And you will allow Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina to defeat a plan necessary to save the life of the Confederacy?
The States are sovereign, General Lee--for this principle we are fighting.
Then I think it may be time to ask ourselves, heart to heart, the question whether the Confederacy, as organized, does not carry within its own body the seeds of death? The rights of a state must somewhere yield to the supreme power of a nation. The Negro will make a brave soldier, and he can save the South. Will you use him?
I'll consider your suggestion, General, but I can't see it--I can't see it now. I won't detain you longer.
[GENERAL LEE _salutes and exits_--DAVIS _goes to the opposite door--opens it and calls._]
[OULD, BENJAMIN _and_ VAUGHAN _reënter._]
There can be no doubt about that, sir----
But it would alienate many of our Northern friends if we held these men. I have decided to let them go. Give them this pass.
Show them through the hospitals and Libby Prison and conduct them back to General Grant's lines.
He has made exactly the blunder I feared----
We'll hope for the best, sir! With the twist I'll give the news----
SET SCENE: _The same as Acts I and II, except that a small table has been placed down center on the side near Lincoln's desk. A telegraph instrument has been installed on this table._
AT RISE: _At rise, the audience sees only_ LINCOLN _and_ OPERATOR, _the lights gradually rise until full day shows the entire room. It is the morning of September 3, 1864._
[_The_ OPERATOR _tries again and again to get Atlanta._]
We don't seem to have any luck, do we? My messenger should have reached Sherman! He must be there now. He must be there--he can't be lost!
Two whole days I've listened to that thing click----
[_The_ OPERATOR _calls Atlanta, with a peculiar loud call._]
Is that the word Atlanta you're clicking off?
Yes, sir--calling--over this wire we have a direct connection to-day. The trouble is Sherman's old headquarters don't answer either.
Call Atlanta again. Do it slowly. I want to learn it--Uncle Billy----
[_The_ OPERATOR _clicks off each letter in the Morse Code, spelling it slowly._]
A--T--L--A--N--T--A-- G--A-- Atlanta, Ga.
[_The_ OPERATOR _repeats the call and_ LINCOLN _follows it repeating after him._]