Civil War Provost Duties Page 2

2nd Cav Provost and 'Peace Democrats"  Democratic Party  "United Against Emancipation" Between 1861 and 1863, Republican President Abraham Lincoln caused 13,000 Northerners to be arrested and imprisoned, and more than 20 Northern newspapers to be suppressed for voicing antiwar opinions. Almost all of the victims of Lincoln's presidential power were Peace Democrats- antiwar members of the Democratic party whom opponents called Copperheads. Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress could weaken the president's resolve to suppress antiwar sentiment. Even many Republicans were alarmed at the high-handed violations of civil liberties. "Not one of the many hundreds illegally arrested and locked up for months has been publicly charged with any crime", exclaimed Republican lawyer George Templeton Strong. "All this is very bad- imbecile, dangerous, and unjustifiable." The most radical Peace Democrat was Congressman Clement L. Vallandingham. The handsome and eloquent Ohioan, nicknamed "Valiant Val" by his friends, sponsored a number of resolutions that called for a censure of Lincoln for the "illegal arrests" and the suppression of free speech and the press; he even introduced a bill to have President Lincoln imprisoned. On May 5, 1863, Vallandingham was arrested and charged with "declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions." "I am a Democrat- for the Constitution, for law, for the Union, for liberty- this is my only crime," said Vallandingham, but he was soon found guilty and sentenced to prison for the duration of the war. There was such an outpouring of rage over the proceedings that Lincoln changed the sentence to banishment to the South. The mainstream of the Democratic party, the War Democrats, generally supported Lincoln's prosecution of the war though they opposed many of his policies. One of the main issues the two party factions united against was emancipation. War Democrat New York Gov. Horatio Seymore promised "to make every sacrifice... for the preservation of this Union," but he opposed emancipation as "bloody, barbarous, revolutionary." Fascinating Fact:  The Democratic legislatures of Illinois and Indiana labeled the January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation "wicked, inhuman and unholy" and demanded that Lincoln retract it.   Draft Riots 1863 - Building ruins, Provost Marshall's Office Inaugurated in 1857 by New York's Harper Brothers publishers, by 1863 Harper's Weekly had the widest circulation of the three weekly illustrated newspapers. Its popularity among northern readers was largely engendered by pictorial war reportage, composed of wood engravings based on the work of artist-reporters and photographers on the battlefield and in the bootcamp. Unlike the Weekly's usual coverage of New York events, the July 1863 Draft Riots prompted illustrations that eerily resembled previously-published pictures of combat. This engraving shows police guarding the remains of the building housing the Provost Marshal's Ninth District headquarters, on Third Avenue and Forty-sixth Street, burned down by rioters on the morning of July 13th. Original Caption: Ruins of the Provost-Marshall's office. Description: draft riots Event Date: July 13-16, 1863 Publication: Harper's Weekly. August 1, 1863. Source: Tearsheet