“1864: Year of Destiny” Library Exhibition
The University of Delaware Library [www.udel.edu/library] announces the exhibition, “1864: Year of Destiny” which is on view from through Sunday, June 8, 2014, in the Special Collections Lincoln Exhibit Case located on the Second Floor of the Morris Library.
The year 1864 was a pivotal one in the American Civil War and the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The Union Army had achieved decisive victories in the July 1863 Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and in March 1864, President Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant Commander in Chief of all Union armies. Under the leadership of Ulysses Grant, Union forces won battle after battle culminating in General William Tecumseh Sherman's Savannah campaign, famously known as Sherman's march to the sea. Perhaps the most critical event of 1864 was the presidential election which pitted Abraham Lincoln against his former Army of the Potomac commander George McClellan. George McClellan, the Democrat candidate, ran on a platform of asking for immediate peace with the states in rebellion and, in essence, granting them their independence from the Union. Had George McClellan and the Democrats prevailed in the election there would have likely been two separate nations with no guarantee of reconciliation between them.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Morris Library, Special Collections Exhibition Gallery
Morris Library, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA