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00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.

This Week in the Civil War - 646

By the last days of August 1863 President Abraham Lincoln believed that the North had gained the upper hand against the Confederacy.  In July, Vicksburg in the West and Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania had been clear Northern victories. 

Rosecrans had punished Bragg’s Confederates in Tennessee, and a major effort was currently underway against Charlestown, South Carolina, where the war had started in 1861.  With these endeavors, Lincoln on Wednesday, August 26, 1863 wrote his supporters in Springfield, Illinois, acknowledging, “I do not believe any compromise, embracing the maintenance of the Union, is now possible.” 

By inference, Lincoln also could have added to that statement the words “or necessary.”  Union victory on the battlefield strengthened the president’s resolve to see the South defeated; compromise was no longer either possible or even necessary.