he paused to take a long drink of his minted tea. �These plans are open to discussion.�

Robert E. Lee looked at McClellan. �It�s not my bailiwick, Mac, but I do want to know how you�re going to reduce the forts guarding the harbors at Boston and Portland. I didn�t see anything about that in the plan.�

�I�m not going to reduce them!�

They all sat bolt upright.

�It�s one of the things I learned while observing the Crimean War,� McClellan explained. �Harbor forts only have utility when an enemy fleet engages them. They are of no use when an invading fleet chooses to ignore them.�

�They won�t blow the bottoms out of your ships coming into the harbor?� asked Davis incredulously.

�They won�t be able to,� retorted McClellan confidently. �The artillerymen manning those forts are inexperienced. They�ve had no practice in deflection shooting. So long as we don�t approach the forts head-on they won�t hit anything except by luck. We�ll run the steamers in by day. I�ll bring the slower sailing ships in by night. Unless there�s a full moon they won�t even see them.

�To confuse their gunners I�ll mount some cannons on a few �decoy ships� and have them open fire with powder charges only. That will fog up the harbor and make it impossible for the forts to see what they�re shooting at even in broad daylight. Once our men are landed in Boston they�ll be safe. The harbor forts won�t open fire on the city. Their artillerymen probably couldn�t hit it even if they did. I�ll ignore the forts and let them fire off all their ammunition. After that the forts will be no more dangerous than any other pile of rocks.�

Davis was astonished. �So you�re telling us that all those expenditures we�ve been making on harbor forts for lo these many years are useless. They wouldn�t protect our cities from the European navies, would they?�

�They�d protect us so long as the Europeans played the game of engaging them,� answered McClellan. �And most navy men would insist on slugging it out with the forts until they were reduced. That�s what we�ve all been trained to do. But if an enemy chose to ignore the forts they wouldn�t be likely to inflict substantial harm on him.�

�What do you think, Frank?� Davis asked Secretary of the Navy Buchanan.

�I concur with Mac�s conclusions. Conventional wisdom holds that you can�t take possession of an enemy harbor without first reducing its forts. But when has conventional wisdom ever been put to the test? Like Mac says, their artillery men aren�t trained, and even if they were, I doubt that they would be able to estimate lead and deflection with sufficient accuracy to make hits on fast-moving ships.�

�What about their defending the harbor with warships?� asked Lee. �Do we know how many U.S. Navy ships are loyal to the Rebels? Some of those are bound to show up in Boston to contest our invasion.�

�We know for certain that they have five of our active-duty ships under their command,� Buchanan replied. He looked at his notes. �They captured the Jamestown at Philadelphia. They acquired the Vincennes and Preble in ordinary at Boston. The Portsmouth and Levant on overseas duty are commanded by New Englanders and crews known to be loyal Free Staters. We suspect some other ships on overseas duty may be Free State-loyal, but we won�t know for certain until they return to their ports. Also, besides the Vincennes and Preble, which are of recent construction, there are about a dozen of our older warships laid up in Boston, Philadelphia, and Portsmouth, but so far as we know the Rebels have not put any of these older ships to sea.�

Buchanan looked up from his papers. �As indicated in the war plan, we�ll try to draw whatever ships the Rebels command to Delaware Bay to defend against our feigned attack on Philadelphia. We�ll try to destroy those ships or at least bottle them up. If they keep any of their warships in Boston we�ll have to defeat them, but I don�t expect we�ll have to deal with more than two. We�ll have our entire Home Squadron to deal with them.�

�I�m satisfied on that point,� said Lee. �At least until we find out whether running our landing fleet past the harbor forts works as well in practice as well as it sounds in theory! I do agree with your point about the risk being necessary. It would take weeks to reduce the forts by naval bombardment and that would only serve to give the Rebels the time they require to fortify Boston itself. Now I would like an explanation of the details of another point in your plan � that being the cavalry against the New England arsenals.�

�We�ll land three thousand un-mounted cavalrymen at Boston on the first day,� McClellan explained. �They�ll acquire horses in Boston and then ride for the Springfield Armory ninety miles away. They�ll get there before the Free Staters even know they�re on the way. They�ll burn it then follow the Connecticut River down to the Colt Factory at Hartford twenty-six miles south. They�ll burn that one then return to our lines in Boston. With your permission I�d like to assign Jeb Stuart to command the raid. You trained him superbly to command cavalry in long distance raids. He proved his mettle fighting the Indians on the frontier.�

�I was hoping to use Stuart in Illinois,� replied Lee. �I wanted to send him on a long-stop between Grant�s lines and Chicago.�

�I understand it�s an imposition,� replied McClellan. �And of course it�s your decision. But I would suggest that it�s at least as important for us to disarm the Rebels by demolishing their weapons manufactories as it is to defeat them in the field. Jeb�s the only cavalry commander I trust to carry out this raid and then get his men back to our lines. And even without Jeb you will still have Stoneballs Jackson to command your mobile forces in the West.�

�Yes,� replied Lee, �That is the case. I would be ungenerous to demand all of our mobile forces. I will assign Captain Stuart to your command.�

�Thank you, General Lee, you are most gracious.�

�What�s next?� asked Davis.

�The time phasing of the plan concerns me,� said Stanton. �Winters are hard in northern Illinois. If we�re going to make a late season push toward Chicago we have to get there before winter closes in on us. We can�t be stuck outside the city when the blizzards come. The season is short for the landing in Boston too. Hurricanes are rampant in the early summer and the nor�easters arrive in late October. Those storms will put our shipping at risk. We shouldn�t land an army in Boston unless we�re certain that we can supply it. Do we really have enough time to capture Boston and Chicago before winter forces us to suspend our operations? Would it be better to wait until next May to commence these operations?�

All looked at McClellan.

�We must commence the offensives now,� argued McClellan. �That is our best guarantee of success. Delaying will allow the Insurgents to improve their position more than we can improve ours.

�They have about two hundred thousand men in the field at this moment. In six months they may have four hundred thousand. In a year they may have a million.

�They are defending Boston and Portland with a few dozen untrained artillerists in the harbor forts and nothing at all on the mainland. In a year they�ll have Boston and Portland defended with underwater torpedoes and heavy artillery manned by trained gunners emplaced on the mainland and protected by thousands of men in fortifications.

�They have fortified the bluffs of the Mississippi. They haven�t fortified the Wabash or the Illinois. Let�s not give them time to think of doing it.

�They have got the British to guarantee their access to the sea by way of Montreal. A year from now they may be able to persuade the British to guarantee their possession of the New England ports.

�They have been able to raise an army to contest our forces on land, but they have acquired only a handful of ships and loyal crews to contest us by sea. They will soon think to construct a formidable navy to defend their ports or carry on warfare against us on the high seas with commerce raiders and privateers.

�They�ve manned their front lines at the contested points in Illinois and Pennsylvania but they haven�t yet built up a strategic reserve that could take the offensive against us.

�They have made some nuisance raids from Kansas and Iowa to tie down our Missouri militias guarding the western frontier, but they haven�t yet raided across the Ohio River into Kentucky and Virginia, nor have they tried to advance into Maryland and Delaware.

�They are clever. Let�s not give them time to contemplate ways to make the war more difficult than it already is. Let�s keep them on the defensive and devoting their full attention to reacting to our operations and not to contemplating operations against us.�

Davis held up his hand to stop McClellan who was prepared to bring up many more perils of delaying the offensive. �I think you�ve convinced us beyond any reasonable doubt of the necessity for taking the offensive in October. Does anybody still object to the October commencement?�

This time there was silence.

�What say you, General Lee? Did your reconnaissance to Indiana and Illinois cause you any misgivings about your assigned role in executing the plan?�

�No, sir,� replied Lee. �My reconnaissance has satisfied me that the Wabash River will be ideal for a breakthrough. It is fordable but scarcely defended. The railroads approaching the front are sufficient to concentrate the one hundred and twenty regiments allocated to the breakthrough phase of the campaign. The terrain is flat and therefore suitable for my men to cut across Grant�s rear and surround his army before he is aware that a major attack is underway.�

�Well, that leaves us with the question of reinforcement and resupply,� said Davis. He addressed Secretary of the Navy Buchanan. �Frank, it�s up to you to charter all the ships we need to move Mac�s National Army into the New England ports. Charter what you need in New Orleans to keep Lee�s supplies moving up the Mississippi River. Mr. Stanton is a lawyer. He�ll know how to charter the ships through civilian agencies so that the Rebels don�t get wind that this is a military operation.�

�And so that we don�t run the price of the charters up,� added Stanton.

Davis addressed Stanton. �It will also be your job to keep the railroads moving. Railroad men can be stubborn. Make sure they understand the importance of this operation. And tell them to keep quiet about it.�

�Of course,� said Stanton. �I�m an old railroad lawyer. I�ll sue them if they don�t comply.� The others laughed, but Davis had the impression that it wasn�t in Mr. Stanton�s nature to joke about using his authority to accomplish what had to be accomplished and worry about the legal niceties later on. That could be a useful trait during time of war.

President Lincoln greeted his Joint Cabinet and Congressional Executive Committee as they filed into the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion. Mrs. Lincoln also greeted the members while setting the table with refreshments of food and drink with her own hands.

Old bachelor Senator Charles Sumner clasped her hands in his. �Thank you, My Dear, for seeing to our comfort, as you always do!�

�Yes, a hearty �Thank You� to our gracious hostess!� said the equally dour Senator Ben Wade. The other men echoed their approval.

�You are very welcome, Sirs,� replied Mrs. Lincoln with a twinkle in her eye.

Mr. Lincoln smiled to himself. How those old Abolitionists love my Mary! And she, a Southern Belle, from a slave-owning family! They may think of me as an Illinois backwoods �sucker�, but she has won their affection by proving herself charming and as up to date on events as they are.

When all were served and seated Mr. Lincoln opened the meeting.

�Thank you, members of the Cabinet and Congress for coming here on such short notice. Before we get to today�s urgent topic of discussion, I would like to thank the Congressmen and Senators for your swift ratification of the Commercial Treaty that the Secretary of State has so ably negotiated with the Joint Assembly of East and West Canada. I also congratulate Congress on its prompt passage of the Legal Tender Act. That Act, along with the Canadian Treaty, bids fair to restore the circulation of our nation�s financial life�s blood.�

The men nodded in affirmation.

�I�ve asked you here because developments of an urgent military nature were brought to my attention yesterday afternoon by Alan Pinkerton, whose detective agency we have contracted to inform us of events in the Confederation Union.� He held up a binder.

�The Secretary of War and I have decided that the information is substantial enough to warrant the convening of this emergency meeting. Ben, John, and I will be leaving this afternoon to attend the Free State Rally in Columbus tomorrow. The rally is too important for us to miss. We wanted to make sure the rest of you are apprised of this information so that you will be prepared for any anything that may develop between tomorrow and our return on Friday.�

Mr. Lincoln picked up Pinkerton�s report and began reading.

�Pinkerton�s report is titled A Report of Recent Movements of Soldiers by Rail and Ship in the Confederate Union.�

The Cabinet Members, Senators, and Congressmen became silent.

�My agents in the Confederate Union report the widespread movement of men and equipment to the seaports, river ports, and railroad terminals on the Atlantic Coast and Mississippi Valley.

�In Virginia the movement is toward Hampton Roads.

�In North Carolina it is toward Wilmington.

�In South Carolina it is toward Charleston.

�In Georgia toward Savannah.

�In Florida toward Jacksonville.

�In Alabama toward Mobile.

�In Louisiana toward New Orleans.

�In Mississippi toward Vicksburg.

�In Arkansas and western Tennessee toward Memphis.

�In the central and eastern portions of Tennessee and in the northern portions of Alabama and Georgia, the movement of men and material is transiting through Nashville en route to Central Illinois. An increase in train arrivals from central and eastern Kentucky is reported at Louisville.

�These reports are based on arrivals and departures observed by my agents stationed in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Louisville.�

Lincoln flipped the page.

�The movement of Confederate Union men and material towards the Northwest is presumed to be preliminary to the renewal of the offensive against Grant�s line in Illinois and McDowell�s in Indiana.

�Conversations heard by our agents at the Confederate Union Atlantic seaports indicate that a simultaneous renewal of the campaign against Philadelphia is about to commence. It is indicated to be a combined assault by land and sea.�

�How did Mr. Pinkerton get this information to us?� asked Secretary of State Seward. �And how current is it?�

�Pinkerton works out of Louisville,� replied Mr. Lincoln. �He left there three days ago and came into our lines at Cincinnati.�

�So the Confederates are preparing to strike us again,� said Thad Stevens. �What are we going to do about that?�

�We have our reserve armies in training around Chicago, Columbus, and Albany,� Secretary of War Simon Cameron answered. �I�d suggest we get them on the way to Grant, McDowell, and Fremont at once. They can complete their training when they get to the line.�

John Sherman looked alarmed. �Shouldn�t we hold some men back for other contingencies? What if the Confederates are planning to make their main thrust against Cincinnati?�

�We could send half the reserve armies forward now and hold the other half back in case we need them at Cincinnati or some other place later,� suggested Iowa Congressman William Vandever.

�That would mean dividing the forces,� answered Cameron. �That might leave us with too few men to defeat the Confederates at the decisive points of attack.�

�We should make the best use of Pinkerton�s intelligence,� advised Senator Ben Wade. �Otherwise why did we hire him? If he says the attack will be directed at the Northwest and Philadelphia then I think we should concentrate our men on those lines to repel it.�

Lincoln threw his hands up. �This is what vexes me! I am advised on all sides of each military decision. Then, no sooner am I decided on a particular course, than I am advised to do something else. Fremont advises me that he should be unleashed to take the offensive to the Confederates and free their slaves. Yet I am advised by others to order him into New Jersey. Now I am advised by some to send our reserve armies to the front, and by others to hold them back! I am at a loss as to know what to do.�

John Sherman raised his head. �You�re not getting sound advice from military people. You�re getting it from us, and we don�t have military instincts. It�s no wonder the advice is inconsistent.�

�That point is well taken,� Lincoln acknowledged. �But where can I obtain expert military advice? Most of our prominent military men followed Lee and McClellan in remaining loyal to the Confederate Union. Winfield Scott and Henry Halleck are neutral and won�t help me. I don�t dare pull back Grant, McDowell, or Fremont to come here and advise me when they are urgently needed at the fronts. So who can I turn to?�

John Sherman didn�t answer the question, but he thought that perhaps his brother Cump could be useful in advising the President.

�Excuse me,� he said. �I�ve got to take care of a few errands before we leave. I�ll meet you at the station at three o�clock.� Then he left to telegraph his brother Cump in Lancaster to meet him in Columbus.

�How can you keep straddling the fence?� John Sherman asked his brother Cump. �The Confederates have rejected every fair offer of peace. They�re getting ready to strike us again. Won�t you please help us or else go back and fight for your Confederate friends? But for Lord�s sakes, do something.�

Cump Sherman looked skyward as he contemplated how to answer his brother. Dark clouds were scudding in from the north. He felt a gust of cool air blow across his face, the first fresh breeze of autumn. The breeze unfurled the �Gold Star� flags of the Republic of Free America and set them flapping around Capitol Square. A band played a spirited rendition of �Yankee Doodle� near the speakers� platform.

The Republican Wide Awakes who had not yet gone off to war stood in ranks holding torches and singing along. They were joined by some of the new recruits who had gone into training at Camp Dennison just outside the city. The uniformed recruits were conspicuous by the gold shirts they wore on top of their blue trousers. Many of the civilians in the crowd sang along too. Sherman looked at the lithographed flyer promoting this rally. The banner across the top showed the image of �Miss Columbia� wielding a sword while holding the Free State Flag.

How can you keep straddling the fence? It was a good question. He wished he knew how to answer it.

Until now he had been nonchalant about the war, not much caring whether Ohio maintained itself under the flag of the United States of Free America or was forced back into the Confederate Union. Having served many of his military assignments in the South, and being well regarded there, he had no quarrel with his Confederate friends. He had no brief against the Free States either, believing that if they wanted a country of their own badly enough to invoke the right of revolution, they had every right to fight for it. But it wasn�t his fight.

Under no circumstances will I draw my sword against my family and friends in Ohio. Yet it would be just as painful for me to fight for the Free States of America, which would mean fighting to dismember the Union. I suppose I could go off to San Francisco, as I first thought, and try to ignore the war. But everybody out there would be asking me why I wasn�t in the fight. They would think me a shirker and a coward. And perhaps they would be right. But how can I involve myself in a cause I am not certain can or should prevail? But John is also right that I�ve got to do something. Torturing myself with indecision will surely drive me insane.

Cump supposed that many other Northerners were wrestling with that same dilemma. They would be those middle-aged people like him who had grown up in the era before 1850 when Northerners and Southerners had compromised over slavery, when they had fought together on the same side in Texas and Mexico.

Those who voted Democratic, and even many moderate Republicans, did not care for the divisive rhetoric of the noisy Northern Abolitionists any more than they cared for the Southern �Fire Eaters.� Like Cump they could not bear to fight against their friends and families in the Free States, but they could not bring themselves to fight with them against the old Union either. Cump thought again: It�s not our fight.

So far the Free State Republicans had left these �fence sitters� alone. They had turned away thousands of their own partisans who wanted to fight but couldn�t be armed or equipped, so why worry about dragooning people who were indifferent to their cause?

In recent weeks the Free Staters had even convinced themselves that the war was winding down. Grant and McDowell had succeeded in stabilizing a well-fortified front across Illinois and Indiana. It wasn�t the Ohio River frontier the Free Staters wanted, but it was far enough south to encompass most of the Republican constituency. In the East the Free Staters had, with a bit of luck brought about by Fremont�s daring reconnaissance, sent the Confederates reeling back from Gettysburg and out of the State of Pennsylvania.

Would the Confederates not be long in concluding that peace based on Free State independence was preferable to continuing the war to force those crazy Abolitionists back into the Confederate Union? Once passions cooled they would surely agree to seek peace on the basis of Horace Greeley�s proposal, which the Free State Government had already endorsed. An air of satisfied complacency had settled in over the Free State Republicans, who smugly assumed that their independence was a done deal.

All of that seemed to have changed in a hurry. His brother�s telegram asking him to come up from Lancaster to attend this rally and hear Mr. Lincoln sounded urgent. Now John had informed him that the Confederates were preparing to renew their assault. Perhaps there would be definite news about that. Well, let�s see the show. It must be a good one if they�ve brought old Abe Lincoln down here.

The Free State Republicans began their show. The first speaker was Governor William Dennison, a distinguished-looking man in his mid-40�s. Dennison spoke with the voice of confident authority:

�Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to hear us today. We have people here from all across Ohio, and some from Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

�Our speakers include the Heroes of Delphi and our free citizens of color whom they rescued. And most importantly, our President has come down from Cleveland to make the keynote address.

�Let me begin by thanking you for your patriotism with our government�s finances. Our farmers, merchants, and manufacturers are accepting the government�s new-issue currency at par with gold as the law requires. That is allowing us to buy what is necessary to arm and equip the men who are fighting for us.�

The governor paused while the people whistled and cheered.

�I am pleased to announce that the opening of duty-free transit to Montreal has restored our overseas trade. Our seasons� first harvests are being loaded this very day. Our farmers and merchants have received their first advances from the British and Canadian factors.�

The farmers, merchants, and bankers in the crowd cheered loudly.

�That is the good news,� continued Dennison. �The not-so-good news is that, contrary to all reasoned expectations, the Confederates have spurned our most sensible and fair minded offers of peace. Their armies and navies are reported to be preparing to renew their war against us. We must prepare ourselves to throw them back again, as we did at Gettysburg, while inflicting losses sufficient to convince them that their mad quest to conquer us is futile. We will not be conquered!�

Thunderous cheers again erupted across Capitol Square. It seemed to Cump that the displacement of air from the roaring crowd set the flags and banners to flapping again.

�I regret that we could not accept all of you during our first call for volunteers. We were short of arms, equipment, and of officers qualified to train you. I am pleased to say that those shortages have been alleviated. We have just received ten thousand new and refurbished rifled muskets from the Springfield Armory. And we�re accepting any and all civilian firearms, including shotguns, squirrel guns, and pistols. All firearms are useful for the close-in defensive fighting that we expect to be engaged in. Bring us your surplus firearms and black powder. There can never be too much gunpowder in time of war!�

The crowd laughed a little at Dennison�s understatement of the obvious. Dennison smiled too and continued. �Be assured that all able-bodied men over eighteen will be accepted for service and that all will be armed.�

At least they are doing some things right thought Cump. They are learning from their mistakes.

�I know that some of you are still wondering why you should fight for the Republic of Free America.�

Cump felt that eyes were watching him. When he glanced sideways his brother John was indeed staring at him. Are you listening, Cump?

�Allow me to introduce you to some people who can explain why our cause of Free State Independence is worth fighting for. Please welcome the Heroes of Delphi. Let�s hear first from Eddie Bates and Emma Brown of Cass County, Michigan.�

The Governor shook hands with a thirtyish-looking man with a chocolate-brown complexion who stepped up to the podium. The black fellow wore a well-tailored suit and a hat. He smiled and began speaking with an informal but booming baritone voice that carried across the square.

�Thank you, Governor. My name is Eddie Bates. I�m one of the five free Negroes kidnapped by slave raiders in Cass County, Michigan and freed four days later at Delphi.�

A hush fell over the square as the crowd gave Eddie its attention. Only the flapping of the flags and banners broke the silence.

�Two days stand out in my life,� said Eddie. �The first was when my Pa took us off from our slave quarters in Maryland. We left in the middle of a night pouring the worst rain I�ve ever seen. Pa said the patterollers wouldn�t be able to track us with their Nigger dogs �cause the rain would wash away our footprints. So we went on through that pourin� rain. We took the old Indian trails through the woods until we reached the Cumberland Mountain.

�We were powerful hungry up on that mountain, and we were plumb worn out. But Pa kept sayin, �A little further, just a littler further, chillun, just a little further to Freedom.� And one morning, the sun come up, and we saw a little town down in the valley. Pa went down to see about it. He came back and says, �We are in Pennsylvania! We are free!� He got down on his hands and knees and kissed the ground.

�Pa knew to look for the Quakers, because folks said that Quakers helped the slaves that run away. So we stayed hid up there on that mountain till Pa found where the Quakers met. Those Quakers sure enough did take us to Michigan. We settled in Cass County where folks protect Negroes from slave catchers.

�We prospered there as free men and women. I worked for the Quaker farmers until I grew up. In between the planting and harvest the Quakers educated me and the other colored children in their schools. When I grew up I took me a wife.� he looked at Emma. �And then I went to work as a baker for my own account. We have made many good friends in Cass County. We were living a life blessed with the freedom that the Good Lord meant for all people to have.�

A smattering of applause went through the crowd. Eddie smiled broadly.

�Thank you. And that brings me to the second most memorable day of my life. That was last May the 10^th. It started out as a beautiful spring day. I had just woke up. Emma was cooking breakfast. Suddenly the dogs started barking, then four strangers busted through the door. They knocked me down, shackled me, and stuffed a rag in my mouth. But Emma tricked those men. She told them they could eat our breakfast. While they were filling their faces she snuck out the back door and rode into town to get help from Sheriff Parker.

�The Slavers bound and gagged me and the other Negroes. They nailed us in coffins and threw us in a wagon. They hauled us around in those coffins four days with no food or water. Kept me wallowing in my own filth, my arms and legs stiff and aching. I wanted to scream but couldn�t with that rag stuffed in my mouth.�

Eddie looked at his wife Emma and put his arm around her.

�If it hadn�t been for this brave lady who rode off to alert the sheriff they would have taken all of us across the Ohio River and sold us back into slavery, that is if any of us lived long enough to get there. Now I�ll turn the story over to the heroes who saved us.�

Eddie sat down and Sheriff Parker took the stage.

�Thank you, Eddie. Like Eddie was saying, Emma kept a cool head. She fed the Slavers then snuck out the back and rode three miles into town in her nightclothes to tell me what had happened. We got together a posse of Cass County men to rescue Eddie and the other Negroes. I sent riders out to every county seat in northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio to alert people to be on the lookout for them.

�The Slavers were discovered taking the Negroes down the Tippecanoe to the Wabash. Some of our friends from St. Joseph�s County, Indiana got there first and blocked the river. We got there the next day.

�We told the slavers they could go home if they�d let the Negroes go. Their answer was to fire on us. We lost five our Cass County men killed that day. Those men didn�t give up their lives because they were Republicans or Abolitionists. They gave their lives to save their friends and neighbors and fellow citizens of Cass County, Michigan from being returned to slavery. �No greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends.��

Sheriff Parker paused. Many of the women and a few of the men had teary eyes.

�And maybe they died fighting for their own freedom too. Maybe they knew that if they didn�t stop the Slavers here and now, they would have come back again and again, thumbing their noses at us, and kidnapping any person of color off the fields and streets that they took a fancy to. Our men felt that it was better to fight, and to lay down their lives if necessary, than to be become slaves of the Slavers!�

The crowed roared its approval. The Wide Awakes banged their drums.

