As September 1863 dawned, Abraham Lincoln seemed assured of ultimate Union victory, while Jefferson Davis focused on rallying the Southern masses to avoid defeat. On their respective homefronts, the public responded in differing ways.
In the North, many realized that despite Gettysburg and Vicksburg the war was not about to end; stopping Lee’s invasion of the North constituted a defensive, rather than offensive, victory. Vicksburg was a strategic victory, disrupting internal commerce within the Confederacy but not necessarily blunting Confederate military activity.
The Southern masses took comfort that, despite the defeats in Pennsylvania and on the Mississippi River, the Southern Confederacy was still viable and fighting. Confederate agents abroad continued to attract sympathy and foreign aid for the Southern nation. The American Civil War was indeed far from being finished.