ON THIS DAY ·
Lincoln re-elected
8 Nov 1864 — In the middle of a civil war, the Union votes. Lincoln takes 55% and 212 electoral votes; soldiers vote overwhelmingly for the man who will not let them stop short of victory. No nation had held a free election in wartime like it.
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The moment in context
The election of 1864 functioned as a strategic deadline for both sides. The Democratic platform called the war a failure and demanded an armistice, and although McClellan personally rejected parts of it, an armistice with Confederate armies intact would in practice have meant independence, so Confederate survival until November might produce victory through Northern politics. Atlanta’s fall on 2 September gave voters the evidence they needed that Union armies were making progress. Soldiers voting in the field, who would themselves have to keep fighting, supported Lincoln by a wide margin.
From 1864 election and March to the Sea, chapter 10 of The American Civil War, 1840–1877 (NOV 1864).
The place: Lincoln re-elected — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — Why the election was the real front. The Confederacy’s theory after Gettysburg was explicit in Richmond’s papers: hold everywhere until November, bleed every assault, and let Northern…
- The turn — 8 November 1864 — the Union votes. Had McClellan won, armistice talks. However he personally wavered. Would have stopped the armies with the Confederacy intact and slavery negotiable.…
- What it changed — The Confederacy’s interior collapses. After the march, Confederate soldiers’ letters change: desertion becomes an epidemic driven by letters FROM home. Armies can survive defeat, but not…
Then ask the room: Sherman’s march is still argued over: atrocity, or the most humane way to shorten a war? Set the terms of a fair verdict. The argued answer is on the chapter page →
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