Team of Rivals_ The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln - Doris Kearns Goodwin [427]
Graciousness did not satisfy Chase, however. He wanted the president to be more “demonstrative” toward him after an absence of two months. Chase still acknowledged no responsibility for sundering their relationship, believing it was he who had been “wronged and hurt” by the events surrounding his resignation. “I never desired any thing else than his complete success,” Chase insisted, “and never indulged a personal feeling incompatible with absolute fidelity to his Administration.”
Proud of his own magnanimity, Chase professed a “conviction that the cause I love & the general public interests will be best promoted by his election, and I have resolved to join my efforts to those of almost the whole body of my friends in securing it.”
In the weeks that followed, Chase remained true to his word. He traveled by train, boat, and horseback to Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri, delivering dozens of speeches in support of Lincoln’s reelection before overflowing crowds. Meanwhile, the state elections in Vermont and Maine revealed larger Union majorities than the previous year. After the Vermont election, Nicolay wrote a cheery letter to Therena: “Three weeks ago, our friends everywhere were despondent, almost to the point of giving up the contest in despair. Now they are hopeful, jubilant, hard at work and confident of success.”
More good news greeted Republicans on September 19, when Philip Sheridan, having finally caught up with Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, fought a brutal but successful battle that destroyed more than a quarter of Early’s army. The “shouting of Clerks” could be heard in every government department when the news became known. “This will do much to encourage and stimulate all Union loving men,” Welles recorded in his diary.
MILITARY SUCCESS MAY have substantially cleared Lincoln’s road to victory, but a serious obstacle remained in the form of John Frémont’s candidacy. Time and again, a divided party had lost elections when a third-party candidate swayed the final result. To ensure party unity, Lincoln needed the support of the radicals. His task was made difficult by the dissatisfaction of men like Wade and Davis over his conciliatory policy on Reconstruction. In addition, the radicals objected to the continuing presence of Montgomery Blair in the cabinet while Chase had been allowed to resign.
Blair was aware that he had become the target of the radicals’ wrath. When the Baltimore convention passed its resolution essentially calling for his dismissal, he had offered his resignation to Lincoln. Later that summer, his father had repeated Monty’s offer during a visit with Lincoln at the Soldiers’ Home. He assured Lincoln that to heal the party, Monty “would very willingly be a martyr to the Radical phrenzy or jealousy, that would feed on the Blairs, if that would help.” At the time, Lincoln had declined to take action, saying that “he did not think it good policy to sacrifice a true friend to a false one or an avowed enemy.” But the pressure to remove Blair continued to build. Henry Wilson warned Lincoln in early September that “tens of thousands of men will be lost to you or will give a reluctant vote on account of the Blairs.”
The feud between the Blairs and the radicals had rendered cabinet life increasingly unbearable. Monty Blair detested Stanton. He believed the war secretary was in league with Wade and Davis against both the Blair family and the president. He spoke publicly