1862 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION McClellan at Antietam Creek. On September 17 the battle of Antietam was fought. McClellan, with 80,000 men, attacked Lee, whose force was not more than 40,000. The battle was stubborn and bloody. Successive attacks of the Federals were repulsed, and Lee held his position, but on the night of the second day he withdrew across the Potomac. Both sides claimed a victory. McClellan made no immediate pursuit, but by November he had crossed the Potomac and camped on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. The retreat of Lee's army seemed a good occasion for Lincoln to issue a proclamation which he had had in mind for some time. This was the famous Emancipation Proclamation declaring that all slaves held in States that were in rebellion on January 1, 1863, would on that date become free. It was issued on September 27. Sentiment had been steadily growing throughout the North in favor of making the war for the Union a war against slavery also. Early in the war certain Union generals had taken the authority to emancipate slaves in the regions occupied by their armies. These acts Lincoln had refused to ratify, but on March 3, 1862, he had signed the act forbidding the return of slaves escaping through the lines. About the time of Eee's advance into Maryland, the Confederates in the West also took the offensive. General Braxton Bragg, now in command of their Western army, advanced as far as Frankfort in Kentucky. General Rosecrans, with the Federal forces, was operating in Mississippi and won an advantage at the battle of Corinth, successfully repulsing the Confederate attack. On October 8 Bragg and Buell met at Perryville, Kentucky. Mainly through the stubborn resistance of General Phil Sheridan the attack of Bragg was repulsed. During the night Bragg withdrew, and in October Rosecrans succeeded Buell. Late in December he moved upon Bragg at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and fought the bat BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG 1862 tle of Stone's River, in which, after a long and bloody struggle, he forced Bragg to retire. But in Virginia the Union forces met still another disaster before the year's campaigns came to an end. Notwithstanding McClellan's repulse of Lee's advance at Antietam, the authorities at Washington were dissatisfied with his management of the army. On November 5 Lincoln put Ambrose E. Burnside in command of the army. Burnside at once moved down the lower Rappahannock to a point opposite Fredericksburg, with the intention to get between Lee's army and Richmond. Finally he decided to cross the river and make an assault on Lee's army. A crossing was effected on the night of December 12 and the attack was delivered the next day. Lee, occupying a strong position, repulsed Burnside with immense slaughter. Joseph Hooker succeeded Burnside. In the management of the civil affairs of the two governments, the Union had a great advantage. The principal banks in the North had been forced to suspend specie payments in 1861, but there was no such widespread suffering from the war as there was in the South. The public debt had increased from $64,000,000, on July 1, 1860, to $90,000,000 in 1861, and to more than $500,000,000 in 1862. While McClellan lay inactive in the Peninsula, it was estimated that the debt was increasing at the rate of $2,000,000 a day. However, Secretary Chase managed the finances with great ability, and the business men of the North never lost confidence in the Government. The Legal Tender Act, providing for the issue of $500,000,000 in six per cent bonds and $150,000,000 in notes bearing no interest-popularly called "Greenbacks"-was of questionable constitutionality, but it served the purpose of the Government. The war loans had an indirect result of great importance, for they led to the establishment of a system of National Banks, just as the 1862 COTTON FAMINE IN ENGLAND war tariffs cemented the foundation of the protective system. The National Bank system was based on the privilege extended to creditors of the Government to issue currency notes against a large percentage of the loan. Still, the opponents of President Lincoln's Administration elections toward the close of the year. made gains in the The Civil War in America had now begun to make itself deeply felt in England. In the first quarter of the year English exports to the United States had diminished from £21,667,000 to £9,058,000. This produced a great derangement of monetary and commercial affairs, with enforced idleness and distress of large masses of the working population. The Union blockade of the Southern ports produced in the English factory towns a cotton famine, as it was then termed, which deprived some 2,000,000 operatives of their usual employment, and gradually reduced them to destitution. An alarming increase of paupers ensued. Yet, such was the almost magical success which had attended Gladstone's financial operations, and the free trade treaty which Cobden had negotiated with France, that, notwithstanding the depression of American trade, the British revenue showed an increase of no less than £2,000,000. While trade with the United States was reduced French trade increased within the period of a single year from £2,190,000 to £6,910,000. Lines Ohio Democrats Nominate Vallandigha T HE first day of this year is fore the date on which Lincoln's E lamation went into effect. The I was issued as an act of war by virtue powers as Commander-in-Chief of the ar purported to free the slaves in those part rebellion against the United States, and apply to the border States or parts of Sta seceded. Of course, it could have no pra 1863 RISE OF GORDON through the advance of the Union armies, but its moral effect was tremendous. Davis promptly replied by declaring that persons attempting to execute Lincoln's order of emancipation would be treated as criminals. On the day following Lincoln's Proclamation new troubles arose on the other side of the earth. The native troops under Burgevine, in China, became openly mutinous. Burgevine himself used personal violence toward the Shanghai merchants. He was dismissed from the Chinese service on January 6. Captain Holland was placed in temporary command. General Stoveley had proposed to the Home Government to entrust the command to a young captain of engineers named Charles Gordon. Li Hung Chang, Governor of Kiangsu, sent large forces to attack Taitsan, but the Taipings defeated them about the middle of February. This was the condition of affairs, when on March 24 Major Gordon took command of the "Ever-Victorious" army. Taitsan was captured after a prolonged and desperate defence by the rebels, who lost frightfully. On May 4 Gordon appeared before Quinsan. There a mutiny broke out among his troops, but Gordon prevailed over the mutinous soldiers. Quinsan was attacked. After slight resistance, the rebels at Chumze yielded. A strong fort was taken, which covered a bridge at Ta Edin. The "Hyson" continued in pursuit to within a mile of Soochow. During the night the garrison evacuated the place. On July 27 Major Gordon attacked Kahpoo, south of Soochow, and took it. Burgevine had meanwhile decided to join the rebels. In an interview with Gordon, Burgevine proposed that they should combine their forces, seize Soochow, and thus establish an independent government. At this juncture serious news came from the south. A large rebel force moved up the Grand Canal, and held the garrison of Wokong. There occurred one of the hardest fought bat |