Show if gen george washington and president abraham lincoln were living today 9 what would they say to their america as it enters second year of a great war by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union THIS HIS month which finds america entering the second year of the greatest war in her history also finds her honoring again the memory of her two greatest sons men who jed her successfully through two other conflicts what were their prospects of victory as they entered the second year of those c conflicts ajuts the war for american independence and the war between the states if george washington and abraham linc lincoln oln were alive today what message would they give to the embattled america of 1943 when the second year of the revolution began george washington found himself commander in chief of what was little better than a rabble in arms to the members of the continental congress he had declared lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation I 1 beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I 1 this day declare with the utmost sincerity I 1 do not think myself equal to the command I 1 am honored with washington little realized then how soon some unlucky event should happen nor what a long succession of such misfortunes would devil him for the next six years but he must have had a shadowing foreshadowing fore of them for within a week after he assumed command of the army he was writing to his friend richard henry lee we are in an exceedingly dangerous situation we have but about sixteen thousand effective men in all this department whereas by the accounts which chic h I 1 received from even the first officers in command I 1 had no doubt of finding between eighteen and twenty thousand out of these are only fourteen thousand fit for duty the smallness of his army was however only one of his many problems not only were the soldiers poorly armed poorly clothed and poorly led fed but there was a shocking lack of discipline men accepted bounties to enlist then deserted immediately low morale morale among the officers was not much better tor for in their attitude toward each other they reflected all the jealousies and suspicions which had prevented unity of the english colonies in the struggle with the french and indians washington had to face not only wholesale desertions and furious mutinies among the private soldiers but also the most exquisitely embarrassing feuds among his officers with threats of wholesale resignations writes his biographer rupert hughes hoghes ills his prudence fairness and devotion to the government were tested to the last degree it seemed to him and it seems to the later inspector of the records that at this time washington was almost the only man in america who had a sense of national entity and national duty the rest talked or of liberty and indignation at tyrants but t their heir interests were almost altogether individual municipal or provincial vin cial such was the situation as the year 1776 opened up in canada benediet benedict arnolds forces had settled down to their fruitless siege of quebec siege of boston seemed equally futile until early in march when he occupied dorchester heights then on st patricks day lord howe evacuated the city and washington and his motley army marched to in it was a victory for the patriot cause of course but it was far from decisive for howes army was still intact and there was no telling where it would strike next washington guessed correctly that it would be new york so in april he marched his army there only to find himself in a nest of tory ln in and two months later narrowly to escape assassination at the hands of a member of his own bodyguard meanwhile outside of quebec arnolds army was rotting away with cold hunger and smallpox and by the middle of june its shattered remnants had been chased out of canada thus ended in failure the expedition upon which washington had counted so much the addition of the canadians to the patriot cause while this was taking place the continental congress was d debating e batin independence from the mother lothe country and on the immortal fourth of july it took the decisive step U up P to this time washington had b been een leading a fight for the rights of himself and h his Is compatriots a as s englishmen now the congress had ad given him something else to fight for they called it liberty the king of england called it treason witty old ben franklin had told his fellows that they must hang together or assuredly sti we shall hang separately 1 if the revolution tailed failed one of the first c candidates and 8 for the hang mans rope would be that arch rebel the commander to in chief ot of the rebels in arms that danger seemed perilously near soon after washington had his troops drawn up on parade and the declaration of independence read to them up the bay came a british armada armad a transports and soldiers convoyed by 10 battleships and 20 frigates manned by more than sailors A little later they were joined by hessian mercenaries against this aggregation of british might washington had a motley horde of not more than men many of them unfit tor for service or unwilling to fight because congress had failed to pay them or even to provide them with enough clothing arms and food A series of disasters then followed the series of disasters which was to make the year of independence one of the blackest years in the whole struggle for liberty in august