A Documentary History of the American Civil War Era: Volume 2, Political Arguments

Lincoln to Sherman, soldier vote, September 19, 1864

President Abraham Lincoln on Soldier Vote, September 19, 1864 Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 8:11. As the general elections of 1864 loomed, President Abraham Lincoln was not certain that he would win re-election because the military situation for the Union had slowed and soured. But, on September 3, 1864, when Major General William T. Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia, Union fortunes (and Lincoln’s political fortunes) became sunnier. Even if Lincoln still harbored doubts about his own re-election, he continued to be the politician and he wanted the war continued. To do so, Lincoln understood that the soldier vote in some key states might prove key to his re-election. Ever mindful of the need to build and keep political majorities supporting him, his policies, and the war effort in Congress and in the states, Lincoln wrote Sherman, requesting that Indiana soldiers be allowed to return home, even briefly, to vote in the upcoming state elections. In this document can be seen Lincoln the politician looking for and counting every vote. Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C. Major General Sherman, September 19th, 1864. The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of October, and the loss of it to the friends of the Government would go far toward losing the whole Union cause. The bad effect upon the November election, and especially the giving the State Government to those who will oppose the war in every possible way, are too much to risk, if it can possibly be avoided. The draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong tendency to lose us the State. Indiana is the only important State, voting in October, whose soldiers cannot vote in the field. Any thing you can safely do to let her soldiers, or any part of them, go home and vote at the State election, Documentary History of the American Civil War Era 336 will be greatly in point. They need not remain for the Presidential election, but may return to you at once. This is, in no sense, an order, but is merely intended to impress you with the importance, to the army itself, of your doing all you safely can, yourself being the judge of what you can safely do. Yours truly, a. lincoln ...