The Emancipation Proclamation was, domestically at any
rate, a disaster. In early 1863, right after it took effect, fraternizing with
the enemy among troops of the 109th Illinois regiment began to look so much
like a mutiny that the entire regiment was arrested. They were disgusted with
Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Indiana Governor Morton telegraphed
the following astonishing message to Washington: ‘I am advised that it is
contemplated when the legislature meets in this state to pass a joint
resolution acknowledging the Southern Confederacy, and urging the states of the
Northwest to dissolve all constitutional relations with the New England
states.’ Of course after the fact we all know the North won the Civil War; but
winning it was anything but a sure thing.
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