Washington In Lincolns Time 1895 PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III AFTER THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG THE NATIONAL CAPITAL UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD NEWS -- AFTER THE FIGHT -- LEE'S ESCAPE ACROSS THE POTOMAC AT FALLING WATERS -- LINCOLN'S DISAPPOINTMENT. UNDER the influence of the good news that reached us in the early weeks of July, 1863, Washington was a cheerful place to live in. There had been many months of wearying discouragement; people had waited with hope often deferred for tidings of victory to the Union arms, and these never came. The battle of Gettysburg, fought so near the national capital, as it seemed to us, was a prodigious event; for, although it was not then regarded, as it is now, as the turning-point in the war, even the most cautious and conservative of observers began to think that it might prove that "beginning of the end" which the more sanguine had seen so many times and so many times had despaired of realizing. But from the southwest came tidings of great joy to every patriotic heart. During the first two weeks of July we heard of the fall of Port Hudson, the surrender at Vicksburg, the opening of the Mississippi River, the renewed attack on Charleston, and other less important successes, which, under ordinary conditions, would have been eagerly grasped at as of pith and moment. The single drop of bitterness in our cup of joy was the unexpected flight of Lee's army across the Potomac after the battle of Gettysburg; this, it was felt, was another postponement of a long-looked-for event -- the final crippling of the army of invasion that had so many times threatened Washington. The first news of the capitulation of Vicksburg, by the way, was received at the Navy Department, about noon, July 7, in a despatch from Admiral Porter. Secretary Welles astonished everybody who...