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In northern Virginia, Federals under John Pope advanced on Orange Court House and Gordonsville. Assessing that George McClellan was no longer a threat, Confederate General Robert E. Lee planned to demolish Pope before returning his attention to McClellan. Lee sent Stonewall Jackson to attack Pope south of Culpeper. However, Federals under Nathaniel Banks ambushed Jackson at Cedar Mountain.

The Federals pushed Jackson back until Confederates under A.P. Hill arrived to turn the tide and force Banks to withdraw. This battle indicated that Pope was moving south toward Richmond. This news, coupled with news that McClellan was abandoning the Peninsula, prompted Lee to move his entire Army of Northern Virginia north to confront Pope.

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Federal General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck ordered Major General George B. McClellan to move his Army of the Potomac off the Virginia Peninsula. The troops were to move north to Aquia Landing near Fredericksburg, and from there to Alexandria to defend Washington. McClellan had been on the James River for nearly a month.

This ended the failed five-month campaign of McClellan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Despite vehement protests that he should remain on the Peninsula, McClellan slowly evacuated. Most of his troops were assigned to guard Washington, while some were transferred to the new Army of Virginia under General John Pope.

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In a cabinet meeting, President Lincoln shocked his members by reading a preliminary draft of what became known as the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln had thus far resisted calls to free the slaves, but he was becoming more desperate now that the Confederacy was winning the war. Under this edict, slaves would be freed unless the Confederate states returned to the Union by January 1, 1863.

Most of the cabinet members agreed with Lincoln in issuing this proclamation. However, Secretary of State William Seward suggested that it should not be issued until the Federals achieved a significant military victory, otherwise it could be interpreted as a desperate measure on the retreat. Lincoln agreed to put it aside and wait for military success. 

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President Lincoln signed several bills into law that intended not only to bolster the war effort but to fulfill Republican Party campaign pledges. Laws related to the war effort included distributing the Medal of Honor for valor in battle and requiring government officials to swear loyalty to the U.S. as a condition of employment.

Laws fulfilling party pledges included disincorporating the Mormon Church because Mormons practiced polygamy (Republicans had pledged to oppose what they called the twin-sins of slavery and polygamy) and authorizing the use of stamps as currency in the absence of metal coins.

The unprecedented spending of taxpayer money under these new laws expanded the size and scope of the Federal government larger than ever before. While some measures were enacted to fight the war, many others were Republican Party agenda items hurriedly enacted while there was no southern opposition.

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President Lincoln signed a bill into law allowing military authorities to free slaves in southern territory under Federal occupation. The law also authorized the president to confiscate Confederate property, to employ slaves against the Confederacy, and to colonize slaves outside the U.S. The slave employment provision was highly controversial because it enabled blacks to serve in the U.S. military. Moreover, the War Department could draft blacks into the military at a time when white military service was only voluntary.

Lincoln had threatened to veto the bill, and after approving it, he submitted his discarded veto message to Congress to be read into the record. Lincoln was concerned that this law went too far, while Radical Republicans in Congress lamented that it was not radical enough. Many of the provisions were not enforced, which began the long political struggle between the president and Congress over how the war and restoration of the Union should be conducted.

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The increase in fighting this summer led to soaring numbers of captured soldiers. To deal with them, the U.S. and Confederate governments agreed upon a prisoner exchange system. Enlisted men were to be exchanged one-for-one, as were officers of equal rank. A value scale was assigned to differing ranks; for example, a major general was worth 30 enlisted men, a captain was worth six enlisted men, a sergeant was worth two enlisted men, and so on.

Prisoners who could not be immediately exchanged were paroled and sent home after pledging not to fight again until the other side received an equal number of parolees. This created massive amounts of paperwork, and its reliance on so-called gentlemen agreements made the system ineffective.

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General Henry W. Halleck became the U.S. general-in-chief; this position had been vacated when President Lincoln removed George McClellan from the post the previous spring. The Western Theater command formerly held by Halleck was split into two military departments: one was commanded by Ulysses S. Grant and the other was commanded by Don Carlos Buell.

In addition, General John Pope continued organizing his new Army of Virginia outside Washington. He infuriated Confederates by ordering Virginia residents to take an oath of loyalty to the Union or else have their property confiscated. Pope also ordered the execution of any civilian aiding the Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis stated that Pope had changed “the character of the war, from such as becomes civilized nations into a campaign of indiscriminate robbery and murder.”

