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Show "Happy Birthday" Had&TuSTl gleaning for Man Whom Americans Lj Honor on Februaryg Each Year $.fN"Wvv-.. $. x v i f contfnue fVidf enouSh rnen to Federal 6 StrUgSle and the ecieral government was forced to resort to the draft, which re- L Nlmvle,bl00dy "draft rLs'' n New York city. Nor were onetr;1113 Prob,ems theTn y AhrM 3t Tadded t0 the burdens of Abraham Lincoln. tin uly Jas Uiere dissatisfaction dissatisfac-tion in the North with his conduct of the war, but there was dissension dissen-sion in the party which had elect-ea elect-ea him and it was no secret that men high in the councils of the Party were making plans to de-teat de-teat him for renomination. First they approached Hannibal P Hamlin, the vice president, to be their candidate but he refused. But Salmon P. Chase, his secretary secre-tary of the treasury, was not an unwilling listener for he had been Lincoln's rival in 1860. All through the winter of 1863-64 Chase carried on a voluminous correspondence in the interests of his candidacy and no doubt the possibility that Lincoln might be repudiated by his party before his work of saving the Union was finished and the task entrusted to a lesser man overshadowed his birthday in this year. Chase Resigns. However, his birthday was scarcely past when a too zealous supporter of Chase issued a circular cir-cular calling upon the country to organize in the secretary's behalf. be-half. Chase was placed in such an embarrassing position that he felt called upon to resign from the cabinet and when the legislature legisla-ture of his state demanded in the name of the people and the soldiers sol-diers of Ohio that Lincoln be renominated, re-nominated, the Chase boom collapsed. col-lapsed. Another such boom, which resulted in a convention at Cleveland that nominated Gen. John C. Fremont, had little better bet-ter success. So when the Republican Repub-lican convention met, it was a foregone conclusion that Lincoln would be renominated. That did not mean, however, that he would necessarily be reelected. re-elected. For the Democrats nom- 1 I0 SCOTT WATSON n'lnS 'Wfrn Nfwai'iiivr Union. b1ea' FEBRUARY 12 Amor- ; ,,ns everywhere will 'ainstr',in i'1 celebrating an :'Akh took place 130 lary 1.,0-the birth of Ab rare ra-re mjacoln-0" that day they ost s'vall many a familiar i'ibcmt the man whose gos '."began, in a littlo log a Hardin county, Kon- j "on February 12, 1809. e chances are that the han 5 ;v of them will remem- : -i best as the "Man of plain's" who was Chief e car , ., . .. Buddie of their nation ; one of the most criti-embicids criti-embicids in its history ilwar years of 1861-65. of al' being the case, it :; appropriate to inquire Uas this date, which is nnt?i red letter day on ole o :3's calendar, cele-in cele-in 1: during that period? iere any general ob-':;e ob-':;e of the President's Fv:y and was February bz!s a "happy birthday' 'Araham Lincoln during drears?" doubtful if February 12, Pictia "happy birthday" for e rr r on that date he was cn m 3 Washington to take up lies as President of the j. States of America. Perse Per-se j "the Disunited States" ?d w a more accurate desig-he desig-he f n r( jfederacy Organized, hinj s weeks after his elec- ;vi'.h Carolina had passed ca..nance of secession. Dur-;s Dur-;s !;r.ext month Georgia, Ala-v Ala-v j Mississippi, Louisiana and U had followed the Palmet- l:e's lead. On February 4 ' FHitatives from these states Bn j-.st at Montgomery, Ala., Paganized the "Confederate I of America." more, Texas, North Caro-an Caro-an 'igir,ia, Tennessee and Ar- ar:, were almost certain to -y' ? six that had already de-, de-, "j-from the Union. The fu-Z1 fu-Z1 .mirse of three 'border t0 "Maryland, Kentucky and eT -i, as well as the northern "i state of Delaware, was And always in the '3und loomed the threat of :icidal war between the land the South. ('since his election his mail jn filled with threatening dlt and by the time he hr1 Philadelphia Allen ('ton's secret service men ,ss".covered such indisputable s ."ce of a plot to assassinate i s it ' I f 4 'Lw5' It ...... jK. This photograph of Lincoln was made by Mathew B. Brady, the Rreat Civil war photographer, on tebruary 27, 18G0, and Lincoln often said that this picture and his speech at Cooper Union in New York city had made him President. In it the people of the North saw a sad, wise, determined deter-mined man who would do nothing rash and yet would defend their Union. ment, because "Little Mac" refused re-fused to move against the enemy. "While harassed by this inaction inac-tion and obstinacy of McClellan, Mr. Lincoln was plunged into a bitter private sorrow," writes Ida M. Tarbell in her "Life of Lincoln." Lin-coln." "Early in February his two younger boys, Willie and Tad, as they were familiarly known, fell sick . . . When he saw them suffering and when it became evident, evi-dent, as it finally did, that Willie, the elder of the two, would die, the President's anguish was intense. in-tense. He would slip away from visitors and cabinet at every opportunity, op-portunity, to go to the sick room, and during the last four or five days of Willie's life, when the child was suffering terribly and lay in an unbroken delirium, Mr. Lincoln shared with the nurse the nightly vigils at the bedside. When Willie finally died, on February 20, the President was so prostrated that it was feared by many of his friends that he would succumb entirely to his grief. Many public duties he undoubtedly did neglect. Indeed, In-deed, a month after Willie's death, we find him