�Now let me introduce Lewis Schneider of the late Elmer Ellsworth�s Chicago Zouaves Militia Company.�

Lewis Schneider took his place at the podium.

�Thank you Sheriff, and thanks to your men of Cass County, and to the men of St. Joseph�s County, Indiana who blocked the Slavers and gave us time to get there and help with the rescue.�

Schneider�s eyes became moist.

�Elmer Ellsworth was a peaceable man. He never expected us to be engaged in combat. But he didn�t shirk from doing his duty when the time came.� Schneider wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. �He was the first of our men to die. I was standing right next to him when the Slavers shot him. Thirteen of our men died. Sixteen more were wounded, some gravely.

�The survivors of Elmer�s Company are defending us on the Illinois Front. I would be there too, if I hadn�t stopped a bullet.� Schneider grabbed his limp left arm and held it up. �I lost use of my arm at Delphi, but that is so very little compared with those who lost their lives. Let�s remember what Elmer and the other heroes of his company and of Sheriff Parker�s posse died fighting for. They died fighting to keep the Free States free for all men, the way our Founders decreed it to be free! Freedom isn�t freedom if it is just for some men. It has to freedom for all!�

The crowd whistled and cheered.

As Schneider turned to sit down President Lincoln stood up and embraced him.

�Thank you Eddie and Emma and Sheriff Parker and Captain Schneider. You have brought home to us the evil of the Slave Power: how it violates the homes of free men and women; how it kidnaps them and nails them into coffins; how it inflicts violence not only on the slaves but on our law-abiding people here in the Free States.

�Elmer Ellsworth was one of my dearest friends. He embodied all the ideals that are right in young men. And he had the courage to die for those ideals at a tender age. Slavery killed him. It killed his men and Sheriff Parker�s men. It has killed our Free State men in St. Louis, in my hometown of Springfield, and in many other towns across the Free States.�

Mr. Lincoln shook his head and seemed about to weep.

�Oh, how I hate slavery! Not only do I hate its oppression of the slaves, but I hate it for the violence it inflicts upon the free men who dare to oppose it!

�But even though I hate it, I never thought of interfering with the institution in the states that permitted it. We only went out of the Union when the Slavers sought to force their slave laws upon us!

�Let us never forget how precious is this legacy of freedom our Fathers handed down to us. I learned about it when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I would listen, around the fireplace, to the stories my father and uncle Mordecai told. My favorite stories were about those olden days soon after the Revolution when the pioneers followed Daniel Boone on the Wilderness Road from Virginia into Kentucky.

�I remember their telling of how hungry and fatigued they grew from travelling the barren wilderness across the two hundred miles of mountains, constantly guarding against Indian attack. How they rejoiced when they reached the Cumberland Gap! From there they looked out over the green fields of the Cumberland Plateau that stretched to the horizon. They had reached their Promised Land!

�Once they got there, they had to fight to keep it. My Grandfather Abraham was killed by an Indian in his yard. The Spanish and British sent their agents to Kentucky, promising the settlers that if they would abandon the United States and pledge loyalty to the Spanish Empire to the south or the British Empire to the north, that the attacks by their Indian allies would stop.

�But Kentucky�s leaders told the people: �Stand firm. Our countrymen on the other side of the mountains will come to help us as soon as they are able. Until then we must fight to hold our lands. We will not find a better country.�

�Those Kentuckians did hold out until the United States organized itself under the Constitution and grew strong enough to send its armies across the mountains to help them.

�In time those Kentuckians prospered and the land became dense with settlement. Then the plantation owners brought in their slaves from Virginia and Tennessee. They purchased title to the best land and drove the original settlers off it. My father moved the family across the Ohio River to the country that Thomas Jefferson had so wisely set aside for free men in that great Ordinance of 1787.

�This is now all the country we have left of that which was reserved for us by the Founders. We must fight to preserve it for ourselves and for our prosperity, just as they fought so hard to preserve it for us.�

Lincoln paused as if gathering his thoughts to make another point.

�Now, in everything I have said, I do not mean to condemn the slave owners. They are no worse people than we would be were we in their place. It is the institution of slavery that leads them to commit outrageous acts violence against free men and women that no person in a slave-free country could ever be induced to commit.

�I do not believe that slavery can endure in a world that is becoming ever more civilized. Advances in machinery and communications will doom it. When each machine can do the work of a hundred men on a plantation, the Negroes will become only so much surplus labor. When the progress of science enables people to communicate with each other from afar, then the policy of keeping the Negroes in ignorant isolation from the larger world will fail. Eventually the Negroes must be liberated and set to work for wages as free men in commerce and industry, the same as Whites. The advance of civilization allows for no other course.

�By maintaining our Free State independence we not only protect the freedom of men who are already free, but we advance the day when freedom will be delivered to men who are now held in bondage. The free Negroes who live among us show by example how they prosper in freedom as Whites do. They are demonstrating that their freedom to work as free men, to live as free men, and to vote as free men is no more to be feared than is the freedom of any White person to do the same.

�I have heard some men say that they are reluctant to commit to our cause because they do not want to destroy the Union. I believe the correct way of looking at it is to recognize that the Confederates have destroyed the Union by making slavery the cornerstone of it. It is up to us to restore the Union by placing slavery on the ultimate course of extinction that our Fathers placed it on.

�I believe that if we hold firm, the Border States of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware will abolish slavery before the current century is finished. I can see Virginia returning to its roots in freedom and eliminating slavery as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington asked the Virginia Legislature of their day to do. And I think that eventually even the states of the Deep South will see that slavery�s time has passed.

�Our United States of Free America is really the re-founding of our original Union. We will wait for the other states to free themselves and then join with us. The words �Free America� will become superfluous when all the states join us in freedom! We will become just the United States of America again. We are not fighting to divide the Union, but to restore it � to restore it in the freedom to which it was born!�

Northern Ohio, September 30, 1861

The President and his party relaxed in the passenger car taking them back to Cleveland. The train sped along the flat landscape of Northern Ohio where the work of the harvest was at its peak.

Several hours past sunset, the land was softly illuminated by the light of the orange moon sifting through the cool autumn fog. The President had been playing a game of counting the farmers he saw in the dim light. A few were still working, but most had dropped off to sleep in their fields, too exhausted from a day of hard labor in the hazy sunshine to trek back to their farm houses. They were sleeping peaceably outdoors on a delightful night.

Lincoln smiled. This is the how the Lord meant for men to labor � working free lands with free hands and enjoying the fruits that their labor produces. Thank Heaven our fathers had the presence of mind to keep this land free from slavery. Let me not shirk from my duty to keep it free for my generation and all those that follow.

Mr. Lincoln was accompanied by Eddie Bates and Emma Brown, Lewis Schneider, and Sheriff Parker. He wanted to introduce them to Congress when he addressed the Joint Session on Friday, and then have them speak at another Republican rally in Cleveland on Saturday. Cump Sherman travelled with the President�s party too, his brother John seeking an opportunity to introduce him to Lincoln as a military advisor.

The group sat together around the fold-down table mounted sideways in the middle of the dining car. John Hay had filled the coffee pot and the tea kettle at the station while Mr. Lincoln and his guests had been speaking at the rally. He had purchased some fresh roast beef with cooked green beans and corn and biscuits at the downtown market. Mr. Hay was gratified that the tired passengers enjoyed the food and drink he had scrounged up. None needed refreshment more than his boss.

Hay had worried that Mr. Lincoln was becoming physically and mentally exhausted. The deaths of the President�s in-laws during the Partisan War in Springfield, the loss of his prot�g� Elmer Ellsworth at Delphi, and the passing of Stephen Douglas had deepened his melancholy. The pending renewal of hostilities in the Confederate Union War had etched his face with lines of worry.

But tonight the President�s spirits seem to be much improved. The success of the rally cheered him. It had persuaded thousands of young men to head off to Camp Dennison to enlist in the Free State Army. The camaraderie with the Heroes of Delphi raised Mr. Lincoln�s spirits even higher. Hay watched Lincoln happily slapping the table in uproarious good humor in the way that Hay hadn�t seen since those glorious days of last year�s presidential campaign. He was telling stories in his animated ways of happier days, bringing laughter to his companions as Hay had seen him do on so many occasions before the war. Even the stern man introduced to Hay as �Cump� Sherman was smiling.

The President set down his coffee cup and began speculating in a more serious tone.

�It�s interesting, isn�t it, how history so often turns on the actions of one person. If Emma hadn�t bolted out of that house, the slave raiders might very well have made off with her and Eddie to Kentucky and that would have been the end of the story. Our Republicans would have seethed with rage, but there would have been nothing we could have done about it after the fact. Most in the South and some in the North would have blamed us for protesting the raid: �There the Negro-lovers go stirring up trouble again.� And we would have shut up and gone on about our business in silent humiliation.�

Mr. Lincoln looked at Emma. �You changed the course of history by your courage in bolting out of that house.�

Emma set down her cup of coffee on the table too.

�You know, Mr. President, I just did what I felt in my heart was the right thing to do. I never felt calmer. I felt as if the arms of the Lord were wrapped around me. It was like He was saying, �You know what you have to do, now go and do it. I will be with you.� I didn�t have time to be scared. I just knew the good Lord wasn�t going to let us be sold back into slavery, not if we took action to save ourselves. I thank the Lord for men like Sheriff Parker and Lewis Schneider, and especially for all those who gave up their lives to set Eddie and the others free.�

�My men were proud to come to your rescue,� said Sheriff Parker. �They were proud to fight for their friends and neighbors. Elmer Ellsworth�s men wasted not a second getting to Delphi either.�

�It seems like that�s the very thing that fate was preparing Elmer and us for,� agreed Lewis Schneider. �Like Emma said, we didn�t see it as courage. We just knew what we had to do when the time came to do it.�

�The hardest thing of all,� Emma said to Lewis and Parker, �must have been when you men faced down General Harney the next day. If you hadn�t stared him down until the Wide Awakes got to Delphi, he would have taken us off to the Slave Court. We know how that would have turned out.�

�I hadn�t heard that part of the story,� said Eddie. �The part about them staring down General Harney.�

�That�s because you were laid up in the doctor�s house,� Emma explained. �You didn�t come to your senses until three days after you were rescued from that coffin they had locked you up in. Well, let me tell you: there was an uproar all over the country when news of the battle with the slave raiders got out. Stephen Douglas tried to quiet folks in the South by ordering General Harney to Delphi. He had orders to take us to Slave Court. Douglas had put his men in charge of that court so you can bet they were going to send us back into slavery. Sheriff Parker and Elmer Ellsworth�s men stopped them cold in their tracks until the Wide Awakes got to Delphi and made the army leave.�

�Well, I�ll be switched,� said Eddie. �Douglas wasn�t going to let us go free even after we were rescued. That�s what set off the Partisan War!�

�It was,� replied Parker. �Like Emma said, Harney had orders to take you to that Slave Court that Douglas had set up in Indianapolis. My men and Elmer�s men, and some of the townspeople wouldn�t allow it. We formed a line between the doctor�s house and Harney�s men. We stared them down for hours. Harney hoped we�d chicken out and leave, but we didn�t.�

Parker picked up his coffee cup and swirled it as he remembered that day. �Fred Douglass was there too. He tried to persuade Harney to �look the other way� so we could get you out of there. I could tell that Harney wanted to let you go back home but was duty-bound to obey Douglas� order to send you to the Slave Court. But you know, I don�t think all of us put together could have held that line if it wasn�t for that old fellow who stood with us. His voice rolled like thunder and steadied our courage. He commanded Harney to halt. Harney stopped right in front of him and didn�t move another inch for two full hours. Never did find out who he was. Probably just an old coot full of hard cider.�

�But you did say he stopped General Harney, didn�t you?� asked Mr. Lincoln.

�That, he surely did.�

�Then let�s find out what cider he was drinking and have some made for the rest of us.� Lincoln chuckled. �We�ll likely need a lot of the courage it gave the old fellow before this war�s over and done with.�

�Why do we even have to have a war?� asked Emma when the polite laughter finished. �There aren�t enough free Negroes in the North to shake a stick at. Why don�t the Confederates just let us be? Haven�t they got enough slaves already, without needing to go chasing after us?�

Cump, who had been listening in silence, spoke up.

�You and Eddie are two of the reasons. The Confederates don�t like the example that free Negroes set for their slaves. The slaves are bound to ask why is it that if some Negroes can prosper as free men and women, like you and Eddie do, why can�t all the Negroes be set free to prosper?

�Another thing,� Cump continued, �is that the Confederates believe that the Free State Abolitionists are never going to stop agitating their slaves into rising up against them. I can�t say that point is entirely without merit, not after John Brown�s Raid. I suppose they�re afraid that if the Free States remain independent that one day they�ll start a war to liberate the slaves, perhaps with England and France in tow. So they think it�s better to fight a war to get the Free States back under their thumb now than to have to do it sometime later on. I�m not saying they�re right, but that�s they way they see it.�

�You speak as though you�ve lived among the Confederates and know how they think,� Emma observed.

�Cump was Superintendent of the Louisiana Military Institute until he came up here in July,� explained John. �He knows the Confederates well. In fact, Robert E. Lee asked him to command one of the Confederate Armies, but he refused. Good thing for us he did.�

�Why did you decline Lee�s offer?� Lincoln asked.

�Because I spent enough time fighting John when we were boys! He licked me enough times to learn not to fight with him anymore!�

John howled with laughter. �Well, I was your bigger brother, you know.�

That got a chuckle from everybody.

�Seriously,� Cump continued, �John, and now you, Mr. President, have convinced me that the Free States maintaining ourselves as a separate national sovereignty is necessary, but that it may also lead to our reunification with the Confederate Union States at some time in the future, just the way you explained it today.�

�Sort of like a troubled marriage, I suppose,� said the President. �Sometimes the only way to save it is for the couple to go out of each other�s presence for a while, until their hostility abates. If they remain in each other�s company it will only lead to more arguments followed by divorce.�

�We�ve reached that point, Mr. President,� acknowledged Cump. �We can�t maintain a country in which John Brown�s Raid on the South is followed by Bill Yancey�s raid on the North over and over again. To save the �marriage� we�ve got to get away from the Confederate Union. We�ve got to restore the purpose of the old United States as a country that�s destined to bestow freedom on all. And separated from us, the Confederates may decide to end slavery on their own, when they think the time is right.�

Lincoln put his head in his chin and leaned forward. �I don�t suppose there�s any chance of us sending you over to talk some sense into Davis, Lee, and McClellan, is there?�

�I�ll be glad to try it, but I�m afraid we�ll have to beat them first. That�s the only way we�ll get them to accept Greeley�s Peace Plan.�

�I was thinking that Cump might be able to help us beat some sense into them,� said John Sherman. �I thought that if Robert E. Lee has judged him capable of commanding a Confederate army, then he�d he qualified to give you sound military advice.�

Mr. Lincoln chuckled. �Well, now, I have been offered advice from all manner of people. I don�t see why I shouldn�t receive it from somebody esteemed by General Lee.�

The President sighed and looked at Cump. �I apologize if I sounded flippant with my answer. I am in need of advice from a military expert. I can�t spare any of my field commanders to leave their positions to stand at my side. But I do know that I am lacking in the perspective I need to understand this war and to engage us as effectively as possible in fighting it.�

The President addressed John and Cump. �Would the two of you be available to meet with me at the Hargreaves House tomorrow morning at nine? Secretary of War Cameron and I will pick up the telegrams at the War Department when we get back tonight and see what mischief the enemy is making for us. I would very much like to hear Cump�s opinion on how he thinks we should respond to it.�

From his horse on the west bank ridgeline Stoneballs Jackson watched his men surging across the Wabash. He had organized the tallest into a �human chain� across the river, their arms interlocked. They were placed so as to catch any of the shorter men who slipped on the muddy bottom while crossing upstream.

Stoneballs watched one man get swept off his feet by the current. Frozen with fear, the footloose man latched on to one of the tall men downstream and showed no sign of moving. Stoneballs laughed when the tall fellow finally lost patience, unlocked his arm, and punched the terrorized man in the nose. That got him moving toward the other side as fast as he could by grabbing each tall man�s shoulders then sidling on to the next.

But most of the men were crossing without incident. The cavalrymen forded on their horses. The infantry threw their guns and equipment into the boats being towed across the river by ropes held by the men on the other side. The men seemed cheerful as they climbed out of the river on the other bank. The cold wind and chilling drizzle of yesterday had passed. Now the sun, still strong at this early autumn season, shone through. Though only mid-morning, it was already a brilliantly sunny day of low humidity. The sun steamed the men�s uniforms as they dried. Some took off their shirts. They frolicked with the joy of a victorious army on the march. Stoneballs could hear their laughter echoing across the river.

Yesterday�s storm has blown over. I hope it�s the last one until we get Grant�s army encircled. After that it won�t matter. We�ll be able to use the railroads to advance on Chicago in good weather or bad. The railroads will make this a war of rapid maneuver such as the world has never seen!

Stoneballs shifted his gaze to the engineers laying a pontoon bridge across two dozen requisitioned boats anchored in the river a hundred yards upstream. The bridge was being laid at every angle except straight and level as it bobbed up and down over the uneven decks of the different sized boats. The flooring was a makeshift construction of barn sidings braced by fence posts taken from the surrounding farms. A frugal man, Stoneballs sighed as he contemplated the disbursements the government would be making to the farmers to compensate them for their demolished outbuildings and confiscated boats.

This crossing was exactly the sort of thing that Stoneballs excelled at. Any other commander would have insisted on crossing the Wabash with purpose-built pontoons of uniform size. Accumulating those would have delayed the offensive for months, probably into next year. And their delivery surely would have alerted the enemy that an attack was coming. Stoneballs saw himself as the chief organizer of simplicity. He had told his engineers to use whatever materials were at hand to get his men across. The bridge they were improvising was far from elegant but it would suffice.

At any rate this crossing would be gone and forgotten in a few days. The half-dozen other improvised crossings across the five-mile breakthrough front on the Wabash would be forgotten as well, because if all went as planned they would no longer be needed. Once Terre Haute fell to the south and Urbana fell to the northwest the offensive would align itself on the railroads and erupt with its full force across the Northwestern prairies.

General Lee was right about the Free State Republicans not expecting us to attack here. They did an admirable job of anchoring their lines along the east-west railroads in Illinois and Indiana, but they neglected to bolt the back door across this stretch of river that connects those lines from south to north. They compounded their error by failing to take any action against the deep bulge in the line that �Blackjack� Logan drove through to Paris during the Partisan War. They let us hold that town and use it as a railhead to move our men in close.

Stoneballs looked back over his shoulder. He saw the smoke from dozens of troop trains backed up from Paris to the west side of Edgar County. To speed the concentration, the rail traffic into the Wabash Front was one-way. Every train in the Mississippi Valley was unloading men and supplies in Edgar and Coles counties. By the time the Free State Republicans realized an attack was surging across the Wabash, Stoneball�s corps of five divisions would be rolling up Grant�s line in Illinois from east-to-west, Pemberton�s division would have encircled and cut off Terre Haute, and Kirby Smith�s big division would be rolling up McDowell�s line in Indiana from west-to-east. The follow-on divisions still staging in the Lower Mississippi Valley would provide enough density in the line to prevent Grant or McDowell from breaking the encirclement. Then it would be off to the races to Chicago, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne.

Maintaining the momentum of our attack will depend on our seizing the rail junctions held by the Rebels. The junctions at Urbana, Decatur, Springfield, and Jacksonville will open the doors to Chicago. The junction at Terre Haute opens the door to Indianapolis to the east and also provides the return loop of our supply and reinforcement route to the south. I hope Pemberton�s men are up to the task of seizing Terre Haute no later than tomorrow afternoon.

Stoneballs returned his gaze to the front. Through his spyglass he saw that his mounted men had occupied the high ground on the ridgeline a quarter mile past the river and were starting to wheel to the north. They were screening the infantry climbing ashore on the bank below them. These men were forming up into regiments as they emerged from the river. The regiments were being formed up into brigades and the brigades into divisions. The mobile corps of the Confederate Army of the Northwest was taking shape before his eyes.

This northernmost crossing was reserved for the assembly of John Logan�s division of Illinois men. Being familiar with the land behind Grant�s front, Logan�s men were assigned to lead the four following divisions of Patrick Cleburne, Ben McCulloch, Earl Van Dorn, and William Hardee in the envelopment of Grant�s army all the way west to the Illinois River. To get in Grant�s rear they would have to re-cross the Wabash further north between Williamsport and Lafayette and break the Toledo, Wabash, and Great Western railroad.

As commander of the mobile enveloping force, Jackson intended to ride at the head of an independent reconnaissance battalion of three hundred Illinois cavalrymen handpicked by John Logan. Stoneballs would drive this vanguard to the Illinois River to complete the envelopment as quickly as possible. General Lee wouldn�t approve of him riding that far forward, but what Lee didn�t know wouldn�t hurt him.

For a moment Stoneballs became apprehensive. He and Lee and planned this operation to include Jeb Stuarts� Cavalry. Lee had told him at the last moment that Stuart�s command had been allocated to another operation and would not be available. Stoneballs suspected that �other operation� would be a renewal of the assault on Philadelphia.

Was it wise for us to have divided our forces into two major offensives? Shouldn�t we have concentrated all their best men for this one decisive blow in the West? Stoneballs recovered his confidence. Logan�s men are Illinoisans. They know the country better than Stuart�s men. They will get me to the Illinois River.

Stoneballs heard again the low booming sound coming in on the wind from the northwest. The sound had been intermittent due to the shifting winds. It was General Lee�s bombardment of Grant�s line from the south. Stoneballs didn�t expect it to do much damage against Grant�s expertly entrenched lines, but it was surely commanding the Rebels attention and perhaps causing them to waste ammunition on return fire.

That will keep the Rebels focused on their front while I roll them up from the rear. Then it�s on to Chicago. A good day, this is. A very good day indeed!

Battle of the Wabash, October 3. Pope�s Division encircled and captured. Stoneballs Jackson�s reconnaissance battalion advances through the gap and reaches the Sangamon near Springfield. Confederate enveloping divisions unable to follow due to resistance by W.H.L. Wallace�s division followed by the onset of heavy rains.

President Lincoln began his meeting with the Cabinet and Congressional Executive Committee in the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion. He opened it by introducing Cump Sherman. He asked Cump to describe his military experience and explain his reasons for leaving the Confederate Union and siding with the Free States.

�If anyone objects to Mr. Sherman�s presence please say so,� Mr. Lincoln said after Sherman�s introduction. �Otherwise, I have asked him to give us his opinion on the military situations we will be discussing. The advice I have heard from him so far I have found helpful. Are there any objections to his presence here?�

�Let�s give him a fair hearing,� said Thad Stevens. �If we decide we don�t want to hear anymore then we can ask him to leave.�

The Cabinet and Congressmen nodded their approval.

Lincoln held up the sheaf of telegrams that Secretary of War Cameron had brought.

�There�s a dustup going in Illinois. A ruckus in Indiana too, from the looks of it.� He read a summary of the reports. �The Confederates have moved thousands of their men across the Wabash. They�re maneuvering some of them to try to get behind Grant�s army. Grant reports that they caught John Pope�s division advancing without orders outside of Danville yesterday and captured it. The loss of Pope�s division tore a gap in his line but he thinks he�ll be able to hold the rest of the line from Urbana westward with the men he has left.�

Lincoln put down the sheaf of telegrams from Grant and picked up the ones from McDowell.

�In Indiana McDowell reports that Jacob Loomis� Ohio Division is surrounded at Terre Haute. He says he�s pulling back the rest of his divisions, except for Sheridan�s, to defend Indianapolis. He thinks Sheridan has enough men to contain the Confederates on the leftmost part of his line running down to Madison, Indiana on the Ohio River. His main concern is holding Indianapolis.�

�I don�t like the sound of any of that,� said Thad Stevens. �What was Pope�s division doing �marching without orders?� And why is McDowell retreating into Indianapolis instead of fighting the Confederates where they attacked him?�

�What I want to know is how the Confederates got their men across the Wabash,� said Senator Ben Wade. �Whose responsibility was it to guard the river?�

�It�s McDowell�s front,� answered Secretary of War Simon Cameron.

�McDowell is asking for the release of the partially trained reserve army we have at Camp Dennison,� said Lincoln. �He wants us to send the men to Indianapolis without delay.�

�I don�t know about that,� objected Senator Ben Wade. �If McDowell can�t fight with the men he already has, I don�t see the sense in sending him any more. If he is defeated I�d rather have a new army intact at Columbus.�

�Has Grant asked for the release of our reserve army at Chicago?� asked Congressman William Vandever of Iowa.

�No,� answered Lincoln.

�Then I place more confidence in Grant than I do in McDowell,� said Thad Stevens. �Maybe we should relieve McDowell and promote somebody into command of his army who knows how to fight the way Grant does.�

�What do you think, Cump?� John asked his brother who had been studying the wall map.

Cump, recognizing that most of those present had not yet become acquainted with him, chose his words carefully.

