March 22, 1864---Colorado

MARCH 22, 1864:     

On February 28, 1861, in the waning days of his Presidency, James Buchanan had signed an Act creating the Colorado Territory. He had not, however, signed an Enabling Act, allowing the Territory to formally organize itself.

With the crisis of the Civil War disrupting most ordinary political business, the Colorado Enabling Act was put on the bottom of President Lincoln’s to-do list. In the meantime, Coloradans behaved as if the Enabling Act was in effect. They elected a Legislature and a Governor, drafted a Constitution, and began forming county and local governments. The Territorial capital was Golden.

Most Coloradans were Unionists and fought in Colorado Companies attached to other States’ regiments, though a few Coloradans in the south and east of the Territory fought in Confederate units.

On this day, President Lincoln belatedly signed the Colorado Enabling Act. Given that the Territory had already largely organized itself, the most important impact of the Enabling Act was that Colorado could begin the process of applying for Statehood.  Lincoln, who was planning on running for re-election, had an eye to expediting the process and gaining Colorado’s Electoral votes for himself. 

Colorado, however, did not meet Lincoln’s hopeful deadline. Political infighting in the Territory and Washingtonian wheeling-and-dealing delayed Colorado’s admission to the Union until 1876.  

March 21, 1864---Abraham Lincoln, Esq.

MARCH 21, 1864:      

It is sometimes forgotten that Abraham Lincoln was a well-known commercial litigation lawyer before he became President. Lincoln had a quite successful career in promoting and defending the railroads, among many other corporate clients. Today, he writes a letter to the New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association, in which he addresses the issue of “Property” and says:

Property is the fruit of labor . . . property is desirable . . . is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

March 20, 1864---The Fourth Spring of The War

MARCH 20, 1864:     

On the first day of Spring, 1864, Aldace F. Walker of the 11^th Vermont Infantry writes home from garrison duty in Washington, D.C. His letter reads in part:

We are having pleasant weather thus far in our Equinoctial---a beautiful day, and on the whole a quiet one. Our inspection was by company at 4 p.m. Yesterday we went to Fort Bunker Hill. Got some tired, though not much. I have not been doing any especial of late but my usual routine. We have commenced target practice again on Tuesdays and Fridays, which will probably last a month or so. I am detailed on another General court Martial, to convene at Fort Stevens to-morrow.

March 19, 1864---Georgia Demands Peace Terms

MARCH 19, 1864:      

The Georgia State Legislature passes two bills into law --- The first is a clear-cut vote of confidence in the leadership of President Jefferson Davis. The second is far more Machiavellian: It requires that the Confederacy offer peace terms after each Confederate military victory. The basic premise of the peace terms are independence for the Confederate States and self-determination for the Border States. Though there is no chance that the Lincoln Administration will ever consider disunion, the Georgia bill does leave a back door ajar for eventual peace negotiations between the two warring States of America. The passage of the bill marks a definite schism in the Confederate approach to the war.

March 18, 1864---The Battle of Laredo, Texas

MARCH 18, 1864:     

The Battle of Laredo, Texas. Union forces attempt to burn 5,000 bales of cotton destined to cross from Texas into Mexico. Colonel Santos Benavides, the highest-ranking Tejano officer in the Confederacy repulses 200 Union men with only 42 garrison troops.