The Great War Rally

By Jeffrey Boutwell

Columbia, MD

Saturday, August 1, 2026

Union fortunes on August 6, 1862, were at a low ebb when the government held a Great War Rally with 10,000 people on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.  It was the first mass public meeting held since the start of the war and was intended to raise Union morale and stimulate enlistments into the army.  President Lincoln was on the speakers' platform and made some impromptu remarks, telling the crowd not to be concerned about the reported rift between Gen. George McClellan and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, saying that "Gen. McClellan is not to blame for sometimes asking for what he wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving when he had none to give."  As was typical, Lincoln added that he as commander-in-chief bore ultimate responsibility for how the war was going.

Following Lincoln at the rostrum was George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts, newly arrived in town as Lincoln's Commissioner of Revenue.  Unlike the other speakers that day, Boutwell pulled no punches in declaring that, "had it not been for slavery, there would have been no treason; and when slavery should cease to exist, there will be no traitors.  That is the beginning and end of the war, slavery in the beginning, freedom in the end."

Given that the war at that point was still about preserving the Union, Lincoln could not yet publicly express Boutwell's sentiments, despite having shown his cabinet a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22.  Yet, when newspapers across the country applauded Boutwell for his remarks, most likely approved by Lincoln, the president could sense that public opinion was moving in the right direction.  

A little more than a month later, on September 22, following the battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, saying it would become official on January 1, 1863 if the Confederacy had not ceased its rebellion.  As he so often did, Abraham Lincoln skillfully used public opinion to help bolster the policy initiatives he implemented as president.

photo caption:  New York Daily Tribune, August 7, 1862 (public domain)