�At this time we don�t have enough information to make any very definite decisions. But that doesn�t mean we shouldn�t take precautions. No harm will be done in getting the reserve armies at Chicago and Columbus ready to move if we should decide to deploy them. I�d suggest placing a couple of trains on standby. Issue ammunition and five days� cooked rations. If we decide to release the men to McDowell or Grant we want them ready to go into go into action as soon as they arrive.�

�Any objections to Sherman�s idea?� asked Lincoln.

�I have none,� said Stevens. �But you will please consult with us before making a decision on whether to release the men at Chicago and Columbus. We should only send them to reinforce a successful battle, not a losing one.�

�I take it that we�ve decided not to send McDowell reinforcements until we get more clarity on his situation,� said Ohio Senator Ben Wade. �That worries me. It sounds from his telegrams that he has more trouble than he can handle. Why don�t we send him the reinforcements now when he needs them rather than wait to send them after he is defeated when it will be too late.�

�It was his negligence in failing to guard the Wabash that made all this trouble,� insisted Thad Stevens. �I say that if we need to send reinforcements to the scene then we must first relieve the general whose mistakes made those reinforcements necessary.�

�Relieving an army general in the heat of battle is difficult,� advised Cump Sherman. �Let McDowell finish the battle first. Then we can decide whether to relieve him after the results are known.�

John Sherman had been pacing restlessly. �Here�s my suggestion: Let�s send Cump to Columbus to get the reserve army is ready to move. Let�s give Sherman the order to move that army into Indianapolis, but to maintain it as a separate command independent of McDowell. Who is in command of that army now?�

�General Ormsby Mitchel,� answered Secretary of War Cameron.

�I know him well,� said Sherman. �He�s a most competent military professional.�

�I second that,� said Ben Wade. �I can�t vouch for his military acumen, but he is well known and well respected in Ohio for his leadership in expanding scientific research. I�m assuming a man of his intelligence, who is also a West Point graduate, will fight his men well.�

�Then let�s send Sherman to Columbus with an order for the Ohio army to march to Indianapolis as an independent command,� said Thad Stevens. �Sherman and Mitchel can consult with McDowell and decide afterward how to fight the army. But it must be made clear that the reserve army is an independent command not subject to McDowell�s orders. Let�s use that army to help McDowell fight the Confederates and drive them back. After we fight the battle we can decide what to do about McDowell.�

�Does that sound like a reasoned plan?� Lincoln asked Cump.

�It does.�

�Then let us write the orders as Senators Sherman and Congressman Stevens advise: Cump Sherman will go to Columbus and help Ormsby Mitchel prepare his army for movement to Indianapolis. The army is to move as soon as possible. It will remain under Mitchel�s command. Mitchel will fight the army in coordination with McDowell but independently of his command.�

�One other thing,� suggested Stevens. �Have Sherman leave with a contingency order in hand for the relief of McDowell if he judges the situation to be irretrievably lost. Let Mitchel assume command of the entire Indiana force if nothing can be salvaged there.�

�Are there any objections to this plan?� asked Lincoln.

The Cabinet members, Senators, and Congressmen murmured what Lincoln took to be their assent.

�Mr. Hay, please write the orders as we have discussed them.� Lincoln repeated the orders while Hay jotted them down. When Hay finished Lincoln passed the written copy of the orders around to Secretary of War Cameron, Senators Sherman and Wade, Congressman Stevens, and Cump. After securing their approval he and Secretary of War Cameron signed the orders.

The President turned to Cump. �The Secretary of War will write you a pass on the next train to Columbus. I�d like you to leave right away. If no train is scheduled to leave tonight then the Secretary of War will charter one for you.�

Brigadier General of Volunteers Ormsby Mitchel poured Cump Sherman a wine aperitif at his Camp Dennison headquarters. He raised his glass to toast Cump�s arrival.

�Cheers, from one West Pointer to another.�

�War brings us West Pointers back together in service of our country,� replied Cump. �When our country calls us to war, we always return to the profession of arms.�

�I�ve been away from the service for many years,� said Mitchel, stirring his glass. �But West Point has left its indelible mark on me. It has made me a success in everything I�ve done.�

�Your fame as an astronomer is known around the world. I�m sorry the war has called you away from its pursuit.�

Cump observed that Mitchel looked to be the very incarnation of what he thought an astronomy professor should look like. Small-bodied, but perfectly proportioned, with thick hair, greying slightly, to show his fifty years. Yet his small frame seemed to radiate energy. He had spent his years out of the service engineering railroads and promoting astronomical research. He had funded the creation of one of the world�s largest telescopes at his Cincinnati observatory. He had become one of the most popular scientific lecturers in the country. Ormsby Mitchel felt that Man could not know Himself fully until he understood the Cosmos and thereby understood his own place in its design.

�For a West Pointer, the country must always come first,� answered Mitchel.

�I suppose that depends on what country you mean,� said Sherman, sipping the wine. �Most West Pointers are either fighting for the Confederate Union or they have stayed neutral. I tried to stay neutral too. I was Commandant of the Louisiana Military Institute when the war started. I had more friends in the Confederate Union than in the Free States. I understood that the Northern Abolitionists have done at least as much as the Southern Fire eaters to break up the Union. So I didn�t want to fight against either Ohio or the Confederate Union.�

�What did make you decide to commit to our War for Free State independence?�

�My brother persuaded me to come back to Ohio to make my decision. While I was here John invited me to Lincoln�s inaugural. His words were convincing. He said them again at his Gettysburg Address, and again at the Columbus rally.�

�What was it he said that convinced you?�

�That we, the Free States, are the true inheritors of the United States. Maybe that�s an overstatement, because the Southerners also did their part to create the Union. But I do agree with Mr. Lincoln that the United States is destined to become a free country in its entirety. The Confederate Union will one day free its slaves. When it does I believe the old Union of all the states will come back together again.�

�That�s the way I see it too,� said Mitchel. �The country has to move forward into the new century, not remain tethered to the one that is passing. The Twentieth Century is less than forty years away. That will be a century of discovery and progress even grander than what we�ve seen in our lifetimes. Science and industry will make us fantastically wealthy through the discovery of knowledge and its application to industry, commerce, and agriculture. Slavery is a system of labor exploitation based on ignorance and backwardness. It belongs to the 18^th Century, not the 20^th.�

Mitchel swirled his wineglass. �I don�t mean to say that the Southerners are ignorant or indifferent to science. Far from it, they were generous in writing checks to fund my observatory. But I do think that their insistence upon retaining slavery will distract us from the pursuit of progress. They want to bring slavery into the West. They want to acquire Mexico and the Caribbean. That will embroil us in wars of conquest and very likely lead us into conflict with the powers of Europe. Slavery brings domestic violence and wars of foreign conquest. Let us be done with it! Let us turn our minds toward the pursuit of things that uplift Man instead of oppressing him. Let us pursue the arts and sciences that expand men�s minds and brings us the true wealth that comes from knowledge, not the false wealth that comes when some men exploit the labor of others!�

�I could not have said it any better,� said Cump. �Your capacity to distill complex subjects into their most basic contents of right and wrong matches President Lincoln�s.�

Mitchel let out a long sigh. �We must separate ourselves from the Confederate Union before their dependence upon slavery corrupts us too. The Slave States have plenty of friends up here. You know that Douglas and Davis came within eight thousand votes of winning this state. The Democrats elected their candidate for governor in the state election last October. It was only the late campaigning by Republicans that swung the state our way by a smidgen in November.�

Mitchel threw up his arms in exasperation. �Too many people here don�t give a fig about slavery. If we don�t get these people away from the corrupting influence of the slave powers then we�ll be fighting to keep slavery from getting a foothold up here.�

Sherman held up his glass and smelled the aroma. �Given the closeness of the vote I�m surprised the Partisan War wasn�t any more severe here than it was. Cincinnati was the only place I�ve heard of that suffered the kind of fighting they had in the other Lower North States.�

�I was in Cincinnati during the Partisan War,� replied Mitchel, his expression pained. �I thought the rioters were going to burn the whole town down. Then Fremont brought in the field artillery. He placed it up on the hills next to my observatory. He blasted what was left of the business district to smithereens.� Mitchel shook his head. �Barbaric!�

�I know,� answered Cump. �I�m glad my brother and I decided to rent a law office there before I took the assignment in Louisiana. We were thinking of buying the building. Would have been a total loss if we had. Hope you didn�t lose any of your property, or any of your life�s work at the observatory.�

�Thankfully not. The part of the city that was demolished was in the commercial district. A lot of the businesses and all the taverns and whorehouses by the piers were burned by Douglas men or flattened by Fremont�s artillery. We were fortunate that the Confederates didn�t try to retake the city with an army corps like they did St. Louis. They placed artillery up on the hills around Covington, but mercifully restrained themselves from opening fire. Guess they figured that Fremont was doing enough damage on his own.�

�Nobody ever accused Fremont of being subtle,� replied Cump. �I suppose he decided to put down the rioting as quickly as he could. At least he succeeded in flushing the Douglas men out of there before they had time to organize anywhere else.�

�Fremont�s namesake town took a beating too,� said Mitchel. �That must have galled him, to have to open fire on the town named after him!�

Mitchel poured more wine into his and Sherman�s glasses.

�Those were the only two notable disturbances in Ohio. It might have been worse if the Democrats had charismatic leaders like they had with Logan over in Illinois, but they didn�t have anybody who could organize them. Another thing is that Ohio is settled differently than Indiana and Illinois. Our Ohio River counties were settled by New Englanders in the early 1800s. They were a Republican firebreak between the Democrats in Kentucky and the Democrats in the middle counties of the state. That�s why the trouble was localized to Cincy and Fremont.�

�Cincy and Fremont are both river ports,� remarked Sherman. �The riffraff in the ports are the ones who make the trouble. They can�t stand Negroes coming up from the South to compete with them for work. Can�t say as I blame them because most employers won�t pay their Negroes the same as they pay Whites. The fault lies with White employers who think the Negro isn�t worth a damn. But that doesn�t stop the lower classes from blaming us Republicans. They think every Negro who isn�t a slave is going to come up here and take their jobs.�

�That�s one thing we need to work on,� replied Mitchel. �We need to pass laws requiring the same wages for the same work, regardless of the laborer�s color.�

Sherman leaned back, enjoying the wine. For the first time he began to think about how the Free States would govern themselves if they managed to win their independence. �We�ll have a lot of things to take care of when the war�s over. But first I suppose we�d best get on with the business of winning it. That�s what I�m here to talk to you about.� He handed Mitchel a copy of his orders.

Mitchel read them and then looked up at Cump. �I am to move my men to Indianapolis, but they will remain under my command. We will decide how to deploy them when they are assembled in Indy. Is that right?�

Sherman nodded. �That�s right � your men will remain under your command. You are free to cooperate to any degree you want with McDowell. Or you may choose to fight your men independently. It will be your decision. I�m acting in the capacity of your senior staff officer.�

�What do you know about McDowell�s situation? It must be difficult or you wouldn�t be here.�

Sherman stretched back and gathered his thoughts. He did not want to needlessly alarm Mitchel or to understate the severity of the Confederate Union�s breakthroughs.

�Not having been there, I�m not precisely sure of the situation. We�ll have to sort it out as we go along. I do know that the Confederates made a surprise crossing of the Wabash with over one hundred thousand men. Part of their men re-crossed the Wabash near the Illinois-Indiana line and moved west. The other part moved toward Indianapolis. The last telegrams received before I left Cleveland indicate that Grant is fighting successfully to contain the breakthrough in Illinois while McDowell isn�t fighting his men well in Indiana. The Confederates have cut off and isolated Jacob Loomis� division at Terre Haute. They�re trying to isolate and destroy the rest of McDowell�s army around Indianapolis.�

�An offensive in two states!� gasped Mitchel. �The Confederates must have mobilized every available man they had to pull off an attack on that scale.�

�We�re not sure how they moved so many men to the front so quickly,� said Sherman. �But I�m sure a lot of it has to do with McClellan�s planning, Stanton�s execution, and Robert E. Lee�s tactical command. They have a strong team. We�ll have to make ours stronger.�

�When do we leave for Indianapolis?�

�I�ll be leaving tomorrow morning. You�ll be boarding your men tomorrow and the next day. The government has chartered all the rolling stock between Cincinnati and Cleveland to move them. Your regimental commanders are to make sure that the men board with their equipment, including sixty rounds of ammunition, and five days of cooked rations. We want these men ready to fight when they arrive in Indy. How many men do you have on activity duty?�

�Over thirty-three thousand. That includes about twelve thousand who signed up after the Columbus rally. No more than a thousand are on sick call. We�ve been careful about taking care of sanitation.�

�Excellent!� said Sherman. �Making sure the men are healthy enough to fight is half the battle. Are the men ready for a fight?�

�Those men who signed up after the Columbus rally were itching for a fight the day they got here. Now they shall have it!�

Sherman�s anxiety eased. Mitchel was ready to fight his men no matter how green they were. Most commanders wouldn�t be so confident. They�d be complaining that the men weren�t sufficiently trained, and they�d be pestering the government with inflated requisitions for more supplies than they could possibly need. But Mitchel was ready to fight. And if the general was ready, the men would be ready.

Outside the wind picked up and drops of rain slapped the windows. Sherman began to consider the impact that the sudden appearance of thirty thousand troops in �high feather� would have on the battle-weary Confederates.

�By the time all of your men arrive the day after tomorrow, the Confederates will have been fighting for six days. They�ll be dog tired, hungry, and low on ammunition. We�ll hit them with a fresh army, well rested, well fed, and fully equipped. I pity those poor Confeds. We�re going to bowl them over like ten pins.� He raised his glass and nodded confidently to Mitchel.

An even grander plan took form in his mind. Suppose we are able to punch all the way through and relieve Jacob Loomis� division at Terre Haute. If we can capture the bridge over the Wabash we�ll be able to push our way across the base of the Confederate salient and link up with Grant�s men on the other side. That will allow us to cut off and destroy a half dozen or more of their divisions. Perhaps after linking up with Grant we�ll be able to do even more than that. Perhaps we�ll be able be able to encircle and capture every Confederate division in the Northwest. That would effectively end the war. And oh how proud it would make the volunteers in Mitchel�s army!

General Ulysses S. �Sam� Grant sat at the bedside of his dying division commander Colonel W.H.L Wallace in the bedroom of a home in Urbana, Illinois.

Grant had seen many men die in battle during the last two months of fighting in the Partisan War followed by the Confederate Union War. He had seen men die of all causes during the Mexican War. His heart had hardened to death. But still he wept when the death affected him personally as Wallace�s did. Wallace�s wife, who had arrived from Chicago that morning, sat next to the bedside weeping along with Grant.

�You saved our army,� Grant finally said when he composed himself. �Neither I nor the nation will ever forget what you did here.�

�It was little enough,� said Wallace, who seemed to be at peace with his impending death. �A man is honored most when he is privileged to give his life for his country. I have done nothing more than those under my command who have already passed from this world have done.�

Wallace, a lawyer in civilian life, had fought his volunteer regiment like a military professional to stop the rot of a crumbling front where it had to be stopped, in front of the rail junction at Urbana. He had known enough to bend his line around the town and anchor it along the Illinois Central running north out of town. He had beaten off savage Confederate attacks, directing the battle under fire until falling mortally wounded. His defense of the Illinois Central line had forced Jackson�s mobile divisions to divert their attack northward to find another gap in the line. The rain had started pouring down, and the thickening mud had slowed their progress.

That had given Grant the extra day he needed to pull the divisions of Curtis and Prentiss out of their positions in front of Decatur and Jacksonville and move them a hundred miles by rail to counterattack Jackson�s mobile divisions before Jackson sprung the trapdoor of his encirclement closed. Wallace was destined to become yet another hero to enter into the Free State�s pantheon. As a close personal friend of Lincoln, he would be yet another loss to grieve the President.

Grant�s expression became stern. �We will win this battle and then our independence. It is the least we can do to honor you and the others who have fallen. We will drive the Confederates from every inch of Free State soil and then we shall make peace.�

Wallace looked Grant in the eye for the last time. �You will surely prevail with men such as I have had the honor to command.� Wallace eased into unconsciousness.

Grant got up to leave. He sought words of comfort for Mrs. Wallace, but could not find them. He took her hands in his for a moment and then left. There will be many widows like her before this war is over. Grant put on his hat and went back out into the pouring rain. His thoughts returned to the battle being waged by the living.

As Grant rode forward toward the front he noticed that the sky had begun to show some breaks in the west where the sun was setting. The steamy rain had tapered off, leaving banks of lowlying fog clinging to the ground. Grant reached the command post of Colonel McClernand, who had taken command after Wallace was carried from the field.

�How is Colonel Wallace?� asked McClernand, in a grim tone that indicated he already knew.

Grant shook his head. �Barring a miracle, he won�t live out the day.�

McClernand bowed his head and said a silent prayer.

�Have your men been supplied with food and ammunition?� Grant asked.

�Yes, sir, and they are fighting well. The Confederate attacks on this front are failing. We will not give up the position that Wallace gave his life to hold.�

From what Grant could see McClernand was not making an idle boast. McClernand had chosen his line with military professionalism, about two hundred yards to the east of the railroad line. His men were fighting behind whatever cover they could find in the trees and little rises of ground, and behind occasional barns. The few who had tried to dig trenches had not had much success as the water filled them up immediately, although here and there a few preferred to stand waist-deep in water-filled holes rather than expose their entire bodies to fire. Other men lacking cover were firing while standing upright.

Grant had a superb view of the waning fight. As at the other points on the line, he could tell that the Confederates were getting the worst of it. Only sporadic bursts of smoke spit from their rifles at long intervals. They were either short of ammunition or it was soaked through and would no longer fire. Their men moved slowly, on the point of exhaustion, after slogging through miles of ankle-deep mud. Their lines were thinning as men were killed and wounded and had to be carried away from the firing line by able-bodied men. They didn�t seem able to replace these losses with men moving up from the rear. As their lines thinned they began moving back in groups here and there so as to distance themselves from the Rebels� fire.

Grant lifted his cap from his head, still throbbing from the blow received outside Springfield, and tried to wipe off the wetness of rain and sweat that could not evaporate in the steaming humidity. The clouds were breaking up now. For the first time in three days Grant felt a light rush of cooler drier wind on his neck. It was gone in an instant, but the fresh humidity-clearing breeze was sufficient to lift his spirits. So did the look of determination in the men manning the fronts and still firing occasional long shots at the retreating Confederates. He began to feel confident for the first time since the battle opened.

�I do believe we�ll hold �em here,� he said confidently to McClernand. He wondered whether he should order McClernand to press an attack against the Confederates. After considering it for a moment he decided there was little to be gained. The Confederates were falling back rapidly enough on their own. McClernand had lost at least half his men in the fight and was in no condition to pursue them. Grant thought he might have better luck attacking with the divisions of Curtis and Prentice operating along the Peoria and Oquawka railroad that ran horizontally across the Confederates northern flank. He saluted McClernand and rode back into Urbana to gather his staff and requisition a train for a ride up to the northern flank.

We have defeated this Confederate attack and now we will see what we can do to punish them as they retreat. I hope McDowell is having success on his side of the front.

Major General of Volunteers Cump Sherman guided his horse carefully around the twisted bodies, many still writhing, in the mud. The moans and cries of the wounded touched even his war-hardened heart.

Anybody who fancies the �glory of war� from the comfort of his parlor should walk among the pitiful dead and wounded here. Those who see it with their own eyes will want no more of war!

Until now most of the dead and wounded had been Confederates. However as Sherman rode closer to Terre Haute he observed that here and there the Confederates had been able to turn their lines around and make determined stands against Mitchel�s counterpunch from the east. He passed one of those places where nearly a hundred Free State men, identified by their yellow overcoats, lay fallen in front of a tree line in between farms about a mile outside of Terre Haute. About thirty were dead, the rest moaning where they had fallen, some with hastily-tied tourniquets inexpertly applied by their comrades.

We�ve got to get some professional doctors into our army.If we don�t, we�re going to have more men dying of infected wounds than killed outright.

However, the Confederates had accomplished nothing more than to delay the onslaught of Mitchel�s army. Sherman had helped Mitchel organize his arriving men into a formation resembling a tightly clenched fist. They had smashed through Confederate General Pemberton�s division laying siege to Terre Haute, wrecking two of its brigades while shoving the other two south and out of the battle.

Sherman paused for a moment to observe some Free State men and captured Confederates loading the wounded of both sides into wagons heading into Terre Haute. His curiosity was aroused by a wounded Free Stater and a wounded Confederate sitting under a tree while waiting their turn for a wagon. The two had a flask of whiskey to dull their pain, and how they were dulling it good and proper! The two were singing �Oh, Susannah� out of key with improvised stanzas of impolite words.

�What a pair we have here!� remarked Sherman.

�Johnny�s my brother,� said the Confederate, too far gone to remember to salute an officer. �Damn fool ran over me with his horse. Imagine that � getting stampeded by your own brother during a battle!�

�Shoulda gotten yourself outa the way, you gourdhead!� said the brother wearing the Free State uniform. He turned to Sherman. �Brother Billy isn�t the brightest candle in the window, if you know what I mean. He proved that by voting for Douglas and throwing his sorry ass in with the Confeds!�

�He�s not the only one,� said Sherman. �I voted for Douglas then had a change of heart after the Partisan War started. I�m glad I did now. Otherwise I would have found myself fighting against my own brother. Where you boys from?�

�Evansville!� they both shouted together.

�Doesn�t surprise me that a town on the Ohio River would be divided,� said Sherman. �I expect there are a lot of brothers, sons, and fathers, fighting on both sides.�

�What�re you gonna do with us pris�ners?� asked the Confederate.

�You�ll be exchanged,� answered Sherman. Your side captured one of our divisions in Illinois, so I expect there�ll be a man-for-man swap when the battle�s over.�

�What if�n I don�t want to go back to the Confederates?�

�Nobody�s going to make you go. We�ll parole you and you can stay on our side of the lines until the war�s finished if that�s what you want.�

The boys took another swig of whiskey and started singing again.

Sherman looked at his escorting sergeant. �Never thought I�d see Johnny Reb and Billy Union singing a duet together on a battlefield! Guess if you live long enough you see just about everything.�

Cump rode on towards Terre Haute, thinking of how he would advise General Mitchel when he got there.

With the Terre Haute garrison relieved I can advise Mitchel to turn his men south and complete the wrecking of Pemberton�s other two brigades. Or I can ask him to move north up the east bank of the Wabash and roughly handle Kirby Smith�s division that is trapped on our side. Or I can advise him to cross the Wabash and try to cuff of the entire Confederate salient. If he can do that we�ll bag all of Stoneballs Jackson�s divisions. We�ll turn the Confederates� plan to encircle us against them!

The sun was out now, drying the ground with help from a brisk dry wind. Sherman saw smoke on the horizon and heard crashes of rifle volleys intermingled with the deeper boom of cannons. The firing was coming from the other side of town a mile or more away, but even at this distance he could hear occasional bullets whizzing overhead. Either the Free Staters or the Confederates, perhaps both, were firing high. He hoped that none were firing just high enough to cause their bullets to arc down on him.

He spurred his horse on faster to get into Terre Haute and see first hand what the situation was. As he neared the outskirts of town he encountered more Free State walking wounded. Other Free Staters guarded Confederate prisoners, wounded and unwounded, from Pemberton�s busted division.

When Sherman entered the town he could see that �Terre Haute� was a misnomer. The town was actually lowlying with much of it flooded to the depth of a foot or more from the still-rising Wabash. Perhaps the flood had helped Loomis� division hold the town by making good use of the upper floors of its buildings as firing points against the Confederates who were unable to dig positions in the gooey mud. Sherman saw that the Free State soldiers posted in the upper floors had wasted not a moment in stripping off their shirts and sunning themselves on the balconies and roofs when the clouds opened for the sun. The sun was still strong enough to set the waterlogged roofs and balconies steaming.

Sherman located Mitchel�s headquarters in a tent set up in an elevated area of the courtyard of the Wabash Hotel, one of the few buildings in town that had been high enough to escape the flood.

�It�ll be alright if you make your headquarters inside the hotel,� said Sherman as he greeted Mitchel. �You can send the bill to Uncle Abe!�

�I didn�t think it would be right for me to sleep in a hotel,� answered Mitchel. �There�s barely enough room in town to quarter Loomis� men, so my men will have to sleep wherever they can, which will likely be in the mud. I thought it better to reserve the hotel rooms for the wounded. They need dry rooms more than we do�

�Well done,� said Sherman. Mitchel is a good officer. Most officers would have looked to their own comfort before thinking of the wounded. Mitchel knows that it is better to earn the men�s loyalty by sharing their hardships than to let them see him looking after his own comfort. I will expect great things to come from his command.

�Where is Loomis?� Sherman asked.

�On the West Side, right by the river. I asked him to see if he can get some men across the railroad bridge to hold open a crossing on the west bank. I was thinking of your idea to cross the Wabash and cut the Confederate salient off at its base.�

�Excellent!� said Cump. �Let�s go see how he is faring.�

Sherman and Mitchel set out to find Loomis on horseback. Their horses sloshed through a slurry of mud and water. Sherman noticed that the overhead fire coming from the Confederate-held side of the river had ceased. They found Loomis a full block back from the river, the rising water having chased him and the Confederates on the other side far enough back to end their cross-river skirmishing.

