Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

====1864–1865====
[[File:The Fall of Richmond, Virginia on the Night of April 2nd, 1865 MET DT9288.jpg|thumb|left|Colored [[lithograph]] of the fall of Richmond by [[Currier and Ives]] ({{circa}} 1865)|alt=bridge in foreground going across river to city landscape that has flames reaching upwards]]
In his address to the Second Confederate Congress on May 2, 1864,{{sfn|Davis|1864}} Davis outlined his strategy of achieving Confederate independence by exhausting the Union will to fight:{{sfn|Escott|1978|p=197}} If the South could show it could not be subjugated, the North would elect a president who would make peace.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=496–497}}

In early 1864, Davis encouraged Joseph E. Johnston to take action in Tennessee, but Johnston refused.{{sfn|Stoker|2010|p=333}} In May, the Union armies advanced toward Johnston's army, which repeatedly retreated toward [[Atlanta, Georgia]]. In July, Davis replaced Johnston with General [[John B. Hood]],{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=192–199}} who immediately engaged the Union forces in a series of [[Atlanta Campaign#Sherman vs. Hood|battles around Atlanta]]. The battles did not stop the Union army and Hood abandoned the city on September 2. The victory raised Northern morale and assured Lincoln's reelection.{{sfn|Woodworth|1990|pp=286–290}} The Union forces then [[Sherman's March to the Sea|marched to Savannah, Georgia]], capturing it. In December, they advanced into [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]], forcing the Confederates to evacuate Charleston.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp= 503, 507}} In the meantime, Hood advanced north and was repulsed in a drive toward [[Franklin–Nashville campaign|Nashville]] in December 1864.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=216–219}}

Union forces began a new advance into northern Virginia. Lee put up a [[overland campaign|strong defense]] and they were unable to directly advance on Richmond, but managed to cross the [[James River]]. In June 1864, Lee fought the Union armies to a standstill; both sides settled into [[Siege of Petersburg|trench warfare around Petersburg]], which would continue for nine months.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=187–191}}

Davis signed a Congressional resolution in February making Lee [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States|general-in-chief]].{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=219–220}} Seddon resigned as Secretary of War and was replaced by John C. Breckinridge. Davis sent envoys to [[Hampton Roads Conference|Hampton Roads]] for peace talks, but Lincoln refused to consider any offer that included an independent Confederacy.{{sfn|Stoker|2010|p=397}} Davis also sent [[Duncan F. Kenner]], the chief Confederate diplomat, on a mission to Great Britain and France, offering to gradually emancipate the enslaved people of the South for political recognition.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=235–236}}

Major General [[Patrick Cleburne]] sent a proposal in early 1864 to Davis to enlist African Americans in the army. Davis initially suppressed it, but by the end of the year, he reconsidered and endorsed the idea.{{sfn|McPherson|2014|pp=229–239}} Congress passed an act supporting him. It left the principle of slavery intact by leaving it to the states and individual owners to decide which slaves could be used for military service,{{sfnm|DeRosa|1991|1pp=66–67|1ps=|Foster|1987|2p=23|2ps=: see {{harvnb|Durden|1972|pp=202–203}} for text of the act}} but Davis's administration accepted only African Americans who had been freed by their masters as a condition of their being enlisted.{{sfn|Levine|2006|pp=119–120|ps=: see {{harvnb|Durden|1972|pp=268–269}} for text of the orders by the Davis administration.}} The act came too late to have an effect on the war.{{sfnm|Escott|2009|1pp=195–196|McPherson|2014|2pp=234–235}}