, Chicago revolted. She had
already sent 22,000 troops up to that time, and was drained. When the
call came there were no young men to go, and no aliens except what were
bought. The citizens held a mass meeting and appointed three persons, of
whom I was one, to go to Washington and ask Stanton to give Cook County
a new enrollment. On reaching Washington, we went to Stanton with our
statement. He refused entirely to give us the desired aid. Then we went
to Lincoln. 'I cannot do it,' he said, 'but I will go with you to the
War Department, and Stanton and I will hear both sides.'
"So we all went over to the War Department together. Stanton and General
Frye were there, and they, of course, contended that the quota should
not be changed. The argument went on for some time, and was finally
referred to Lincoln, who had been sitting silently listening.
"I shall never forget how he suddenly lifted his head and turned on us a
black and frowning face.
"'Gentlemen,' he said, in a voice full of bitterness, 'after Boston,
Chicago has been the chief instrument in bringing war on this country.
The Northwest has opposed the South as New England has opposed the
South. It is you who are largely responsible for making blood flow as it
has.
"'You called for war until we had it. You called for Emancipation, and
I have given it to you. Whatever you have asked, you have had. Now you
come here begging to be let off from the call for men, which I have
made to carry out the war which you demanded. You ought to be ashamed of
yourselves. I have a right to expect better things of you.
"'Go home and raise your six thousand extra men. And you, Medill, you
are acting like a coward. You and your Tribune have had more influence
than any paper in the Northwest in making this war. You can influence
great masses, and yet you cry to be spared at a moment when your cause
is suffering. Go home and send us those men!'
"I couldn't say anything. It was the first time I ever was whipped, and
I didn't have an answer. We all got up and went out, and when the door
closed one of my colleagues said:
"'Well, gentlemen, the old man is right. We ought to be ashamed of
ourselves. Let us never say anything about this, but go home and raise
the men.'
"And we did--six thousand men--making twenty-eight thousand in the War
from a city of one hundred and fifty-six thousand. But there might have
been crape on every door, almost, in Chicago, for every family had l
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