Wartime Activities
After Lincoln called out all the militia in April 1861, the Republican Wide Awakes, the Democratic "Douglas Invincibles", and other parade groups volunteered en masse for the Union army. In 1864, reports of political rallies note that "The Northwestern Wide Awakes, the Great Western Light Guard Band, and the 24th Illinois Infantry" were at a Chicago meeting. On November 5, the Chicago Union Campaign Committee (the name of Lincoln's party that year) declared,
- "On Tuesday next the destiny of the American Republic is to be settled. We appeal to Union men. We appeal to merchants to close their stores, manufacturers to permit their clerks and laborers to go to the polls, the Board of Trade to close, the Union Leagues and Wide Awakes to come out. The rebellion must be put down."
Read more about this topic: Wide Awakes
Famous quotes containing the words wartime and/or activities:
“The man who gets drunk in peacetime is a coward. The man who gets drunk in wartime goes on being a coward.”
—José Bergamín (1895–1983)
“When mundane, lowly activities are at stake, too much insight is detrimental—far-sightedness errs in immediate concerns.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)