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several defeats would be needed to bring us to that.
The desideratum is to approach a policy of emancipation by stages so clear and irresistible as to retain for that end an united public sentiment.
With the aid of favoring circumstances I think this possible, and events seem to me fortunate or otherwise in proportion as they tend this way.
September 6
Yesterday General Butler made a speech here unexpectedly on his way to Lowell; I did not hear it, but it was said to be very bold and radical; saying especially that wherever our armies went they must carry Freedom with them, since it was absurd to fight to give the benefit of our institutions to those who do not desire them (the masters) and not to those who do (the slaves). How wonderfully the Hatteras affair has set that man up again — and indeed the nation.November 1, 1861
You will never take a hopeful view of anything, I see, till you give up that unfortunate “Springfield Republican.”
In every war there must be ups and downs, mistakes committed, valuable lives lost (as we foolishly call it), defeats sustained.
But these very defeats often produce good in the end. The defeat at Manassas was just what we needed, and it may yet prove so with this.
It is of immense importance to know, as we now do, that our raw troops may be as cool even in retreat as veterans, for this is the point where veterans usually have all the advantage.
The 