Mr. William S. Nye was buried today in Marietta. He died in Chillicothe. He has been sick several weeks of typhoid fever. He was a useful man and is a great loss to the Railroad interests with which he has for several years been identified. The body of Col. Clark arrived today and will be interred tomorrow. Thus two prominent lawyers and worthy Christian men are laid low. Col. Clark fell in Wednesday's battle.
It is said that President Lincoln has proclaimed Emancipation. God bless the President and bless the cause. It is God's own cause. He can and will take care of it.
William came home to spend the night and will leave again in the morning. Hon. V. B. Horton treated him very handsomely, and gives him his support although the contrary has been reported. I noticed in a late paper that our cousin Prof. Joseph Torry, L. L. D. (the translator of Neander's Church history) is elected president of Vermont University.
Peggy's comments:
Julia's brother, William P. Cutler, was running for a second term in the U. S. House of Representatives. These mid-term elections were critical. Many "peace" Republicans advocated giving up trying to preserve the Union. They felt that the Confederate States could be let go in exchange for an end to the war. The issue would be taken up in Congress. William was encouraged by some politicians to soften his stand on preserving the Union.
Meanwhile, in July Lincoln had warned the southern states that if they did not rejoin the Union in 60 days, a proclamation would be issued to seize their property. Politically, issuing such a proclamation would have seemed a desperate move had it been made before there was a major Federal battleground victory. The recent battle at Antietam was seen at the time by the North as a victory--Robert E. Lee had withdrawn his army from the North. The timing, therefore, seemed right to issue the Emancipation Proclamation which would take effect on January 1, 1863.
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