Further Recruitment

By the end of 1862, Massachusetts had lost a great number of men to the war effort. As a result, President Abraham Lincoln and Gov. John A. Andrew continued to recruit for the "rescue and defense" of the country. The war was long and gruelling, but as a result of sacrifice, freedom was purchased by blood.

After the Union claimed victory at Antietam in September 1862, President Lincoln, who had been waiting since July for such an opportunity, made a preliminary announcement of his Emancipation Proclamation, signifying a major shift in Northern war aims. To some degree, emancipation was a pragmatic attempt to use former slaves against the Confederacy, but the North also needed a cause of the highest moral caliber to justify the sacrifices that would be necessary as it remobilized for a longer and bloodier “hard war."