Or, Anybody but Lincoln
According to the October 24, 1860 issue of The New-York Times. there was a huge Fusion demonstration in New York the night before. 25,000 supporters of Douglas, Breckenridge, and Bell-Everett marched through the city streets to counteract the prior pro-Lincoln Wide-Awake rally a couple weeks before. More from the Times:
THE PROCESSION.
The moon was as bright, the stars as numerous and
the sky as cloudless, last night , as on the occasion of
the great Wide-Awake parade. The clerk of the
weather , assuredly, is no partisan. The monster pro-
cession of the combined Douglas, Breckinridge and
Bell-Everett forces which marched through our
streets last night , had no need of torches, calcium
lights and variegated pyrotechnics. Yet they
were displayed in profusion. The pageant
was gotten up regardless of expense, and was a decided success. The thoroughfares through which it
passed were again rivers of flame rolling between
black banks of packed humanity. The women that
were in the streets—and their name was many myriads
—received a sparking from the hundreds of Roman
candles, that was much more ardent than agreeable.
The whole town seemed on fire for Fusion, just as
one night, a few weeks ago, it seemed redolent of
Republican resin.
The increasing likelihood that Lincoln would be elected was having a similar result in the South (also from the October 24, 1860 of The New-York Times.):
UNION MOVEMENT IN GEORGIA.
Hon. B. H. HILL spoke at Atlanta (Ga.) on the
evening of the 17th inst., and at the close of his ad-
dress the following resolution was adopted with great
enthusiasm:
Resolved by the Citizens of Atlanta composing this
meeting, That the Executive Committees of the seve-
ral parties having Electoral tickets for President and
Vice-President, in Georgia, be and they are hereby re-
spectfully and earnestly requested to meet at an early
day, at some central and convenient point, and form
an Electoral ticket out of the three tickets now before
the people of Georgia, to be voted for by our whole
people, irrespective of party; or, if that be found im-
practicable, that they pledge their candidates, if suc-
cessful, to cast the vote of our College for that candi-
date for the Presidency—whether BELL, BRECKINRIDGE
or DOUGLAS—who may be most likely to defeat the
election of our common enemy—ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
A Great Site
Seven Score and Ten focuses on events 150 years ago. When I decided to look at events 150 years ago I did not realize there were other sites doing similar things. I hope to complement these sites. A lot of history was happening back then. Seven Score and Ten has more information on the Fusion movement in New York.