general ms army was cut to pieces at the battle of long island and narrowly escaped capture in september washington was driven out of new york and his army retreated to harlem heights in panic rout in october he was defeated at the battle of white plains in november the british captured fort washington one of the chief defenses of the hudson and forced the amerl V 71 government of at the people by the people and for the people shall not perish sh irom from the barthl cans t to evacuate fort lee the other the last month of this dismal second year of the war found him retreating across new jersey and although his splendid victory at trenton on christmas night somewhat hat lightened the gloom there was still many a discouragement and many a defeat ahead of him before the next year should bring the turning point of the war at saratoga but despite the seemingly impossible nature of his task and the mountainous difficulties which he overcame the record Is clear that george washington never lost his courage and his belief in the rightness of the cause tor for which he was fighting if in this second year of our great struggle america suffers severe reverses and at the end ot of it victory may still seem faraway far away then may george fel low americans draw new courage from a sentence in a fetter letter he wrote to hla hii brother during the retreat across new jersey it was an expression of his unshaken faith that he would be once more fixed among you in the peaceable enjoyment of my own vine and fig tree A house divided while the second year of the war between the states was not so dark tor for abraham lincoln its as 1776 1770 had been for george washington there was many a reverse in 1862 that would have caused a lesser soul to despair not only was he the head bead Us lie looked onward 0 to o she ie peaceable e enjoyment 0 my youn own vine an and fig tree of a house divided against itself but even in his own family there was dissension and disunity when the war began many democrats among them stephen A douglas steadfastly supported the president but others violently opposed to a war which they declared had bad resulted from the election of a republican president it was this group who ano brought into existence the knights of the golden circle the secret organization of the copper heads who criticized the conduct of the war hoped to gain control of the government and make some sort of compromise peace with the south even within his own party lincoln had enemies who tried to thwart his efforts to save the union one faction induced congress to create a committee on the conduct of the war which was almost as damaging to the war effort as the activities of the copperheads Copper heads stormy as wai was the political situation when the secand second year of the war began the military situation was more encouraging in the west fort henry had fallen unconditional surrender grant had taken fort donelson and farragut had captured new orleans but in the esst east then regarded as the most imbor tant theater of war a military genius named robert E lee was threatening washington and another military genius named stonewall jackson was outmaneuvering and outfighting every union commander sent against him in the shenandoah valley mcclellan falls fails in march general mcglellan the union commander had begun his peninsular campaign which for or numbers engaged and losses suffered surpassed any previous operation in north america by june it was apparent that the campaign had failed and that the volunteer system could not produce the number of men needed tor for replacements after the blood bath mcclellan had given the union army in a confidential message to the state governors lincoln appealed for new troops saying 1 I would publicly appeal to the country for this new force were it not that I 1 tear fear a general panic and stampede would follow so hard it is is to havea have a tiling thing understood as it is this appeal brought him the troops he needed but having lost confidence in mcclellan he placed general pope in command the result was the terrible defeat at ur the second battle of manassas and me clellan was again in the saddle thereupon lee invaded maryland and was stopped at the battle of antietam after which he re crossed the potomac Po tomae mcclellan might have crushed lee but failed to do so lincoln again removed little mac and gave command to general burnside whose attack on fredericksburg resulted in the loss of union dead and wounded so the year ended in failure and a deep gloom settled avei over the north even greater was the depression in the white house for the election of horatio seymour the democrat in new york was regarded as a repudiation Pud lation tion of Lincol ns conduct of we tee war he could not foresee that the next year would bring the turning point of the war with the victories at vicksburg and gettysburg both achieved on the anniversary of the sigi signing Ing of the declaration of independence pen dence four months later the great emancipator journeyed to one of those battlefields and there delivered an immortal address it if abraham lincoln were a alive 11 ve today the message that he be might give to an america engaged in a struggle with the most deadly enemy of freedom the world has ever known would be a quotation from the gettysburg address it is the reassurance that this nation under god shall havo have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the be barthl |