“Visit to President Lincoln by the Massachusetts Delegation”

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From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information


About this item

Abraham Lincoln won Massachusetts solidly in the 1860 election, earning around two-thirds of the popular vote and all its Electoral College delegates. When the Massachusetts delegation came to him soon after his election, he was facing a friendly audience. Antislavery activism and a traditional dislike for the Democratic party led many to side with the Republicans when the party first emerged in the 1856 election. For the next 60 years Massachusetts would remain solidly Republican. After the delegation left the president they visited Gen. Winfield Scott (1786-1866), the general-in-chief of the army. He had been a hero of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War (1846-1848.) Just eight days before this report was printed in the Greenfield Gazette, Scott had submitted four possible plans to deal with secession. One argued that to reconquer the South it would take two or three years, 300,000 men and a remarkable leader; in exchange it would leave “15 devastated provinces” that would have to be “held, for generations, by heavy garrisons.” Although this report was discounted it proved entirely correct except on one point: direct garrisoning of the South ended after only 10 years.

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Details

Item typePeriodicals
Newspaper
Article
PublisherGreenfield Gazette and Courier
Date1861-03-11
PlaceGreenfield, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.
TopicPolitics, Government, Law, Civics
Military, Wars, Battles
EraCivil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
EventAmerican Civil War. 1861–1865
MaterialPaper
Process/FormatPrinting
Dimension detailsProcess Material: printed paper, ink Height: 5.50 in Width: 2.50 in
Catalog #L02.119
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Greenfield Gazette and Courier. “Visit to President Lincoln by the Massachusetts Delegation.” March 11, 1861. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l02-119/. Accessed on October 11, 2024.

Please note: Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.