Sherman greeted Loomis. �You fought your men well in holding out until relieved. If Terre Haute had fallen the Confederates would have poured in from the Illinois side and bulled their way through to Indianapolis. I�m glad you didn�t let them buffalo you into surrendering.�

�They tried,� answered Loomis. �They sent parleys over almost every hour under flag of truce. Kept threatening us with �dreadful consequences� if we didn�t surrender. I finally told them that I�d open fire if they didn�t call it off.�

�They knew you were commanding troops in battle for the first time and were trying to scare you,� said Sherman. �That�s what a lot of war is about: trying to scare the enemy into surrendering so you won�t have to fight him. The Confederates have learned that you don�t scare easily. They�ll respect you from here on out. Maybe they�ll be the ones who decide in the next battle that it�s better to retreat than fight you.�

Mitchel had borrowed a spyglass from Loomis� staff officer. �The Confederates are pulling back from their side of the river. They�re disappearing into those woods on the far ridgeline.�

�That�s the convent at St. Mary�s,� said Loomis. �If they�ve pulled back that far, then they�ve given up any hope of breaking into Terre Haute from the west, not that they had much chance anyway with the river on the boom.�

Cump scanned the western horizon, his hand above his eyes to block out the brilliant sunshine now streaming down from a nearly cloudless sky. The sea of mud between the Wabash and the high ground at St. Mary�s did not give him much hope of moving his men across the river to cut off Lee�s army at the base of its salient. The Confederates could observe the river from the ridges on the far side and pound any men crossing the muddy flats with artillery. Sherman could not see any reasonable chance of sneaking an army across the river to surprise them the way the Free Staters had been surprised at the opening of the battle.

Cump spoke to Loomis. �As soon as the water starts going down I�d like you to move a couple companies across the river to guard the bridge from that approach. I don�t want the Confederates sneaking back in to burn it. Otherwise hold your men in place and keep them on alert. Kirby Smith�s division is still loose on our side of the river, so don�t let him catch you by surprise if they decide to whip back around and attack from the north or east.�

Sherman turned and spoke to Mitchel.

�We won�t be able to effect a large envelopment of Lee�s army over there in Illinois. But we can make it hot for Kirby Smith who�s strung out his division on our side of the river. Let�s go kick him in the pants before the water goes down enough to get his men back to the other side.�

Battle of the Wabash October 5�6: Counterattack by Mitchel/Sherman�s Ohio corps and Schofield�s division relieves the Free State garrison at Terre Haute, then captures Kirby Smith�s division and two brigades of Pemberton�s. In Illinois Stoneballs Jackson charges across the bridge over the Sangamon and infiltrates back into Confederate lines after being shot in the rear by the Rebels and hit with �friendly fire� from his own men.

The blue wave of Lee�s offensive receded. The map on the table of Lee�s rail car headquarters at Mattoon, Illinois showed its recession all too plainly. Having failed to take the rail junction at Urbana, Stoneballs Jackson�s mobile divisions were unable to advance any further west to encircle Grant�s army, nor to bypass it by marching north towards Chicago.

After recognizing the failure of the enveloping movement Lee had tried to break Grant�s line with frontal assaults by his holding divisions. But he had called those off as soon as it became apparent that Grant had left enough men in the line to successfully defend it.

�It was the rain and the mud that foiled us,� said Lee�s adjutant, Brigadier General Richard Taylor, trying to raise Lee�s spirits.

�General Grant also had something to do with it,� answered a weary Lee. �He used his interior lines of communication along the railroads skillfully. He got his men into position to block our envelopment while leaving sufficient forces in the line to defeat our frontal attacks. We must give Grant his due for generalship, especially in recognizing the value of railroads in defeating cross-country attacks. We must learn to use his tactics against him when we meet him again.�

�The ground will be dry enough to renew the attack in a week,� said Taylor looking at the map. �By then we�ll be clearing rail traffic through the Terre Haute bypass. We�ll be able to move our fresh follow-on regiments into position to renew the offensive. The salient we�ve driven into the Rebel lines will allow us to attack towards the north, east, or west. Perhaps we should attempt an eastward envelopment of the Rebels� Indiana Army this time.�

Lee put his finger on the map. �The salient is deep, but useless without a railroad to supply it. The Rebels know we must reach the junctions at Urbana and Lafayette to gain access to the railroads we will need to continue the advance toward Chicago or to attempt another envelopment to the west or east. The Rebels understand our intentions and have positioned their forces to block us.�

Lee placed his fingers on the wood-carved division tokens at the top of the salient.

�Our first echelon divisions are fought out and need rest and refit. I understand your point about the second echelon divisions coming into the line to reinforce them. We may use these new divisions for local attacks to improve our tactical positions. But I will not commit them to a renewal of the strategic offensive, at least not now. The Rebels have brought their own fresh reserve armies up to the line, so we will have no greater numerical advantage with these second echelon reinforcements than without them.�

�Then are these the best possible dispositions of our second echelon divisions?� asked Taylor. �They appear to be needlessly strong for defense of the ground we have gained, yet you believe them to be not strong enough to continue with the offensive.�

�I�m thinking towards renewing the offensive later this year or early next,� answered Lee. �To do that we will need experienced and strong divisions. Our divisions are most definitely experienced by now, but some were roughly handled � those of Logan, Cleburne, McCulloch, Hindman, and the two brigades that are left of Pemberton�s.

�I want to pull these battered divisions out of the line and move them down to Louisiana and southern Mississippi for reconstitution. They�ll be refitted close to our procurement areas, rested in a mild winter, and made ready to renew the strategic offensive � maybe in the Trans-Mississippi, or perhaps against Cincinnati. The second echelon divisions coming into the line will prevent the Rebels from taking back any of the ground we have gained while the first echelon divisions are taken out for rest and refit.�

�A sound plan,� agreed Dick Taylor, �when considered in the strategic context you placed it in.�

Lee�s anxiety waned as he discussed his ideas with Taylor. He had feared that the great two-state battle would be seen as a defeat even if he managed to hold on to the gains of territory in Illinois and Indiana. The commitment of sixteen divisions and nearly a quarter million men had come to very much less than what had been expected.

All that could be said for the Illinois Salient was that it had broken Grant�s Wabash, Toledo, and Great Western railroad line for twenty miles between Williamsport, Indiana and Danville Illinois. The Free Staters had sealed the salient off and based a new defensive line along the Peoria and Oquawka forty miles to the north. The new route was as awkward as its name, but it was a railroad, whereas Lee had none at all leading into the salient from the south or leading out of it to the north.

The offensive in Indiana had gained some ground too, but at an even higher cost. The gains had come during the early stage of the battle when McDowell had been precipitate in pulling his divisions on the southeastern flank back toward Indianapolis.

Phil Sheridan�s division, left alone to defend against the attacks of Confederate generals John and George Crittenden, had been forced to give ground to prevent being outflanked. Sheridan had fallen back across the line of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad, breaking the direct link between the cities, and losing the county seat towns of Shelbyville, Greensburg, Vernon, and Madison. The loss of the rail junction at Shelbyville undermined the defense of Indianapolis, while the loss of the busy river port at Madison uncovered Cincinnati�s western approaches.

But the counterattack by Mitchel�s Army of Ohio to the north had inflicted a shattering blow on the Confederates in the final days of the battle. Kirby Smith�s big division, balked by the mud and torrential rains, had been stopped by John Schofield�s improvised defense on the high ground east of the river. It had been trapped in the Free State vise as Mitchel�s fresh division relieving Terre Haute turned northward. Unable to find cover on the waterlogged floodplain or get back across the flooded Wabash, Kirby Smith surrendered his strong division. Pemberton�s division, smashed by the unexpected attack into its rear as Mitchel fought his way into Terre Haute, also lost two of its four brigades.

Although details were hard to come by, it appeared that the devastating Rebel counterattack had been organized by none other than William Tecumseh Sherman, whom Lee had asked to command the Confederate Union�s field armies in the Northwest.

Has it only been four months since I met Sherman at the Louisiana Military Institute and offered him command of this army? At the time he declined my offer he said that he could not bear to fight for either side, but obviously something has caused him to change his mind on that score.

The ferocity of Sherman�s counterattack had nearly unhinged Lee for the first time in his illustrious career. He had been in a state of near depression, estimating from the first panicky reports by his division commanders that the losses on his and Harney�s fronts had exceeded seventy thousand. The casualty he had been most concerned about was Stoneballs Jackson. Stoneballs and his men had gone missing behind the Rebel lines for most of the battle. This morning a messenger from Stoneballs� command had arrived to report that they had crashed through the Rebel lines at Springfield after dark, but that in the running fight that followed, Stoneballs had been shot several times. He was laid up in a hospital in Carlinville.

Thank God my �strong right arm� has returned safely to our lines.

Lee was further relieved by updated reports showing that the initial casualty counts had come down considerably as dog-tired and lightly wounded men picked themselves up out of the mud and made their way back to their units. He estimated that the return of the fatigued stragglers and lightly wounded would lower the final casualty count to around forty thousand. Of those, between four and five thousand had been killed outright, and about twice as many mortally wounded or wounded so severely that they would have to be discharged from service.

The most serious losses were the twenty-four thousand men captured in Kirby Smith�s and Pemberton�s divisions by the Rebel counterattack through Terre Haute and then north up the Wabash. Perhaps he would eventually get these men back in prisoner exchanges, but that had not been discussed with the Rebels. He could not count on those men until the specifics of prisoner exchanges were negotiated.

Lee added in the ten thousand men who had died of camp disease and accidents on his front during the past ninety days and concluded that he had lost about twenty five percent of his men. However, he realized that even these severe losses would be made good by the continuous mobilization of men throughout the Confederate Union that McClellan had planned at the outset of the war. He calculated that his losses were about equal to the number of men being inducted into the state militias and the National Army every month by McClellan�s mobilization plan. Incredibly, the Confederate armies would soon be stronger numerically than they had been before the battle commenced!

Our manpower is not unlimited, but we can stand to fight many more battles as severe as this one without diminishing the number of men we can keep in the field. McClellan�s genius has been to recognize the augmentation that a well planned mobilization adds to our effort.

Of course we will have to show much better results if we expect to maintain the people�s morale sufficiently to encourage them to voluntarily enlist. Another defeat might dampen their enthusiasm for volunteering and force the President to call upon conscription to fill the depleted ranks. We must not let it come to that. Forced conscription ordered by the national government would put us on the short road to defeat. It would cause as much of a rebellion by our own States Rights people as the rebellion of the Free Staters.

Lee estimated that the Rebels, despite their small losses of territory, were going to claim, with justification, tactical and strategic victories. The Confederates had come nowhere near destroying any significant portion of the Free State armies, while losing heavily of their own. The Free Staters had also replaced their losses with the reserve armies coming in from Chicago and Ohio. More importantly, they had gained the experience and the confidence that comes from waging a successful defensive battle.

Grant has out-generalled me, and he knows it. He will not be afraid to fight me in the future and neither will his men. The Rebels have learned many important lessons. In the future they are not likely to leave any portion of their front unguarded. They have demoted their poorly performing officers and promoted those who fought well. They will only become tougher as this war progresses. That does not mean that opportunities to exploit their weaknesses will not be found in the future. But I have lost my opportunity to close out the Rebellion in the Northwest with a quick, decisive victory. Perhaps McClellan will fare better in New England.

And now I have to guard the small gains I have made. A salient is difficult to defend, especially so since there are no railroads or hard surface roads to keep the men supplied. I will have to set the men to work building them before the late autumn rains and early winter snows make it an endless sea of mud. And I must fortify this salient strongly enough to hold it against attacks from all sides.

My most urgent need of all is to clear the southbound return loop of my railroad supply route. Unless I get these stalled trains moving my men will succumb to malnutrition as surely as they would fall from enemy bullets. Bragg has convinced me to authorize the removal of fifteen miles of track between Mattoon and Urbana so that his engineers can re-lay it as the bypass route around the west side of Terre Haute. Removing that track is an admission that a northward advance against Grant�s line is no longer possible. Bragg�s railroad bypass must succeed as our alternate route of communications.

�Is Bragg really going to be able to deliver on that railroad bypass around Terre Haute?� asked Lee.

Taylor laughed uproariously at Lee�s unabashed skepticism. �Yes, sir, I think he�ll do it. He�s dragooned what�s left of Pemberton�s division to build the approach on the east bank, and he�s got all of Van Dorn�s and Hardee�s divisions working on the west bank. Our men don�t like that. They think the Rebels we captured from Pope�s division should be doing the work.�

Lee smiled for the first time. �Ah, well, I don�t think we�d better try to put the Rebels to work right away. They�d treat our men the same and I doubt that we�d get a lick of work out of them anyways. The sooner we can exchange them and get them off our hands the better. How are our men doing? Are they making a stable roadbed? How about that bridge over the Wabash?�

�The roadbed�s coming along fine,� Taylor assured him. �Bragg tried corduroying it with tree trunks a couple different ways. He�s developed a method that supports the rails without giving them a lot of wiggle room. As for the bridge over the Wabash, he really doesn�t want me to tell you�.�

Lee raised his eyebrows. �Go ahead. As long as he gets me a bridge that can carry a train I don�t care how he does it!�

�What he did, was, he laid the track all the way to the river. Then he took a couple of locomotives, ran up the boilers to full pressure, and told the engineer to jam the throttle valve open and jump out. He sent the locomotives careening down the track and into the river. They�re breaking up the current and collecting the drifting sand around them. When they�re settled, which should be tomorrow, Bragg�s going to run the new track on top of them and then connect it on across to the railroad running down to Vincennes. Bragg�s promised that he�ll court martial himself for destroying railroad property.�

Lee threw his head back and laughed louder than he had in years � both in relief that the bypass railroad was being built successfully and at the spectacle of Bragg conducting his own court martial. He slapped Taylor on the shoulder.

�Dick, I am going to have to go lie down and rest for a while. If I hear any more good news today it might just kill me!�

Lee walked out of his railcar and across the station to the inn. Taylor noted that he walked with a jaunty sprint, the likes of which he had not seen in Lee since the offensive stalled.

For the first time in a week that seemed more like seven years Lee felt as if he could enjoy a real rest without being burdened with the cares of a battle in progress. He stretched out on the bed and fell into a deep sleep as soon as he closed his eyes. He was still sleeping five hours later when there came a knock on his door. It was Dick Taylor.

�Get down here and look what the cat drug in!� shouted Taylor. Lee groggily followed Taylor downstairs. Sure enough, there in the common area was Stoneballs Jackson! He was sipping a coffee with his left hand while standing up with crutches under his arms to support him.

Lee rushed forward and clasped Stoneballs� outstretched right hand. �You might of let me known you were coming!�

�I didn�t let the surgeon know I was leaving,� replied Stoneballs. �I left the field hospital before Old Doc Sawbones got any more ideas about cutting on me.�

�Where were you hit?�

�Our men shot me in the legs when I was coming in to our lines. They assumed that anybody galloping toward them in the dark must be a Rebel. They hit me once in each leg, but the bullets ricocheted off my sword and my Lefaucheux. Left a devil of a bruise on my hip and my thigh, but no serious damage. It was the Damnrebels who got me. One of them shot me in the �blind cheeks� while I was bolting across their lines. They must be short of military rifles because I got shot with a seat full of buckshot while I was standing up in the saddle.�

Stoneballs patted his swollen backside and winced. �Old Doc Sawbones kept wanting to keep cutting on me to get every piece of buckshot out. He was doing more damage than the buckshot.�

�Old Doc Sawbones wouldn�t have been able to find a cannonball inside you,� said Dick Taylor. �Good thing you left when you did or you could forget about sitting down for the rest of your days!�

Lee laughed even louder than he had over Taylor�s joke about Bragg court martialing himself. �What grand fortune I am having today! Even my �strong right arm� has returned to me!�

Dick Taylor cupped his hand to his mouth so that only Lee could hear. �You have your �strong right arm� back, General Lee, while Old Stone Balls has received a weak rear end.�

President Lincoln was still reading the telegraphed reports of the Battle of the Wabash when John Hay ushered Cump Sherman into the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion.

Lincoln stood up to greet Cump. �Welcome back, Sherman. I and the nation are grateful for your contributions to what is looking like a victory of sorts. Our papers have taken to calling it �The Battle of the Wabash.� The Confederates are calling it �The Battle of the Salient.� I think I like their name better.�

�Both names are descriptive,� replied Cump. �Counting the outlying skirmishes, the battle extended along a front of over five hundred miles � from Jacksonville, Illinois to Madison, Indiana. But most of the fighting, and certainly most of the casualties, occurred on the salient within sight of the Wabash.�

�What is your summary judgment of my field reports of the battle?� asked Cump asked after taking the seat the seat that Lincoln pointed to.

�That the battle went as we had estimated before you went there � that Grant fought superbly but that McDowell didn�t fight his men so well. I gathered that McDowell�s division commanders saved his army from a serious defeat and that General Mitchel�s intervention under your direction gave us what may fairly be called a victory. If I�m reading your reports correctly the two of you broke the back of the Confederate attack in Indiana when you captured the Confederate division that had crossed the Wabash north of Terre Haute.�

�Yes, Mr. President, that is a fair assessment of what I wanted to convey. Grant did fight his side of the battle brilliantly. Pope�s freelancing left a hole in his lines at the outset. Grant plugged it by moving Curtis� division eighty miles by rail by way of Bloomington. He sent Prentiss� Division one hundred twenty miles by rail through Peoria to hit the Confederates on the flank. William Wallace � may he rest in peace � halted the Confederates at Urbana long enough for Grant to get Curtis and Prentiss up there.�

Lincoln�s eyes moistened. �William Wallace�.another old and dear friend lost to a war that is young. I am fearful to contemplate the losses that are still to be borne.�

Sherman bowed in respect to Wallace. �Wallace died nobly, as military men wish to die if death in the line of duty cannot be avoided. He was indispensable to our victory.�

Sherman raised his head. �Getting back to Grant, I must say that he also fought splendidly to hold off the Confederates at Jacksonville, Springfield, and Decatur. He divided his two divisions that he kept on that front into brigades and spread them out into the gaps that were left by the displacement of Curtis� and Prentiss� divisions. The Confederates never caught on that he had pulled half his men out of the line. He fought the classic defensive battle all the way around.�

Lincoln nodded. �Let us give thanks for General Grant, then. But what happened with McDowell?�

�He neglected to defend the Wabash,� said Sherman with disdain. �He left Jacob Loomis in charge of a seventy-mile river frontage from Terre Haute to Williamsport. Loomis isn�t a professional military man. He had no idea how to patrol a river. McDowell should have given him some help. I know he was short of men to cover such a long front, but he should at least have had observation points and cavalry patrols operating on both sides of the river. Patrols would have spotted the Confederate crossing at its earliest moment and alerted McDowell to send reinforcements to contest the crossing points.

�The crossing took him by surprise. If Schofield hadn�t taken charge of the battle locally the Confederates would have captured McDowell�s headquarters in Indianapolis before he even knew an attack was in progress.

�When he finally realized he was under attack he pulled McPherson and Rosecrans back into Indianapolis. Sheridan was left alone on the southern flank with a gap in the line between his division and the rest of McDowell�s army. The Confederates pushed him back across the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad from Shelbyville to Madison. Those were needless losses furthest from the center of the attack. We need to take these towns back, by the way. Their loss complicates our defense of Indianapolis and Cincinnati.�

�I suppose we first need to relieve McDowell of command of that army and designate his replacement,� replied Lincoln.

�I�d suggest promoting Schofield to command that army,� Sherman advised. �His improvised defense saved the army from a serious defeat. Move McDowell back to division command. He�s an effective division commander, but no more than that.�

�We will make that change, then,� said Lincoln. �Next question is what do we do with Ormsby Mitchel�s reserve army? Mitchel fought it well under your direction. Do we need to keep that army together as a separate command, or should we amalgamate it into Schofield�s command?�

�Ah!� said Sherman, raising his finger. �You�ve touched upon exactly the right point. Let�s use Mitchel�s army in the role to which it has become accustomed � as a reserve army poised to strike the Confederates when and where they least expect! Let�s bring Mitchel�s army back through Cincinnati. Use one of its divisions to fortify Cincinnati and the heights on the Kentucky side of the river. Then advance the rest of the army westward from Cincinnati across southern Indiana.�

Sherman got up and pointed the line of his proposed advance on the wall map.

�That will force the Confederates to give up the ground they gained between Madison and Shelbyville,� he exclaimed. �It might even force them all the way back to New Albany and allow us to bring Louisville under our guns.�

Lincoln perked up. �In other words, we should go full chisel in attacking the enemy before he has time to think about renewing his offensive against us.�

�That�s it!� said Sherman. �I wouldn�t call the Confederates �slackers,� but it is natural that they�ll want to sit back and lick their wounds after a campaign that failed to accomplish much. They�ll want to rest and re-equip their fought-out divisions. They�ll be furloughing their wounded and training new men to replace them. Believe me, it will disconcert them in the extreme to have to deal with a strong attack from us.�

Sherman waved his hand over the bend in the front around Terre Haute held by Mitchel�s men.

�Now, to pull Mitchel�s men out of the line we�ll have to make use of the reserves we�ve been training near Chicago.� Sherman placed two fingers on Chicago and then spread them in a �V� towards the fronts in Illinois and Indiana.

�We have four divisions at Chicago. I�d recommend sending two of them to Grant to replace the losses in his line. Send the other two to Indiana to relieve the positions that Mitchel�s army is holding on the Wabash. As soon as they�re in line, pull Mitchel�s men out and use them for the attack into Southern Indiana! With luck we�ll push the Confederates clear back to Louisville.�

Lincoln stretched out his legs as he leaned back and relaxed.

�Sherman, your brother was right. I sorely needed the advice of a military professional such as yourself � a man who can think through the strategic picture of how to win a war as well as a battle. Most of those men, like McClellan, Lee, and Winfield Scott, stayed loyal to the Confederate Union or have proclaimed their neutrality. You�re the only one who remains loyal to us that I�ve found who can competently advise me at the higher levels of strategy.�

�Thank you, Mr. President. I�m sorry it took me so long to declare my loyalty to the Free States. It required much persuasion from my brother � and several of your stirring speeches � to convince me of the rightness of the cause.�

Lincoln laughed. �Well I am glad to contribute my poor mite to the cause that others have so nobly advanced. You know, Sherman, you came to my attention at exactly the right time. If it had been any earlier we would have assigned you to command a division, because that�s what we needed at the beginning of the war. You might never have come to my attention as an advisor on the higher aspects of military strategy.�

Sherman nodded. Lincoln leaned forward and spoke earnestly.

�I�d like you to write the orders up just as you suggested. Promote Schofield to take McDowell�s place. Instruct Mitchel�s men on your plan to attack the enemy through Cincinnati. Divide the army at Chicago into two parts and send half to Grant and half to Schofield. Write the orders and bring them to me to sign. I�d like you to deliver these orders to our commanders in Indiana and Illinois and make sure they�re understood by all concerned. Then return here to meet with my War Cabinet and the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. Now that we�ve settled our dispositions in the West, we�ve got to decide what to do about Fremont. He wants to take his army offensives into the Delmarva and the Shenandoah. He wants to liberate the slaves and induct them into our army. What do you think about his proposal?�

Sherman was careful not to express an opinion on liberating the slaves within any Confederate territory that passed under their control. Freeing slaves wasn�t an issue that he cared anything about. Nor did he wish to encourage the idea that Fremont was qualified to command an entire army on the offensive. Fremont had fought superbly with his thousand-man cavalry detachment at Gettysburg, but that had been against poorly trained Confederate militias thrown hastily forward on the opening day of hostilities. Taking the offensive against the kind of military machine that McClellan had organized during the last ninety days would be an entirely different matter.

