cipating the slaves in the rebel States. Slavery was avowed by the leaders of the rebellion to be its corner stone. By that system millions of people, constituting nearly the whole working population, in the South, were employed in producing supplies on the plantation, in the workshops and manufactories, and whether labor was required, thus enabling the white population to fill the rebel armies. The hopes of freedom, kindled by the emancipation proclamation, paralyzed the industrial power of the rebellion. Slaves seized their chances to escape; discontent and distrust were engendered; the hopes of the slave and the fears of the master, stimulated by the success of the Federal army, shook each day more and more the fabric built on human slavery.

2. The resolute purpose of Congress to maintain the Federal Union at all hazards, manifested by its legislation, was an efficient cause of our success. Ample supplies appropriated for the Army and Navy, revenue laws for supplying the Treasury, careful revision and amendment of the laws for recruiting the Army and enforcing the draft, gave practical direction to the patriotic purpose of the people to maintain a national existence that should afford protection and respect by means of the Federal Union.

3. Patriotic measures adopted by the Governors of loyal States, and the efficient aid they rendered the War Department in filling up the ranks of the Army and furnishing succor and relief to the sick and wounded, largely contributed to the national preservation. Of these measures one of the most important was the aid tendered by the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan in the opening of the campaign of 1864.

On the 21st day of April, 1864, Governors Brough, Morton, Yates, Stone, and Lewis made an offer to the President to the following effect:

That these States should furnish for the approaching campaign infantry troops-30,000 from Ohio, 20,000 from Indiana, the same number from Illinois, 10,000 from Iowa, and 5,000 from Wisconsin; the term of service to be 100 days; the whole number to be furnished within twenty days; the troops to be armed, equipped, and transported as other troops, but no bounty to be paid, nor any credit on any draft, and the pending draft to go on until the State quota was filled.

After full consideration and conference with the lieutenant- general this offer was accepted by President Lincoln. The State of Ohio organized within four weeks and placed in the field 35,646 officers and men, being 5,646 troops more than the stipulated quota. Other states, less able to meet the contingency, contributed with alacrity all that could be raised.

Although experience had shown that troops raised for the short term were more expensive and of less value than those raised for a longer period, these troops did important service in the campaign. They supplied garrisons and held posts for which experienced troops would have been required, and these were relieved so as to join the armies in the field. In several instances the three-months" troops, at their own entreaty, were sent to the front, and displayed their gallantry in the hardest battles of the campaign.

4. The result of the President election of 1864 exerted an important influence upon the war. Intercepted letters and dispatches between the rebel leaders showed that their hopes of success rested greatly upon the Presidential election. If the Union party prevailed the prosecution of the war until the national authority should be