Historical voices

So long as there was any hope whatsoever of the success of Rebellion, there was of course a corresponding fear that a new lease of life would be granted to slavery.

In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.

Lincoln was not only a great President, but a GREAT MAN--too great to be small in anything.

What he said on this day showed a deeper moral conviction against slavery than I had even seen before in anything spoken or written by him.

This quality in General Grant was and is made all the more conspicuous and striking in contrast with his West Point education and his former political associations; for neither West Point nor the Democratic party have been good schools in…

In this way he proved himself to be not only a wise General, but a great man--one who could adjust himself to new conditions, and adopt the lessons taught by the events of the hour.

I, however, faithfully believed, and loudly proclaimed my belief, that the rebellion would be suppressed, the Union preserved, the slaves emancipated, and the colored soldiers would in the end have justice done them.

Had Governor Seymour been loyal to his country, and to his country’s cause, in this her moment of need, he would have burned his tongue with a red hot iron sooner than allow it to call these thugs, thieves, and murderers his “friends.

It was no longer a mere strife for territory and dominion, but a contest of civilization against barbarism.

It is not a bad thing to have individuals or nations do right though they do so from selfish motives.

It was in my estimation an immense gain to have the war for the Union committed to the extinction of Slavery, even from a military necessity.

Its meaning to me was the entire abolition of slavery, wherever the evil could be reached by the Federal arm, and I saw that its moral power would extend much further.

For my own part, I took the proclamation, first and last, for a little more than it purported; and saw in its spirit, a life and power far beyond its letter.

It was a measure apparently inspired by the low motive of military necessity, and by so far as it was so, it would become inoperative and useless when military necessity should cease.

It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.

Remembering those in bonds as bound with them, we wanted to join in the shout for freedom, and in the anthem of the redeemed.

We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky, which should rend the fetters of four million of slaves; we were watching, as it were, by the dim light of the stars, for the dawn of a new day; we were longing for the answer to…

It was not logic, but the trump of jubilee, which everybody wanted to hear.

It would be a full and fair assertion that the government would neither trifle, or be trifled with any longer.

It must be the end of all compromises with slavery--a declaration that thereafter the war was to be conducted on a new principle, with a new aim.

Whether we should survive or perish, depended in large measure upon the coming of this proclamation.

I shall leave to the statesman, the philosopher, and historian, the more comprehensive discussion of this document, and only tell how it touched me, and those in like condition with me at the time.

And now, on this day of January 1st, 1863, the formal and solemn announcement was made that thereafter the government would be found on the side of emancipation.

When the means of victory were before us,--within our grasp,-- we went in search of the means of defeat.