You know the drill … so I put in a twist.
The 1864 Presidential Election
Categories: Uncategorized
18 Comments
18 thoughts on “The 1864 Presidential Election”
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
 | TF Smith on What A Relief It Was: Grant Sa… |
| TF Smith on Tragedy … or Hope? |
 | SF Walker on Gettysburg via Minecraft |
 | Brooks D. Simpson on We Get Mail … |
 | John Foskett on We Get Mail … |
 | Tony on Want to Do “Southern Her… |
| Brooks D. Simpson on We Get Mail … |
 | Xavier on We Get Mail … |
 | Norm Crosby on Gettysburg via Minecraft |
| Brooks D. Simpson on We Get Mail … |
 | Pat Young on Tragedy … or Hope? |
 | Xavier on We Get Mail … |
| Tony on What A Relief It Was: Grant Sa… |
| Xavier on Was There Anything Good About… |
| Pat Young on Tragedy … or Hope? |
Has to be Abe. Don’t change horses in the middle of the stream, and the others were self-proven to be lacking in Presidential fiber.
I know who some of you Mac voters are. Shame on you!
By November 1864 the war was starting to go Lincoln’s way; why replace him with the general he had to fire? Unless you were an unredeemed doughface, that is.
Without a doubt, Abe is the man. Down with the conciliation platform. Sustain the Emancipation Proclamation.
No one wishes to justify their Little Mac vote?
I will, I’m a peace-nic and Mac was a peace democrat. And I fully understand the Republican party was very different in 1864, but I just can’t bring myself to vote Republican… even on a historical wed site
I’ve seen the explanations by a few, who have concluded that Lincoln had failed as C-in-C. Given that we’re voting in the October/early November time frame and not in August, I’m not certain I see the basis for that conclusion. Atlanta was gone and the Rebels were finished in the Valley. Yes, Grant was in a seige at Petersburg but Lee had predicted the inevitable outcome of that. The CSA was in dire straits, as Mark Knopfler might put it. The guys in the ranks knew and thoroughly rejected the guy who they once had worshipped.
Right, and on top of the victories at Atlanta and the Shenandoah Valley, Adm. Farragut had won the Battle of Mobile Bay, cutting off that port to blockade runners. The Confederacy now effectively consisted only of the Carolinas and the southern half of Virginia, with Wilmington, NC as its only meaningful port.
Lincoln had certainly made mistakes as C-in-C, but I don’t think he can be called a failure in this role.
The Union enjoyed success in spite of, not because of, Lincoln’s role as C-in-C.
In the eastern theater, he sent McDowell overland to support McClellan, in spite of the fact that McClellan pointed out very clearly that would allow the Confederates to defeat both forces in detail. Doing so forced McClellan to maintain a position north of Richmond with his forces divided across the Chickahominy awaiting McDowell instead of moving to the James.
In the western theater, Lincoln allowed McClernand to lobby for an independent command that included over half of Grant’s army … Grant was forced to send these men back to Memphis despite the fact that he was already halfway to Vicksburg. When LIncoln, Halleck, and McClernand’s effort ended in failure at Chickasaw Bayou, Lincoln very nearly removed Grant from command despite the fact that it hadn’t been Grant’s plan.
When Grant came east, he wanted to shift the campaign back to the James River, but that would have required Lincoln admitting he was wrong. Instead, Lincoln forced Grant into an overland campaign with Lee’s army as its objective.
And I can pick apart the Bruins’ season the year they won the Stanley Cup. Lincoln capably performed the most important duties of a C-in-C. He held things together, made the bold move of Emancipation, and ultimately put Grant in charge. We’re voting in October-November, 1864 – not 1862 or 1863. Did Lincoln make mistakes? Absolutely. But the Union won the war “in spite of” him? Nope.
Its not just that, its that after Cold Harbor (Halleck/Lincoln) wanted Grant to attack Richmond from the Northwest! Grant of course ignored this crazy “suggestion” and moved on Petersburg.
“[If not re-elected in 1864] then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”
– Abraham Lincoln
*****************************
And we think our election is high-stakes…
Bloviation. Richmond fell just four weeks after the inauguration. It wasn’t as if McClellan hated the Union and would have restored the destroyed Confederacy. Given that Lincoln was destined to die, McClellan is certainly a preferable choice to Andrew Johnson.
Again, Abraham Lincoln all the way. As Louis noted, the Union was clearly winning the war by November. Abe’s re-election is one of the final nails in the Rebel coffin. Any peace agreement with the South will have to include union and the abolition of slavery.
McClellan? George B. McClellan? I might have laughed if I’d seen that name on the ballot. You know, the Galena and all that good stuff. Of course, if I hailed from New Jersey, maybe…..
Wonder if they were saying “Four More Years! Four More Years!” back then?
I voted for Mac for two reasons: 1) Lincoln, for all his brilliance elucidating the vision for the Union, really failed as Commander in Chief. Mac couldn’t have done worse. 2) By the time Mac would have taken office, the war was all but over, and it’s time to start thinking reconstruction. Mac couldn’t have been worse toward that end than Andrew Johnson.
Had I been alive in 1864 would’ve been a tough choice for me and I probably would’ve voted for “Little Mac” since Lincoln had been such a disaster as C-in-C up to that point. Little would I have known that the “March to the Sea” and the “Battle of Franklin” were just around the corner. Sheridan and Sherman really saved Lincoln’s Presidency. Of course, Jeff Davis could have assured the election of McClellan by offering peace with “the Union as it was” in October 1864 but he was too dumb.
If Lincoln had better defeated in ’64, he might have come back in ’68 and won. But I can’t see “Little Mac” getting along with the Radical Republicans. No doubt if Little Mac had been elected he would been in DC the next day working with Lincoln to end the war. Would Lincoln have made him C-in-C till March 1865? Possible. And I could see Halleck being made Sec of war during this time. Stanton would’ve been out – LoL.