�Fremont must defeat the Confederate offensive towards Philadelphia before he can even begin to think about taking the offensive,� Sherman replied carefully. �How many men does he have available to repel the Confederate offensive?�

�About two hundred thousand,� answered Lincoln. �Fifty thousand are containing the Confederates around New York City and its suburbs. Another fifty thousand are in the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. And about one hundred thousand are in front of Philadelphia. Those numbers include some state militia regiments.�

�That�s barely enough to cover all the ground that has to be defended,� said Sherman. �The Confederates will have the initiative in choosing where to attack us. They can concentrate their men against any point they choose. And with McClellan in command they�ll have even more men and equipment to throw against Philly than they did against the Wabash. Fremont will have to be as agile as Grant in moving his men around to the precise points of enemy concentration.�

�He did accomplish that at Gettysburg.�

�Yes, he showed an instinct for anticipating where the Confederates would attack,� Sherman agreed. �Let�s hope that instinct proves true at Philadelphia. Do we have any definite news of any units from McClellan�s army arriving on the Philadelphia front?�

�We fought a naval battle with the Confederates in Delaware Bay yesterday,� replied Lincoln �I�m told it was inconclusive. We sank one of their ships. They damaged three of ours. They seem to be planning an amphibious landing at Philadelphia or maybe above the city to try to break our hold on its supply lines running through the Delaware Valley. They are active on the New York City front, testing our lines for weak points. Perhaps they are planning a breakout from New York to link up with an amphibious landing north of Philly We won�t know what they�re going to do until they do it.�

�Is Fremont aware of all that? Does he understand that he may be hit from several directions at once as we were in the Northwest? Does he know that some of those attacks may be feints designed to deceive him into concentrating his men at the wrong point?�

�He is telegraphing situation reports almost every day that cover all those fronts. I take that as a sign that he�s keen to know what the Confederates are up to. He�s commissioned cavalry units, like the one that fought so well for him at Gettysburg. And he�s got Meade, Reynolds, Hancock, and Warren with him. I�ve been told they�re some of the best division commanders in our army.�

�I know those officers and they are among the best we have,� confirmed Sherman. �They�ll have their chance to prove their mettle. The Confederates will go whole hog in attacking Philadelphia. They want to make up for what they failed to accomplish in the Northwest. I must confess that the fact that they are attacking Philadelphia worries me. They were unsuccessful when they had the element of surprise. They have no hope of surprising us this time and they know it. They must be bringing stupendous numbers of men and ships to bring to bear against us.�

Lincoln leaned forward and spoke in a quiet voice, as if conveying confidential information.

�That�s what worries me too, Sherman. Are we fully prepared for every contingency the Confederates might throw at us? We have that other reserve army of New York and New England men being trained at Albany. I�m thinking of giving you command of that army so that you can bring it into New York or Philadelphia if the Confederates throw more at Fremont than he is able to handle. The reserve army that you and Mitchel brought in from Ohio prevented a serious defeat in Indiana. It got there at exactly the right time to have the most effect.�

Sherman began to compose his reply that this would be a sound plan, so long as Lincoln made clear to Fremont that Sherman�s army was as independent of his command as Mitchel�s had been independent of McDowell�s. Before Cump could speak there came a knock on the closed pocket doors. Lincoln opened the doors to find John Hay and Secretary of War Simon Cameron.

�Excuse me, sir,� said Cameron in a state of visible excitement. �The evening telegrams from the East Coast have just come in. The enemy attack is reported to have commenced, but it is not at Philadelphia.�

Lincoln and Sherman looked at Cameron astonishment.

�It�s Boston,� said Cameron. �The Confederates are reported to have arrived outside the harbor with a fleet estimated to comprise over one hundred ships.�

From the bridge of the flagship Cumberland McClellan watched the sunrise illuminate the smoke rising over Boston Harbor. The smoke issued from the half-dozen forts on the islands in the harbor and from the return fire of the fast moving Confederate �decoy ships� orbiting the forts. The �decoy ships� were drawing the fire of the forts while doing their share to smoke up the harbor to mask the in-bound troop transports. The light and variable winds dispersed the smoke just enough to cover the harbor.

�Time to run in the transports,� said McClellan.

�I�ll have the captain raise the signals,� replied Rear Admiral David Farragut. He went to give the order to the captain. The signals to send in the transports went up and fluttered overhead, casting their wobbling shadows on the bow.

Secretary of the Navy Franklin Buchanan stood next to Farragut, watching the ships of the transport fleet align on the harbor. �Front row seats, eh, Mac?�

�And no waiting in line at the box office!� retorted McClellan.

The warships of the Home Squadron led the way in. McClellan watched Cumberland�s sister ship Savannah enter the harbor with Constellation, Saratoga, Macedonian, and Portsmouth following behind in a �V.� Their mission was to engage and destroy any Rebel warships lying in wait inside the harbor and to pound any on-shore resistance into submission. The St. Louis and Germantown stood outside the harbor, on guard against any Rebel warships that might attempt to interfere with the landings from the high seas. In between the warships came the transports. From McClellan�s viewpoint it looked like the fleet covered the ocean horizon to horizon.

This is how the British must have felt when they saw the Spanish Armada bearing down on them. But we�ll have better luck with the Rebels than the Dagos did against the British!

Brigadier General Benjamin Butler, soon to become the Confederate Union�s Military Governor of New England, was thinking the same. �I would not have imagined there were so many ships in all the world! You must have chartered every steamer from New York to New Orleans.�

�We just about did,� McClellan remarked. �We fooled the Rebels about where they were going, too. The Rebs must have sent whatever ships they could sortie to Delaware Bay. Fooling them into thinking we were going to land in Philly was no small trick, let me assure you.�

McClellan wondered if the other landings would go so well, now that the Rebels were alert that New England, not Philadelphia, would be the Eastern Campaign�s objective. After the first thirty thousand men were landed in Boston the invasion would shift northward to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Portland, Maine. After the ports were secured McClellan planned to build up an army of a quarter-million men in New England.

McClellan planned to use those reinforcements to complete the capture of New England�s other cities. Worcester, Providence, Hartford, Springfield, Newport, and Augusta were his priorities for what was left of this year�s campaigning season. Then, next spring he planned to move the army inland to take possession of the industrialized area around Albany and the Mohawk Valley that contained most of what was left of the Rebels� armament manufactories.

This advance would uncover the rear of the Rebels maintaining their cordon around New York City and allow McClellan to establish a continuous front from Metro New York to the Canadian border south of Montreal. After securing that front he would position his army astride the Erie Canal and follow it westward to Buffalo. He would then swing down to destroy whatever was left of the Rebellion around Cleveland while Robert E. Lee approached from the West.

McClellan�s attention was drawn to the thick clouds of black smoke that began to rise from the starboard side of the harbor, soaring high above the thick white gunpowder smoke from the forts and decoy ships. The black smoke flattened out and began blowing inland.

�Our ships are approaching the Charlestown docks,� said Buchanan. �According to our reports the Vincennes and Preble are in ordinary there. The Rebels must be burning them to prevent their capture.�

From time to time McClellan, Buchanan, Farragut, and Butler heard the thunderous broadsides from the Savannah and the other warships echo across Boston Harbor. Other palls of black smoke closer to the city center began to appear above the white smoky mist. Farragut kept his spyglass trained on the harbor but didn�t see far enough through the smoke to give any definite reports.

In early afternoon the transports began returning from the smoke-filled harbor after unloading the troops. Farragut examined each one carefully through his spyglass as they cleared the smoke. �None of our ships have signaled damage yet,� he said after a while. �An amazing operation � over a hundred ships running past the harbor forts without being hit. I wish my brother could be here to see this.�

�Your brother?� asked Butler.

�He means his adoptive brother Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter,� explained McClellan. �He�s supervising the construction of the Western Gunboat Flotilla at the Mississippi and Ohio River ports. He�s going to give Bobby Lee some help with his webfeet out there during next year�s scrimmage with the Rebels.�

If Lee can get to Chicago by next summer, while I am occupying the Rebel�s economic heartland in New York and New England, it will seal the doom of the Rebellion. But can he get there, even with Admiral Porter�s gunboats helping him to keep the Rebels away from the rivers? He surely didn�t accomplish much in the Northwest in this years� campaign. Will I have to go to the Northwest and help Bobby Lee get to Chicago?

The men stayed out on deck until sunset then adjourned to the captain�s quarters for dinner. They discussed the military and civil governments they would be establishing in Boston and the other New England ports. None of them had ever thought of becoming occupation authorities on American soil.

�We�ll follow the same benign policies of occupation that old Winnie Scott established down in Mexico,� advised McClellan. �You know, the Mexicans offered to elect �Old Fuss and Feathers� president of their country.�

�That�s because he paid the Mexicans fairly for what his army used and wouldn�t tolerate any corruption,� said Buchanan. �It�s the only honest government the Mexicans ever had.�

�I intend to govern in the same spirit,� said Ben Butler. �I�ll let the New Englanders know that the Confederate Union is their country too and that their rights under the Constitution will be respected. We already have the loyalty of thirty-five percent of their people. If I can obtain the loyalty of half the other half, then I will have obtained the loyalty of the majority.�

It took McClellan a few seconds to grasp what Butler meant, but he finally decided that it made sense. McClellan concluded that Butler was not anywhere near as stupid as his corpulent, balding, cock-eyed appearance made him appear.

�We�d best take our rest,� said Farragut. �Tomorrow will be a very long day.�

At first light McClellan and Butler bade farewell to Buchanan and Farragut. The Cumberland and all but two other ships of the Home Squadron headed up the coast to support the landings at Portsmouth and Portland. McClellan and Butler transferred to a steamer and waited for the decoy ships to engage the forts again and blind the defending batteries with smoke.

Getting into Boston this day was not as easy as the day before. The Rebel gunners in the harbor forts had wised up. Instead of smoking up the harbor with massed indiscriminate firing they were aiming two or three of their guns at specific targets then waiting for the smoke to clear before firing again.

�If they don�t run out ammunition soon they�ll learn how to lead their shots,� McClellan said to Butler. �Then it will only be safe to come in at night.� He wondered if he should change his mind and engage the forts with the two ships of the Home Squadron that had remained on station outside Boston Harbor.

No, that won�t do any good. The forts are sure to inflict more damage on the ships than they could inflict on the forts. We will just have to accept our losses until the forts fire down their ammunition to the point where they don�t have enough left to harm us.

McClellan saw that some of the decoy ships were still putting out smoke, but others were shot up and drifting with the tide. Two were awash to their gunwales. McClellan hoped their crews had been able to swim free. One of the outbound transport steamers passed close enough by for McClellan to observe it through the smoke. It showed a hole of blown-out timbers, fortunately above the water line. Suddenly a solid shot came screaming out of the smoke about twenty feet over the deck. It passed before McClellan had time to duck. He thanked the fates that the fort had only fired a single shot instead of a volley. Perhaps they were already starting to feel the pinch of an ammunition shortage.

I hope those devils run out of ammunition before they learn how to lead for deflection and to shoot to hole our ships below the waterline.

The smoke thinned as they neared the docks. McClellan saw the Statehouse, or rather what was left of it, on the hill in the center of town. In happier days it had reminded him of the �City on the Hill� as the Puritan founders had thought of Boston. Today it was a smoking hulk. The Rebels must have holed up inside and tried to make a stand, causing his men to signal for broadsides from the warships to knock it down. The fire from the warships had ripped through some of the adjoining residences and commercial buildings as well, leaving them in ruins.

The good news for the Confederates was that the Rebels had not had time to burn the commercial docks or the dozens of ships moored to them.

We were right to run the risk of seizing Boston Harbor by a coup de main! We have captured at least half the ships in New England!

�What shall we do with all these captured vessels?� McClellan asked Butler. �I don�t think I want to leave them in the hands of the Rebels. They�ll move them off to Halifax and go on conducting trade through the Canadas with their friends in the Free States.�

�Why don�t we wait to see how the people of Boston behave?� suggested Butler. �Let�s judge them by their conduct. Let�s allow those who take the Oath of Loyalty to the Confederate Union to resume their trade. Those who won�t take their pledge will have their ships sold at auction to those who will.�

�Yes,� agreed McClellan. �I expect that the opportunity to resume commerce will persuade most merchants to see things the right way. Business interest is a powerful persuader, especially to New England merchants!�

�They were during the 1812 War,� said Butler. �My father told me that the British-occupied ports in Maine did a land office business with the Redcoats. He said the Portland merchants bought more British war bonds with the profits of their trade than American. They were sorry to see the British leave. They hated President Madison and his party. I think they really would have followed through on their threat to leave the Union if the war hadn�t ended when it did.�

McClellan shook his head and sighed.

�The New Englanders are strange birds. They�re good hearted people with a strong sense of justice. But they do let their heads get turned by crazy ideas. I blame them more than the Southerners for inciting this war. If they hadn�t inflamed the South by financing John Brown�s Raid I doubt that Yancey would have schemed up his raid against the Free States. There wouldn�t have been any Battle of Delphi and no Secession of the North. We would have whitewashed our sectional differences for another generation and by then progress in the development of industry and communications would have made the General Government too strong for any sectional group to overthrow.�

�I am a New Englander born and bred,� replied Butler. �And I know how annoying some of us can be. But we�re Americans. America can�t be America without us.�

�That�s why Douglas and now Davis insist on bringing New England and the other Free States back into the fold,� concurred McClellan. �If they became independent they�d ally with the British Empire. Then we�d have British troops on the Ohio instead of the St. Lawrence and the British fleet based at Boston instead of Halifax. The British are our cousins by blood and sentiment, but it is best that they live in the European House and we live in the American House. I don�t like them even being in the Canadas. North America should be one country under one flag north of the Rio Grande.�

That is why I asked President Davis and the Confederate Union Congress to authorize the building of an ocean-going navy. If we ever have to fight the British, we will not get them out of North America until after we have defeated them at sea.

The steamer docked and McClellan and Butler debarked. Brigadier General Dan Sickles, commanding the military garrison inside the city, had gone in with the troops the day before. McClellan and Butler were directed to the office he had set up at a requisitioned building.

Sickles and McClellan congratulated themselves on the success of the landings. McClellan wanted to know how Confederate authority was being received. �Has there been any trouble from the people?�

�No mass disturbances so far,� answered Sickles, �but plenty of passive resistance. The men have torn down some Confederate Union flags and the women are insulting the soldiers.�

�I�ll soon put a stop to that,� said Butler. �Both the flag and the soldiers will be respected. Where are the Free State elected officials? I want to address them as soon as possible and make it clear that they, as the people�s representatives, will be held responsible for persuading the people to maintain civil order.�

�Unfortunately, Governor Andrew and most of the state legislators are deceased,� said Sickles with a sneer. �They thought they were going to turn the Statehouse into a latter day Alamo. Did you see what the broadsides from our warships did to it? We pulled only a few out alive after the building collapsed, and they won�t be walking any time soon.�

�Damn stupid of them to throw their lives away,� said McClellan, with anguish in his voice. I could have won those peoples� loyalty if they hadn�t acted so rashly.

�Damn, stupid Rebs is right,� hissed Sickles, a course New York City Democrat with political ambitions. �F--ers thought they were better than the rest of us. Had to have their own country. Well f-- them. They got what they deserved.�

McClellan looked at Butler and raised his eyebrow. If we ever need to crack down on these Rebels we have the man here who�ll do it. We need a few men like him to win this war. Butler nodded, indicating that he had been thinking the same.

�We might as well get Butler quartered in the Governor�s House,� added Sickles. �The late Governor Andrew won�t be needing it any more. I�ll send some men over to kick his damn family out of there and get the place ready for you to move into this evening.�

McClellan put his hand on Sickles� shoulder. �Don�t be harsh with his family, Dan. Move them out gently, even if it takes until tomorrow evening. When you get them out of there, save a room for me. I want to make my office there too. Oh, and you�d better dismiss Andrew�s staff too. Wouldn�t want the cook to poison us. Call Lawton�s in to cater our meals. They serve an excellent braised lamb. Excellent lobster too. Let�s have dinner there tonight, say at seven?�

Butler and Sickles nodded agreement.

McClellan looked outside. �I want to have a look around town, if you�ll be so kind as to round up a couple men to accompany me. I want to see how Jeb Stuart is doing in organizing his cavalry for the raids on the Springfield and Hartford armories. He�s equipping his men with horses from the city, you know.�

�I�ll go with you,� volunteered Butler. �I want to see for myself how the city is faring under our administration.�

McClellan and Butler set off to the livery yards to find Jeb Stuart. They found him watching in mild amusement as one of his quartermasters haggled for horses.

�We�ll pay in Confederate Union notes,� Stuart�s quartermaster was telling the stables owner. �They�re as good as gold.�

�About as good as the horse dung around here as far as I�m concerned,� answered the livery stable owner, �and I�ve already got more of that than I know what to do with.�

�You�re taking Abe Lincoln�s banknotes, and they�re phony as snake oil,� retorted the quartermaster �If you can take Old Abe�s money you can take ours.�

�Old Abe�s money is like him, honest as the day is long! Your Confederate notes look like they were drawn by a child.�

Jeb could tell that haggling with the man would be futile. He pulled his quartermaster aside. �We don�t have time to argue with these jokers. Tell them we�ll take the horses we need and pay $100 in Confederate Union notes. That�s the deal, no more. Now get those horses!�

�Some of our men are not up to trading with these Yankee Rebels,� Stuart acknowledged to McClellan and Butler. �They�ll have us up to three hundred dollars a horse if I don�t put a lid on it. Well, I�d best keep making the rounds to make sure these Yankee traders don�t bankrupt the Confederate Union by charging us a king�s ransom for their spavined horses.�

�The Confederates are landing at Boston, Portland, and Portsmouth,� reported Secretary of War Simon Cameron. �We�re successfully contesting their landing at Portland, but they are ashore at Boston and Portsmouth. In Boston the Statehouse has been destroyed by Confederate naval bombardment. Governor Andrew and most of the State Legislature were inside at the time. They are presumed dead.�

�My God!� gasped several among Lincoln�s Cabinet and the Executive Committee of Congress. All of the President�s men were here except for Secretary of State Seward who was back in Quebec to resolve some points over integrating the Free States� trade with the Canadas.

�After landing, the Confederates sent cavalry raiding parties inland to attack the Springfield Armory and the Colt Works at Hartford,� Cameron continued. �Those manufactories have been heavily damaged, if not totally destroyed.�

�Boston occupied. The armories destroyed. Governor John Andrew and the legislators dead,� exclaimed Vice President Hamlin. He lowered his head. �God rest their souls.�

�The Confederates diddled us good out there, didn�t they?� commented Lincoln after a long moment of silence.

�I�m afraid we diddled ourselves,� replied Speaker of the House John Sherman. �We convinced ourselves that after Gettysburg all we had to do was sit back and wait for Horace Greeley to broker a peace on our terms of independence. We didn�t ask ourselves if it was realistic to believe that the Confederates wanted peace. We should have anticipated that they wouldn�t.�

�How were they able to run their ships past the harbor defenses at Boston and Portsmouth?� asked Senator Charles Sumner.

�As the President said, they �diddled� us,� answered Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. �We�ve been at peace with the British, so we never appropriated the money to strengthen the forts, other than the ones guarding Portland, which is where the Confederates are having their difficulties getting ashore. We garrisoned the forts with second-rate troops and didn�t allocate the funds to train them sufficiently in gunnery, which after all is their purpose. The Confederates led us to believe that they had all their efforts aimed toward Philadelphia. So we put all our eggs in that basket.�

�Hmmm,� said Senator Zach Chandler of Michigan. �But I don�t think we should rush what we have in Philadelphia up to New England just yet. That may be exactly what the Confederates want us to do. They may be trying to divert us to New England before getting on with their main push in Philadelphia.�

�I wouldn�t doubt that for a minute,� agreed Hamlin. �They�re sneaky bastards. We�ve got to make a proportional defense of Philadelphia and New England so that we don�t hand over either place to the Confederates.�

�What I want to know is where they�re getting all their men,� said Thad Stevens rapping his cane on the floor in his style of thoughtful agitation. �How do they manage to field an army in the Northwest, an army around Philadelphia, an army around New York, and still have men left over to field yet another army in New England?�

�I may be able to answer that to your satisfaction,� said Cump Sherman who had been standing by the bookcases, away from the circle of politicians reclining on the chairs and sofas. All eyes turned toward Sherman.

�I was Superintendent of the Louisiana Military academy when their mobilization began. You have to remember that at the commencement of hostilities they had one hundred fifty thousand men under arms in one hundred fifty regiments. Those were the volunteers enrolled in the Southern State militias in preparation for Douglas� scheme to invade Mexico.�

As he warmed to the subject he became animated. He walked to the center of the parlor and began gesturing emphatically to garner the politicians� attention.

�McClellan planned a mobilization to augment those forces to five hundred thousand men in sixty days. We�ve learned from the officers we captured on the Wabash that they divided the officer staffs of their original one hundred fifty militia regiments in two, giving them another one hundred fifty skeleton regiments that they filled with an intake of volunteers during the mobilization. That�s how they were able to double their number of militia regiments so quickly.�

�Seems they went about it the right way,� interjected Lincoln. �That�s what I�d do if I wanted to get the largest number of men in the field as quickly as possible.�

�The Confederates also made good use of the Regular Army men who sided with them,� Sherman added. �We�ve learned that instead of keeping them all together, they dispersed them into the officer corps of their �National Army.� They filled out their National Army with another intake of volunteers that may have created as many as two hundred additional regiments. Those are most likely the men they are moving into New England.�

�We need to apply these methods to the raising of our armies,� thundered Thad Stevens with an ear-bursting rap of his cane. �We�re in a race to the death with the Confederates to see who can raise the largest armies and get them into battle. And they�re winning.�

�Pinkerton has been forwarding us their newspapers,� added the Secretary of War. �It�s perhaps the most useful service we pay him for. The Confederate papers show that their national government is coordinating the mobilization of all their resources. They�ve organized their railroads under government receivership for the duration of the war. They�ve chartered every shipping line between New York and New Orleans to move their men up the East Coast and the Mississippi Valley. They started printing paper currency to fund their wartime purchases the same week we did. Their commissary agents have been levying taxes in kind since the commencement of hostilities.�

Cameron looked at the group with an ironic smile. �Some of their papers have started fulminating against the �Consolidationist� tendencies of their national government in taking so much control over the war. So much for their States Rights Mumbo Jumbo.�

Lincoln laughed. �Mumbo Jumbo appears to the common language of the Fuzzy Wuzzies of the Dark Continent and of leaders of the Confederate Union of America!� The Cabinet members and Congressmen laughed too.

�The Confederates are strange birds,� said Hannibal Hamlin. �They talk �States Rights� all the time, then call upon their Federal Government to come up here and search every house to see who�s harboring their runaway slaves. Then they make war on us when we exercise our right to state sovereignty, the very same right that they�ve been championing lo these many years.�

�I know them well,� said Cump. �Jefferson Davis, George Pendleton, McClellan, Lee, Stanton, Braxton Bragg, and Dick Taylor. They are all Whigs-turned-Democrats who share the late Stephen Douglas� vision of a �Confederate Union of Sovereign States.� That means talking up the theory of States Rights while maintaining the National Authority with an iron hand. It�s what Thomas Jefferson and James Madison did to New England with the Embargo. It�s what Andrew Jackson did with South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis. Jefferson Davis will follow that tradition of talking �States Rights� while lowering the boom on any state that tries to exercise them!�

�We have two issues to settle here, then,� said Thad Stevens. He stopped tapping his cane. �The first is what to do about getting the Confederates out of New England. That is a question of how to fight a battle. The next, and larger question, is how do we fight the war. We�ve proven we can beat the Confederates on the battlefield. They�re can�t out-fight us, so they�re out-strategizing us by attacking us where we�re defenseless. We�ve got to match their thinking on a strategic level or they will nibble us way to nothing even if we beat them on every battlefield.�

Lincoln stood up and walked to the center of the parlor and stood next to Cump to face the group.

�Thad, you presented these questions exactly as we need to understand them. As my itinerant schoolteacher used to say after each lesson during my �schooling by littles:� Let�s sum it up. We�ve learned that the Confederate Union has mobilized larger armies than we have; that they have mobilized their economy to support those armies; and that they will not be easily discouraged from prosecuting their war against us. We will have to match them in raising armies and getting them into the field.�

�We have the same number of people they do,� replied Hamlin. �If they can put that many men in the field, then so can we.�

�At the moment we are less united than they are, though,� Lincoln reminded them. �We still have many Democratic voters who are not enthusiastic about our cause. We can only hope to win them over little by little. In the meantime we must rely on the voters who cast their ballots for us. We need to get substantially all of the able-bodied among those men into the field if we�re going to fight the Confederates in a fair proportion of numbers.�

�The rally at Columbus helped,� said John Sherman. �It drew enough men into our armies to defeat the Confederates on the Wabash.� He looked at his brother. �And it persuaded Cump to fight for us, which made a difference.�

�Thanks, John, for getting him up here,� acknowledged the President. �God only knows where we�d be if Lee had talked him into fighting for their side.�

�We need to organize more of these rallies with the President and the Heroes of Delphi,� suggested Senator Lyman Trumbull.

�Mr. Hay, talk to the governors about arranging a tour by the Heroes of Delphi accompanied by officials of this administration, possibly including myself,� said Lincoln. �Be sure to include Iowa and Minnesota. We need to be thinking more towards organizing our efforts in the Trans-Mississippi.�

�Excellent,� said Thad Stevens. �Now let�s return to the question of what we are going to do about the Confederates in New England. We have a reserve army in training in Albany. And it would seem that we have a surplus of men in Philadelphia and New York since those fronts are likely to remain quiet now that the Confederates have committed their National Army to New England.�

�What do you think, Cump?� asked the President. �Can we muster enough men from Albany and Philadelphia to drive the Confederates out of New England?�

Cump paced in a circle as he thought through how to explain the situation without appearing either defeatist or raising unrealistic expectations of success.

