July 5, 1864---Greeley Grimly Greets His Guests; Early Holds Hagerstown Hostage

JULY 5, 1864:              

W.C. Jewett, a Southern “Peace Commissioner” operating out of Canada, contacts the eminent Republican publisher Horace Greeley with an offer to meet with President Lincoln to discuss peace terms. Greeley, who, after Cold Harbor, has become convinced that the Union cause has become hopeless, has been secretly working with “Peace Democrats,” and immediately writes Lincoln a fulsome letter about these peace talks, enclosing his own suggested peace terms. Lincoln’s own sources tell him that Jewett is the leader of a group of Southern agitators promoting anti-war sentiment in the North, but Lincoln agrees to talks based upon two non-negotiable points: (1) Restoration of the Union; and (2) Emancipation. The South rejects Lincoln’s terms.  

Jubal Early C.S.A.’s cavalry enters Hagerstown, Maryland. Early threatens to sack the town if he does not receive $250,000 from the city fathers as compensation for damages in the Shenandoah Valley. The city quickly raises $20,000, which Early accepts. 

July 4, 1864---Retreating Joe

JULY 4, 1864:            

General Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A. belatedly realizes that Union troops are in his rear. In order to protect Atlanta, he hurriedly gives orders for his army to fall back from Kennesaw Mountain to the Chattahoochee River. The Richmond newspapers jeer, naming him “Retreating Joe.” 

July 3, 1864---Invaders in Maryland!

JULY 3, 1864:             

The fast-moving troops of General Jubal Early C.S.A. engage in a series of hit-and-run raids on Union positions as they move down the Shenandoah Valley (from south to north). The last raid of the day forces Union General Franz Sigel’s troops across the Potomac River into Maryland. The bullish Early follows Sigel’s retreating men, raiding Harper’s Ferry.  A year after Gettysburg, Rebel troops of Virginia are back on Northern soil.   

July 2, 1864---A Republican Bailout: The Railroad Act of 1864

JULY 2, 1864:    

President Lincoln signs into law the Railroad Act of 1864. This Act provides millions of dollars in government subsidies and millions of acres of free land grants to the struggling, nearly bankrupt Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads to finish building the Transcontinental Railroad, a project begun in January 1863 but stalled by the war. Wartime shortages have made materials costly. Construction expenses are astronomical. The Central Pacific has laid 18 miles of transcontinental rails east of Sacramento; the Union Pacific, none west of anywhere as of today. With this bailout, Lincoln the railroad lawyer has just made both companies rich, and they will get much richer.    

As the Confederacy contracted, its retreating troops tried to destroy as much infrastructure as possible to deny its use to the Union. Yankee ingenuity always thwarted their plans. This 80 foot high 400 foot long bridge over Potomac Creek was built of new lumber in only nine days, When President Lincoln saw it, he exclaimed that he had "seen one of the wonders of the world, a bridge built of beanpoles and cornstalks!" The bridge was replaced several times during the war.

July 1, 1864---A mess at the Treasury; In the President's Pocket; The Long Shadow of Gettysburg

JULY 1, 1864:   

William Pitt Fessenden becomes the new United States Secretary of The Treasury. He finds the Department in chaos, an anticipatory parting gift from the scheming Salmon P. Chase, no doubt.

The harsh Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill, requiring that a majority of southern State residents take an “Ironclad Oath” to the United States, and stripping of their rights any and all officials who worked under the Confederate governments of the southern States, passes the Senate 26-3-20. Most importantly, it strips the President of any power over Reconstruction. For all these reasons, and because the language of the Bill treats the South as a foreign and hostile power, President Lincoln objects to it. Although with Senate passage it is a breath away from becoming law, President Lincoln treats it to a pocket veto.

It is the first anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.