November 8, 1864

November 8, 1864

Election Day:  Abraham Lincoln wins re-election by a large margin, over 500,000 votes, over the Democratic challenger former Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan.  Lincoln and Tennessee's Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat, run together on the Union Party ticket.

Most historians attribute Lincoln’s victory to tangible Federal successes in the war: specifically, the spectacular turn-around victory of Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah over Jubal Early’s Confederates at the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, Admiral David Farragut’s victory over Confederate Navy forces at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, and (most of all), the Fall of Atlanta to Sherman’s army on September 1.  Another campaign victory relevant to Lincoln’s re-election is the defeat of Sterling W. Price’s invasion of Missouri as his army and Gen. Jo Shelby’s cavalry are defeated by Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis’s Federal Army of the Border at Westport, Missouri, on October 23.