�Of course that will depend on how many men the Confederates have brought to New England and whether or not they make any mistakes in deploying them. The difficulty is that West Point trains its officers to have an eye for fortifying the best defensive ground. Recent improvements in artillery and rifled muskets have made frontal assaults against fortified positions a difficult proposition. The Confederates understand that and have adjusted their tactics to deception rather than direct attack. I expect that McClellan�s hope is that we will beat our brains out attacking him head-on.

�I think our best strategy now would be to nullify the Confederate hold on New England by evacuating our people out of there. If we get our people out of Boston it won�t be any more valuable to the Confederates than a piece of desert sand on the Llano Estado. Let the Confederates allocate their National Army to holding empty cities in New England. That will take their army out of the war as surely as if we had annihilated it to last man in battle. While their army sits idle we can use ours to strike them elsewhere.�

�We�re conceding Boston and the other New England ports to the enemy without a fight!� exclaimed Senator Sumner, shaking his head. �And we�re asking our people to march out of their homes to God-knows-where? That�s a tall order, even for people who are steadfastly loyal to us.�

�I don�t like it either,� concurred Thad Stevens, �But I would rather have those people working for us inside our lines than accommodating themselves to the Confederates as too many New Yorkers have decided to do. Let�s get those people inside our lines, trained as an army, and then execute Cump�s idea to strike the Confederates. The only way we�re finally going to get them off our territory is to make them tie their men down defending their own territory against our attacks.�

Lincoln raised his hand. �Let�s begin that discussion with the topic that this meeting was scheduled to address � Sherman�s plan to realign our forces in Indiana so as to push the Confederates back toward Louisville. Sherman, please explain your proposal.�

Cump positioned himself near the wall map.

�I proposed to the President that we should change commands in Indiana, promoting Schofield to command the army, while transferring McDowell to command Schofield�s division. I proposed that we should divide the reserve army around Chicago into two equal parts. We should send two divisions to Grant to replace his losses, and send the other two to Indiana, allowing us to pull Mitchel�s army out of the line.�

Sherman put his finger on the line from Indianapolis to Cincinnati, then traced the line from Cincinnati to Louisville along the Ohio River.

�We should garrison Cincinnati and the heights across the river in Kentucky. Then we should advance down the Ohio River and retake Madison. That will unhinge the Confederate line in Indiana.�

The Cabinet and Congressmen sat upright. Faces that had shown lines of worry over the news from New England brightened.

�It�s the same question on Fremont�s front,� added Lincoln. �Fremont wants to attack the Confederates either on the Delmarva or Shenandoah. I haven�t authorized Fremont to advance because I did not want to complicate the prospects of negotiating peace with the Confederates. But, as the Confederates have decided that peace is no longer on the table, then that reason for holding back Fremont has become moot.�

�I say turn him loose to advance as far as he is able,� advised Stevens. �And tell him to liberate the slaves that come within his lines! We must set the slaves free to fight with us! We must force the Confederates to tie down their armies protecting every slave plantation within a hundred miles of the front. Every man they keep on station defending their own territory is one less they�ll have to send against us.�

�I agree,� said Lincoln. �But how can we expand the war to the enemies� country while still doing what is necessary to protect our own? I do not honestly believe that we have so far managed the war satisfactorily from Cleveland. We�ve allocated too many men to the idle front at Philadelphia and too few for New England.�

�The country is too big to manage the war entirely from here,� said Cump. �We should introduce the doctrine of departmental autonomy. That doctrine allows for the general commanding each department to defend it with the forces under his command and to advance into the enemy�s country if he is able. There is less of a tendency to over-concentrate forces in some departments where they are not needed, while leaving other departments short of what they need to defend themselves, as we have done in New England. Of course, each department is subject to the strategic command of the President and Secretary of War, but the tactical details of how it is to defend itself or advance into the enemy�s country are left to the discretion of each department commander.�

�Our victories have come from more from the spontaneous actions of our commanders in the field, than from any strategies we�ve thought of here,� agreed Senator Ben Wade. �I say lets� give the departmental commanders their heads.�

�How would you propose that we should subdivide our territory into these departments?� asked Lincoln.

Sherman pointed to the map.

�I would suggest splitting the Eastern Seaboard in two. Leave Fremont in charge of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. New England needs to be in another department. We need to organize the Northwest as two departments. Leave Grant in charge of Illinois and the adjoining part of western Indiana, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan. Put eastern Indiana, Ohio, and Lower Michigan in another department under command of Schofield.

�The Trans-Mississippi states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Kansas, and the territories of Nebraska, Dakota, and eastern Colorado need to be a department. I�d suggest assigning Sam Curtis to command there. He�s an Iowa man who fought superbly on the Urbana Front.�

�And that brings us back to New England,� said Thad Stevens. �Based on what Cump Sherman has contributed to our victory on the Wabash, and what he has told us now, I�d say he should be appointed to command that department.�

�Thank you for your confidence,� replied Cump, �but I had hoped to be able to organize our attack against the Confederates on the Ohio River first.�

�There is no time for that,� Lincoln reminded him. �We cannot afford give up New England in order to organize an attack that might gain us a few counties in Southern Indiana. We need you in New England immediately.� Lincoln looked from Cump to his brother John. �How about if we send John to Indianapolis to convey your plan to Schofield, McDowell, and Mitchel while we speed you on your way to New England?�

�Citizens of Boston,� said Confederate Union Military Governor of New England Benjamin Butler to the Bostonians assembled in Faneuil Hall. �I am appointed Governor of the Military District of New England by President Jefferson Davis. My administration will guarantee the same rights and protections under the Constitution as you had before the Rebellion commenced. You are placed on an equal footing as all other citizens of the Confederate Union.�

Aside from the fact that those other citizens didn�t rebel against the government and don�t require a military government to be imposed on them.

�Your State Government is defunct due to the demise of the late governor and legislature during their misadventure of turning the State House into a latter-day Alamo. They apparently mistook us, their fellow countrymen, for the Mexican Dictator Santa Anna!�

There was a smattering of laughter from the Democrats present who had remained loyal the Confederate Union and welcomed its return. Frederick Douglass rolled his eyes in disgust at William Lloyd Garrison, his fellow co-publisher of the Abolitionist paper North Star Liberator.

�I remind you that I am a Massachusetts man second to none in my affection for this illustrious state and its citizens,� continued Butler. �I am here to welcome you back into the Confederate Union where you may resume intercourse with your fellow citizens.

�Standing here with me is Lieutenant General George McClellan of new Jersey, commander of the Armies of the Department of the East. And next to him is Brigadier General Daniel Sickles of New York, commanding the Confederate Union soldiers quartered in this city.� Take note of the fact that we are all Northern Free State men. McClellan and Sickles made eye contact with the audience to make the point that their armies stood ready to enforce Butler�s authority.

There was more applause from the Democrats.

�Your State Government will be reconstituted by elections to be held after the Rebellion is suppressed. For now its functions are vested in me. As for your representation in the Confederate Union � for the duration of the war the New England States will be represented as a unit in the Confederate Congress by the honorable Caleb Cushing.

�You are free to conduct business among yourselves and all other citizens of the Confederate Union without interference. All that I require of you is that you take no actions in word or deed that oppose the authority of the Confederate Union.�

Again the Democrats, and even a few Republicans, applauded.

�I will take questions now.�

William Lloyd Garrison was the first to speak. �Two questions. The first is whether the North Star Liberator may continue its publications without prior censorship?�

�I haven�t read your claptrap, so I�m not of a mind to bother myself with censoring it.� The Democrats laughed loudly. �Put simply, my job as Military Governor is to enforce the Constitution. The Constitution protects freedom of the press. So long as the press is not subversive I will not concern myself with it.�

�Then I may continue to advocate for abolition?�

�You may advocate for it, or for anything else you have ever advocated for, excepting only sedition against the Confederate Union.�

�My second question is whether you intend to enforce the Fugitive Slave Laws allowing slave catchers to come into this city, apprehend Negroes they encounter, and take them back to the South and sell them into slavery?�

Butler glared at Garrison. He is trying to bait me! I have no idea whether Davis will decide to apply the Fugitive Slave Laws to the recovered areas of the Insurgent States. I do know that allowing slave catchers to come here and apprehend Negroes off the streets will inflame the insurrectionary spirit in this city to the point of making it ungovernable. It would make the battle with the Slavers at Delphi look like child�s game in comparison. That is what the Abolitionists want to accomplish. I must keep the people calm and reconcile them into going back into the Confederate Union.

�I have been known as one of the Southern Rights men of the National Democratic Party,� Butler answered. �I am for Southern Rights, but I am against Southern wrongs. Southerners have the right to maintain slavery in their states. They have no rights to impose it on the Free States. That will not change under my administration.�

I didn�t answer his question directly, but I have communicated my personal commitment not to allow slave catchers to return here. If Jefferson Davis has any sense he will back me on this. Allowing slave catchers to operate in the Free States is not worth its cost. We have a civil war because the slave holders are annoyed that three or four hundred slaves escape to the Free States every year. It will be better to reimburse the slave holders out of the General Government�s revenues than to permit slave catchers to come North and try to catch them. I will try to persuade President Davis to see it that way. If I succeed, it will help to bring the Rebellion to an early close.

Frederick Douglass asked the next question.

�Will you restrain the Confederate Union soldiers from harassing Negroes? Yesterday one of them said he needed a house servant and asked if he could buy me.� Douglass did not try to hide the snarl of outrage on his face.

�That shows his good taste,� Butler joked. �You are a most distinguished looking fellow. You�d be a fine complement to any household.�

The Democrats roared with laughter while Douglass almost choked with fury.

�I am not joking!� Douglass shouted.

�Calm down!� said Butler. �You�re still here, aren�t you? The Confederate was just fiddling with you. It can�t be the first time you�ve ever been heckled by a white man. Even in Boston not everybody is fond of Negroes. If anyone gives you trouble report it to the police as you did before. The police are still the enforcers of civil law in this city.�

Douglass wanted to respond by saying that many of Boston�s police didn�t like Negroes either and probably wouldn�t do much to prevent their being kidnapped by Confederates and sold back into slavery. But he realized that no good would come from pressing the point so he clenched his teeth and made no further response.

The next question was from a textile manufacturer. �What about trade? May we continue to service our customers in the territory controlled by the Free States government?�

�You may conduct whatever non-military trade you want to conduct with whoever you want to conduct it with. The Confederate Union government recognizes all Americans as citizens. We don�t restrict trade, other than in war material, with anybody. It�s only the so-called Free States Government that wants to restrict your trade with the Confederate Union.�

Another businessman spoke up. �May we continue to settle our business in Free State currency?�

�You may settle your business any way you please, so long as the buyer and seller agree on the terms. However, only specie and Confederate Union notes are legal tender. Confederate Union notes must be accepted by all sellers at par with gold.�

�What about resuming our foreign trade?� asked a merchant.

�After we reopen the customs posts you may resume trading with your foreign accounts, provided that you pledge not to carry products of military value. For some reason fathomable only to themselves, the British have decided to make the Canadas a free trade and transit zone for the Rebels. So we can�t allow trade that originates from here to carry products of military value through the Canadas to the Insurgents. We�ve handled the issue satisfactorily on trade originating out of New York and the Southern ports, so I see no great difficulty in resuming it here under those same terms and conditions.�

�What flag may we fly?� asked an elderly gentleman.

�The United States flag remains the legal flag of the country. The Confederate Union flag is a battle flag, not an official flag. You may fly either. The Rebel banner known as �the gold star flag� is prohibited. You may not fly it or any variant of the flag that contains less than thirty-three stars. There are thirty-three states in the Confederate Union, including those pretending to be operating under another sovereignty.�

�Did I understand you to say that we are to have only one non-elected Congressman to represent all of New England?� asked a young man in the middle of the hall.

�New England is a military district until the Rebellion is concluded. It will be represented in the Confederate Congress as if it were a territory until civil government is restored to all the Rebel States.�

Douglass nudged Garrison. �I�ve heard enough,� he whispered. �Let�s go.�

They made their way out of Faneuil Hall and walked into a night warm and humid for this time of year, with a brisk wind out of the southeast blowing the salty smell of the sea air through town. There was a less pleasant smell in the air too, the smell of burned wood and powdered masonry from the ruins of the Statehouse and other nearby buildings demolished by the Confederate Navy�s guns. And there was the sickly smell of death indicating that not all of the dead bodies had been recovered from the rubble.

�What to do you think about Butler?� asked Garrison.

�He�s an arsehole.� Douglass glared as if the answer to that question was too obvious for words.

�I�m worried that his administration will be too moderate,� replied Garrison. �He�s not going to let the slave catchers back in here to stir up trouble. He�s going to let us print our papers without censorship. He�s going to let the merchants resume their trade. Those actions are well calculated to restore the people�s loyalty to the Confederate Union. I suppose it will induce many to declare neutrality as so many of New York�s Republicans have.�

�No Negro will declare neutrality!� hissed Douglass. �Don�t you remember that Confederate who joked about taking me for his servant just yesterday? One of these days they won�t be joking.�

�I�m sorry,� said Garrison, ashamed at his lapse, �but Butler made his best effort to charm us into forgetting that the Confederates are our enemies.�

�They�re all arseholes,� Douglass assured him. �And don�t you ever forget that.�

Cump Sherman and Ambrose Burnside walked through the textile warehouse that was being converted into a makeshift factory to replace the Springfield Armory burned by Jeb Stuart�s cavalrymen. Cump, commanding the Department of New England, had called Burnside here to coordinate the defense of what was left of Free State New England. Burnside commanded Rhode Island�s militia. Just as importantly, he owned the Burnside Rifle Company in Providence. The destruction of the Springfield armory and the Colt works elevated Burnsides� company in importance as one of the Free States� remaining arms manufacturers.

The rooms where the salvaged machinery was being cleaned, polished, and lubricated smelled of soot and machine oil. Salvaged rifle barrels and trigger assemblies from the work in process inventory were being cleaned and stacked in rows. Carpenters were scraping the ashes from partially burned rifle stocks. All salvaged parts in passable condition were being assembled into finished rifles. The fire-damaged rifles weren�t pretty, but they would work.

�We�ll be able to salvage most of the equipment and work-in-process inventory,� said Sherman. He looked at the rows of lathes and drills his men had pulled out of the ruins of the Springfield Armory. �It�s more difficult than you�d think to destroy industrial machinery by arson.�

�How long do you expect it will take to get back into production?� Burnside asked.

�We�ll be finished with the work-in-process inventory by the end of next week. Then we�ll resume production of new weapons. We�ll be back to full production in about four weeks. The same schedule applies to the Colt Works in Hartford, more or less.�

�The Confederates accomplished much less in the way of destruction than they expected, then?�

�They were in too much of a hurry. They burned each manufactory then left. They could have ended production for good and all if they had taken time to haul the machinery out and dump it into the river before they burned the buildings. But that would have taken them a couple days and they were in a hurry to get back to their lines around Boston.�

Sherman escorted Burnside out of the building and across town to Sherman�s headquarters in the guest house of the owner of the textile warehouse where the weapons were being salvaged. Burnside scanned the horizon as they walked. Looking eastward toward the highlands of the Connecticut River Valley he saw men at work constructing fortifications. Older men were shoveling trenches and piling the dirt up in parapets along the rim of hills ringing the valley. Younger men were positioning field artillery salvaged from the burned armory into gun emplacements that commanded the approaches from the other side.

Down by the river construction crews were erecting commercial buildings and residential barracks. Many of the buildings had been hastily built with green lumber that was already warping. Cloth had been stuffed between cracks to keep out the wind and rain. Like the salvaged rifles, these buildings were not pretty, but they would do their jobs of housing the refugees from Confederate-occupied New England who were evacuating to Free State lines every day.

Burnside saw today�s newly arrived refugees standing in the blocks-long line outside of Sherman�s Provost Marshal�s office. Perhaps these people had lived comfortably in Boston until a day or two ago. Now they would be assigned to live in the most humble, drafty quarters shared with many other families. Despite being uprooted from all that was familiar, many were smiling. The bits of conversation that Burnside could pick up were surprisingly cheerful. He decided to talk to some of these people to gauge their motives for coming here.

�Good day, sir,� he addressed a middle aged head of one of the families who was standing in line. �I am General Ambrose Burnside of Rhode Island. I�d like to welcome you to the United States of Free America. I�m supposing that you arrived here today.�

�That�s right,� answered the man. �The Confederates are letting anybody who wants to leave their lines go. They took us by train as far as Worcester. Hired a wagon to take us the rest of the way.�

�May I inquire as to why you decided to join us here?�

�I�m a carpenter. The work has gotten slow in Boston with the Confederates running the show. Mr. Lincoln�s government says there�s to be no business with the Confederate-occupied territories. The Confederates have been feeding us from their military stores, but I don�t want to live off their charity. I imagine there�s plenty of work here for carpenters.�

The man�s wife jostled him. �We�re Free State citizens, Beriah. We could never live under the rule of those Confederate slave masters, even if you had all the work you could handle in Boston. We�d rather be here with our people than aliens in an occupied country. Isn�t that so?�

�I reckon she�s right about that,� replied Beriah. �The Free States are our country.�

Burnside tipped his hat. �Thank you good folks for coming to join us in making a free country here. I know it wasn�t easy leaving your homes. We will live free here, among our own people, until we grow strong enough to run the Confederates out of Boston. And the more people we have like you, the sooner we will run them out and return to our homes.�

Sherman and Burnside moved on.

�The new arrivals are assigned living quarters and work,� explained Sherman. �Most of the healthy young men are volunteering for the army. We�ve got more than we can arm at the moment. We�re putting the mechanics to work building our new armaments foundries. The fellow you talked to is free to engage in civilian trade if he wants to. We do need some of that. People have to have carpenters to make their furniture. They can�t sit on the floors, not even in time of war.�

�Trade is flourishing,� observed Burnside. �Much more so than I would have expected. There doesn�t seem to be any shortage of merchandise in the stores.� He saw that many Boston merchants had reestablished themselves in the crudely constructed storefronts that sold everything from saddles to canned goods.

�The first arrivals had time to bring household furnishing and even the inventories of their shops and warehouses here before the Confederates closed their ring around the city,� Sherman explained. �It�s become impossible for us to obtain any thing else from inside the Confederate lines now. Anything we need here from now on we�ll have to make here. Prices might go sky high, but markets have a way of adjusting themselves to that. The government has solved part of that problem by issuing a national currency.�

�The people here don�t seem to have any difficulty conducting their business in Free State notes,� said Burnside.

�They�ve made a virtue of necessity,� replied Sherman. �It�s in people�s nature to do business. Since they don�t have enough gold or silver to settle their accounts, they�ve decided that they must conduct their business with greenbacks. Our government was wise to take the gamble of printing the notes in the expectation that people would accept them at par with gold.�

�The notes have been indispensable to my business,� confirmed Burnside. �Our government has contracted to purchase the entire production of the Burnside Rifle Company. They pay me with their notes. I pay my employees and suppliers with the notes I receive from the government. They use them to buy what they need from the merchants. So long as everyone agrees that they are �good as gold� then they are good as gold. The government is creating real wealth with this paper, as much wealth as if it owned a real gold mine.�

�I suppose paper currency is a store of real wealth so long as the government declares it to be legal tender and the people agree to accept it as such,� reasoned Cump. �We were going to have to learn to do business with paper currency in any event. The way our economy was growing before the war, we could not have dug enough gold and silver to mint into specie to settle our trade in all the new manufactured goods we were producing. The war is forcing us to rethink a lot of things we were doing. Wars have a way of doing that.�

Burnside glanced around again in amazement at the many buildings that were being built. �How many Boston refugees have you settled here?�

�Thirty thousand so far,� answered Sherman with pride evident in his voice. �Thirty thousand more in Northampton. And twenty thousand in Hartford. I�ve sent more than twenty thousand back to Troy, Albany, and Ilion where there�s war work in spades. If the refugees keep coming in at the rate they�ve been entering my lines in recent days then I may have to send them back as far as Cleveland and even Chicago. But I�d prefer to keep them here if I possibly can. I want this department to be self-sufficient in manpower and in all varieties of productions. I am building an unconquerable eastern frontier for the United States of Free America here. I need all the people here to defend it until we grow strong enough to kick the Confederates into the sea.�

�You�re making magnificent progress in that direction, judging by the number of men you have in uniform,� observed Burnside. Men in uniform were everywhere, though the uniforms were by no means uniform. They consisted of pants of various shades of blue ranging from light to dark topped with shirts ranging in color from brown to gold.

They entered Cump�s office in the textile owner�s guesthouse. Cump offered Burnside a coffee with a shot of rum.

�Your work here has been complete,� commented Burnside. �You�ve not only built fortifications to halt the enemy, but also new cities to house the people who choose not to live under the Confederates. Giving our people a refuge in which to shelter while they learn to fight the Confederates is the essential part of your defense. But still you say you have more refugees than you can settle here. May I request that you send some of them to Providence to help me fight the enemy there?�

Sherman sighed. �Burns, this is difficult for me to say, but I don�t believe that Providence will be defensible with the Confederates holding Boston and Worcester and blockading the coast with their navy.� Cump traced those points on the map on his desk. �McClellan is nothing if not methodical. He�ll capture Providence with an overland attack, like he used to take Portland after our forts defeated his naval expedition. I expect him to make converging attacks from Boston and Worcester. He�ll use his navy to make landings west of Providence to cut the Shoreline Railroad, isolating you from reinforcement and resupply. That�s the way the �book� says to operate, and McClellan goes by the book. It�s what I�d do if I were in his place.�

�Can Providence not be saved?� implored Burnside. �I don�t know if our cause will stand its loss after all the other towns we�ve had to evacuate.�

Sherman shook his head. �I don�t underestimate the value of Providence both as a practical point and a symbolic one, but if we fortify it with an army, we�ll lose the city and the army. I�d rather save the people of Providence by bringing them here before the city falls. And I need the machinery from your arms manufactory relocated here as well.�

�Is there nothing we can do to get the enemy out of Worcester and reopen direct communications with Providence?�

�I�d hoped there might be,� answered Sherman grimly. �It was the first thing I looked at when I came out here. But after observing their lines I don�t think it can be accomplished, not at an acceptable cost, and not with the men we have available. I�m afraid McClellan understands Worcester�s value as a rail center as well as we do. He�s ringed it with fortifications and put an army corps commanded by Hooker in there to defend it. The railroad going back into Boston is garrisoned too heavily to break. Taking Worcester by direct assault or forcing the enemy to evacuate by attacking his lines of communications is beyond our means.�

�What about the people in Providence?� Burnside asked. �It will crush their spirit to be moved here before the Confederates approach the city. I can tell you that they�d rather fight for Providence than surrender it. And you�re having trouble handling the refugees just from Boston. Providence will give you fifty thousand more.�

�I don�t doubt your people�s bravery for a second. But with their control of the land and sea, the Confederates can put a siege perimeter around them and starve them out. Even the bravest people can�t fight starvation.�

Burnside drained the cup of coffee and rum.

�Let me evacuate the women and children and anybody else who either can�t or doesn�t want to fight for the city. That�ll leave five to seven thousand men. We can put in enough rations to feed them for sixty days. I will supply them with arms and ammunition from my company�s stock. We�ll bleed the Confederates who try to get into the city, the same as Lyon�s men did in St. Louis. I know you want the rifle factories relocated here, but you�re already backlogged with the work you have restoring the Springfield Armory and the Colt Works. We�d be taking my company out of production for months, with no good result. Allow my company to continue in production for the local defense of Providence and I promise you we will use the weapons to best effect.�

Sherman poured more coffee and rum. He got up and paced around the office. �I won�t order you to evacuate the city if you�ll raise at least five thousand men to defend it, and if you�ll promise to put in enough arms and victuals before the Confederates cut you off from resupply. If your men prove to be as committed as you, I believe you can make the Confederates pay dearly to take the city. I might even me able to gather enough men here to strike them from the rear if they become bogged down in street fighting. They�ll poke their snouts in a trap that we can spring on them!�

�Then Providence will be defended!� vowed Burnside.

�Where in Hell are all the Negroes I came here to liberate?� bellowed General of the Atlantic Department John Fremont. �I invited Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens to attend tomorrow�s Liberation ceremony. If I don�t find more Negroes to set free by then, I�ll look like the King of Fools!�

Fremont could not understand why only two Negro slaves had shown up for his Proclamation of Liberation ceremony in Elkton, the seat of Cecil County, Maryland.

�You hear those guns?� asked Frederick Douglass whom Fremont had invited to speak at tomorrow�s ceremony. The sound of musketry came in on the wind, indicating that the Free State invaders and the Confederate defenders were fighting not far away. �Slaves won�t risk running away from their masters until we�ve shown them that we will stay here long enough to protect them from being returned to slavery. But if you need more Negroes to put on a show for tomorrow, Eddie and I can pretend to be slaves for a day.�

Eddie Bates, also invited by Fremont to speak at the ceremony, howled with laughter. Fremont grimaced with fury. Douglass decided he�d best apologize.

�I�m sorry, General. My meager attempt at humor was in very poor taste. Please know that I appreciate the risk you are taking in bringing your men into Maryland. You�re the only person of authority in the Free State Government who�s shown any interest in liberating the slaves. I am grateful for that.�

Fremont pursed his lips in a half-smile and nodded ever so slightly to show Douglass that he was mollified by the apology.