apologizing for delay to answer a letter because be-cause of a 'domestic affliction.' " It is probable that February 12, 1863, came nearer being a "happy "hap-py birthday" for Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln than the two previous ones had been. The victories of Grant in the West and Farragut's capture cap-ture of New Orleans were partial compensation for the disasters in the East the failure of McClel-lan's McClel-lan's Peninsula campaign, Pope's defeats at the second Battle of Bull Run and the horror of Fredericksburg. Fred-ericksburg. The failure of Lee's invasion of Maryland and the result re-sult of the Battle of Antietam had made it possible for Lincoln to issue his Emancipation Proclamation. Proc-lamation. Although for a time this proclamation seemed to have a bad effect on public opinion in the North, it gave the war a new meaning and forecast the eventual eventu-al defeat of the Confederacy. The Tide Turns. Early in 1863 it became apparent appar-ent that the tide of success had turned strongly in favor of, the Union and this fact probably made Lincoln's birthday in this year a happier event than it had previously been. Incidentally this year marked the first celebrartion of Lincoln's' birthday of which there is any record. It is contained con-tained in the reminiscences of William H. Tisdale, written a few years before his death in 1930. He says: "The first birthday anniversary of Abraham Lincoln I remember occurred February 12, 1863. At that time I was on duty at the White House, and had been for some six months previous, as the President's orderly as confidential confiden-tial messenger or dispatch bearer. bear-er. "There was no country-wide observance. In the early evening a small company assembled for his birthday party, a few especially especial-ly close to him, and a few women riendsof Mrs. Lincoln His son Robert, a young army officer, arrived, ar-rived, and all sat down to a quiet but happy dinner. "Just before the birthday feast began one of the Negro boys came to me with eyes wide with astonishment, urging to see what was being taken to the Fres Went. And following him I w a turkey-a monstrous big bird, lome atairer in Pennsylvania had sent it." t February 12, 1864, found another anoth-er year of sadness added to the ?L nf Abraham Lincoln. True, hfe of Aeratid Confederacy the high tide I the shell-torn had ebbed from the slopes of JGett,sLburg, "the 1 t I i - ' e , t i" 3?' I "iV UTS 1 i f 1 3 ' " I ,.,At.,r st, mxnaaikaa This photograph was taken in the last months of Lincoln's life. Here is a face scalded by time, the face of the "Man of Sorrows." inated Gen. George B. McClellan, McClel-lan, declared the war a failure, and denounced various acts of the President as "usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution" Con-stitution" and demanded that "immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States, or other peaceable peace-able means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal union of the' states." McClellan turned out to be an unexpectedly strong candidate, partly because he repudiated the Democratic platform by announcing announc-ing himself in favor of peace, but only on terms that would preserve pre-serve the Union. For a time the issue hung in the balance. Then Sherman's capture of Atlanta At-lanta proved that the war was not a failure and had much to do with turning the tide in favor of Lincoln, who won by a large electoral majority. By February 12, 1865, it was clearly apparent that the end of the war was in sight so it was probably the happiest birthday that Lincoln had known during his four years in the White House. We do not know whether there was any celebration of the day in the Executive Mansion, as there was in 1863, but we do know that there was a "birthday gift" given on that day, even though Lincoln was the giver rather than the receiver re-ceiver of it. , , In the files of the war department depart-ment are preserved, among many such telegrams, orders and nntes from Lincoln, one which was signed on February 12, 1865 Tt is addressed to Major-General Hooker at Cincinnati and reads: "Is it Lieut. Samuel B. Davis whose death sentence is commuted, commut-ed, If not done, let it be done. Is there not an associate of his also in trouble? Please answer.' H February 23, 1863, Brady (trained his camera on the es of Abraham Lincoln and 1s this picture of the Presi-pin Presi-pin repose but reflecting a eary of two years of war. t'resident-elect that unusual jtions were taken to safe-2 safe-2 his entrance into the na- capital. As a result, the -U'as spread by his enemies j'the Prince of Rails sneaked ia'''ashington like a thief in :ght." Never before nor has a President-elect en- 'he capital under such cir-:-ances. ) f if February 12, 1861, was ,r '? of anxiety for Abraham Hu'n. February. 12, 1862, was irjfarther from being a "hap-.sivrthday" "hap-.sivrthday" for him. He had g r to avert a war and in the mrst of arms with the Con-,scy Con-,scy the Union forces suf--' a disastrous defeat at the 5-H " of Bull Run. At the Battle YT. 's Bluff, he lost one of his :LPl and dearest friends, Col. jit Baker, after whom Lincoln dimmed the son who was :1 in Springfield. ."Trent Affair" almost in- the nation in a war with ft and a scandal in the ad-;tration ad-;tration of the war depart-uY.made depart-uY.made 't necessary for him iia'Wit Simon Cameron, secre-;J secre-;J ' war, to retire from his ,ei:et- His appointment of Gen. J P B. McClellan as com-nd.'er com-nd.'er of the Army of the Po-.'c Po-.'c had proved a disappoint- |