Thursday, July 3, 2014

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.”