�I understand. I confess that I sometimes think more of my image with the public than I should. I was more disappointed at being held up to ridicule than I was at not being able to liberate the slaves I expected to find here.�

Fremont had acted immediately after receiving Lincoln�s permission to advance into Confederate territory. The Confederates, accustomed to pinning the Free State Republicans down with the ever-present threat of moving against Philadelphia, had drawn down their men in quiet stretches of the front. Fremont had easily advanced across the Maryland State Line, guarded only by frontier outposts on the macadamized roads that crossed into Pennsylvania.

His unexpected advance had caught the Confederates in Maryland by surprise, isolating the portion of the state east of the Susquehanna and north of the Chesapeake, and breaking the railroad connections between Baltimore and Wilmington. If Fremont had so far failed in his quest to free slaves, he had at least made the Confederates understand that they, too, could be invaded. He had set the telegraph lines humming with calls to return to Maryland the units transferred to other fronts. Those Confederate guns he heard had come from units hastily withdrawn from the front between Wilmington and Philadelphia. The Confederates had withdrawn them reluctantly, knowing that by weakening its defenses they were placing Wilmington in danger of attack from Philadelphia. That was precisely the state of confusion that Fremont wanted to foment.

I will have the Confederates swinging to and fro like a pendulum, moving their men between different points on a wide front. Every unit in transit is a unit that isn�t fighting. These movements exhaust the men and wear on the railroads and rolling stock that move them. They spread the Confederates thin and allow us to exploit their weak points.

Douglass continued explaining the paucity of slaves.

�The main reason that fewer slaves have come forward than you anticipated is because there aren�t many left in this county. There were thousands here when I was born into slavery. Now perhaps there are only several hundred. Their masters took those off when word came that your army had arrived in Maryland. The only two that were remained here to �liberate� are the elderly servants of the oldest lady in town.�

�Why so few? I thought Maryland would be thick with them.�

�It is �thick� with slaves on the Chesapeake Shore, fifty miles south of here. But slavery has been declining in northern Maryland since even before I was born. It�s difficult for masters to keep their slaves this close to the Free States. Look at me and Eddie. We both escaped from plantations not far from here. There are Quakers and Abolitionists all around here who�ll spirit slaves across the state line into Pennsylvania. They disappear into the Negro Quarter of Philadelphia and are never heard from again.�

�That�s exactly how my wife Emma got herself free,� interjected Eddie. �She walked out of her master�s house in Delaware when her master passed away. She crossed over into Pennsylvania and went straight into Philadelphia. Nobody ever came looking for her, not until the slave raid that started this war.�

Eddie thought about Emma, back home in Cass County Michigan. He longed to return home and get back to the comfortable routine of working his bakery shop. Then he remembered that it was cold and snowy back there. The pale sunny early winter sky of Maryland took his thoughts back to his first home, the cabin on the slave plantation he had been raised in until his family had escaped to Free Pennsylvania. Eddie turned his face to the sun.

Will my people ever be able to live free in the �Sunny South?� Most of us would return to this warm and happy land if only we could do so as free men and women. We would work for wages as we do in the Free States, educate ourselves and our children, and contribute to the improvement of the country.

Fremont has freed only two slaves, but everything has to start out small. Perhaps he will free more next week and still more the week after. Set the slaves free in dribs and drabs if that is how it has to be. Emma, Frederick Douglas, and I are only three, but to each of us freedom is more valuable than life itself. And every slave who is set free to prosper by his or her own hands refutes the stories told by the slaveholders who say that Negroes by nature are incapable of governing themselves.

In the background Eddie could hear Frederick Douglass continuing to inform Fremont about the scarcity of slaves here.

�The slave owners couldn�t secure their slaves,� so they sold them further south,� Douglass explained. �The nature of the land has changed too. The old tobacco plantations of my childhood have been subdivided into smaller parcels. Most of those grow wheat. Slaves aren�t used as much on small farms. You�ll need to advance a couple counties deeper into Maryland�s Eastern Shore in order to find the tobacco plantations that work hundreds of slaves.�

�I don�t know if we�ll be able to move any further south,� replied Fremont. �This war has not been kind to commanders who failed to fortify their lines of communication. If I move any further south or east the Confederates will certainly try to cut me off from Pennsylvania. The best I could hope for would be an ignominious retreat. It will be best to fortify the ground we have already gained, which blocks the railroad into Wilmington and makes it difficult for the Confederates to threaten Philadelphia. I regret not being able to push far enough south to liberate slaves in large numbers, but I don�t see that as being an important enough objective at the moment to risk having this force cut off and destroyed.�

Douglass nodded. �Even if you don�t advance any farther, you�ll encourage some of the Negroes further south to make a run for our lines. They�ll try to escape at night, so warn your sentries not to shoot them. Now if we can only convince Mr. Lincoln to let the free Negroes fight for us, it might convince many more to join our cause.�

�I won�t ask Mr. Lincoln,� replied Fremont. �I�ll enlist the Negroes in the ranks and put the burden on the President to muster them out.�

�You will do that?� asked Douglass.

�You just watch me.�

�Well, God bless your pompous hide, you--!� exclaimed Douglass, stopping himself in mid sentence before he said out loud all he thought of Fremont..

They all laughed uproariously. No one laughed louder than Fremont, who didn�t seem to mind the very few he considered his true friends poking fun at his pretentiousness. Douglass smiled broadly, realizing by Fremont�s laughter, than he had passed within the general�s embrace of friendship.

�What about you, Douglass?� asked Fremont �I wouldn�t mind you � and Eddie � sticking with me for a while. Every slave we liberate is important to our cause, and both of you give powerful testimony that encourages Whites to respect free Negroes as their equals. It doesn�t do any good to liberate the Negroes if they are then to be despised as an inferior class of citizens. Our common cause will be strengthened if we encourage Free States Whites to believe that they have a stake in your progress from slavery to equality.�

�I�ll be pleased to accompany you,� answered Douglass at once. �Garrison has asked me to return to Boston to help him continue to publish The North Star Liberator. But I�m frankly afraid to do it. The Confederates haven�t gone so far as to kidnap any free Negroes and sell them back into slavery, but if they start it will very likely be with me. I also believe it�s better for me to dedicate myself to rallying the people inside our lines to fight for our cause rather than trying to persuade the people remaining in Boston to passively resist the Confederates.�

Douglass� determination to work with Fremont inspired Eddie to think about his own role.

And what about me? Should I continue speaking at these rallies? Or should I pick up a gun and fight for the liberation of my people now that Fremont says he will enlist us. Maybe I ought to go back home and raise a company of Cass County Negroes and bring them to Fremont. That will show folks that Negroes can fight as well as Whites. A company of Free Negroes fighting here might even inspire the slaves of Maryland and Delaware to come into our lines to fight with us.

�General Fremont, Sir?�

�Yes, Mr. Bates.�

�With your permission I�d like to return to Michigan and see if I can raise up a company of free Negroes to fight with you. We�ll soonest earn our freedom if�n we show that we�ll fight for it.�

�Yes, Eddie, by all means!� exclaimed Fremont. �Return home and raise your company and bring them to me. I will prepare them to fight, and I promise I will fight them!�

Fremont reached into his pocket and removed the nine-page flowery speech that he had written as an address at tomorrow�s Liberation Ceremony. The speech was mostly written with a view toward promoting himself as the Great Emancipator. Fremont ripped the speech to shreds.

�Why did you do that?� asked Douglass.

�Because I realized that I don�t need a speech. All I need to do is let the world know that Eddie will be raising the first Negro Company. From now on I will not be your race�s liberator. You will liberate yourselves.�

Confederate Colonel of Artillery Porter Alexander shouted a command to his telegrapher over the din of exploding shells: �Battery Mason. Adjust Fire. Up thirty. Right thirty. Fire bolts.�

The telegrapher clicked out the message. Minutes later solid bolts from the Parrot Rifles of Mason�s Battery on Covington Heights began slamming into the three-story building across Seventh Street to Alexander�s right. The Rebels firing out of the windows of the upper floors ceased fire at once, some struck down by the bolts and flying shards of brick and glass they scattered, while the rest fled out the back.

Alexander watched as another salvo collapsed the roof into the interior of the top floor. Then he shouted to the telegrapher, �Battery Mason. Cease fire.�

Alexander was not only the Confederate Army�s most respected artillery officer but also its chief signals expert. He was testing out his newly developed method of controlling indirect artillery fire by telegraph.

He shouted his next command: �Lilly Belle. Adjust Fire. Up fifty. Right fifty. Fire percussion.� The ground shook as one of the big shells plowed into the ground behind the vacated building and detonated. A debris cloud mushroomed up behind the building. The third floor fell on top of the second when the concussion shook it. Alexander hoped the round had killed or disabled any of the men who might have been preparing a defensible position behind the building. He called in two more shells.

He decided that this would be the last fire mission he called from Lilly Belle that day. Lilly�s �sister� Lady Kate had blown itself sky high two days before when its chamber proved unable to withstand the black powder charge that hurled its huge shells across town. A store of black powder carelessly placed near the gun had gone off too. The combined explosions killed twenty-two of Alexander�s gunners and wounded fifty more � the most dreadful day of the war for Alexander�s men so far.

After the explosion Alexander had called in fire support from Lilly sparingly. After each three rounds he allowed the chamber to cool for three hours before calling in the next mission. As soon as he had time he would devise a method for remote firing the huge gun so as never again to place a gun crew at risk of being killed by the exploding charge or premature detonation of the shell.

He looked at Major Roberdeau Wheat, commanding his Special Assault Battalion of Louisiana Tigers. The Tigers, late to the Battle of the Salient, were right where they needed to be in this fight. Lee had used them to fill out the depleted divisions of Cleburne, McCulloch, Van Dorn, Hindman and Hardee. Van Dorn was attacking Ormsby Mitchel�s army from the west side of Madison while Hardee and McCulloch had moved into its rear at Lawrenceburg. Cleburne�s division, its battered regiments filled out with fresh Tigers snarling for a fight, was hacking its way through the blasted ruins of Cincinnati.

He pointed his arm out straight to signal that the guns had ceased firing. Wheat waved his men forward. The Tigers, moving forward with fixed bayonets and bowie knives at the ready, began infiltrating their way past the remains of the buildings demolished by Alexander�s artillery. Alexander heard rifle shots coming from the riddled buildings followed by screams as the Tigers cleared out the Rebels with bayonets and knives. The fighting lasted about twenty minutes, then the shooting and screaming ceased. Alexander heard the noise of other firefights echoing from other points in the city.

He watched as one deranged Confederate, slashed from head to toe with oozing wounds, came running back down the street waving a pile of bleeding guts from his bayonet like a flag.

�What you going to do with them guts, boy?� shouted a shock-crazed sergeant cradling a shattered arm as he propped himself up in a doorway.

�I�m gonna cook �em and eat �em!�

�Save some for me,� yelled the sergeant. �I can�t stand no more o� that hardtack!� The sergeant howled with devilish laughter. Perhaps he was delirious from opium pills.

�Sure, Sarge!� yelled the boy. He dropped the rifle with its pile of gore still dangling from the bayonet. He hollered out the �Yip, yip, yeeee--eeee--yoooowwwwhhhooooooo� that had become known as the Union Yell. It faded as he ran off toward the river front.

Alexander was surprised at how little the sight affected him. A few days ago he might have vomited. Since then he had seen too much of the hand-to-hand city fighting that had driven the sanity from the young boy�s mind.

The walking wounded began coming in, followed by the severely wounded carried on doors that had been blasted off their hinges. The Rebel and Confederate soldiers were placed side by side in the basement of the building that Alexander was operating from. Their wounds were washed and then bound with scraps of cloth by the Tigers� ever-present retinue of army camp whores, most of whom looked tougher than the men. Some spoke in Louisiana Cajun while others sounded like local girls the Tigers had picked up after Alexander�s artillery knocked down the cat houses by the riverfront.

Alexander heard these women use language that would have made the roughest stevedore blush. Yet their feminine nature showed itself in the tenderness of care they gave to the wounded of both sides. Some went to fetch pails of boiled water from the kettles in the makeshift hospitals closer to the riverfront. They passed around bottles of whiskey to the seriously wounded of both sides to ease their agony.

The lightly wounded and uninjured Rebel prisoners were being collected separately from the seriously wounded. They were watched carefully by armed Confederates prior to being escorted to the riverfront for processing as prisoners. One of the slightly injured men was a Rebel lieutenant.

�Care for a smoke,� Alexander asked the Rebel officer. When the Rebel nodded Alexander took a few pinches of tobacco out of his pouch, rolled them in a leaf, and passed it to him. A Confederate soldier used his smoke to light the Rebel�s.

�Much obliged,� said the Rebel.

Alexander lit his own and set down next to the Rebel.

�Not meaning to disturb you, but how long have you been in this war, if you don�t mind my asking?�

�Been in it since the beginning,� answered the Rebel, after relishing a puff of smoke. �I was with Jacob Loomis� men at Delphi. I was here during the Partisan War. That was more of a riot than a battle. This is a real war we�ve got on our hands.�

�It�s been a knock-down, drag-out fight,� Alexander agreed. �It�s cost us a lot of good men.� Including twenty-two of my best gunners killed by our own gun when it exploded.

�It wouldn�t have cost you anything if you�d go back home and leave us go in peace,� replied the Rebel. �We shouldn�t be fighting a war between brothers.�

�The politicians won�t leave the question of war up to us soldiers,� Alexander responded, not wishing to start an argument about which side was guilty of starting the war. �If they did there wouldn�t be any wars. I don�t know of any soldier who wouldn�t prefer peace. We�re the ones who do the dying when the talking stops.�

�Ain�t that ever so right,� replied the Rebel. �Nobody on our side wants to fight, I can tell you that. For us it�s a question of a border. Horace Greeley has proposed one that everybody up here thinks is fair. All your side has to do is accept it. That would end the fighting tomorrow.�

�President Davis is sworn to uphold the Constitution,� replied Alexander. �He won�t allow you Abolitionists to kidnap your states and take them out of the Union. No president of any party would allow that.�

The Rebel laughed. �Funny how we heard nothing but talk of Secession by the South for all these years. You people bent our ears back with your talk about how the states are sovereign. We are only exercising are rights under your doctrine!�

�Not everybody in the South agreed with that doctrine,� said Alexander. �We never had to put it to the test, Thank God. Stephen Douglas and Jefferson Davis put our Fire Eaters down. You Abolitionists should have calmed down too and let Douglas and Davis sort out our differences by Constitutional means.�

�I�m no Abolitionist, not by a longshot,� retorted the Rebel, between puffs of smoke billowing out of his mouth with gusto. �I�m no friend of slavery, of course, but I�m of no mind to tell you fellows what you should do with your Negroes. That�s something you�ll have to figure out for yourselves in your own good time.�

�If you don�t care about slavery why are you fighting to leave the Union?�

�I�m fighting for the United States of Free America. Nothing against you Southerners, but we don�t want to be governed by you. We�re a different people.�

�You are?� asked Alexander.

�We�re mostly city people. You folks are farmers and plantation crackers. Not saying you�re bad people, but you�re holding us back. We want a government that builds our canals and railroads, protects our industries, and opens the West for settlement. We want to get on with our business in a new country where we don�t have to be bothered by you or your Negroes. We�d still like to be your friends, of course, but living in a country of our own making. I�m ready and willing to die fighting for my country. Are you willing to die to force me to be part of yours?�

�I�m sorry it�s come to that,� said Alexander. �I�m a West Pointer. Some of my friends are fighting on your side. I wish we had all tried a little harder to live with each other before we resorted to war.�

The Rebel nodded and puffed. �Maybe so,� he said noncommittally, not wanting to carry on a fruitless discussion about who to blame either. �Trouble is the fighting got started and took on a life of its own.� He sighed and let out a cloud of smoke. �That�s how most wars get started, isn�t it?�

�Reckon so,� replied Alexander. �What�s your name, by the way?�

�Jeremiah Sloan, but call me Jerry.�

�Pleased to meet you, Jerry. I�m Porter Alexander. I hope we�ll live long enough to meet in peace one day.�

�Much obliged for the smoke,� the Rebel said again. �God be with you.�

The Confederate guards motioned the Rebel lieutenant to join the group of walking wounded they were escorting to the river.

Alexander watched them go. He puffed on his hand-rolled cigar while deciding that now would be a good time to advance his observation post across Seventh Street in order to call in artillery fire when the next forward movement began. But he would take a few minutes to rest first. He thought about his conversation with the Rebel lieutenant.

Lord knows, we have our share of hotheads in the South. Thank God Douglas and Davis stopped those crazy Southern Secessionists before they pulled our Southern Slave States out of the Union. We�d never have gotten all of the Slave States to go out of the Union. Maybe we would have gotten ten or eleven, but it might have been as few as four or five. We�d have ended up fighting a Union of Free States and Upper South Border States. Instead of fighting in Cincinnati and Providence to restore the Union we would have been fighting in Nashville and New Orleans to break it. I don�t believe we could have won such a war. Thank God we weren�t called upon to fight it.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had taken up McClellan�s former role of collecting the latest telegrams from the War Department and summarizing them for the President each morning. Jefferson Davis had become accustomed to Stanton presenting the information of importance while omitting the unreliable information that tended to obscure matters.

Davis was coming to understand that the details of a continent-wide war involving close to a million men on each side � its pace made all the faster by railroads, telegraphs, and steamships � were getting beyond the ability of even a keen mind like his to comprehend. It took other keen minds, like Stanton�s, to filter the details and present the important ones requiring executive decisions to the President. This wasn�t an easy realization for a man as self-reliant as Davis to acknowledge. But he had come to see that he had no choice other than to use men such as Stanton to leverage his executive authority. It was a role that Stanton was rapidly mastering and relishing.

Davis looked outside the windows of the Executive Office. The iron-gray sky shed a cold rain that pooled on the windows. Perhaps the first flakes of snow would be on the way by Christmas. He sipped a coffee and motioned for Stanton to begin his report. Stanton was eager to give it.

�Mr. President:

�We have encouraging news from the Cincinnati front. We kicked the Rebels where the sun doesn�t shine when we took the city, at least the part of it that matters, away from them.�

Davis responded without enthusiasm. �Was it necessary for Lee to bombard the city so heavily? I was handed a note from the British Ambassador yesterday imploring me to order our armies to exercise a proper regard for humanity when advancing against Rebel-held cities.�

�The Rebels must have spies here who told the ambassador a lurid tale of destruction, rape, and pillage,� surmised Stanton. �They�re turning every trick in the book to persuade the British to intervene in their favor. After this war is over we�ll have to settle accounts with the British. It�s outrageous that they�ve allowed the Rebels free transit through the Canadas. These allegations of our disdain for humanity can only be meant to pave the way for intervention. I�ll put a discrete watch on the British embassy to see if we can identify the Rebels who are communicating with them.�

Davis nodded. �I�m sorry if I sounded tail-down, but this protest from the British is one thing I don�t need to worry about at the moment.�

�I understand, Mr. President. But the point is that the bombardment was necessary. The Rebels would have poured men into the city if we hadn�t destroyed the railroads, telegraph lines, and canals at the outset. Without the bombardment we might not have obtained even a foothold in the city. Look what happened to our men at Providence when McClellan moved against it without a bombardment. And Lee did offer the Rebels an ultimatum to evacuate. After they refused, he had every right to bombard it. The British should have no difficulty understanding the doctrine of military necessity, considering the amount of fighting they do around the world.�

Davis� face brightened. �Yes, I will explain it exactly that way in my reply to the ambassador.�

�The military necessity of occupying Cincinnati is undeniable!� exclaimed Stanton. His face shook so excitedly that Davis could hear his beard rustle against his clothes. �Our taking of most of the city has not only halted the Rebel offensive toward Louisville, but has given us an opportunity to trap the enemy. General Lee has moved his men through the portion of the city we control and then into the rear of the Rebel army operating against Harney in southern Indiana. Hardee�s Division reached the vicinity of Lawrenceburg yesterday. Reports from Harney�s front this morning say that the Rebels have evacuated Madison and Vernon.�

Stanton switched from reporting the telegraphed reports to interpreting what he estimated their implications to be.

�The Rebels are trying to skedaddle back through Lawrenceburg before Lee closes off their line of retreat,� he elaborated. He did not actually know that, but he had observed how military men thought and fought. He had been proven accurate enough times to convince Davis to value his estimations. �If Lee and Harney can coordinate their attacks from the east and west so as to block the Rebels from escaping north of the Miami River it is possible that the bulk of the Rebel forces operating under Mitchell will be cut off and captured.�

�Oh?� said Davis. �That is excellent news. It will alleviate the sting of Lee�s defeat at The Salient. The papers have been merciless in their criticism of his losing all those men and then abandoning what little ground he gained. They are undermining the morale of some of our people in the government, and more importantly, I fear, of the soldiers.�

�That�s another matter I wanted to discuss with you!� replied Stanton. �We�re at war to put down the Rebellion. We don�t need the Southern Rights men in the Loyal States stirring up a fire in our rear. Do you know about the Southern Rights Convention they�re calling for?�

�Yes, I�ve heard about that foolishness. Haven�t had time to dwell on it though, not with all the other activity that�s come to my attention.�

�Mr. President, that convention is seditious. Criticizing the civil policies of government is one matter. Calling upon us to give up a war against the traitors in rebellion is another.�

Davis grimaced.

�They�re fulminating against the national army, the currency, the excise taxes, and the tax in kind,� Stanton added. �They�re agitating the people not to enlist in the National Army or to pay the commissary agents taxes in kind or to hire out their slaves for government work. Is that not �giving aid and comfort to the enemy?� Wouldn�t it be best to move against them now, before the real trouble starts when they convene their convention in Charleston?�

�Let�s wait and see if they have the courage to go on the record with their complaints,� advised Davis. �If they do, then we can raise the question of whether they are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. If they don�t go on record, we can suggest that they lack the courage to say in public what they profess to believe in private.�

�Maybe that will shame them into silence,� replied Stanton reluctantly. �But we need to start showing our teeth. We can put our men in the Charleston post office to make it difficult for Rhett to disseminate his treason rags. That will get his attention.�

Davis rolled his eyes. He wasn�t sure whether Stanton was exercising his arid sense of humor or whether he was perfectly serious. If Stanton was serious, what else might he think of to discourage the Administration�s critics? Davis decided that he should discourage Stanton from becoming too rambunctious at the moment, but that he should not rebuke him in case his machinations might be needed in the future.

�Before we consider extreme measures let�s see what the newspapers say after we win these battles around Cincinnati and Lawrenceburg. Nothing quiets noisy newspapermen like success. How much of Cincinnati is actually in our possession?�

�Our men have cleared it to Liberty Street. That�s the limit of our artillery fire support from across the river. Lee has decided not push any further north for now as he wants his men available to fight the decisive battle shaping up at Lawrenceburg. Why don�t we wait a day or two to see how that battle develops? If it yields the anticipated results we can announce a victory there and at Cincinnati.�

�Yes,� agreed Davis. �Let�s do wait until we can announce both victories simultaneously. That will magnify their effect on the public mind. Gaining control of Cincinnati and points west seems like a fair bargain for our giving up the territory we won in The Salient.�

�It�s much more than a fair bargain,� replied Stanton. �Besides being a transportation center, Cincinnati has a large manufacturing and commercial establishment valued at many millions of dollars. At least it was valued at many millions before Fremont and Lee unloaded their artillery on it. Our occupation prevents their incursions into Kentucky, which would have been expected to follow their incursions into Maryland and Missouri.�

�What are we going to do about those?� Davis asked sharply, his mind suddenly returning to the unpleasant question of how the Confederate Union was going to respond to invasions of its territory. �Fremont is stirring up a hornet�s nest in Maryland. I�ve received over two hundred telegrams demanding that I remove �the invader� from our soil. I don�t like that term �invader� by the way. Fremont�s men are rebels against this government, not foreign invaders.�

�We�ve moved some partially trained regiments of the National Army up from Baltimore to the Susquehanna,� Stanton explained. �They�ll complete their training there while being on alert to repel any attempt by the Rebels to advance across the river. General Longstreet has sent one of his infantry brigades and a cavalry battalion to assist the Maryland Militia in containing Fremont�s movement through Cecil County. It�s engaged about four miles southeast of Elkton. If Fremont moves deeper into Maryland or Delaware we can reinforce Longstreet�s men and cut him off.�

�Thank you, Mr. Secretary. You have responded well.�

�The incursion makes Fremont look silly,� opined Stanton. �He thought he was coming South to liberate four million slaves and all he turned up was two broken down old Darkies. If anything, his �Liberation Proclamation� is educating our people to the danger an independent Free State Republic poses to our northern border. It might even induce Rhett and Yancey to join us in fighting the Rebellion instead of agitating the Southern Rights men against us.�

Davis was relieved that he would not have to worry about the specifics of thwarting Fremont in Maryland. Stanton, with his untiring energy, would allocate the troops necessary to contain Fremont and then force him back into Pennsylvania.

