On the 22d of February, 1864, President Lincoln nominated General U. S.
Grant as Lieutenant-General of all the armies of the United States, and
on the 9th of March, at the White House, he, in person, presented the
victorious General with his commission, and sent him forth to consummate
with the armies of the East, his world-renowned successes at the West.
Then followed the memorable campaign of 1864-5. Sherman's brilliant
Atlanta campaign; Sheridan's glorious career in the Valley of the
Shenandoah; Thomas's victories in Tennessee, the triumph at Lookout
Mountain; Sherman's "Grand march to the sea," the fall of Mobile, the
capture of Fort Fisher, and Wilmington, indicating the near approach of
peace through war. In the midst of these successes, Mr. Lincoln was
triumphantly re-elected, the people thereby stamping upon his
administration their grateful approval. At the session of Congress, of
1864-5, he urged the adoption of an amendment of the Constitution
abolishing and prohibiting slavery forever throughout the Republic,
thereby consummating his own great work of Emancipation.