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 Summary: Ten days after a Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, Secretary of State Seward expresses confidence that European observers still believe the U.S. will achieve victory. Though Union forces under Nathaniel Banks failed to conquer Texas in the Red River Campaign of 1864, the Mississippi remained “free,” and Ulysses S. Grant went on to lift the Confederate siege of Chattanooga in the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
William H. Seward. Autograph Letter Signed, as Secretary of State, to Professor Alexander D. Bache. Washington, D.C., September 30, 1863. 1 p. On Department of State stationery. Inventory # 20853 $sold Complete Transcript:
Department of State
Washington, Sept. 30, 1863
My dear Sir,
It is clear that our transatlantic friends are beginning to think. If we hold Chattanooga firmly, and get well established in Texas while keeping the Mississippi free, it will be seen that there is a power here adequate to provide for the security and freedom of this country.
Faithfully yours,
William H. Seward
Professor
A.D. Bache
U.S. Coast Survey Historical Background
The diplomatic tide had begun to turn against the Confederacy after the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, followed by Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days later. Britain had a powerful abolitionist constituency, and the Palmerston government could never bring itself to enter a war alongside an avowed slave power. But the military situation remained tenuous until mid-1863, and it was by no means clear to the Europeans or anyone else that the North could win the war. But the combined victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg meant that the South was militarily cut in two, with Union forces firmly established throughout the Mississippi Valley. At last Seward and Lincoln could ease their anxiety that Britain, France and other European powers might recognize or even intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. Seward's relations with Bache stretched back to the 1840s, when Bache became head of the U. S. Coast Survey, an immense scientific enterprise that mapped and provided valuable geological and environmental information about the eastern U. S. coastline.
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