Sherman now directed Schofield to meet him in Goldsboro, and, after destroying the arsenals of Fayetteville, and costly machinery which had been brought from the armory of Harper's Ferry, resumed his march. Hardee having fled on the approach of our army, moved further up the river and fortified a position on the left bank near Areysboro. Here he encountered the 60th, 86th, 101st, 102d and 105th Illinois, under Slocum, who was moving in the same direction to make a feint on Raleigh and thus conceal Sherman's movement on Goldsboro. The enemy's position was almost inaccessible on account of swamps, yet it was necessary to dislodge him, and Wood's division of the 20th corps was thrown forward to develop his lines. Immediately charging upon the outer works the division captured three guns and a considerable number of prisoners. Kilpatrick, farther to the right, was, however, vigorously attacked and driven back, gallantly fighting. Slocum in the meantime had ordered up three additional divisions, which, falling upon the enemy, forced him to retire within his entrenchments, where he was held during the remainder of the day. The succeeding night being stormy, under cover of the darkness Hardee abandoned his position and retreated over the road to Smithfield.

Hitherto Sherman had succeeded in interposing his army be tween the scattered detachments of the rebel forces, but now they were rapidly concentrating, and it became necessary to move with more caution. There were gathering about him Cheatham, with Hood's forces from Tennessee; Hoke, with the recent garrison of Fort Anderson; Hardee, with that of Charleston, and Wheeler's cavalry reinforced by Wade Hampton. These forces, numbering 40,000 veterans, were under the command of Johnson, Sherman's old antagonist, rendering it necessary for the latter to keep his columns within supporting distance. Slocum, after making the feint on Raleigh, wheeled to the right and took the road to Goldsboro, whither Howard, on his right, with his forces was also marching.

Hopes were entertained by Sherman that the army might reach its destination without further opposition. Suddenly, however, as Slocum on the 18th neared Bentonville, he found himself confronted by the whole of Johnson's army. Before dispositions could be made to receive the unexpected enemy, two brigades were driven back on the main force with a loss of three guns. Slocum, as soon as possible, deployed four divisions behind barricades and stood on the defensive. Kilpatrick hearing the roar of artillery, also dashed up and moved his forces on the left. Hardly had these preparations been made when Hoke, Hardee and Cheatham swept up their massive columus, hoping by sheer weight of numbers to overwhelm and break the Union line. The whole fury of the assault spent itself within an hour, yet, in this time the rebels made six successive charges, all of which were successfully repulsed. The rapid volleys of our batteries did immense execution upon the foe, who, divesting himself of artillery, had hurried up expecting to crush Slocum before he could be supported. Howard, however, in obedience to orders from Sherman, came up the next day, and the rebel general finding himself opposed by an army of 60,000 strong, decamped the succeeding night, and re

treated in the direction of Raleigh. The following day, the 23d of March, the army, without further opposition, entered Goldsboro, whither Schofield two days before had preceded it.

The battle of Bentonville, honored by the presence of the 30th, 53d, 56th, 60th, 63d, 64th, 86th, 92d, 101st, 104th and 105th Illinois, was the last engagement of the campaign. It is needless to say they, in common with the rest of their comrades, fought well. The results speak for themselves. A track of country from Savannah to Goldsboro, 40 miles wide and nearly 500 long, had been successfully overridden. The immediate fruits of the march were Mobile, Charleston and Wilmington, which, hitherto, had defied some of the most destructive naval enginery the world has ever seen, while it largely contributed to the downfall of the confederate capital. Walled in on one side by the army of Grant, with Sherman rapidly approaching on the other, its evacuation was a military necessity.

Close of the War.-Sherman temporarily turned over his army to Schofield and hastened to City Point, where he had an interview with Gen. Grant and President Lincoln. The object of the meeting was to concert measures for striking the death blow of the rebellion. An important part in the closing drama was assigned to the army of the West, but the end was at hand. Before any important movement could be effected, Lee surrendered, and the civil war, whose throes had convulsed the continent and disturbed the commerce of the world, existed only in history.

The slave power, corrupt, defiant and rebellious, had now meas ured its strength with the republic, and the latter had triumphed. Not a stripe was erased from her banners; every star still revolves in the frame work of the constitution; her domain is unbrokeɔ. May she still continue to prosper till her expanding dominion is only limited by the billows which at every point of the compass, break upon the ocean's shore; till her proud destiny becomes a realization of the prophecies written in her coal-fields, beds of iron and seams of gold; till all nations, taught by her example, are released from political oppression, and man attains the full measure of happiness forshadowed in the divinity of his nature.

How much the nation is indebted to Illinois for the auspicious ter mination of the war, may be inferred from the fact that in the two great movements which severed the insurgent States, and so greatly paralyzed their efforts, her soldiers were more largely represented than those of any other member of the Union. Furthermore, we must place on the credit side of her balance sheet a large amount of legal talent, superior generalship and executive ability; for Trumbull was our lawyer, Grant our soldier, and Lincoln our president.

