June 26—LAMPLIGHT SERVICE AND HYMN SING
Optimism Prevails
Going to See the Elephant, part 3
By Paul Chouinard, President of the Danville Historical Society“Going to see the elephant” was an expression used by enlistees in the Union Army describing the experience of country boys going off to war where they would experience life in ways they could not have imagined.
At the outset of the Civil War the stated objective of the North was to maintain the Union. The Confederate States identified “states rights” as their major objective which would give them the right to function independently. Mainstream historians have commonly agreed that: “Everything stemmed from the slavery issue,” as stated by Professor James McPherson, whose book Battle Cry of Freedom is widely judged to be the authoritative one-volume history of the Civil War.
It was not until September 22, 1862, following the bloody Battle of Antietam that Lincoln issued a preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, which declared that all slaves in states or parts of states still fighting against the United States on January 1, 1863 would from that time on be forever emancipated. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation. However, it did not free slaves in states then in the Union, the Border States, nor certain parts of Virginia and Louisiana that were under Union control. The Emancipation Proclamation did have the effect of clearly identifying slavery as a vital issue of the war for both citizens of the United States and for its allies.
THE NORTH STAR
JUNE 8, 1861
From Fortress Monroe
Great activity is perceived at Fortress Monroe. Troops and ammunition are constantly arriving, the garrison now amounting to thirteen thousand men, and large bodies were moving into the interior, it was thought, with the intention of making for Norfolk by a circuitous route. Up to Thursday evening, slaves were still flocking to the fort. It was discovered that thirty of the slaves belonged to one man in Richmond. He obtained permission to visit the fort to confer with General Butler on the subject of getting his live property back. The General said they came there of their own accord, and could go back with him if they desired it. They were asked if they desired to return with their master. They quickly decided that they preferred to remain with the soldiers in the fort…