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.
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