Prolonging the War for a Permanent Peace: Wisconsin Soldiers and the 1864 Election.

Abstract

The main focus of this essay was to find out what the motivations were for Civil War soldiers from Wisconsin in their choice for president in the 1864 election. The decision was a difficult one: they could either stay with the incumbent president or choose George McClellan, the former commander of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan was well-liked by the majority of his men, and through the summer of 1864 it appeared as though the Lincoln administration was not managing the war efficiently. An examination of the soldiers’ journals and personal letters indicates that, although many men questioned Lincoln’s capability to lead the Union to victory, the soldiers were forced to vote against McClellan after the Democratic Convention adopted a party platform that endorsed peace with the South at any cost.