President Lincoln anxious about Virginia Front and Pennsylvania Politics

October 13, 1863

“No news from the front.  President read this noon a dispatch from Meade, written last night, in which he says if the Rebels do not attack him to-day, he will attack them.  I doubt it.  He cannot do much on the offensive except under orders.  As second in command or in any capacity under an intelligent superior, I think Meade would do well.  He will never have another such opportunity to do the Rebels harm as when he supinely let Lee and his army cross the Potomac and escape unmolested,” writes Navy Secretary Gideon Welles in his diary. “The elections in Ohio and Pennsylvania absorb attention.  The President says he feels nervous.  No doubts have troubled me.”

Historian Frank Klement wrote ,“Lincoln need not have worried.  Vallandigham went down to defeat by 100,000 votes.  Brough received a 61,742 majority on the home front and a 40,000 majority of the soldier vote.”  Ohio Governor David Tod , who had been defeated by Brough for renomination, telegraphed: “God be praised.  Our majority on the home  vote cannot be less than 30,000.  Advise Sec’y Stanton.”

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