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Civil War Wiki
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Americana, São Paulo
Ranks and insignia of the Confederate States
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Battle of Laredo
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George Luther Stearns
Henry Larcom Abbot
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===1864 election=== {{Main|United States presidential election, 1864}} [[File:ElectoralCollege1864.svg|right|1864 Presidential election results|right|thumb]] After Union victories at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]], [[Siege of Vicksburg|Vicksburg]], and [[Chattanooga Campaign|Chattanooga]] in 1863, overall victory seemed at hand, and Lincoln promoted [[Ulysses S. Grant]] General-in-Chief on March 12, 1864. When the spring campaigns turned into bloody stalemates, Lincoln supported Grant's strategy of wearing down [[Robert E. Lee|Lee's]] Confederate army at the cost of heavy Union casualties. With an election looming, he easily defeated efforts to deny his renomination. At the Convention, the Republican Party selected [[Andrew Johnson]], a [[War Democrats|War Democrat]] from the Southern state of Tennessee, as his running mate to form a broader coalition. They ran on the new [[National Union Party (United States)|Union Party]] ticket uniting Republicans and War Democrats. Nevertheless, Republicans across the country feared that Lincoln would be defeated. Acknowledging this fear, Lincoln wrote and signed a pledge that, if he should lose the election, he would still defeat the Confederacy before turning over the White House:<ref>[[#Grimsley|Grimsley]], p. 80. </ref> {{quote|This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards.<ref>[[#Basler2|Basler (1953)]], p. 514. </ref>}} Lincoln did not show the pledge to his cabinet, but asked them to sign the sealed envelope. While the Democratic platform followed the [[Copperheads (politics)|Peace wing]] of the party and called the war a "failure," their candidate, General [[George B. McClellan]], supported the war and repudiated the platform. Lincoln provided Grant with new replacements and mobilized his party to support Grant and win local support for the war effort. [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman's]] capture of [[Atlanta]] in September ended defeatist jitters; the Democratic Party was deeply split, with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln; the Union party was united and energized, and Lincoln was easily reelected in a landslide. He won all but three states, including 78% of the Union soldiers' vote.<ref>[[#McGovern|McGovern]], p. 111; [[#McPherson4|McPherson (2008)]], p. 250. There is a good discussion of Lincoln's 1864 election anxieties and the effect of Sherman's victory at Atlanta in [[#McPherson4|McPherson (2008)]], pp. 231–250. </ref>
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