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President Lincoln signed a bill into law granting 30,000 acres of land to states to build agricultural and mechanical schools. This was the first law granting federal aid to higher education. Ultimately 69 land-grant institutions were established, such as Nebraska, Washington State, and Clemson. However, the grant system invited misuse and corruption, as large portions of the grants did not benefit education. States squandered most of their endowments.

This law fulfilled a Republican Party campaign pledge to grant land to settlers and states. Southerners had consistently opposed land grants, arguing that there was no provision in the Constitution for such an act. Moreover, southerners argued that education was a state, not a federal prerogative. This passed largely due to lack of southern opposition in Congress. 

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President Lincoln signed a bill into law creating two railroad companies, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific, to build a transcontinental railroad. Each company was given 20 million acres of land and $60 million in taxpayer money. This fulfilled a Republican Party campaign pledge to support so-called internal improvements for favored businesses such as railroads.

Most Democrats opposed taxpayer subsidies for business because they were not among the constitutionally enumerated powers of Congress. Critics also noted that such practices could lead to corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse. The Confederate Constitution had prohibited most types of taxpayer-funded internal improvements, and this law passed largely due to lack of southern opposition in Congress.

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This week 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into law raising income taxes and creating a permanent tax collection agency (the Internal Revenue Commission) that was the forerunner to the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, Lincoln approved legislation imposing temporary protective tariffs on items such as sugar, tobacco, and liquor. Revenue collected from these taxes and tariffs were to be used to finance the war.

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A series of battles that began in June ended early this month as Confederates under Robert E. Lee steadily drove the Federals away from the Confederate capital at Richmond and down the Virginia Peninsula toward the James River. George McClellan won the final battle at Malvern Hill, but he continued retreating until his troops reached the James.

Although most of the battles in this campaign were Federal victories, McClellan had continuously withdrawn and pleaded for reinforcements. He was criticized in the North for fleeing after being so close to capturing Richmond, and Lee was criticized in the South for faulty leadership that cost heavy casualties and failed to destroy the Federal army. Nevertheless, these battles indicated that momentum in the war had shifted to the Confederacy.

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In late June, Robert E. Lee launched a series of attacks against George McClellan’s Federals on the Virginia Peninsula that became known as the Seven Days’ Battles. Many of Lee’s attacks were stalled due to improper coordination, yet McClellan fell back after each clash. McClellan planned a “strategic withdrawal” to the James River, but northerners saw it as a retreat and derisively called it a “great skedaddle.” As McClellan withdrew, Federal pressure on Richmond was relieved.

Meanwhile, McClellan blamed President Lincoln for refusing to send him enough troops. Lee did not achieve his primary goal of destroying McClellan’s forces. However, Richmond was saved and the Federals were nearly driven off the Peninsula. Although most of the battles had been Federal victories, McClellan continued withdrawing his troops as if he was defeated. The battles continued into July.

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After the fall of Memphis, Confederates rushed to strengthen the defenses at Vicksburg on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. At Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Federal Admiral David G. Farragut assembled a naval flotilla to steam past Vicksburg and join the Federal flotilla at Memphis. Farragut’s fleet successfully ran the Vicksburg batteries, losing only three of 11 vessels. This proved that a naval fleet could pass powerful land batteries without major damage. 

However, Farragut noted that Vicksburg could not be captured by a naval fleet alone: “I am satisfied that it is not possible for us to take Vicksburg without an army force of twelve or fifteen thousand men.” This marked the beginning of a grueling campaign to capture the Confederate fortress on the Mississippi.

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In the Western Theater, the Federal capture of Corinth, Mississippi and Fort Pillow, Tennessee isolated Memphis on the Mississippi River. As a Federal naval flotilla steamed down the river to attack Memphis, an inferior Confederate fleet moved to oppose the advance. In a one-sided battle, the Confederate squadron was virtually destroyed, and the mayor of Memphis surrendered the city to the Federals.

The capture of Memphis gave the Federals a new base from which to advance into the Deep South; it also gave the Federals nearly complete control of the Mississippi River. Only a few more Confederate strongholds south of Memphis remained, including the mighty fortress city of Vicksburg.

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