enal and from all military headquarters.
The political effect of the victories was instantaneous and
overwhelming. As Secretary Seward expressed it in a public speech,
"Sherman and Farragut have knocked the planks out of the Chicago
platform."

GREAT VICTORY FOR MR. LINCOLN.

The tide of victory swept on. While Grant was holding Lee as in
a vise at Petersburg, and Sherman was breaking the shell of the
Confederacy at Atlanta, Sheridan was dashing through the Shenandoah
Valley. Three striking victories crowned his bold and brilliant
progress. The battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill came within
three weeks of Atlanta and within three days of each other. The
third exploit at Cedar Creek was still more dramatic and thrilling.
The succession of matchless triumphs was the theme of every journal
and every orator, and the North was aflame with the enthusiasm it
kindled. In the light of the answer flashed back from a score of
battle-fields, the Chicago declaration that the war was a failure
was not only seen to be unpatriotic and mischievous but was made
contemptible by universal ridicule and obloquy.

The political effect of these victories was precisely what Mr.
Lincoln had foreseen and foretold. Speaking of the issue to a
friend, he said, "With reverses in the field the case is doubtful
at the polls. With victory in the field the election will take
care of itself." And so it was. Vermont and Maine in September,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in October, registered in advance
the edict of the people in regard to the Presidency. The result
in November was an overwhelming triumph for Mr. Lincoln. Of the
twenty-two States participating in the election, General McClellan
received the electoral vote of but three. It is perhaps a still
stronger statement to say that of the eighteen free States he
received the vote of but one. New Jersey gave him her electors,
and Kentucky and Delaware, angered by the impending destruction of
Slavery, turned against the Administration and against the prosecution
of the war. Maryland had escaped from all influences connected
with Slavery by its abolition the preceding October, and now cast
her vote for Mr. Lincoln. Missouri and West Virginia, the only
other slave States loyal to the Union, stood firmly by the President.
Mr. Lincoln received two hundred and twelve electoral votes and
General McClellan received twenty-one.

The chief