Chapter 24

Depression among the People in 1863.--Military Situation.--Hostility to the Administration.--Determination to break it down.--Vallandigham's Disloyal Speech.--Two Rebellions threatened.--General Burnside takes Command of the Department of the Ohio.--Arrests Vallandigham. --Tries him by Military Commission.--His Sentence commuted by Mr. Lincoln.--Habeas Corpus refused.--Democratic Party protests.-- Meeting in Albany.--Letter of Governor Seymour.--Ohio Democrats send a Committee to Washington.--Mr. Lincoln's Replies to Albany Meeting and to the Ohio Committee.--Effect of his Words upon the Country.--Army of the Potomac.--General Hooker's Defeat at Chancellorsville.--Gloom in the Country.--The President's Letters to General Hooker.--General Meade succeeds Hooker in Command of the Army.--Battle of Gettysburg.--Important Victory for the Union. --Relief to the Country.--General Grant's Victory at Vicksburg.-- Fourth of July.--Notable Coincidence.--State Elections favorable to the Administration.--Meeting of Thirty-eighth Congress.--Schuyler Colfax elected Speaker.--Prominent New Members in Each Branch.--E. D. Morgan, Alexander Ramsey, John Conness, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas A. Hendricks, Henry Winter Davis, Robert C. Schenck, James A. Garfield, William B. Allison.--President's Message.--Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.--First proposed by James M. Ashley. --John B. Henderson proposes Amendment which passes the Senate.-- Debate in Both Branches.--Aid to the Pacific Railroads.--Lieutenant- General Grant.