This week in the Civil War: June 8, 1864

Lincoln nominated to run again for president as fighting rages

President Abraham Lincoln was nominated by his party to seek a second term on June 8, 1864 — a major political milestone for Lincoln as he pressed on with the war. The New York Times reported on May 16, 1864, that critics had been predicting Lincoln wouldn’t let any major fighting go on as he pressed for the nomination for a second term. But heavy fighting by the Union in Virginia in recent days trumped the naysayers. “The recent campaign in Virginia has very effectually silenced that calumny; for one of its most conspicuous features has been the zealous cooperation of every department of the Government and every branch of the public service ... President Lincoln has done everything in his power to insure success” in the war effort, The Times declared. It added that Lincoln was intent on the public good first and foremost. “The country may rely, with unfaltering trust, upon the supreme devotion of the President to the defence of the Government and the suppression of the rebellion,” the newspaper added.