�That brings our discussion to Missouri. I�ve received reports of the Rebels commanded by their General Curtis raiding into the northern counties.�

�The Rebels have raided the northern tier of counties bordering Iowa,� Stanton explained. �Telegrams arriving this morning report that a raid by Abolitionist guerillas operating out of Kansas also took place against Osceola, Missouri the day before yesterday. Unconfirmed reports have it that they executed nine slave owners in cold blood before returning to Kansas.�

�We don�t need that devil�s work to get started up again,� Davis said, slamming his fist on the table. �McClellan thought we could avoid a guerilla war if we kept our men out of Kansas. But if they�re determined to start a war we�ll have to respond. What is Sterling Price doing out there?�

�He�s occupying the counties along the Missouri River from St. Louis to Jeff City with his Missouri Militia.�

�He needs to be more aggressive in moving against the Abolitionists raiding from Iowa and Kansas. Governor Jackson will ask for the return of the units he sent to Illinois if the Rebels keep raiding the state. I suspect that is the purpose of these raids � to thin our line in Illinois.�

Stanton scribbled a note. �I�ll inform Price of our conversation. If the reports of the Osceola murders are verified I would think that it will enrage the Missourians to go on the rampage against the Abolitionists with a vengeance.�

�Let�s try to keep it a civilized war if we possibly can,� Davis replied wearily. �I don�t want to endorse bushwhacking. Once it gets started it becomes impossible to stop. And it will give the Rebels more propaganda to feed the British about our supposed �inhumanity� even if it is the Rebels who are committing the depredations.�

Davis stood up, walked around the room, sat back down, and sipped his coffee. Stanton could see that he was troubled. Was it because of the protest he had received from the British Ambassador this morning, or was it something more? Davis finally confessed his doubts.

�Mr. Secretary, McClellan planned for us to defeat the Rebels in ninety days. By now we were to be in possession of the Eastern Seaboard from Philadelphia to New England. In the Northwest we were to be in possession of Chicago, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Dayton, and Cincinnati. The Rebel armies were to have been surrounded by our mobile units and destroyed. Except for the operation in New England, we have not had anywhere near the success we anticipated.�

�It was a sound plan,� interjected Stanton. �It failed by narrow margins � in Pennsylvania when Fremont showed up at Gettysburg and in Illinois when the tempest dumped its rain on Lee�s offensive. The fortunes of war have gone against us during these last ninety days. Odds are that they will favor us in the future. They appear to be working in our favor now around Cincinnati and Lawrenceburg.�

�Yes,� agreed Davis, �and I will be grateful if the victory at Lawrenceburg is consummated.�

Davis studied national map on the wall. �But the Rebels hold a compact territory with densely populated cities. We�ll still have to fight our way through Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, Hartford, and of course Philadelphia.

They�re operating on interior lines that allow them to move reinforcements to defend any point on their line faster than we can move men to attack it. They blocked our offensives in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Even our surprise landing in New England has come to much less than expected. They moved their people back behind Sherman�s line and then gave Mac a bloody nose with their counterattack from Providence.�

�It�s a very long front,� replied Stanton. �Can they possibly defend it all? We outgun them in heavy artillery. If necessary we can stack the guns hub to hub and bludgeon them as we have at Cincinnati.�

�The British will not allow that!� exclaimed Davis. �That�s what so disturbed me about the British ambassador�s letter. They are looking for any excuse to intervene. They were infuriated by our campaign slogan �Confederate Union, United Expansion.� They want to thwart us from further expansion into Mexico and the Canadas by helping the Free States become independent. If we bombard our way into another Rebel city the Insurgents will call it a �crime against humanity� and ask the British intervene. I imagine they are feeding the British stories at this very moment about atrocities in Providence. We can�t fight the Free States and the British too.�

Stanton considered the point.

�Even if the British don�t intervene,� continued Davis, �the Rebels have turned this from a war of maneuver � that favors us �- into a war of attrition that favors them. By my reckoning we�ve lost seventy thousand men in the ninety days of hostilities, and that�s not including the ten thousand we lost retaking St. Louis during the Partisan War.�

�Our losses have actually been higher than that, sir,� replied Stanton. �The recent fighting in Cincinnati and outside of Providence has been very heavy. We�ve lost slightly more than ninety thousand men permanently removed from service in the last ninety days. Those losses include men killed or wounded so severely as to require discharge; the large captures of our men from Kirby Smith�s and Pemberton�s divisions on the Wabash; and men deceased or incapacitated by camp diseases.�

Davis did the calculations in his head. �That means we could expect to lose three hundred sixty thousand men lost in a full year of campaigning. At the rate we�re going it might take us two or three years to put down the Rebellion. That�s upward of a million casualties on our side and a similar number on theirs. All the while we�ll have the British looking for excuses to intervene �in the name of humanity.� We�ll have our own Southern Rights men agitating against us, and we�ll have the newspapers doing what newspapers always do, which is to carp and complain and stir up dissent.�

Davis looked directly at Stanton. �Can we win this war?�

�We are winning it,� Stanton replied firmly. �The Rebel incursions into the countryside of Missouri and Maryland in no way compensate for their loss of St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, and Portland. They are going to lose Providence too, when starvation forces its capitulation. By taking the New England ports we�ve removed their navy from the war. The loss of those ports has squeezed their commerce into one overloaded railroad through Montreal. They�re being squeezed and bled.�

�The squeezing is much less than it should be with the British offering them protected communications routes through their Canadian back door,� protested Davis. �It�s one of many factors that make it so difficult for us. McClellan thought we had to win the war quickly or not at all. The people�s patience is wearing thin. All they see is casualties, debt, and consolidation of powers wielded by the national government. Many are asking why we are fighting the Rebels when we could have peace just by letting them go.�

Stanton folded his arms under his chin and closed his eyes. He carefully composed his thoughts, as he had learned to do in many courtrooms.

�Mr. President, we are fighting this war in several spheres: military, economic, political, and diplomatic. McClellan�s military plan to defeat the Rebels in ninety days has come up short, but the economic mobilization has produced the anticipated men and equipment. Even with our losses we�ll have five to six hundred thousand men in the field by next spring. With that many men under arms, opportunities are certain to present themselves for us to inflict defeats on the Rebels and gain territory at some points on the line.

�We are building an ocean-going armored navy � a navy powerful enough to make even the British cautious about intervening on behalf of the Rebels. We are building a riverine navy in the Mississippi Valley. We will be able to ascend the Ohio as far as Pittsburgh. That will give us a springboard to move against Cleveland. If the Rebels see their capital threatened they will have to pull back from other fronts.

�And don�t underestimate the difficulties the Rebels are facing. They are sustaining severe casualties too. Once attrition removes their most committed volunteers they�ll have to turn to conscription to force men into their armies. That will put their Democratic voters in an uproar. If the Republicans ever allow elections they might well be voted out of office and men amenable to returning to the Confederate Union elected to replace them. If they won�t permit elections they�ll run the risk of having to put down a rebellion by their disfranchised dissidents. Why should they be more able to withstand their internal stresses than we should be able to withstand ours?�

Davis still seemed skeptical. Stanton suddenly realized what needed to be done to calm his president�s anxieties.

�What we need to be doing now is planning for next year�s operations,� Stanton advised. �Let�s bring McClellan and Lee together to devise a master plan of military campaigns. Let�s organize a diplomatic mission to the Canadas and Britain by Secretary of State Seymour. We will considerably lessen the odds of British intervention if we make it plain that we have renounced our intentions to acquire their North American dominions and merely want to recover our own Rebel States. Let�s draw up a plan for the political reconstruction of the country. That will get the people on both sides to start looking beyond the war toward peace. Such reflections will strengthen us while weakening the Rebels.�

�How will it weaken the Rebels?�

�It will show them that we have a plan for administering the country after we put down the Rebellion. The plan may include redrawing state boundaries, such as consolidating the six New England states into a single state to eliminate ten of their Abolitionist senators from the Federal Congress. It may include some prohibitions on our slave owners from recovering slaves that escape to the Free States. Since that involves only three or four hundred slaves a year the simple solution is to tax the Free States to compensate the slave owners for the slaves that escape north.�

�That would be the fair way to handle it,� said Davis. �I wonder why nobody ever thought of proposing it?�

�Because people do not act wisely when their emotions are inflamed to passion,� replied Stanton. �After we have put down the rebellion and reunited the country we must demand a period of calm reflection on both sections. We must make it clear to the Free States that when they give up the Rebellion there will be a period of national reconciliation that will give a fair hearing to each section�s interests. There will be no inflammatory rhetoric from either the Southern Fire Eaters or the Northern Abolitionists.�

And if the extremists in both sections don�t learn to keep their mouths closed then I will make certain that they are confined to places where they will never be heard from again.

�And the most important thing is what you must do, Mr. President,� continued Stanton, fixing Davis firmly in his gaze. �You must convince the people � North and South � that their future, and the destiny of all generations that follow us, depends upon this country remaining united. You must let them know that we will never have peace if the Free States gain their independence and ally themselves with the Europeans.�

Stanton raised his arms. �Mr. President, the Confederate Union is not perfect. I do not believe that slavery or an excessive reverence for States Rights is in the character of what the Founders intended us to become. But, by God, this is our common country! We are all Americans, and we must remain Americans. Let us reunite and then we will adjust our differences among ourselves. We can do this as fellow citizens, but never as aliens across a hostile border. Mr. President, you must make the people understand that! Lee and McClellan and I can win this war for you militarily. But you must win it politically. You must win it for the present generation and all generations of Americans to follow. The future of mankind itself depends upon the character of your leadership during this trial by fire!�

Davis nodded vigorously, showing Stanton that he had regained his confidence in seeing the war through to the victorious return of all the states to the Confederate Union.

�Write to Lee and McClellan,� said Davis. �Find out when the fronts are quiet enough for them to leave their commands and get here to meet with us for a week. We�ll figure a way to defeat the Rebels. We will do it together.�

�Thank you for this trip home, Father,� said Mary Lincoln to her husband. �It did me a world of good to get away from that mare�s nest in Cleveland. I think it has done you a lot of good too.�

�It has,� replied Mr. Lincoln. �It�s cleared my head so that I can concentrate on what I want to tell the country in my Message to Congress. I plan on addressing a portion of the speech to the people of the towns we pass through on our return to Cleveland.�

�Have you decided what to say?�

�I�ll begin by recounting the successes we�ve recently had in the field. Sherman is giving the Confederates fits around Providence. He lifted the siege long enough to run some food and ammunition into the city. The people are vowing not to surrender as long as they have strength to lift their rifles and ammunition to fire them. In Indiana General Mitchel has extracted most of his men from the Confederate envelopment. He had to abandon his trains and leave about a thousand of his sick and wounded behind at Lawrenceburg. But the bulk of his army has safely returned to our lines.�

�Those Confederates aren�t finding easy pickings anywhere, are they?�

�No, they are not, Mother. The war is costing them more than they expected. I want to make clear in my speech that more and more of their people are questioning whether their war to force us back into their Confederate Union is worth the cost. Then I want to conclude with inspiring words like those I delivered at Gettysburg and Columbus. I brought along the writings of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. By studying their words that inspired us during our first war for independence, I shall try to come up with the right words to inspire our people in our second war.�

�I�m sure you�ll find the right words, Father.� Mrs. Lincoln smiled. �Your speeches are always well received.�

Mr. Lincoln leaned back in his chair in the parlor of their Springfield home and spread his long legs over the footstool. He enjoyed the glow from the fireplace that warmed his stocking feet and face. Outside the snow swirled past the window in the winter�s early dusk. Robert Lincoln, having evacuated from Harvard when Boston fell to the Confederates, was busy outside guiding a horse-drawn sled that carried Tad and Willie up and down Eight Street. Mrs. Lincoln, sitting on a chair across from the President, was absentmindedly mending a tear on one of her shawls. The familiar sight made Mr. Lincoln wonder for a moment if he had ever left this house. Is my memory of the last seven months in Cleveland just a dream?

�There is something about home that revives the spirit,� he said. �I�m so glad you talked me into taking these few days to get away from Cleveland. The fronts are quiet at the moment. They will not stay that way for long. Who knows when we will be able to come back?�

�Perhaps we can come back again in spring,� suggested Mrs. Lincoln. �Cleveland is barely more than a day�s train ride away.�

�Yes, the trip is easy now that our railroads are back in service. Cleveland is a well-chosen capital, central to all the Free States east of the Mississippi.� He picked up the book of Thomas Jefferson�s writings. �Mr. Jefferson felt the United States should have its capital in the Northwest, somewhere near Cleveland. He felt that the Northwest was destined become the center around which the rest of the country orbits.�

�Then Springfield is the center of the center,� replied Mrs. Lincoln. �You and Stephen Douglas and I met right here in this little town when we were just starting out in life. Imagine that, two presidents making their lives in such an out of the way place as this! And both of you wanted to marry me!�

Lincoln howled with laughter. �Why, Mother, you never told me that Judge Douglas proposed to you!�

�He didn�t, but he would have if I hadn�t dropped hints that proposing would be a waste of his time.�

�How do you know he would have proposed?�

�A woman knows!�

�Well, I do know for certain that without you I could not have become President. You refined this crude backwoods Illinois �Sucker� into a passable dandy, fit to be seen in public!�

�At the very least I taught you not to eat peas with your knife.�

�Good that you did, Mother. Wouldn�t it have been the perfect scandal if I had used a knife instead of a spoon during our dinner with the Queen�s men during last week�s reception?�

�Stephen Douglas was worse than you. Everywhere he went he spit tobacco juice. I remember him spitting it on the dance hall floor and we ladies had to raise our skirts! I should think that wild Indians have better manners.� She wrinkled her nose. �And he smelled like a polecat. I don�t know how his wives put up with him.�

�You were meant to be a President�s wife,� replied Mr. Lincoln with a smile. �Luckily you picked the right President to wed.�

�That was my destiny,� answered Mrs. Lincoln knowingly. �When we were little boys and girls my mother taught us that the most powerful engine is the human mind. If we want something badly enough our minds will show us how to acquire it. My first wish was to be a president�s wife. That desire brought me to Springfield where I was courted by you and Mr. Douglas.� Mrs. Lincoln laughed. �Of course neither of you bedraggled ragamuffins looked like you would ever amount to anything when I first met you. Neither had a penny to your name and yet�.�

�And yet destiny found us,� Mr. Lincoln completed the thought. �Stephen Douglas was twenty-one when he arrived here from Vermont without a proverbial pot to pee in. Five years later he was Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Five years after that he was the most powerful man in his party. And I had my destiny too. The first book I ever read was The Life of Washington. When I was consumed by the drudgery of doing chores on my father�s little farm I used to dream of becoming a great President like Washington. That seed has stayed in my mind all these years and has propelled me, with you at my side, into restoring, in the United States of Free America, the country that Washington created.�

Mrs. Lincoln put down her knitting. �Something told me way back when that you would become President when the right time came. I only wanted to do my part of making you presentable to the world.�

�You have surely done your part in organizing the social functions that are every bit as necessary to making our new government respected as are its political functions. Do you know, Seward informed me that Colonel Cochrane from the British delegation told him that he couldn�t have believed that such a fine reception could be staged in a Rebel Province of America!�

�Rebel Province?� Mrs. Lincoln laughed. �Well, perhaps they consider us to be Rebels twice removed. We removed ourselves from their empire in George Washington�s time and now we have removed ourselves from the Confederate empire. The British must think of us as prodigal sons returning to the fold.�

�They do see us that way,� said Mr. Lincoln, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. �If we succeed in securing our independence it will further their interests in North America. Seward tells me that he doesn�t think the British cherish the Canadas. Their small and scattered populations add little value to the Empire and are difficult to defend. They will let those Provinces have self-determination inside or outside the Empire as they may choose. But they will not permit the Confederate Union to chase them out of North America and seize the Canadas by force. They would much prefer to have us as friendly neighbors who prosper Britain and its North American Provinces by commerce.�

Mary continued her knitting.

�And there is also the question of suppressing the slave trade,� added Mr. Lincoln. �If we remain independent we will honor the treaties between the former United States and Great Britain to jointly patrol the African coast. If the Confederates conquer us, the slave trade might well be reopened.�

�Might it really?� asked Mary. �I remember that being discussed in my father�s house, but all responsible men in Kentucky opposed it.�

�But now the Confederate Union has ambitions to acquire Mexico, Cuba, and the free American Republics,� replied Mr. Lincoln. �They will need Negroes to work those lands. The cheapest Negroes are to be found in Africa. That is where the �buy them where they�re cheapest� men will seek them.�

�The British must be on our side, then,� concluded Mary. �If the Confederates conquer us the world will be their oyster. Even the British will not dare oppose them.�

�I think that�s so,� said Mr. Lincoln, looking up from the papers he had been scribbling his notes on. �If the Confederates take hold of us then it will be only a matter of time before they dominate the American Continent. The British Possessions in North America will be annexed as Confederate Union Free States, while the lands south the Rio Grande will be annexed as Slave States.�

�Do you think they will help us fight the Confederates?�

�They already have, at least in words. They�ve warned the Confederates that their destruction of Cincinnati violates the norms of humanitarian warfare. I do not know how much further they will go to help us, but they have started down that path. We will know more when Seward goes back to Quebec in January.�

Seward says he hopes to obtain from the British a fifty million dollar line of credit that we may use to back our new currency with gold. Then our people will understand beyond any doubt that our �greenbacks� are good as gold. And we shall see how the British react to the Confederate siege of Providence. Perhaps they will send a relief expedition to break the Confederate blockade when the extent of the deprivation of our people becomes known.

Outside the window the sky flashed a brilliant white. Mrs. Lincoln gasped. �What happened? Are the Confederates bombarding us?�

Mr. Lincoln stepped to the side of the window and squinted. When his eyes adjusted to the glare he saw that there was a break in the clouds near the horizon that allowed the sunlight to burst through. It reflected a dazzling white off the swirling snowflakes coming down outside.

�No, Mother, it�s the sun! Look to your right and you�ll see it blazing through that patch of clear sky on the horizon.�

�Oh!� exclaimed Mrs. Lincoln, pressing her face against the window. �What a beautiful sight it is! And look over there to the east. There is a bit of rainbow showing through the snow.�

�Well, I�ll be. I�ve never seen a rainbow in snow.�

�It gave me a fright,� replied Mrs. Lincoln. �I thought the Confederates had come back!� She looked skyward. �Oh, please, God, don�t bring the war back here. We suffered enough during the night when the Partisan War killed�.� She cried as she remembered how her dearest sister Frannie and her husband had been murdered and their house burned. She composed herself. �When you meet with General Grant this evening please ask him to make absolutely certain that the Confederates will never enter this town again. They say Stoneballs Jackson came riding through here during the Battle of the Wabash.�

�But this time he was going the other way, Mother! He was cut off in our rear and trying to escape back into his own lines. He left this town in a hurry with a few ounces of buckshot in his posterior to hasten him on his way!�

�I don�t want to see him or any other Confederates back in this town, ever.�

�If you like, you may accompany me to the American House and tell General Grant that in person. Perhaps after that you�d enjoy mingling with the people in the commons and catching up on all that has happened here since we left. It might do you some good to talk to the people. �

�Thank you for the invitation,� said Mrs. Lincoln. �But I really don�t feel up to it today. There are so few people still here that I know any more. Too many of our friends were killed in the Partisan War or left town with the Confederates or pulled up stakes and moved to Chicago. The people we met at the Nichols House yesterday are strangers. They all spoke with German accents. I could barely understand them.�

�Those are the Missouri Germans,� explained Mr. Lincoln. �Those who survived the Partisan War around St. Louis could no more live under the Confederate Government than the Democrats could live under ours. They have come to settle in the towns on our side of the border. It�s another reason why we must win our independence. Those who do not want to live in a slave holding republic must be able to find refuge here.�

�Well, there�s no denying that the new people have been busy rebuilding this town,� observed Mary. �You could never tell that the Partisan War was ever here. And I am sure this will be a better city without those awful Democrats.�

�It will be a better city,� agreed Mr. Lincoln. �Not that I�m blaming the Democrats for the atrocities of the Partisan War. Those crimes were committed by drunken outlaws who flock like buzzards to scenes of lawlessness. The Democrats suffered as much from their depredations as our people did. Still, it is best that the Democrats should go into the Confederate Union and leave us Republicans alone to shape the Free States according to our principles. The New Englanders, Germans, and English who are coming here will make this town into a thriving city. Perhaps it will soon be larger than St. Louis.�

The door opened and Tad and Willie entered, covered with snow. Robert went to put the horse in the garage behind the house.

Mr. Lincoln looked at his watch. �I have an idea. It�s four o�clock now. Robert and I will go to the American House at six to have dinner with General Grant and Governor Yates. Robert will ride back with dinner for you and the children. I expect that Grant and Yates will want to talk until late in the evening. And of course I shall be detained for some time in greeting the people. I will stay over at the hotel and return in the morning.�

�Yes, that will be fine, Father. Let me go and get dry clothes for the children.�

Mr. Lincoln sat back down in his chair and continued his work on his speech. He had set book marks in three passages that drew his attention. The first was written by John Adams in 1765:

�I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene, and design in Providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of Mankind all over the earth.�

The second passage had been written by Adams eleven years later during the outset of the American Revolution

�The fourth day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore. I am well aware of the toil and bloodshed and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory.�

And then there were the words of George Washington written shortly after Independence when the United States, then under the Articles of Confederation, was disintegrating into warring factions of states:

�The citizens of America, as sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, are the actors on a most conspicuous theater which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. It is in their choice whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable as a nation. For according to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall, and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.�

Imagine that! George Washington wondering whether the American Revolution would be considered a blessing or a curse. And still the question is not decided. I must make it clear to the people that we are the legacy of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison and that history has selected this generation to decide the fate of the American Revolution.

The Confederate Union is trying to snuff out our inheritance that all men are created equal. They do not understand that by maintaining slavery they are also dividing the White race into two classes � those planation owners who own thousands of acres of the best lands, and the poor farmers who own neither land or slaves. Such a divided society goes against the advancing tide of civilization�s progress. And it just as surely goes against our founding principle that all men should have equal opportunity to improve their lot.

Mr. Lincoln considered how to work these words into a speech. But the flash of brilliant sunshine had put him in a playful mood. He had been thinking of a humorous ditty to commemorate the Battle of the Wabash for the last few weeks. Suddenly the words came to his mind:

The Battle of the Wabash

The Confederates set forth to conquer Illinore

They sent forth old Stoneballs on a ride up north

He had Chicago set in his sights

Then it rained for seven days and nights

Those Rebels, they fought him, and surely stood fast

They dug in their heels and did not let him pass

He gave up his quest and surrendered his pride

And returned to his camp with buckshot in his hide.

Mr. Lincoln slapped his knee and laughed uproariously. That isn�t bad, not bad at all. Maybe I�ll use that in my speech! Simple words can be more convincing than long-winded speeches.

He heard the kitchen door open. It was Robert coming in after putting up the horse and feeding her. The President got up and went into the kitchen where Robert was shaking off the snow.

�Thank you for taking the children for a sleigh ride.�

�Not at all, Father, it was my pleasure.�

�What say you accompany me to dinner at the American House with General Grant and Governor Yates?�

�Excellent!� exclaimed Robert. �I would like to ask Grant for a position in his army. I think it is time for me to do my share of fighting for the United States of Free America. And please don�t tell me to �finish my education.� With Boston under the Confederates� thumb, I don�t expect that Harvard will be reopening anytime soon! The best �education� for the present will be learning how to fight the Confederates!�

Mr. Lincoln was torn by a father�s ancient dilemma. First there was a surge of pride. My little boy has grown up to be a man, whose honor compels him to join the fight for his country. There is no higher calling than to bear arms for one�s country.

Then he felt weak in his knees. His eyes moistened. In Robert�s face he saw the hopeful young face of his former prot�g� Elmer Ellsworth, shortly before his death.

I can hardly bear the loss of Elmer. How could I bear the loss of my son in battle? I know Mother could not bear it. She will blame me for the rest of my life if I permit him to enlist and he does not return. But how can I ask every other Free State man�s son to fight for our country yet deny my own son�s request to answer his call to duty? I must answer his request in a way that is honorable for him and that serves the interests of the country, but does not place him in harm�s way immediately. To send him into combat now would derange Mary and undermine my effectiveness as President.

�We will be reopening the Military Academy in the spring,� Mr. Lincoln suggested. �You may enroll as soon as it is reopened. In two years you will graduate a commissioned officer. If the war is still in progress at that time you will add a hundred times more value to the country than you will by going into the ranks as an enlisted man today.�

Robert started to argue but knew it would be futile. I will ask Grant for a commitment to serve in his army as soon as I complete my officer training at the Military Academy. Father will have no choice but to honor that commitment when the time comes.

Mr. Lincoln knew full well what his son was thinking. If the war is still going in two years and Robert enlists as an officer, then so be it. Our Founders who led the Revolution in 1776 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause. Some of them lost all they had in this world, including the precious lives of their sons. We must be as worthy to the cause of maintaining The United States of Free America as they were in creating it. And that means that many sons will not be coming home.