From the scene of its dangers and triumphs, .Sherman's army proceeded to the national capital to share in the great review, which came off on the 23d and 24th of May, as a fitting close of the struggle in which it had been so long engaged. At the ap pointed time, in presence of the president, the members of his cabinet, foreign ministers, and other eminent personages, the united armies of the East and West moved along Pennsylvania avenue. Never had more gallaut legions been entrusted with the destinies of empire than those which received the congratulations of the

dense masses which packed the spacious streets. The pageant was grand, yet grander far was the scene when the mighty host which could have overrun a hemisphere, peacefully, joyfully melted away into regiments and returned to their distant homes. Again the cities and villages of Illinois were aglow with enthusiasm when the lengthened trains and crowded steamboats poured forth the thousands who had gone forth to battle. Everywhere they were met with expressions of welcome. Ovations were prepared for their reception, and long absent friends who had followed them with their sympathies through weary marches and perilous battles, gave them a happy greeting. The greatest reward, however, was the proud consciousness of having served and saved their country. Laying aside their military costume, they again assumed the habiliments and duties of civil life, and to-day the State is bounding forward in the career of greatness and power as the result of their thrift and enterprise.

Many who had been instrumental in saving the nation, never lived to see the consummation of their labors. On the Father of Waters; where the Tennessee wanders; by the southern sea; along the track of the great contending armies, may still be seen their last resting places. As long as vernal suns shall cause the earth to bloom, may the sons and daughters of freedom strew with flowers their graves and from the remembrance of their deeds, gather new inspiration to direct them in discharging their duties to the country they died to save.

CHAPTER LXV.

POLITICAL AND PARTY AFFAIRS DURING THE RE

BELLION.

Sentiments of the Illinois Democracy in the Winter of 1860-1861Patriotic Feeling on the breaking out of Hostilities, irrespective of party, as inspired by Douglas-Revival of Partisan FeelingConstitutional Convention of 1862—Its high pretensions—Conflict With the Governor-Some Features of the Instrument framed; it becomes a party measure-The vote upon it-Party Convention of 1862―The last Democratic Legislature-Frauds in passing bills• Reaction among the People against the Peace Movement-Military Arrests-Suppressing the Chicago Times-Secret PoliticoMilitary Societies-Democratic Mass Convention of June 17th, 1863-Republican Mass Convention, September, 1863-Peace Meetings of 1864-Note, Chicago Conspiracy.

During the winter preceeding Mr. Lincoln's first inauguration as president, when State after State was shooting madly from the orbit of the Union by passing secession ordinances, conservative men generally, to avoid the horrors of impending civil war, were anxious to conciliate the existing misunderstanding and restore harmony between the different sections of our country. Several propositions were offered in congress as plans for compromise; one by Mr. Douglas; one by Mr. Crittenden, and one known as the "Border State Proposition." With the feeling of compromise the democracy of Illinois were fully imbued, and for the sake of peace, they would have conceded much.

On the 16th of January, 1861, a Democratic State convention met in Springfield to give expression to their sentiments upon the state of the Union. Ninety-three counties were represented by over 500 delegates. The venerable Zadock Casey presided. More than 28 years before he had presided over the Illinois senate, when the legislature declared the position of the State upon the nullifi cation of South Carolina, sustaining President Jackson in his proclamation, and instructing our senators and representatives in Congress "to unite in the most speedy and vigorous measures on the part of the government for the preservation of the peace, integrity and honor of the Union; and we do most solemnly pledge the faith of our State in support of the administration of the laws and constitution of our beloved country;" resolving further “That

disunion by armed force is treason, and should be treated as such by the constituted authorities of the nation." But this convention of 1861 adopted a preamble and set of resolutions, counselling concession and compromise, and the acceptance of any of the propositions pending in congress to restore harmony between the sections; declared that an effort to coerce the seceding States, would plunge the country in civil war, and denied the military power of the government to enforce its laws in any State, except in strict subordination to the civil authorities; believed "that the perilous condition of the country had been produced by the agitation of the slavery question, creating discord and enmity between the different sections, which had been aggravated by the election of a sectional president;" condemned the party leaders, madly bent on fraternal strife; did not recognize any conflict in the diversity of the domestic institutions and industries of the country, but rather discovered grounds for a more lasting and perfect union in its variety of soil and climate, and modes of thought of the people; denied the right of secession; commended the proposed Louisville convention, and proposed a national convention to amend the constitution so as to produce harmony and fraternity throughout the whole Union.*

In the proceedings of this convention may be found the names of men, who, in antagonism to the high national ground occupied by Mr. Douglas, ever sought to place the democracy of Illinois in a false light before the country during the rebellion. These resolutions foreshadowed the views which two years later, in a modified form, re-appeared in the Armistice resolutions of the 23d general assembly, and again in the enunciations of the so-called Democratic mass convention of the 17th of June, 1863. But the full force of the rebellion was not yet, in January, 1861, realized. The bluster of extremists was so great in those days that much of it was disregarded. When the war was actually upon us, many other names seen there as participants, by their patriotic and gallant conduct, gave the lie to these enunciations. And prior to this, in December, 1860, the Hon. John A. McClernand, a leading representative democrat in congress from this State, in the discussions incident to the state of the Union, had exclaimed that

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"The sacred obligations of patriotism would prompt every loyal citizen, whether in the North or in the South, to defend and maintain the integrity of the Union and the authority of its common government against the inroads of violence. Is it coercion of a State for us to do what we are sworn to do-to support the constitution and the laws and treaties as the supreme law of the land? Is it coercion for us to maintain peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must, possession of the treasure and other property of the United States? Is it coercion for us to stay the violent and lawless hand that would tear down the noble structure of our government? Sir, it is a perversion of all language; a mockery of all ideas, to say so."

Mr. Douglas, devotedly attached to the Union, and anxiously laboring for conciliation and compromise, exclaimed to the South: "What are you afraid of? You have now, and will have when Mr. Lincoln becomes president, two-thirds of the government, the supreme court, and both branches of congress." Unable to assign a sufficient reason, it was answered that they could not endure

• Illinois State Register, Jan. 17, 1861.